The Refugee Act of 1980 established the first comprehensive U.S. refugee policy. It codified a refugee definition and created the annual consultation process, which requires the president to consult with Congress before determining annual refugee ceilings and resettlement plans. While the Refugee Act of 1980 remains intact, the annual refugee admissions and resettlement plans have changed considerably. The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze this policy to explore its changes from 1980-2018 through the lens of social construction theory. According to this theory, the social constructions of target populations affect policy designs that are adopted with respect to these populations. Policy designs can create and legitimize divisions among different target populations causing some to be perceived and treated as more deserving than others. This dissertation uses a qualitative research design to analyze narratives within presidential proposal documents and congressional hearings that are held as part of the annual consultation process. These documents serve as the data for this dissertation. I undertake a detailed analysis of the documents of one annual consultation process and related congressional hearings for each president in the period between 1980-2018. In these documents and hearings, different policy actors (congressional members, representatives of the executive branch and state and local governments, and other experts) provide testimony and expert opinions on refugee admissions and resettlement. It is in this context that refugees as a target population are constructed and policies to deal with refugees are debated and discussed by various policy actors. To understand these constructions and the context in which they are created, the narrative analysis elements offered by the narrative policy framework are used as a method. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The purpose of this study was to explore how counselling teams draw on narrative therapy during intersession break consultations in walk-in counselling. Walk-in counselling is a form of single-session therapy (SST) that allows an individual, couple, or family to meet with a counsellor on a drop-in basis. Walk-in counselling clinics are becoming increasingly popular in Canada and globally, with a particularly high number operating in Ontario. Sessions in walk-in counselling typically involve a break partway through, during which the counsellor meets with a team of colleagues for a brief consultation; this is referred to as the “intersession break”. Narrative therapy is a postmodern therapeutic approach commonly used in walk-in counselling. Data collection occurred at two Ontarian walk-in counselling clinics and involved recording and transcribing a total of six intersession break consultations. Transcripts were examined using discourse analysis as a methodological approach. My analysis process identified four conversational practices counselling teams engaged in that drew on various aspects of narrative therapy theory. These practices are as follows: (a) counsellors engaging in externalization, (b) counsellors orienting to possible alternative narratives, (c) counsellors centring the person visiting the clinic, and (d) counsellors demonstrating tentativeness. This research is most directly relevant to counsellors working in walk-in counselling clinics and agencies offering SST involving intersession breaks. For mental health practitioners interested in postmodern therapeutic approaches, it provides a detailed account of how narrative therapy is being applied within a particular context. Finally, it may be of interest to people accessing walk-in counselling services who are curious about intersession break processes.

Research on the criminal justice system, punishment, and media continue to generate academic interest, particularly in the realm of social constructionism. The social construction perspective provides insight into the process through which media-controlled images are translated into social definitions of crime and justice. One new area of interest is the representations of prisons and penal culture by the entertainment media, namely the film industry. In this study, the author contributes to the area of social constructionist literature by administering a content analysis of eleven feature films on male prisons produced between 1979 and 2001. The author examines the frequency and context of several constructs of penal culture: drug use and trafficking, rape and sexual assault, violence, and gang affiliation. This research examines whether the representations of these issues in recent motion pictures are consistent with extant academic correctional literature. The present study found that within prison films the amount of portrayal of drug use and trafficking, and rape and sexual assault is consistent with the academic literature. Overall, when compared to the academic literature, prison movies under represent gang affiliation but within movies that portray gang affiliation, that portrayal is similar to the academic literature. Notably, heroin was the drug of choice depicted within prison films while academic correctional research in prisons shows marijuana as the drug of choice. The most significant finding was that the amount and type of violence, specifically murder, was overrepresented in prison films compared to the amount and type of violence reported within current academic research. The over emphasis on violence and killing within prison films and the representation of heroin as the major drug consumed and trafficked could lead to public misunderstanding about the realities of prison life and living conditions of the prison institution. This study provides not only noteworthy information concerning the representations of prison life and penal culture by the film industry but also insight into the inconsistencies between the information presented on film and that within academic correctional literature that are transferred via this medium to the general public.

Nowadays crisis leadership must display greater representation in  organizational  studies for  the  reason  that  leadership  organizing  capability  is  constituted  through communication. This  hesis  employs  a  sensemaking  perspective  to  obtain  a  broader  understanding  of the  ways  leadership  unfolds  under  abrupt  uncertain  circumstances  that  are  also vulnerable  to  changes  in  the  environment,  such  as  crises. Besides,  this  study  presents  the  particularity  of  delving  into  the  centrality  of communication  from  a  constructionist  view  in  order  to  understand  how  crisis  leadership is  constituted  through  the  communicative  interactions  of  individuals. In  order  to  do  this,  this  qualitative  study  displays  the  sensemaking  of  20  Swedish crisis  managers  to  get  their  own  perceptions  of  communication  effectiveness  in  crisis management,  how  they  make  sense  of  self-identity  in  the  role  of  crisis  leadership,  and  the part  of  communication  in  the  meaning  construction  of  realities  during  a  crisis. The  results  display  that  crisis  leaders  recognize  the  fundamental  role  of communication  in  the  meaning-construction  and  to  maintain  a  shared  sense  of  meaning among  individuals.  Crisis  leaders  concern  about  communicating  stories  of  learning,  and following-up.  They  show  a  high  sensitivity  to  anticipate  the  crisis  and  emphasize  that effective  communication  builds  good  relationships  between  networks.  Managers acknowledge  that  good  communication  skills  ensure  effective  leadership  during  a  crisis. In  making  sense  of  crisis  leadership  this  study  shows  the  intersection  of  leadership, organizing,  and  communication  as  intertwined  processes. / Krisledarskap  är  ett  område  som  behöver  undersökas  mer,  särskilt  eftersom  den organiserande  funktionen  ledare  har  vid  en  kris  utgörs  av  kommunikation.  Denna master-uppsats  använder  teorier  om  meningsskapande  för  att  nå  en  bredare  förståelse  för hur  ledarskap  utövas  kommunikativt  under  osäkra  omständigheter  och  svåra  situationer i  omgivningen  såsom  kriser. Undersökningen  utgår  från  en  konstruktivistisk  syn  på  kommunikationens  centrala roll  för  att  förstå  hur  krisledarskapet  formas  genom  individers  interaktion. Studien  omfattar  intervjuer  med  20  svenska  krishanterare  som  skapar  mening  kring sina  erfarenheter  och  uppfattningar  om  effektiv  kommunikation  vid  krishantering,  hur de  förstår  sin  egen  identitet  i  rollen  som  krisledare  samt  kommunikationens  betydelse  för att  skapa  bilder  av  verkligheten  under  en  kris. Resultaten  visar  att  krisledare  betonar  den  grundläggande  betydelse  som kommunikation  har  för  meningsskapandet  och  för  att  upprätthålla  en  delad  och gemensam  förståelse  bland  individer  vid  en  kris.  Krisledare  är  engagerade  i  att kommunicera  historier  som  bidrar  till  lärande  vid  uppföljningar  efter  kriser.  De  visar ocskå  en  stor  känslighet  och  förmåga  att  kunna  förutse  kriser  och  betonar  att  effektiv kommunikation  bygger  goda  relationer  i  nätverk  som  är  viktiga  i  krishanteringen. Krisledarna  betonar  även  att  god  kommunikationsförmåga  säkerställer  effektivt ledarskap  under  en  kris.  Denna  studie  visar  att  det  är  i  skärningspunkten  mellan ledarskap,  organisering  och  kommunikation  som  krisledarskapet  uppstår  i sammanflätade  processer.

AbstractForskning har visat att kön spelar roll för hur ungdomar bedöms inom det sociala arbetet. Mot bakgrund av detta har ett intresse väckts för hur socialarbetare arbetar med och förhåller sig till den könade praktikens ojämlika villkor. Uppsatsens syfte är att utforska om, och i så fall hur, tjejers sexualitet görs till sociala problem inom några delar av det sociala arbetet, med hjälp av socialarbetares egna berättelser. Inledningsvis diskuteras centrala frågor som vad ett socialt problem är, vem som har makt att definiera detta, hur tjejers sexualitet historiskt har gjorts till problem i högre grad än killars samt vilken betydelse kön har för det sociala arbetet. Genom djupintervjuer med olika socialarbetare utforskas vidare föreställningar och konstruktioner av problem, förhållningssätt till dessa och förändringspotential för arbetet. Socialarbetarnas egna tankar knyts här till teori och sätts därigenom i ett större sammanhang. Att det finns skillnader för hur tjejers och killars sexualitet bedöms i socialt arbete med ungdomar blir genom undersökningen uppenbart, men också socialarbetarnas försök att på ett bra sätt jobba under dessa förutsättningar, och till viss del tänka utanför ramarna. Ungdomsarbetet utgår i hög grad från heteronormativa föreställningar om önskvärd och icke önskvärd sexualitet, enligt vilka tjejer bedöms enligt snävare ramar än killar. Tjejer förväntas vidare ta ansvar för både sin egen och killars sexualitet genom att inte klä eller bete sig på ett sätt som kan misstolkas, och fortfarande är det tjejers sexualitet som problematiseras medan killars sexualitet ses som ”naturlig” och därmed oproblematisk. Arbetet är inget försök att på ett allmängiltigt sätt förklara de komplexa, samhälleliga processer som skapar kön, sociala problem eller orättvisor inom det sociala arbetet, utan syftar istället till att ge en möjlig förståelse för hur man som socialarbetare kan förhålla sig till det sätt tjejers sexualitet görs till sociala problem i sitt eget arbete.

In Canada, wrongful convictions arose as a social problem with the rise of the innocence movement throughout the 1990s (Zalman, 2020). Despite its rise as a social problem and the increasing attention it has received in the popular media, there has been a lack of research analyzing exactly how wrongful convictions are constructed. The purpose of this research is to analyze how the claimsmakers present at the Morin Inquiry constructed the wrongful conviction of Guy Paul Morin. The purpose of this analysis is to provide insight into the overall construction of wrongful convictions as a social problem through the examination of the claimsmaking taking place within a typifying example. To accomplish this, a qualitative content analysis of the Commission on the Proceedings Involving Guy Paul Morin, using a social constructionist lens, was conducted. Specifically, this thesis analyzed the contents of the Morin Inquiry using the theory of contextual constructionism as defined by Best (1987, 2013). The findings of this research reveal that: (1) the claimsmakers in the Morin Inquiry constructed Guy Paul Morin’s wrongful conviction as a preventable occurrence caused by a combination of individual wrongdoings and correctible systemic errors; (2) through the construction of blameless victims and blameworthy villains as well as the demonstration that wrongful convictions challenge the legitimacy of the criminal justice system, the claimsmakers were able to demonstrate that Morin’s wrongful conviction was worth addressing; and (3) through the adoption of inquiry recommendations, future wrongful convictions can be prevented, and the legitimacy of the criminal justice system can be restored. Finally, this thesis concludes by discussing implications, contributions and limitations of the findings before presenting ideas for future research.

No description available.

Cornell and Hartmann (2007) developed a constructionist framework that can describe the development of racial and ethnic identities. Yet this framework has greater utility than its authors have intended as it also provides the best rubric to date for comprehending the transitions between collective identity group types. This study engages in a thorough investigation of the development of racial and ethnic identities within the context of those that precede it via an ethnohistorical analysis. It also demonstrates that this framework is capable of describing pre-modern religious and national identity types in addition to racial and ethnic identity types. This permits it to demonstrate that this framework can also be utilized in the analysis of identities and identity types in the pre-modern era, in addition to the modern examples that Cornell and Hartmann have used. To this end Weber‟s concept of the ideal type is used to support the examination of identity transitions among pre-Mexicans, Mexicans and Americans of Mexican descent in the ethnohistorical analysis. This methodological approach is in accordance with Romano‟s (1968) indication that the most effective way of understanding the way that Mexican persons define themselves is through a historical and not a sociological investigation. This investigation encapsulates the transition from pre-modern religious identities in the Iberian Peninsula, to the appearance of racial and national identities in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and the Mexican Republic. It examines a second racialization of those that lived within the northern Mexican provinces as Mexicans in the newly conquered Southwestern United States come into contact with the dominant white majority of the United States. The ethnohistorical analysis concludes with a description of the emergence of four distinct identity types among Americans of Mexican descent, each a means to combat the normative discrimination they faced.

Contemporary sociological research on second-generation immigrants living in the United States is lined with questions of ethnic inclusion and transnational participation. Many scholars are interested in how the children of immigrants relate to their parents' ethnic identity while being raised in a new land. Noting that the majority of scholars in this field approach ethnic identity within a social constructionist perspective, in this study I explore the ways that identity ambivalence and ethnic belonging are framed. Specifically, I critically question the ways that an ethnic identity is assumed to be valued and asserted in a constructionist model. After presenting a traditional view of the social construction of ethnic identity, primarily from the work of Stephen Cornell and Douglas Hartmann (2007), I draw out ways that self and identity are framed and highlight key assumptions of an uncommitted self and identity as an objective construction. I trace these assumptions through second-generation immigration literature and critically question how individuals can be shown to experience ambivalence or value an identity if they are conceptually framed as selves who stand apart from their ethnic identity constructions. To better appreciate their ambivalence and convincingly illustrate that one identity matters above another, as a claim for ambivalence inherently assumes, I argue that second-generation immigrants must be understood as strong evaluating, moral selves and the ethnic identities they embody as moral narratives which underlie their self-constitution. In advancing this argument, I look outside of sociology to the work of Charles Taylor (1989) and Charles Guignon (2004) who articulate a view of moral, committed selves. Building from these authors' work, I present moral identification as an alternative framework for understanding ethnic identity. In this moral approach, I delineate the concepts of valuation and moral identification and present them in a framework of identity authenticity and social accountability.

Symbolic interactionism has scarcely been used as a framework in the field of music education. The purpose of this case study was to understand the verbal and nonverbal interactions of four fifth-grade general music students while they collaborated with peers to compose original songs. Through the lens of symbolic interactionism, data from video and audio recordings, student artifacts, and researcher memos were examined to answer the following research questions: 1) How do fifth-grade general music students interact with their peers during composition activities in a constructivist learning environment? 2) How do fifth-grade general music students self-indicate and create shared meanings through verbal and nonverbal symbolic interactions? A within and cross-case analysis revealed that students interacted with their peers through communicative acts, forming friendships, nonverbal gestures, and forming social roles. The participants self-indicated and created shared meanings as a result of shared responsibilities, musical dialogue, improvisation, and symbolic exclusion. Findings suggested that fifth-grade students develop social roles and engage in follower and leader behaviors in situations where teacher scaffolding is purposefully suspended. The results of the research contribute to an existing body of literature regarding fifth-grade general music students’ abilities to self-direct their own learning during collaborative activities.