Hair, as it is fashioned in this research project, is a lens which brings embodiment, if only ephemerally, into a place of expressive focus. This thesis considers, as its subjects of research, women between the ages of 20 and 30 in Victoria, BC, Canada, who purposefully use the hair styling services of a regular stylist to negotiate social anxieties and play with possibilities of identity through the medium of hair. I engage with the concept of embodiment specifically in order to approach current theoretical concerns in anthropology with how commodity culture plays out and is played upon, both materially and ideologically, through the bodies of social actors. Hair is particularly well suited to a theoretical concern with embodiment because it is a biological medium of cultural pliability; it occurs at the interface of a biological entity, upon which it grows, and a cultural being, who styles it.

Self-concept is a very complex structure that includes feelings and beliefs, which people have about them in relations to other people and objects. Many marketers and researchers found that expression of self has a great influence on customer’s buying behavior and defines her attitudes towards products and services that correspond to her self-concept. This study, which is based on quantitative research with deductive approach, examines a self-concept of women in advertising across cultures. One hundred and sixty respondents from Russia and Sweden in the age from eighteen to thirty have been asked to identify the ideal eye color, hair color, hair length and make-up for a woman in order to look beautiful. Besides that, congruence between advertising images of female beauty and consumer's perception of ideal self in terms of wanting to look like a specific model was tested. After analysis of empirical results, some differences, as well as similarities between two countries have been found. Since the issues of advertising standardization still are in the focus of many studies, findings of this study is another argument in favor of adaptation international advertising campaigns to the specific requirements of local markets in different countries.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-170). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Diss. Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2005.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Cassandra White, committee chair; Emanuela Guano, Megan Sinnott, committee members. Electronic text (130 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 6, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-123).

Thesis (M.A.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-40).

Research Project (M.B.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Research Project (Faculty of Business Administration) / Simon Fraser University. Senior supervisor : Dr. Jennifer C. Chang. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-41).

Research Project (M.B.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Research Project (Faculty of Business Administration) / Simon Fraser University. Senior supervisor : Dr. Jennifer C. Chang. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-41).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-117).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.