The purpose of this study is to investigate the content and work processes regarding the values written in the curriculum for Swedish high schools and compare it with theories regarding the individualized society and political moralism. After the clarification of the content in the values of Swedish high schools and the work processes that are supposed to give students fundamental understanding about them, I analyze and compere it to the theories that are presented in the study. The main questions of the study are the following: What kinds of values are found in the curriculum for Swedish high schools? In general, how do Swedish high schools work with the written values when focus have gone from education and learning to instrumental knowledge, results, abilities and flexibility? The result showed that the content and work processes regarding the values in Swedish high schools are purely instrumental and moralistic. Due to the fact, that the individualized society and the neoliberal ideology do not require reflection and real understanding regarding the values. Therefore are the schools now more focused instrumental knowledge rather than universal knowledge based on understanding. This is not a surprising result, due to the fact that the public and the political discourse are colonized by moralism. This is the reaction individuals have to the fragmented society, where an alternative to the neoliberal ideology is nonexistent. The only kind of criticism in today’s society is based on moralism, which is affecting the work processes regarding the values in Swedish high schools.

Section A provides a literature review of transgender people and their friendships. The first part of the literature review explores the historical context of transgenderism and its relation to medical and psychiatric diagnosis. The following part concentrates on biopsychsocial issues of transgender identity formation highlighting the need for support in light of interpersonal losses and societal discrimination. The final part reviews the friendship literature more generally, then specifically in relation to transgender persons. The review concludes by identifying an absence of friendship research with transgender individuals and suggesting directions for future research. Section B describes a study carried out with seven trans men, which investigates discourses they use to construct friendships and negotiate intimacy within friendships. While research focusing on friendships of sexual minority individuals has increased over the last two decades, studies of transgender persons’ friendships have been largely absent. Given that trans individuals are vulnerable to a range of psychological stressors in the context of societal lack of understanding and discrimination, friendships may be particularly important. This study explored the gap in the friendship literature and drew on creative methodologies (drawing of systems maps) that offered empowering strategies to facilitate trans men’s stories of friendships. Foucauldian Discourse Analysis was applied to analyse discourses of friendship and gender identity. Dominant discourses identified included ‘friends as family’, ‘romantic love’, ‘equality and reciprocity’, ‘change in lesbian friendships’ and ‘disowning male privilege’. The results indicate that trans men elevate the status of friends to those of other culturally dominant relationships (e.g. biological family or sexual partner). Furthermore, their friendships, in particular lesbian friendships, can become complex platforms from which to contest privilege and power associated with their (trans) masculinities. Implications for further research and clinical practice are discussed. Section C provides a critical appraisal of the study and offers the researcher’s reflections on research skills developed, what she would do differently if she could do the project again, how the research may impact her clinically and what further research she would like to carry out.

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This thesis introduces a skeletal representation of the "kind" of individual Doris Lessing promotes in her work. Organized around five semantic qualifiers, this analysis explores a number of Lessing's works belonging to several literary categories for evidence of the appearance of the daring, self-aware, public, engaged, and vocal individual. It argues that Lessing, as a humanist, is committed to individual personal actualization but that this is tempered with her personnally held views about what is valuable and enriching human experience. It concludes that as author of fictional tales, autobiographical texts as well as political essays, she designs the path of self-development she considers worthy of mention.

This thesis is a practical project which involves moving images and paintings together as a medium that explores phenomena of contemporary China relating to personal identity, independence and its relationship with the traditional importance on collective groups, group centredness and interdependence. The project’s approach draws on sociological research on Western thought, values and beliefs naturally occurring in China since the “Open Door” policy as raw data to focus on the transition and transformation of contemporary Chinese individuality, and translates these data to form the concepts underpinning the metaphoric method of my artwork. Bubbles are the main visual symbols that metaphorically imply the incessantly transformable Chinese individuality and social cultural identity. My aim has been to portray this phenomenon through artistic practices on screens. By reflecting and engaging with moving images and paintings, underpinned by theoretical research and methods including data collecting, self-reflecting on data, practical manifestation and self-inquiry, I have attempted to unfold the phenomenon of contemporary Chinese individuality through my art practice. The thesis is composed as a creative work of moving images accompanied by an exegesis component. The moving image represents a nominal 80%, and the exegesis 20% of the final submission.

Relationships between underachievement, individual type and attributional motivation were investigated among 37 underachieving senior science students from a boys' college, a girls' college and a coeducational college in New Zealand. An adaptation of the Myers-Briggs type inventory was used to identify individual type, and attributional motivation was determined by using two questionnaires, based upon attributional constructs established by Weiner (1979). Students in the sample were also interviewed. Results show a significant difference, too great to be attributed to a sampling fluctuation, between the observed number of students and the greater than expected number of students, particularly for the ESFJ (Extrovert-Sensing- Feeling-Judging) and ISFJ (Introvert-Sensing-Feeling-Judging) individual 'types' within the sample of underachieving students. A difference also was found between the observed number of Function Pairs, derived from the Myers-Briggs descriptions, and the expected number of Pairs within the sample. These differences were also too great to be attributed to a sampling fluctuation.A general lack of motivation was found among the students, with 'lack of effort' being attributed as a major cause of underachievement. Differences in attribution trends were found between different 'types'. Most of the students indicated that they were passive learners and generally were unaware of how to use metacognitive strategies to improve their learning and motivation.Implications from this research suggest that intervention approaches should be made by educators to improve accountability and reduce underachievement by students. Recommendations for various approaches used by the author, and by others described in the thesis to reduce or overcome underachievement are suggested. These might be used for individual types who are prone to underachieve, and for ++ / underachievers generally.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 362-374). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2008. / Document formatted into pages; contains v, 173 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--Munich. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 308-310).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 243 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 232-243). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center