Social sustainability is often regarded as a solution to social problems in general. In this study, on the contrary, social sustainability is conceived as a socially constructed concept and the result of a certain way of looking at the world, the human being and the ideal society. The study centers around Kinda municipality in the southern region of Östergötland and a few of its elder inhabitants. What meaning and substance social sustainability is contained with as well as the effects that are produced by these conceptualizations is explored and analyzed. Also, the study examines the encounter between political policy’s and judgments on the one hand and the experiences and preferences held by the municipality’s elder inhabitants on the other.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie är att undersöka om metoden Signs-of-Safety kan öka barns delaktighet i barnutredningar gjorda av socialsekreterare. Frågeställningar är: - Hur reflekterar socialsekreterare som använder respektive inte använder Signs-of- Safety kring barns delaktighet i utredningar? Samt: - Varierar graden av delaktighet hos barn mellan utredningar där Signs-of-Safety används jämfört med utredningar där metoden inte används? Vi genomförde två stycken fokusgruppintervjuer med totalt tio socialsekreterare som arbetar med utredningar inom socialtjänsten, samt analyserade sju utredningar varav fyra var skrivna i en kommun som använde sig av Sign-of-Safety. De resterande tre utredningarna var skrivna i en kommun där de inte använde Signs-of-Safety. Teoretisk utgångspunkt var socialkonstruktivism. Det fanns en stor enighet bland socialsekreterarna om att det är viktigt att barn görs delaktiga. Analysen av både intervjuer och utredningar gjordes utifrån Harts delaktighetsstege samt socialkontruktivism och visade att metoden Signs-of-Safety inte verkade öka barns delaktighet, men att metoden tydliggjorde delaktigheten. / The purpose of this qualitative study was to get an insight in if the method Signs-of- Safety might improve childrens’ participation in investigations concerning themselves. Our research questions were; How do social workers who use or do not use Signs-of- Safety reflect on children's involvement in investigations? and; Is there accordingly to the social workers a variation in the degree of participation among children in investigations where Signs-of-Safety is used compared to investigations where the method is not used? Two focus group interviews in two different municipalities, one where Signs-of-Safety had been used and one where the method not had been used, were performed. The interviews and four written investigations i each work group were analysed by using Hart´s participation ladder and social constructivism. The result showed that all our informants regarded childrens’ participation as important. No differences in the degree of participation of the children could be identified.

This study focuses on the transnational role and involvement of interest groups in the water politics of two Southern African international river basins – the Kunene and Orange Rivers. The thesis is in part based on the theory of social constructivism, with the purpose of investigating the extent to which the collective transnational activities of interest groups, regarding the implementation of WRMPs in selected Southern African international rivers, lead to the undermining of the acceptance of the actions and policies that are authorised at the state level of world politics. Two case studies were analysed namely the proposed Epupa Dam and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). Regarding the problem statements and the chosen theoretical approach, a number of findings were made. Firstly, interest groups posed a substantial challenge to the national and international ‘agential power’ of the states., although the erosion of the policies initiated at the state level differed in respect of the two cases. In the Kunene River basin, the interest groups have moderate international ‘agential power’ and moderate to high domestic ‘agential power’. Namibia’s international and domestic ‘agential power’ is substantially lower than that of the interest groups, mainly on account Angola opposing plans for a dam at Epupa. In the Orange River basin, the interest groups have high domestic ‘agential power’, especially the Lesotho interest groups, and moderate international ‘agential power’. The reason for the high domestic ‘agential power’ of the Lesotho-based interest groups is Lesotho’s reflexive ‘agential power’. This reflexivity is a direct consequence of Lesotho’s changing identity from a politically unstable to stable state. South Africa’s international and domestic ‘agential power’ is higher than that of the interest groups, mainly because the South African government went ahead with plans to construct the LHWP in an era where there was little opposition to the project. Since there was no interest group involvement during the planning phase of the LHWP from 1956 to 1986, there was no interest group challenge of the LHWP. Also, the interest groups could not effectively challenge the economic power of South Africa. Furthermore, the ANC changed its stance from being anti-LHWP in the 1980s to pro-LHWP when it became the ruling party. This meant that the Project was backed by the ruling party’s ideological power. Thus, it was concluded that interest groups had a significant role and influence on the water politics regarding the WRMPs in the international river basins of Southern Africa. The thesis contributes to the body of research on water politics in a number of ways. First, the study contributes to an understanding of the reasons why interest groups are transnationally involved in water politics and of the roles they play in this process. Second, a theory of water politics (hydro-normative commensalism) was developed, that primarily focuses on the role of norms in water politics. Third, a new definition of water politics was developed, stating that water (hydro-) politics is the transnational interaction, through norm creation and utilisation, between a plethora of non-state and state actors, varying from individuals to collectivities, regarding the allocation and use of, and perception towards domestic and international water resources. The relationship between the state and interest groups is increasingly transnational because of a diminishing capacity of the state to insulate itself from the influences of non-state actors regarding the implementation of policies. / Thesis (DPhil (International Politics))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

This study focuses on educational psychology students’ self-efficacy beliefs in career counselling. The research was conducted in the Department of Educational Psychology of the University of Pretoria. An Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA) as described by Northcutt and McCoy (2004) was done. The constituency comprised seven students who have provided career counselling to at least one client.</p.> The IQA approach to research postulate that the ideal in qualitative research is to create a process that invite participants to produce data while minimizing the effect of the research process on the content. With the IQA approach the participants in the research have a remarkable degree of freedom and are empowered to generate and analyze their own data with minimal external influence. The role of the researcher in this process is to facilitate the process and to teach participants the process while guiding them to generate and analyze their own data. The central assumption in IQA, namely that the people closest to the phenomenon are in the best position to report about the phenomenon was confirmed by the researcher. The main findings of the study indicate that self-efficacy develops through formal and personal development. The identification of possible areas of growth and how this is communicated by the supervisor is fundamental for both formal and personal development processes of students. A positive cooperative developmental approach during feedback sessions is conducive to the growth of the career counsellor. The importance of experiential learning and modelling as a means to develop self-efficacy was confirmed by the research participants. The reduction of anxiety with the increase of self-efficacy was reported as a very important benefit of increased self-efficacy. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

The aim of this study was to examine how care workers at retirement homes reason on elderly who abuse alcohol with emphasis on following aspects: approach regarding elderly alcohol abusers, personal treatment in interaction with care recipients, discovering of alcohol abuse, courses of action, practical arrangements and the type of care given. The data has been analyzed on the basis of gender theory and social constructivism. Method that was implemented combined focus group interviews with vignettes. The results indicate that approach regarding elderly alcohol abusers, encounters between care workers and care recipients, discovering of alcohol abuse, courses of action, practical arrangements, the type of care given and attitudes and personal values regarding elderly who abuse alcohol are all influenced by gender. In addition, patterns that indicate that caretakers’ sympathetic attitudes towards seniors alcohol abuse are impacted by gender norms were detected. / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur omsorgspersonal som är verksamma inom äldreboende, resonerar kring äldre som missbrukar alkohol utifrån aspekter som synsätt, bemötande, upptäckande av alkoholmissbruk, tillvägagångssätt, praktiska åtgärder samt vård. Studiens resultat analyserades utifrån genus- och socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv. Metoden som implementerats är en kombination av fokusgruppsintervjuer med vinjetteknik. Resultatet tyder på att synsätt, bemötande, upptäckande, praktiska åtgärder samt vård attityder och värderingar angående äldre som missbrukar påverkas av genus. Utöver detta finns det mönster i materialet som tyder på att även förståelse för äldres missbruk påverkas av genusrelaterade normer.

Although the theoretical literature on the issue of European integration is extremely rich, the opposite phenomenon - disintegration - has so far escaped the attention of scholars. In the light of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, further ignorance of this phenomenon would be a mistake. The aim of this thesis is to analyze influential theories of European integration in order to determine whether they are able to grasp and explain the hypothetical disintegration of the European Union. Such an analysis can also provide us with the corner-stone for the creation of a coherent theory of European disintegration. In its course, the thesis focuses on the phenomenon of nationalism as one of the most frequently mentioned hypothetical causes of European disintegration.

O presente trabalho se propõe a esboçar um referencial histórico e teórico para o estudo do som nas sociedades do Ocidente medieval. O som é entendido aqui como uma \"forma semantizada\" e, ao mesmo tempo, um \"conteúdo enformado\", perspectiva que busca pôr em relevo a dialética entre objetivo e subjetivo (que, concretamente existem apenas como processos relacionados de objetivação do subjetivo e subjetivação do objetivo), dialética inerente à existência social de qualquer \"objeto\" e da própria sociedade. A dissertação se compõe de três partes: (1) na primeira parte, enfocamos privilegiadamente a semantização da forma sonora, buscando desvendar as transformações históricas nas modalidades de circunscrição do som pelo pensamento; (2) na segunda parte, tomamos, dialeticamente, a direção contrária e privilegiamos o exame da enformação sonora do conteúdo, investigando mais especificamente a evolução da forma sonora da liturgia latina; (3) por fim, na terceira parte, propomos um estudo de caso que busca apreender, na temporalidade de sua efetivação, a dinâmica entre os processos de semantização da forma sonora e de enformação sonora do conteúdo. / This dissertation aims at sketching a system of historical and theoretical references for the study of sound in the societies of the medieval West. Sound is understood throughout this work as both \"semanticized form\" and \"enformed content\". This perspective seeks to emphasize the dialectics of subjectivity and objectivity (which concretely exist only as the interrelated processes of objectivation of subjectivity and subjectivation of objectivity) inherent to the social existence of any \"object\" and of society itself. The dissertation comprises three parts: (1) in the first, we focus mainly on the semantization of sound form, attempting to understand the historical changes in the modalities of apprehension of sound by thought; (2) in the second part, we dialectically assume the opposite direction and focus on the enformation of content as sound, dealing more specifically with the evolution of sound form in Latin liturgy; (3) finally, in the third part, we propose a case study which seeks to apprehend, in its concrete temporality, the dynamics of the interrelated processes of semantization of sound as form and enformation of content as sound.

The purpose of this essay was to examine how mental illness among children and adolescents is conveyed in a few of the Swedish daily and evening newspapers in an attempt to create an understanding of the depiction. This was examined by analyzing 14 articles in three Swedish daily and evening newspapers, Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet during the period 2015–2019. To answer the study's purpose and research question, a qualitative text analysis was used, which was supplemented with the social constructivist perspective and the framing theory. The conclusion of the study showed that these three Swedish daily and evening newspapers tended not to present a holistic perspective on the phenomenon of children and adolescents' mental illness. The depiction was mainly about research and experts that were allowed to speak on the subject, which resulted in the description of children and adolescents' mental illness being primarily from a scientific perspective. The articles did not address the affected children and adolescents to the extent required, which meant that their perspectives were not communicated. Based on the framing theory and social constructivism, this can be interpreted as part of the maintenance of social constructions and norms around mental illness.

Today, quality reviews of education for newly arrived students show major deficiencies in the Swedish school system. The newly arrived students do not get equal opportunities to achieve goals as other students in the classroom. Thus, an intervention study has started at two primary schools in central Sweden, where the purpose is to investigate whether cooperative methods can benefit students' participation and vocabulary learning in Swedish teaching. Therefore, the questions in this study are “in what ways can cooperative learning contribute to the participation of newly arrived students in Swedish teaching?” and “does cooperative learning have any visible effect on newly arrived students' vocabulary learning in Swedish?”. To answer the study questions a qualitative research method was conducted, with structured classroom observations, in two different primary schools. The participants in the study werefive newly arrived students in fourth and sixth grade. The results were analyzed using three theories, such as social constructivism, a participation model and vocabulary learning as a theoretical concept.   The analysis of the results showed that there are several advantages for the newly arrived students' communicative and linguistic development in cooperative learning, at the same time as it opens up for an increased participation in Swedish lessons. Didactically, the results of the study imply that the work with cooperative teaching methods leads to a progression in vocabulary learning and participation. This can be modeled in different ways, by grouping the newly arrived students in mixed groups or with other newly arrived students. What is further made visible in the study is that the newly arrived students are more active and involved when they are allowed to work and use the language in playful environments.

Since the establishment of the Erasmus exchange programme in 1987, its potential in various aspects has been evident. Many researches have been conducted regarding the Erasmus programme and its possible effects on European identity in higher education students, providing varying outcomes. Based on a survey of 200 Greek former Erasmus students, this thesis, examined the European identity among Greek students that have participated in the Programme proving its potential in terms of fostering European identity. The European identity in students was conceptualizes in terms of its spontaneous, civic and cultural aspects while its analysis was based on the theories of social constructivism and orientalism. Furthermore, the thesis conducted a correlation examination between the European identity levels of students and the destination country of their sojourn, in the hopes of establishing if the rising Euroscepticism in European countries affects the enrichment of the European identity in any way. However, the data largely reported against such a relationship.