Although most literary critics tacitly acknowledge that suffering is the ground of all tragedy, I have not seen a satisfactory examination of this idea's implications. My aim, while not challenging that basic assumption, is to explore whether a reasonably systematic questioning of the implications can help our understanding and appreciation of tragedy and, more importantly, of individual tragedies. I have found most help in philosophical writings, not so much by those who have written directly about literary tragedy as by those who have written with illumination about suffering in life. Amongst them I have found the greatest help from the Russian Christian existentialist Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948), whose books deal with the varying causes of the suffering entailed in the human condition, the possible responses of the sufferer and the possible effects of those responses. The thesis is an attempt to find whether his various approaches to and comments on life's suffering can be transferred to and illuminate literary tragedy. I begin by examining those aspects of Berdyaev's philosophy that seem most likely to achieve such illumination and then, chapter by chapter, to discover whether one particular aspect of his philosophy (cause, response, or effect) can cast light on a particular tragedy or sometimes a group of tragedies, the aim being always to concentrate on individual tragedies, so seeking depth rather than breadth. In two senses the entire thesis can be claimed to be original, in that no critic has made an adequate attempt to analyze suffering in tragedy, nor has anyone applied Berdyaev's philosophy of life's suffering to literature. In addition I would claim that some of the resulting interpretations of individual tragedies make a contribution to critical discussion. Lastly, it may be thought that the examination of the reader/audience tragic response that features throughout and forms the basis of the Conclusion provides a distinctive focus for the thesis and can inform future debate.

This thesis presents a pragmatic argument for reconceiving sociology humanistically, proposing that such a reconception can help bring to light certain sources of worth left undetected by the narrowly-defined understandings of value through which academic disciplines are currently being assessed within England. In particular, it suggests that sociology is better conceived and defended not as a disinterested reflector of social reality, but rather as a shifter of perspectives; offering different renderings of social life that demand to be judged on the basis of their utility in helping us cope with that life. It therefore suggests a move away from refining technique towards reviving normative debate about what exactly sociology wishes to achieve, and why it wishes to achieve these things. Three related ends are proposed as substitutes for the redundant one of producing ultimate reflections of social reality. Firstly, the production of empirically-grounded yet imaginatively-rendered forms of transformative knowledge – knowledge aimed at instigating subjective dislocations from tacitly accepted perspectives on social life; secondly, the production of ethical representations of society, in particular those aimed towards the end of demonstrating social interdependence and shared precarity; and thirdly, the generation of narratives of social hope that are both grounded in historical understandings of the past and empirical examinations of the present but nonetheless refuse to see the future as reducible to such understandings, insisting on the subject’s capacity to transcend the conditions through which it is shaped. Ultimately, it argues that sociology’s real value can only be disclosed through replacing its image as a discipline aimed towards providing disinterested social enlightenment with a recognition of itself as a practice both dependent upon, and at its best self-consciously aimed towards, human ends and imperatives.

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The aim of this research project is to examine theories of identity formation within the context of individualisation processes and the shift of social formations from modernity to postmodernity. The form and content of identity narratives being constructed by young women aged 16 to 21 are used as the empirical basis for addressing this research problem. Interviews were conducted with 33 young women and 5 practitioners across five different sites to explore what kinds of identities were under construction. The project is organised around the relationship between theory and the empirical such that data generated through interviews are utilised for the purposes of interrogating the ontological assumptions of theories of reflexive modernisation, particularly the work of Anthony Giddens. Working from within a poststructuralist framework a move is made beyond a deconstructive critique through to the development of alternate strategies for reading the identities under construction. It is this kind of integration between theory and the empirical that is central to sociological analysis and the furthering of theoretical projects. It is suggested that these young women were constructing a relation to the self where the self is defined as independent and autonomous. A Foucauldian approach is used to theorise this relation to the self and to critique the assumptions of reflexive modernisation. Emergent themes that are explored in relation to this construction of the self include technologies and narratives of the self; the organisation of identity and difference; embodiment and representational practices; intimacy and individualisation; and the emergence of 'micro politicised' identities.

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The increasingly unsustainable relationship between society and the environment is drawing considerable attention across disciplines. In sociology this attention has focused largely on developing theoretical frameworks for explicating how various social processes negatively impact the environment, however what sociology has done less well is develop rich understandings of the other side of this relationship, how ecological change can create instability in social processes. To fill this gap I employ an extended case study of the interplay between the social and ecological processes related to the introduction of Asian carp, an invasive species that has set into motion considerable contestations across political, cultural, economic and scientific social processes in the greater Chicago area as well as the Great Lakes. Through this case study I demonstrate how ecological changes, such as the migration of Asian carp, can impact social processes. I then provide an historical analysis of the 1900 reversal of the Chicago River to show how social responses to the Asian carp invasion are structured through previous histories. My aim is to demonstrate that the Asian carp invasion is not, in itself, a single transformative process, but rather a cumulative development generated and constrained via several connected social and ecological histories. My overall aim is to demonstrate the benefit of examining how social histories and ecological histories combine over time, or the historicity of social and ecological interaction. / 10000-01-01

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