Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Lifeworld theory'

E-business assimilation in Saudi Arabia becomes critical due to the overarching social issues that the stakeholders encounter. Grounded in Habermas‘ Critical Social Theory (CST), this study applies the theory of lifeworld and system to understand the relevance of the Islamic faith as well as the Arab culture in the conduct of businesses in Saudi Arabia, which in turn, would make e-business assimilation a success. This study seeks to contribute to the IS literature‘s lack of research in which the aim is to emphasise social factors as the main determinants of e-business assimilation. We point out that inherent to the other important factors (e.g., technological, organisational, and cultural), people‘s actions (emancipated or regulated) are most critical to realising business‘ innovation and growth through utilising e-business technology. The sample of the study was composed of 1071 SAP end-users from the three leading Saudi companies, namely, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), and Saudi Iron and Steel Company (Hadeed), an affiliate of SABIC. Also, seven consultants contributed their knowledge and expertise regarding e-business adoption, on which they have been working for many years. The necessary data were collected through two methods: (1) distributed survey questionnaire for the SAP end-users; and (2) face – to - face (semi-structured) interview for the consultants. The value of Habermas‘ theory of lifeworld and system is shown by the development of a business model that can be used to achieve e-business assimilation success in the context of Saudi Arabia because it has the ability to distinguish the actions in various social situations – whether the actions reflect emancipation or restriction of the actors‘ way of living; and consequently, whether the actors‘ way of living should remain as it is or should undergo necessary changes. The newly developed ―E-Business Assimilation Model‖ (EAM) includes as its constructs the most important factors relevant to e-business success as well as the concepts of lifeworld and system: that is, all factors are subject to be ―filtered‖ through both the lifeworld and the system constructs. Through EAM, it was found that it could be easy for the project team to execute an e-business project if they will give critical consideration II to the people‘s social and cultural beliefs, aspirations, perspectives and preferences. Understanding the people‘s social and cultural means allows the project team to customise the e-business systems to be installed, and to make sure that the new system really fits the organisational setting. For every challenging lifeworld and system situation, the top management can provide improved solutions to be applied. The findings show how SAP implementation in the selected companies was affected by social factors such as age and gender; cultural factors such as religion; organisational factors such as performance motivating, management support and consultancy; and technological factors. The companies‘ change management programmes had enabled resolution of problems by the adoption of measures suited to each company‘s holistic characteristics and needs. Evidence of system-lifeworld interactions was demonstrated in each of these cases. Saudi society was shown to be strongly lifeworld oriented, such that ‗system‘ comes into conflict with a member of lifeworld and there are some lifeworld elements (such as gender roles and constraints) that system cannot change but must work within. The findings demonstrate the value of a system – lifeworld perspective in analysing factors influencing a change such as e-business assimilation and result in development of an elaborated model for holistic analysis of pertinent factors.

Utilizing survey data collected in four communities in the State of Utah, this study examined the extent to which rural resident perceptions and attitudes toward local community circumstances influence their own expectations and attitudes subjectively toward future community development alternatives. Understanding perceptions of community and community development, as well as the patterns of localized community development, is crucial and needs to consider residents' opinions and attitudes toward unique rural economic, environmental, and social conditions in order to help preserve the unique characteristics of the way of life while continuing economic improvement and social betterment in rural areas. Three conceptual frameworks of development (economic, environmental, and social) are applied in this study to explore the relationship between local residents' general attitudes toward the current conditions in their community and their attitudes toward development alternatives. I examine how these three development frameworks guide rural scholars to understand whether the pattern of community development is consistent across the region or localized from community to community. Four different types of rural communities were selected in a Utah-wide community survey in the summer of 2008. These communities are facing four different change patterns: an increasing senior community, an energy-development community, a recreational community, and a constant community that has remained stable over the last five decades. Each type of community has its unique economy, lifestyle, culture, and environment, in which local residents have developed a way of life in response to these changes in social and economic structures. Research findings indicate that the local residents' self-perceptions of community economic situation are not significant indictors to support the arguments of the economic development framework. However, indexes of environmental and social development frameworks are found to have strong associations with locals' environmental and social development alternatives. Also, different types of rural community show different demands for community development strategies, implying that a single development framework would not be sufficient to explain the complex of local residents' perceptions and attitudes toward community development unless the researchers integrate other perspectives into the model.

This dissertation is a critical study of the paradigm of Liturgical Theology. Focus in this systematic inquiry has been on the Russian school with the focal point in the works of Alexander Schmemann, who was active in the late 20th century. The main question of the thesis concerns the relation between theory and practice in Liturgical Theology.                       It is claimed that the relation between theory and practice corresponds to the relation between ritual action and communicative action. The former concerns the identity founded on the unavoidable alterity immanent in life, but also transcending life through a holistic encounter with life, which enables us to express a holistic attitude to life and the entire world. The latter concerns the equally unavoidable rationalization of life which gives rise to a continuous atomization of life through science and the process of acquiring facts and data.                       The thesis makes use of different theories for the reaching of an explanatory theory in connection to theory and practice. Foremost the Theory of Communicative Action in the works of Jürgen Habermas and the re-interpretation of disclosure by Nikolas Kompridis is used. It is claimed tthat ritual action is connected to a primary disclosure attached to otherness with the intention of revealing the identity of the Ecclesia. Without identity, we are left with a never-ending debate and a continuous atomization where every answer exponentially provokes more questions. Communicative action then is connected with a secondary co-disclosure with the intention for the reaching of mutual understanding, making subjects accountable and responsible. Without communicative action we are bound on a long walk into the never ending sea of being. The missionary imperative in the Ecclesia is dependent on the co-existence of ritual action and communicative action.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de NÃvel Superior
Na presente dissertaÃÃo reconstruÃmos as discussÃes entre a perspectiva de identidade humana, postulada como uma metamorfose na Psicologia Social CrÃtica, e as intersecÃÃes da Teoria CrÃtica da Sociedade de Habermas com as vertentes histÃrico-sociais da Fenomenologia. Esta problematizaÃÃo à relevante por aprofundar teoricamente, por meio de uma investigaÃÃo epistemolÃgica, os enunciados explÃcitos e implÃcitos nas discussÃes sobre a constituiÃÃo das identidades nos processos de construÃÃo de suas metamorfoses no Mundo da Vida. Nossa pesquisa empreendeu uma reconstruÃÃo, por um lado, do processo de criaÃÃo e solidificaÃÃo do sintagma Identidade-Metamorfose-EmancipaÃÃo, dentro da Psicologia Social CrÃtica, e, por outro lado, da proposiÃÃo de Habermas sobre o Mundo da Vida em sua Teoria da AÃÃo Comunicativa (2012a e 2012b) a partir de suas leituras sobre o pensamento histÃrico-social da Fenomenologia de Husserl, Schutz, Berger e Luckmann. Nossas fontes de pesquisa foram livros, artigos, teses, dissertaÃÃes e manuscritos dos referenciais teÃricos e epistemolÃgicos acima descritos. As discussÃes encontram-se estruturadas em: âPrÃlogoâ, uma explanaÃÃo da intersecÃÃo defendida por Ciampa, Almeida e Lima entre as metamorfoses humanas e o mundo da vida, alÃm de uma apresentaÃÃo do percurso de reconstruÃÃo enquanto mÃtodo; o capÃtulo âO Sintagma Identidade-Metamorfose-EmancipaÃÃoâ, no qual analisamos, por uma construÃÃo histÃrica e epistemolÃgica, o processo de formaÃÃo, evoluÃÃo e solidificaÃÃo do construto da metamorfose humana como busca de emancipaÃÃo, enquanto teoria de identidade na perspectiva da Psicologia Social CrÃtica; no capÃtulo âAcepÃÃes sobre o mundo da vidaâ reconstruimos a teoria social do Mundo da Vida de Habermas a partir de uma anÃlise e uma discussÃo sobre os alcances das leituras habermasianas sobre a Fenomenologia de Husserl, Schutz, Berger e Luckmann. Por fim, no âEpÃlogoâ, apresentamos acepÃÃes fenomenolÃgicas para a construÃÃo de discussÃes crÃticas sobre os processos de significaÃÃo das identidades, a partir de condiÃÃes subjetivas e intersubjetivas do mundo, que vislumbrem processos emancipatÃrios de (r)existÃncia.

This dissertation examines the ‘individual perspective’ of the Swedish school system’s policy documents by studying compulsory schooling’s stated aim of developing students’ ability and opportunities to assume responsibility for, be actively involved in and influence their own learning. Its main objective is to investigate the opportunities of compulsory school students to assume responsibility for their learning with regard to mathematics. In order to understand these opportunities, I have initially investigated how the school system in general and instruction in mathematics, in particular, are organised and carried out. I have also examined what forms student responsibility for, influence on and participation in their learning take in the context of instruction in mathematics. This study also intends to highlight questions related to understanding the social circumstances that affect students’ opportunities for assuming responsibility for their learning. The empirical material used for this study was collected via interviews and observations. The study was conducted as a case study using students from early schoolyear classes to the ninth school year at a Swedish compulsory school, with the purpose of analysing education in mathematics throughout the course of the compulsory schoolyear one to nine education. In considering the question of how responsibility, influence and participation is presented in the Swedish school system, it was also important to study the way students, teachers and school heads express and implement the idea of students assuming responsibility for their education both in general and more specifically with regard to their learning in mathematics. An important theoretical starting point for the study has been the phenomenological lifeworld concept. The concept has contributed to the study’s design and has provided the tools with which to examine student circumstances in an individual perspective. The adoption of a design theory perspective has also been important, especially in carrying out and analysing classroom-based observations. The most common methods and forms of work used in the classroom involved individual work using a mathematics textbook. The textbook itself proved to greatly determine the course and nature of instruction in mathematics, with the teacher’s role being one of assisting and supporting the students to progress through the book. The study also reveals obvious changes taking place in schools at present – from having previously focused on group-based, collective activities, the trend is moving increasingly toward more individual forms of work, e.g. that which is labelled ‘individual study’. The challenges faced by mathematics education in compulsory schools relate to the school’s position vis-à-vis the individual in relation to the group; how the exchange of experience between teachers can be made possible both within and across year levels in compulsory schools; and how mathematics education can reduce its dependence on textbooks and perhaps thereby strengthen the didactic roles and duties of teachers.

This research aimed to investigate the desires of the users of the Greek public Library on Gender and Equality (LGE) about a future Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) containing Web2.0 functionalities. The concepts of participation, information pluralism and community building in relation with Web 2.0 tools in libraries’ catalogues were introduced under the theoretical approach provided by Social Critical Theory of Jürgen Habermas. Aqualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with users of the LGE wasconducted and the collected data that were analysed with the thematic analysis method,revealed positive users’ impressions regarding the introduction of Web 2.0 tools in theLGE’s OPAC. The research also disclosed users’ desires and suggestions regarding specific Web 2.0 features and their common motivation to participate and contribute to be the opportunity of communicating with like-minded people.

The multiliteracies pedagogy of the New London Group is a response to the emergence of new literacies and changing forms of meaning-making in contemporary contexts of increased cultural and linguistic diversity. This critical ethnographic research investigates the interactions between pedagogy, power, discourses, and differential access to multiliteracies, among a group of culturally and linguistically diverse learners in a mainstream Australian classroom. The study documents the way in which a teacher enacted the multiliteracies pedagogy through a series of mediabased lessons with her year six (aged 11-12 years) class. The reporting of this research is timely because the multiliteracies pedagogy has become a key feature of Australian educational policy initiatives and syllabus requirements. The methodology of this study was based on Carspecken's critical ethnography. This method includes five stages: Stage One involved eighteen days of observational data collection over the course of ten weeks in the classroom. The multiliteracies lessons aimed to enable learners to collaboratively design a claymation movie. Stage Two was the initial analysis of data, including verbatim transcribing, coding, and applying analytic tools to the data. Stage Three involved semi-structured, forty-five minute interviews with the principal, teacher, and four culturally and linguistically diverse students. In Stages Four and Five, the results of micro-level data analysis were compared with macro-level phenomena using structuration theory and extant literature about access to multiliteracies. The key finding was that students' access to multiliteracies differed among the culturally and linguistically diverse group. Existing degrees of access were reproduced, based on the learners' relation to the dominant culture. In the context of the media-based lessons in which students designed claymation movies, students from Anglo-Australian, middle-class backgrounds had greater access to transformed designing than those who were culturally marginalised. These experiences were mediated by pedagogy, power, and discourses in the classroom, which were in turn influenced by the agency of individuals. The individuals were both enabled and constrained by structures of power within the school and the wider educational and social systems. Recommendations arising from the study were provided for teachers, principals, policy makers and researchers who seek to monitor and facilitate the success of the multiliteracies pedagogy in culturally and linguistically diverse educational contexts.

The study sought to uncover the constitution of migrant women's agency as they rebuild their lives in Australia, and to explore how contact with any publicly funded services might influence the capacity to be self determining subjects. The thesis used a framework of lifeworld theories (Bourdieu, Schutz, Giddens), materialist, trans-national feminist and post colonial writings, and a methodological approach based on critical hermeneutics (Ricoeur), feminist standpoint and decolonising theories. Thirty in depth interviews were carried out with 6 women migrating from each of 5 regions: Vietnam, Lebanon, the Horn of Africa, the former Soviet Union and the Philippines. Australian based immigration literature constituted the third corner of triangulation. The interviews were carried out through an exploration of themes format, eliciting data about the different ontological and epistemological assumptions of the cultures of origin. The findings revealed not only the women's remarkable tenacity and resilience as creative agents, but also the indispensability of Australia's publicly funded infrastructure or welfare state. The women were mostly privileged in terms of class, education and affirming relationships with males. Nevertheless, their self determination depended on contact with universal public policies, programs and with local community services. The welfare state seems to be modernity's means for re-establishing human connectedness that is the crux of the human condition. Connecting with fellow Australians in friendships and neighbourliness was also important in resettlement. Conclusions include a policy discussion in agreement with Australian and international scholars proposing that there is no alternative but for governments to invest in a welfare state for the civil societies and knowledge based economies of the 21st Century.

Yes
We report qualitative findings from a study in a multi-ethnic, multi-faith city with high levels of deprivation. Primary research over 2 years consisted of three focus groups and 18 semi-structured interviews with food insecurity service providers followed by focus groups with 16 White British and Pakistani women in or at risk of food insecurity. We consider food insecurity using Habermas’s distinction between the system and lifeworld. We examine system definitions of the nature of need, approved food choices, the reification of selected skills associated with household management and the imposition of a construct of virtue. While lifeworld truths about food insecurity include understandings of structural causes and recognition that the potential of social solidarity to respond to them exist, they are not engaged with by the system. The gap between system rationalities and the experiential nature of lay knowledge generates individual and collective disempowerment and a corrosive sense of shame.
NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care Yorkshire and Humber (NIHR CLAHRC YH) (Grant Number IS-CLA-0113-10020).

The theory of restorative justice has always lagged behind practice. As such, gaps in theory have existed over time and continue to exist today, particularly in terms of explaining “the magic” that occurs within the encounter process. By exploring the theories of Jürgen Habermas, it is suggested that new frameworks can be developed that can help theorists think about, and explain the experiences and outcomes central to restorative processes. This paper focuses on Habermas’ theory of universal pragmatics and communicative action as a means to better understand the mechanisms within the encounter process, and the conditions necessary, to give rise to common understanding, agreement, learning and strengthened relationships. It then examines Habermas’ concept of the lifeworld and the interplay with communicative action to shed light on restorative justice’s potential for community building through norm clarification, victim and offender reintegration and increased individual capacity.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the lifeworld of the high-achieving young adolescent. A literature study was undertaken to determine the developmental level of young adolescents and their corresponding needs. The Bio-ecosystemic theory of Bronfenbrenner was used as theoretical basis to explore the level of influence in the life of the young adolescent. The role parental involvement plays in the life-experience and perceptions of young adolescents was also investigated. The results of the study indicated that the environment or lifeworld of young adolescents plays a big role in all the different aspects of their development. Parents, who are the closest entities in their lifeworld, have the strongest influence. Parental values, beliefs and attitudes are communicated through verbal and non-verbal interactions. Positive and negative conditional regard were found to be motivational tools used by parents to encourage young adolescents to perform according to their expectations. Young adolescents often internalise or introject parental values, beliefs and attitudes as a result of the level of their moral development. Unrealistic or perfectionistic expectations often lead to high levels of anxiety and stress. This could interfere with their normal developmental tasks of which identity formation, the development of self-control and self-regulation appear to be very important aspects. From the findings of the study, guidelines for parents and educators were compiled in support of young adolescents who find themselves in a high-achieving academic environment.
Psychology of Education
M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

The older population in Thailand is growing, and the number of older people who suffer from health problems is increasing as well. The health situation of the older population challenges healthcare providers to care for older people. Healthy aging is key to promoting the health of older people and sustaining their well-being. However, little is known about healthy aging in Thailand, especially in northeastern Thailand, or the Isan region, where the number of older people is increasing. Thus, this thesis aims to understand the factors associated with perceived health and healthy aging and how older people and their relatives in the Isan region conceptualize healthy aging. This thesis also focuses on how community nurses experience the meaning and promotion of healthy aging in this region. This thesis includes four studies. The first is a quantitative cross-sectional study with 453 participants aged 60 years or older. The second and third studies are qualitative with a phenomenographic approach that is based on lifeworld theory. Participants in the second and third studies include 17 older people and 14 relatives who are responsible for caring for older people, respectively. The fourth study is a qualitative study that involves focus group interviews with 36 community nurses who work with older people in the Isan region. The findings of the first study show a variance (24.3%) in perceived health and healthy aging based on residential area, marital status and disability status. The meaning of healthy aging, which was derived from the second, third and fourth studies, was divided into three domains: being interconnected; being able to do something good and feeling strong; and thinking beyond the capacity and functions of body and mind. The promotion of healthy aging was described as “providing health assessments”, “sharing knowledge”, and “having limited resources”. The findings of the first study revealed the key factors that will help healthcare providers promote healthy aging. The findings of the second, third and fourth studies revealed that older people, their children and grandchildren, and community nurses attach different meanings to healthy aging. The finding regarding promotion of healthy aging emphasizes that the person-centredness should be integrated in practice when promoting healthy aging. The results of this thesis will be useful to policymakers, who can apply this enhanced understanding of healthy aging to develop healthcare practices that promote healthy aging.

Dissertação de mestrado em Crime, Diferença e Desigualdade
O crime é um conflito entre vários protagonistas e origina um momento de crise e de fratura que apela por uma reparação. A ação racional da Justiça Restaurativa circunscreve-se num paradigma diferente do da justiça convencional, tanto na forma de olhar o conflito, como na maneira de reparar o mesmo. Os programas de Justiça Restaurativa baseiam-se no diálogo para alcançar um determinado entendimento face a uma situação de conflito. Nesse sentido, tornou-se adequado articular alguns princípios teóricos de Habermas sobre o entendimento racionalmente orientado à Justiça Restaurativa e, por extensão, também à mediação penal, por esta ser a sua manifestação por excelência. Desta maneira, parte-se do pressuposto de que alguns conceitos de Habermas, como os de Mundo da Vida e de Sistema, podem ser operativos no contexto da Justiça Restaurativa, e ao mesmo tempo ir ao encontro das finalidades da pena do sistema penal português.
Crime is a conflict between various parties, resulting in a crisis that needs to be repaired. The rationale behind Restorative Justice relates to a paradigm different from that of conventional justice, both in the way of looking at the conflict, and in the way of repairing it. Crime is a conflict between various parties, resulting in a crisis that needs to be repaired. The rationale behind Restorative Justice relates to a paradigm different from that of conventional justice, both in the way of looking at the conflict, and in the way of repairing it. Restorative justice programs are based on dialogue in order to achieve some sort of understanding before a conflict situation. In this respect, it is appropriate to articulate some of Habermas's theoretical framework about the rationally oriented understanding since restorative justice implies also the victim-offender mediation which is its expression par excellence. Thus, it is taken for granted that some of the concepts developed by Habermas (e.g. Lifeworld and System) can be operative in the context of restorative justice whilst allowing the ends of the portuguese criminal system.