It is well accepted that casualties incurred as a result of interstate militarized disputes have a significant influence on domestic public opinion and ultimately on foreign policy decision making (FPDM). Although scholars have studied the influence of casualties on FPDM, the major line of research ignores the possibility that different cultural settings may generate different levels of tolerance for human casualties and thereby differentially mediate public reactions. Therefore, I attempt to clarify the impact of cultural factors on interpretation and perception of human casualties in international conflicts by the general public and their implications on consequent foreign policy choices. I specifically examine two socio-cultural factors in the context of two culturally different states, South Korea and the United States. The two cultural factors are (1) the level of individualism vs. collectivism, and (2) the degree of ambiguity intolerance. I argue that the two factors will possibly affect the public’s tolerance of human casualties. I expect that they will affect both the process by which members of the two cultures make decisions and their choices. Cross-national experimental design (in South Korea and the United States) and a comparative case study were employed. Regarding the decision choice, I found that the expected number of casualties were considered in different ways by American students and Korean students. Different from my expectation, the Korean students perceived the expected number of casualties more negatively than the American students. With regard to the process of decision making, the empirical results support the hypotheses that the different levels of intolerance of ambiguity, a cultural factor, will have an impact on the decision process. Specifically, Korean students, who are less tolerant of ambiguity, needed less information to reach a final decision than did American students. Overall, although the results did not completely support cultural accounts, cultural explanation has been proven to be a viable ingredient in explaining the different observed patterns of foreign policy decision making. Specifically, a cultural factor, ambiguity intolerance, had an impact on the process rather than the choice. In addition, this study presents some theoretical implications as well as political implications.

Global companies face the challenge of offering their products or services to a wider audience. While the Internet has made it easier to distribute information globally, information design for different cultures is still very difficult. Cultural models can be used to identify differences between cultures that may have an effect on how people make decisions. Geert Hofstede (1980, 1997) has defined a cultural model with five dimensions. One of these dimensions, individualism vs. collectivism has been shown to affect the type of information people prefer when viewing printed advertisements. A study was conducted to determine if the individualism vs. collectivism dimension affects the type of information Anglo-American and Hispanic-American people prefer for purchasing tasks in a computer-based environment. The findings of this study suggest that there is no difference between the cultures on preference for information. Nonetheless, there are cultural aspects that have to be considered when designing interfaces for a Hispanic audience as opposed to an Anglo-American audience. Based in these cultural aspects, design guidelines were developed. These aspects are the basis of the design guidelines provided in this paper. / Master of Science

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the strategies used by a Swedish franchise company when they established in the international market. Theoretical perspective: The theoretical frame consists of previous research on internationalization, market entry mode and franchising as a concept. Method: The study follows a qualitative method and has a deductive research approach, with case study as research design. Result: The empirical content is collected from semistructured interviews with three respondents from O’Learys. Conclusion: O’Learys has established on the international market through networking. Through franchise, the company has gradually established restaurants in the Nordic region, the rest of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. During the internationalization process, O’Learys has encountered cultural barriers, which the company handled by being adaptive inits business model, without detracting from the core of the business. O’Learys has had the strategy of working with Multi Unit operators and also being accurate with the analysis work to find potential markets. In addition, the company wants to create safe and profitable franchisees by being a good support office. / Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka strategier som ett svenskt franchiseföretag använt sig av vid etablering på den internationella marknaden. Teoretiskt perspetkiv: Den teoretiska referensramen består av tidigare forskning kring internationalisering, market entry mode och franchising som koncept. Metod: Studien följer en kvalitativ metod och har en deduktiv forskningsansats, med fallstudie som forskningsdesign. Empiri: Det empiriska innehållet är insamlat från semistrukturerade intervjuer med tre respondenter från O'Learys. Slutsats: O'Learys har med hjälp av nätverksrelationer etablerat sig på deninternationella marknaden. Genom franchise har företaget stegvis etablerat restauranger i Norden, övriga Europa, Asien och Mellanöstern. Under internationaliseringsprocessen har O'Learys stött på kulturella hinder, som företaget bemött genom att vara adaptiva i sin affärsmodell, utan att frångå kärnan i verksamheten. O'Learys har haft som strategi att arbeta med Multi Unit-operators och att vara noggranna med analysarbetet för att hitta potentiella marknader. Utöver detta vill företaget skapa trygga och lönsamma franchisetagare genom att vara ett bra supportkontor.

Nesta dissertação narro, através da perspectiva pessoal de seis mulheres de Parati - Brasil e quatro mulheres de Colônia do Sacramento - Uruguai, quais são as transformações individuais e profissionais mais tangíveis que a atividade turística trouxe para cada uma delas. Por meio de suas histórias particulares podem-se averiguar mudanças ou continuidades em suas condições como mulheres e podem-se delinear os efeitos sociais e culturais do turismo, quando percebidos de uma ótica privada e individual. Em grande medida, estas transformações ou permanências estão ligadas ao fenômeno da globalização social e cultural no mundo contemporâneo. As vidas privadas de dez mulheres latinoamericanas, suas vozes e pensamentos sobre suas trajetórias e experiências pessoais e sobre suas cidades, expressam o modo como o gênero, a condição feminina, os efeitos do turismo e a globalização se encaixam no cenário social e cultural do presente momento histórico. / In this dissertation I narrate, through the perspective of six women in Parati - Brazil and four women in Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay, what are the most tangible personal and professional transformations brought about by the tourist activity for each one of them. Seeing throughout their private histories its possible to inquire changes or continuities in their condition as women and outline the tourisms social and cultural effects, when perceived from their particular point of view. Largely, this transformations or permanencies are connected to the phenomenon of social and cultural globalization in the contemporary world. The private lives of this ten Latin-American women, their voices and thoughts about their own personal experiences and trajectories and their cities, shows the way in which gender, the feminine condition, the tourism effects and globalization fit into the social and cultural backgrounds of nowadays.

Nesta dissertação narro, através da perspectiva pessoal de seis mulheres de Parati - Brasil e quatro mulheres de Colônia do Sacramento - Uruguai, quais são as transformações individuais e profissionais mais tangíveis que a atividade turística trouxe para cada uma delas. Por meio de suas histórias particulares podem-se averiguar mudanças ou continuidades em suas condições como mulheres e podem-se delinear os efeitos sociais e culturais do turismo, quando percebidos de uma ótica privada e individual. Em grande medida, estas transformações ou permanências estão ligadas ao fenômeno da globalização social e cultural no mundo contemporâneo. As vidas privadas de dez mulheres latinoamericanas, suas vozes e pensamentos sobre suas trajetórias e experiências pessoais e sobre suas cidades, expressam o modo como o gênero, a condição feminina, os efeitos do turismo e a globalização se encaixam no cenário social e cultural do presente momento histórico. / In this dissertation I narrate, through the perspective of six women in Parati - Brazil and four women in Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay, what are the most tangible personal and professional transformations brought about by the tourist activity for each one of them. Seeing throughout their private histories its possible to inquire changes or continuities in their condition as women and outline the tourisms social and cultural effects, when perceived from their particular point of view. Largely, this transformations or permanencies are connected to the phenomenon of social and cultural globalization in the contemporary world. The private lives of this ten Latin-American women, their voices and thoughts about their own personal experiences and trajectories and their cities, shows the way in which gender, the feminine condition, the tourism effects and globalization fit into the social and cultural backgrounds of nowadays.

<p>This study investigates how the host community of Tenerife perceives the socio-cultural effects of tourism on the island. The method chosen for the study was qualitative interviews which were performed with six respondents, each born in Spain, living permanently in Tenerife and employed within service-related occupations. The interview material was interpreted and handled according to a hermeneutic approach. The results of the study showed that the respondents had an over-all positive perception of tourism. Perceived positive socio-cultural effects were related to cultural and linguistic influences. Problems related to alcohol and community disorder were believed to be negative effects although they were not present to the same extent according to the respondents. The sociological theory “us and them” could be applied to this study since the locals chose to live and spend their free-time outside the tourist areas.</p><p> </p>

This study investigates how the host community of Tenerife perceives the socio-cultural effects of tourism on the island. The method chosen for the study was qualitative interviews which were performed with six respondents, each born in Spain, living permanently in Tenerife and employed within service-related occupations. The interview material was interpreted and handled according to a hermeneutic approach. The results of the study showed that the respondents had an over-all positive perception of tourism. Perceived positive socio-cultural effects were related to cultural and linguistic influences. Problems related to alcohol and community disorder were believed to be negative effects although they were not present to the same extent according to the respondents. The sociological theory “us and them” could be applied to this study since the locals chose to live and spend their free-time outside the tourist areas.

The main purpose of this thesis was to investigate the fit between four achievement goals, personal goal attributes and self-regulation strategies, and the generalisation of goal-strategy patterns to (1) different life domains (academic and physical activity settings), (2) two cultures (individualistic/the UK and collectivistic/Romania) and (3) over time, in two contexts (academic and sport university settings) in the UK. Additionally, differences between high level English and Romanian athletes in self-construals (individualism versus collectivism), achievement goals and self-regulation processes was investigated in one study. Method. The participants in the four studies of this thesis were: English university students (N = 591; study 1), English university athletes and exercise participants (N = 294 and N = 288, respectively; study 2), English and Romanian elite/sub-elite athletes (N = 91, N = 109 respectively; study 3a), Romanian university students involved in sport at elite and sub-elite levels (N = 196; study 3b), and English university student-athletes (N= 295; study 4). Three main questionnaires were used: the Achievement Goals Questionnaire (AGQ; Elliot & McGregor, 2001) (studies 1, 3b, and 4) and the Achievement Goals Questionnaire for Sport (AGQ-S; Conroy, Elliot & Hofer, 2003) (studies 2, 3ab and 4) measured four achievement goals in academic and sport settings, respectively (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals); the third questionnaire, the Goal Systems Assessment Battery (GSAB; Karoly & Ruehlman, 1995) (all studies) required participants to state their most important personal goal, and measured two goal attributes (efficacy and value) and five self-regulation strategies used during goal pursuit (planning, self-monitoring, social comparison, self-reward and self-criticism). The fourth questionnaire, was the Self-Construal Scale-Revised (SCS-R; Hardin, 2006) which measured individualistic and collectivistic self-definitions in study 3a. Studies 1, 2 and 3a and 3b employed a correlational design, structural equation modelling analyses, and multivariate and univariate analyses of covariance (study 3a only), while study 4 employed a longitudinal design, latent growth curve analyses and structural equation modelling. Studies 1 and 2 Results. The goal-strategy models identified in education (study 1), sport and exercise (study 2) in the UK were very similar to each other, and consisted of both positive and negative paths (see figure A overleaf). Furthermore, in study 1, the total sample was divided into two samples according to the difficulty and specificity of personal goals: students in sample 1 (N = 325) set easy and vague goals, while students in sample 2 (N = 266) set difficult and specific goals. The model found in the total sample was tested again simultaneous in these two samples in order to ascertain the potential moderation effects of goal difficulty and specificity. As the model was invariant across groups it was concluded that personal goal difficulty/specificity was not a moderator of achievement goal relations with self-regulation processes. Finally, in study 2 Map relations with planning/self-monitoring was fully and partially mediated by goal efficacy and value in the sport and exercise domains, respectively. Study 3a and 3b Results. In study 3a, Romanian athletes had higher collectivistic self-construals than English athletes, while the two groups were similar in individualism. After controlling for collectivism, Romanian athletes, regardless of sport type (individual or team sport) had higher scores than English athletes on Pap and Pav goals, social comparison and self-motivation strategies (self-reward and self-criticism); and Romanian team sport athletes had higher scores on Map and planning/self-monitoring than their English counterparts. In study 3b the goal-strategy models identified in moderately competitive academic and physical activity settings in an individualistic West European culture (UK) were tested in highly competitive academic and elite sport settings in a collectivistic East European culture (Romania). The academic and sport domain models identified in Romania were similar to each other, and to those found in the UK. The following differences in model paths were noted in Romania: in the academic domain, four paths were not significant (Map and Mav to efficacy, efficacy to self-reward, and social comparison to self-criticism); and a new negative path was identified, from Map to social comparison; in the sport domain, five paths were not significant (Mav to efficacy, Pap to efficacy and social comparison, efficacy to reward and social comparison to self-criticism) and three new paths emerged, two positive paths, Pav to social comparison, and efficacy to planning/self-monitoring, and one negative path from efficacy to criticism. The positive path from Pav to social comparison (found in highly competitive sport settings) represents the most notable difference between the UK and Romanian models. Study 4 Results. The goal-strategy models identified in academic and sport contexts in studies 1 and 2 (described earlier) emerged again in these settings in study 4 (minus the path from efficacy to reward in both settings, and efficacy to criticism in academia) at three measurement times (start, middle and end of academic year/competitive season). Therefore, the model was stable over time. Unconditional growth curve analyses showed that, during one year, achievement goals and self-regulation processes followed different patterns of change: Map and Pav goals declined, while Pap and Mav goals were stable in education, and all goals declined in sport settings; goal commitment (a composite measure of goal efficacy and value) declined and planning/self-monitoring remained stable (in both settings); social comparison and self-motivation (a composite measure of self-reward and self-criticism) increased in education, while in sport the former was stable and the latter declined . Finally, associative growth curve models showed that in both domains: 1) temporal changes in Map were positively related to changes in goal commitment and planning/monitoring, and changes in the latter were associated with changes in self-motivation; 2) changes in Pap, social comparison and self-motivation were positively related; and 3) Mav changes were not related to changes in SR processes. Conclusion. This thesis advocates a conceptualisation of achievement goals as a dynamic, cyclical interplay between situated reasons, standards and self-regulated action; 2) an exploration of goal standards dimensions beyond the mastery-performance focus with the reason-standard complex; and 3) an expanded achievement motivation and self-regulation model, including the why (achievement goals), the what (personal goals/goal setting), and the how (self-regulated action), where the focus of enquiry is sifted from the correlates to the mechanisms of achievement goal effects.

Die LPG-Bildung als wichtigstes Element der "sozialistischen Umgestaltung" der Landwirtschaft der DDR ist Hauptinhalt der vorliegenden Dissertation. Auf beschreibendem und analytischen Wege wird die gravierende Umwälzung der gesamten ländlichen Struktur als integrierter Bestandteil der Schaffung der Grundlagen des Sozialismus in seiner Komplexität und Widersprüchlichkeit dargestellt. Den Ausgangspunkt der Schrift bildet die Bodenreform in der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone als Voraussetzung für die späteren Veränderungen auf dem Lande. Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit steht der Prozeß der LPG-Bildung in den Dörfern des Kreises Haldensleben. Besondere inhaltliche Schwerpunkte der Hauptarbeit bilden: - die wirtschaftlich organisatorische Festigung der LPG in den einzelnen Etappen der Genossenschaftsbildung; - die Rolle und Leistung des MAS/MTS während der "sozialistischen Umgestaltung der Landwirtschaft" - die Maßnahmen der Politik des "Neuen Kurses" und ihre Realisierung in der Landwirtschaft ; - der Wandel in der Einstellung der Parteiführung zu den Großbauern und ihre allmähliche Einbeziehung in den "Aufbau des Sozialismus" auf dem Lande; - die Leitung und Lenkung des Umgestaltungsprozesses durch die SED-Kreisleitung (SED-KL) Haldensleben und die staatlichen Organe des Kreises; - die kulturelle und bildungspolitische Entwicklung im ländlichen Raum des Kreises Haldensleben zwischen 1952 und 1960 / The of LPGs as the most important element for the "socialistic" reconstruction of the agriculture of the GDR (German Democratic Republic) is the main topic this dissertation deals with. In a descriptive and analytical way all major revolutions within the whole agricultural structure als an integrated part to build up a basis for socialism in all it's complexity and with all it's contradictions are described. As basis for this paper serves the land reform in the sowjet sector of Germany as preassumption for later changes in the rural areas. The focus of this work is on the process in which the LPGs around Haldensleben were set up. The main content deals with the following questions: - the economic and organizational strengthening of the LPGs within the several steps of the co-operatives; - the role and power of the MAS/MTS during the "socialist revolution" of the agriculture - the steps of the politics of the "Neuen Kurs" and the realization for the agriculture; - the change in the attitude of the party heads towards the owners of large farms and their integration into the process of builing up socialism in rural areas; - the management of the revolutonary process by the SED-Kreisleitung (regional leading group) Haldensleben and the gouvernmental institutions of the area; - the cultural and educational policy in the rural area of Haldensleben between 1952 and 1960

This study analyses the practice implemented by the government of Mozambique immediately after independence, from 1975 to 1985, of placing secondary school teachers around the country. Such practice consisted of putting teachers born in the south of the country to teach either in the central, or in the northern region, on the one hand; on the another, those who were born in the centre of the country were being placed to work or in the south, or in the north; and those born in the north were being sent to teach in the central or southern part of the country. The government’s arguments in so doing were to mould a nation. The study explores whether this practices was a deliberate policy. The presupposition that it may have been a formal policy comes from the fact that during the struggle for the liberation of Mozambique, the then movement leading the war, Frelimo, had as its guiding principle to ‘kill the tribe for the nation to be born’; so people from different regions of the country were compelled to work closely together in every activity of the movement. The theoretical framework includes a discussion of the concepts of ‘ethnic group’, ‘nation’, ‘nationalism’ and ‘nation-state’. Throughout the literature review, the way nations have been historically constituted worldwide, the way African leaders tried to build their nations, the philosophy behind the idea of ‘nation-states’ they developed are discussed at length. Given that education has been considered as a key pillar to achieve this specific end, the contribution of this sector to the processes of building a nation is brought to the fore. The study is a qualitative analysis and exploratory in essence. Fifty persons – including high ranking officials and teachers – who designed and implemented or were involved in the practice, were interviewed as the main foundation of the research. The outcomes of the analysis as well as the analogy itself are multidisciplinary. It concludes that the practice was not a policy in the classical meaning, that is a core of written principles and practices approved by a competent social institution and followed in a certain community, it existed only in speeches. Secondly, that in fact the practice contributed to the nation building process, people involved in it gained awareness of the vastness and ethnic diversity of the country. Finally, it reveals that de facto the policy had unintended interpretations. Given that the majority of the people sent throughout the country were southerners – something which the headmasters of the practice apparently were not aware of –, the unbalance of educated cadres that began during the colonial period were simply perpetuated and not critically addressed. As a result, “Southern dominance” in the administration of the country (in this instance the education system) provided the basis for dissatisfaction in other areas of the country. The study agrees with Connor (1990) that nation-building is a process, and concludes that Mozambique is on the road to nation formation, to which the practice contributed to a considerable degree. / Dissertation (M (Social Science in Sociology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Sociology / unrestricted