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This dissertation takes a three-article approach in which the literature from public administration, political psychology and sociology is synthesized around student veterans as a new phenomenon in higher education and public policy. By examining student veterans through the Social Construction of Target Populations (SCTP) framework, these articles contribute to the theoretical understanding of how social identity at the group and individual levels impact a target population's understanding of and reaction to a policy that does not always align with the policy-makers' intent. Because the current SCTP literature has focused on how policy-makers construct target populations and the practices they use to mitigate any negative effects of policy feedback, these articles offer a new perspective by applying symbolic interactionism as a method for capturing the two-way interaction between the target population and the policy's intent. The articles focus on the policy feedback mechanism in the SCTP framework to explain why and how policies shape the identities of target populations, and how they in turn, engage in the policy process by first presenting student veterans as a new social concept, then presenting a case study of how an organization that represents student veterans achieved policy change, and finally, interviewing veterans, revealing that their individual interpretation of the policy is not always representative of the student veteran identity as constructed by policy-makers and advocates. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation takes a three-article approach to understanding how and why student veterans are different from other veterans based upon the latest policy changes to expand educational benefits available through the G.I. Bill. The first article describes what policy-makers and veterans’ organizations claim a student veterans is – a Post 9/11 veteran pursuing higher education that will lead to a career or fulfill the needs of 21st Century jobs. The second article presents a case-study of how an organization that represents student veterans was able to engage in the policy-making process and succeed in achieving policy changes that resulted in the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017, also known as the Forever G.I. Bill. The third article focuses on the factors influencing veterans’ decision-making process about when and how to use their educational benefits based on how they understand and interpret the policy. All three articles provide a new perspective on the ways in which policy-makers and advocacy groups can create a new social identity group, such as student veterans, and design and implement policies based on the assumptions these policy actors have about the group. However, at the individual level, student veterans might not always behave in the way policy-makers expect them to, causing student veterans to use or not use their educational benefits based on their perceptions of what the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill means to them.

As humans, we are enslaved by language. The kind of knowledge we hold is both created and limited by language. Gender is a category socially constructed in language that helps to determine our expression. Today, however, we are living in a world where the meaning of the words 'man' and 'woman' in our language are far more blurred than they used to be. Gender and sex are no longer considered binary structures by many and this presents interesting philosophical discussions. In fact one might even say there are 1,000's of tiny sexes (or genders) . So with the topic of gender (and sex) becoming a gray area what would a world completely devoid of gender terms look like? Are we constraining individuals by placing them within such a category as gender or are we taking something significant from them if we were to remove this label? Would we provide empowerment to oppressed genders by removing such labels or simply put them at further risk of domination by the oppressors? In this thesis I would like to argue that the removal of gender terms would create more accurate self-identity by allowing for a broader spectrum of diversity and, as a result, further equity. Due to the strong bond between language and culture, my theory is that by slowly tweaking our language over time, while intermediately allowing for the resulting cultural changes, until gender terms are removed from our everyday lives we could develop a culture that has no ability to discriminate between what we currently consider different genders. / Master of Arts

Föreliggande studie har som syfte att undersöka hur musiklärare samtalar om skolans genusuppdrag i relation till undervisning i musik. Studiens teoretiska ram utgörs av genusteorier och ett socialkonstruktionistiskt perspektiv. Datamaterialet har insamlats genom två fokusgruppsintervjuer där kvinnliga och manliga musiklärare från olika utbildningsnivåer och inriktningar diskuterat genus och musikundervisning. Den data som har genererats ur gruppintervjuerna har bearbetats och analyserats med hjälp av diskursanalytiska redskap med fokus på lärarnas syn på genus och musikundervisning. I resultatet presenteras flera små diskurser som belyser de förhållningssätt som lärarna har på sig själva, sitt uppdrag och sina elever. Resultatet visar att lärarna strävar efter genusmedvetenhet och individfokus, men upplever sig tillbakahållna av fasta biologiska faktorer samt känner en uppgivenhet kring historiska strukturer som lever kvar, en rädsla över maktförhållanden och en uppfattning om genus som ett svårt och komplicerat ämne. Sammanfattningsvis förstås genus som någonting abstrakt och paradoxalt. I praktiska sammanhang brottas lärarna med uppfattningar och idéer kring genus som är svåra att konkretisera. I diskussionen lyfts två sammanfattande och kontrasterande diskurser fram som det eftersträvansvärda och det biologiskt fastställda samt kampen mellan diskurserna / This study explores how music teachers converse about the school´s gender mission in relation to music education. The theoretical frame of the study is gender theories and a social constructionism. The data for the study has been collected through two focus group interviews where female and male music teachers from different educational levels and specializations discuss gender and music education. The data generated from the focus group interviews has been processed and analysed with discourse analytical tools with a focus on the teachers’ views on gender and music education. The result show several smaller discourses that show the views the teachers have on themselves, their mission and their students. The result shows that the teachers strive for gender awareness and a focus on individuals, but that they also feel held back by fixed biological elements and that they feel resigned towards historical structures that remain strong, a fear of power relations and a perception of gender as a difficult and complicated subject. In conclusion gender is understood as something abstract and contradictory. In practical arrangements the teachers struggle with perceptions and ideas about gender that are difficult to concretize. In the discussion two contradicting discourses are highlighted as the aspirational and the biologically fixed, and the struggle between the discourses.

The thesis concerns how leadership and gender are constructed in organisations, through the management language, interactions and context. A particular focus is placed on the relations between men, masculinity and leadership. The theoretical starting point is a doing gender perspective, where the terms leadership and gender are understood as processes; that gender and leadership is done in an organisational situation. Through a processual perspective different levels are linked in the analysis of construction of gender and leadership; society, organisational and individual levels, expressed in terms of structure, symbols, interactions and individual sense making. Masculinity research is also a theoretical area of importance for the thesis, with analysis matrices for the understanding of construction of masculinity between men, as well relationships between masculinity and technology and masculinity and leadership respectively. The empirical data consists of interviews and observations of managers at three different organisational levels at the factory of an industrial engineering firm. Leadership stands out in the empirical data as an extended and male, dedicated as well as uniform story. In discussions of gender the differences between women and men are preferentially described, where above all opinions about women’s gender-typical characteristics are expressed. The opinions are to a greater extent gender-stereotypic. These dominating patterns are however challenged in different ways, through the managers different ways of positioning themselves towards respectively leadership and gender, expressed through their desire to limit the work and reasoning that distances itself from gender aspects being a deciding factor for leadership; through policies on fundamental values and equality as well as through a younger, female manager. From a starting point in the dominating pattern the term leadership masculinities is developed: locally confirmed discourses and practices where leadership and masculinity meet in reciprocal interactions. These leadership masculinities are represented in the empirical material by The Son of the District, The Father, The Dedicated and The Feminine. The last leadership masculinity captures something of the variation and contrast to the dominating pattern which is also found in the material, for example as family and relationship orientation at both a policy and practice level. In the thesis it is discussed in conclusion how reproduction and change, uniformity of pattern and variation appear in parallel in the data – there are gaps in the pattern that can be perceived as opportunities for change of gender relationships and leadership practice.

When school shootings occur in primary or secondary schools they draw a massive amount of media attention. Frequently, after the shooting stops, the media begins to prognosticate about the factors that led to the occurrence of the tragedy. However, there is a dearth of research examining those factors that are perpetuated by the media, as well as the factors that are most discussed in scholarly publications. Therefore, the aim of this research project was to explore the perpetration factors that have been perpetuated by the media, and compare those to the perpetration factors that are most frequently discussed by researchers. The study posed three research questions, which explored the factors that were most discussed, the differences between print news sources and journal articles in regard to the factors they discussed, and the possible changes of factors through time. The exploration of these research questions was based in social constructionist thought, as the theory provided a framework for exploring how the findings may impact subsequent prevention of the phenomenon. The study found that there were numerous factors discussed by the media and researchers, which broke down into school factors, cultural factors, individual factors, biological facts, and family factors. Through triangulation of available data the study also found that there were differences between the perpetration factors as they are discussed by the print news and scholars, as well as differences in discussion of factors through time. These differences indicate that prevention efforts may be hindered due to a faulty understanding of rampage school shootings, which is being perpetuated by the media. The findings also indicate several areas for future research to focus on, such as: exploration of other media formats, examining the constructs proposed by the research project, and exploring the methods that individuals involved with prevention determine the threat level of individuals who are viewed as posing a risk.

<p>Archaeology in Bolivia has two strong tendencies: nationalism and regionalism. The proposal aims for an academic reconstruction and expansion of this science in order to develop new scientific criteria, that can be institutionalized and become normative to the whole country to cover the expectations of different regions with regard to its past.</p><p>A fundamental aspect of providing Bolivian archaeological research with new perspectives is the study of formation and development of Andean central places of historic, infrastructural and ritual importance, such Huari, Quillacas, Sevaruyo, Pampa Aullagas and San Miguel de Uruquilla. Research conducted in the south basin of the Lake Poopo identifies evidence of early settlement in Huari towards the Late Archaic period (approximately 4000 to 2000 BC) and the Formative (2000 BC to AD 300), when the first villages were established. This indicates that the formation of agricultural towns was produced by consolidation of multiethnic central places that first consisted of ayllus, socio-dynamic units that gathered together settlers from different regions that simultaneously formed an ample network of centres interconnecting the Andean complex geography, interweaving their cultural diversity owing to the common ideology of Tiwanaku. Routes and llama caravans (llama trekking) integrated this network of central places.</p><p>As indicated by surveys and excavations, convergence of groups from different regions has been recognized in rests of material culture as shown in the ceramic distribution: Local Tiwanaku, Tiwanaku from Cochabamba, Yura, Huruquilla, Puqui, Mojocoya and remains of festivities at the centres during redistribution ceremonies, as well as ritual offers during the Early Regional Development period (300 to AD 900). This dynamic and preponderant ideology was completely transformed during Late Regional Developments (900 to AD 1460) when a series of regional conflicts determined the formation of the regional confederation known as Quillacas- Azanaques. At the time of the Inka Conquest (1460– AD 1530), the Lake Poopo basin was integrated into the Tawantinsuyo region through the implementation of the Royal Road and construction of Paria, Quillacas, San Miguel de Uruquilla and the Sevaruyo lodgings.</p><p>During the Colonial (1530 - 1825) and Republican periods (1825 - ), the Spaniards made changes that imply a deterioration of the socio-political structures of the ayllus, its territorial fragmentation and creation of new reductions for mining operations.</p><p>Recent archaeological research supports the proposition that populated centres in the Andean region of Bolivia were adapted to take advantage of the ecological variability through the social construction of the ayllu and the markas, centres that maintain dynamics, fluctuants and confluence in productive and ritual places.</p>

<p>Studiens syfte var att försöka belysa två sätt att se på missbruk (biologisk och psykosocial) som dominerar i missbruksdebatten i dagens Sverige. Vår avsikt var att kartlägga vilket synsätt socialsekreterarna inom missbruksvården har och hur deras synsätt påverkar vilken behandling deras klienter får.</p><p>Våra huvudfrågeställningar var - vilka synsätt har de utredande socialsekreterarna? Kan socialsekreterarnas olika synsätt på missbruk påverka val av behandlingsmetod för klienter? För att kunna få svar på våra frågeställningar tog vi hjälp av två underfrågeställningar. Dessa var - vilka kunskaper har socialsekreterarna om den senaste hjärnforskningen och om psykosociala förklaringsmodeller? Går det att kombinera dessa två olika synsätt?</p><p>Metoden vi använde var kvalitativa halvstrukturerade intervjuer med fem socialarbetare. Resultaten analyserades med hjälp av meningskoncentrering och en meningstematisering och utifrån våra valda teoretiska utgångspunkter – socialkonstruktivism, Durkheims begrepp ”sociala fakta” samt Berglinds handlingsteori. Resultaten visade att valet av respektive sätt att se på missbruk inte hade någon påverkan på valet av behandling. Dessutom visade vår studie att sättet att se på missbruk bland de fem intervjupersonerna vi träffade var ganska lika.</p>

Problem kring den egna kroppen och dess utseende är något som historiskt sett varit något typiskt genuskodat kvinnligt. Under de senaste 20-30 åren har män i allt större utsträckning rapporterat liknande problematik, detta i samband med en allt högre grad exponering av mannens kropp. Syftet med studien var att belysa och problematisera hur män uppfattar kroppsuppfattningens påverkar kroppssjälvkänslan. Urvalet var biologiskt födda män. De valda informanterna var i åldern 22-32 år. Intervjuerna genomfördes i informanternas hem samt i ett biblioteks privata grupprum. Metoden för att undersöka detta var en semi-strukturerad intervju, som genomfördes med intervjuguide, samt ett kroppsschema för att mäta aktuell och ideal hos informanterna. Resultatet visar att kroppen är mer än något estetiskt eller praktiskt, utan är även en symbol för manlighet och en del av den egna identiteten. Vad det är som påverkar kroppsuppfattningen tycks vara skönhetsideal och internalisering av dessa samt kommentarer om den egna kroppens utseende. Slutsatsen blev att kroppsuppfattningen kan påverka självkänsla, självförtroende och säkerhet inför den egna identiteten. Om en uppfyller skönhetsidealen, de sociala konstruktionerna, när det kommer till kroppens utseende minskar risken för en negativ kroppsuppfattning. / Problems concerning the body and its appearance are difficulties more common occurring among women historically, even though it is more and more frequent among men since the past 20-30 years. The purpose of this study was to enlighten and problematize how men perceive that body image influences their body-esteem. The sample of the study was biological born men, and those participating were 22-32 years old. The method used was a semi-structured interview, containing an interview guide and a body scale. The body scale was used as a tool to measure actual and ideal body of the participants. The interviews took place at the participant’s homes of in private rooms of one library. The results indicate that the male body is more than its function and esthetics; it is also a symbol of manhood and a significant part of one’s identity. What may impact on one’s body image and body esteem seems to be body ideals, the internalizations of these and others commentary of one’s own body appearance. The conclusion was that body image may influence self-esteem, self-confidence and the security of one’s identity. If one’s body correlates with the body ideals, the social constructions, the risk of a negative body image decreases.

Taylor, Cooren, Giroux, and Robichaud (1996) theorize that an organization is created entirely through the interpretations of its members and it evolves as those conversations change. Demonstrating the Taylor et al. theory, the current study focuses on the outcomes of management vision and strategic planning sessions in a division of a large Southwestern University. It explores the ways organization emerges through the discourse of the managers, how text is amplified to support the organization as a whole, the ways organization continues to emerge in communication, and in what ways the emergent view of organization exists throughout the division. The results of the study support the Taylor et al. theory. Management participants created an expanded view of the organization through discourse and then linked it to the university as a whole. Evidence was found supporting continued reformulation but it was limited to the management participants and did not include hourly employees.