<p>Hence, in this mini-thesis I argue that community participation does not automatically facilitate gains for the poor. My main assumption is that internal rigidities in communities, such as weak social capital, culture, trust and reciprocity, affect mutual cooperation towards collective community gains. I used two communities, where a community empowerment project is implemented, as a case study to demonstrate that the success of community participation is contingent on the stocks of social capital in the community. The results show that the responsiveness of the two communities to the project activities differs with the stocks of social capital. I found that trust among community members facilitates information flow in the community. The level of trust is also related to the sources of information of community members about development activities in the community. I also found that solidarity is an important dimension of social capital, which determines community members&rsquo / willingness to help one another and to participate in activities towards collective community gain. The research also demonstrated that perception of community members about target beneficiaries of projects&ndash / whether they represent the interest of the majority of the community or only the interest of community leaders &ndash / influences the level of confidence and ownership of the project. From my research findings, I concluded that, in order for community participation to work successfully, development managers need to identify the stocks of social capital in the community that will form the basis to determine the level of engagement with community members in the participatory process.</p>

Gyms are populated by more and more people and there is an increased interest in wellness and health. However, there is a downside to the culture that people choose to step into. Exercise can go too far and take unhealthy directions. The purpose of this study is to examine how norms are created in the gym culture and how unhealthy behaviour is reproduced inside the walls of the gym. We have also done research about how a local gym identifies and handles deviant behaviour such as the use of doping and eating disorders. Methods used are qualitative interviews and participating observations. Our theoretical framework has consisted of social constructivist theories of Peter Berger and Howard S. Becker such as the socially constructed reality and deviant careers. Our results have shown that it’s difficult to draw a line between what is healthy and unhealthy. The gym atmosphere and it`s message, the gym visitors and how they relate to values, interact and confirm each other mutually. This creates the gym norm. The gym handles deviant behaviour by conversations with its visitors and by having close ties to medical care. Knowledge is the key to a healthy approach towards training and also to the identification of deviant behaviour.

Over the past years, mental health has attracted increased attention throughout the world, in the form of initiatives, programs, support groups, etc. all with goals to increase awareness and support of mental health. The stark discrepancy between the vision driving this mental health movement and our reality comes from a basic misunderstanding. While there are both legislative and cultural efforts in place to reform our mental health system, the two must work hand in hand in order to affect substantial change. Rather than producing a collaborative effort, our legislators and society tend to ignore each other, resulting in isolated attempts at reform that are doomed to failure without the support of the other side. This thesis examines the obstacles that mentally ill individuals face in the U.S. today after receiving formal “mentally ill” diagnoses. In our current system, these individuals face limited options, all of which include a number of steep costs. This thesis proposes a shift toward a more collaborative approach in order to transform the costs and fear of diagnosis into benefits and desire for diagnosis. However, an approach such as the one suggested can only be successful after a fundamental shift in the perception of mental illness occurs. Whether or not such a shift is possible – and if so, how? – is a question too large to explore in the confines of this thesis, but one that the reader should consider.

180 students from the University of Canterbury were randomly assigned to reading and evaluating 4 counterbalanced abstracts under the cover story of a departmental journal submission procedure. This study tested whether the number of authors assigned to a journal submission is an influential factor on the acceptance rate of a submission regardless of the quality of the abstract. Also, it assessed whether the influence of a number of authors on the chance of acceptance interacts with the acceptance rate of the journal. In other words, the study investigated not only the extent to which number of authors influences acceptance regardless of quality, but how much of an influence this has for which kind of journals (in terms of the journal’s acceptance rate). The study also measured how much individual personality variables such as guilt-proneness and tendency to adhere to descriptive norms influences a reviewer’s willingness to accept a journal submission. Results found that number of authors had a significant effect on evaluation. Possible reasons and study limitations were discussed.

I denna studie undersöks hur föreställningar kring normalitet kommer till uttryck och förhandlas i de vardagliga praktikerna i skolans tidigare år. I särskilt fokus är normer kring ålder, genus och sexualitet. Det empiriska materialet är skapat genom deltagande observation och intervjuer med elever och lärare i två klasser i två skolor (årskurs 2 och 3). I studien används poststrukturalistiska teorier för att belysa hur makt verkar i det vardagliga, både i att göra begriplighet och meningsfullhet men också att definiera avvikelser och normalisera utanförskap och underordning. Analysen visar hur elever och lärare iscensätter och ifrågasätter olika förväntningar på hur man ska vara och agera som barn, vuxna, elever, lärare, flicka, pojke, etcetera. Detta "görande" av normer kopplas i studien till skapandet av olika tillhörigheter, formella och informella miljöer, skillnader mellan lektioner och raster, klassrum och omklädningsrum eller mellan allvar och skratt. Studien visar att sådana växlingar ger utrymme för förhandlingar och utmaningar i vad som kan betraktas som osäkra ormråden eller gränsland. Genom att rikta fokus mot hur normer samverkar visar studien vidare att utmaningar och ifrågasättanden av normer kring genus och sexualitet riskerar att trivialiseras i relation till elevernas position som barn. Detta innebär att även om normerna verkar som gränser för det möjliga och önskvärda, kan man inte likställa utmaningar och överskridande av gränser med omvandling av normer. Studien hävdar således att pedagogiskt arbete som syftar till att problematisera hur normer upprepas och utmanas i skolan måste överväga tvetydigheter och osäkra som en del av att skapa hierarkiska ordningar. / This dissertation examines how normality is performed and challenged in everyday practices in the early years of compulsory school, focusing primarily on norms of age, gender and sexuality. The empirical material is created through participant observation and interviews with pupils and teachers in two classes in two schools (school year 2 and 3). The study uses poststructuralist theories to highlight how power works in the everyday and the familiar, both in making comprehensibility and meaningfulness but also in defining deviations and normalize exclusion and subordination. The analysis shows how pupils and teachers perform and question different expectations of how to be and act as children, adults, pupils, teachers, girl, boy, etcetera. It appears that this 'doing' of norms is linked to the creation of different belongings, formal and informal settings, differences between class periods and breaks, classrooms and locker rooms or seriousness and laughter. The study shows that these changes create space for negotiations and challenges in what can be understood as uncertain or border areas. By taking note of how norms interacts the study further shows that challenges and questioning of norms around gender and sexuality are at risk of being trivialized by the pupils' position as children. This means that even if norms appears as boundaries of the possible and desirable, one cannot equate the challenges and the crossing of boundaries and transformation of norms. The study thus argues that pedagogical work that problematize how norms are repeated and challenged in school must consider ambiguities and the uncertain as part of creating hierarchical orders.

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between language, identity construction and learning in the context of the Vehicle programme, a vocational program in Swedish upper secondary schools. The study focuses on language practices and the norms of language, gender and school work that are negotiated in conversations between pupils and between pupils and teachers. The language practices are considered as talk-in-interaction, and identity construction and learning are understood as processes in socially situated activities. The Vehicle programme has its basis in mechanics with links to the vehicle and transport trades, and can be identified as a male-coded program in several respects. The pupils participating in this study were both boys and girls attending a school situated in the North of Sweden. The study was conducted through an ethnographic approach, employing plural methods including observation, field notes, audio-recordings of conversations, and interviews with pupils in focus groups and individually. Recorded conversations were analysed using tools from conversation analysis. The analysis is based on Judith Butler’s theory of gender as performance, Raewyn Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity, and Penelope Eckert’s theory of the heterosexual market. A socio-cultural theory of learning describing communities of practice, by Lave and Wenger, which has also been applied to linguistics by Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, forms the basis of the theoretical framework. The analyses of conversations show that the language practices were confrontational, direct and humorous; characteristics that have strong connections to notions of a masculine conversational style. The pupils were not as aware of interactional patterns as they were of the words they used. Thereby the norms in the community of practice, which were based on notions of masculinity and heterosexuality, were not noticed, and worked as undercurrents in the interaction. The girls participated in the language practices in the same ways as the boys, but contrary to the boys, the girls interpreted the language practices as effects of other things than gender, for example as signs of being independent or daring. They also experienced that adjusting to the expectations of normative middle-class femininity was more oppressive than adjusting to the norms that were negotiated within the community of practice. The conversation analyses also show some of the complexity in teachers’ work and their role as mediators of norms and values. Peer reactions to individual pupil turns in the classroom conversations were of more importance for the development of the conversations than teacher responses. Thus there was usually a homogenization of the expressed perspectives. Norms of heterosexuality were constantly reconstructed in interaction within the community of practice and they controlled the pupils’ understanding of what was perceived as normal or deviant behaviour. Thereby the pupils constrained each other’s school performances in the core subjects and reconstructed a difference between being theoretical and practical, a process that was partly supported by the school as an institution. Generally, the pupils in the community of practice had to balance their identity constructions in relation to the peer group, teacher expectations, and their own ambitions, for which reason learning turned out to be more than just a process of acquiring knowledge.

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is public health and human rights concern. The studies forming this thesis seek to understand healthcare worker and community attitudes and perceptions about IPV; their role in support, care and prevention of IPV, and the feasibility of introducing routine screening for IPV among women attending healthcare. Methods: Four interrelated studies were conducted in Temeke District, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: 1) a content analysis of 16 in-depth interviews with healthcare workers about their experiences of meeting IPV clients, 2) a grounded theory analysis of seven focus group discussions that explore community perceptions, 3) a cross sectional study of 657 healthcare workers and students to understand their attitudes and perceptions about IPV and future roles in care and support, and 4) evaluation of a pilot intervention that introduces routine screening in an outpatient department. The pilot intervention included screening of 102 women, ten observations of healthcare worker interactions with women clients, three focus group discussions, and five narratives written by healthcare workers about their experiences with the screening tools. Results: Gender inequalities, attitudes, and poverty intersect in the explanation of IPV. Healthcare workers view low economic status among women, rigid gender norms, and stigma that influences women to stay in violent relationships. Alcohol abuse, multiple sexual partners and low levels of income among men were cited as triggers for IPV episodes. Between 20-67% of healthcare workers and students report meeting IPV clients at work. More than 9o% observed clients with unexplained feelings of sadness and/or loss of confidence. Resource and training limitations, heavy workloads and low salaries constrain services. A strong desire to make a difference in the care and support of IPV clients was present, but violence as a hidden agenda with a client resistance to disclosure was a challenge. The community study shows a transition in gender norms is making violence against women less acceptable. Conclusions and suggestions: Healthcare workers and the community strongly wish and are committed to support IPV prevention. Both groups understood the meaning, provocative factors and some IPV effects. This awareness contributes to their desire to be part of a change. At the central level, prevention of IPV should be on the governments’ policy agenda and should be prioritised. Education about gender-based violence must be incorporated into the curricula of healthcare workers. At community level, advocacy is necessary for changing harmful gender norms and measures to combat women’s poverty. Men should be engaged at all levels. Provision of information on the human rights perspectives of IPV should be strengthened and related to other types of violence.

This study examined contextual influences on the relationship between peer norms for condom use and risky sexual behavior among African-American men who have sex with men. Analyses assessed the moderating effects of socio-demographic, socio-contextual, and health-related variables. One thousand forty African-American men, who have sex with men, ages 17 to 25 years, were surveyed as part of the Community Intervention Trial for Youth (CITY) from 1999 to 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia. Findings supported the hypothesis that participants who engaged in unprotected insertive anal intercourse, socio-contextual variables moderated the relationship between peer norms and risky sexual behavior. Findings also supported the hypothesis that participants who engaged in unprotected receptive anal intercourse, both socio-demographic variables and a health variable moderated the relationship between peer norms and risky sexual behavior. Findings have implications for intervention, policy, and research, including a need for interventions that recognize the contexts of influence that shape African-American MSM sexual behavior and that support norms for consistent condom use in both steady and casual sexual relationships.

This thesis consists of four essays in resource and behavioral economics. Resource Extraction, Capital Accumulation and Time Horizon The paper shows that relaxing the standard infinite horizon assumption can explain the patterns of exhaustible resource extraction and prices for the last century. An empirical test proposes a time horizon of roughly 28 years to be most likely. Model calibration yields an oil price which fits the falling price after WWII and suggests that the sharply increasing price after 1998 is due to scarcity. Optimal Forest Rotation under Climate Change    The scenario of forests growing faster over time, due to climate change, is analyzed. It is shown numerically that ignoring future changes is highly likely to be accurate in terms of harvesting and will cause insignificant profit losses. Tragedy of the Commons versus the Love of Variety    The opposing effects of overharvesting of renewable resources when property rights are missing and increased consumption variety, both due to trade, are analyzed. Trade increases welfare if the resource has strong regenerative power. If, instead, the resource regenerates slowly, then sufficient increases in the number of trade partners harms welfare and the stock may even collapse. Correcting policies may be very harsh and still improve upon laissez faire. The Distribution of Revealed Preferences under Social Pressure    Stated preferences, such as declared political opinions, are studied when individuals make the trade off between being true to their real opinions and conforming to a social norm. In orthodox societies, individuals will tend to either conform fully or ignore the social norm while individuals in liberal societies will tend to compromise between the two extremes. The model sheds light on phenomena such as polarization, alienation and hypocrisy. Furthermore, it suggests that orthodoxy cannot be maintained under pluralism.

During the last decades, scholars have discussed the changes of Swedish alcohol culture. Among other things, it has been suggested that parallel with increased consumption levels men’s and women’s drinking is becoming more similar. In connection with this discussion, the purpose of this thesis is to examine Swedish alcohol culture(s) by analysing the meanings that focus groups from different generations ascribe to drinking in relation to different life periods: childhood, adolescence and adulthood. More specifically, it aims to analyse how the interviewees specify and negotiate normative boundaries and self-presentations in relation to norms and discourses of gender and age. An essential part of the analysis is to examine differences within gender and age-groups, as well as the similarities between them. The findings suggest that even though drinking patterns are changing in terms of quantity and choice of beverage, meanings, motives and norms seem to be rather stable – especially in regard to gender. Overall, a distinction is being made between men and women: Femininity is constructed in terms of control, responsibility and caring, and masculinity in terms of fearlessness, breaking of boundaries, and loss of control. Men’s and women’s drinking are also accounted for in different ways. While men’s drinking behaviours are excused with arguments about biology and hormones, women’s (anticipated) responsibility is explained with their connection to motherhood. However; these norms vary in strength and are expressed in different ways, depending on the drinking norms of different life-periods; mainly moderate in childhood and adulthood, and mainly orientated to binge-drinking in adolescence. With regard to positive meanings ascribed to drinking, similarities between age and gender groups are also generally greater than the differences between them. Thus, gendered differences are mainly constructed in relation to behaviours that are perceived as risky or problematic.