Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-114). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 210-220).

Inaugural lecture delivered at Rhodes University / Rhodes University Libraries (Digitisation)

no abstract available / Practical Theology / (M.Th.(Pastoral Therapy)

No description available.

This thesis explores the notion of social enterprise in Greece. In particular it investigates how non-profits incorporate social enterprise in an environment facing a severe financial and social crisis. The study is done through a participatory and reflective research approach that allows the emergence of enriched results. The review of the existing literature in this area revealed that despite the lack of a universal definition, the concept of social enterprise has generally been viewed positively and has raised the expectations for social and economic transformation. Policy makers expect social enterprises to become a lever out of the crisis of reducing state funding and contribute to financial and social change. Until recently, the common assumption was that social enterprises emerge bottom-up and constitute the most ethical option of social welfare services provision after the failure of the state and the markets to provide for society. Hence, non-profits were encouraged to adopt entrepreneurial techniques to support their social purpose as a way out of the financial problems they are facing. The great interest on the effect of 'social enterprise' on the traditional non-profit sector comes from the peculiarity of the Greek case with the top-down enforcement of the concept coupled with a history of corruption in civil society. Even though researchers following a more critical stance towards social enterprises challenge the underlying assumptions of this new concept and raise awareness about its negative impacts, in Greece the 'social economy' and 'social enterprise' concepts are used as 'silver bullets' by policy makers. Wishing to follow this critical tradition, I proceeded with an in-depth case study drawing upon participant observation and reflective methods. In locating my research in an active non-profit organisation in Athens, I intended that my findings could be extended to similar organisations. This thesis found that in Greece, the top-down implementation of the concept allowed non-profits to incidentally adopt this rhetoric in order to ensure their long-term survival and then in turn influence the way society makes sense of social enterprises. The institutional environment further hinders the growth of the sector as it directs the social enterprises and non-profits towards public procurement making and any other alternative seems impossible. Lastly, based on the above findings, I conclude that social economy despite its infancy faces the risk of corruption. Hence, I suggest that policy makers' support, rather than guide, social enterprises to allow them to achieve their full potential. Future research and practice need to focus on raising awareness for the social economy and assessing social impact as a way to improve transparency and gain the trust of society.

Through a meeting of practice and theory this thesis shifts the locus of attention from the spectacle to the everyday practice of parkour. Using documentary filmmaking with anthropological intentions and extended access over a six year period, this thesis explores the subjective everyday lived performances and essence of parkour, as experienced by a select group of experienced practitioners, as well as those who were involved in parkour’s creation and development. Parkour is a multidimensional phenomenon that can be experienced as an art, training discipline, sport, set of values, and practice of freedom, depending on an individual’s motivations, cultural understanding and exposure to the history of the practice. The research establishes that parkour is an imaginative and particular way of thinking; remapping the landscape with ‘parkour vision’. Parkour transforms how one experiences, moves, connects and participates in the environment, challenging notions of normative behaviour, socialisation, identity and self-determining actions through explorations of, as well as expressions of the self. The results of which are a means to find a more authentic deeper inner sense of self, producing feelings of inclusion and an enhanced sense of freedom through the creation of an autonomous social body. Parkour encourages self-reliance and mutual co-operation whilst enabling participants to reclaim the wonderment and magic of the human experience, valuing confrontations of fear, pleasure and pain in transcending the real and imagined boundaries of one’s own limitations, play and freedom of expression. This thesis explores themes such as shared cinema, collaborative filmmaking, participant observation and issues of representation. Parkour is discussed theoretically from the perspectives of Eichberg’s work on body cultures, Foucauldian relations of power and technologies of the self, alongside Merleau Ponty’s phenomenology, Csikszentmihalyi’s optimal flow experience, Wellmann’s insights into networked individualism and Charles Taylor’s work on the search for an authentic self and the complexities of a modern identity. This thesis contributes to the growing field of research into body cultures and the continually evolving culture of parkour.

Background: An emergency department (ED) should offer timely care for acutely ill or injured persons that require the attention of specialized nurses and physicians. This study was aimed at exploring what is actually going on at an ED. Methods: Qualitative data was collected 2009 to 2011 at one Swedish ED (ED1) with 53.000 yearly visits serving a population of 251.000. Constant comparative analysis according to classic grounded theory was applied to both focus group interviews with ED1 staff, participant observation data, and literature data. Quantitative data from ED1 and two other Swedish EDs were later analyzed and compared with the qualitative data. Results: The main driver of the ED staff in this study was to reduce non-acceptable waiting. Signs of non-acceptable waiting are physical densification, contact seeking, and the emergence of critical situations. The staff reacts with frustration, shame, and eventually resignation when they cannot reduce non-acceptable waiting. Waiting management resolves the problems and is done either by reducing actual waiting time by increasing throughput of patient flow through structure pushing and shuffling around patients, or by changing the experience of waiting by calming patients and feinting maneuvers to cover up. Conclusion: To manage non-acceptable waiting is a driving force behind much of the staff behavior at an ED. Waiting management is done either by increasing throughput of patient flow or by changing the waiting experience.

The raison d¡¦être for non-profit organizations (NPO) is to promote its ideas in hoping to change the society. NPOs pursue the goals that benefit the public, and communicate and market its missions through various channels, thus can be considered as a branch of ¡¥social marketing.¡¦ However, as a member of the mundane world, however supreme its ideals may be, from the perspective of symbolic interactionism and Irving Goffman¡¦s dramaturgy, NPOs inevitably face the same reality like any other organizations ¡V the gap between ideas and practices, the contrast between front-stage and back-stage, and the seemingly irrelevance but virtually two sides of one coin between seriousness and ludicrousness. This study uses two small NPOs as the context for research and the field for participant observation. The research adopts ethnographically-oriented participant observation as its methodology approach. Taking ¡¥social marketing¡¦ as a contrast, it uses dramaturgy, social representation theory, and symbolic interactionism to sneak into the process of human interaction under the sacred umbrella of NPOs¡¦ missions. The results indicate the following points: 1.During the process of idea practicing, ideals have to compromise with practices, and a balance between the two has to be met; 2.Although the participants of NPOs¡¦ activities appear to be supportive to NPOs, they may actually be attracted by the activities itself (not the ¡¥mission¡¦), or even worse ¡V they do not really care about what NPOs intend to do; 3.It appears that volunteers come forward to help marketing activities because they identify with the NPOs; however, very often they are being attracted by their own interest and/or ¡¥guan-xi¡¦; 4.Full-time workers are responsible for daily operation of the NPOs, and therefore have more knowledge about the organization. Although they are on behalf of their organizations and thus their ideals, they still need to practically make their livings while also look for opportunities for self-fulfilling. 5.Under the guidance of their missions, NPOs also face challenge to survive, and have to interact and communicate with the public under the framework of daily life.