Den här uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka hur företag kan arbeta med konceptet hållbar utveckling samt att analysera hur begreppet upplevs från ett företags perspektiv. Undersökningen baseras på en fallstudie som genomförts på företaget Kinnarps. Det empiriska material som analysen bygger på har samlats in via användning av fokusgrupps-intervjuer på Kinnarps, och materialet har analyserats vidare genom användning av metoden grundad teori. Under analysen har det synliggjorts vissa paralleller mellan materialet och ekologisk modernisering. Analysen tyder på att företag tenderar att agera i enlighet med ekologisk modernisering då teknisk utveckling ofta upplevs som lösningar på miljörelaterade problem. Samtidigt visar analysen att det finns utrymme för företag att agera på annat sätt än vad ekologisk modernisering innebär och ur det hänseendet har företagets tradition och grundläggande värderingar visat sig vara avgörande. Analysen tyder på att företags förhållningssätt gentemot marknaden kan upplevas som ett fall av pragmatiskt accepterande, då marknaden verkar betraktas som en för företag extern faktor som är svår att påverka.   Att som företag arbeta med hållbar utveckling innebär, enligt analysens resultat, både möjligheter och begränsningar. Arbetet kan resultera i marknadsfördelar genom ekonomisk vinst och konkurrensfördelar. Enligt analysen kan dock inte företag uppnå en fullständigt jämn fördelning mellan sin sociala, ekologiska och ekonomiska utveckling då de är beroende av att generera ekonomisk vinst, vilket gör att den ekonomiska utvecklingen prioriteras högst. Detta tyder på att ett företag inte har möjlighet att uppnå en helt hållbar produktion, därför kan begreppet upplevas som en utopi i företags sammanhang. Samtidigt visar analysen att en strävan mot en så hållbar produktion som möjligt, där en jämn balans mellan ekologisk social och ekonomisk utveckling eftersträvas, kan vara gynnsam för företags varumärke, produktion och profilering.

Not available / text

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education

This thesis is a critical examination of the history of philosophies governing public education in the United States. The first half, chapters one through six, outlines American conceptions of the role of the school in relation to the state and to democracy. The second half is an account of critical progressive philosophies that have challenged the American status-quo since the independence. The main argument that I propose here is that the creation of an education system in America has followed the philosophies of federalism and private democracy. These philosophies are economically centered and define the citizen in economic terms. Progressive educators have long questioned this definition and seek to redefine citizenship to describe participatory democracy, and communication based on experience and an ethic of care.

This qualitative research focused on the political knowledge holdings of adults. The research was conducted from the perspective and for the field of adult education. A purpose of this dissertation research was to provide a new and expanded footing for future inquiry and to enhance the further development of both theory and practice. The methodology was selected with that in mind.This study involved two distinct components. Part one involved a systematic random sample of 30 adults from a small midwestern city. A 16 question telephone survey was administered to each of the 30 adults. The survey consisted of the type questions used by previous researchers to measure political knowledge. The questions required respondents to identify political figures and election issues. Respondents were also asked to answer political parties questions and civics questions.The qualitative component, part two, was the primary thrust of this research. Seven informants were identified from different life circumstances. The informants and the 30 randomly selected adults resided in the same community. A minister, a law enforcement officer, a small business person, a retired person, a minimum wage worker, a factory worker, and an adult college student were individually interviewed on twoseparate occasions. Each interview was transcribed and analyzed by the researcher. At the conclusion of each informant's final interview, the 16 question survey, previously given to the 30 telephone respondents, was administered to each informant.Conclusions of this study were not generalized beyond the study's research participants. The informants were found to have varying areas of political knowledge. These varying areas of political knowledge arose from the informants varying personal experiences and life circumstances. Informants were not well informed, nor were they equally informed, across multiple areas of political knowledge. The seven informants performed virtually the same as did the thirty telephone respondents on the sixteen question survey.This study demonstrated that qualitative research methodology can illuminate and make meaningful that which is undetected through the use of questionnaires. Where the results of the questionnaires reflected a sameness between and among the informants and telephone respondents, the seven case studies uncovered distinct differences. / Department of Educational Leadership

This thesis is set in the Western Australian education system and centres on the question of how primary schools can actively foster conditions conducive to creating and sustaining education in and for democracy and human rights. In Australia, as elsewhere, there is a widespread acceptance of the need for democratic education also referred to as civics and citizenship education. The perceived lack of public understanding of democratic principles and practices has, in the last decade, led various Australian governments to commit significant resources ($ 31.6 million) to civics and citizenship education programmes such as Discovering Democracy (DD). This thesis argues that political engagement and civic learning is most effective when schools commit themselves to deliberately embedding a set of democratic educational principles in everyday practices. In contrast to traditional approaches to citizenship education that tend to focus on the operational aspects of representative governments, institutions and history, this thesis argues that education for Democracy and Human Rights (DaHR) can be effectively achieved through the fostering of DaHR in education. In this task the thesis draws on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC is rooted in a range of basic values about the treatment of children in schools and elsewhere, and encompasses basic rights to which children are entitled. The study empirically investigates through up close observations, interviews and surveys the efficacy of pedagogy for civic and citizenship learning in four schools identified as places of strong democratic practice. This study was able to identify particular commonalities between the four case study schools that were conducive to creating and sustaining democratic principles and practices. These schools, although very different in their composition, were lead by principals who shared the view that children under their care were subjects in the making with increasing rights and responsibilities rather than objects to be manipulated, controlled and protected. The findings suggest that experiencing democracy and human rights in daily school life in a variety of situations and on a number of different levels can effectively contribute to the learning of the meaning and advantages of democratic values such as the rule of law, participatory decision-making and due process. It also concludes that there may be a relationship between parental socio-economic background and the possibilities available for students to engage in effective civic learning and citizenship practices. The relationship between socio-economic background and other structural factors including gender and ethnicity in relation to possibilities of civic learning needs to be investigated in a larger study.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-77).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993.