Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1975. / Typewritten.

Since the 1970s all of the available literature suggested that the UK, in common with Europe, North America and Scandinavia, had seen significant growth of single issue self-help/mutual aid groups related to health and social care issues. Yet in the UK there appeared to be no real body of academic interest nor any sustained national policy initiatives. The aim of the study was therefore to enhance an understanding of the relationship of these self-help/mutual aid groups to UK social policy. The study was constructed in two parts. Part One, a historical study critically appraised the way in which the state appeared to have viewed and responded to various manifestations of self help/mutual aid, both pre- and post- the welfare state. Part Two, a case-study of two UK grassroots self-help/mutual aid groups explored members' viewpoints, their reasons for joining, benefits derived and the impact they felt it has had on their lives and their relations with professionals and wider `political' forums. The result of the study suggests a fundamental reframing of the relationship between self-help/mutual aid and the state is required at both a conceptual and practical level by UK policy makers and academics. This would acknowledge: that contemporary self-help/mutual aid groups are part of the broader tradition of voluntary action in the third sector, self-help/mutual aid's unique contribution in terms of social relations, process and knowledge; its difference from philanthropy/formal voluntary sector and therefore distinct characteristics and relations with the-state; and contemporary health and social care groups' potential dual identity with communities of interest and geographic communities and their relationship to and distinction from the contemporary service user and carer movements. 116, findings have implications for policy related to participation (citizen and health), social capital and citizenship.

My dissertation involves a critique of the concept of life or seimei as it emerged in modern use during the Meiji era (1868-1912). Specifically, I have outlined the conditions of possibility for thinking seimei at particular moments in the development of the modern, market-centered Japanese nation-state in historical and literary terms such that I can begin to use these conditions to think its impossibilities. In short, I argue that a central condition of possibility for thinking life in its modern, historical form is a process of individuation that takes hold of and shapes bodies at an ontological level. By critiquing life and its ontology of individuation, I unearth the traces of an impossible “apriori collectivism” - that is, a collectivism not merely reducible to a congregation of individuals, but originally collective – buried under the calls for individual freedom, self-help, and industrialization that were at the heart of the Meiji era’s modernization project. I track this apriori collectivism in a lineage relating (through non-relation) the mutual aid societies or mujin-kô of the Edo period to the life insurance industry of the Meiji 10s and 20s. I then use this material history of life as backdrop to my study of the literary trends in the latter decades of the Meiji era, and end with a consideration of the political and aesthetic implications seimei has for thought by taking up a study of Iwano Hômei’s Shinpiteki hanjûshugi (Mystical Demi-animalism).

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-150).

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-150) Also available in print.

This study aims to investigate learning practices within Time Banks in Spain. Time Banking is a community currency concerned with the exchange of services between members using time as the currency. Parallels can be drawn with Ivan Illich’s ‘Skills Exchange’ model in Deschooling Society (1971b) and this provides the initial motivation for the study of Time Banks from an educational perspective, which is identified as a gap in the literature. Moving on from Illich, the investigation of Time Banks is considered in relation to the wider context of Lifelong Learning and the Learning Society. The heterogeneity of Time Bank models in Spain motivates a comparative research design based on differing organisational logics, whilst the exploratory nature of investigating Time Banks as spaces of learning motivates a case study methodology in order to gain a contextualised understanding of the problem. The study finds that the Time Banks are built on principles of Mutual Aid (Kropotkin, 1902) and, whilst practices and values resonate somewhat with Illich’s critiques of modernism, a skills exchange model does not best represent the learning that takes place in Time Banks. Furthermore, this research finds that in all three Time Banks, the exchange of services forms only a small part of overall activities. Additional activities provide opportunities for the exchange of skills and knowledge between participants. However, the learning highlighted as more important by TB users is learning to participate. That is, learning solidarity and personal and social skills through active participation in the Time Bank. These findings are then positioned within the context of radical adult education and future lines of inquiry are identified.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação apresenta um estudo qualitativo socioantropológico sobre o universo das "mulheres que amam demais anônimas" (MADA). Foram realizadas dezesseis entrevistas semiestruturadas com integrantes desses grupos de ajuda mútua sediados na cidade do Rio de Janeiro. O conjunto entrevistado é heterogêneo quanto à escolaridade e nível financeiro; a faixa etária concentra-se entre 40 e 50 anos e todas se declararam heterossexuais. O grupo orienta-se pela leitura recorrente do livro de Robin Norwood "Mulheres que amam demais" e suas reuniões são baseadas no compartilhamento das experiências afetivas. Há compromisso de anonimato e busca-se pela simetria entre as componentes. Tensões surgem em torno da possibilidade de hierarquização na gestão do grupo e no convívio via "amadrinhamento". Os discursos assinalam: a necessidade de controle do parceiro associada a baixo autocontrole (expresso por comportamentos considerados "compulsivos"); a dedicação intensa ao relacionamento ("viver em função do outro"); a valorização do enlace amoroso como fonte exclusiva de felicidade; e medo da solidão. O sentimento de "baixa autoestima" aparece como mecanismo explicativo desse tipo de vínculo. A interação conjugal é marcada por conflitos acerca da reciprocidade de atenção e cuidados, o que revela uma dinâmica de gênero particular ao mundo amoroso. A configuração do "amar demais" como "doença" no livro fundador do MADA estrutura-se pela analogia sistemática ao modelo de diagnóstico e recuperação do alcoolismo. As narrativas apresentaram forte adesão ao discurso 'psi' e médico. A caracterização do 'amor patológico' e a formulação de escalas para medi-lo, associadas à tentativa de empreendê-lo como categoria diagnóstica, configuram-se como importante movimento de medicalização do "amar demais". / This dissertation presents a socio anthropological qualitative study about the universe of "women who love too much anonymous". Sixteen semistructured interviews were conducted with members of these mutual aid groups located in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The group interviewed is heterogeneous in terms of education and financial level, the age concentrates mainly between 40 and 50 years, and all declared themselves heterosexual. The group is guided by recurrent reading of Robin Norwood's book 'Women who love too much' and their meetings are based on the sharing of affective experiences. There is a commitment to anonymity and the search for symmetry between the components. Tensions arise around the possibility of hierarchy in the management of the group and at a convivial through "godmotherness". The discourse analysis highlights: the need to control the partner associated with low self-control (expressed by behaviors considered "compulsive"); intense dedication to the relationship ("live for the other"); the appreciation of love as the only source of happiness; and fear of loneliness. The feeling of "low self esteem" appears as explanatory mechanism of this type of bond. The marital interaction is marked by conflicts about the reciprocity of care and attention, which reveals a particular gender dynamic to emotional world. The configuration of "loving too much" as 'illness' in the founder book of "Women who love too much anonymous" is structured by the systemic analogy to the model of diagnosis and recovery from alcoholism. The narratives presented strong adhesion to psycological and medical speech. The characterization of 'pathological love' and the formulation of scales to measure it associated with the attempt to undertake it as a diagnostic category appears as important movement medicalization of "loving too much".

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação apresenta um estudo qualitativo socioantropológico sobre o universo das "mulheres que amam demais anônimas" (MADA). Foram realizadas dezesseis entrevistas semiestruturadas com integrantes desses grupos de ajuda mútua sediados na cidade do Rio de Janeiro. O conjunto entrevistado é heterogêneo quanto à escolaridade e nível financeiro; a faixa etária concentra-se entre 40 e 50 anos e todas se declararam heterossexuais. O grupo orienta-se pela leitura recorrente do livro de Robin Norwood "Mulheres que amam demais" e suas reuniões são baseadas no compartilhamento das experiências afetivas. Há compromisso de anonimato e busca-se pela simetria entre as componentes. Tensões surgem em torno da possibilidade de hierarquização na gestão do grupo e no convívio via "amadrinhamento". Os discursos assinalam: a necessidade de controle do parceiro associada a baixo autocontrole (expresso por comportamentos considerados "compulsivos"); a dedicação intensa ao relacionamento ("viver em função do outro"); a valorização do enlace amoroso como fonte exclusiva de felicidade; e medo da solidão. O sentimento de "baixa autoestima" aparece como mecanismo explicativo desse tipo de vínculo. A interação conjugal é marcada por conflitos acerca da reciprocidade de atenção e cuidados, o que revela uma dinâmica de gênero particular ao mundo amoroso. A configuração do "amar demais" como "doença" no livro fundador do MADA estrutura-se pela analogia sistemática ao modelo de diagnóstico e recuperação do alcoolismo. As narrativas apresentaram forte adesão ao discurso 'psi' e médico. A caracterização do 'amor patológico' e a formulação de escalas para medi-lo, associadas à tentativa de empreendê-lo como categoria diagnóstica, configuram-se como importante movimento de medicalização do "amar demais". / This dissertation presents a socio anthropological qualitative study about the universe of "women who love too much anonymous". Sixteen semistructured interviews were conducted with members of these mutual aid groups located in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The group interviewed is heterogeneous in terms of education and financial level, the age concentrates mainly between 40 and 50 years, and all declared themselves heterosexual. The group is guided by recurrent reading of Robin Norwood's book 'Women who love too much' and their meetings are based on the sharing of affective experiences. There is a commitment to anonymity and the search for symmetry between the components. Tensions arise around the possibility of hierarchy in the management of the group and at a convivial through "godmotherness". The discourse analysis highlights: the need to control the partner associated with low self-control (expressed by behaviors considered "compulsive"); intense dedication to the relationship ("live for the other"); the appreciation of love as the only source of happiness; and fear of loneliness. The feeling of "low self esteem" appears as explanatory mechanism of this type of bond. The marital interaction is marked by conflicts about the reciprocity of care and attention, which reveals a particular gender dynamic to emotional world. The configuration of "loving too much" as 'illness' in the founder book of "Women who love too much anonymous" is structured by the systemic analogy to the model of diagnosis and recovery from alcoholism. The narratives presented strong adhesion to psycological and medical speech. The characterization of 'pathological love' and the formulation of scales to measure it associated with the attempt to undertake it as a diagnostic category appears as important movement medicalization of "loving too much".

No description available.

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree: PhD (Community Psychology) in the Department of Psychology Faculty of Arts, University of Zululand, 2003. / Caring for an ill person, especially a terminally ill person can be a rewarding yet equally stressful experience. An organisation of carers (mutual-aid group) provides a support system responsive to the special problems of carers, including discussion groups, which are responsive to the inadequacies in the ongoing lives of carers, in promoting mental health. Mutual-aid groups fall within the social action model of community psychology, which aims to promote personal empowerment, defined as the process of gaining influence over events and outcomes of importance to an individual or group. This model is a shift in intervention from prevention to empowerment and from needs to rights. Mutual aid groups are built around such values as co-operation, shared experience, personal responsibility and mutual help in the achievement of a common end. The present study was in line with the aims of health promotion at a tertiary level, which are to improve solutions for living and increase health, strength, skill and human rights for carers of the terminally ill, in very empowering contexts. The present research followed up on the recommendations by Dhlomo (2000) that more groups catering for the caretakers of people labeled as abnormal should be formed to promote health at a tertiary level. The aims of this thesis were to elicit needs from a group of carers of the terminally-ill, form and evaluate an ongoing mutual-aid group program and especially promote the variables of empowerment and carer effectiveness. It was hypothesised that this mutual-aid group program for carers of the terminally-ill persons would result in improvement of the above-mentioned variables. Eleven carers committed themselves to be available for the mutual aid group. In line with the social action model, this was a participatory, action research, program-evaluation type of design, where co-researchers (carers) jointly defined the aims of their group, themes to be discussed and the meanings of such variables as empowerment and carer-effectiveness. Psychological techniques used in the present study included a biographical inventory, needs analysis questionnaire, power maps, carer effectiveness rating scale and program evaluation interview guide. The participants pre- and post- tested themselves on the variables of empowerment and carer-effectiveness. The group ran for a contracted period of six weeks and the members met twice each week. The study realised its aims and research hypotheses. The research encouraged voluntary community participation. It operated on the principle of non-coerciveness, non-hierarchy, decentralisation, spontaneous leadership and it took into account members' psychological issues. From sessions themes which were presented and analysed, it was evident that the study yielded positive results. It led to participants feeling confident and effective in their role of caring. Participants were empowered in that they were involved in the designing of the program, leading sessions and gaining influence over events and outcomes of importance to them. The mutual-aid group program empowered participants to be able to empower other carers, as most of the participants in the present research committed themselves to starting more groups of the same kind. In that way, they will be cascading the skills and knowledge they gained from the group. / NRF