Department of Sociology

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Leveraging Healthcare Opportunities for Improved Access among Ghanaian Retirees: The Case of Active Aging
(Social Sciences, 2018) Dovie, D.A.
This paper is a policy brief with targeted interviews of older adults in urban Ghana with recommendations for future healthcare policy. Using a qualitative explorative approach, the scope of the research is to examine opportunities that focus on healthy aging to enhance the healthcare infrastructure in Ghana in preparation for an increased number of older adults. The paper mainly finds that improved healthcare solicitation and the social world of older adults are intricately linked. The healthcare needs of older adults are met through diverse mechanisms—the Pensioners’ Medical Scheme and claim concept. These depict a transformation in healthcare access and delivery with implications for wider healthcare, solidarity, and efficiency. Active ageing strategies therefore facilitate the provision of supplementary healthcare access by seeking health solutions independently, including the creation of awareness about the challenges and the concomitant health resource opportunities for older adults. These tend to the development of an acumen for healthcare-related resilience. I argue that health-related challenges depict opportunities for smarter solutions and mutual growth, further showing that aging is a gain and a human development issue that fosters the emergence of an integrated healthcare system. Crucially, the paper reveals that health-related challenges are used to leverage entry and participation in the healthcare products market and by extension access to quality and holistic healthcare services. This encompasses innovative healthcare infrastructural resources that Ghanaian older adults patronize. These health resources are worth pursuing and may need to be incorporated into the National Policy on Ageing, with envisaged universal coverage in focus.
The Status of Older Adult Care in Contemporary Ghana: A Profile of Some Emerging Issues
(Frontiers in Sociology, 2019) Dovie, D.A.
The paper examines how the healthcare and social care pillars of social policy for aging societies shape inequalities in health and well-being in old age, utilizing qualitative and quantitative datasets. The results indicate the lack of geriatric infrastructure, hence the inadequacy of geriatric care provision for older adults. Systemic problems or gaps existent in Ghana led to private individuals taking advantage of the situation, turning it into an opportunity for service providers. Thus, the evolution of recreational/residential homes in Ghana is situated along three distinct patterns or forms namely the occasional, the adult day care center, and residential archetypes. Collectively, these constitute formal and informal care facilities. These are often privately owned and at a cost. The nature of quality of care may be affected by the types of homes available, especially in the globalized cultural setting. A growing number of older adults resort to care homes as an alternative measure. These are discussed from two viewpoints. First, is geriatric data generation, the absence of which impedes healthcare provision. Second, cash-for-care policies may exacerbate existing inequalities in care with negative consequences for health and well-being. In short, policies for aging populations are being implemented across Ghana with too little known about their consequences for inequalities in health and well-being in later life. The paper sought to address this knowledge gap by exploring a significant infrastructure by undertaking a systematic examination of how recent policy developments for aging exacerbate or reduce inequalities in health and well-being among older adults. The paper concludes that social policy for aging societies’ specific key pillars (healthcare and social care research) offers opportunities for analyzing and understanding internal dynamics including the effects of policy implementation for inequalities in health and well-being at older ages, therefore enabling the identification of strategies to improve older adults’ circumstances, without which older adult population will far outpace eldercare provision.
Family Business Succession Practices In The Textile Industry: A Study Of Cloth Merchants At The Makola And Kumasi Central Markets
(University of Ghana, 2020-10) Adom-Oduro, J.
Family business is one of the engines that drive social and economic development as well as wealth creation. However, one such growth agenda is succession planning which requires that business of cloth merchants grow over time from one generation to another. A family enterprise’s continued existence in diverse ways depends on the support from kin and non-kin groups. The study explored family business succession planning practices relating to motivations of cloth traders, succession pathways, knowledge transfer, training needs and factors that facilitate or militate against business owner's succession strategies in the textile industry. Overall, cloth traders’ succession practices in local textile markets constitute a phenomenon that requires social consideration. The study employed sequential mixed method research approach. Data was collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative data was collected through key informant interviews, non-participant observation and informal discussions whereas quantitative data was gathered from cloth traders with interviewer questionnaire. A total of twenty-six (26) key informant participants and three hundred and fifty (350) respondents took part in the study. Moreover, secondary data was obtained from relevant documents. The study areas are Makola and Kumasi central markets while cloth traders represent the subjects of the study. Thematic network analysis was used to analyse the qualitative aspect of the study, while quantitative data were analysed by using SPSS. The analytical framework underlining the study was rational choice theory. Rational choice theory was chosen because it explains and weighs various alternative actions of costs and benefits in decision making. The theory unearthed how alternative calculations done during social interaction and its role in the formation of stable social order to avoid difficult decisions in relation to family business succession planning. The theory helps the actor to evaluate whether decision making actions are consistent with the choices of cloth traders. These alternative sources of decisions assist the owner to work as well as achieve set goals. The findings suggest that cloth traders’ succession planning practices are motivated by major and minor triggers of business continuity, uncertainty in life and avoidance of conflicts among conflicts. The basis for succession planning and choice of possible successor is guided by rational decision-making process. The study revealed that cloth traders are more likely to select daughters and sons to groom as successors against extended family members and acquaintances. The study identified diverse succession planning pathways through early childhood preparation, formal education, and non-schooling family members. The study revealed that cloth trading knowledge is transferred from owner to successor. Coaching practices are carried out mainly through on-the-job training, verbal communication, and family discussions. Both intra family and non-family members facilitates succession process with commitment to planning, support from husband, extended family members, reliable customers, suppliers, and stable economic activities. On the contrary, poor family bonds, unwillingness to take part in family business, slow adaptation during successor training, appointment of non-family members and poor business performance may derail succession process. The study recommends practical guidelines for cloth merchants on successful succession planning. Though exploratory, the findings could serve as the basis for further academic studies on succession practices for entrepreneurs and different cluster of market traders. Some of such future research areas of succession planning practices in Ghana have been identified
The Centre For Plant Medicine Research And The Dynamics Of Traditional Medicine In Ghana
(University of Ghana, 2020-10) Ntewusu, D.A.
With the increasing demand for evidence-based practise, quality research is crucial to inform decision-making in traditional medicine practices. Therefore, there has been a growing corpus of knowledge on the establishment and functions of traditional medicine research Centres across the globe. However, the available scholarship has concentrated more on Asia, and other parts of the world, than on Africa, including Ghana. This study, therefore, set out to examine how the Centre for Plant Medicine Research, located at Mampong - Akuapem in the Eastern Region of Ghana, has contributed to the national trajectory of traditional medicine development and practice. In furtherance of the main objective, the study specifically focused on: providing an assessment of the origin, organisational structure, management, and functions/ activities of the Centre and how these have changed over time; examining the changing state policies on traditional medicine in Ghana and their implication for the mandate of the Centre; and interrogating the extent to which the Centre has influenced the development and practice of traditional medicine in Ghana. The qualitative method of social research was used with constructionist grounded theory driving data collection and analysis. Through purposive and theoretical sampling methods, participants were drawn from the Centre, clients of traditional medicine, practitioners of traditional medicine, Herbal Medicine Department at KNUST, Traditional and Alternative Medicine Directorate (TAM-D), Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), and people of Mampong. The theory of social change underpinned the study as it dealt with transformations in traditional medicine. The study has shown that the development of traditional medicine in Ghana is intertwined with the Centre’s establishment and evolution. As a state-owned institution, all the policies on traditional medicine in the country have found expression through its activities. From financing plant medicine research to the formulation of policies for traditional medicine development, the Centre has been actively involved and seen as driving the change. Consequently, its activities have led to significant transformations in the mode of providing traditional medicine in Ghana. Links with institutions and agencies such as the MOH, TAM-D, TMPC, FDA, WHO, and the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners, among others, enabled the Centre to provide services to the general public. It has also led to standardisation, training of practitioners, and many more, albeit criticisms that the ‘over scientification’ in the practice of traditional medicine initiated by the Centre tends to marginalise the involvement of some healers. As the main game-changer in the industry, the Centre itself has gone through the change. It has evolved from learner to teacher in applying traditional medical knowledge in the context of modern science and technology (from ‘obi-kyerɛ to kyerɛ-obi’). Some practitioners have also transformed their practices through the Centre’s influence by adopting modern scientific processes in line with biomedical practice and technology. However, the transformation has not occurred uniformly across the country. Embedded in the change are continuities with the distant past. Based on this, the study duly categorised practitioners in Ghana into three as transformers, semi-transformers and non-transformed. Participants mentioned how healers in various communities, including some who have worked at the Centre, have contributed to research and given out recipes for product formulation without receiving any credit or recognition from the Centre/scientists. This development has engendered mixed feelings among practitioners leading to tensions and conflicts between the Centre and stakeholders. The social inequality between the two groups, aggravated by the over-concentration of scientific product development processes, fuels these tensions and conflicts. The fact that scientific achievements remain the exclusive preserve of scientists despite the evident contributions made by healers perpetuates conflicts between the two groups. This has adversely affected collaborations between the Centre, traditional healers, and communities. These issues show how the Centre reflects the struggle between healing knowledge in herbal lore and Western hegemonic knowledge in health care delivery.
Patterns Of Social Interactions in Ghanaian Transnational Families in the Context of Innovations in Information Communication Technologies
(University of Ghana, 2020-10) Asenso-Agyemang, E.
This study pays attention to how Ghanaian transnational families build and maintain close bonds over changing communication technologies. It highlights the tensions and conflicts that ensue and the broader pattern of the interactions given context-specific factors - gender relations among spouses, generational relationships among parents and children, migration induced class structure and the legal status of migrants. The objectives are situated in the relevance of socio-cultural context in patterning both technologies and transnational life. The constructivist grounded theory, which privileges the co-construction of research knowledge given the multiplicity of reality, situated in a processual context, was employed as the qualitative methodology for the study. Data was gathered through interviews, non-participant observation, and a review of relevant secondary data sources on YouTube and Facebook. Participants, located primarily in Ghana, were selected through snowballing, purposive, and theoretical sampling. The data gathered in Ghana were corroborated with insights gained from interactions among some Ghanaians in Vienna, Austria and Düsseldorf, Germany. Overall, sixty-one of them were interviewed across the study areas. The data were analysed using a thematic network analysis framework which proposes organising the themes from the data along three succeeding networks based on the degree of relationships. In making sense of the data, the study drew insights from multiple perspectives – 'transnational social fields', constituting families through systems of practices, and a synthesis of technological determinism and social construction of technology. The findings indicate that transnational families choose different ICT mediums to interact with each other depending on the type of care performed – material, non-material, and the fulfilment of various trusteeship obligations. How specific ICT mediums fulfil the care obligations produces 'high-end and low-end techno bonds' among transnational families. The bonds are also sustained by the exchange of remittances, where one's migration status determines the mediums through which they are exchanged. Migrants, mainly regular migrants, have greater leverage in determining which formal and informal remitting channels are used than non-migrants and irregular migrants. This observation reveals the economic privilege of migrants, even though not all migration projects results in economic advancement. Through their various usage of voice, video, and text-based mediums, several needs and obligations are met and thus emphasises that families can be functional even when they are not spatially bounded. One of those needs is managing their nostalgia, as the physically separated relation becomes emotionally close. However, the heightened emotional arousal caused by the proximity is further complemented with occasional visits and therefore provides the balance that sustains the transnational experience. The inability of irregular migrants to visit home adds to the precariousness of their transnational experiences. As transnational families use the various communication technologies, tensions and conflicts arise, which are patterned by the technological epoch and the nature of the kinship bond and hardly by one's legal migration status. Given the prohibitive cost of using the limited available technologies in the old technological epoch, the primary tension of transitional families was the sparsity of interactions. In the current epoch, the commonplace nature of communication technologies promotes surveillance and transnational freeloading. The nature of surveillance practices varies among different categories of kin. Therefore, it is pursued with varying interests, including rooting children in the homeland by parents, promoting the exclusivity of sexual rights among couples based on gendered cultural norms that put wives in the spotlight, and limiting the abuse of trusteeship obligations among extended relations. Lastly, the study found that the benefits and constraints of technologically mediated social interactions generate an overall, '…always on, but off…' pattern that underscores the ability of families to determine through their ICT mediated practices who counts as family and who doesn't. The study's findings affirm the literature on the Janus-faced experiences of ICT mediated social interactions among transnational families. Also, additional Ghanaian specific contextual factors, such as the prevalence of 'community surveillance' as against private surveillance reported in some context such as Senegal; and how the culture of indirection is elicited to manage the intrusion of current technologies provides new insights to the literature. The study provides recommendations based on the findings and conclusions.
The Transition from Juvenile Delinquency to Adulthood Criminality in Ghana; The Predisposing Factors
(University of Ghana, 2014) Abrah, P.B.
This study, the Transition from juvenile delinquency to adulthood criminality; The Predisposing factors sought to understand the transitions embedded in the offending trajectories of Ghanaian juvenile delinquents who were in their adulthood. Specifically, the study addresses four key research questions, namely how does the interplay of structural background factors and processes of informal social control mechanisms predispose individuals to crime in childhood? how does an individual experience of the criminal justice system reinforces and changes a criminal trajectory? How does labelling explain persistence and desistence from crime over the life course? how does an experience in multiple life domains modify the tendency to persist or desist from crime through adulthood? Using a qualitative research design, I explored the life history of 23 juvenile delinquents who have persisted and desisted from crime through adulthood and four stake holders. The overall findings suggest that the interplay of structural background factors and informal social control mechanisms may not necessarily predict the early onset of crime and delinquency in the Ghanaian social context due to socio-cultural and economic reasons. Also, the criminal justice had a differential impact on the juvenile delinquents; While for some it helped change their criminal careers, for others, it failed to help them desist. In adulthood, the finding suggests that friendship, quality employment, residential change, labelling and social support are critical elements which explain persistence or desistance from crime confirming the observations made by Sampson & Laub (1993) in relation to stable marriage and employment. The study further contradicts the orthodoxy of the perspective that suggests that deviant values are learnt in intimate groups Sutherland 1947) and also the theoretical underpinning of traditional labelling theories, in particular those of Becker (1963), Lemert (1951) and Tannenbaum (1938) that labeling per se does not explain persistence of crime as some of participants maneurered their delinquent status and desisted from crime.
The Rhetorics and Realities of Ghana’s Administrative Decentralization and Local Accountability
(University of Ghana, 2017-07) Akotey, M.K.
Long before decentralization became a buzzword and fashionable in some countries in the 1980s, Ghana’s search for, and attempts to take government closer to the people had been well noted and documented. In the late 1980s however, the Government of Ghana, initiated several legal and policy reforms that sought to bring climax to the long-standing dream of realizing a truly decentralized system. The new reforms establishes the Local Assemblies as the highest legislative, political and administrative authorities. After about three decades of implementing the new system, questions remain as to whether Ghana’s decentralization is an exercise of rhetorics or reality. The questions that the researcher explored included: What administrative capacity do the Assemblies possess to plan, make and implement decisions to fulfil their core mandate, and do they have the discretion to manage their staff in a way that could best serve the interests of the people? Other questions were: Do the Assemblies possess the financial capacity as well as the autonomy to effectively carry out their decentralized functions as specified and envisaged by policy? Were Departments of the Assemblies, including the sub-structures fully decentralized and performing their roles, responsibilities and functions as specified by law? Are the decisions in the Medium Term Development Plans, Budgets and other programmes of the Assemblies and decentralized departments those of the local people and their representatives? The final questions are: Are the Assemblies accountable to the people? What concerns do key actors, other than the government, have about the nation's administrative decentralization and local accountability programme? Focusing the studies on three Assemblies, the researcher applied the interpretive paradigm with the constructivist view of social reality and the case study approach of seeking knowledge from the natural settings of the Assemblies. Participants in the studies, who also constituted the key actors in the decentralized system included Presiding Members and elected Assembly members, Directors of sub metropolitan District Councils, and executives of Town, Area, Zonal and Urban Councils. The rest were executives of Unit Committees, Coordinating Directors, Development Planning Officers, Finance Officers, MMDCEs, Internal Auditors, Local Government Inspectors and Heads of Decentralized Departments. Using interview guides, focused group discussions and detached observation methods, the researcher collected qualitative data from respondents in their natural setting at their communities, Assembly meetings, and Unit Committee levels. The researcher found, among others that, after three decades of implementing the most current decentralization system of the country, some of the key departments of the Assemblies including education, youth and sports, health and agriculture were still operating as deconcentrated bodies with only little supervision by the Assembly over them. Also, with the exception of two of the three sub-metropolitan District Councils of the TMA, all the Town, Area, Zonal, Urban Councils and Unit Committees within the three case study districts were inactive. In addition, the study established that some of the projects and programmes contained in the development plans and budgets of the Assemblies could either not be implemented at all or lagged far behind schedule due to three main factors. These are the inability of the Assemblies to mobilize sufficient internal revenue, failure of the DACF Secretariat to release funds on time to the former and central government engaging in unsolicited procurement of goods and services for the Assemblies, which led to huge deductions from the DACF allocations meant for the Assemblies. In addition, the Assemblies were found to be unaccountable to even the local legislature, much less to the people as required by law. The researcher also found that although almost all the structures within the Assemblies such as the General Assembly, Sub-committees and the Executive Committees were in existence , most of the important decisions of the Assemblies were taken by the local executive under the direction of central government bodies and the ruling political party. The researcher has described the prevailing situation at the Assemblies, among others, as local centralization, a phenomenon that was possible largely with the active assistance by central government and the ruling political party for the purpose of protecting the subjective interests of government officials, party leaders and members as well as, of course, the local executives. The researcher concludes, inter alia, that Ghana’s decentralization in its current form is an exercise more of rhetorics than real since there is considerable gap between the existing policies and actual practice. To address the current challenges and also close the gap between policy and practice, the researcher recommends, among others, that the constitutional provisions which mandate the President of the Republic to appoint Chief Executives for MMDA’s should be amended to make room for popular election of MMDAs. Similarly, the researcher recommends that the appointment of 30% government appointees to the Assemblies must also be stopped.
Understanding Consensual Unions as a Form of Family Formation in Urban Accra
(University of Ghana, 2018-07) Obeng-Hinneh, R.
Consensual unions as an alternative form of family formation is a growing phenomenon in especially urban centres in Africa, including Ghana. This qualitative study was aimed at exploring the lived experiences of persons in consensual unions. The research was conducted in the urban space of Accra and the target population was all persons who at the time of the study were in consensual unions. With the use of purposive sampling technique, a total of thirty-one participants were selected for the study. The life history interviewing approach was used in primary data collection. The data was organised and analysed by doing a thematic network analysis. Further analyses were done with secondary data obtained from journals, books, newspapers, and related websites. It was revealed in the study that there is a gendered experience of consensual unions. For female research participants their unions served the purposes of livelihood strategy, an escape route, an avenue for intimate relations and a way of rehearsing for marriage. Male participants, entry into their union was primarily a mark of their maturity and masculinity. Whilst women mostly conceptualised their unions as a precursor to marriage, their partners were more likely to conceptualise it as an alternative to marriage. These different realities translated into the lived experiences of persons in such unions. The experiences include, pressures from the family, church, friends and neighbours to convert the unions into marriage, intimate partner violence and sanctions from extended kin. The study showed that based on these experiences, persons in consensual unions accordingly devised management strategies. The contribution of this thesis to knowledge is that it has shown the gendered conceptualisation of consensual unions either as a precursor or an alternative to marriage and the everyday experiences of persons in these unions.
Reading the Mind of the Spirits: Divination and Health Seeking Behaviour among the Dagomba in the Northern Region of Ghana
(University of Ghana, 2017-11) Abukari, S.
Finding explanation for the causes of ill-health and other misfortunes has been and continues to agitate the human mind. Among the Dagomba of the Northern Region of Ghana, consulting diviners for virtually every situation, good or bad, makes diviners ’critical actors in the health-seeking behaviour of the people. This study explored the significance of divination in the health-seeking behaviour among the Dagomba. Specifically, the study was guided by the following objectives: (i) To describe the practice of divination and how it affects health decision-making; (ii) To examine reasons why a sick Dagomba will shop for the services of both a diviner and an orthodox medical practitioner; (iii)To examine gender relations and its consequences in the practices of divination; and (iv) To describe the circumstances under which divination is employed. The study design was descriptive and qualitative methods of data collection were employed. In-depth interviews were held with thirteen diviners, nine health professionals, three patients of diviners, and the chief diviner and chief custodian of Dagbon culture. Thirteen focus group discussions were held with men and women groups. Observations were also used to complement the data collected. Both the IDIs and FGDs were recorded and transcribed into English language. Themes were developed based on key issues resulting from the data. The data was analysed using NVIVO 10 software. The findings of the study are that: Divination was used to distinguish between illnesses of supernatural origin and illnesses described as normal or natural so that appropriate therapy could be sought for patients • Patients and their relatives sometimes combined diviner and modern services at the same time. This is premised on the belief that some illnesses have both spiritual and physical aspects and as such they need both therapeutic regimen. • Women were not permitted to consult diviners because of patriarchy and the alleged nature of woman. However, generally, women were also not permitted to practice divination for fear of being branded witches. • Various types of divination practices were identified among the Dagomba. These included soothsaying; sand-reading; occultism; and clairvoyance In addition the study revealed that agents such as witchcraft, old customs, ancestral spirits and nature spirits were responsible for the causes of most illnesses.. In conclusion, this study has documented the role divination plays in the daily life of the Dagomba. The study also articulates the importance of diviners in the health-seeking behaviour of the Dagomba and calls for consideration of the role of divination and diviners in the entire health architecture of the Dagomba.
Disability and Stigma: Interrogating Middle-Class Experiences in the Social Spaces of Ghana.
(University of Ghana, 2017-07) Ocran, J.
Persons with disability continue to experience stigma which often leads to marginalisation and discrimination, despite the introduction of several legal and policy interventions intended to correct that. These stigmatising experiences have been documented and are well known. However, the known experiences are often from persons who are economically and socially dependent on others for their sustenance. This sometimes makes it seem that persons with disability are an oppressed aggregate of people who all need society‘s assistance to enable them escape their vulnerabilities that the stigma of disability produces. In this study, I sought to disaggregate persons with disabilities on the basis of social class by examining the stigmatising experiences of middle-class persons with disability who are largely absent from the literature in developing countries such as Ghana. Using the hermeneutic phenomenological approach, I sought to find out how middle-class persons with disabilities understand and explain the stigma of disability; what restricts them in the performance of their social roles and activities and how they manage their identities in the presence of the stigma. I conducted 16 in-depth interviews with middle-class persons with disabilities, made up of 11 men and 5 women. I found out that there are hierarchies within the middle-class persons with disabilities. These hierarchies relate to the time of acquisition of the impairment, the family into which one was born and the support received from them as well as the situational factors of interaction. Though they are all middle-class, the resources available to some in their resistance to stigma are not available to others. I also found out that under the influence of the usual stereotypes of disability, middle-class persons with disability are often assumed to be physically, intellectually and financially incompetent. Also, some social institutions that admit middle-class persons with disabilities also stigmatise them because of their disabilities. Middle-class persons with disabilities are admitted into such institutions but are not given complete access to the institutions‘ opportunities and resources. It also emerged that middle-class persons with disabilities utilise various processes of rationalisation and identity management to reconstruct positive identities of themselves over disabilities‘ hurtful identities, as a way of avoiding the negativities that the stigma of disability creates. I recommend that social systems of organisations and institutions within which persons with disabilities may be found are studied in order that institutional arrangements that support and/or oppose the integration of persons with disabilities will be known. The opposing structures can be dismantled and the supporting structures can be strengthened and replicated elsewhere. Since persons with disabilities are not an aggregate, I recommend that interventions for their inclusion are amended to reflect the nuances of the many social identities that are created by situational and personal factors. A one size fits all approach will not be very useful.

Department of Sociology

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