This study explores how victims of violent crime construct meaning around crime, justice and reconciliation. It further aims to gain insight into how victims of crime construct expectations of which actions should ensue after the crime and whether their constructions encompass elements of reconciliation and restorative justice. The study is conducted from a social constructionist position and uses a critical discourse analysis framework in analysing the data. In-depth interviews were conducted with nine victims of serious crimes such as armed robbery, hi-jacking, attempted murder and rape. From the analysis it appears that participants have a need to experience justice and have a high demand for vengeance. This however may itself have grown out of a lack of a more positive experience of justice. Participants’ constructions of their experience of being a victim of crime center on notions of power, equality, prejudice and dominance. They draw on socially constructed differences based on race and gender to define both their identity as a victim of crime as well as the identity of their offender. These distinctions, based on categories of identity, serve to create an oppositional construction of “us” against “them” and also serve to dehumanise the offender. The analysis further indicates that participants draw on multiple constructions of restorative justice and despite strong support for punitive beliefs it appears that a discourse of restorative justice is also present in participants’ discussions. A key theme running through the data is the loss of personal power as a result of victimization. Instead of returning a sense of power to participants by allowing them to participate in the justice process, the legal system becomes the holder of the power and compounds the injury against the victim. The study has implications for how victims of crime are positioned in the justice system and how notions of restorative justice can be advanced in South African discourses. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Psychology / unrestricted

This study explored the social construction of black male Zimbabwean refugees’ identities as they experienced becoming refugees living in South Africa. A review of refugee literature revealed that Zimbabwean refugees demonstrate an exceptional nature that sets them apart from what most definitions of refugees assume. Refugee theory focusing on deficits and disorder promoted a view of refugees as helpless victims. As a result, refugees have come to be viewed as state burdens. Immigration practices characterized by the herding of refugees into spatially segregated areas, deportation and neglect continue to endanger the livelihoods of refugees. The manner in which government and media conceptualise the identity of a refugee has significant consequences for foreigners and locals. It is therefore important to explore the social construction of black male Zimbabwean refugees’ identities by investigating their own experiences through the telling of life stories. A process of in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with four black male Zimbabwean refugees between the ages of 18 and 50, all currently living in South Africa. A self told life story outlined a narrative of their past migration, present circumstances and future deliberations. Results showed that participants bore great suffering in search of a stable existence. They were subjected to political abuse and an immense economic downfall in Zimbabwe, and experienced a great shock of self-confidence upon leaving their home. They came to bear a painful sense of ‘otherness’ living as a foreigner, and had to develop new understandings of themselves. Race and religion became important signifiers of identity, and participants were said to undergo a posttraumatic growth in the aftermath of their turbulent experiences. A study such as this offers valuable insights into the aspects of a Zimbabwean refugee’s existence and needs. Research may also inform bureaucratic practices as to conceptualising more appropriate refugee relations in the future, as well as media campaigns capable of rehabilitating the image of the refugee. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Psychology / unrestricted

Fastställande av moderskap är i svensk rätt oreglerat med hänvisning till den latinska mater-est-regeln vilken menar att den som föder barnet är barnets moder. Utvecklingen av reproduktionsteknologi har möjliggjort metoder som utmanar denna princip, däribland surrogatarrangemang. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka på vilket sätt surrogatarrangemang och dess mest centrala parter konstrueras i Statens offentliga utredningar. Genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys har tre av Statens offentliga utredningar granskats för att, med ett socialkonstruktionistisk teoretiskt perspektiv, undersöka hur surrogatarrangemang, surrogatmodern, barnet samt de tilltänkta föräldrarna konstruerats. Begreppen kategorisering och diskurs har använts som analytiska hjälpmedel. Resultaten påvisar tre diskursiva mönster i Statens offentliga utredningar; den ekonomiska diskursen, diskursiva mönster kring normer och värderingar samt sårbarhetsdiskursen. I den ekonomiska diskursen konstrueras surrogatarrangemanget som ett handelsavtal och dess parter som producent, handelsvara och konsument. I diskursiva mönster kring normer och värderingar konstrueras bland annat de tilltänkta föräldrarna som oansvariga och surrogatmodern som en oförmögen beslutsfattare. I sårbarhetsdiskursen konstrueras surrogatarrangemanget och samtliga parter som sårbara. Den avslutande diskussionen lyfter bland annat hur denna studie bidragit med ny kunskap om konstruktioner av surrogatarrangemang i svensk statlig kontext. Vidare lyfter den avslutande diskussionen att lagstiftaren står inför dilemmat att dels motverka surrogatarrangemang, dels beakta barnets bästa i de fall där barn kommit till världen via ett sådant arrangemang.

Given the use of a social constructionism approach, the emphasis within the research is to include the listener in the on-going conversation when considering expropriation and the construction of identity around that experience. The question of how the experience of expropriation contributes to the construction of meaning and identity for the Zimbabwean farmer is posed. Gergen (1994) emphasised that identity is not an entity that is possessed by the individual nor a product of an individual’s cognitive processes; rather it is a possession of social interchange and relationships in a given context. The “self” or identity is “a linguistic implement embedded within conversational sequences of action and employed in relationships in such a way as to sustain, enhance or impede various forms of action” (Gergen, 1994, p.188). This particular story from farming to eviction offers the reader a unique look into the construction of reality by Zimbabwean farmers as well as an opportunity to examine the fluidity of identity as it is constructed around agreed meaning or conversations and context. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Psychology / unrestricted

This study aims to examine how teachers in upper secondary non-compulsory schools in Sweden, didactically approaches and teach religion with a focus on religion and science as mentioned in the curriculum. Since the Swedish school education system is non-confessional, a further aim is to explore how this affects the teachers' teaching and didactic for the subject of religion. The result is based on findings from interviews with eight upper secondary school teachers. The teachers are employed in different regions in Sweden with teaching experience ranging from two to twenty years. The interviews were conducted using digital communications programs, such as Zoom and Google meet, these interviews followed a semi-structured approach allowing the respondent to freely express themselves. The applied theoretical and analytical framework is social constructivism.  According to the findings, teachers agree that Swedish society is influenced by a secularistic world view, which through students is expressed by a lack of understanding of religion. The didactic approaches vary from teacher to teacher, however, they highly value the non-confessional education system and the opportunities of unbiased education it provides.

In this research process, my objectives were as follows; firstly, to explore the relationship between identity formation and poverty and secondly to explore the role of the church in combating the effects of poverty in the lives of those who live in poverty stricken communities. A Narrative approach was used to gather data from the community. I listened to the stories of those people who live in poverty. Seven movements were used as the methodology for this research (Muller 2005:81-86). As a practical theologian, I positioned myself within postfoundationalist theology. In this position I avoided foundation epistemology which seeks the absolute truth as well as anti or nonfoundational epistemology which promotes relativism. As I mentioned earlier postfoundationalist practical theology is always thinking in a specific context and can also go beyond that specific context into interdisciplinary thinking. Starting from a specific context into an interdisciplinary context, we found that the concept of poverty has been described as a discourse meaning that it went from poverty as a lack of resources into linguistic, poverty as lack of capabilities or poverty being political. By taking multidimension method to eradicate poverty one needs to apply a multidimensions approach. The stories from Nellmapius affirmed that poverty influences identity formation. The following effects were identified: low self-esteem, stress, depression, lack of self-acceptance and hopelessness. The church has the capacity as the biggest membership and with the most awareness organization in most communities that has the attention of many people. The church is able to preach hope for people in what seems to be hopelessness and encourage the poor to rise out of their poverty. It can facilitate the poor and the government to work together to change their lives. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / An indigenous cultural practice among the many ethnic groups of South Africa, lobola has changed immensely, especially in highly urbanised towns. It has also been the subject of several interpretations in academia, the media, and popular opinion. These have included ethnographic scholarship that focuses on its cultural significance and its centrality to reciprocal relationships between groups. Other academic and activist views criticize how lobola, as a form of bride wealth, instrumentalises women in patriarchal society. In addition, other interpretive strand acknowledges lobola's patriarchal impacts while also recognizing the agencies and choices of women who embrace it. The work demonstrates that women are neither consistent agents nor constant victims of lobola, but that they experience it in different ways. As a result, the study explores how young women‘s situated knowledge helps us understand lobola‘s complex and ambiguous meanings that might assist in comprehending the current connotations of lobola, which are presently complicated and confusing. The current study is concerned with mapping out and analysing the complexities of standpoint knowledge-making that is typically side-lined in the numerous scholarly and activist studies of lobola by selecting a diverse range of young women respondents as well as commentators in the public sphere.

Single session therapy (SST) is a form of psychotherapy that has been researched and practiced internationally since the 1980s. More recently it has been widely employed from the therapeutic modality of narrative therapy - more commonly known as brief narrative single session therapy. Narrative therapy - an internationally practiced psychotherapy in its own right - operates from a blending of social constructionist and Foucauldian/poststructural theory where therapists support clients to co-construct preferred identities amidst powerful discourses which constrain this process. While the co-construction of client-preferred identity is multilayered, studies within this field have historically leaned on social constructionist explanations of how this process occurs at the expense of the Foucauldian/poststructural perspective. This study blends these two perspectives, both conceptually and methodologically, to understand how client-preferred identity co-construction occurs in brief narrative single session therapy. From the social constructionist perspective, the preferred identity that narrative therapy seeks to foreground is viewed as something that is constructed within the session between the client and therapist rather than something that is fully formed prior to the session’s start. Yet, from the Foucauldian/poststructural perspective this process also occurs within the culturally available discourses that are afforded to us. To highlight both perspectives I conducted a hybrid discourse analysis that included a macro-focused Foucauldian discourse analysis and a micro-focused element of discursive psychology, on five appointment-based sessions of brief narrative single session therapy. Immediately following the recording of each session clients and therapists filled out separate post-session questionnaires to share their impressions and experiences of these single sessions. The results of this study present rich examples of how working practitioners trained in brief narrative single session therapy support clients in the co-construction of preferred identities in the context of constraining cultural discourses. In addition, alternative discourses that supported the work of client-preferred identity co-construction based within these sessions, and found within the fields of narrative therapy and the brief therapy movement, were identified. Comments from participant post-session questionnaires offer supplementary perspectives that add greater context to the findings from my analysis of sessions. Implications for the training, practice, and study of brief narrative single session therapy are discussed.

This study focuses on how gambling disorder is a part of the investigation at the social office. Gambling disorder is a part of Socialtjänstlagen. This new law came into effect 1/1-2018. The purpose of this study is to examine how the economic aid, in the social office, works with gambling disorder. The study was made from a qualitative approach and was conducted through semi-structured interviews, the results of which were consequently analyzed by using a theory about social constructionism and social construction. The results indicated that there were some problems in how to ask questions about gaming disorder when meeting with the clients. The study also showed that the investigation are suppose to include the child perspective, but not to which extend this investigation should be made. This study shows the importance of knowledge and understanding in how to help clients with a gambling disorder. The study also shows that social workers might not have enough qualification to investigate gambling disorder among their clients.

The research aimed to use social constructionism as a methodology to explore Xhosa men’s constructions of depression. The theoretical framework chosen for this research was intersectionality. Purposive sampling was conducted to obtain between four to six participants who self-identified as Xhosa men. In the end four participants were interviewed through semi structured interviews. Interviews were conducted in the language of convenience for the participants. This was noted to be a mixture of English and isiXhosa. The interviews were transcribed and translated to English. Thematic analysis was used as a method of analysis. The analysis followed a systematic process which consists of six steps that were proposed by Braun and Clarke. Emerging themes related to how culture influenced Xhosa men’s constructions of depression, how masculinity influences Xhosa men’s constructions of depression, and How masculinity and the Xhosa culture intersect and interact in men’s constructions of depression. The findings showed that Xhosa men valued and accepted their cultural values, and gender roles, and thus their constructions of depression were influenced by that. The findings also revealed that depression also played a role in how Xhosa men construct gender and their culture. Hence highlighting the idea of intersectionality. / Mini Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development / Psychology / MA (Clinical Psychology) / Unrestricted