This project examines drug addiction and personal responsibility from the perspective of three different types of theories of addiction: full responsibility, diminished responsibility, and no responsibility. The rational theory of addiction is the fully responsibility theory. The philosophical insights by R. Jay Wallace and George Graham are the diminished responsibility theories. Berridge and Robinson’s Incentive Salience theory of drug addiction is the no responsibility theory examined. My conclusion is that diminished responsibility frameworks are the most suitable in a therapeutic context because they are most sensitive to relevant normative aspects.

From the time of the "war on poverty" of 1964, to the era of "welfare reform" in 1990s, the federal welfare system underwent a change from a model that acted to protect citizens from the vagaries of the market economy to one that mandated their participation in the paid labor force. For a shift in policy of this magnitude to occur and be unquestioningly accepted by the public, a significant change also had to occur in how poverty and welfare issues were discussed and perceived over the intervening years. Using discourse analysis, this study examines how editorials in elite newspapers framed the issues of poverty and welfare in the months prior to the passage of the Economic Opportunity Act (1964) and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996). It also addresses how newspaper editorials influenced public perception about the nature and causes of poverty and welfare reliance.

Denne Ph.d.-afhandling er et bidrag til diskussioner om personligt ansvar i relation til fordelingsretfærdighed i sundhed og sygdomsbehandling. Den er et bidrag til politisk filosofi i almindelighed, men i særdeleshed til luck egalitaristisk teori. Jeg besvarer følgende tre spørgsmål: 1) Hvilken rolle bør personligt ansvar spille i relation til fordelingsretfærdighed i sundhed og sygdomsbehandling? 2) Er individer selv ansvarlige for deres egen sundhedstilstand? Og 3) hvis individer selv er ansvarlige for deres egen sundhedstilstand, hvilke implikationer har dette så i forhold til deres omkostningsansvar? Afhandlingen består af fire artikler, men jeg tilbyder først en general introduktion, et afsnit om forskellige effektivitets-baserede grunde til at holde individer omkostningsansvarlige for adfærd, som leder til øget risiko for sygdomme, og et afsnit om den metode jeg anvender. I min første artikel anvender jeg de seneste diskussioner om ansvar i politisk filosofi på emner vedrørende social ulighed i sundhed, og adgang til sygdomsbehandling. Jeg argumenterer for, at fordelingsretfærdighed i sundhed og sygdomsbehandling bør være sensitiv til ansvar, men også, at individer, på det mest fundamentale niveau, aldrig er ansvarlige på en sådan måde, at appeller til individers eget ansvar kan retfærdiggøre ulighed. Dette forklarer hvorfor vi skal give lige adgang til sygdomsbehandling - også til individer som er syge, som følge af (blandt andet) valg af livsstil. Det forklarer også, hvorfor vi har retfærdighedsbaserede grunde til at reducere social ulighed i sundhed. I min anden artikel undersøger jeg, og (delvist) argumenterer imod, et forslag fremsat af Shlomi Segall, om at bytte ideen om ansvar ud med en ide om rimelig undgålighed i luck egalitaristisk teori. Jeg argumenterer også for, at størrelsen af sundhedsudgifter, som er relateret til rygning og fedme, er relevant i forhold til spørgsmålet om, hvorvidt samfundet med rimelighed kan forvente, at individer undgår rygning og fedme. I min tredje artikel spørger jeg til, hvad det fundamentalt set kræver, for at et individ er ansvarligt for sin egen overvægt eller fedme. Jeg undersøger filosofiens tre grundlæggende tilgange til spørgsmålet om ansvar. For at illustrere implikationerne af hver af disse, introducerer jeg en (kunstig) test-person, som spiser for mange fedtholdige kager, og jeg viser, hvad hver af disse tilgange til ansvar kræver, for at denne person er ansvarlig for overvægt og fedme. Kun en af disse tilgange kan imidlertid retfærdiggøre den meget udbredte intuition, at kausal indflydelse på overvægt og fedme, såsom genetiske dispositioner og sociale omstændigheder, reducerer eller underminerer personligt ansvar. Men denne tilgang til ansvar leder, med meget stor sandsynlighed, til den konklusion, at personligt ansvar, helt generelt, er en umulighed. Ikke desto mindre argumenterer jeg for, at denne tilgang er plausibel. Jeg fortsætter dog under den antagelse, at ansvar er muligt, og tilbyder en fjerde artikel om forholdet mellem ansvar (for egen sundhed) og omkostningsansvar (for omkostninger til sygdomsbehandling). Jeg diskuterer, hvad det vil sige at være en (økonomisk) byrde for sundhedssystemet, fordi, som jeg argumenterer for, hvis et individ ikke er nogen økonomisk byrde, så er der heller ikke retfærdigheds-baserede grunde til at holde det omkostningsansvarligt, uanset om det, det er ansvarligt for, på triviel vis, medfører omkostninger. Jeg argumenterer for, at vi skal forstå ideen om en byrde ved at sammenligne aktuelle omkostninger, som er ansvarspådragende, med kontra-faktiske omkostninger, som ikke er ansvarspådragende.

Syftet med denna essä är att undersöka ansvarsbegreppet, främst vad det gäller barns personliga ansvar. Detta genom att gestalta två egenupplevda händelser och använda dessa berättelser som utgångspunkt för att pröva mina erfarenheter gentemot, för mig, nya perspektiv. Mina frågeställningar är: Vad är ansvar? Vad är det för ansvar eleverna ska utveckla enligt styrdokument och forskning? Hur kan jag hitta ett fungerande förhållningssätt till mina elever vad det gäller deras personliga och individuella ansvarsutveckling? Hur kan ansvar tolkas i förhållande till begreppet mentalisering? Hur kan jag förstå ansvarsdiskursen i ett samtida ideologiskt perspektiv? De perspektiv och teorier jag använt mig av är bland andra psykoterapeuten Jesper Juuls distinktion mellan personligt och socialt ansvar, mentalisering, filosoferna Jean-Paul Sartre och Ann Heberleins existentialistiska grepp på ansvar i förhållande till individens frihet. Vad jag kommit fram till är bland annat att dagens samhälle ställer höga krav på människans förmåga att navigera och handla i ansvarighet. Jag som lärare ställs inför att stärka elevernas förmåga till mentalisering, agens och stötta dem i utvecklingen mot framtidens samhällsborgare. / The purpose of this essay is to examine the concept of responsibility, mainly in terms of human responsibility among primary school children. Through two narratives based on my experience working as a teacher at leisure-time centers for school children, I am analyzing the concept of responsibility and what it means to me in my daily work. The perspectives and theories I have used include psychotherapist Jesper Juul's distinction between personal and social responsibility, mentalization and the philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Ann Heberleins existentialist approach. My conclusions are that the world of today places high demands on the human ability to navigate as moral beings. As a teacher I am faced with the task to strengthen the students' ability of mentalization and agency and support them in their development to become future citizens.

Thesis advisor: Marc K. Landy / In August of 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and fulfilled his campaign promise to “end welfare as we know it.” Conventionally, the passage of welfare reform has been understood as a product of the ‘Republican Revolution,’ a backlash against government in which the party “took back” both chambers of Congress and discharged the ten provisions of the ‘Contract with America.’ This account treats welfare reform as a deeply political affair: President Clinton was thus put into the position of needing to pass conservative welfare reform. While this theory is not inaccurate, this senior honors thesis holds that it is incomplete. Therefore, any account of the passage of welfare reform needs to engage with the more complex dimensions of policy formation. I suggest that the PRWORA was signed into law by virtue of public opinion aligning with elite opinion. The latter required ‘dissensus politics’ to be overcome. I argue that this transpired, and further that a loose consensus was formed among the elites with respect to the contents of meaningful reform due to social science evidence emanating from the various states. Lastly, I contend that the ancillary features of the legislation were negotiated, for which the nation’s governors played an instrumental role. These matters reveal timeless truths about American politics and policy formation. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Political Science. / Thesis advisor:

This study investigated a number of important research questions that were prompted by the existing literature relating to the concept of responsibility for learning. Such literature has highlighted the importance of promoting personal responsibility for learning to not only students as individuals but also to the direction of education and pedagogy in general. The literature has also shown a broad concern over students’ apparent lack of responsibility as well as a lack of consensus over the precise meaning of this concept. The present study addresses gaps in the literature by exploring the following specific issues: firstly, What are students’ understandings of the concept of responsibility for learning?; secondly, How have students reported their own learning related attitudes and behaviours?; and thirdly, What are the associations between students’ understandings and their self-reports? It was also intended that data collected for the first two research questions would enable the investigation of year level and gender differences. With a methodology based on a written survey design, this study collected data from a sample of some 286 students from Australian schools in both the Primary and Secondary sectors (comprising Years 5, 7, 9 and 11). The process of data collection involved participants completing one open-ended question and two newly developed Likert-type response questionnaires that incorporated 40 individual descriptive items that were associated with six distinct subscales (i.e., Orientation Towards Schools and Learning; Active Participation in Learning Activities; Autonomy and Personal Control of Learning; Initiative; Management of Learning Resources; and Cooperation and Control of Classroom Behaviour). One scale (the SURLQ), along with the open-ended question, measured students’ understandings of Responsibility For Learning and the other scale (the SRLABQ) measured students’ perceptions of their own learning related attitudes and behaviours. The data pertaining to the first research question was analysed in two distinct ways. Firstly, students’ responses to the open-ended question were analysed qualitatively by sorting and tallying their original responses according to a determination of the themes and descriptors offered. Secondly, the responses to the SURLQ were analysed quantitatively by calculating the mean and standard deviation scores for all 40 descriptive items and hence the six subscales. Similar quantitative statistical analysis procedures were applied to the data pertaining to students’ self-reported learning attitudes and behaviours (i.e., the SRLABQ). Reliability coefficients for the SURLQ and the SRLABQ were also calculated. Descriptive data for the subscales of these two measures were cross-tabulated by year level and gender to determine whether statistically significant differences were evident. Cohen’s Effect Size calculations were applied to such differences. Statistically significant interactions between these independent variables were determined by Multivariate analysis of variance techniques. The third research question was investigated by applying correlation analysis to the mean scores of corresponding subscales and by calculating the differences between the same sets of mean scores. With respect to the first research question, it was found that according to both sets of data, students’ understandings of responsibility for learning generally supported a primarily behavioural perspective that emphasised a high degree of application to learning and relating sociably with others in the classroom. Although the SURLQ data also showed a greater acknowledgement of attitudinal components, it was noted that according to data from the two questionnaires, students did not readily associate responsible learners with being autonomous and having personal control of learning (as does the literature). With respect to the second research question, it was found that students reported themselves to be reasonably responsible learners as evidenced by the moderately high scores collected in all of the six responsibility for learning subscales. This finding led to the conclusion that the concerns expressed in the literature over students’ lack of responsibility in the classroom are not perceived by the students themselves. As the data pertaining to the third research question showed a reasonable correlation between students’ understandings of responsibility for learning and their self-reported learning attitudes and behaviours, it was concluded that students were likely to view themselves as responsible learners in a way that reflects their understandings of the concept. It was concluded that this research has important implications for all stakeholders in education. Although this study makes a major contribution to defining and describing responsibility for learning, it is evident that a lack of consensus in understanding between key stakeholders groups (i.e., researchers, educators and students) still exists. The divergence of outlook between students and various elements of the literature reinforces the need for further research to be conducted to determine the relative acceptance of behavioural compliance (and/or prudence) in the classroom versus personal control and accountability with respect to learning. It is also argued that such work would be integral to educators having a clear and unambiguous understanding of responsibility for learning so that the enhancement of this quality in students may take place in classrooms of the future.

The purpose of this case study was to investigate the effects a service-learning tutorship had on the Social and Personal Responsibility Scale scores of middle school students identified as at risk for emotional and behavioral problems and enrolled in a one hour class that focused on social skills, self-management, and emotional resilience. Eight students identified through school-wide screening measures as at-risk for emotional and behavioral problems were involved in a pre/post quantitative survey, pre/post exploratory interviews, and a post focus group to analyze their level of growth in relation to social and personal responsibility. Currently, there is a limited amount of research identifying the influence service-learning has on students at risk for emotional and behavioral problems. This case-study found that service-learning is an effective tool at helping students increase their level of competence in relation to social and personal responsibility. Limitations of this study are addressed, suggestions for future research are noted, and implications for execution of future service-learning ventures are discussed.

Limited government supports under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 could cause low-income immigrants to struggle with housing affordability. Thus, this study examined housing challenges of Asian and Pacific Island elders, focusing on government assistance, and demographic, housing, and neighborhood characteristics. The research framework was based on the theory of housing adjustment (Morris & Winter, 1975, 1978). When investigating housing challenges, housing satisfaction was considered a representative term, as the dependent variable. The sample was Asian and Pacific Island households with a head 65+ who responded to the American Housing Survey (AHS) from 1995 through 2007 (N = 1,039). Asian and Pacific Island elders included those who lived in the U.S. for a long time as well as recent immigrants. Several statistical methods were employed: descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, crosstabs, multiple regression, and simple regression. Overall housing satisfaction level of the sample tended to be high from 1995 to 2007. However, there was no statistically significant impact of the PRWORA of 1996 on housing satisfaction and on the government assistance, and demographic, housing, and neighborhood characteristics of Asian and Pacific Island elders since 1996. Variables influencing satisfaction levels, and thus housing challenges, included qualifying for Food Stamps, education, family income, Census region, household size, housing quality, structure size, and neighborhood rating. Other significant findings included the impact of government assistance, geographical location and household size by year. An additional value of this study are the profiles of demographic, housing, and neighborhood characteristics and government assistance of Asian and Pacific Island elders from 1995 to 2007. Data analyses with the secondary datasets can assist housing researchers, educators, nonprofit organizations, or policymakers in their future studies or policies. / Ph. D.

in English DP: Possibilities of integration of the subjects of Health Education and Art Education at the Secondary School Autor: Bc. Magdalena Hajná This diploma thesis presents results of examining the possibility of integration of subjects of "Art education" and "Health Education" at the lower secondary level of education. The result is a project of linking the selected subjects into the education curriculum for the sixth year of elementary school. In a theoretical part, I focused on the brief history and the present of education fields of Health Education and Art Education. I outlined its basic characteristics; I summarized important starting points for their integration and I outlined the common goals and contents. I have used weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis made in a specific studied school in Prague to specify and refine focus and form of this thesis. Another source of data was a School Counseling Program called "Spolu to zvládnem" (in English: Together we succeed) which was previously run on the studied school. Goal of the program mentioned was to rebuild class team spirit after a part of children leaving class in favor of eight-year grammar schools. As a practical part of this diploma thesis project, I have collected data of knowledge and experience of the...

哈蒙認為傳統的行政責任傾向於以「控制」的觀點來規範行政人員的行為，對於人性均持負面的看法，於行政責任的落實亦缺乏完整的信賴，哈蒙則從人性的立場出發，認為人性的本質是「自主的--社會的」，並提出公務人員的行政責任包含專業責任、政治責任與個人責任三種，每一種責任只有關連到其他二個責任時，才具有意義；同時每種責任均可相互牽制彼此產生的病態，例如「政治責任」可解救「專業主義」者免於狹窄的工具主義，並可使「個人責任」免於淪落道德的教條主義；「專業責任」可牽制「政治」免於墮落為機會主義者，牽制「個人」免於陷入天真的頑強(impracticality)；「個人責任」則有助澄清「政治責任」與「盲目服從」之間的不同，免於權威的物化(reification)，以及「專業責任」與愚蠢的技術主義之差異，免於目標的錯置的迷思。三種責任各有其優缺點，本文並將闡述每一種途徑的正面意義與負面價值，以達成哈蒙所言「抗衡性的價值」(counterveiling virtue)。最後並將三種責任觀點加以辯証分析，而哈蒙認為在規範價值上以個人責任居於優先的地位。其次並從行政責任的具體論題出發，探討不同的責任觀點（包含政治責任、專業責任及個人責任）表現在公共利益、行政裁量與行政風格的有何差異，藉此更彰顯哈蒙行政責任的意義。