Abstract Within the globalization of business, international and cross-cultural management has acquired a greater meaning also among management and organization scholars. Consequently, the debate about the conceptualization and meaning of cultural differences has arisen. This thesis sees culture and cultural identity as inductive and discursive. This means that the traditional understanding of cultures and related identities as being rather fixed is questioned. Cultural identity, culture and otherness are in this thesis looked through the lens offered by post-colonial theory. As the thesis investigates a Finnish organization operating in Estonia, the adaptation of post-colonial theory is believed to offer interesting insights to the identity construction inside the organization in question. Even though colonialization has never been actual, the relationship between the two countries displays the features of a colonial relationship. During its history, Finland has been taken a role as the “big brother” of Estonia and it has been argued that Estonia has been going through cultural “Finlandisation”. Today, however, the situation may have changed and therefore it is interesting to take a look at whether the post-colonial relations have had an effect on the identity construction and perception building between Estonians and Finns in an organizational context. As the findings indicate, cultural identity of the Estonian employees is constructed in three discourses and in the same way the Finnish managers are constructing their ideas of the Estonians in various discourses. By treating cultural identity as fixed and objective, it would not be possible to reveal its diversity. In addition, when investigating Estonian identity construction and the construction of otherness by Finnish managers, utilization of post-colonial theory reveals that Estonians do not construct their identities based on the post-colonial array, whereas for Finnish managers it has a greater role. Furthermore, the power construction in the organization is also not a fixed, one-way process, but rather a mutual process affected by multiple identity constructions.

This study aims to critically analyse and explore how social workers (operating in the adult social work practice domain) draw on wider social (and social work) discourses in accounting for the work that they do. Utilising purposeful samples of students and qualified social work practitioners, this exploratory study of discourses analyses the implications this has on the construction of the social work identity, role and practice (action). Driven by a series of research questions, the objectives of this research were: 1) To critically analyse and explore the discourses on which students and social work practitioners draw on in their accounts of social work practice; 2) To identify and critically analyse the subject positions and discursive practices (collective ways of speaking) of social workers in respect of these discourses; 3) To critically analyse how and in what way social workers at different stages of the career trajectory draw differently upon these discourses; 4) To critically analyse and evaluate the implications for practice and service users of the respondents’ subject positioning and the discursive practices that they employ; 5) Develop a critically reflexive method (model) for social work education and research in order to make recommendations for research, education and critical social work practice (in the context of self-awareness). As this study involves several people in the exploration of adult social work (Community Care policy context), it will contribute to knowledge of the meaning given to contemporary social work. It does so by expanding the concept of discourse analysis to the wider social context in which the overall narrative (story) is ‘told’. This research aims to understand how respondents draw on discourses in particular ways and includes an analysis of the contradictions and gaps within the overall narrative of social work. Stemming from wider pre-determined narratives that are available in social work cultures, this study not only analyses the words themselves by utilising discourse analytic tools, but demonstrates new ways in which to apply critical discourse analysis in the exploration of accounts of social work. In this examination, this research critically analyses and evaluates the implications these discourses can have on identity construction (personal and professional self), as well as on those social work intends to benefit (service users).

M.A. (Afrikaans) / A linguistic study can be approached in many ways. In this study language usage is viewed from a pragmatic angle. One type of discourse, namely a written literary discourse, and a drama in particular, is used as a point of departure in order to illustrate a certain discourse element. The drama, Moeders en Dogters by Corlia Fourie, is placed within a speech act framework and is seen as a macro speech act. By concentrating on one element of the discourse, namely conversation strategy, it is the intention to show how this discourse element, which appears in the illocutionary units of the drama, can be linked to the intention of the abstract author. This intent ion manifests itself as illocution in the drama which is directed at achieving a specific perlocution on the part of the audience/reader. Chapter two discusses the communication process, the term discourse and the various aspects of discourse that are relevant for this study, namely the different types of discourse, the process by which discourse comes into being, the structure of the discourse and discourse strategies. Different types of discourse strategies are pointed out and subsequently one discourse strategy, namely conversation strategy is concentrated on. The role and function of conversation strategies are highlighted and one type of conversation strategy, namely turn-taking, is isolated. The dualistic character of turn-taking, firstly as conversation strategy and secondly as structure element, is discussed in chapter three. The functioning of turn-taking patterns in Moeders en Dogters is illustrated, and subsequently certain conclusions are drawn concerning the relation between turn-taking on the one hand and conversation rules, illusion , perlocution, other conversation strategies and conve r se t i on units, on the other hand. Chapter four concentrates on the way in which turn taking patterns between the characters in combination with the temporal-spatial context within which the drama takes place, can be redirected to the intention of the abstract author, which is aimed at a specific perlocution on the part of the audience/reader. By pointing out this relation, the function of conversation strategies (and specifically in this case turn- taking as conversation strategy,) will be made clear, namely that it operates as a binding discourse element that leads to cohesion in the first place and eventually to coherency within the discourse.

D.Litt. et Phil. / Although Freudian theory traditionally constitutes one of the most important approaches to psychotherapy, it has also generated much criticism from different scientific perspectives. An attempt is made in this study to answer the criticisms of the hermeneuticians and the positivists by using the a systemic approach to indicate a possible solution to methodological and theoretical problems which beset Freudian theory and praxis. The This the research procedure was reported as fully as possible. implies that the therapist's theoretical perspectives, case history of the patient, and the complete transcription qualitatively of the sessions are reported. and quantitatively analysed The results were in an integrated approach. The quantitative analysis was done with the use of a computer program called WORDS, which employs a clustering technique to indicate the development of thematic centroids. The qualitative analysis of the sessions indicates the sequential development of the interaction, and also includes the analysis of the free-associations in each session. The conclusions which are reached in this study are constituted, and reflected in the report of the research process itself. The observations, the thoughts, the processes and the patterns together create the picture which is the conclusion.

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Current American education is comprised of and influenced by a myriad of complex legislative, technological, and cultural representations of consumption, however this historic-educational study specifically examines how the Reagan administration discursively initiated the consumerizing educational framework. While existing research studies the neoliberal implications on education, this study addresses the neoliberal reforms under President Reagan within the discursive paradigm of its consumerizing impact. By using Critical Discourse Analysis on a selection of Presidential proclamations, speeches, and national educational reports, this study examines and elucidates how the Reagan administration created the consumerizing framework for American education. The Reagan administration distinguished American education from its predecessors as prioritizing the consuming potential of students, while simultaneously situating education as a commodity. The Reagan administration discursively positioned education as a commodity by implementing the free market values of competition and choice. Through Reagan’s encouragement of corporate involvement and rewarding the tenacity of business initiatives in education, American education transitioned from a democratic ideal to a market-oriented institution. This was specifically accomplished through positioning Reagan’s predecessors as misguided and situating Reagan as a rescuer, while legitimating the reforms as adhering to the American spirit. Similarly, business was presented as embodying the essence of the American spirit and being a rejuvenating force. Choice and competition were recontextualized from their economic purpose and recommended as a new form of educational governance. By understanding the results through the lens of some Frankfurt School thinkers and expanding on Bowles and Gintis’ educational theory, this study argues that Reagan’s reforms embodied a physical consumerizing aspect and an interactional consumerizing facet as necessary for the economy of post-industrial America.

Orientador: Jonas de Araujo Romualdo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-03T14:48:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paula_LedaQueirozde_M.pdf: 5007215 bytes, checksum: 30f49f88ba33e83e3be4dc322d7a7768 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003 / Resumo: Este trabalho trata da linguagem empresarial, aqui enfocada nos discursos veiculados na revista VOCÊ S.A . por indivíduos do mundo dos negócios, ocupando a posição-sujeito empresário, para outros indivíduos leitores dessa revista, ocupando a posição-sujeito trabalhador, numa relação de interpelação. Observamos que o sujeito-trabalhador é interpelado pelo sujeito da linguagem empresarial como sujeito de direito, aquele que é responsável por seus atos, através de processos discursivos tais como a nomeação, que criará um estereótipo para o trabalhador. O funcionamento discursivo da estereotipia contribuirá para uma dupla sujeição: a do sujeito-trabalhador e a da realidade, compreendida como apropriação/representação do real. O funcionamento dos gêneros da auto-ajuda e da espiritualidade também co-operarão na interpelação do sujeito-trabalhador, levando-o, enquanto interlocutor, a significar a realidade da mesma maneira que seu locutor. Estudamos que sentidos ressaltam, sobrepõem-se ou ficam silenciados nesse processo de interpelação, envolvendo as imagens de trabalho e de trabalhador, tomando por base o referencial teórico e metodológico da Análise do Discurso, para quem o "discurso é efeito de sentido entre [inter]locutores" (Pêcheux, [1969] 1990b ) / Abstract: This work analyses business language comprehended as discourses presented in some articles published by Voce S.A. magazine that show a relation of interpellation some world business individuals use when "talking" to other individuals, workers in general, readers of this magazine. The reader of Voce S.A. is a worker interpellated by that kind of language as a subject of rights, that is, the one who is responsible for his acts, through discursive processes such as the nomination, that will provide an stereotyped image of this worker, and through the functioning of the spirituality and self-aid speeches. This analysis supported by the French analysis of discourse had the objective to apprehend which meanings were emphasized, highlighted, or silenced in those processes of interpellation, involving the images of work and worker / Mestrado / Mestre em Linguística