A country of approximately 4 million citizens, Lebanon is home to over half a million Asian and black African migrant workers concentrated in its capital city of Beirut. An estimated one quarter of Lebanese households employ a live-in female migrant domestic worker on a full time basis. Over the last decade, many of these women have fled domestic confinement to enter Lebanon’s informal labour market, and have recently been joined by hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing war across the country’s eastern border. This dissertation examines the social worlds of these migrant workers. It demonstrates that non-Arab migrant workers in Beirut are not simply temporary workers, but constitute a specific subject category structured by socioeconomic relations that determine the possibility of their life in the city. Specifically, it argues that migrant workers in Beirut are subjects denied recognition, and who therefore lie outside the nation-state, while having forged an urban belonging inside the city. I demonstrate this by examining migrant workers’ interactions with the joint nexus of citizen-state authority, their experiences of time in both labour and rest, their modes of receiving address and inhabiting speech in the Arabic language, and their intimate and collective relations in the city. Together with growing numbers of male Syrian refugees, migrant workers in Beirut have created an urban underground that has transformed both what and who it means to live in the city today. This dissertation offers an ethnographic map of these transformations.

This research calls for a reconsideration of the notion of rubbish; one that does not consider disposal as the final act of the production-consumption cycle but, instead, appreciates the practices enacted around rubbish as constitutive of value creation. Drawing on Henri Lefebvre's Production of Space (1991) and Rhythmanalysis (2004) this thesis traces the social life of rubbish to understand the social, cultural, political, and economic practices implicated in the organisation of waste. In particular, I employed a sensory ethnographic approach comprising of participant observations, self-reflexive observations, formal and informal interviews. I undertook a six months fieldwork, where I explored and documented the practices enacted by six sets of stakeholder who are involved in the organisation of rubbish in Lagos, Nigeria. Without overlooking the representational aspects (i.e. interviews, visuals) of practices, this thesis contributes to consumer research and the wider marketing discipline by tackling the more-than-representational elements of practices. The research exposes the spatial dynamics, embodied and multisensory experiences and power relations that are negotiated and co-produced when everyday practices are performed around rubbish. In so doing, I question and challenge the notion of disposal as being limited to environmentalism, green consumption and sustainability. I pushed these boundaries by investigating how rubbish acts as the lifeblood that fuels socio-spatial as well as economic relations in both formal and informal economies. This ethnographic study reveals the coping tactics and spaces of resistance that are utilised by marginalised informal operators to 'make-do' and sometimes subvert the strategies imposed by the formal authorities when they attempt to abolish these practices. The findings unmask the processual quality of practices and the recursive nature of objects in terms of their transformation from a state of 'rubbish' into valuable categories. It also makes visible the manner in which the practices enacted around rubbish (de)synchronises with natural rhythms such as seasons. The thesis alerts policymakers to the contributions of the informal waste economy to the socioeconomic development of the formal economy. It also suggests that the urge to engage in sustainable consumption practices - recycling and less consumption - can have detrimental effects on stakeholders that rely on the surplus or detritus that emerge post consumption to sustain their socioeconomic livelihoods in developing economies across the world such as Lagos, Nigeria.

Civil conflict is a complex multi-layered event. As an outcome it represents a product of both the structural framework in place and decision-making between the different elite groups. From a historical neoinstitutionalist perspective, this dissertation will provide an answer as to why some illiberal democracies fall into civil conflict while others do not. It argues that horizontally unequal elites bargain for (re)distribution of political participation, economic assets and social services through formal and informal institutions in order to expand the shares of the goods distributed. The presence of cleavages and grievances amongst groups are enhanced when exclusion through inefficient redistribution takes place; therefore, a bargain failure with the potential to activate violent means, implies a disagreement amongst the elites over the allocation of resources to different societal groups. Bargain failures occur in the presence of non-credible commitments and information asymmetries. Inefficiency in the distribution can also be captured through informal institutions in the form of patronage networks, a side of the transaction spectrum which has been understudied. The contribution of this thesis to the general debate stems from this acknowledgement and alleviates this by incorporating the full spectrum of institutions which operate effectively within illiberal democratic regimes. Patronage networks despite being a fundamental part of how politics is conducted in illiberal democratic regimes have surprisingly been neglected in the contemporary study of conflict onset. By conducting two-level fsQCA along a selection of 21 cases of illiberal democracy across 1980-2012 including cases of ethnic conflict onset, the analysis will show that distribution through patronage networks does play a role in triggering conflict or in aiding to control violence depending on the efficiency of the distribution across grieved groups. Further comparative analysis of a most likely and least likely case for cases of conflict (Thailand and India Bodo conflict) and peace (Namibia and Bolivia) reveals that the effect of the patronage mechanisms when redistributive, plays a larger role as an instrument of preventing violent disputes across horizontally unequal ethnic groups.

Scholarly interest in the informal economy has burgeoned in recent years, in anticipation of expanding our knowledge beyond the easily observable organizational life that takes place within the formal economic system. In line with this research endeavour, the present work represents a focused study of what I have labelled 'disguised relationships'. These ties result in repeated transactions between informal economy enterprises, which fail to comply with certain elements of the laws and regulations applying to their operations, and formal firms, which operate within the state-sanctioned formal economy. Drawing on an abductive reasoning process and grounded theory approach, I conduct a case study that captures the interactions between two leading cosmetics firms (i.e. formal firms) and ten daigou enterprises (i.e. informal enterprises) between 2013 and 2017. The examination of multiple data sources (i.e. interviews, news articles and social media observations) suggests that the organizational landscape under study differs considerably from the one in which formal firms are portrayed as rational choosers of best-performing partners or exploiters of subordinate actors within the informal economy. Rather, disguised relationships emerge in a unilateral and disguised fashion following the lead of informal enterprises, and formal firms unintentionally engage in the unexpected ties. Furthermore, disguised relationships create the image of dynamism replete with, metaphorically speaking, give-take, push-pull and chase-evade. More specifically, the emergent model illustrates the interactive practices through four mechanisms: (a) informal enterprises gaining social acceptability from certain society groups and acquiring the necessary resources from the members of identity-based groups; (b) drawing on this momentum, informal enterprises forming unilateral ties with formal firms in a disguised manner; (c) formal firms counteracting the unexpected ties, with temporary compromising on the counteracting efforts; and (d) informal enterprises avoiding the combatting efforts of formal firms through socially learnt tactics and leveraging network brokers (i.e. actors sharing the same ethnic/cultural backgrounds with informal enterprises while at the same time working for formal firms). This thesis makes contributions to the literature on both interorganizational relationships and the informal economy by overcoming the perennial problem of 'dualism' that is prevalent in the extant work. First, while the subject-object dualism bestows upon formal firms a heroic status such that they are conceptualized as rational actors forming interorganizational relationships, always on the basis of plans and goals, the current work argues that formal firms may participate in unexpected, yet lasting, ties, which requires ongoing situational responsiveness. Second, the structure-agency dualism projects the static image in which formal firms deliberately establish exploitative ties with structurally isolated informal enterprises, whereas the present study suggests that informal enterprises may exercise agency to proactively establish or dissolve connections with formal firms and to strengthen or weaken the relationships at their discretion. As such, dynamism figures prominently in the interorganizational relationships between formal firms and informal enterprises.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:25:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniela de Lima Conte.pdf: 1229537 bytes, checksum: 12c2e22d3019f728244e9c7a47483c5d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-12-15 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / Organizations strive to plan formal learning processes and increasingly recognize the importance of informal learning, although it is difficult to explain quantitatively their contribution to organizational performance. From Pantoja (2004), several researchers have studied informal learning strategies (ILS) and its antecedents. The main contribution of this work is to use the ILS as predictors of individual learning of nursing professionals. In other words, a professional context not yet researched and the possibility of evaluating the predictive validity of the ILS: reproduction, intrinsic reflection, extrinsic reflection, seeking help with written material interpersonal help and practical application. These strategies were measured by an instrument containing thirty-three statements. The following ILS were used as predictors of individual learning, measured by 18 items, and it was considered as second-order latent variables with the following dimensions: the frequency, the importance of individual learning and the stock of individual learning. The data was collected in four hospitals and analyzed in a dichotomic way (public vs. private). In this study, 486 respondents participated (nurses and technical nursing). The data analysis was performed by means of structural equation modeling with partial least squares estimation, allowing the evaluation of the measurement model (convergent validity, discriminant and reliability) and the structural model (significance of the structural coefficients and effect size - R2). In public environment, the latent variables had average variance extracted between 0,47 and 0,76 (convergent validity), the square root of the average variance extracted was greater than the correlations between the latent variables (discriminant validity) and composite reliability was above 0,71. In private environment, the latent variables had average variance extracted between 0,56 and 0,76 (convergent validity), the square root of the average variance extracted was greater than the correlations between the latent variables (convergent validity) and composite reliability was above 0 , 83. As for the structural model, the public hospital showed that, in the perception of these professionals, there is some possibility of individual learning (mean = 7,41 and SD = 2,17 on a scale of 1 to 10). But only the strategy interpersonal help had significant influence on individual learning. In private hospitals, it was observed that there is also this perception of individual learning (mean = 8,83 and SD = 1.08 on a scale of 1 to 10). Furthermore, all strategies have a significant relationship with the individual learning, except reproduction, which showed negative relationship with individual learning (structural coefficient = - 0,358, p <0.01). These results can be explained from the practical point of view of the organizations current situation. The public hospital had recently changed its management, for a new management model is being implemented, especially in the nursing staff, which has affected the work processes of professionals and, consequently, their learning processes. Private hospitals already have a well established management model for the nursing staff. Seals in quality and accreditation processes of learning of nursing professionals were present in this process, and are also strongly encouraged by the organization / As organizações se esforçam em planejar processos de aprendizagem formais e cada vez mais reconhecem a importância da aprendizagem informal, apesar da dificuldade de explicitar de forma quantitativa sua contribuição ao desempenho organizacional. A partir de Pantoja (2004), vários pesquisadores têm estudado estratégias de aprendizagem informal (EAI) e seus antecedentes. A principal contribuição deste trabalho é utilizar as EAI como preditoras da aprendizagem individual dos profissionais de enfermagem, ou seja, um contexto profissional ainda não pesquisado, e a possibilidade de avaliar a validade preditiva das EAI, que são: reprodução, reflexão intrínseca, reflexão extrínseca, busca de ajuda em material escrito, busca de ajuda interpessoal e aplicação prática. As estratégias foram mensuradas por um instrumento com trinta e três afirmativas. As EAI foram utilizadas como preditoras da aprendizagem individual, mensuradas por 18 itens, sendo consideradas variáveis latentes de segunda ordem, com as seguintes dimensões: frequência, importância da aprendizagem individual e estoque de aprendizagem individual. Os dados foram coletados em quatro hospitais e analisados de forma dicotômica (público x privados), e participaram dessa pesquisa 486 respondentes (enfermeiros e técnicos de enfermagem). A análise dos dados foi realizada pela modelagem em equações estruturais com estimação por mínimos quadrados parciais, permitindo a avaliação do modelo de mensuração (validade convergente, discriminante e confiabilidade) e do modelo estrutural (significância dos coeficientes estruturais e tamanho do efeito R2). No ambiente público, as variáveis latentes apresentaram variância média extraída entre 0,47 e 0,76 (validade convergente), a raiz quadrada da variância média extraída foi superior às correlações entre as variáveis latentes (validade discriminante) e a confiabilidade composta superior a 0,71. No ambiente privado, as variáveis latentes apresentaram variância média extraída entre 0,56 e 0,76 (validade convergente), a raiz quadrada da variância média extraída foi superior às correlações entre as variáveis latentes (validade convergente) e a confiabilidade composta superior a 0,83. Quanto ao modelo estrutural, no hospital público, foi observado que, na percepção desses profissionais, há alguma possibilidade de aprendizagem individual (média = 7,41 e desvio padrão = 2,17, numa escala de 1 a 10). Mas apenas a estratégia ajuda interpessoal apresentou influência significativa com a aprendizagem individual. Nos hospitais privados, foi observado que também existe essa percepção da aprendizagem individual (média = 8,83 e desvio padrão = 1,08, numa escala de 1 a 10). E todas as estratégias apresentaram relação significante com a aprendizagem individual, exceto a reprodução, que apresentou relação negativa com a aprendizagem individual (coeficiente estrutural = - 0,358, p < 0,01). Esses resultados podem ser explicados do ponto de vista prático pela situação atual das organizações: o hospital público teve recentemente sua administração trocada, um novo modelo de gestão está sendo implantado, principalmente no corpo de enfermagem, que vem afetando os seus processos de trabalho e, consequentemente, seus processos de aprendizagem. Os hospitais privados apresentam um modelo de gestão do corpo de enfermagem bem consolidado. Estão presentes nesse ambiente selos de acreditação em qualidade e os processos de aprendizagem dos profissionais de enfermagem também são fortemente estimulados pela organização.

The dissertation employs insights from critical race theory and the environmental justice literature, questioning the sustainability of dominant state policies concerning development of informal settlements. The work explores spatialized and racialised forms of class and their normalisation in South Africa. Discussion of the rise and redefinition of urban segregation in South Africa notes racialised exclusions have not disappeared with the end of apartheid. Economic supremacy of ‘white’ populations reproduces ‘white’ control – with dirt, crime and disorder constitutive of the pathological spaces of the ‘other’. Second part examines the role of environmental ideas in reproducing ‘white’ spaces of privilege and ‘black’ spaces of degradation. Discussing neo-liberal development, sustainable development and ecological justice in South Africa – the dissertation shows service delivery and housing policy to possess similarities to apartheid projects – with weaknesses of the dominant model failing the requirements of environmental justice. The case study which follows examines a contemporary attempt to relocate an informal settlement sited in an affluent neighbourhood through ‘greenfields’ housing development, revealing environments as contested, with spatial subjugation dramatic and ongoing.

Informal sector participation has been described as a trap associated with impoverishment (Cassim, 1982); as the survivalist responses of marginalised persons with no alternatives (Habib, 2005); yet it has also been described as potentially dynamic (House, 1984). The former conceptions prescribe an identity to informal sector participants, with little consideration given to individual potential and individual action as means to escape impoverishment and a survivalist condition. An entrepreneurial orientation is associated with increased earnings in certain environments according to Lumpkin and Dess (1996), a process orientation that can be learned. Research testing the relationship between entrepreneurship and performance has been problematic due to the different definitions offered by different entrepreneurship scholars (Cunningham and Lischeron, 1991; Lumpkin and Dess, 1996). In this context, entrepreneurial orientation as a construct was utilised to overcome these challenges. Entrepreneurial orientation or certain of its dimensions have been associated with positive effects related to performance (Chow, 2006; Coulthard, 2007; De Clerq and Ruis, 2007; Jantunen, Puumalainen, Saarenketo, and Kylaheiko, 2005) or with negative relationships (Naldi, Nordqvist, Sjőberg and Wiklund, 2007). Innovativeness, competitive aggressiveness, risk taking propensity, autonomy and proactiveness, the dimensions of an entrepreneurial orientation (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996), and the effects of certain contextual factors were tested as to their associations with entrepreneurial performance. Entrepreneurial performance was defined in this context as a construct comprising earnings and continuance satisfaction. In terms of entrepreneurial performance, the contention of Lumpkin and Dess (1996) that an entrepreneurial orientation is associated with learning: the how of entrepreneurship, or the learnable process conception of Stevenson and Jarillo (1990), was also tested by investigating contextual factors and how they shaped an entrepreneurial orientation and contributed to entrepreneurial performance. ii In this context a quantitative investigation of informal sector street traders and providers of street-side services was undertaken using a survey format. The specific relationships influencing entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial performance were investigated. Results contested assumptions that prescribed a theoretically permanent and immutable survivalist orientation to certain informal participants in that education and learning related factors were found to be associated with entrepreneurial orientation and increased earnings. Entrepreneurial orientation was found to be associated with increased earnings along the dimension of risk taking propensity, and higher levels of autonomy were found to be associated with continuance satisfaction. The relationships between entrepreneurial and contextual factors were investigated and insights developed regarding potential street trader upliftment.

There are many existing studies characterizing the informal sector in Latin America, but the literature fails to fully examine the interactions between gender and disadvantaging factors on the probability of informal employment and its returns to wage. This analysis uses survey data from Argentina (2001) and Uruguay (2006) to examine the heterogeneous effects of number of children under 5, education, minority status, and migrant status on male and female informal employment and income. Being female interacts with number of children under 5 to create no effect on probability of informal employment, in contrast to a significant negative effect for men. Education has a greater negative effect on probability of informal work for females, while minority status and migrant status have a greater positive effect on the probability of being employed informally for females. Additionally, working informally is associated with a negative effect on wage for both females and males, but this effect is less for females. Number of children under 5 also negatively affects female wages, while there is no such effect for men.

To date, the most common pharmacological treatments for dementia are cholinesterase inhibitors and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonists (antidementia medications), which are associated with a delay in the progression of the cognitive and functional symptoms. Studies of the effects of antidementia medications on neuropsychological symptoms (NPS) show varying results. Presence of NPS can also affect the amount of time caregivers spend with persons with dementia, which can affect informal costs of the condition. This project used extant data from the longitudinal, population-based Cache County Study on Memory and Aging (CCSMA) and the Dementia Progression Study (DPS), which included permanent residents aged ≥ 65 of Cache County, Utah. Linear mixed models were used to assess the association between antidementia medications with informal costs and NPS. The first study examined whether antidementia medications were associated with a decrease in informal costs. Use of antidementia medications was not significantly associated with informal costs (expβ = .79, p = .090). When restricting the sample to only the participants who were of mild dementia severity at baseline, antidementia medications were associated with a 28% decrease in informal costs (expβ = .72, p = .039). The second study evaluated whether antidementia medications were associated with a decrease in NPS. Results indicated that use of antidementia medications was associated with a 28% increase in NPS (expβ = 1.28, p < .001). However, this association was no longer significant with the inclusion of covariates, in particular, the use of psychotropic medications. Use of any psychotropic medication was significantly associated with a 30% increase in Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) score. Overall, the use of antidementia medications may not significantly reduce informal costs or NPS. The use of antidementia medications may reflect patterns of use that are prompted by severity of dementia and NPS.

<p>The general aim of this dissertation is to describe and analyse patterns of informal care and support for carers in Sweden. One specific aim is to study patterns of informal care from a broad population perspective in terms of types of care and types of carer. A typology of four different care categories based on what carers do revealed that women were much more likely than men to be involved at the ‘heavy end’ of caring, i.e. providing personal care in combination with a variety of other caring tasks. Men were more likely than women to provide some kind of practical help (Study I).</p><p>Another aim is to investigate which support services are received by which types of informal caregiver. Relatively few informal caregivers in any care category were found to be receiving any kind of support from municipalities or voluntary organizations, for example training or financial assistance (Study II).</p><p>The same study also examines which kinds of help care recipients receive in addition to that provided by informal carers. It appears that people in receipt of personal care from an informal caregiver quite often also receive help from the public care system, in this case mostly municipal services. However, the majority of those receiving personal, informal care did not receive any help from the public care system or from voluntary organizations or for-profit agencies (Study II).</p><p>The empirical material in studies I and II comprises survey data from telephone interviews with a random sample of residents in the County of Stockholm aged between 18 and 84.</p><p>In a number of countries there is a growing interest among social scientists and social policymakers in examining the types of support services that might be needed by people who provide informal care for older people and others. A further aim of the present dissertation is therefore to describe and analyse the carer support that is provided by municipalities and voluntary organizations in Sweden. The dissertation examines whether this support is aimed directly or indirectly at caregivers and discusses whether the Swedish government’s special financial investment in help for carers actually led to any changes in the support provided by municipalities and voluntary organisations. The main types of carer support offered by the municipalities were payment for care-giving, relief services and day care. The chief forms of carer support provided by the voluntary organizations were support groups, training groups, and a number of services aimed primarily at the elderly care recipients (Study III).</p><p>Patterns of change in municipal carer support could be discerned fairly soon. The Swedish government’s special allocation to municipalities and voluntary organisations appears to have led to an increase in the number of municipalities providing direct support for carers, such as training, information material and professional caregiver consultants. On the other hand, only minor changes could be discerned in the pattern of carer support services provided by the voluntary organizations. This demonstrates stability and the relatively low impact that policy initiatives seem to have on voluntary organizations as providers (Study IV).</p><p>In studies III and IV the empirical material consists of survey data from mail questionnaires sent to municipalities and voluntary organizations in the County of Stockholm.</p><p>In the fields of social planning and social work there appears to be a need to clarify the aims of support services for informal carers. Should the support be direct or indirect? Should it be used to supplement or substitute caregivers? In this process of reappraisal it will be important to take the needs of both caregivers and care recipients into account when developing existing and new forms of support. How informal caregivers and care recipients interact with the care system as a whole is undeniably a fertile field for further research.</p>