ABSTRACT THE SURVIVORS: ROMA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN TURKEY Diler, Melike M.Sc., Department of Sociology Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. AySe G&uuml / nd&uuml / z HoSg&ouml / r December 2008, 147 pages This study has two aims regarding the Roma university students in Turkey. First, it attempts to discover the characteristics of their life courses in order to identify the success factors paving the way for their participation in higher education, specifically when the low education level of the Roma people, including even their own families, is concerned. Therefore, their socio-economic environment, early childhood years and school experiences are focused and analyzed respectively to expose the actors and processes making their life stories appear as success stories. Second, it aims to expose whether there are differences between the ones involved in the Roma Rights Movement and the ones not involved in terms of their ethnic identity status. That is, most of the better-off Roma, previously, preferred hiding their ethnic identity not to be excluded from participation in social, economic and political spheres. However, the Roma university students participating in the Roma Rights Movement refuse to hide their identity as they do not want to be assimilated, but integrated into the majority society. That point has a first-rate importance, as the low educational level of the Roma people, especially that of the Roma children, are closely associated with the lack of positive role models showing them how and what education pays off. On the basis of the conclusions drawn from the data analysis collected through in-depth interviews, it is exposed that these Roma youngsters demonstrate high levels of agency for their own social inclusion through education. Although they are all supported by their families / most of their Roma school peers dropped out of either primary or high school due to poverty and discriminative attitudes of their teachers and school administrators. The stigma of inferiority attached to the Roma is so strong that the survivors, who manage to attend the high school, hide their ethnic identity from this point onwards. Therefore, the demand of the Roma university students, participating in Roma Rights Movement, for integration into the majority society appears as an exceptional case among the well-educated Roma, but making them the pioneers of a new Roma identity in Turkey: Roma intelligentsia.

As a soccer coach for youths with disabilities and as active soccer players, our thoughts regarding the basic principles of sports where awakened and how it corresponds with the possibilities of disabled youths participating in club organized sports. From that thought came the idea that, with our team as the point of original we should contribute with increased knowledge regarding the experiences of disabled youths doing sports. Using ethnography and co-operative observations we have researched both including and excluding factors that contribute to the possibilities of disabled youths opportunity to do sports. We have been able to distinguish that the youths in question feel that sports can be identity-building as well as give a sense of community. The study shows that the basic principles of sports does not correspond with reality because the lack of availability is the determinant factor.

This investigation explores the international perspectives of causality of human traffic, specifically, traffic into commercial sexual exploitation. Current Western approaches to combat trafficking centre around law and order, immigration issues, and victim protection programs. While these are important for a holistic effort to deter traffic, these foci overlook prevention endeavors, thereby acting as a band-aid on a bullet wound, addressing the symptoms, but not the foundation of trafficking. Western perspectives toward prevention concentrate on economic aspects of supply and demand while crediting the root cause to be poverty. Using social exclusion theory, this thesis demonstrates that the current paradigm of viewing human trafficking in purely economic terms is an oversimplification. This project proposes to widen the focus of prevention efforts those cultural and social structures which push and pull victims into trafficking. The research is a response to an international call for further initiatives to prevent human trafficking, the recent rise of human traffic in Guatemala, Central America and the lack of research which focuses on the social links with trafficking and mainstream society. Research conducted in Guatemala, included a thirteen-month ethnography and involved one-hundred and thirteen qualitative interviews conducted in nine Guatemalan cities strategically located along trafficking routes. The target research population included women sex workers and former traffic victims from Central America and included insights from non-governmental organizations workers. Twenty-three interviewees were Central American migrants which provided insight in the wider regional structures of traffic and commercial sexual exploitation. The interviews aimed at understanding the lived experiences of exploitation in order to determine whether social exclusion affects human traffic within commercial sexual exploitation. The findings revealed the underlying social and cultural structures which reinforce human trafficking. Empirical data collected provides real-time data on trafficking networks, commercial sexual exploitation and reveals the geo-political significance of Guatemala as a hot-spot for traffic. Analysis of interviews illustrates variations in the experience of human traffic and commercial sexual exploitation which challenges current western stereotypical ideas on traffic victims. Conceptually, macro-structures—political, economic, social, and violence—are presented as a back drop for the formation of wider networks of exploitation. The exploration of violence as a push factor challenges international forced repatriation policies. Micro-structures—gender roles, family, violence, and coping strategies—are examined in the ways they perpetuate social systems of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. Theoretically, the thesis argues against the current paradigm which narrowly focuses on economics, but calls for the incorporation of social exclusion theory to understand the multi-dimensionality of human traffic and its wider links to society in order to open up new dialogue for prevention between the West and the majority world.

The leper is the ultimate symbol of the social outcast. Plagued by connotations of not just contagion but of sinfulness and moral depravity, lepers have long been stigmatized and excluded from society. The Hebrew Bible declared them to be unclean, and their influence was believed to be wholly corrupting, as if their physical deformities were an external sign of their defiled souls. In the Middle Ages, those diagnosed with leprosy were made to undergo a particularly severe ritual that closely resembled the office of the dead, making them effectively dead to the world. They were then isolated from the healthy population in leprosariums, and their movements and behaviors were strictly controlled. However, their exclusion can be seen as serving a larger purpose than just the protection of normal society from infection in that it can be used by those in power as a mechanism of social control. The imputation of danger to undesirable persons of a given community ensures that they will be duly feared and ostracized. It is within this context that Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco make use of the idea of the leper as a social outlier in their novels, Il visconte dimezzato and Il nome della rosa, as a way to critique certain processes of exclusion, namely the construction and stigmatization of a social “other” as a means of maintaining social order. This report draws on the historical and literary treatments of the leper to discuss the ways in which Calvino and Eco successfully employ the image of the leper to represent the machinery of exclusion and to shed light on the continued marginalization of outcast groups down to the present day. / text

I Sverige omfattas äldre personer av ett historiskt och internationellt sett generöst offentligt ekonomiskt grundtrygghetssystem. Trots det ökade risken för relativ fattigdom bland unga ålderspensionärer (65 till 74 år) under 2000-talets första decennium. Det nya pensionssystemet, tillsammans med den demografiska och ekonomiska utvecklingen, förväntas bidra till att denna trend fortsätter. Inom ramen för dessa omständigheter undersöker avhandlingen yngre ålderspensionärers relativa ekonomiska utsatthet, vad den får för konsekvenser i deras vardag och hur de hanterar situationen. Särskilt vikt läggs vid hur människors livshistorier inverkar på problematiken. Avhandlingen baseras på 30 intervjuer med ekonomiskt utsatta och 17 intervjuer med ekonomiskt trygga yngre ålderspensionärer. Ekonomisk utsatthet preciseras till att motsvara ekonomiska förutsättningar som återfinns bland yngre ålderspensionärer med bostadstillägg. Ekonomisk trygghet definieras följaktligen som bättre ekonomiska förutsättningar än så. Tidigare forskning förklarar ekonomisk utsatthet i ålderdomen med att socioekonomiska nackdelar samverkar och följer på varandra i en negativ spiral över tid. De ger intryck av att det finns en väg fram till ekonomisk utsatthet i ålderdomen. Denna väg tar sin början i en svår ekonomisk situation i barndomen som sedan förvärras allt eftersom tiden går. I kontrast till det visar denna avhandling på fyra vägar fram till ekonomisk utsatthet i ålderdomen – kontinuitet, sluttning, fall och berg- och dalbana. Tre av dessa inkluderar erfarenheter av relativt goda ekonomiska förutsättningar tidigare under livshistorien. Tidigare forskning visar även att äldre personer som lever med ekonomisk utsatthet har anpassat sina preferenser efter små ekonomiska förutsättningar över tid och därför är nöjda med sina vardagsliv trots ekonomisk utsatthet i ålderdomen. I kontrast till det är målen i vardagen likartade bland ekonomiskt utsatta och ekonomiskt trygga pensionärer i avhandlingen. Ju sämre ekonomiska förutsättningar pensionärerna har, desto mer exkluderas de från möjligheten att nå mål om ett hälsosamt åldrande, oberoende, valfrihet och meningsfullhet. Avhandlingens visa också hur äldre personer hanterar den ekonomiska utsattheten på flera olika sätt – genom att hushålla med resurser, försöka öka inkomsterna, använda tillgångar, acceptera situationen, fokusera på positiva aspekter av vardagslivet och anpassa anspråken efter vad som blivit möjligt att uppnå. Hanteringen framträder företrädesvis som resultatet av yngre ålderspensionärers inlåsning i ekonomisk utsatthet under den resterade förväntade livstiden och inte som resultatet av deras tidigare livshistoria. I avhandlingen diskuteras slutligen hur 40-talisternas eller den så kallade rekordgenerationens ålderspensionering kan komma att påverka den ekonomiska utsatthetens betydelse i ålderdomen. Dessutom lyft standardindexering av den skäliga levnadsnivån för äldre personer samt ytterligare subventioner på utgiftssidan fram som möjliga socialpolitiska insatser mot social exklusion bland yngre ålderspensionärer. / During the first decade of the 21st century in Sweden, inequality and risk rates of poverty have increased among young pensioners (between 65–74 years of age). A new public pension system, combined with demographic and economic developments, is expected to add further to these trends. Following this context, the aim of the present dissertation is to survey and understand patterns of economic hardship and its meaning in young pensioners’ everyday lives. The study design is qualitative and takes “subtle realism” as its philosophical theoretical starting point. Economic hardship represents the economic conditions faced by young pensioners who receive the housing supplement for pensioners. It is examined through a relative perspective on poverty. The empirical data primarily consists of interviews with 30 people who live with economic hardship and 17 people who live with comparatively better economic conditions. The theoretical framework consists of theories of social exclusion, coping and life course. The participants’ life histories show four paths to economic hardship – continuity, slope, fall and roller coaster. The last three have not been explicitly described in research before. In elderly life, young pensioners describe experiences of exclusion from the possibility to achieve healthy aging, independence, freedom of choice and meaningfulness, due to their economic hardship. When combined with psychological illness, social isolation, alcohol misuse, and restricted mobility, this exclusion becomes more severe. By focusing on favourable aspects of life and adjusting preferences to fit what has been achieved, young pensioners manage to feel satisfaction with their lives despite consequences of economic hardship. In conclusion, it was primarily situational factors earlier in life that explained economic hardship among young pensioners. In contrast, the findings indicate that it is the present and future – not the past – which for the most part shape young pensioners’ coping with economic hardship. This last finding is at odds with previous assumptions. Finally, as consumption becomes increasingly central in young pensioners’ everyday lives in general, the consequences of economic hardship become more striking within the age group. / <p>Ett erratablad medföljer avhandlingen, se separat fulltextdokument.</p>

Alan Garcia, l’actuel président du Pérou, est un des politiciens les plus controversés dans l’histoire péruvienne. Le succès de sa carrière comme candidat est fort opposé aux résultats catastrophiques de sa première gestion présidentielle. Dans la culture populaire, les compétences discursives de Garcia, ainsi que le contraste entre son succès et ses pauvres performances en tant que président, l’ont élevé au rang de mythe. Ce travail de recherche présente une analyse pragmatique linguistique des stratégies discursives utilisées par le président Garcia dans son deuxième mandat (2001-2006). L’analyse sera centrée sur le rapport établi par Steven Pinker (2007) entre politesse positive et solidarité communale. Les travaux de Brown et Levinson (1978, 1987) et d’Alan Fiske (1991) sont notre base théorique. L’exclusion sociale d’une partie de la population électorale péruvienne, selon le point de vue de Vergara (2007), est l’élément clé pour mieux comprendre le succès de la stratégie discursive de Garcia. Vegara présente une analyse diachronique multi-variable de la situation politique péruvienne pour expliquer la rationalité de la population électorale péruvienne. À partir de cet encadrement théorique, nous procéderons à l’analyse lexicométrique qui nous permettra d’identifier les stratégies discursives utilisées dans le corpus des discours de Garcia qui a été choisi pour l’analyse. D’après le schéma de Pinker, les données obtenues seront classifiées selon la définition de politesse positive de Brown et Levinson. Finalement, nous évaluerons le rapport entre les résultats classifiés et le modèle de solidarité communale de Fiske. L’objectif est de démontrer que le style discursif de Garcia est structuré à partir d’une rationalité dont l’objet est de fermer la brèche sociale entre le politicien et l’électorat. / Peruvian President Alan Garcia is one of the most controversial politicians in Peruvian history. His successful career as a presidential candidate is opposed to the catastrophic results of his first presidential government. Garcia’s discursive skills and the high contrast between his political success and his poor performance as a president have become a myth in Peruvian popular culture.. In this work we will present a pragmatic-linguistic analysis of the discursive strategies used by Garcia in his second administration (2006-2011). The analysis will be focused on the relationship established by Steven Pinker (2007) between Positive Politeness and Communal Sharing. The works of Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) and Alan Fiske (1991) will be our theoretical groundwork. Social exclusion in Peruvian electoral population, as explained by Vergara (2007), is the key factor to understand the success of Garcia’s discursive strategy. In his work, Vergara presents a diachronic multi-variable analysis of the Peruvian political situation that explains the rationality behind Peruvian elector’s decisions. Once established the referential political framework, we will proceed with the lexicometric analysis that will help us to identify the discursive strategies used in a previously selected sample of Garcia’s public discourses. In order to match Pinker’s scheme, we will classify these findings according to the positive politeness categorization of Brown and Levinson. Finally, we will associate these results to the Communal Sharing model of social relationship, as defined by Fiske. Our goal is to demonstrate that Garcia’s discursive style is rationally structured to reduce the social gap between the Politician and the Elector.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

This is a qualitative study inquiring ”What does it entail to be a sex worker in Sweden today?” Four female sex workers were interviewed in semi-structured interviews. Using methods for reflexive analysis, interpreting the interviews and their context theoretically through notions of Competence and Stigma, the results of this study shows that sex workers may be both competent agents and stigmatized. This informs the understanding of sex work, stigma and how learning, subjective room for action and social agency can be aggravated or hindered by stigma. The results are viewed in the context of Swedish legislation against sex purchase in relation to previous research which shows that said legislation is problematic. This study recommends; further studies on varieties of competence, room for action and social agency among sex workers; further studies on how sex workers subjective room for action is affected by the Swedish law against sex purchase; further studies on how the Swedish law against sex purchase affect sex workers prospects for learning; studies on how stigma and discrimination against people in socially vulnerable and/or excluded groups affect individual learning; as well as updated estimations on the prevalence of male, female and transgender sex workers in Sweden. It is also suggested that Sweden could look to other countries for constructive ideas on how to reform sex purchase laws. In this context, New Zealand and Germany are mentioned specifically.

Moterų socialinė-ekonominė situacija Lietuvos kaime Santrauka Šiame magistro darbe atkreipiamas dėmesys į moterų situaciją teritoriniu aspektu, t. y. į kaimo vietovėse gyvenančias moteris. Gyvenimas kaime turi tam tikrą specifiką: nors kaime mažesnė oro tarša, vaizdingesnis kraštovaizdis, platesnė erdvė, visgi šioms vietovėms būdinga prastesnė socialinė infrastruktūra, mažesnės profesinės karjeros ir užimtumo galimybės, labiau komplikuotas susisiekimas ir pan. Kaimo moterų tema dar nėra plačiai išnagrinėta mokslinėje literatūroje, tad pateikiami duomenys yra nepakankamai išsamūs, gana fragmentiški. Dažniausiai minimas gilesnis kaimo moterų skurdas, prastesnės gyvenimo sąlygos, didesni darbo krūviai, pasyvesnis dalyvavimas socialinėje bei kultūrinėje veikloje, didesni jaunų, labiau išsilavinusių moterų migracija į miestą. Dėl šių priežasčių kaime gyvenančioms moterims kyla didesnis pavojus atsidurti socialinėje atskirtyje. Pagrindinis darbe keliamas tikslas – išanalizuoti Širvintų rajono kaimo moterų socialinę-ekonominę situaciją atskleidžiant socialinius-ekonominius veiksnius turinčius didžiausią poveikį kaimo moterų padėčiai bei labiausiai sąlygojančius socialinę atskirtį. Siekiant įgyvendinti iškeltą tikslą Širvintų rajone buvo vykdomas tyrimas apklausiant kaime gyvenančias darbingo amžiaus moteris. Apklausai atlikti buvo sudaryta anketa. Siekiant išsiaiškinti kaimo moterų socialinę-ekonominę situaciją buvo naudojami 7 ją charakterizuojantys veiksniai: užimtumas, pajamų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Socio-Economic Situation of Women in Countryside of Lithuania Summary This master‘s dissertation is focused on the situation of women from the territorial point of view, therefore women living in rural areas are emphasized here. Life in such areas has it‘s own particularity: air pollution is extended to a lesser degree, landscape is more picturesque and wider spread of nature – all those factors are typical of countryside. On the other hand, worse social facilities, less employment and career possibilities, complicated means of communication are more applicable in rural than in urban areas. The subject of rural women is not fully explored in scientific literature yet that’s why given information is not enough circumstantial and quite fragmentary. Topical issues usually dealt are poverty among rural women, bad living conditions, high workload, passive participation in social and cultural activities, increased young and educated women migration to cities. Because of these reasons women living in rural areas are facing a bigger probability to experience social exclusion. The main objective in this dissertation is to analyze socio-economic situation of rural women in Širvintos region revealing socio-economic factors which have a big impact on situation of rural women and determine a social exclusion. With the view of implementation of proposed object, there was an empirical research carried out and employable rural women were polled in Širvintai region. There was a questionnaire... [to full text]

How does the satisfaction (or the lack of satisfaction) of the innate need to have meaningful interpersonal relationships affects behavioural self-regulation? How does having/lacking interpersonal relatedness impact one’s perception of future interpersonal relationships? This doctoral dissertation aimed to answer these two fundamental questions by integrating the views of two complementary theories, need to belong theory (NBT; Baumeister & Leary, 1995) and self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000). Using a series of two laboratory experiments and one longitudinal study, this thesis examined the effects of social exclusion and inclusion on satisfaction of basic psychological needs, self-determined motivation, and self-regulation of behaviours. In Study 1 (N=72), social exclusion and inclusion were manipulated in order to examine their effects on the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs proposed by SDT, that is the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Findings from this first experiment revealed that social exclusion decreases satisfaction of the three needs, whereas social inclusion increases satisfaction of these needs when compared to the control condition. Furthermore, significant differences were found between the exclusion condition and the inclusion condition for the reported levels of satisfaction of the needs for competence and relatedness. The effects of social exclusion and inclusion on basic needs satisfaction were further investigated in Study 2 (N=70); also, the second study examined how self-determined motivation and behavioural self-regulation are affected. More specifically, it tested whether participants’ persistence at a laboratory task, as well as their intentions for a future peer interaction (intentions to compete against a peer participant and intentions to collaborate with a peer participant) are influenced by social exclusion and inclusion, through the meditating effects of basic needs satisfaction and self-determined motivation. The results suggested that social exclusion, via the effects of basic needs and motivation decreases peer collaboration, whereas social inclusion was shown to have an opposite effect on peer collaboration. The effect of condition via the mediating effects of basic needs satisfaction and motivation failed to predict persistence at the task and peer competition. Lastly, Study 3 (N=624) assessed naturally occurring social exclusion and inclusion in a population of junior high school students. This third study investigated the independent contributions of SDT and NBT in the prediction of academic motivation and high school dropout. Peer relatedness, perceived needs support from parents, and perceived needs support from teachers were examined as potential predictors of academic motivation and high school dropout. Findings suggested that peer relatedness plays an important role in the prediction of academic motivation, but, that perceived needs support from parents and perceived needs support from teachers are stronger predictors of that outcome. Results from this study also revealed that peer relatedness contributes to the prediction of high school dropout, beyond what can be explained by academic motivation, perceived needs support from parents, and perceived needs support from teachers. However, perceived needs support from parents was shown to be the most essential predictor of high school dropout. In sum, findings from this doctoral dissertation suggested that social exclusion has detrimental effects on one’s motivation and behavioural self-regulation. In contrast, social inclusion fosters social support which promotes satisfaction of the basic psychological needs, self-determined motivation, and successful self-regulation. This doctoral thesis contributed to the application of SDT and NBT by comparing elements of the two complementary frameworks. It also offered an original contribution to research on social exclusion and inclusion by examining their impacts on self-determined motivation, and basic needs satisfaction, as well as testing them in both the laboratory setting and the natural setting.