This interpretive research study examines peer leadership in a distributed online MBA community of practice at New States University (NSU pseudonym, based in USA). It explores ways in which faculty members in a global business course, NMBA616 (pseudonym), negotiate relationships, meaning and identity in their efforts to be effective teachers and address their own needs for professional growth and development. The research participants provide insights about community formation and function in a virtual domain where they work together at a distance without meeting face-to-face. The study appears to be a new application of culture code methodology, symbolic interactionism and social learning theory as they conjoin on social, psychological and organizational levels. To my knowledge it is the first study of an MBA virtual community of practice. Research interviews were conducted primarily by distance using web-based technology, teleconferences and email, as well as some face to face discussion. The central questions are: 1) To what extent does a distributed faculty team in an online global business management course constitute a community of practice? 2) What is the nature of faculty relationships in the online global business management course? and 3) What are the leadership issues in a virtual practice setting? Findings reveal that online community practitioners are resourceful in creating peer leadership that is embedded within the group and its relationships. The study is motivated by my personal interests and professional experience, as well as by the quest of online colleagues for ways to assess, support and improve themselves and their practice. Building on personal experience as an online business communications instructor, the thesis presents an example of peer leadership in a virtual global business community of practice and in its completion stands as a case study.

Bakgrund: Valet av uppsatsämne grundar sig i att det skett en förändring i synen på betydelsen av en relation mellan föräldrar och barn under senaste århundradet. Att föräldrarna har fått en större betydelse i barnens liv gör det därför intressant att studera hur föräldrar som har sina barn placerade i familjehem görs delaktiga i barnens liv utifrån socialsekreterares uppfattningar om delaktighetsfrämjande arbete och sitt handlingsutrymme i detta arbete. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån ett symboliskt interaktionistiskt perspektiv beskriva och analysera socialsekreterares uppfattningar om sitt handlingsutrymme och delaktighetsfrämjande arbete med föräldrar till familjehemsplacerade barn. Metod: Denna studie har en kvalitativ ansats där materialet har skapats genom halvstrukturerade intervjuer och empirin utgörs av fyra stycken transkriberade intervjuer. Urvalet har skett genom att socialsekreterare som har arbetsuppgifter som innefattar att arbeta med föräldrar till familjehemsplacerade barn kontaktades. Empirin har sedan bearbetats och analyserats utifrån en tematisk analysmodell. Resultatet presenteras sedan i relation till studiens teoretiska ram samt tidigare forskning. Resultat: Denna studie visar på att tillgänglighet och kontinuitet är enligt socialsekreterarna av betydelse för skapandet av en relation mellan socialsekreterare och föräldrar, vilket i sin tur främjar föräldrarnas delaktighet samt att det kan vara av betydelse för barnets bästa. I detta arbete så upplever socialsekreterarna att deras handlingsutrymme är stort och att det har en frihet i hur de kan lägga upp ett delaktighetsfrämjande arbete med föräldrar till familjehemsplacerade barn. Men samtidigt beskriver de även aspekter som de upplever begränsa deras handlingsutrymme. / Background: The choice of subject in this study is based on the altered perception of the importance of a relation between parents and children the last century. The enlarged importance of parent's involvement in their children's lives makes it interesting to study how these parents are made participated by the social worker and their perspectives of a work that promotes participation among these parents and how the social worker perceive their discretion in this work. Purpose: This study aims to describe and analyse, from a symbolic interactionistic perspective, the perspective of social workers about their discretion and the work of promoting participation among parents with children in foster care. Method: This study has a qualitative approach where the material was made by semi-structured interviews and the empirics consists of four transcribed interviews. We contacted social worker who is working with parents that have children placed in foster care to make our selection. The empirics have then been processed and analysed with a thematic analyse model. The result is then presented in relation to this study's theoretical frame and previous research. Result: The results of this study shows that availability and continuity are, according to the social worker, of importance in the making of a relation between the social worker and these parents, which in turn can promote the parent's participation and it can also be for the child's best. In this work the social worker experiencing that they have a wide discretion which enables them to scheduled their own time which they spend in the work of promoting participation among parents with children in foster care. At the same time, they also describe aspects that they feel is limiting their discretion.

The aim of this study is to understand and lighten the interviewees’ descriptions and their experiences of being unaccompanied youths in Sweden. In order to research this, we have analyzed the barriers, opportunities and the strategies they use to become a part of the society but also to strengthen their position in the society. The method we have used is the qualitative method and the data has been gathered by semi structured interviews with six unaccompanied youths. In order to analyze our results we have used symbolic interactionism and Antonovsky’s theory about sense of coherence. The results of the study have shown that most of the interviewees experienced having a difficult first period in Sweden considering the fact that they left their family and their home country to start a new life in Sweden, young and alone. With the use of different strategies, this became better over time as they developed their Swedish language skills, started to study, entered the labor market and expanded their social contact network. At the same time they have faced multiple opportunities to become a part of the society in different ways. They have also faced several barriers which has prevented them of becoming a part of the society and also weakened their position in the society. Therefore they have developed and used different strategies to get through these barriers. The main conclusion is that there are more positive aspects and possibilities than barriers for the unaccompanied youths to feel that they are a part of the society.

In John Fowles's last two novels, he alters his authorial project of discovering freedom for an individual from a social system to how a social system can be changed from within. Using Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection and her interpretation of the semiotic versus symbolic processes of signification, readers can determine how an imbalance in the human signifying process has become corrupted by power. Through Fowles's heroines and semiotic irruptions of the symbolic order in both Mantissa and A Maggot, Fowles reveals weaknesses in the symbolic, and consequently, moments where transformation of a patriarchal, symbolic system can be recognized. These moments of strain on the symbolic are significant because they cause a disruption of the rules and borders that define a social system like patriarchy. By calling attention to these moments, the categorical imperatives that have been imposed on women and perpetuated for the purpose of maintaining power relations can thus be subverted. In Mantissa and A Maggot, Fowles accomplishes a breaking of the boundaries, both within and of the text, by providing a literary space where readers can glimpse the power of the semiotic, the corruption of social conditioning, and gain a new perspective of their own symbolic/social system in the real world. / by Jenifer A. Skolnick. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Somos uma construção social, a nossa produção de sentido, a compreensão que temos do mundo resulta das relações sociais e dos vínculos afetivos, subjetivados e resubjetivados desde a fase especular da infância. A linguagem, condição para a estruturação do inconsciente, inscreve e inaugura o sujeito no universo simbólico. A interação do sujeito com o entorno dá-se de acordo com as significações que faz sobre o mundo em que vive, e o objetivo da tese centra-se em compreender a construção dos significantes de stress. Os significantes de stress desenvolvidos e manifestados na atividade profissional resultam da produção de sentido do sujeito, foram construídos ao longo do tempo, permeados pelo contexto e por elaborações imaginário-simbólicas. Nesta tese, para dar conta do fenômeno estudado, mostrou-se a possibilidade de aproximação teórica entre a psicanálise lacaniana, no que se refere à dimensão imaginário-simbólica constitutiva do sujeito, com a teoria de stress psicológico de Lazarus para viabilizar aqui neste trabalho, a compreensão da origem do stress psicológico. Analisou-se a produção de sentido de stress em profissionais que exercem atividade gerencial, destacando os conteúdos ideativos das dimensões imaginário- simbólica, como constituintes da origem do stress psicológico e buscou-se na análise, entender a relação entre as significações de stress atribuídas à atividade pesquisada e à experiência de stress do sujeito. A pesquisa empírica, realizada com 20 sujeitos, constou de entrevistas-narrativa, com roteiro focal semi-estruturado. Escolheu-se o método de análise do discurso, seguindo dois modelos: Análise do Discurso-AD e Análise do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo-DSC, utilizando- se o recurso do software Qualiquantisoft. Os resultados encontrados apontam que as significações sobre o trabalho são centrais na vida dos homens e mulheres entrevistados. Os significantes de stress mais lembrados por eles, estão canalizados para as situações de trabalho, em que o estressor mais intenso está vinculado ao cumprimento das metas de prazos curtos. Em segundo lugar, foi lembrado o stress por não ter o controle da situação estressante. Quanto às significações de stress, os homens centram-se nos stressores externos e por sua vez, as mulheres apontam os sintomas como significantes de stress. A maioria dos homens, tem uma lembrança idealizada da infância, sem a presença de stress, sendo que os demais, 30% consideram ter tido uma infância difícil, e identificaram os stressores da infância. As mulheres, também, em sua maioria consideram a infância como um período muito bom de suas vidas, conseguindo identificar stress ocorrido nessa fase. Quanto às lembranças do stress da infância, predomina nos homens entrevistados, a categoria de não se lembrar de tido stress infância, o que não aconteceu no caso das mulheres, para elas, a infância foi muito boa, mas guardam na lembrança ativa, a primeira vez que sentiram stress, tal como o significam atualmente. Elas afirmaram que o stress atual é o mesmo stress da infância, confirmando a repetição significante, de acordo com psicanálise. Com relação aos processos de coping, a diversidade evidenciou-se nas respostas dos homens e das mulheres. As escolhas dos homens mostram três de categorias de coping: Eu enfrento o stress de frente, como um desafio; Eu me afasto para pensar melhor; Relaxar por meio de leituras de auto ajuda. O coping das mulheres também revelou diversidade de respostas quanto a enfrentar seus stressores: 40% tenta se acalmar primeiro, esquivando-se da situação e, depois enfrentam o stressor; 30% toma um calmante leve, uma faz terapia para fortalecer-se e aprender a lidar com os stressores, principalmente para aprender a dizer não às pressões sofridas. Uma afirmou enfrentar prontamente os stressores e sua estratégia consiste em diminuir os seus efeitos para poder controlá-los. Foi citado por outra entrevistada, o procurar relaxar e espairecer por meio de um lazer prazeroso com a família nos finais de semana. Fazer amigos e buscar apoio e trocar idéias foi citado como eficaz processo de coping. O estudo sobre a construção imaginário-simbólica do stress psicológico possibilitou desvelar a origem dos significantes de stress, à luz do saber lacaniano e a pesquisa empírica permitiu um olhar convergente, mas não conclusivo. / We are social constructions, our sense production, the comprehension we have of the world result from the social relations and of affective links, subjectively created since the infant´s mirror stage. The language, condition to the unconcious structuration, inscribes and inaugurates the subject in the symbolic universe. The subject interaction with the environment is realized in accordance with the significations that are made about the world in which the subject lives. The objective of this thesis centers in the comprehension of the construction of stress significants. The stress significants developed and manifested in the professional activity result from the subject´s sense production, and were constructed during the life time, permeated by the context and by imaginary-symbolic elaborations. In this thesis, in considering the studied phenomenon, it was shown the possibilities of a theoretical approximation between the lacanian psychoanalysis, in what it refers to subject´s imaginary-symbolic constitutive dimension, with Lazarus´ theory of psychological stress, to make viable the comprehension of the origin of the psychological stress. It was analyzed the production of stress sense in professional people in managerial activities, emphasizing the ideative contents of the imaginary-symbolic dimensions as constitutive of the origin of the psychological stress, searching to understand, in the analysis made, the relation between the stress significations addressed to the analyzed activities and to the subject´s experience of stress. The empirical research, realized with 20 subjects, was based on an interview/narrative approach, with semistructured focal survey. The method of discourse analysis was chosen following two models: the Discourse Analysis and the Collective Subject Discourse through the use of the Qualiquantisoft software.The results point that the significations about the work are central in the interviewed men and women´s lives. The most recalled stress significant pointed by them is directed to work situations in which the most intense stressor are linked to the achievement of short time goals. In second place it was recalled the stress by having no control over stressing situations. Concerning to the stress significations, men are centered in external stressors and women point the symptom as stress significant. The majority of men have an idealized remembrance of childhood, without the presence of stress, having 30% considered they had a difficult childhood and identified the childhood stressors. The majority of women also considered the childhood as a very good period of their lives and identify stress in this period. As the remembrance of stress in childhood prevails in the men the category do not recall stress in childhood, what have not happened with women. The childhood was to them very good, but keeping in the active memory the first sensation of stress as the same significant of nowadays. They have asserted that the present stress is the same stress of childhood confirming the significant repetition according to the psychoanalysis. In relation with the coping processes the diversity appeared in the response of men and women. Men´s choices show three categories of coping: I face the stress as a challenge, I step aside to think better, I relax reading self-help books.Women´s coping also revealed the diversity of answers when managing the stressors. 40% of them try to calm down first, avoiding the situation and then facing the stressor, 30% takes a light sedative, one of them makes therapy to become stronger and learn how to handle stressors, specially to learn how to say no to pressure situations. One of them declared promptly facing the stressor, being her strategy to diminish the effects of the situation to better control them. Another one searches to relax and distract herself by means of a joyful leisure weekend with the family. Making friends, search support, changing ideas with other people, was mentioned as effective coping process. The study about the imaginary-symbolic construction of the psychological stress made possible to unveil the origin of stress significants according to the lacanian psychoanalysis, having the research permitted a convergent view, despite of being not conclusive.

Este trabalho é uma tentativa de reconstrução metodológica parcial do pensamento de Herbert Blumer e de seu interacionismo simbólico sob a luz da polêmica entre causalidade e compreensão, que emerge no seio das discussões acerca da natureza das explicações nas ciências sociais. Assim, tem-se enfocado principalmente sua tese de doutorado, Method in Social Psychology, a fim de deslindar a concatenação dos elementos explícitos e implícitos de fundamentação ontológica, epistemológica e lógica em um esquema-base compreensivo. Com ele, pretende-se analisar mais detalhadamente o modo como o pensamento de Blumer se estrutura metateoricamente e como o impasse de suas reflexões teóricas vêm a incorrer em problemáticas contidas nessa estrutura. Ao final, tem-se indicado um passo de uma mera reconstrução analítico-descritiva, tateando em Weber, Schütz e no realismo científico as bases para um desenvolvimento analítico-crítico de sua metateoria compreensiva. / This work is an attempt to a partial reconstruction of the methodological thinking of Herbert Blumer and its symbolic interactionism in the light of the controversy between causality and understanding. This controversy emerges within discussions about the nature of explanation in the social sciences. Thus, we have focused mainly on his doctoral thesis, Method in Social Psychology, in order to disentangle the concatenation of the explicit and implicit elements of ontological, epistemological and logical reasoning in his metatheoretical scheme of understanding. With it, we intend to analyze in more detail how the thought of Blumer is metatheoretically structured and how the dilemma of its theoretical reflections come to incur in problematic issues contained in this structure. At the end, it has been indicated a next step from a mere analytical-descriptive reconstruction, groping Weber, Schütz and the scientific realism as basis for an analytical-critical development of its metatheory of understanding

Les débits de boissons que l’on préfère les appeler cafés, bars, troquets ou autres font partie de nos sociétés depuis plusieurs siècles. A ce titre ils nous paraissent parfois familier, les connaissons nous vraiment ? A travers le discours d’une quarantaine de personnes qui ont partagé leurs expériences et le sens qu’ils donnent à leurs pratiques, cette thèse propose une exploration des usages en cours des débits de boissons, des raisons qui nous y conduisent jusqu’aux ritualités qui accompagnent les façons d’y consommer. Scindés autour de plusieurs axes qui déterminent les normes comportementales, les débits de boissons ne sont pas vécus ni envisagés de la même façon selon qu’il s’agisse du jour ou de la nuit, que l’on s’y rende seul ou accompagné. Ces axes influent sur les façons de boire, le choix du lieu et les rencontres qui s’y produisent ou non. Cette orchestration variée et pourtant harmonieuse est détaillée au cours de cette recherche offre une réponse originale quant à la place qu’ils occupent dans nos sociétés. / The drinking establishments that we sometimes call cafes or bars have been part of our societies for several centuries. As such they seem to us sometimes familiar but do we really know them ?Through the speech of some forty people who have shared their experiences and the meaning they give to their practices, this thesis proposes an exploration of the current uses of drinking establishments, the reasons that lead us there, to the rituals which accompany the ways of consuming alcohol. Split between several axes that determine behavioral norms, drinking establishments are not experienced or considered in the same way depending on whether it is day or night, whether one goes there alone or accompanied. These axes influence the ways of drinking, the choice of place and the encounters that occur there or not. This varied and yet harmonious orchestration is detailed during this research and offers an original answer as to the place they occupy in our societies.

Este trabalho é uma tentativa de reconstrução metodológica parcial do pensamento de Herbert Blumer e de seu interacionismo simbólico sob a luz da polêmica entre causalidade e compreensão, que emerge no seio das discussões acerca da natureza das explicações nas ciências sociais. Assim, tem-se enfocado principalmente sua tese de doutorado, Method in Social Psychology, a fim de deslindar a concatenação dos elementos explícitos e implícitos de fundamentação ontológica, epistemológica e lógica em um esquema-base compreensivo. Com ele, pretende-se analisar mais detalhadamente o modo como o pensamento de Blumer se estrutura metateoricamente e como o impasse de suas reflexões teóricas vêm a incorrer em problemáticas contidas nessa estrutura. Ao final, tem-se indicado um passo de uma mera reconstrução analítico-descritiva, tateando em Weber, Schütz e no realismo científico as bases para um desenvolvimento analítico-crítico de sua metateoria compreensiva. / This work is an attempt to a partial reconstruction of the methodological thinking of Herbert Blumer and its symbolic interactionism in the light of the controversy between causality and understanding. This controversy emerges within discussions about the nature of explanation in the social sciences. Thus, we have focused mainly on his doctoral thesis, Method in Social Psychology, in order to disentangle the concatenation of the explicit and implicit elements of ontological, epistemological and logical reasoning in his metatheoretical scheme of understanding. With it, we intend to analyze in more detail how the thought of Blumer is metatheoretically structured and how the dilemma of its theoretical reflections come to incur in problematic issues contained in this structure. At the end, it has been indicated a next step from a mere analytical-descriptive reconstruction, groping Weber, Schütz and the scientific realism as basis for an analytical-critical development of its metatheory of understanding

This study explores the experiences of relatives waiting. Often relatives wait for considerably long periods, especially in critical care areas, whilst their loved one, whose health status is unknown, receives care. To explore these experiences and to understand the symbolic meaning behind the participants’ stories, a grounded theory approach was utilised which is firmly rooted in the sociological theory of symbolic interactionism. A qualitative approach was employed in order to yield a rich description of the human experience often not found in quantitative studies (Jamerson, Scheibmeir, Bott, Crighton, Hinton and Kuckelman, 1996, p. 468). Similarly, the use of feminist principles to guide this study has facilitated a greater understanding of such issues as gender roles, language, power and hierarchy. Using grounded theory methodology, audio-taped interviews were conducted with six female relatives who were recruited using theoretical sampling. Simultaneous recruitment, data collection, analysis and literature review took place, as advocated and outlined by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1967). The overarching core category discovered using this approach which epitomises the waiting experience, is the balancing of both positive and negative aspects of the four codes identified. These four codes are -mothering, trust, flustered anxiety and institutional and medical power. Each code had negative aspects, such as being denied the felt need to mother the critically ill loved one, being asked to entrust the health of a loved one to people that relatives had never met, feelings of fluster and anxiety, and a perception that they would interfere with medial care if they were to be involved in their loved one’s care. Conversely, each code could potentially have a positive aspect, such as being involved in the care of the loved one, feelings of relief once the care of the loved one was entrusted to ‘professional’ health care providers, affiliating with other relatives who were waiting in similar circumstances, and receiving frequent information from staff. A final model was produced that illustrates the balance that many relatives aspire to when waiting in the Emergency Department waiting room. If the balance tips in favour of the negative aspects of the codes, a negative impact on the relative’s feelings of well being can result.

<p>This study aims to examine how adolescents with diabetes describe and value their experience of participating in a support group and how they describe the issues of being a teenager with diabetes. This is a qualitative study and we have interviewed three young women who have been participating in a support group. The results of the interviews were analyzed through a phenomenological method and then compared to earlier research and interpreted through symbolic interactionism and Erikson's development-theory, which were our theories of choice. Our findings support earlier research when stating that support groups are important and necessary for adolescents with chronic illnesses. Our interviewees stated that they think that one of the most important benefits of support groups is to meet other people in their situation; same age and same chronic illness.</p>