Doctoral Degrees (Sociology)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/7200

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Child mobility, time use and social exclusion : reframing the discourses and debates.
(2013) Rama, Sharmla.; Burton, Simon Ingram Robshaw.
This study asserts that the everyday life, daily activities and mobility interaction remains peripheral within the Sociology of Childhood and Mobilities in particular and sociology in general. This is not to say that there are no sociological studies on child mobility. Instead, existing studies usually focus on the impact of child mobility on adult mobility, their daily lives and schedules with children’s voices, experiences and needs remaining obscure. This generates a passive, univocal, skewed and constrained portrayal and (re)presentation of the child. These unreflected habituations have particular implications for children’s inclusion, participation, and well-being in society; and are in conflict with contemporary and global shifts in childhood and mobility studies. This dissertation, then examines the conceptualisation and problematisation of child mobility in current studies, statistics, policies and interventions, with a particular focus on South Africa. This encompasses questions about the epistemological worldview and evidence-base supporting the various policies and practices. In terms of the reification and privileging of some paradigms, Max Weber’s analysis of ‘social action’, ‘social closure’ ‘domination’ and ‘monopolization’ is appropriated and redirected. Closure (exclusion) rests on the process of subordination, whereby dominant groups close opportunities to groups it categorises as inferior, or ineligible. Children’s subordinate roles in hierarchical structures in societies are derived based on, amongst other factors, culture, age, gender and generation. These codes are used to exclude or include individuals or groups. The utility of closure theory is in the theorising of adult roles; rationalisation of adult dominance; and the limiting of children’s agency and autonomy in institutions in societies. This includes adult roles in research and policy-making communities. This suggests that we need to reflect on, re-evaluate and reframe our approach to listening, talking, thinking and writing on, and about, children. The study asserts the relevancy of the pragmatic and critical constructivist lens in mediating the paradigmatic and epistemic shifts necessary for sociological (re)engagement and reframing of the discourses and debates on child mobility. The approaches are compatible with current developments in field (s) and are important to producing sociologically relevant knowledge on and about children.
Employment and social inclusion: implications for young adults in Swaziland.
(2016) Khumalo, Thandi F.; Burton, Simon Ingram Robshaw.
The motivation for the research came from seeing young people struggle to get that first job breakthrough to the extent of compromising their qualifications for any available job, including landing in precarious jobs without suitable contracts, susceptible to manipulation. The motivation for my research was interaction with former students and relatives battling to transition from training to work careers whilst dealing with the rising expectations of society in their transition to adulthood. Methodologically, the study utilised a qualitative approach using in-depth interviews to collect primary data. Theoretically, the study was oriented around Bourdieu‘s theory of practice and Mills‘ sociological imagination. The study makes the basic assumption that employment is not only an individual personal experience requiring personal solutions, but it is also a public issue requiring public-political solutions. This research addresses two major issues. Firstly, to record the experiences of young people with employment and provide a voice for young people to share their stories of employment. Secondly, is to contribute to the literature, given the paucity of studies specifically addressing youth employment within the field dominated by unemployment literature. Research findings indicate that employment has positive outcomes and is also filled with challenges. Findings indicate a close relationship between education attainment and access to employment, education is still an important part of human capital. Employment is a life changing experience for young people, having a liberating effect that ensures independence from parents and partners, guaranteeing affordability of basic needs and luxuries, providing an opportunity to settle down and start a family, and enabling integration and participation in society. Challenges include; entering the job market and placed in jobs matching training, delayed entry into the job market encouraging volunteer work as a stepping stone to better jobs, and skills transfer problems whereby the future workforce‘ readiness is put to question. Interestingly, preference for employment supersedes entrepreneurial choices, yet the government and other key stakeholders view entrepreneurship as an alternative to a bulging labour market. The study recommends further research in the activity of young people. The scholarship failure to produce literature on young people‘s activity has caused paucity in this knowledge base.
An exploration of community perceptions and understanding of Rwandan Genocide Memorials.
(2012) Bazubagira, Appoline Kabera.; Burton, Simon Ingram Robshaw.
This study aims to explore community perceptions and understandings of Rwandan Genocide Memorials. It used selected samples of ten genocide memorials that are scattered throughout the country. Those memorial sites are Bisesero, Kamonyi, Kiziguro, Murambi, Nyamashake, Nyamata, Nyange, Nyanza, Rebero and Shyorongi. The genocide of 1994 has strongly affected Rwandans and its consequences continue to distress the social and cultural values. Today Rwanda is tirelessly committed to rebuild and restore the remnants of material and non material aspects of the country. One of the non material aspects emphasized in this research is remembrance. In building genocide memorials, Rwanda is refusing to let go unrecognized the victims of genocide. Through pictures, graphics and photographs, genocide memorials talk to the community. The population reads and interprets differently the messages genocide memorials communicate. The community's interpretation is often influenced by various personal experiences and by social, cultural, political and religious environments. The way the community reads and interprets the message of genocide memorials has the potential to influence social relationships. The approach used to discover the perceptions and interpretations of the genocide memorials messages from the community views was the functionalist theory. Manifest and latent functions helped to determine respectively the pre-defined and non-recognized functions. This theory helped to discover the dysfunctional roles of those symbols among the community. The present research is an empirical study which used a qualitative approach. It helped the researcher to describe and analyze different perceptions and understandings attributed to the genocide memorials from the ordinary people. The methodology that was used in order to achieve relevant results was focus groups and personal interviews. Through group discussions and interviews, it was discovered that genocide memorials communicate a non violent message that assist Rwandans to improve their social relationships. On the other side, genocide memorials communicate a violent message able to stand in the way of improving social relationships in the community and both poles were stressed. The third position stood between those two extreme poles. It accepted the positive and the negative effects of the messages of the genocide memorials. The themes that were identified by the respondents reflected and articulated these functional and dysfunctional consequences of genocide memorials messages in the community. Although genocide memorials are important monuments, their messages are critical to the Rwandan situation where the community relationships are still not settled. The atrocities that continue to be expressed necessitate a particular consideration in order to reduce their negative consequence.
Migration: challenges and experiences of the Ethiopian diaspora in the city of Johannesburg (2000-2015) and the role of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church’s ministry.
(2017) Tesfaye, Ayalkibet Berhanu.; Burton, Simon Ingram Robshaw.
Migration is a fact of international life as people continuously move from one place to another, have different experiences, and must react to new society and their cultures. Following the 1994 dispensation, South Africa became one of the destinations of choice for many African nationals, including Ethiopians. The migration of Ethiopians is a part of the migration phenomenon which has embraced much of the world in the 21st century. This study examines the multiple challenges related to the social, economic, cultural, political and religious lives of the Ethiopian migrants and the experiences that they face in Johannesburg, their responses, and the role of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) in their survival strategy. Using a qualitative research method, it focuses on the analysis of the data collected from Ethiopian migrants in Johannesburg, indigenous South Africans who are members of the EOTC, and some Ethiopians in Ethiopia who reside in migrant-sending communities. The findings revealed that Ethiopian migrants have a set of social realities with their cultural and identity differences that foster their distinctiveness. This is coupled with problems that are associated with immigration documentation from the Department of Home Affairs in South Africa. They are also blamed for a range of socio-economic problems in South Africa and therefore, are scapegoated which results in some members of the host society engaging in xenophobic attacks. Furthermore, in the case of Ethiopians, their entrepreneurial talents and undertakings make them “soft targets” for robbery in Johannesburg. In coping with these problems, they seek solace in their Church and use a set of their cultural traits for their survival. In general, Ethiopian migrants face the range of problems in Johannesburg which have contributed to the existence of social distance between members of the host society and themselves. However, the study also found that there are common values that have the potential to contribute to social integration and social cohesion between both constituencies which would reduce the existing hostility. In addition, this study makes number contributions to the discipline. It also makes recommendations for the undertaking of further research that may be of assistance to policy makers, to the EOTC’s apostolic mission undertakings, as well as to the Ethiopian migrants themselves, and to the members of the host society.
Out of step but stepping up? : following a group of students negotiating university and beyond.
(2015) Bydawell, Moya May.; Burton, Simon Ingram Robshaw.
This study holistically explores the experiences at university and the effects of a university education for students at a South African university. Literature on students in higher education has generally been focused on ‘traditional’ students and graduates in the first world. This research advances understanding of students and graduates in a unique way. The study has used qualitative data generated from focus groups, extensive interviews, diaries and photographs of a small sample to uncover student narratives, which offer insights into the ways in which the participants negotiated their way through university, graduation and the early stages of their working lives. The participants showed evidence of remarkable resilience in navigating higher education and the job market without the requisite economic, cultural or social capital. Similar fortitude was also revealed in the attempts to fulfil the expectations of significant individuals and social groups. The findings from the research suggest that the impact of university education on social and economic mobility in the South African context is more complex than often assumed. The participants describe their unique positioning within inimical impulses of: progress and tradition, independence and belonging, conventional success and inner fulfilment. With regard to identity and emerging identities, the participants conveyed a need to create coherent links between their past, their present and their future selves. A sense of isolation emerged for the participants as a function of uneven and incomplete upward economic and social mobility, and the expectations of such mobility.
Rethinking the interface : the limits and possibilities of communication for development.
(2003) Burton, Simon Ingram Robshaw.; Stilwell, Christine.
Development communication is now a recognized field within communication studies, but has always been implicated with the discourse and practices of development, as well as drawing on the lexicon of sociology for its elaboration of social phenomena and processes. This dissertation sets out to provide a case study-based review of the limits and possibilities of communication in/for development through the lens of interface analysis, a framework developed by Norman Long to reconstitute an understanding of development itself in an actor centered fashion. Adopting a broader based understanding of the concept of interface, in order to provide a communicative tool which goes beyond development practice , three dimensions of communication and development are considered: the 'dominant paradigm' with its emphasis on mass media; participatory communication with its emphasis on dialogue and social change; and communication based on new information and communication technologies, with its emphasis on the benefits of the internet. Central to the discussion is a consideration of the significance of information in developing contexts, and the centrality of communication to social relations more generally. Each of the case studies provides a concrete example of one or more of the three dimensions outlined above, and offers a platform for extending a conceptual and critical engagement with past contributions to the particular problematic. The objective of these engagements is less the establishment of firm conclusions than it is with the delineation of further topics for research, and the clarification of the future direction of communication in/for development.

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Sociology) by Author "Burton, Simon Ingram Robshaw."