El objeto de estudio de esta tesis es producto de una mirada problematizadora sobre la confluencia entre a) la participación, como idea y como práctica en los ámbitos más variados y bajo las concepciones más diversas; b) el Tercer Sector, como conjunto más o menos delimitado de organizaciones distinguibles respecto a los sectores público o privado y c) en el plano conceptual, el entrecruzamiento entre fenómenos organizativos y fenómenos de poder. El objetivo de la tesis es analizar las prácticas de participación en organizaciones del Tercer Sector en función de los fenómenos de poder que son inherentes a esas prácticas, destacando el papel de la toma de decisiones y la centralidad de la participación como una característica del Tercer Sector que se considera obvia e indispensable. Los capítulos 1 y 2 están dedicados a la revisión de literatura sobre participación y Tercer Sector. El primer capítulo ofrece una visión problematizadora de las concepciones y aproximaciones a la participación, enfatizando las diferencias entre las formas de entenderla y llevarla a la práctica. El segundo capítulo tiene como propósito describir y discutir el fenómeno del Tercer Sector, las formas en que ha sido concebido y sus relaciones con el Estado y con el Mercado como los grandes referentes con base en los cuales se define. Los capítulos 3, 4 y 5 tienen como propósito ofrecer el marco conceptual por medio del cual se ha desarrollado el planteamiento del problema y el diseño de la investigación. El Capítulo 3 presenta la concepción de poder de Foucault contrastándola con otras concepciones de alcances más limitados y subrayando su capacidad para un abordaje analítico de las relaciones complejas entre participación y Tercer Sector. El Capítulo 4 presenta y discute los conceptos clave de la teoría de prácticas sociales de Bourdieu. El Capítulo 5 se centra en fenómenos específicos como la toma de decisiones y los encuentros sociales, que resultan de especial relevancia en la comprensión de la articulación entre participación y Tercer Sector. Los capítulos 6 y 7 son dedicados a los objetivos y al diseño metodológico de la tesis. El Capítulo 6 hace una síntesis de los capítulos anteriores, resaltando las preguntas y las direcciones a seguir como base para los cuatro objetivos generales que sirven como ejes del estudio El Capítulo 7 detalla el método y el procedimiento seguidos. El capítulo enfatiza la centralidad de la noción de prácticas sociales, destacando sus implicaciones como unidad de análisis en un estudio de tipo etnográfico. Los capítulos 8, 9, 10 y 11 presentan los resultados de la tesis en forma de tres grandes mapas. El Capítulo 8 ofrece una introducción a los mapas, resaltando su estructura y contenidos. El Capítulo 9 presenta un mapa económico que parte de la idea de las actividades de participación como bienes intercambiables cuya producción y circulación condiciona el funcionamiento de las organizaciones del Tercer Sector. El Capítulo 10 está dedicado al proceso de conformación y en el funcionamiento de las organizaciones del Tercer Sector. El Capítulo 11 está dedicado a los aspectos simbólicos de la actividad del Tercer Sector en forma de mapa meteorológico. El Capítulo 12 presenta las conclusiones de la tesis. Los resultados expuestos en los mapas se retoman de forma sintética como base para señalar las conclusiones del estudio: a) un Tercer Sector cuyos efectos formalizadores neutralizan el potencial transformador de la actividad colectiva; b) una participación atrapada en el procedimiento y c) la dificultad de convertir en tema de discusiones la complicidad no deliberada de los agentes cuya actividad sostiene el Tercer Sector con esos efectos políticamente neutralizadores. Palabras clave: relaciones de poder; participación; Tercer Sector; prácticas sociales; organización / The object of study in this dissertation is the product of a problematizing view of the confluence among a) participation, as an idea and as a set of practices unfolded through the most varied fields and under the most diverse conceptions; b) the Third Sector, as a more or less delimited collection of organizations the activities and aims of which are different from those of organizations that belong to the public or private sectors; and c) at a conceptual level, the intertwining between organizational phenomena and power phenomena.The aim of the dissertation is to analyze practices of participation in Third Sector organizations according to power phenomena inherent to those practices, highlighting the role of decision making and the place of participation as a taken for granted characteristic of the Third Sector. Chapters 1 and 2 are devoted to the literature review about participation and Third Sector. The first chapter offers a problematizing view of conceptions and approaches to participation, underscoring the differences among the ways in which participation is understood and put into practice. The second chapter is aimed at describing and discussing the Third Sector as a social phenomenon, the ways in which it has been conceived and its relations with the Market and the State as the basis upon which the Third Sector is defined.Chapter 3, 4 and 5 are intended to provide the theoretical framework that has guided the development of the research problem and the design of the study. Chapter 3 presents Foucault's conception of power in contrast with other short range conceptions and stressing its capacity for an analytical approach to the complex relations between participation and the Third Sector. Chapter 4 presents and discusses key concepts of Bourdieu's theory of social practices. Chapter 5 is focused on more specific phenomena such as decision making and social encounters. Chapters 6 and 7 are devoted to the aims and the methodological design of the study. Chapter 6 starts with a synthesis of the former chapters, underscoring the questions and directions to follow as the basis for the general objectives around which the research has been developed. Chapter 7 offers a detailed account of method and procedure. The chapter highlights the centrality of the notion of social practices, stressing its implications as an analytical unit in an ethnographic study. Chapter 8, 9, 10 and 11 offer the results of the study in the form of three grand maps. Chapter 8 is aimed at introducing the maps, stressing their structure and contents. Chapter 9 presents an economic map that is focused on participatory activities as exchangeable goods the production and circulation of which shape the functioning of Third Sector organizations. Chapter 10 is focused in the process of conformation and in the functioning of Third Sector organizations. Chapter 11 is devoted to the symbolic aspects of Third Sector activity.Chapter 12 shows the conclusions of the dissertation. The results included in the maps are synthetically recalled as the basis for exposing the conclusions: a) a Third Sector the formalizing effects of which neutralize the transformative potential of collective undertakings; b) a participation trapped in procedures; and c) the difficulties in trying to turn the non deliberate compliance of agents whose activities sustain the Third Sector and its politically neutralizing effects into a discussable topic. Keywords: power relations; participation; Third Sector; social practices; organization

Abortion is a dilemma that women may encounter. The perceptions towards abortion are likely to be shaped by women¡¦s marital statues. Since the 1960s, feminists claim that women should own the right to their bodies, with a particular emphsis on pregnant women and their decisions to have abortion. By saying this, however, there are still pressing structural constraints that regulate women¡¦s bodies and their entitlement for such right. This research is therefore to investigate Taiwanese women¡¦s experiences with abortion, revealing social constraints and cultural cohesions, which determine women¡¦s experiences with abortion. In the context of Taiwan, unmarried women with pregnancy are still considered as ¡§deviants¡¨. Little research has been conducted in order to explore women¡¦s experiences with abortion. In order to contribute such research gap, this study wants to look at (1) how marital status might influence women¡¦s attitudes towards abortion, (2) how women¡¦s marital statuses may contribute to their decisions for abortions (3) how abortions might affect women¡¦s lived experiences? By examining these three questions, this research tried to explore women¡¦s autonomy through their own rights to bodies and abortions. It is suggested that regardless their marital statuses, women rarely own their bodies and the right for abortion. Fertility freedom is a basic human right grounded to women. Yet, in order to obtain such right, women have to constantly battle against husbands and their families, medical authorities, and even the state. Unmarried women with pregnancy, rather than their male partners, are still stigmatized and morally condemned . In addition, research in abortion rarely addresses how men perceive such experience. This is nevertheless important. In particular, by comparing men¡¦s and women¡¦s accounts for abortion, we can understand how gendered inequalities and gendered stratifications are operationalized through patriarchal values. Rather than women themselves, their male partners often make the final decision on abortion. In saying this, yet, this research also explores how ¡¥being a responsible man¡¦ becomes a mainstream gendered language for these men to appropriate in order to construct their masculinity.

This thesis explores the social organization of ‘helping sex workers’ in Northeastern Ontario from the standpoint of sex workers or former sex workers. It is based on twelve (12) qualitative interviews with sex workers and former sex workers between the years 2002-2003. This thesis engages the feminist research framework as developed by Dorothy E Smith, a feminist sociologist. Smiths’ ontological and epistemological framework conceptualizes knowledge as socially produced and mediated by social/power relations. This is a theoretical framework that has the potential to explore the social standpoint of persons labeled ‘sex worker’ by examining social/power relations from their standpoint and by problematizing claims of the universality of knowledge and ‘truth’. Overwhelmingly sex workers identified ‘help’ as a series of stigmatizing processes that were triggered upon the ‘moment of identification’ of being a sex worker. These series of stigmatizing processes were embedded in social courses of action undertaken by social service agencies and the police. This is important research as claims to ‘helping’ sex workers by social service agencies and the subsequent social relations this creates for sex workers are rarely examined in Canada from the standpoint of sex workers.

Esta dissertação tem como tema central as figuras de autoridade segundo o olhar infantil. O objeto de pesquisa constitui-se a partir da pergunta “Quais as figuras de autoridade para as crianças nas relações de poder que permeiam o ambiente escolar e familiar?”. O referencial teórico principal abarca os conceitos de autoridade, de Hannah Arendt, e de relações de poder, de Michel Foucault, estabelecendo um diálogo com os campos da filosofia, história e da psicanálise. Como metodologia de pesquisa foram realizadas entrevistas abertas com crianças de seis a onze anos do Colégio de Aplicação da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (CAp/UFRGS). Para suscitar o diálogo, foram utilizados três filmes de animação e tiras de histórias em quadrinhos. No total, foram realizadas vinte intervenções, das quais participaram setenta e seis crianças, divididas em cinco grupos. Levou-se em consideração os discursos acerca da crise na educação e de autoridade que se multiplicam em diferentes meios e se fazem presentes em nossa sociedade. O trabalho abrange ainda uma breve definição dos conceitos de infância, imagem e representação; e a ligação do conceito de autoridade com a tradição e a transmissão. Podemos concluir, a partir do referencial teórico utilizado e das análises das falas dos entrevistados, que as crianças percebem e distinguem figuras de autoridade em sua vida cotidiana; observamos, porém, que tais figuras têm se construído discursivamente de modos mais sutis em relação às formas de autoridade experimentadas pelas gerações anteriores às de nosso tempo. Observamos também o quanto as crianças assumem estratégias de resistência nas relações entre pais e filhos, o que faz supor que também o poder dos pais e conseqüentemente dos professores se mantém, mas de formas menos visíveis e num campo de disputa e negociações muito intenso com os filhos e alunos. Supomos que entre os fatores que têm participado de tais modificações, nos âmbitos familiar e escolar, estejam as variadas formas de socialização a que as crianças estão sujeitas atualmente, bem como a fragilidade dos modos de transmissão entre as gerações, que tem reforçado para as crianças a autoridade parental como algo negativo e complexo. Ainda assim, a distinção entre as idades infantil e adulta aparece de forma bem delimitada para as crianças entrevistadas. Salientamos a forte ligação das figuras de autoridade com as funções de cuidado, proteção e sustento (no caso da mãe, do pai e das avós) e de cuidado, organização e disciplinamento (no caso das professoras e do diretor); não havendo ligações explícitas formuladas em torno do saber que estas figuras poderiam deter e da relação deste com a autoridade por eles exercida. Concluímos que as figuras de autoridade fixas e estavelmente legitimadas de outras décadas apresentam-se sob novas configurações e estabelecem-se por movimentos transitórios, passíveis de mudanças. / This dissertation is focused on authority figures on the vision for children. The object of research is from the question "What are the authority figures for children in the power relations that permeate the school environment and family?". The theoretical framework encompasses the main concepts of authority, Hannah Arendt and power relations, Michel Foucault, establishing a dialogue with the fields of philosophy, history and psychoanalysis. As research methodology were conducted open interviews with children aged six to eleven years of the Colégio de Aplicação from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (CAp/UFRGS). To stimulate the dialogue, we used three animated films and strips of comics. In total, we do twenty interventions, attended Seventy-six children were divided into five groups. We took into account discourses about the crisis in education and authority that are multiply in different ways and are present in our society. The work also covers a brief definition of the concepts of childhood, image and representation, and the connection of the concept of authority with tradition and transmission. We can conclude from the theoretical reference and analysis of the interviews, that children perceive and distinguish authority figures in their daily lives; noted, however, that such figures have been discursively constructed in ways more subtle about the ways authority experienced by previous generations to our time. We also observed how the children take strategies of resistance in the relationship between parents and children, which would mean that also the power of parents and consequently of teachers therefore remains, but in ways less visible and a playing field and very intense negotiations with children and students. We suppose that among the factors that have been involved in such changes, in family and school scope, are the varied forms of socialization that children are currently subject, as well as the fragility of transmission between generations, which has reinforce to children the parental authority as something negative and complex. Nevertheless, the distinction between child and adult ages, it is clearly defined for the children interviewed. We emphasize the strong connection of authority figures with the duties of care, protection and support (for the mother, father and grandparents) and care, organization and discipline (in the case of the teachers and director), there is no explicit link made in around to know that these figures could hold and its relationship with the authority they exercised. We conclude that the fixed authority figures and legitimated stably of other decades have occurred in new settings and settle down by transitional movements, subject to change.

Esta dissertação, a partir das lentes teórico-metodológicas de Michel Foucault, lança um olhar sobre aspectos da cultura escolar, suas regras, modos de organização, currículo, avaliações que movimentam o processo de escolarização, problematizando as relações de poder envolvidas na produção de subjetividades dos diferentes sujeitos e permeadas por diferentes verdades sobre esses sujeitos. Nessa perspectiva relacional, o poder é entendido como dinâmico, flexível, estratégico, difícil de ser capturado: o sujeito e suas ações são seus efeitos e agentes. Pretendo entender como algumas forças provenientes de diferentes direções vão construindo os cenários nos quais os sujeitos do cotidiano escolar atuam, produzindo relações de poder muito complexas. Nesse exercício, não cabe descrever os efeitos do poder em termos negativos. O poder produz realidades e rituais de verdade. Assim, busco, neste estudo, olhar para essa articulação de forças, de estratégias, de movimentos que, atravessando as relações de poder, produzem o currículo e as subjetividades num determinado espaço educativo. Esses saberes/verdades, extraídos das práticas de objetivação, possibilitam o investimento em ações e intervenções. É nesse sentido que busco olhar as práticas escolares como espaços de objetivação/subjetivação. Ao analisar essas práticas, destaco que os efeitos, no que diz respeito à produção de subjetividades, não se encontram em uma ou outra forma de agir. Percebi que as práticas escolares articulam-se numa rede disciplinar formada por diferentes dispositivos que se relacionam na produção de sujeitos, agindo sobre seus corpos. Relatórios, registros, observações, classificações, controle das atividades, organização do tempo e do espaço formam uma rede de significações e de normalização dos sujeitos no espaço escolar. E aqueles/as que não se enquadram, que se desviam do caminho, são apanhados mais facilmente pelas redes do poder e objetivados são produzidos em sua subjetividade que tenta fazer com que ele/a se perceba e se compreenda de certo jeito para se autogovernar, para melhor aprender e normalizar-se. Nesse processo de normalização dos sujeitos, não descarto a necessidade de se ter determinadas regras de convivência, de se ter a preocupação com que as crianças aprendam os conhecimentos escolares. O que ressalto é que se reflita sobre que tipo de normas estabelece o que é normal e anormal, que tipo de saberes é valorizado, com que propósito se investe sobre os corpos das crianças, que subjetividades estão sendo produzidas no espaço da escola. / This dissertation, seen through the theoretical-methodological eyes of Michel Foucault, looks at aspects of school culture, its rules, methods of organization, curriculum, evaluations that impel the process of schooling, problematizing the power relations involved in the production of subjectivities of the different subjects and permeated by different knowledges seeking to pronounce truths about those subjects. In that relational perspective, power is considered dynamic, flexible, strategic and hard to be captured: the subject and his actions are its effects and agents. I want to understand how some forces coming from different directions build scenarios in which the subjects of everyday school life act, producing very complex power relations. In that exercise, we should not describe the effects of power in negative terms, Power produces realities and rituals of truth. Therefore, I am seeking in this study to look for that articulation of forces, of strategies and of movements which, passing through the power relationships, produce the curriculum and the subjectivities in a certain educative space. These knowledges/truths extracted from objectivation practices, make it possible to invest in actions and interventions. It is in that sense that I am looking at school practices as objectivation/subjectivation spaces. When analyzing these practices I note that the effects, with regard to the production of subjectivities, are not found in one or another way of acting. I noticed that the school practices are articulated in a disciplinary network formed by different dispositions that are in the production of subjects, acting on their bodies. Reports, records, observations, classifications, control of activities, organization of time and of space form a network of significations and of normalization of the subjects in the school space. And those that do not fit in, who stray from the path, are caught more easily by the networks of power and objectivated persons are produced in their subjectivity which tries to make him or her perceive himself/herself and understand in a certain way to self-govern, to better learn and become normal. In that process of normalization of subjects, I do not rule out the need to have certain rules of cohabitation, to be preoccupied with children learning school knowledges. What I emphasize is that we should reflect on which type of rules establishes what is normal and abnormal, which type of knowledges is valorized, with which purpose the bodies of the children are invested in, and which subjectivities are being produced in the school space.

Esta dissertação tem como tema central as figuras de autoridade segundo o olhar infantil. O objeto de pesquisa constitui-se a partir da pergunta “Quais as figuras de autoridade para as crianças nas relações de poder que permeiam o ambiente escolar e familiar?”. O referencial teórico principal abarca os conceitos de autoridade, de Hannah Arendt, e de relações de poder, de Michel Foucault, estabelecendo um diálogo com os campos da filosofia, história e da psicanálise. Como metodologia de pesquisa foram realizadas entrevistas abertas com crianças de seis a onze anos do Colégio de Aplicação da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (CAp/UFRGS). Para suscitar o diálogo, foram utilizados três filmes de animação e tiras de histórias em quadrinhos. No total, foram realizadas vinte intervenções, das quais participaram setenta e seis crianças, divididas em cinco grupos. Levou-se em consideração os discursos acerca da crise na educação e de autoridade que se multiplicam em diferentes meios e se fazem presentes em nossa sociedade. O trabalho abrange ainda uma breve definição dos conceitos de infância, imagem e representação; e a ligação do conceito de autoridade com a tradição e a transmissão. Podemos concluir, a partir do referencial teórico utilizado e das análises das falas dos entrevistados, que as crianças percebem e distinguem figuras de autoridade em sua vida cotidiana; observamos, porém, que tais figuras têm se construído discursivamente de modos mais sutis em relação às formas de autoridade experimentadas pelas gerações anteriores às de nosso tempo. Observamos também o quanto as crianças assumem estratégias de resistência nas relações entre pais e filhos, o que faz supor que também o poder dos pais e conseqüentemente dos professores se mantém, mas de formas menos visíveis e num campo de disputa e negociações muito intenso com os filhos e alunos. Supomos que entre os fatores que têm participado de tais modificações, nos âmbitos familiar e escolar, estejam as variadas formas de socialização a que as crianças estão sujeitas atualmente, bem como a fragilidade dos modos de transmissão entre as gerações, que tem reforçado para as crianças a autoridade parental como algo negativo e complexo. Ainda assim, a distinção entre as idades infantil e adulta aparece de forma bem delimitada para as crianças entrevistadas. Salientamos a forte ligação das figuras de autoridade com as funções de cuidado, proteção e sustento (no caso da mãe, do pai e das avós) e de cuidado, organização e disciplinamento (no caso das professoras e do diretor); não havendo ligações explícitas formuladas em torno do saber que estas figuras poderiam deter e da relação deste com a autoridade por eles exercida. Concluímos que as figuras de autoridade fixas e estavelmente legitimadas de outras décadas apresentam-se sob novas configurações e estabelecem-se por movimentos transitórios, passíveis de mudanças. / This dissertation is focused on authority figures on the vision for children. The object of research is from the question "What are the authority figures for children in the power relations that permeate the school environment and family?". The theoretical framework encompasses the main concepts of authority, Hannah Arendt and power relations, Michel Foucault, establishing a dialogue with the fields of philosophy, history and psychoanalysis. As research methodology were conducted open interviews with children aged six to eleven years of the Colégio de Aplicação from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (CAp/UFRGS). To stimulate the dialogue, we used three animated films and strips of comics. In total, we do twenty interventions, attended Seventy-six children were divided into five groups. We took into account discourses about the crisis in education and authority that are multiply in different ways and are present in our society. The work also covers a brief definition of the concepts of childhood, image and representation, and the connection of the concept of authority with tradition and transmission. We can conclude from the theoretical reference and analysis of the interviews, that children perceive and distinguish authority figures in their daily lives; noted, however, that such figures have been discursively constructed in ways more subtle about the ways authority experienced by previous generations to our time. We also observed how the children take strategies of resistance in the relationship between parents and children, which would mean that also the power of parents and consequently of teachers therefore remains, but in ways less visible and a playing field and very intense negotiations with children and students. We suppose that among the factors that have been involved in such changes, in family and school scope, are the varied forms of socialization that children are currently subject, as well as the fragility of transmission between generations, which has reinforce to children the parental authority as something negative and complex. Nevertheless, the distinction between child and adult ages, it is clearly defined for the children interviewed. We emphasize the strong connection of authority figures with the duties of care, protection and support (for the mother, father and grandparents) and care, organization and discipline (in the case of the teachers and director), there is no explicit link made in around to know that these figures could hold and its relationship with the authority they exercised. We conclude that the fixed authority figures and legitimated stably of other decades have occurred in new settings and settle down by transitional movements, subject to change.

Esta dissertação, a partir das lentes teórico-metodológicas de Michel Foucault, lança um olhar sobre aspectos da cultura escolar, suas regras, modos de organização, currículo, avaliações que movimentam o processo de escolarização, problematizando as relações de poder envolvidas na produção de subjetividades dos diferentes sujeitos e permeadas por diferentes verdades sobre esses sujeitos. Nessa perspectiva relacional, o poder é entendido como dinâmico, flexível, estratégico, difícil de ser capturado: o sujeito e suas ações são seus efeitos e agentes. Pretendo entender como algumas forças provenientes de diferentes direções vão construindo os cenários nos quais os sujeitos do cotidiano escolar atuam, produzindo relações de poder muito complexas. Nesse exercício, não cabe descrever os efeitos do poder em termos negativos. O poder produz realidades e rituais de verdade. Assim, busco, neste estudo, olhar para essa articulação de forças, de estratégias, de movimentos que, atravessando as relações de poder, produzem o currículo e as subjetividades num determinado espaço educativo. Esses saberes/verdades, extraídos das práticas de objetivação, possibilitam o investimento em ações e intervenções. É nesse sentido que busco olhar as práticas escolares como espaços de objetivação/subjetivação. Ao analisar essas práticas, destaco que os efeitos, no que diz respeito à produção de subjetividades, não se encontram em uma ou outra forma de agir. Percebi que as práticas escolares articulam-se numa rede disciplinar formada por diferentes dispositivos que se relacionam na produção de sujeitos, agindo sobre seus corpos. Relatórios, registros, observações, classificações, controle das atividades, organização do tempo e do espaço formam uma rede de significações e de normalização dos sujeitos no espaço escolar. E aqueles/as que não se enquadram, que se desviam do caminho, são apanhados mais facilmente pelas redes do poder e objetivados são produzidos em sua subjetividade que tenta fazer com que ele/a se perceba e se compreenda de certo jeito para se autogovernar, para melhor aprender e normalizar-se. Nesse processo de normalização dos sujeitos, não descarto a necessidade de se ter determinadas regras de convivência, de se ter a preocupação com que as crianças aprendam os conhecimentos escolares. O que ressalto é que se reflita sobre que tipo de normas estabelece o que é normal e anormal, que tipo de saberes é valorizado, com que propósito se investe sobre os corpos das crianças, que subjetividades estão sendo produzidas no espaço da escola. / This dissertation, seen through the theoretical-methodological eyes of Michel Foucault, looks at aspects of school culture, its rules, methods of organization, curriculum, evaluations that impel the process of schooling, problematizing the power relations involved in the production of subjectivities of the different subjects and permeated by different knowledges seeking to pronounce truths about those subjects. In that relational perspective, power is considered dynamic, flexible, strategic and hard to be captured: the subject and his actions are its effects and agents. I want to understand how some forces coming from different directions build scenarios in which the subjects of everyday school life act, producing very complex power relations. In that exercise, we should not describe the effects of power in negative terms, Power produces realities and rituals of truth. Therefore, I am seeking in this study to look for that articulation of forces, of strategies and of movements which, passing through the power relationships, produce the curriculum and the subjectivities in a certain educative space. These knowledges/truths extracted from objectivation practices, make it possible to invest in actions and interventions. It is in that sense that I am looking at school practices as objectivation/subjectivation spaces. When analyzing these practices I note that the effects, with regard to the production of subjectivities, are not found in one or another way of acting. I noticed that the school practices are articulated in a disciplinary network formed by different dispositions that are in the production of subjects, acting on their bodies. Reports, records, observations, classifications, control of activities, organization of time and of space form a network of significations and of normalization of the subjects in the school space. And those that do not fit in, who stray from the path, are caught more easily by the networks of power and objectivated persons are produced in their subjectivity which tries to make him or her perceive himself/herself and understand in a certain way to self-govern, to better learn and become normal. In that process of normalization of subjects, I do not rule out the need to have certain rules of cohabitation, to be preoccupied with children learning school knowledges. What I emphasize is that we should reflect on which type of rules establishes what is normal and abnormal, which type of knowledges is valorized, with which purpose the bodies of the children are invested in, and which subjectivities are being produced in the school space.

The payment of bridewealth is a near-universal cultural practice among the Igbos of SouthEast Nigeria. Bridewealth used to be a symbolic legitimator of marriage. However, its symbolism has been distorted by expensive items on marriage lists. In this context, bridewealth payment provides an excellent analytical tool for the structure-agency debate, which has, in varying degrees, engaged academic interest for centuries. Underlying this debate is the extent to which institutions determine human behaviour and its attendant power relations. While structure refers to the self-replicating, complex elements that sustain institutions, agency refers to the volitional, purpose-driven nature of human activities. In this debate, the structuralfunctionalist-Marxist view, symbolic interactionism, and complementarity view are prominent. From these views, this dissertation develops a needs-based approach to structure-agency interaction, arguing that a focus on the primacy of structure or agency obscures their underlying motivations. It posits that the structure-agency interaction is both the process and product of logical assessments and dialogue, which are driven by socio-economic needs. In the context of this framework, it explored one central question: In what ways do power relations play out in the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria? Using literature review, non-participant observation of bridewealth negotiations, and in-depth interviews of 47 key informants, it reveals an interdependent, complex web linking the custodians of culture with agentic tools such as wealth, religion, and education. Despite cultural inhibitions in spousal selection and bridewealth negotiation, prospective spouses have a range of creative tools for reducing exorbitant items on marriage lists, thereby deconstructing high bridewealth. These agentic tools are driven by socio-economic elements such as desire to marry, economic coercion, cohabitation, threat of extramarital pregnancy, and religious values. The study concludes that bridewealth negotiation reflects socio-economic dynamics within hybrid cultural spaces in which potential couples and their parents may navigate the powerful constraints of tradition or sustain tradition through their inaction. These socio-economic dynamics are so powerful that they produce widespread disregard for legislation limiting bridewealth amounts. The study’s findings demonstrate the ineffectiveness of a top-down approach to law, the value of policy sensitivity to people’s lived realities, and the importance of in-depth consultation in the formulation of legislation.

This study aims to inductively investigate how educators and parents experience power relations in collaboration between preschool and home. To approach their experiences and perceptions about the possibilities to affect preschool´s activities and each other´s behavior in the collaboration six qualitative semi-structured interviews were performed – three with preschool educators and three with parents. All the interviews were recorded, transcribed, analysed and summarised according to an inductive approach of thematic analysis. The theoretical basis of this research consists of Michel Foucault´s theory of power and Urie Bronfenbrenner´s ecological theory of human development. The results for this study show that all acts of power in collaboration between preschool and parents are perceived to be embedded in communication and its qualities. Both parents and educators feel that their power to affect each other lies in small everyday actions such as notices, reminders, questions, wonder, information letters and appreciation. The power is experienced by respondents involved in this study not just about what they do but also about how they do it. It is considered most effective to be pleasant, understanding, responsive, to show appreciation. The feeling of safety is perceived by all the respondents as the main reason why power should be exercised. Parents want to feel safe when they leave their children outside their safe zone. The educators are aware of these parents' needs and do everything to make both children and parents feel safe in the meeting with the preschool enviroment.

Primates are the closest living relatives of Homo sapiens and are an important model for understanding human origins. From studying primates and making comparisons to what we know from the hominid fossil record, we can elucidate and make inferences into human physical and social evolution. My research focuses on the social aspects of primate life and attempts to find significant correlations between primate biology and social structure. Specifically, I am interested in how dominance hierarchies and power relationships between male and female primates are established and maintained in primate communities. This study contains a comprehensive dataset on a large sample of known primate species, predominantly from previously published sources and studies. For each primate species, the variables included are body mass, level of sexual dimorphism, brain size, habitat type, diet, life span, age at sexual maturity, gestation length, birth interval, locomotion type, social structure, terrestrial or arboreal locomotion, group size, home range, nocturnal or diurnal, philopatric sex, and dominant sex. Pearson's correlation coefficients between the above variables were calculated. The goal of this research is to determine what factors of primate life, both social and biological, have the largest influence on the formation and maintenance of dominance hierarchies. Certain biological variables related to body mass were found to be correlated with dominance. However, the correlation with sexual dimorphism was not found to be statistically significant and it is presumed that other ecological variables should be studied to better understand primate power relations.