Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur tillägnandet av skriftspråk kan bidra till kulturellt kapital med fokus på vad den processen innebär för individen. Urvalet har varit målstyrt och vänt sig till personer som har förändrat sin egen situation och uppnått akademiska eller yrkesrelaterade framsteg. Studien visar att när tillägnandet av skriftspråk bidrar till kulturellt kapital och social rörlighet resulterar det i att individen upplever en förändring i sitt habitus. En process som kan utmana individens möjlighet till att utifrån ett socialt- och psykologiskt perspektiv uppleva tillhörighet i de nya medelklassammanhangen. Det påverkar även individens tidigare familj- och vänskapsrelationer. Studien visar därtill att tillägnandet av skriftspråk kan ha en terapeutisk funktion för ett barn som har ett socialt problem och befinner sig i en utsatt situation. Studien visar att ett kulturellt kapital utvecklas av individens exponering för litteratur, behov av att uttrycka sig och tillfredsställelse i att skriva. Att tillägna sig skriftspråket bidrar till en upplevelse av att vidhålla egenmakt och förmågan att medverka i och påverka samhället. / The purpose of the study was to investigate how the acquisition of written language can contribute to cultural capital with a focus on what that process means for the individual. The selection has been goal-oriented and aimed at people who have created change for themselves and achieved academic and/or professional progress. The study shows that when the acquisition of written language contributes to cultural capital and social mobility, it results in the individual experiencing a change in their habitus. A process that can challenge the individual's ability to experience belonging in the new middle-class contexts from a social and psychological perspective. It also affects the individual's previous relationships to family and friends. The study also shows that the acquisition of written language can have a therapeutic function for a child who has a social problem and is socially vulnerable. The study shows that cultural capital is developed by the individual's exposure to literature, need for expression and satisfaction in writing. Acquiring the written language contributes to an experience of maintaining autonomy and the ability to participate in and influence society.

This ethnographic study investigates the experiences of those learning tailoring and trading in Freetown, Sierra Leone via apprenticeships, other on-the-job training or Technical and Vocational Education and Training programs (TVET). I examine these forms of occupational training by investigating the practices underway, how knowledge transmission occurs, as well as why learners engage with and what they get out of these activities. I consider how the job learners utilise occupational training as a manner of increasing social, cultural and economic capital in Bourdieu's sense of those terms to navigate the urban labour market.     I find that the learners aspire fundamentally to social mobility and a sense of self-worth. To achieve this, they use four main tactics: flexibility, reframing, co-operation and diligence. However, I find all tactics are developed in response to greatly circumscribed opportunities to obtain a good and stable income, and increased social status, due to structural inequality. Local political neoliberal discourse on youth unemployment emphasising diligence, belies these inequities and the limited ways in which social mobility is within the individual’s control. Hence, I argue, a focus on training without addressing structural inequality is inadequate.     As the training usually does not lead to paid and reliable employment, I argue it serves more fundamentally as a form of moral education and a vehicle for personal and social development. I argue it helps develop certain personal moral traits and alleviate society's concern about immoral "idle youth". Further, that it helps develop what I term resilience capital; that is, the hard-working and stubborn disposition developed by reframing previous experiences of adversity, which may later assist the individual in acquiring other forms of capital.     Although not its main focus, this study also seeks to contribute to academic scholarship through developing our understanding of knowledge transmission. I find that the process of knowledge transmission is fundamentally social and shaped by hierarchy, subjective positions of power, the inculcation of moral and ethical values, and more dependent for success on various forms of capital than it might at first appear.

This study uses the competing Burton Clark's "Cooling Out Theory" and Daniel Bell's "Theory of the Postindustrial Economy" to examine the function that for-profit colleges and universities (FPCUs) play in American higher education and how it is different from non-profit traditional colleges and universities (TCUs). This was done through three sections of analysis. The first examined if students who enroll at these FPCUs are less academically prepared than those attending non-profit traditional colleges or universities. The second tested if academic preparedness is associated with postsecondary performance at FPCUs to the same degree it is at TCUs. The final section of analysis looked at FPCU graduates to see if they have different short-term job outcomes when compared to traditional college graduates. This research utilizes The Beginning Postsecondary Survey 2009- a restricted-use longitudinal data set produced by the National Center for Education Statistics that followed 16,700 first-time college enrollees from 2003 until 2009. This data set includes information on student demographics, academic performance, enrollment history, and job outcomes. The results of this study indicated that when compared to traditional college students, FPCU students are less likely to be academically prepared for college and are more frequently characterized by risk factors that previous research has shown makes it less likely they will complete their degree. This research also found that unlike TCUs, high school academic performance is not associated with post-secondary performance or likelihood of degree attainment at FPCUs. Finally, it was observed that FPCU graduates were less likely to have jobs related to their degree and earned less income than TCU graduates, but had about the same degree of job satisfaction.

No description available.

Ma Shouzhen (1548-1604) was a cultured courtesan who lived in the famous pleasure quarter along the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, the southern capital of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). She was talented in dance and music, painting and poetry, and surprisingly for her time, she was also a playwright. Although she was a celebrity of the prolific Nanjing cultural milieu and there is a good corpus of extant material by and about her, the particular contribution of Ma Shouzhen - her character and her work - have been marginalised, or even neglected, by the previous scholarship. This thesis is a cross-disciplinary study of Ma Shouzhen and is the first in-depth scholarly investigation into the entirety of her activities. It employs material and methods traditionally pertaining to the disciplines of sinology, history, art history, literary and drama studies. The thesis has a dual aim: first, to provide a nuanced understanding of the courtesan, her cultural production and social practice; second, to reclaim the agency and legacy of her character within the cultural milieu of late Ming Nanjing and beyond. These aims will be achieved through two main research objectives: (1) recovering and re-evaluating visual and written sources by and about the courtesan; (2) investigating those sources in order to comprehend her modes of self-representation and strategies of self-fashioning, analysed especially through the lens of gender. The main body of the thesis is composed of an introduction, five core chapters, and an epilogue; the chapters are structured so as to provide as complete a picture of Ma Shouzhen as possible. Chapter Two explores the space of the pleasure quarter, Ma’s biography and its entwinement within the complexities of the historical moment. Chapter Three focuses on her painting, Chapter Four considers her poetry, and Chapter Five explores her theatre practice; Chapter Six extends the investigation to focus on the construction of Ma’s historical character in later decades. In its content and aims, this thesis contributes to women’s and gender history, as well as to studies in visual culture and literature.

En esta tesis se analiza la sociedad de Murcia en el siglo XVII a través de los procesos de producción, manufactura, comercialización y detracción fiscal de la seda, con las finalidades de explicar la movilidad y la reproducción social de las elites surgidas del comercio sedero, así como indagar en las circunstancias que posibilitaron o no la formación de una grupo social burgués. La seda contribuyó a la caracterización de la sociedad murciana como una formación económica y social que tiene como principio fundamental la perpetuación y la reproducción social. Sin embargo, en esta estructura social existían algunas posibilidades de mejorar la condición que se ocupaba en la misma. Los actores sociales actúan para mejorar y garantizar su posición en la sociedad, ésta es más importante que la posesión de bienes materiales; no obstante, la riqueza y las relaciones sociales son imprescindibles para la lucha individual y familiar por el honor. / The essential thesis is to analyse the Murcian society in the seventeenth century through the process of production, manufacture, commercialization and fiscal taxation of the silk. In the same way it has the purpose of explaining the social mobility and social reproduction of the elite which arose out of the silk trade, and doing research in the circumstances which made possible or did not the formation of a social middle class group, the bourgeoisie. The silk contributed to the characterization of the society of the seventeenth century as an economical and social formation that has the perpetuation and the social reproduction as fundamental principle. The social protagonists acts in order to improve and guarantee their position in the society, this one is more important than the possession of goods; nevertheless, the wealth and the social relations are essential for the individual and family fight to get the honour.

This study examined the schooling experiences of eleven graduates from the rural south of Egypt with primary community schools in Assiut. The study used individual interviews and focus groups to examine how community school graduates understood their experiences. The community schools were found to have removed previous obstacles of distance and cost. The quality of education that the students received allowed them to flourish in education rather than falter, and that was largely influenced by the quality of their relationship with their teachers. The students learned academic skills, as well as attitudes and dispositions that serve as cultural capital. They have more opportunities than before, yet also face significant challenges as they transition to the public system. The model of community schooling is also facing significant challenges as differences with the public schooling systems are exerting tension on the community school model to converge.

This study examined the schooling experiences of eleven graduates from the rural south of Egypt with primary community schools in Assiut. The study used individual interviews and focus groups to examine how community school graduates understood their experiences. The community schools were found to have removed previous obstacles of distance and cost. The quality of education that the students received allowed them to flourish in education rather than falter, and that was largely influenced by the quality of their relationship with their teachers. The students learned academic skills, as well as attitudes and dispositions that serve as cultural capital. They have more opportunities than before, yet also face significant challenges as they transition to the public system. The model of community schooling is also facing significant challenges as differences with the public schooling systems are exerting tension on the community school model to converge.

Les grandes villes du Sud s’étalent dans leurs périphéries, en grande partie non réglementaires, notamment en conséquence de l’incapacité de l’Etat à procurer un logement à l’ensemble de la population. Cette thèse restitue l’analyse d’un de ces quartiers irréguliers aux marges de la ville : le quartier de Cherarba dans le Sud-est de l’agglomération algéroise, à la porte de la Mitidja. La réflexion porte sur les pratiques et les représentations des populations et la façon dont elles pèsent sur les dynamiques de dé-marginalisation et/ou d’intégration socio-spatiale de ces quartiers populaires à la ville. Les activités économiques générées par les populations s’avèrent un vecteur déterminant permettant à ces quartiers irréguliers périphériques de s’intégrer dans l’ensemble de la dynamique socio-spatiale de la ville. Trois axes structurent la recherche ; nous verrons d’abord comment les habitants "ordinaires" sont des acteurs à part-entière dans la production de l’espace urbain, en agissant au cœur même de ces transformations, à travers des stratégies résidentielles et économiques. Ensuite le regard se focalisera sur l'étude des interdépendances des territoires marginalisés avec la ville. L'examen des pratiques des populations devra permettre ici de mettre en évidence les modes d'effacement des frontières, d'imbrication et d'interactions à l'ensemble de la ville, particulièrement par le biais des dynamiques économiques. Le cœur de la réflexion concernera l'émergence d'une véritable polarité urbaine, formidable vecteur d'intégration. Enfin, l'analyse portera sur les pratiques et les représentations des populations, en mettant en évidence les formes de sociabilités et de solidarités, les ressources et les réseaux sociaux au sein et en dehors du quartier et les significations sociales qu'il recouvre. Le dévoilement de ces processus de recomposition urbaine bouscule les a priori entretenus sur ces périphéries stigmatisées et considérées comme des non-villes et conduit à une nouvelle approche de la réalité urbaine, modifiant les perceptions sociales négatives qui affectent cet « urbanisme d'émanation populaire ». / The big cities of the South spread out in their peripheries, largely not statutory, in particular as a result of the incapacity of the State to get an accommodation to the whole population. This thesis restores the analysis of one of these irregular districts to the margins of the city: the district of Cherarba in the Southeast of the urban area from Algiers, in the door of Mitidja. The reflection concerns the practices and the representations of the populations and the way they weigh on the dynamics of die-marginalization and/or sociospatial integration of these popular districts in the city. Economic activities generated by the populations turn out a determining vector allowing these peripheral irregular districts to become integrated in the whole of the socio-spatial dynamics of the city. Three axes structure the search; we shall see at first how the "ordinary" inhabitants are actors to whole part in the production of the urban space, by acting in the heart of these transformations, through residential and economic strategies. Then the look will focus on the study of the interdependences of territories marginalized with the city. The examination of the practices of the populations will have to make it possible here to highlight the modes of obliteration of the borders, overlap and interactions to the town suit, particularly by the means as of economic dynamics. The heart of the reflection will relate to the emergence of a true urban polarity, formidable vector of integration. Finally, the analysis will concern the practices and the representations of the populations, by highlighting the forms of sociability and solidarities, the resources and the social networks in the breast and except the district and the social meanings which it recovers. The unveiling of these processes of urban reorganization pushes aside prejudice maintained on these peripheries stigmatized and considered non-cities and leads to a new approach of the urban reality, modifying the negative social perceptions which affect this « town planning of popular emanation ».

This thesis is on the Turkish-speaking community, comprising Turkish-Cypriots, Turks from Turkey, and Kurds from Turkey, and ethnic community football in London, which has been conceptualised as a transnational social field. It is intended as a contribution in the debates on the growing importance of issues of diasporic communities, their identity politics, and cultural integration in a context of ‘super-diversity’. There are three major analytical themes. The first is transnational diaspora politics, which is redefined to comprise any relationship of power or interest by mobilising diasporic connections. I argue that the Turkish-speaking community uses ethnic football as a means for communal mobilisation around and representation of their ethnic identity in the public space of London, a city of unique political-economic and symbolic significance for the Cyprus Conflict which helped create the Turkish and Greek Cypriot football leagues in London. I show that the Turkish-speaking community has ever since used football to create and maintain a bridge between London and all the different locations of the community including Cyprus, Turkey, Germany, and beyond. The second major theme is collective identities and how they are (re)produced, represented, and manifested in the diaspora. I argue that the nature of the field of ethnic football as a familiar, open, and welcoming space conveniently positioned between the Turkish-speaking private sphere and the British/Londoner public space has been a major factor accounting for the effectiveness of various identity projects to be pursued within this field. Lastly, after presenting the historical link between modern competitive sports and masculinity, I claim that the one defining aspect of all the ethnic identities reproduced within the field is their masculine character. The last analytical theme is the cultural integration of immigrant communities. Without adopting a normative definition of cultural integration, I have considered the implications of involvement in ethnic community football in terms of belonging, social inclusion, marginalisation, and the psychological development and well-being of the individuals involved. The presented and analysed discussion rejects any automatic causal link between involvement in sports and integration or that involvement in mono-ethnic sporting organisations and segregation. Having reviewed a few exemplary organisations, which used football for integration purposes, and the nature of the ethnic community leagues, I have also argued in this thesis that the field of ethnic community football, again due to its specific nature, structure, and position between the private and public spaces, offers a great potential to be engaged by local and national governments in the service of integration policies.