Considered as the ―...central organizing method‖ (Fuss, 1991:1) in terms of gender and sexual orientation particularly in the Western world, the heterosexual/homosexual binary, emphasises the centrality of ―compulsory heterosexuality‖ (Rich, 1993:227) in the everyday lives of social and sexual actors. In doing this, homosexuality is not only differentiated from heterosexuality, but may rather be ‗banished‘ to a lower and subordinate stratum of so-called sexual ―respectability‖ (Rubin, 1993:13). Using it as a point of departure, this particular sociological inquiry sought to critically explore the influence of a binary logic on the identity construction of gay male academics and students in South African tertiary education. This study provides an in-depth qualitative discussion of the lived experiences of these men on university campuses in order to redress the limited focus on the subject matter in South African sociology. Informed by the metatheoretical principles of phenomenology and central features of a symbolic interactionist methodology, three specific subthemes guided the research. These included the rationalisation of sexual orientation, self-reflexivity and, as my inductive contribution, a consideration of the deprofessionalisation and/or professionalisation of the gay male academic identity in South African higher education. In adopting Jackson and Scott‘s (2010) conceptualisation of the rationalisation of sexuality, the study sought to explore its role in the identity construction of gay men through, amongst others, ―sexual scripting‖ (Gagnon & Simon, 1973), ―doing gender‖ (West & Zimmerman, 2002), ―using gender‖ (Johnson, 2009) as well as ―doing gay‖ (Dowsett et al., 2008), to (de)construct a ―gay sensibility‖ (cf. Seidman, 2002a) within and between their private and professional contexts. Secondly, such negotiation of their homosexual ―performativity‖ (Butler, 1990) presupposed an undeniable degree of ―reflexiveness‖ (cf. Mead, 1962) on the part of the gay male, to adhere to the expectations of other individuals in a specific social context. Given the findings from a thematic analysis of fifteen (15) in-depth interviews with academics and seven (7) with students, as well as two (2) self-administered questionnaires completed by academics and seventeen (17) by students, the influence of heteronormativity, heterosexism and homophobia, was again reiterated. The participants mostly opted to professionalise their gay male identities (thus differentiate between their private and academic gay male identity), regardless of the fact that their narratives reflected an internal diversity, plurality and potentially non-subordinate otherness, akin to Plummer‘s (1998b) reference to ―homosexualities‖ rather than only one homogenised version of ‗homosexuality‘. Their choice to do so was attributed to a conscious effort to either ‗pass‘ as heterosexual, assimilate into the dominant sexual and gendered culture of the campus, or conform to a stereotypical gay performance in homosexually-segregated academic departments because of anxiety, fear or shame. As such, the potential of mastering an uncategorised ‗queer‘ inclination in tertiary education, becomes all the more difficult, if not improbable. / PhD (Sociology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Inom socialt arbete möter brukare i olika sammanhang skapande verksamheter i exempelvis dagverksamhet, sysselsättning eller som arbetsträning. Att delta i verksamheten kan vara frivilligt eller tvingande. Denna studie undersöker hur hantverkspedagoger arbetar med skapande verksamhet i socialt arbete, samt vilka strukturer och förhållningssätt som måste finnas i verksamheten för att denna ska ge förutsättningar till förändringsprocesser för deltagaren. Studiens syfte är att fördjupa förståelsen för hur visuellt skapande verksamhet används för att möjliggöra förändring för brukare inom det sociala arbetets fält. Verksamheterna som undersöks i studien använder sig samtliga av visuellt skapande, vilket är olika former av skapande såsom måleri, keramik, textiltryck och sömnad. Studien genomfördes utifrån en kvalitativ ansats med ostrukturerade fokusgruppsintervjuer som val av metod. Metoden utökades efterhand med en telefonintervju. Totalt genomfördes två fokusgrupps-sessioner och en telefonintervju med sammanlagt sex informanter. Den teoretiska ram, ur vilken den skapande verksamheten belyses och analyseras, utgår från symbolisk interaktionism, där definition av situationen samt sympatisk introspektion är två centrala begrepp. Andra centrala begrepp i studien är Axel Honneths definition av erkännande samt Martin Bubers mellanmänskliga möten. Studiens resultat visar att pedagogernas arbete bridrar till förändringsprocesser, genom strukturella såväl som pedagogiska förhållningssätt, vilka båda genomsyras av ett processorienterat förhållningssätt där deltagarens egna processer är centrala. I den avslutande diskussionen diskuteras den skapande verksamhetens förändringspotential inom socialt arbete i förhållande till teoretiska begrepp så som mellanmänskliga möten, definition av situationen och symboliskt våld för att belysa ett vägval mellan två förhållningssätt som socialpedagogen ständigt ställs inför. / In social work clients encounter arts in different contexts as in, for example, daytime activities, employment or job training. The participation in the activities may be voluntary or mandatory. This study examines how specialist crafts tutor work with creative activities in social work and the structures and attitudes necessary to provide conditions for change for the participant. The work places surveyed in this study all used creative methods involving visual arts such as paintings, ceramics, textile and sewing. The study´s purpose is to deepen the understanding of how visual creative activity is used to enable change for users in the field of social work. The activities evaluated in the study all use forms of visual creativity, which include various forms of creativity such as painting, sculpture, textile printing and sewing. The study was conducted based on a qualitative approach and the choice of method was unstructured focus groups with specialist crafts tutors. The method was extended during the research process by a telephone interview. In total, there were two focus group sessions and one telephone interview with a total of six informants. The theoretical framework from which creative activity is highlighted and analyzed is based on symbolic interactionism, where definition of the situation and sympathetic introspection are two key concepts. Other key concepts in the study are Axel Honneth's definition of recognition as well as Martin Buber's interpersonal encounters. The result of the study shows that specialist crafts tutors work contributes to change through structural and pedagogical approaches, which both are permeated by a process-oriented approach where the participant's own processes are central. In the final discussion the potential of creative activities for change within social work is discussed in relation to the theoretical concepts of interpersonal encounters, definition of the situation and symbolic violence to illuminate a choice between two approaches that social pedagogue faces.

The aim of the present thesis was to listen to, examine and conceptualise students’ perspectives on bullying. Students’ perspectives have not been commonly heard in research and less qualitative research has been conducted. This study contributes with students’ perspectives on bullying using semi-structured interviews with students from fourth-to eighth grade. This thesis includes four studies. The aim with paper I was to investigate how bystander actions in bullying situations and reasons behind these actions were articulated. Paper II was a comparison study between Sweden and US, focused on how students articulate and discuss what factors influence students’ decisions to defend or not defend victims when witnessing bullying. The aim in Paper III was to study how students themselves discuss, reason and make sense of how and why bullying processes emerges in their social worlds. In paper IV the aim was to study how junior high school girls discuss and understand bullying. Findings reveal that students’ reactions as bystanders to bullying depend on how they define the situation. Explanations to the emergence of bullying were understood through a complex social ordering of belonging process. Students position themselves and others in striving to belong, and when defining victims as responsible for bullying. Social norms and negotiation of identities were also discussed among the students. Students discussed how gender and a normative peer structure, where a pressure to fit in, interlinked with how they understood bullying. / Syftet med denna avhandling är att lyssna på, utforska och konceptualisera elevers perspektiv på mobbning då elevers perspektiv utgör ett viktigt bidrag till vår fortsatta förståelse av mobbning. Det finns fortfarande få kvalitativa studier som fokuserat elevers perspektiv på mobbning. Denna studie utgör därför ett viktig bidrag och baseras på semi-strukturerade intervjuer med elever ifrån fjärde till åttondeklass. Avhandlingen består utav fyra studier. Syftet med studie I var att undersöka hur åskådarageranden i mobbningssituationer artiklueras av eleverna och skälen bakom dessa. Syftet med studie II var att jämföra hur elever i Sverige och USA artikulerar och diskuterar vilka faktorer som influerar deras beslut att ingripa eller inte ingripa när de blir åskådare till mobbning. Syftet med studie III var att undersöka hur elever diskuterar, resonerar och förstår vad som producerar mobbning. Syftet med studie IV var att undersöka hur högstadietjejer diskuterar och förstår mobbning. Resultaten visar att elevers reaktioner som åskådare till mobbning är situationsbundna utifån hur de definierar situationen. Förklararingar till vad som producerar mobbning sammanlänkas med en komplex socialt ordnande process där eleverna positionerar sig själv och andra i strävan att tillhöra och den utsatta ofta görs ansvarig för mobbningen. Även sociala normer och förhandlade av identiteter kommer till uttryck när eleverna diskuterar hur kön och normativa kamratnormer, där strävan att passa in, sammanlänkas med deras förståelse av mobbning.

Coincidental increases in online instruction at institutions of higher education and in online social networking generally in the U.S. have created opportunities for research into how digital interpersonal connectivity affects online learning. This study examined interactive webcasts, or webcasts plus chat, that were part of an online undergraduate course covering Internet knowledge and skills at a large public university. Symbolic interactionism served as the theoretical framework for explicating interactive webcasts as useful online learning environments by exploring the complex processes that instructional staff employed to manage their actions and interactions as moderators in the webcasts and chats. A constructivist grounded theory approach guided the collection and analysis of empirical data in the form of webcast media and transcripts, chat logs, students‘ reflective writing, and semi-structured, intensive interviews with instructional staff. From the study emerged theoretical categories in three tiers related to a generalized moderator process called minding the verge: moderators minded the verge in three conditions of interaction– converging, attending, and diverging; in three loci of interaction – webcasts, chats, and webcasts+chat; and through six actions of moderating – bonding, orientating, guiding, tending, validating, and branching. The results of this study provide moderators for the course with insights into their actions in the interactive webcasts and with concepts moderators can use to explore how to manage interactive webcasts more effectively. Beyond effecting substantive changes to interactive webcasts for the course, the study may guide others who wish to pursue further studies of webcasts+chat as they occur in the course or elsewhere, or of other mixed-media environments, or who wish to adopt mixed-media environments for instruction. Other potential areas for research that emerged from this study include the affective states of participants in the webcasts+chat and the use of affective devices, such as emoticons and abbreviations, for showing affective states; the effect that format has on the efficacy of webcasts+chat used for computer-mediated instruction; and the processes students employ to manage actions and interactions in the webcasts and chats. / text

The subjects of ‘youth’, ‘substance use’ and ‘homelessness’ are interconnected, but only a relatively small number of studies have examined the relationships between all three components. Literature highlights how homeless substance users are constructed as ‘vulnerable’ – yet ‘deviant’. Furthermore, academics have examined how people manage the ascribed identities of ‘substance user’ and ‘homeless’ as well as that of ‘youth’. According to sociologists, people’s self-identities and actions develop as a consequence of interactions with their socio-spatial worlds. Therefore, it is useful to contextualise the act of substance use within these complex interactions. This thesis explores the meanings and contexts of young, homeless people’s substance use. Data were obtained through an ethnographic study conducted in a homeless hostel over a seven month period in 2013 in which twenty-two young people (aged 16-21) and twenty-seven staff members participated. The majority of data were derived from participant-observation encompassing 200-250 informal interactions with the young people and 100-120 interactions with staff along with observations of people’s actions and descriptions of events and appearances. The field-notes were supplemented by four semi-structured interviews and a focus group, involving a total of eleven young people. Drawing on theories underpinned by symbolic interactionist and phenomenological philosophies, three overarching dimensions of the young people’s experiences were identified as important to their substance use and wider lives. First, the young people engaged in ‘place-making’ actions (including substance use) to personalise spaces within the tightly controlled environment of the hostel. Secondly, substance use was interwoven with the relationships that the young people held with their families, friends and the staff. The ‘pro-drug’ voices of their friends and relatives were arguably stronger than the ‘anti-drug’ voices of the staff. Thirdly, the categories of ‘youth’ and ‘substance user’ were recognised by the participants as pertaining to them, whereas the ‘homeless’ label was relatively meaningless. The thesis concludes that to understand people’s substance use experiences, it is important to consider the socio-spatial contexts within which they are located, particularly when these are temporary.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize literatures on stress, social support, symbolic interaction, and de Certeau as they pertain to the recovery of a homosexually-identified individual from a homophobic interaction. A model of the initial stressful interaction as well as the interaction between a homosexually-identified individual and his socially-supportive network is posited with the consumption of culturally-disseminated roles and the salience of role-identities as the mechanisms by which it works. The model is then considered as a form of resistance in the light of broader gay liberation social movements. The study focuses on white, middle-class, American, homosexually-identified males in order to control for variations that might occur from variables of race, class, nationality, and gender. Queer theoretical, essentialist, and postpositivist realist perspectives on identity are considered. The thesis concludes with possible future directions for an empirical study using the model outlined above.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand how the professions within the human service organization experience and describe inter-professional collaboration. The questions that the study discusses is the negative versus positive aspects that inter-professional collaboration entails and what conditions that are necessary for such cooperation to work.   The results are analysed with the help of Blumers (1969) theory of symbolic interactionism and Goffmans (2014) theory of team and appearance. The empirical material for the study is collected from semi-structured interviews with eight informants: two counsellors from the neuropsychiatric unit, two counsellors from kids and youth psychiatry, one counsellor and one sexologist from the youth clinic and three school nurses from different schools. The studies informants find that the inter-professional collaboration is crucial for the care that is provided for the patients. The informants believe that the consequences of non-cooperation would be longer treatments, misconceptions among the professionals and reduced overall visibility of patients' needs. The difficulties that the studies informants find with the cooperation are mainly the cooperation between different organizations. The difficulties include the different routines, loyalties, laws and objectives that organizations have. The conditions that the studies informants think is needed for a working inter-professional collaboration are effective communication, knowledge about each others professions, the staff’s willingness to cooperate and to increase learning about inter-professional collaboration.

This thesis explores the political discourse´s portrayal of elderly needs in Sweden, as well as discourses the lived effects on the elderly population. The study is guided by the following research questions 1) What is the current political discourses construction of elderly´s needs? And 2) How could this discourse affect the elderly population? To fulfil the purpose and answer the research questions the study utilizes a critical discourse analysis. The study also employs a wide theoretical foundation with central concepts deriving both from a general sociological tradition, such as symbolic interactionism. As well as more specialized gerontological theories, such as ageism and structured dependency. By using a thematic analysis as well as a synthesising analysis the study provided both an in-depth and collected depiction of the discourse on elderly needs as well as its lived effects. The analysis found four thematics of interest, a) Emotional needs b) elderly´s need of others c) organizational needs and d) basic amenities. All of which were characterized by a dystopian and ageist portrayal of old age. Seemingly based on ageist stereotypes rather than the characteristics of the actual demographic. Similarly, the overall narrative showed that elderly where portrayed as a homogenized collective of others. The narrative also depicted elderly as a very simple, dependant and burdensome demographic. The lived effects were varied under the thematic analysis, these could be characterized under two overarching trends. Firstly, the risk that elderly embrace the dystopian role depicted in the discourse. Secondly the discourses skewed portrayal of elderly can lead to less effective and potentially destructive policies and resource allocation.

O contexto social de pobreza exige práticas efetivas para a garantia de qualidade e segurança alimentar de crianças, entre elas a amamentação. No entanto, os índices de aleitamento materno entre populações de baixa renda não se mostra promissor, indicando a necessidade de se conhecer como se dá o processo de prática do aleitamento materno em comunidades que vivenciam a pobreza. Este estudo teve os objetivos: Compreender o significado de amamentar e como se desenvolve a prática de amamentação da mulher moradora da Comunidade Mangabeira, próxima ao aterro sanitário da cidade de Arapiraca-Alagoas. Adotou-se o método qualitativo, tendo como referencial teórico o Interacionismo Simbólico, Modelo Pesando Riscos e Benefícios; a estratégia do DSC para organização dos dados. Foram coletados dados quantitativos para caracterização biológica e social da mulher e sobre a prática de amamentação, que ampliaram, de forma descritiva, o entendimento da experiência de amamentação das 35 mulheres participantes do estudo, residentes na comunidade, que sobrevivem da catação de material reciclado e que tinham tido a experiência de amamentar pelo menos um de seus filhos. Os resultados mostram que elas têm baixa escolaridade e renda não superior a dois salários mínimos, a média de idade é 36,2 anos, com taxa de fecundidade de 4,2 filhos por mulher. Apenas 58,3% das mulheres referem ter amamentado exclusivamente seus filhos e a mediana de AM é 22,3 meses, sendo maior que a mediana para os estados do Nordeste. Com base nos dados qualitativos, emergiram três temas explicativos da experiência de amamentar: Determinada a amamentar: do saber à necessidade; Prática de amamentar: cuidado familiar e coletivo; Fragilidades na valorização da amamentação. A amamentação é utilizada como recurso contra a fome do recém-nascido, pois dificilmente as mulheres conseguem adquirir alimentos de outras fontes, mas ao mesmo tempo o aleitamento materno mostra uma prática frágil do pondo de vista das escolhas dessas mulheres, podendo ser substituído por outro alimento quando é possível obtê-lo. Essa prática está sujeita à condição e disponibilidade física e emocional da mulher para amamentar, apesar de reconhecida a sua importância para suprir a necessidade da criança. Não sendo valorizada pela sua importância em si, a amamentação é vista como uma experiência normal, previsível e habitual, a ser incorporada no seu cotidiano enquanto for possível ou necessária. O significado da amamentação para essas mulheres mostra-se como sendo uma experiência nem boa, nem ruim, mas apenas normal. Considerações finais: Além de medidas sociais de distribuição de benefícios para as famílias carentes, urge o acompanhamento de mães e lactentes dessas famílias, para garantir a valorização e oportunidade do AME e práticas que favoreçam a segurança alimentar de crianças e adultos que vivem em situações de extrema pobreza como as aqui retratadas. / The social context of poverty demands effective practices to assure nutritional quality and safety for children, including breastfeeding. Nevertheless, breastfeeding rates in low-income populations are far from promising, pointing at a need to identify how breastfeeding is carried out in poor communities. The objectives of the present study were: to understand the meaning of breastfeeding and how it takes place among the women living in the Mangabeira Community, located near the municipal sanitary landfill of Arapiraca, Alagoas state, Brazil. The qualitative method was used, with Symbolic Interactionism and the Weighing Risks and Benefits Model as the theoretical frameworks; and the Corporate Sustainable Development strategy was used to organize the data. Quantitative data were collected for the biological and social characterization of the women and of the breastfeeding practice. Through a descriptive approach, this analysis improved the understanding of the breastfeeding experience of the 35 study subjects. The participants were women living in the referred community, who survive by collecting recyclable material, and who had breastfed at least one of their children. The results reveal that the women have a low education level, income of two minimum salaries or less, mean age of 36.2, and a fecundity rate of 4.2 children per woman. Only 58.3% of the women reported having exclusively breastfed their children, and the breastfeeding median was 22.3 months, i.e., higher than that of Brazilian Northeastern States. Based on the qualitative data, three explanatory themes emerged from the breastfeeding experience: Determined to breastfeed: from knowing to needing; The breastfeeding practice: family and collective care; Weaknesses in valuing breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is used as a resource against the newborns hunger, as the women face difficulties to obtain food from any other sources. Breastfeeding is also noticed as a fragile practice from the standpoint of the womens choices, as it can be replaced when other alternatives are available, and is subject to the womans physical and emotional conditions, regardless it being acknowledged as important in meeting the childs needs. Because the importance of breastfeeding is undervalued, it is seen as a common, predictable and habitual experience, which is incorporated in ones everyday life whenever possible or needed. The meaning of breastfeeding to these women is revealed as being a merely common experience, one that is neither good nor bad. Conclusions: In addition to the social measures to provide benefits for poor families, there is an urgent need to follow the mothers and breastfeeding women of these families, so as to assure the valorization and opportunity of exclusive breastfeeding and the practices that favor the nutritional safety of children and adults living in extreme poverty, as those described herein.

[pt] Desenvolvido como estudo fenomenológico-hermenêutico, o trabalho que se passa a apresentar busca ampliar a compreensão acerca das experiências interativas sócio- técnicas que têm os participantes dos encontros de serviços com a iluminação ambiental oferecida pelos cenários das empresas. Para tanto, conduziu-se uma revisão bibliográfica focada na visão das lojas de serviços como construções espaciais de uma representação na qual o ambiente físico da empresa constitui o cenário de um espetáculo teatral em que a luz torna-se um elemento primordial. Seguindo uma perspectiva simultaneamente interdisciplinar e transdisciplinar, recorreu-se às disciplinas da Biologia, da Medicina, da Óptica Física, da Física Quântica, da Psicologia Ambiental, da Antropologia, da Semiótica, da Arquitetura e das Artes Cênicas para acessar as principais construções teóricas acerca da luz e para empreender esforços no sentido de responder à desordem de pesquisa. Realizou-se também um estudo de campo em lojas temáticas de serviços, nas quais foram realizadas observações e entrevistas de base qualitativa junto àqueles que experimentaram o fenômeno que se estava examinando. Em acordo com os preceitos da análise de conteúdo e da análise interparticipante, os depoimentos foram interpretados, classificados e utilizados para gerar proposições, as quais foram submetidas a um grupo de cinco informantes-chave e, posteriormente, oferecidas como possibilidades de se chegar a uma melhor compreensão das experiências dos participantes dos encontros de serviços com a luz. / [en] Taking up a phenomenological-hermeneutical approach, this dissertation seeks both to widen as well as to improve the ways through which people participating in service encounters interact with environmental lighting. In this sense, the literature review focussed servicescapes as spatial representations whereby the physical environment of a service firm supports a drama where light is a crucial element. According to a standpoint which is both inter- and transdisciplinary, contributions from several disciplines - e. g. Biology, Medecine, Optical Physics, Quantic Physics, Environmental Psychology, Anthropology, Semiotics, Architecture and Scenic Arts - have been brought about to give access to the most relevant theories about light as well as to start filling up some extant research gaps. The field study was developed in thematic service stores. Both direct observation and qualitative interviews allowed to collect information from participants who had experienced one or more interactions as conceived in this study. Following basic principles from Content Analysis and Interparticipant Observation, the interviews were interpreted, classified and then used to generate several research propositions. The propositions were then analysed by 5 referees in order to be finally presented as propositive guidelines to a better understanding of lighting experiences during service encounters.