Aim: The purpose of this study is to explore how the media through a certain discourse constructs a view of the labor market and the power relations between companies, unions and employees. The goal is to explore this through studying the media coverage of SAS’ financial situation between September-December 2012 and our research question is the following: What view of the labor market and its power relations was constructed and reproduced by Swedish newspapers through their portrayal of SAS during September-December 2012? Method: This study analyses the findings with the help of questions based on theories of social constructivism, discourse, agenda-setting and power. A content and discourse analysis was compiled of 360 articles from five Swedish newspapers that addressed SAS and their situation from September-December 2012. The results of these analyses were further processed using power analysis and John Gaventa’s power cube. Results: In this study we conclude that the medial discourse constructs identities of the different actors and affect power relations between them, in favor of the company. We conclude that media’s portrayal of SAS benefits the interests, wishes and ideas of the company. The company’s acts and behavior is legitimized through the identities created by the medial discourse, and the portrayal of the causes and solutions for SAS’ situation. The identities constructed enable greater legitimization on the part of the company compared to the unions or the employees. Especially since their identities restrict them in complying with the company’s demands, or else they risk being seen as perpetrators through illegitimate actions. The result of the study highlights how newspapers have great influence on different actors’ ability to act. The social practice that is affected through the medial discourse is that readers may be less inclined to join unions, as they are either seen as obstacles or as weak organisations with no real power or purpose. The solution proposed is a heightened awareness of how medial discourse affects power relations on the labor market.

The Swedish Institute is a public agency promoting Swedish interest, national image and confidence around the world. This work attempts to investigate how communication and a process over time influences and effects public diplomacy. The analytic discussion is based on a single case study research of this Institute representing ideas in the international science field of public diplomacy. The theoretical ideas of public diplomacy are placed in a theoretical perspective of social constructivism. The method is qualitative, with excerpts taken from interviews, literature, newspapers, articles, state public reports and social media. The work adopts a discourse analytic approach, aiming to uncover the structure of public diplomacy by using three analytic tools: soft power, nation branding and cultural diplomacy. The presented analysis and examples suggest a close collaboration between researchers and practitioners can lead to a coherent theory of public diplomacy. The result identifies promising directions as well as weakness and gaps in existing knowledge. The work promotes an analytic tool “korstryck” for theorize and conceptualize the discussion of public diplomacy. A strategy of today requires three fundamental components: power, diplomacy and communication. The challenge in public diplomacy is the balance between public opinion, public foreign policy and global networks of communication. The paper aims to open doors for further scientific works are needed in the searching for a theory of public diplomacy.

Unsafe abortion is a worldwide reproductive health issue and a contributing factor of high numbers of maternal death in the developing world. Many international conferences and assemblies acknowledge the issue and urge governments to take action. Abortion is a phenomenon surrounded by strong opinions, many times regulated by restrictive laws as well as socio-ethical, religious and cultural norms. Factors often active in making abortion a clandestine procedure which take place under unsafe conditions.The Philippines have one of the most restrictive laws on abortion in the world, but it does not diminish the occurrence of abortion in the country. There is unmet need for family planning that in turn makes way for unwanted pregnancies ending in unsafe abortion. Attempts in congress aiming at providing universal reproductive health service are being opposed and the issue of abortion is surrounded by its criminal ban and a great social stigma. The Roman Catholic Church is very present in the Philippine society and also offers a powerful voice against abortion and equally rejects modern contraception.This study look into how the issue of abortion – under its criminal ban – is being dealt with and if there are any actors/groups/organisations of social work, within the reproductive health sector or women’s organisations acting upon this, making abortion an issue and a part of their work. It asks if there is any advocacy for abortion in the Philippines and any interventions for the women concerned. If so, how is abortion spoken about and understood and how is that notion put into action? Groups are identified as either anti-abortion or pro-abortion, two discourses addressing abortion as a public health issue in fundamentally different ways.There are groups that might not be public about their opinion being pro-abortion, as they do not wish to get on the wrong side of the general opinion or negatively affect their reputation. Some pro-abortion groups are found acting against the law by providing safe abortions for these women. Trough social constructivist glasses this study look at the structure surrounding abortion in the Philippines, analysing how these discourses are being reconstructed and transferred under different postulations as anti-abortion or pro-abortion.

A foundation of our welfare state is that we have a social safety net. This safety net is designed to pick up individuals who are in need of help and support to manage their way of life. This essay regards people who need help with care or people who need help with an addiction. This essay is a qualitative text analysis, which aims to see whether, and if so how, help-seekers are constructed in 40 social service documents within a municipality in central Sweden. We have endeavored to illustrate the power that the written word possesses and which categories of people are constructed depending on the language and content of the social documents. With our theoretical starting point, which was marginalization and social constructivism we want to illustrate the administrators’ choice of content and language in the social service documents. The main result is that help-seekers in the addiction unit have to give more information about themselves. Addiction is a deviate behavior and therefore more information is needed in order for them to be accepted as opposed to help-seekers in the care unit, where information regarding the help-seeker is in relation to the means of the help-seekers needs.

In recent years, scholars have shown increasing interest in the concept of collective memory for structuring modern social understanding and political dialogue. However, surprisingly few studies have looked at the role that news media play the processes of collective political memory construction, reinterpretation, and change. This study contributes to the literature on collective memory construction, by helping clarify the means by which different news media serve as a site where collective memory is constructed, reinforced, and revised; and, 2) to identify which political actors and institutions act as sources to assert particular memory frames and what media subsidies they offer to influence the memory construction process. Specifically, the study undertook a two-stage longitudinal content analysis of news media to discern the ways former U.S. presidents (i.e., Truman, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and Ford) were memorialized in news media coverage at the time of their funerals, and then again in subsequent news media stories through 2012. The content analysis identified dominant news media frames and secondary attribute sub-frames as applied to former U.S. Presidents, and which news media sources and frame advocates are engaged in setting those frames. As a result, the study identified patterns of change and resilience in particular presidential memory frames as represented in news media, and found journalists—beyond other sources and frame advocates—play a significant role in both creating and revising those memories over time. A range of opportunities for further research are discussed. / text

臺灣，與其它後共國家政治發展經驗極為相似的，在後冷戰時代屬於身份認同的衝突成為每一個解脫威權桎梏的國家皆經歷過的歷史，政治轉型中「被壓抑者的重返」所激起的社會矛盾成為政治學與社會學研究的主題。而在民主化眾聲喧嘩的後解嚴階段，每一種集體身份在言論市場中都獲得出賽的機會，能夠囊括最大多數人的國族身份認同成為文化、社會與政治力量爭論的焦點，而能夠使大部分民眾接受的國族自我意象就越有可能取得執政的可能性，因此，國族自我意象內涵的填充以及管理是每一個政黨每日都在進行的工作，掌握意識型態領導權者就掌握了決定國家未來方向的權力 臺灣在國際社會的特殊處境使得被壓抑者的重返過程中不只要面對過去的威權體制，即便掌握國家權力者也直接面對不放棄武力犯台以及在國際上擠壓臺灣生存空間的北京政權。如何面對海峽對岸國力與國際影響力迅速增長的大國，成為國內政治、社會與文化力量在界定我們是誰、我們要往何處去等集體身份與目標時，都無法迴避這個無所不在的中國因素。在台灣每一種國族自我意象的生成過程都無法迴避中國因素，臺北的中國/大陸政策的制定過程即國族身份政治投射其熱情與利益的訴求的過程，過去的研究已經花費相當多的資源在探討臺灣社會面的國族身份形成與動員，而未系統性地對國族身份認同政治與政策產出之間的關係進行探究。 有鑑於每一位總統都反映與代表了在社會中流行的國族我意象，作為某特定國族自我意象的代表，他根據國族自我意象而揭示的國家政治目的以及提昇集體尊嚴感的目標制訂與執行的中國/大陸政策。因此，本研究從執政者每日的言論進行系統性的分析，主要探究的是不同的國族自我意象變成具有官方身份的國族身份之後會如何形塑對中國的認知，本研究的焦點是中國威脅的認知，當中國威脅認知升高，臺北制訂緊縮性的中國/大陸政策的可能性就提高了。國族自我意象固然有其穩定性，但也具備流動性，國族自我意象是靈活還是僵固地就「中國威脅」進行協商，成為臺北制訂中國/大陸政策的依據，從而帶來緊張還是和緩的兩岸關係。 / Taiwan’s post-cold war national identity issue is quite similar to other post-communist countries. Free speech made national identity issues going public much easier as Marshall Law was lifted. The social conflict agitated by “The Return of the Repressed” during democratic transition era was not only make new social cleavage possible but also giving birth to new political landscape. Every fractions of national identity has the chance to win the game but only those who supported by most of the population could arouse societal attention and get more chances to win the election. The social engineering of contents and contestations of national identities is so important to those who dedicated to their political life. As George Orwell ever mentioned 66 years ago: “Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past.” The Chineseness and Beijing who acclaimed PRC is the only legitimate country that represent China become very “significant other” to Taiwanese national identity formation from 1980s to now. Many scholars have been studied the nation-formation and state-building process but a few of them linking that processes and cross-strait and diplomatic policies made by Taipei altogether. This study is trying to fill this gap. As every president of the state is the symbol and entrepreneur of distinct national identity, getting at the root of state or national interest means digging out what elites’ identified as nation’s political purposes and international status of the state. This thesis focused on how national identity, the broadest collectively held idea in one country, brings about Taiwan’s state interest where Taipei’s China policy and its implications for cross-strait relations lied.

保護責任（R2P）是當前國際社會最受矚目，但同時也最受爭議的概念之一，有人認為這個概念有助於實踐國際人權，幫助國際社會向需要幫助的人民伸出援手；有學者認為這是為了解決主權與人權之間的爭端；更有人認為這只是「人道干涉」的借屍還魂，不過是西方強權為了干涉他國的手段而已。 隨著時間進展，當2005年保護責任在世界高峰會（World Summit）中得到聯合國會員國一致共識同時，有人認為R2P原本試圖修正「人道干涉困境」與國際法架構的雄心壯志，淪落對現有國際法架構的確認，無疑地呈現顯著的概念質變（conceptual change）。然而當民主春風吹過中東與北非地區，阿拉伯之春導致許多政府爆發侵犯人權情事，R2P再度受到矚目，甚至在2011年被聯合國安理會引用，作為干涉利比亞局勢的重要說辭，產生與2005年世界高峰會截然不同的內容。儘管被視為R2P概念成形以來的一大勝利，但也掀起新一波對R2P概念的爭辯。 本文主張，R2P面臨如此爭議，「定義」以及「與主權關係」不明是最主要的原因之一。對於支持者而言，這是有別於人道干涉，且根據現行「負責任主權」的全新人權執行機制，符合「即時性」、「有效性」的大原則。但對於反對者而言，這是人道干涉藉由「責任」一詞改頭換面，「換湯不換藥」，表面說詞再動人，都無法掩蓋他基於國家私利，干涉他國完整，破壞國家主權體系的意圖。 為了解決這項爭議，本研究試圖透過「語料庫語言學」的方法回答以下研究問題：第一，對於實際參與聯合國決策的各國代表而言，到底何謂「R2P」？在聯合國的場域中，「R2P」的出現是否真如部分學者所主張，漸漸改變「主權」的內涵？第二，如果主權概念與「R2P」的概念確實存在連動關係，那關係為何？ 根據本研究的研究成果可以發現，第一，在聯合國安理會的場域中，2005年世界高峰會的共識確實取代既有概念，讓「R2P」內容產生質變。但過去的「預防」概念依舊得到存續。第二，「R2P」概念的出現確實為「主權」增加更多的「責任」，儘管在安理會的場域中幅度並不大，但當有意識地使用「R2P」時，會特別強調「責任」的重要性。第三，儘管許多學者主張「R2P」的概念已經形成共識，重點在於「實踐」而非「爭辯」，但實際上真正重視「實踐」者，恐怕只有聯合國秘書長本人。 / Although generally recognized in World Summit Outcome Document, Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is one of the most controversial concepts of International Relations (IR). Especially, its relationship with sovereignty is one of the most debatable ones. For answering the questions, it is purposed to inquiry texts of meeting verbatim record of United Nations (UN), with the assistance of discourse analysis and digital toolkits. While scholars of IR and Political Thoughts have analyzed its theoretical, definition, legal and implementation dimensions, little attention is paid to its discursive change to examine their mutual influence. For proceeding full and large-scale research, present techniques of text mining enable researchers to work on “big texts”, and to extract the linguistic context beyond them. In general, this thesis is intended to complete the following advancements of IR studies: firstly, establish the contextual understanding of conceptual change of R2P and sovereignty, and find if hidden information exists behind those texts; secondly, if text mining and related toolkits does assist fulfillment of this proposal, it might be possibly new research skill to be applied in IR. This thesis investigates the present understandings of Sovereignty and R2P in IR. It hypothesizes that, firstly, most of present researches on R2P neglected the role of language; secondly, the generation of R2P might be related to the conceptual change of sovereignty in twenty-first century.

Tidigare forskning visar att det finns brister i den samsyn och samverkan mellan skolpersonal som är en framgångsfaktor för hög måluppfyllelse i grundskolan (Nilholm & Göransson, 2013; SOU 2010:95; www.skolinspektionen.se; m fl). Mentorer, lokala elevhälsoteam och skolledare är de aktörer som ansvarar för utbildningen till elever med olika förutsättningar. Graden av samsyn dessa aktörer emellan är därför intressant. Denna studies syfte har varit att identifiera och beskriva eventuella mönster i mentorers, lokala elevhälsoteams och skolledares uppfattningar om extra anpassningar och särskilt stöd, utifrån frågeställningar om anledningar till olika insatser, vem/vilka som ska ansvara för insatserna samt om orsaker till bristande insatser. En totalundersökning i en kommun har genomförts via webbenkät och kvantitativ multivariat analys. Utgångspunkterna har varit socialkonstruktivistisk teori om ett kontextberoende lärande tillsammans med andra, och ett relationellt perspektiv på skolsvårigheter.  Studien visar att störst samsyn finns kring det faktum att inte alla elever med behov ges tillräckligt stöd i skolorna, och att tid för arbete för dessa elever saknas i personalens scheman. Viss samsyn finns också angående när elever ska ges stöd, men i mindre grad gällande vem/vilka som ska utföra insatserna. Studien har också visat att en relativt stor andel av respondenterna upplever bristande samsyn med kollegor gällande att se/tolka behov hos elever, avgöra lämpliga åtgärder samt utföra åtgärderna, samtidigt som alla tre grupperna i hög grad är överens om att de själva sällan eller aldrig har bristande kompetens gällande just att tolka behov och avgöra/utforma åtgärder.  Resultaten visar att samsyn och samverkan behöver vidareutvecklas inom skolorna via strategiska kontaktytor. Utifrån resultaten och teorin bör samtalen handla om uppdragsuppfattning, elevsyn och gemensamma strategier för ökad inkludering, delaktighet och måluppfyllelse. / Previous research shows that there are shortcomings in the consensus and collaboration among school personnel, a success factor for high achievement in primary school (Nilholm & Göransson, 2013; SOU 2010:95; www.skolinspektionen.se; m fl). Mentors, local student health teams and school leaders are those responsible for the education of students with different qualifications. The degree of consensus between these actors is therefore interesting. The purpose of this study has been to identify and describe any patterns of mentors' , local student health teams' and school leaders' perceptions about additional adjustments and special support, based on the questions of reasons for different actions, who/which is responsible for action and reasons for lack of action.  A total survey in a municipality has been conducted via online questionnaire and quantitative multivariate analysis. The starting point has been the social constructivist theory of context-dependent learning with others, and a relational perspective on school difficulties.    The study shows that the greatest consensus is about the fact that not all students in need are given sufficient support, and that time to work for these students is lacking in staff schedules. Some consensus is also about which students should receive support, but less so regarding which staff should perform it. The study has also shown that a relatively large proportion of respondents perceive lack of consensus with colleagues regarding interpreting the needs of pupils, determining appropriate actions and bringing them into action, while all three groups largely agree that themselves rarely or never lack of expertise regarding just that;  interpreting the needs and determining/performing measures.   The results show that consensus and collaboration need to be developed within schools through strategic contacts. Based on the results and theory, the discourse should be about assignment, perception of difficulties and concerted strategies for greater inclusion, participation and achievement.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Mokslinis realizmas yra filosofinis požiūris tvirtinantis, kad mokslo teorijos teigia tiesą apie pasaulį. Šis požiūris nebūtų filosofiškai įdomus, jei jo nesiektų paneigti įvairūs filosofiniai, istoriniai ir sociologiniai kontrargumentai. Šiame darbe analizuojami Paulo Feyerabendo, Arthuro Fine‘o, Thomo S. Kuhno, Larry Laudano, Baso van Fraasseno bei socialinio konstruktyvizmo prieš mokslinį realizmą nukreipti argumentai. Vertinama, kaip šie argumentai atsilaiko prieš naujausius argumentus mokslinio realizmo naudai, pateiktus Philipo Kitcherio, Jarretto Leplino, Ilkka Niiniluoto, Stathiso Psillos ir kitų mokslinių realistų darbuose. Darbe teigiama, kad mokslinis realizmas yra nuoseklus, savo teiginius gerai pagrindžiantis, geriausiai mokslo sėkmę paaiškinantis mokslo teorijų aiškinimas ir todėl laikytinas teisingu teorinis požiūris. Mokslinis realizmas yra nuoseklus teorinis požiūris, kadangi pagrįsdamas dvi prielaidas, kad egzistuoja nuo mąstymo nepriklausomas ir tam tikrą struktūrą turintis pasaulis (ontologinė prielaida) bei kad mokslas yra pajėgus šį pasaulį pažinti (episteminė prielaida), daro išvadą apie mokslo teorijų semantiką, jog teorijos parodo, koks yra pasaulis. Mokslinis realizmas gerai pagrindžia savo teiginius ir prieš jį nukreipti argumentai nepajėgia jo paneigti. Savąjį episteminį optimizmą mokslinis realizmas pagrindžia neigdamas galimybę nubrėžti griežtą ribą tarp stebimų ir negalimų stebėti esinių ir reiškinių bei tvirtindamas abdukcijos (geriausio... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Scientific realism is a philosophical approach that claims the literal truth of scientific theories. This approach would not be philosophically interesting if there were not ample philosophical, historical and sociological arguments that would argue against it. In this thesis we evaluate the arguments of Paul Feyerabend, Arthur Fine, Thomas S. Kuhn, Larry Laudan and Bas van Fraassen as well as the challenge of social constructivists. All the counterarguments are weighed against the most up-to-date arguments for scientific realism – notably, Philip Kitcher, Jarrett Leplin, Ilkka Niiniluoto, Stathis Psillos and others. We claim that scientific realism is a consistent and soundly substantiated account of scientific theories which best explains the empirical success of scientific theories and which, therefore, is justly believed to be a truthful theoretical attitude. Scientific realism is a consistent theoretical attitude because it starts from the two premises that there is a mind independent world of a particular structure (an ontological premise) and that science is able to know this world (an epistemic premise) and concludes with a semantic thesis that scientific theories represent what the world is like. Scientific realism is a sound and well substantiated theoretical attitude because the arguments against it do not succeed to refute it. It grounds its epistemic optimism in the denial to draw a rigid line between the observable and unobservable aspects of the world and in... [to full text]