This thesis offers an analysis of workplace emotions by interweaving social constructionist and psychoanalytic theoretical frameworks. The introduction highlights the importance of workplace emotion for organisation studies and discusses the significance of drawing on more than one framework for an understanding of the complexities of workplace emotions. India was chosen as thelocale for the study for a variety of reasons, including its global significance, its history of psychoanalysis, and immense diversity, which offer a vast landscape for exploring emotions from multiple perspectives. Engaging with India provides a cultural corrective to research on organisational emotion focussed upon Western spaces. The literature review discusses the tenets, limitations, and possibilities for cross-fertilisation of social constructionist and psychoanalytic accounts, and explores further the opportunities provided by the choice of India as the site for this work. The methodology informing the research is then introduced, focussing on qualitative interviews, storytelling, and countertransference as key features of the data collection and analysis. Four data chapters follow, which present and analyse empirical data from the field work to highlight the importance of both frameworks for an enriched understanding of emotions. The major themes that emerge from the data include cultural dynamics influencing emotions, emotional labour, workplace traumas, and the legacy of colonialism in work spaces. The thesis concludes with a review of the theoretical contributions and an identification of new possibilities and new stories for exploration opened upon by this research.

No description available.

Medical advancements and research initiatives in the last two decades have changed the experience of growing up with a chronic illness. Young people living with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), a chronic, life-threatening, life-limiting, genetic disease, have benefitted from these advances and are living fuller, healthier, longer lives than previously thought possible. Literature exploring the experiences of young people living with CF has traditionally relied on information from caregivers and health care practitioners. It does not reflect the diverse experiences of young people today, or explore the subjective meanings constructed from experiences. Using a social constructionist and narrative inspired methodology, this study explores illness narratives and identity constructions among three young women living with CF. Their narratives are broad and diverse. Shared elements include; making meaning of their illness, and constructing a multi-faceted, relational, layered and flexible sense of self. The layered experiences of CF are one of many important factors influencing their unfolding identity. Relational processes and socially constructed norms and expectations of illness, health, and gender also influence participants’ unfolding sense of self. This study demonstrates the value of rich conversations exploring identity construction and illness narratives, and the complexities and nuances within individual experiences. / Graduate / 0758

Medical advancements and research initiatives in the last two decades have changed the experience of growing up with a chronic illness. Young people living with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), a chronic, life-threatening, life-limiting, genetic disease, have benefitted from these advances and are living fuller, healthier, longer lives than previously thought possible. Literature exploring the experiences of young people living with CF has traditionally relied on information from caregivers and health care practitioners. It does not reflect the diverse experiences of young people today, or explore the subjective meanings constructed from experiences. Using a social constructionist and narrative inspired methodology, this study explores illness narratives and identity constructions among three young women living with CF. Their narratives are broad and diverse. Shared elements include; making meaning of their illness, and constructing a multi-faceted, relational, layered and flexible sense of self. The layered experiences of CF are one of many important factors influencing their unfolding identity. Relational processes and socially constructed norms and expectations of illness, health, and gender also influence participants’ unfolding sense of self. This study demonstrates the value of rich conversations exploring identity construction and illness narratives, and the complexities and nuances within individual experiences. / Graduate / 0758

Numeracy is a cross-curricular priority, an intersystemic priority and, of late, a federal government priority. Yet as a priority "numeracy" is inadequately defined and the term is used to describe a wide-range of notions. Many educators are unsure of what constitutes numeracy, unaware of how it differs from mathematics, and uncertain as to how its demands may be met in their planning and teaching. Secondary schools have few models upon which to develop a whole-school numeracy plan. This study describes the journey of a secondary school staff as they developed a shared understanding of numeracy, identified the numeracy demands throughout the curriculum and planned for a whole-school approach to address these demands.

The purpose of this research was to explore the experiences of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in a therapeutic social group. Using a social constructionist theoretical framework and drawing on disability theories, the study examined how participants’ experiences were co-constructed through relationships, language and socio-political factors. A generic qualitative research paradigm was used with particular attention paid to social constructionist methodology. Video recordings and field notes were collected over three sessions during an established therapeutic social group at a community organization with five children ages 10-13, and two adult group facilitators. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed using an inductive process that took into account and acknowledged the co-construction of the information. Salient themes were identified based on multiple readings of the data, analyzing and re-analyzing how the experiences of children in the group are constructed. The research emphasizes the strengths and skills exhibited by the children, their strong friendships with one another and how they construct their identities. The study also examines how the highly structured learning environment produced an artificial quality to “real world” experiences and questions what “normal” social skills are. The research highlights how both children and facilitators assume deficits and explores the label of autism from a socio-political lens. The study contributes to the research on lived experiences of children with autism, including insights into how practitioners can work with children rather than providing services to them. / Graduate

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / This study is about the way in which men, specifically in the local context of Cape Town, dominate the rap music culture. Globally, rapping is associated with poetic lyrics that express the rappers' environment or worldview. Historically women's worldviews were kept silent and it is within this context that this investigation explored why women are not represented well in the rap culture. The significance of the study lies in the possibility of identifying ways in which women interested in becoming rap artists could overcome the barriers that currently inhibit their participation. This project represents an interdisciplinary study that falls within the realms of social psychology, music, feminism and social constructionism. Specifically, this thesis employed feminist psychology and social constructionism to construe and interpret the roles of women in rap music. Working within a qualitative feminist framework, the data was gathered through focus groups and in-depth telephonic individual interviews with participants. The discussions held with the participants were transcribed and the data was analyzed thematically. The results reflect that women feel that they are being discriminated against in rap culture on the basis of their gender. Despite the key finding that women are being discriminated against in the rap culture, it was also found that when the two sexes came together and spoke about the gender inequalities in the culture, a strong awareness of gender sensitivity was created. This study therefore suggests that one powerful way of challenging gender inequality in rap culture may be through raising awareness by way of discussions of gender bias and discrimination at rap forums, radio talk shows and workshops aimed at unifying the South African rap culture.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / The focus of this thesis is preschool teachers' talk about childhood sexualities. A literature review of empiricist, psychoanalytic, feminist, social constructionist and post-structural approaches to childhood sexuality suggests that it is a marginalized research topic. Moreover, emphasis tends to fall on the problems associated with childhood sexuality, rather than regarding it as part of everyday life. In this study, I facilitated a focus group discussion with eight preschool teachers. The complexities of analyzing a text produced by participants with multiple identities are acknowledged: The discussion was hinged around vignettes and questions about childhood sexuality, and was transcribed into a written text. Using discourse analysis, I explore some of the 'taken-for-granted' assumptions about childhood sexuality, within 15 extracts from the text. I argue that multiple, paradoxical constructions of childhood sexuality position children 'astride a dangerous dividing line', which can be read on many levels. This unstable positioning both creates and is created by multiple discourses of 'taking charge'. The discourses of 'taking charge' impel preschool teachers to police 'dangerously' sexual children and protect 'innocent' children from corruption. These discourses are gendered: girl children are constructed as more vulnerable to corruption; boy children tend to be constructed with 'sexdrives' needing to be tamed; and adult women are constructed as the monitors of childhood sexuality. Furthermore, silences or taboos about childhood sexuality are integral to these discourses. Although there are hints of childhood agency, I suggest that the teachers themselves have limited access to or use for feminist and other liberatory discourses. More subtle resistance may be evident in many examples of laughter in the text. While this is project situated on the margins of psychology, by virtue of its subject, epistemology and methodology, I conclude by discussing various limitations .

This thesis contends that communities of practice (CoPs) are an effective instrument for supporting collaborative activities in science-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that often have no formal strategy for knowledge acquisition and innovation. A review of the existing body of knowledge has indicated that this matter has not been the subject of thorough, in-depth research; and that this issue is important, given the relatively high level of efficacy that has been afforded to the role of CoPs in the innovation processes of large organizations. Indeed, the original communities of practice model had little to say about innovation per se; however, more recent theorizations have shown that CoPs can contribute to organizational innovation. This research makes a number of contributions to our understanding of CoPs as an enabler of knowledge acquisition and innovation: (i) theoretical: recontextualizing CoPs and demonstrating their applicability in science-based SMEs; (ii) methodological: extending the use of thematic template analysis; and (iii) applied: through the development of a contextualized framework for constructing CoPs in science-based SMEs. An exploratory case study of science-based SMEs was conducted using thematic template analysis. The study employed critical case sampling, a technique that focuses on selecting cases on the basis that they make a point dramatically or because, as in this instance, they are important in relation to the research questions In depth interviews were conducted with 25 individuals employed in technical (i.e. scientists and engineers) and commercial roles (i.e. operations, finance and purchasing). Although there was no evidence of managed CoPs, a range of emergent/informal and cultivated CoPs were leveraged for a variety of purposes, including facilitating knowledge acquisition, enhancing absorptive capacity, and improving the firm’s ability to generate innovative solutions. Apprentice-based CoPs emerged that supported individual learning, and both intra and inter-organizational CoPs emerged to support a range of radical and incremental innovation activities. Social capital was leveraged in CoPs, generating trust and reciprocity between SMEs and customer organizations, thus enhancing knowledge-sharing and innovative potential. Finally, this research confirms that CoPs are the privileged locus for knowledge acquisition and innovation in science-based SMEs.

According to research applying a social constructionist perspective, the sense of self is not lost in people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It is, however, greatly influenced by the symptoms and by how they are treated by other people. Without support, it is difficult to preserve a positive sense of self, when living with progressing cognitive impairments. The stigma associated with cognitive impairment also threatens their sense of self. Harré’s social constructionist theories of self and positioning have been used to study how people with AD express their sense of self. As there is a need to expand the previous research by involving additional participants and research contexts, the aim of the present thesis was to describe, in accordance with Harré’s theories of self and positioning, how people with AD expressed their sense of self in personal interviews and in support groups with other people with AD. The research consists of four substudies (I–IV), and has a qualitative, descriptive, and theory-testing approach. Thirteen people with mild and moderate AD were included, 11 of whom had the early onset form of the disease. Two support groups were formed, led by facilitators who supported the communication and the participants’ expressions of self. Each group met 10 times during an eight-month period. Topics were not predetermined, and introduced by both facilitators and participants. Semistructured interviews were conducted before the groups started and after they ended. The interviews and support group conversations were audio-recoded and analysed with qualitative content analysis, guided by Harré’s theories. In substudy I, the initial interviews were deductively analysed. The findings showed that Self 1 (the sense of being a singular, embodied person) was expressed by the participants without difficulties. Self 2 (the perception of one’s personal attributes and life history) was expressed as feeling mainly the same person. While some abilities had been lost, other had been developed. Self 3 (the socially constructed self) was described as mostly supported, but sometimes threatened in interactions with other people (I). In substudy II, support group conversations were analysed abductively with respect to expressions of Self 2. It was found that participants expressed Self 2 in terms of agency and communion, and a lack of agency and communion (II).In substudy III, a secondary analysis of the data from substudy II was performed inductively with the aim of describing how Self 3 was constructed in the interaction of the support group. Five first-order positions, generating lively interaction, were described: the project manager, the storyteller, the moral agent, the person burdened with AD, and the coping person (III). In substudy IV, all the collected data were reanalysed inductively, focusing on how participants expressed the experience of being research participants. Three themes were constructed: contributing to an important cause, gaining from participating, and experiencing risks and drawbacks (IV). In conclusion, it was found that participants constructed positive social selves through the support from each other, the facilitator, and researchers in the support group (III), and as research participants (IV). Agency and communion were central to Self 2, and decreased with the progression of AD (II). In spite of change, participants perceived themselves as basically the same people, with a potential to learn and develop as persons (I).