The purpose of this study is to examine teachers’ experiences of power relations as psychological violence and the impact it has on their health. This study, using a qualitative approach, thus investigates the association between power relations and the dimensions thereof and how it manifests as psychological violence. In turn, it may have detrimental effects on the health of the teacher and the whole teaching-learning process. Based on the findings, recommendations for this - and future research - are proposed. Open-ended phenomenological interviews were used to collecct the qaulitative data. Eleven participants indicated their willingness to be individually interviewed for the study. The qualitative findings indicated that teachers experience power relations as psychological violence, it is experienced severely and emanates mostly from colleagues in management positions. The most prevalent and severe forms of power relations as psychological violence as experienced by teachers include being subjected to power abuse from principals; being subjected to autocratic management styles and management’s power abuse through the abdication of responsibility. The most severe physical health consequenses as experienced by teachers include feeling tired and experiencing physical ill health. It further emerged that the most severe phychological health consequenses were experienced in the form of feelings of helplessness and feeling emotional or wanting to cry. Teachers’ lack of work productivity and motivation were the most severe behavioural consequense because of the experience of power abuse as psychological violence. Teachers’ personal and family relations and teachers withdrawing socially were the most evident social consequense due to negative experiences. The findings from the study indicated that teachers experience power relations as psychological violence in various forms and that it is highly prevalent. The research results have shown that teachers identified many dimensions of power relations, such as management styles, the perception or experience of someone’s power or “weak point”, possessing no power or status, female teachers being treated in a subordinate manner and racial or cultural differences of others as a contributer to abuse power in relationships at school. This study contributes towards the power relations and psychological violence literature in general and in particular, teachers’ experiences in South Africa. In the light of the findings the study recommends that teacher support programmes should be put in place in order to address the experience of power relations as psychological violence. It further recommends that teachers and students studying to become teachers should be provided with information about power relations as psychological violence to create awareness. / Thesis (MEd (Educational Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The abuse of power, dominance of certain shared perspectives, and reduction of personal values into so-called organizational core values are problems that plague traditional organizational direction setting. The purpose of this study was to explore how power intersects with the knowledge formation process, shared perspectives, and participatory processes within organizational direction setting. The study used an ethnographic case study approach to focus on a church that went through a yearlong direction setting process. The church had lost its senior pastor and wanted to determine its direction before hiring a new pastor. The researcher was a participant in that process. His field notes and other documentation provided one source of data. The researcher also interviewed 20 people who participated in the process. In terms of the intersection of power and knowledge formation, the study revealed that the discursive practices of the facilitator along with the voices of those in privileged groups, the outspoken, and those who had engendered trust in others carried considerable weight during the process. At the intersection of power with shared perspectives, there were two major perspectives representing subgroup cultures: a traditional perspective that resisted change and a progressive perspective that wanted change. The progressives dominated the church’s privileged groups and exerted extensive influence on the direction setting process. The organizational symbols of church staff and worship music style served to galvanize some people in the battle over which perspective would prevail. Transparency functioned as a bridge that brought some on either side of the conflict closer together. The research revealed two major types of power related to the intersection of power with participatory processes: the power of pain and intimidation. Both minimized the participation of some women, youth, and traditionalists. All three intersections featured deployments of power that influenced the construction of directional knowledge. This knowledge helped to inform the rules of “appropriate” conduct within the organization’s emerging truth regime. The study revealed that, in this case, robust directional knowledge would have accommodated personal, subgroup, and widely shared values in a state of dynamic equilibrium. The researcher concluded with a discussion of implications for organizational leaders. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

To gather together is a natural human activity shared by all people. The majority of these activities take place without the involvement of the government, and is of no interest to the law. In South Africa, the right to assemble peacefully, to demonstrate, to picket or to present petitions, is protected in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. When people gather, be it peaceful or violent, participants run the risk of being arrested for committing offences. The way the government of the day reacts to gatherings influence the policing, prosecution and adjudication of offences arising from the right to gather. Current legislation and common-law offences utilised to curb disorder in South Africa are measured against international and regional case law and guidelines. Most of these case law and guidelines linked to international and regional instruments are similar in many respects, and can be deemed as universally acceptable. It is proposed that the government revisits the mixture of current offences utilised by the prosecution during dissent, public violence or protest action, and that specific public order offences are created, providing for specific unlawful conduct with corroborating sentences. Police powers must furthermore be clearly defined to strengthen the hand of the police to secure law and order, serve as guarantee for the rights and freedoms of everyone, and to create legal certainty. The government must organise applicable public order offences in a single public order act. Legislation applicable to public order must be accessible and easily understandable since protest may be the only avenue for a member of the public to bring his or her plight under the attention of the government. Existing guidelines from applicable international and regional instruments which guide and monitor executive conduct must be included since these guidelines qualify as public order offences. / Criminal and Procedural Law / LL. D. (Criminal and Procedural Law)

L’intimidation à l’école est un facteur de stress associé à de multiples manifestations psychiatriques. À ce jour, la recherche se limite à des études majoritairement transversales, or pour développer des stratégies d’intervention efficaces, il est nécessaire d’adopter une approche temporelle des liens. Cette étude invite à répondre à ce besoin en ayant pour objectif (1) d’étudier la direction des associations entre l’intimidation et les symptômes internalisés et externalisés, (2) d’examiner la spécificité des associations au travers des profils de personnalité comme modérateurs de la relation entre l’intimidation et les symptômes internalisés et externalisés, (3) d’explorer le rôle médiateur des symptômes internalisés et externalisés entre l’intimidation et la consommation d’alcool, (4) d’identifier les corrélats neuronaux qui sous-tendent les liens entre l’intimidation et les symptômes internalisés et externalisés à l’adolescence. Les données de deux cohortes longitudinales ont été utilisées. Co-Venture comprend 3800 adolescents âgés de 12 ans et suivis annuellement pendant cinq ans. Neuro-Venture correspond à un sous-échantillon de Co-Venture, soit 151 adolescents âgés de 12 ans et suivis à 12-14, 15 et 17 ans. Des random-intercepts cross-lagged panel model et des modèles multiniveaux ont été choisis afin d’estimer les effets cross-lagged (influences réciproques entre deux variables), les effets between-person (effet général, sur les cinq ans), les effets within-person (influences à court terme, au cours d’une année), les effets lagged-within-person (influences persistantes, d’une année à l’autre). Il existe des influences bidirectionnelles entre l’intimidation et les symptômes internalisés et une influence unidirectionnelle de l’intimidation vers les symptômes externalisés (étude 1). Être sensible à l’anxiété et avoir des pensées négatives augmentent le risque des adolescents intimidés à développer des symptômes internalisés dans la même année. Être impulsif et rechercher des sensations fortes augmentent le risque de développer des symptômes externalisés dans la même année (étude 2). Des voies médiatriques sont identifiées, de l’intimidation vers la consommation d’alcool par les symptômes internalisés et externalisés, ces voies sont renforcées avec les profils de personnalité (étude 3). Plus les adolescents sont intimidés plus ils ont tendance à avoir de grands volumes cérébraux (i.e., gyrus orbitofrontal supérieur droit, gyrus orbitofrontal moyen gauche, thalamus droit) et des petits (i.e., gyrus parahippocampique droit, putamen bilatéral, amygdale 6 bilatérale). Une augmentation des niveaux d’intimidation au cours d’une année est suivie par une plus forte diminution de volume du thalamus droit et d’une moins forte augmentation de volume de l’amygdale bilatérale dans la même année. Une augmentation des niveaux d’intimidation au cours d’une année est suivie d’une augmentation des symptômes externalisés à travers une moins forte augmentation du volume de l’amygdale droite dans la même année (étude 4). Les découvertes suggèrent que l’intimidation joue un rôle majeur dans l’émergence de nouveaux symptômes psychiatriques par le biais potentiel d’un développement cérébral atypique. Les différences individuelles (i.e., profils de personnalité) et les deux voies médiatrices symptomatiques suggèrent une complexité des liens, révélée par l’approche temporelle de l’étude. Les associations observées sont majoritairement à court terme, soulignant l’importance d’une prise en charge précoce de l’intimidation afin d’éviter ses multiples répercussions négatives. / Bullying victimization is a salient stressor that is associated with a broad variety of psychopathology. The lack of prospective studies has made it difficult to disentangle the temporal precedence of these associations. The present study aimed to (1) examine reciprocal cross-lagged associations between bullying victimization, internalizing, and externalizing symptoms, (2) study the specificity of effects through personality profiles as moderators in the association between bullying victimization, internalizing, and externalizing symptoms, (3) explore mediation effects between bullying victimization and alcool use through internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and (4) identify neural correlates underlying the association between bullying victimization, internalizing, and externalizing symptoms during adolescence. Data from a 5-year longitudinal cohort study (Co-Venture) of a population-based sample (n = 3800, 49.2% female, mean age = 12.8, SD = 0.4 years), and neuroimaging data from a sub-sample of 151 participants (54.3% female, mean age = 13.6, SD = 0.6 years, 3 neuroimaging sessions) were analyzed. Random intercepts cross-lagged panel models (objective 1) and multilevel models (objectives 2, 3, 4) were conducted to estimate cross-lagged effects (reciprocal influences between variables), between-person effects (overall effects, over a 5-year period), within-person effects (concurrent effects, within a year), and lagged-within-person effects (lasting effects, past year). Results provided evidence for bidirectional effects between bullying victimization and internalizing symptoms, and unidirectional effects from bullying victimization to externalizing symptoms (study 1). Anxiety sensitivity and hopelessness increased common vulnerability and concurrent effect of bullying victimization on internalizing symptoms. Impulsivity and sensation seeking increased common vulnerability and concurrent effect of bullying victimization on externalizing symptoms (study 2). There was significant between and within effects on alcohol use through internalizing symptoms for adolescents with high anxiety sensitivity and hopelessness, and significant between, within, and lagged effects on alcohol use through externalizing for adolescents with high impulsivity and sensation seeking (study 3). Adolescents prone to higher bullying victimization were prone to higher volumes in the right superior orbitofrontal gyrus, left middle orbitofrontal gyrus, and right thalamus, and, to lower volumes in the right para-hippocampal gyrus, bilateral putamen, and bilateral amygdala over the 5-year period. An increase in bullying 8 victimization in a given year is followed by a steeper decrease in the right thalamus volume, and a smaller volumetric increase in the bilateral amygdala during that same year. An increase in bullying victimization in a given year was associated with increased externalizing symptoms through a smaller volumetric increase in the right amygdala, during that year (study 4). Findings suggest that bullying victimization confers additional risk for psychopathological outcomes, and implicate two risk pathways that account for how bullying victimization enhances alcohol use risk and emphasize the importance of personality profiles that can shape the immediate and long-term consequences of victimization. Findings also suggest that bullying victimization plays a role in shaping brain development, but when victimization experiences can be addressed and stopped, such changes appears to be short-lived, and have immediate repercussion on mental health. Current interventions should broaden their scope to simultaneously target bullying victimization and psychopathology as each of these manifestations co-occurent within a year.

La victimisation par les pairs à l'école est courante et entraîne de nombreuses conséquences néfastes. La présente étude vise à établir la relation entre ce phénomène et les idées suicidaires, tout en évaluant un possible effet médiateur de la dépression et de l'estime de soi. Quatre-cent-soixante-deux élèves de première année du secondaire et II provenant d'écoles de la région du Bas-St-Laurent ont participé à l'étude et répondu aux questionnaires suivants: Scale for Suicide Ideation, Questionnaire sur la victimisation par les pairs, Échelle d'estime de soi, ainsi que VInventaire de Dépression de Beck. Les résultats montrent que 77,7% des élèves se disent victimises par leurs pairs. La fréquence de cette violence ne diffère pas significativement selon l'âge et le sexe des élèves. Quant aux idées suicidaires, elles sont vécues par 38,7% des jeunes et sont significativement plus présentes chez les adolescentes. La combinaison des deux variables indique que la victimisation par les pairs explique 20,9% de la variance des idées suicidaires des jeunes. Par ailleurs, selon la méthode de Baron et Kenny (1986), le lien unissant directement ces deux variables perd sa signification lors de l'inclusion de la dépression comme variable médiatrice dans le modèle. En ce qui concerne la variable estime de soi, elle ne s'avère que partiellement médiatrice. En conclusion, une grande proportion de jeunes sont victimises par leurs pairs et présentent des idées suicidaires. Ceux qui subissent cette violence par leurs pairs tendent à éprouver aussi des idées suicidaires, mais uniquement s'ils sont déprimés.

Par le prisme de la carrière publique de l’intimidation scolaire au Québec, cette étude invite à une incursion dans l’économie morale de l’enfance – soit la production, la circulation et l’utilisation des normes, rôles, valeurs et sentiments relatifs aux enfants. Depuis une vaste analyse documentaire transversale et diachronique, il s’agit d’offrir une compréhension nouvelle du processus de co-construction dialogique du problème public à lequel concourent les trois champs médiatique, scientifique et politique. L’analyse suggère que les trajectoires des problèmes publics sont peut-être plus cycliques que linéaires. Au Québec, le thème de la « violence scolaire » apparaît au sortir du XXe siècle par l’intermédiaire du « taxage » – l’extorsion ou le vol qualifié perpétré dans le cadre de la sociabilité juvénile. La « violence scolaire » québécoise émerge ainsi dans un contexte politique de lutte aux « gangs de rue » et à la criminalité adolescente. Au début du XXIe siècle, la volonté répressive de l’État est concurrencée par une remise en cause de la judiciarisation des jeunes délinquants, conduisant à la délégitimation des dispositifs policiers et judiciaires déployés dans l’école. Au même moment, des groupes « d’entrepreneurs de morale » étendent la définition de l’inacceptable en matière d’agressivité juvénile et la redéfinissent autour de nouvelles indisciplines nécessitant des dispositifs de prévention et d’accompagnement. Dès lors, la préoccupation déborde les thèmes de la sécurité et de la dangerosité jusqu’alors centraux ; c’est le sentiment d’une enfance vulnérable qui domine les scènes publiques étudiées. Délaissant les risques que pose la jeunesse, la rhétorique de l’intimidation se reconfigure autour des risques qui pèsent sur elle. Cette croisade morale, qui prend appui sur les composantes majeures de l’économie morale de l’enfance que sont l’intégrité psychologique, la dignité sociale et la liberté, permet d’appréhender les configurations de la normativité contemporaine. / Using the public career of school bullying (intimidation) in Québec, this research invites to explore the moral economy of childhood: the production, circulation and use of norms, roles, values and feelings related to children. A vast documentary and diachronic cross analysis was conducted to offer a new understanding of the dialogical co-construction of this public problem, to which participate the media, scientific and political spheres. The analysis suggests that the public problems’ trajectories might be cyclical rather than linear. Inside Québec, the theme of ‘school violence’ appears in the late 20th century through ‘taxage’, understood as the extortion or robbery perpetrated in the course of juvenile sociability. The Québec ‘school violence’ thus emerges in a political context of fight against ‘street gangs’ and teenage criminality. At the beginning of the 21th century, a reconsideration of youth offenders judicialization comes to oppose the repressive will of the state - it leads to a delegitimization of the police and judicial apparatuses dedicated to overcome ‘taxage’. Meanwhile, groups of ‘moral entrepreneurs’ extend the definition of unacceptability when it comes to youth aggressivity and redefine it in relation to new indisciplines that require measures of prevention and support. Henceforth, concerns move beyond the matters of security and dangerousness previously prominent. The public scenes that were investigated became at that period dominated by a feeling of vulnerable childhood. Leaving behind the risks that poses the youth, the problem’s rhetoric rearranges itself around the risks that weigh in on them. Psychological integrity, social dignity and liberty are major components of the moral economy of childhood and the basis of this ‘moral crusade’ - a social phenomenon that allows us to perceive the configurations of contemporary normativity.

The primary purpose of this study is to identify those people at most risk of being bullied at work. While much research is being conducted on school bullying, little has been conducted on workplace bullying. Using data gathered from a 2004 study conducted by the National Opinion Research Center for the General Social Survey, which included a Quality of Work Life (QWL) module for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), linear regressions indicated significant findings. As predicted, workers in lower level occupations, as ranked by prestige scoring developed at National Opinion Research, are more likely to be victimized. Data also suggest that being young, Black, and relatively uneducated may contribute to being bullied in certain situations. Future research is needed to examine influences of socio-economic, legal, and other demographic factors that may predict the chance of being bullied.