This study aimed to use the Transtheoretical Model of behaviour change (Prochaska and DiClemente, 1983) to investigate the process of smoking initiation in a cross-section of high school adolescents in urban KwaZulu-Natal. This aim was informed by the increase in incidence of smoking among adolescents, who represent a particularly vulnerable population to smoking (Orlandi and Dalton, 1998). The Transtheoretical Model has proved successful in changing problem health behaviours (prochaska and DiClemente, 1983) and lends itself to be a suitable framework for investigating smoking acquisition in adolescents (Werch and DiClemente, 1994). An extensive review of the causes and correlates of smoking uptake and past intervention evaluations suggests that the core constructs of the TTM (Decisional Balance, Temptation and Stage of Acquisition) can be complemented by other another variable, Perceived Social Norms (informed by the Theory of Planned Behaviour, Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975, as cited in Pitts, 1996), to provide a more holistic explanation of smoking acquisition. Alcohol use, parental smoking and certain demographic factors are also found to be salient factors in this process. Findings showed that the perceived cons of smoking were constant across stages and seemed to have no effect on stage membership. Stage differences were explained almost entirely in terms of pros, which increased drastically with later stages. Perceived social norms increased with a later stage, confirming a tentative theoretical relationship between the Transtheoretical Model and Theory of Planned Behaviour. Lack of expressed intention to smoke by participants questions the validity of using the rational decision-making Transtheoretical Model to investigate a process not informed by decision-making. European language speakers were found to be a particularly vulnerable group to smoking, while African language speaking girls show very low rates of smoking. High religiosity was found to be a protective factor, while alcohol use was strongly associated with smoking. Maternal smoking was strongly associated with smoking, but only in girls. No difference in stage was found between schools and grades. The study should be replicated using a longitudinal design to determine the causal relationship between factors and smoking and to further investigate the applicability of the Transtheoretical Model in smoking acquisition. / Thesis (M.A.)- University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004

"I love this country with a passion, but I cannot live here anymore. I can no longer live slung about with panic buttons and gear locks. I am tired of driving with car windows closed and the doors locked, tired of being afraid of stopping at red lights. I am tired of being constantly alert, having that sudden frisson of fear at the sight of a shadow by the gate, of a group of youths approaching - although nine times out of ten they are innocent of harmful intent. Such is the suspicion that dogs us all." (Paton, A. London Sunday Times, November 29 1998) This credence and conviction was echoed repeatedly during personal interviews in South Africa and New Zealand. The added pressure South African Indian respondent's felt emanated from being Indian. This study argues that although the shift to post-apartheid epoch has dawned, the providence of the Indian in South Africa remains relatively unaltered. The consequence is that South African Indians are voyaging for security elsewhere. New Zealand has offered them an alternative home. This area of exploration has not been investigated before, since South African Indian migration to New Zealand is a relatively new exodus. This research explores and investigates why South African Indians are migrating to New Zealand, on a micro and macro level. This dissertation focuses on three main aspects: the reasons for migration to New Zealand, the effects on the respective countries and the formation of new 'identities and home.' I developed my main arguments based on the data retrieved from the personal interviews - the greatest source of information for this work. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002

This thesis argues that it is both necessary and possible to change the world. Changing the world requires engaging with, to try to understand it from the basis of lived reality, and then acting. Our ability to do this is, however, affected by hegemony, which attempts to convince us that the way things are is either normal and natural and the only possible way they could be, or that it is impossible to change them. Nevertheless, there is always resistance to this, and I suggest that we might learn something useful by examining how this happens. The thesis thus explores Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, and its applicability to our current world; and also considers resistance to this. I argue that the nature of capitalism has shifted, and discuss how this shift has impacted on hegemony, identifying three current interlocking hegemonic ideologies. I consider current resistance to this hegemony, including the role of social movements. Much resistance, and many social movements, I argued, cannot properly be called counter-hegemonic in that, although it/they may critique the dominant economic system, it/they remain trapped within hegemonic logic. However, it is clear that there is existing truly counter-hegemonic resistance, including some social movements, and I argue that Abahlali baseMjondolo is one such counter-hegemonic movement. Thus it is possible that those who join/align themselves with this movement might be considered to have ‘unlearned’ hegemony and be useful subjects for this study. I thus consider the life stories of seven people who have aligned themselves to this movement, in order to determine whether they have indeed ‘unlearned’ hegemony, and if so, how. I discuss relevant and appropriate theory for examining this phenomenon, including experiential learning, transformative learning and Freirean emancipatory learning. I argue that whilst these theories of learning are helpful, they cannot entirely account for unlearning. I then turn to the theory of the event of Alain Badiou as a possible complementary or alternative way into thinking about unlearning. I apply both the learning theories and Badiou’s theory of the event to the stories, all of which show strong evidence of unlearning,, and consider how useful the theories are in understanding this. I conclude that all of the theories help to some extent in understanding the unlearning in stories. There are, however, fundamental differences between the learning theories on the one hand and Badiou’s theory on the other. I construct a model showing that the basis of the difference between the adult learning theories and Badiou’s theory of the event rests on the locus of the trigger for transformation. I argue that Badiou’s theory provides a very useful additional perspective to adult learning theory; but that it cannot be considered to have replaced existing theories in understanding how people learn informally to think and act in counter-hegemonic ways. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

This thesis offers an overview of the functions served by various mobilisations of "poverty‟ and "the poor‟ across the histories of capitalism. It shows how "poverty‟ and "the poor‟ come to be shaped as governmental categories in the interests first of encouraging the acceptance of wage labour in industrial society, and then in encouraging the acceptance of a logic of individual responsibility and entrepreneurship as wage labour declines in post-industrial society. It also examines the deployment of discourses of poverty within social movements, showing the close relationship between the elaboration of governmental discourses and resistance in the contested process of the "making‟ of "the poor‟. In particular, it explores the increased mobilisation of discourses of poverty in post-apartheid South Africa, where, it is shown, "poverty‟ and "the poor‟ are shaped as governmental categories that aim to fashion particular forms of life for that population group identified and targeted as the poor, and become ways for poor people to make demands of the state in the context of the adoption of neoliberal policies, such as cost recovery, privatisation, and the flexibilisation of labour. Through a close exploration of state policy formulation and community struggles in the sphere of the delivery of basic services, this thesis presents the contested field of signification and production that emerges around the meeting of the basic needs of the poor in the City of Johannesburg and Orange Farm (a particularly disadvantaged part of the city) as a case through which to think through contemporary mobilisations of "poverty‟ and "the poor‟ in relation to processes of subjectivation and the possibilities for the production of subjectivities antagonistic to the logic of capital. Focusing on the City's most recent return to indigent management as a strategy to contain and address the needs of the poor, in the context of organised resistance on the part of poor communities, this thesis offers an experience of a process of neoliberalisation as a contested process, in which attempts to shape and deploy "the poor‟ and "poverty‟ as governmental categories come up against mobilisations of "the poor‟ in challenge of the dominant logic of commodification, the market, and "individual responsibility‟. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban, 2010.

This article investigates the impact of poverty and shocks on adolescents, particularly their role in early school drop-out. Data consisting of 3043 adolescent interviews and 1945 household interviews, from a recent survey entitled Transitions to Adulthood among Adolescents in Durban, South Africa, has been used. While conventional explanations of drop-out acknowledge the role of socio-economic factors, this paper attempts to understand, through an asset-vulnerability framework, the explicit contribution of poverty and shocks to drop-out in the South African context. The results indicate that the poverty-based theory of drop-out put forward, while appealing, does not fully account for drop-out. Instead, it would seem that among poor households the education of their children is seen as an asset that is to be protected. It is proposed that school feeding schemes be reconsidered as a social welfare tool to support poor households in their attempts to keep their children in school. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

This study considered the work of the Department of Community Development in the City of Cape Town, through the manner in which it implemented its developmental vision, its institutional consequences and the obstacles to its realisation.

Thesis (MS en S)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The study focus on the Greater Saldanha and environment by evaluating the socio-economic impact of the Saldanha Steel project on the area. Major development projects, like the SSP, can create significant impact on the socioeconomic features within the region of influence. This impact affects the provision of public services (education, health services, police protection), social services (housing, transport, urban land use) as well as the fiscal features of the region. Following the National elections in 1994, the new government implemented the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to address social and economic problems in specific regions. The RDP was followed by the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy. Spatial Development Initiatives (SDI's), form part of the GEAR strategy and aims to address regional differences and promote sustainable long term development, economic growth and employment in the region. The West coast Investment Initiative (Well) is one of the eight SDI's that were identified. The Saldanha Steel project (SSP) is the focus project of the WCII. The initiative is a mixed industrial and agrotourism SDI. Great expectations were formed with respect to the number of employment opportunities that would be provided by the SSP, as well as the economic progress and development within the region. This study project evaluates the socio-economic impact of the SSP by focussing on the demographic aspects, social infrastructure and services, employment and income, housing and development, infrastructure provision as well as the SSP's involvement within the communities of Greater Saldanha and environment. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie fokus op Groter Saldanha en omgewing deur die sosio-ekonomiese impak van die Saldanha Staal projek (SSP) op die gebied te evalueer. Groot ontwikkelingsprojekte, soos die SSP, kan 'n groot impak maak op die sosio-ekonomiese kenmerke binne die streek of area van invloed. Die impak word veral ervaar in die verskaffing van publieke dienste (opvoeding, gesondheisdienste, polisie), sosiale dienste (behuising, vervoer, stedelike grondgebruik) sowel as die fiskale karaktertrekke van die streek. Na die Nasionale verkiesing in 1994, het die nuwe regering die Heropbou en Ontwikkelingsprogram (HOP) geimplementeer om sosiale en ekonomiese probleme aan te spreek. Die HOP is in 1996 gevolg deur die "Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategie. As deel van die GEAR strategie, is Ruimtelike ontwikkelingsinisiatiewe deur die Nasionale Regering ingestel om streeksongelykhede aan te spreek en volhoubare lang termyn ontwikkeling, ekonomiese groei en werksgeleenthede te verseker vir die streek. Ag ruimtelike ontwikkelingsinisiatiewe (ROI) is ingestel, waarvan die Weskus Beleggingsinisiatief een is. Die Saldanha Staal projek (SSP) is die fokusprojek van die Weskus Beleggingsinisiatief. Die inisiatief is geidentifiseer as 'n gemengde industrieële en landboutoerisme ROI. Groot verwagtinge is geskep ten opsigte van die hoeveelheid werksgeleenthede wat geskep sal word deur die SSP, sowel as ekonomiese vooruitgang en ontwikkeling binne die streek. Die werkstuk evalueer die sosio-ekonomiese impak van die SSP deur te fokus op demografiese aspekte, sosiale infrastruktuur en dienste, indiensneming en inkome, behuising en ontwikkeling, infrastruktuurvoorsiening sowel as die SSP se betrokkenheid by die gemeenskappe van die Groter Saldanha en omgewing.

South Africa has undergone a remarkable political transformation since the birth of democracy in 1994, yet it remains plagued by extremely high levels of socio-economic inequality, violent crime and social unrest. Although inequality is often regarded as a major driver of many social problems, the evidence base concerning inequality in South Africa is relatively limited, consisting primarily of national level Gini coefficients or General Entropy measures based upon household income, expenditure or consumption data. In this thesis I argue that these broad national level measures say little about people's actual day-to-day lived experiences of inequality and how these individual experiences of inequality may be shaped by the local geographical areas in which people live and go about their daily lives. I construct a series of empirical measures of exposure to socio-economic inequality which reflect the socio-spatial environments in which people live. I argue that these new measures can be used as explanatory factors in the study of other social outcomes, both at an individual level (for example, individuals' attitudes) and at an area level (for example, rates of violent crime). Exposure to inequality is measured both from the perspective of the 'poor' population and the perspective of the 'non-poor' population and the measures are constructed and presented at small area level using the Datazone statistical geography. I analyse the spatial distribution of exposure to inequality and find that exposure to inequality is typically highest in urban neighbourhoods, particularly in the major metropolitan areas. I develop a measure of intensity of exposure in order to highlight areas with both high exposure and high levels of deprivation. I also present one example of how my new measures can be used to explore associations with other outcomes, specifically looking at the relationship between people's lived experience of inequality and their attitudes towards inequality and redress.

This case study investigates sense of place of youth amidst a background of change in postapartheid South Africa. As used in this study, sense of place refers to the attachments made to both physical and social places, and the social and cultural interactions and meanings associated with such places. The research was conducted with a group of 13 young adults at Mary Waters Senior Secondary School in Grahamstown. The literature suggests that the changes that occur in the lives of the participants at school-leaving age such as new opportunities to identify with global aspirations, tend to influence their sense of place in local contexts. Social change that occurs due to globalising forces such as access to new technologies and improved personal mobility, also influences sense of place in this context. Another integral factor is the structural influence of changing cultural and educational norms. These notions form part of the backdrop of this study. The research project was developed in response to calls for learning approaches that are situated more in local contexts and which include the youth as intrinsic participants informing environmental education approaches. This research draws attention to the significance of finding sustainable ways that enhance opportunities for agency on the part of the youth in future local and global environmental care-taking. The study took place over a period of 15 months in which time the participants undertook place-based activities in their communities around self-identified environmental concerns. The study was intentionally generative in approach as this allowed the voices of the participants and their environmental perspectives to be considered in developing methods and activities that were suitable to their particular contexts and interests. The study highlights the relevance of particular social contexts, through the perspectives of people and in this case learners, as key to environmental education enquiries. The combination of approaches that consider: a) knowledge about social context, b) the educational intervention (place-based activities) and, c) the situated social capital of the participants, all form the basis of meaningful pedagogical engagements and serve to address my research question: How is learners' sense of place developed and articulated through place-based activities, and what are the implications for environmental education amidst a contemporary landscape of change in South Africa?

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