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This thesis explores the social realities of working in a minority language labour market through a case-study of the Gaelic language in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.  In this study, the ‘Gaelic labour market’ refers to a group of jobs for which knowledge of Gaelic is a condition of employment. By conceptualising language as situated in social practices, this study draws on in-depth interviews with people who work in this labour market, to research the ways in which personal identities, values and meanings associated with the language can be asserted, formed and contested through working practices.  The research found a multiplicity of motives for working in the Gaelic labour market which included both ‘mercenary’ and ‘crusading’ elements.  Gaelic language practice in the Gaelic labour market is not necessarily stable or habitual, but is contested practice given that there is no single ideology of language which workers bring to bear on upon their working situations. Whilst for some participation in the Gaelic labour market profoundly affected how they identified with the language, for others this involvement had little consequence for their identity.  The dominant outcome was one of ambivalence over what membership of the Gaelic labour market meant and in which ways it could have implications for how workers lived their lives.  The results show how the labour market is one space through which different ideologies of the language are contested, as well as being a contested concept in and of itself.

This thesis studies how a non-white minority integrates into Swedish society in order to better understand the particularities of Sweden’s immigration model and to see if it is as suitable as it is made out to be in EU circles. It does so through an exhaustive review and cross-examination of existing literature on immigration in Sweden, and by collecting opinions from members of a long established immigrant community: the Eritreans in Sweden. It calls for a more nuanced approach in education and society to issues of race and ethnicity, so that the majority of the population realizes that using and discussing these categories should not be avoided, because they are useful to come to terms with diversity. By not focusing exclusively on economic insertion, but by also placing emphasis on the socio-cultural integration of minority identities, it will point out to the need for more comprehensive integration policies that equate opportunities and chances of non-white Swedes with those of natives and ensure equal access to the labor and housing markets. It contends that ‘top-down’ legislation and systemic implementation of such policies foster feelings of ‘belongingness’ among non-white Swedes, and contribute to the creation of social capital and to the overall peaceful coexistence of Swedes of different cultural backgrounds.

This thesis examines the development of and interrelationships among organisations in the Australian Deaf community during the early part of the 20th Century, particularly during the 1920s and 1930s. It focuses on those organisations which Deaf people attempted to establish themselves, or with hearing supporters, in response to their rejection of the philosophy and practices of the existing charitable organisations such as Deaf Societies and Missions. It also analyses the responses of the Societies and Missions to these moves. The thesis adopts a social history perspective, describing events as much as possible from the perspective of the Deaf people of the time. These developments within the Deaf community were influenced by wider social movements in Australian society during these decades, such as the articulation of minority groups as 'citizens', and their search for 'advancement', autonomy and equal rights. Australia's first schools and post-school organisations for Deaf people were closely modelled on 19th Century British institutions. The thesis describes the development of these early Australian institutions and argues that Deaf people had active or contributing roles in many of them. During the early 20th Century most of these organisations came under closer control of hearing people, and Deaf people's roles became marginalised. During the late 1920s many Deaf adults began to resist the control of Societies and Missions, instead aspiring to 'manage their own affairs'. In two states, working with hearing supporters, they successfully established alternative organisations or 'breakaways', and in another state they engaged in protracted but unsuccessful struggles with the Deaf Society. Australian Deaf people established a national organisation in the 1930s, and this led to the creation of an opposing national organisation by the Societies. Most of these new organisations did not survive beyond the 1930s, but they significantly affected the power structures and relationships between Deaf and hearing people in Australia for several decades afterwards. These events have been largely ignored and even strategically suppressed by later generations, possibly for reasons which parallel other episodes of amnesia and silence in Australian history.

SAMMANFATTNING Studien var en jämförande longitudinell studie där syftet var att undersöka om den självskattade hälsan förbättrades för personer (n=14) som deltagit i hälsokurs inom arbetsmarknadsprojektet Romano Zor. Frågeställningen var: förändras självskattad hälsa över tid för deltagare i ett arbetsmarknadsprojekt? Datainsamlingsmetod var Hälsoenkät SF-36 som mäter självrapporterad fysisk och psykisk hälsa, med åtta delskalor. Resultatet visar att romerna, i basmätningen (n=28), skattade sin hälsa sämre än personerna i normdata grupperna, i samtliga skalor. I fem delskalor skattar deltagarna (n=14), som svarade på enkäten även vid andra mätningen, sin hälsa sämre efter att de genomgått projektet (mätning över tid). Kvinnorna skattar generellt sin hälsa sämre än männen. Undantaget en fråga som rör förändring av hälsan över tid, där kvinnorna skattar bättre hälsa än männen. I denna fråga skattar majoriteten av deltagarna en bättre eller likvärdig hälsa i andra mätningen, jämfört med bas mätningen. Slutsats: personer med romskt ursprung som deltar i en hälsokurs i ett arbetsmarknadsprojekt, skattar en förbättrad  hälsa över tid i några hälsofaktorer, mätt med hälsoenkät SF 36. / ABSTRACT The study was a comparative longitudinal study where the aim was to investigate whether self-rated health improved for persons (n=14) who participated in the health course in a labor project Romano Zor. The issue was: changed self-rated health over time for participants in a social project? Data collection method was a health survey SF-36, which measures self-rated physical and mental health, with eight sub-scales. The results show that the Roma, in the base measurement  (n = 28), rated their health worse than their counterparts in standard data groups, in all scales.  In five sub-scales underestimate the participants (n = 14), respondents were also at the second measurement, their health worse after they completed the project (measurement over time). The women generally underestimate their health worse than men. The exception a matter related to changes in health over time, with women underestimating better health than men. In this case overestimate the majority of the participants a better or equivalent health in the second measurement, compared to base measurement. Conclusion: The people of Roma origin who participate in a health course in a labor market project, estimate health improvement over time in any health factors, as measured by the health questionnaire SF- 36.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2008. / "A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education." Directed by Ming Fang He. ETD. Includes bibliographical references (p. 172-185)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 2008. / Title from web page (viewed on July 1, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis examines the motivations for adopting multiculturalism. To this end, it examines a phenomenon that is commonplace in everyday life but is curiously absent from the academic literature: power. I argue that power provides a better causal explanation for the adoption of multiculturalism than previous explanations, such as desecuritization, and renders justifications for multiculturalism based exclusively on moral grounds insufficient and impractical in the world of politics. I divide the analysis into two parts: power acquisition as a factor that prompts dominant groups to enact multicultural policies, and power as a factor that enables non-dominant groups to mobilize for greater rights. In the process, I examine the structure of power in the modern nation-state, and claim, in short, that it is not only a network of boundaries, rules and institutions, but also an instrument used to delimit independence. I also claim that dominant groups will be most amenable to accepting multiculturalism if it does not alter the existing power praxis, and even reinforces the authority of the bearers of power. In areas of the world where multiculturalism is perceived as granting minorities too much power, it has been and will continue to be outright rejected. Moreover, I contend that minorities are not powerless and can effectively mobilize to acquire greater rights by engaging in ‘counterpower’. Ultimately, I conclude that the realistic prospects of diffusing multiculturalism, in light of the analysis of power, are poor, since in many areas of the world, authorities have too strong a grasp on power, and the counterpower of the masses is concordantly too weak. In this respect, a focus on the concept of power with regard to the adoption of multiculturalism reflects the political reality.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Previous research has identified impulsive personality traits as significant risk factors for a wide range of risk-taking behavior, substance use, and clinical problems. Most work has been conducted in primarily White samples, leaving it unclear whether these patterns generalize to racial and ethnic minorities, who have higher rates of negative consequences of substance use behavior. The most widely used assessment of impulsive traits is the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior scale, which has strong psychometric properties across demographic subgroups, such as gender and age; however, data supporting its use in racial and ethnic minorities is less well-developed. The aims of this study are to 1) examine the measurement invariance of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale-Short Form (Cyders et al., 2014) across racial minority groups and 2) determine if impulsive personality traits differentially relate to substance use outcomes across racial groups. Participants were 1301 young adults (ages 18-35, fluent in English), recruited through an online survey for both college students at a large public university and Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing online platform. Measurement invariance was assessed using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. Differential validity was assessed using a structural equation modeling framework. I established model fit for each racial group (White group: RMSEA= .067, CFI= .94; Black group: RMSEA= .071, 90% CFI= .952; Asian American group: RMSEA= .073, CFI= .94; Hispanic group: RMSEA=.081, CFI=.934). Based on change in CFI/RMSEA indices, I concluded strong measurement invariance of the Short UPPS-P as a valid scale of impulsive behavior across racial groups. In the White group, findings indicated significant relationships between multiple SUPPS-P traits and alcohol and substance use. In the Asian American group, positive relationships were found between sensation and alcohol use (p=.015) and negative urgency and drug use (p=.020). I found that there were no differences in the relationships between the Short UPPS-P traits and substance use outcomes across White and the racial and ethnic groups studied (p’s>.06).

This study aims to examine positive attitudes towards a certain group of immigrants in a group that is normally negative against them. Furthermore creating an understanding of their perception of what a “real” refugee is. The refugees chosen are Ukrainians due to the Russian invasion in 2022, and the empirical field of attitudes is studied on the online forum Flashback. To answer this, two questions were formed; how can the Ukrainian refugees' established status be understood, despite not being established in Swedish society? and how do the users on Flashback define what a “real” refugee is?  The study has used a qualitative approach with a netnographic method. A thread with roughly 1500 posts about whether Sweden should accept Ukrainian refugees was the main source of empirical material. The posts in the forum were analyzed by using Elias and Scotson's (2011) theory “the established and the outsiders”, and the “racialization” theory. The results showed that the Ukrainian refugees' established status can be understood through cultural ideas about a shared western race with the same values. When the users applied a race on the Ukrainians and on themselves, they also did it to the existing immigrants in the country, which can be understood as a way to elevate their own status through the idea that like-minded people will come into the country and improve it. The Ukrainians were defined as the “perfect” refugee, with qualities that the users believed the Swedish society needed. These qualities were easy to integrate, well-educated and toughness.