À partir du cas des attributions de logements sociaux, cette thèse s’intéresse aux questions de tri et de sélection dans l’action publique. Elle analyse la manière dont sont choisis les futurs locataires HLM et dont se construisent les discriminations dans l’accès au logement social. Elle éclaire l’émergence de critères d’attribution contraires au droit et explique leur récurrence au niveau local. L’enquête s’appuie sur une ethnographie comparée de trois agglomérations françaises et six organismes HLM. Elle repose sur des observations directes, des entretiens auprès de professionnels du logement social, des analyses documentaires et statistiques. Ses résultats soulignent d’abord la faiblesse du pouvoir normatif de l’État et discutent l’hypothèse d’une ruse de la mise en œuvre. En examinant les conditions d’élaboration des règles au niveau méso, la thèse identifie ensuite plusieurs régimes de tri des ménages en fonction des caractéristiques du contexte local et des modalités d’association entre élus, bailleurs et acteurs économiques. L’étude des pratiques professionnelles précise, enfin, les paramètres qui influencent les modalités de catégorisation des usagers au guichet. Elle montre que l’attribution des logements n’est discrétionnaire et discriminatoire que dans certaines configurations spécifiques, en fonction des marges de manœuvre dont dispose le bailleur, de l’état du patrimoine social et des comportements des street-level bureaucrats. Les régularités constatées dans la mise en œuvre sont finalement expliquées par le poids des contraintes institutionnelles et la culture professionnelle des agents de terrain. / Through the example of social housing allocations, this dissertation examines the issues surrounding sorting and selection within public policy. It analyses how new social housing tenants are chosen and how discriminations play within the access to social housing. It highlights the rise of illegal allocation criteria and explains their recurrence at the local level. The study builds upon a comparative ethnography within three French conurbations and six social housing authorities. It gathers direct observations, interviews with social housing practitioners, as well as documents and statistical analyses. Its results firstly show the weakness of the normative power of the State and discuss the hypothesis of an implementation trick. Focusing on the establishment conditions of rules, at the meso level, the dissertation then identifies multiples regimes of households sorting, depending on the characteristics of the local context and of the collaborations between elected officials, housing authorities and economic actors. Studying precisely professional practices finally allows to precise the parameters that influence sorting processes of welfare agencies’ window users. It decomposes how housing allocation is discretionary and discriminatory only in some specific configurations, depending on the room of manoeuvers of the housing authority, the state of the social housing stock and the behaviours of street-level bureaucrats. The witnessed regularities in the implementation of public policy are finally explained by the significance of the institutional constraints and of the professional culture of civil servants.

Our purpose was to explore developmental changes in the organization and access to the mental lexicon between the ages of three-, five-, and seven years. Six-hundred and seventy three Mandarin-speaking participants listed all exemplars of animals and foods that came to mind within two one-minute intervals. Compared to younger participants, the older children demonstrated more correct responses and fewer errors, suggesting that they have greater knowledge of category-relevant vocabulary. They produced more subcategories, many of which involved embedding and overlapping, which suggests they have more sophisticated lexical-semantic organization. Also, they produced fewer and less closely spaced repetitions, suggesting they could more effectively monitor retrieval responses. We conclude that between the ages of three to seven, children expand and refine the organization of their mental lexicons. Improved monitoring may reflect growth in executive functioning.

Le processus de catégorisation sociale occupe une place centrale dans la psychologie des relations intergroupes comme fondement des stéréotypes, des préjugés et de la discrimination. Il est aussi au cœur des débats sur les modèles politiques d’intégration interrogeant différentes voies possibles du vivre ensemble. Pour construire une société harmonieuse et cohésive, doit-on être aveugle aux différences ethniques, culturelles ou religieuses comme le prône la tradition républicaine française et donc éviter la catégorisation, ou faut-il, au contraire, reconnaître et mettre en valeur les différences culturelles et religieuses à l’instar d’une politique de multiculturalisme ? L’objectif général de cette thèse est de combler le manque de recherche sur une telle problématique en France en examinant de manière systématique l’influence du modèle républicain et du multiculturalisme sur les relations intergroupes, croisant le point de vue du groupe majoritaire et des populations minoritaires.Une première série d’études (N=338) visait à développer un instrument mesurant l’adhésion aux principes du modèle républicain. Elles révèlent deux facteurs distincts caractérisant cette adhésion : la citoyenneté, associée au à des attitudes favorables à l’égard du multiculturalisme et des minorités, et la laïcité, porteuse de préjugés et de conservatisme. L’étude 3 menée auprès de minoritaires (N=42) atteste du traitement égalitaire qui caractérise la citoyenneté, promotrice d’intégration et non d’assimilation.Dans une deuxième partie, l’étude 4 s’intéressait à analyser l’incidence causale des modèles d’intégration par leur induction expérimentale auprès de minoritaires Maghrébins (N=126). Les résultats montrent que ces modèles génèrent des effets positifs sur le bien-être, l’identification aux groupes et des orientations égalitaires. Elle souligne aussi le rôle du contact occasionné par la présence d’un expérimentateur du groupe majoritaire ou minoritaire.Usant du même protocole expérimental, une troisième et dernière partie empirique étudiait les attitudes du groupe majoritaire après induction des modèles d’intégration et des situations de contact. L’étude 5 (N=82) atteste que le multiculturalisme véhicule moins d’intolérance comparée au modèle républicain français au contact d’un expérimentateur majoritaire, mais conduit à une augmentation de l’hostilité intergroupe après rencontre d’un expérimentateur immigré. L’étude 6 (N=93) réduisant le statut hiérarchique avec un compère Maghrébin confirme la responsabilité du multiculturalisme dans l’expression d’un biais défavorable aux minorités. L’ensemble de ces résultats appuie l’idée d’effets bénéfiques partagés par les deux modèles mais distingue aussi des conditions limites à leur application. / The process of social categorization is central to the psychology of intergroup relations as the cognitive basis of stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. It is also very much involved in current political debates about integration models and ways of managing cultural and religious diversity. In order to develop an harmonious and cohesive society, should one be blind to cultural, ethnic or religious differences as advocated by the French republican tradition, and thus avoid ethnic or religious categorization, or to the contrary, should one recognize, accept and value cultural and religious differences as advocated in a multiculturalism policy? The general aim of this thesis is to examine in a systematic manner the impact of the Republican model, and of the multiculturalism model, on intergroup relations from the perspective of both majority and minority group members.In a first series of studies (N = 338), an instrument designed to measure attitudes toward the principles of the Republican model was developed. The results indicate two distinct dimensions underlying these attitudes: republican citizenship, a dimension related to positive attitudes toward multiculturalism and minority groups, and secularism, a dimension related to prejudice and conservatism. Study 3 confirms among minority group members (N = 42) that citizenship is an egalitarian dimension, positively related to integration as an acculturation strategy rather than assimilation.In a second part, Study 4 tested the experimental effects of the integration models among participants of North African origin (N = 126). The results revealed a positive effect of both models on well-being, group identification and egalitarianism. The group membership of the experimenter (minority vs. majority group member) was also shown to be important.Using the same experimental paradigm, a third and final part concerns the reactions of majority group members. Study 5 (N = 82) showed that multiculturalism is more effective than the Republican model to reduce prejudice but only when the experimenter is a majority group member. The reverse is observed when the experimenter is a member of a minority group. Study 6 (N=93) showed that this effect does not stem from the fact that the minority group member has the high status of the experimenter..Overall, the results suggest that both models can generate positive effects but that there are conditions that can prevent the materialization of these effects.

This thesis investigates the nature and the development of a delinquent social identity. Three issues are addressed. These concern the negative identity that results from social comparison processes in school, the role of the peer group in delinquency and the variable nature of the delinquent social identity. One argument of the thesis, which is based on the concepts of self-categorization theory, is that the delinquent social identity develops out of a negative identity because of perceived differences between groups of adolescents in the school in terms of their commitment to academic studies and their attitude towards authority. The first study in this thesis demonstrates that compared to non delinquents, delinquents are more likely to perceive their social status in the school to be low as well as stable, and are more concerned about their reputation among their peers. Also, delinquents are more likely to rationalize against guilt through the techniques of neutralization, are more likely to value unconventional norms and tend to have negative experiences, both at home and in school. Based on social identity theory, this thesis argues that delinquency arises out of a search for an alternative positive identity through " social creativity ", which is only possible through the group. Membership in a delinquent group or a delinquent social identity offers the delinquent a sense of " positive distinctiveness " which is derived from the rejection, redefinition and reversal of conventional norms. It is only through a social identity where members perceive each other as interchangeable and share an interdependency, that such a reversal receives social validation, and that members achieve a sense of self-consistency which becomes part of their reputation. The second study in this thesis confirms that delinquents show a relative preference for a group strategy of derogation of the outgroup for coping with negative social comparison, rather than one which involves an individual strategy of competition, and that this group strategy is more likely to enhance their self-esteem. Delinquents' tendency to reverse conventional norms is demonstrated in the third study of the thesis, which also revealed that this reversal is evident only when delinquents are compared to non delinquents, and that this rejection is not total. These findings not only provide support for Cohen's subcultural theory of delinquency but also that of Sykes and Matza who argue that delinquents drift in and out of such behaviours. In fact, this thesis suggests that this drift can be explained in terms of a shift in the salience of identity. Because the delinquent identity is a social identity, it is variable and context-dependent. Differences in attitudes towards authority, rationalizations against guilt and self-derogation can be explained by differences in the salience of the delinquent social identity. The last three studies of the thesis provide evidence of these variations with both self-report and incarcerated delinquents.

This thesis examines the way in which traditional accounts of gender differences in the self-concept have relied on distal explanatory factors, and have thus conceptualised the gendered self as stable across both time and situation. This notion of a stable, gendered self has been implicated as underlying of a range of psychological gender differences (e.g., Cross & Madson, 1997), such as those in moral reasoning (e.g., Gillian, 1982) and ways of knowing (e.g., Belenky et al., 1989). As a result, these behaviours are also seen to be stable across time and context.¶ An alternative perspective is investigated, which looks to social identity theory and self-categorisation theory for a conceptualisation of both gender and the self-concept as being malleable and context-dependent (e.g., Turner et al., 1987). The social identity perspective describes the way in which proximal aspects of the social context affect the expression of gender-related behaviours, attitudes, and beliefs. In this way, the social identity perspective provides an analysis of group membership, group norms, and social influence which can not only account for the differences that are observed between men and women, but can also offer an analysis of the context-dependence of these difference and an approach by which gender differences can be mollified.¶ A series of nine empirical studies are reported, investigating the way in which individuals (a) define themselves, (b) approach moral reasoning, and (c) approach knowledge and learning, across a number of different social contexts. Together, the results suggest that the self-concept, moral orientation, and ways of knowing are neither stable nor inherently gendered, but are malleable and dependent on the nature of the self-other relationship as defined by the proximal aspects of the social context. The implications for traditional theories of gender differences are discussed, as are the broader implications for feminism and social change.

一般而言，社會事件或議題往往交織著許多複雜的因素，人們可能由不同 的觀點詮釋這些事件或議題的成因、影響、或定義，但是新聞報導所做的 詮釋卻往往只強調某些特定的意義 ( Gamson & Madigliani, 1989; Tankard et al., 1990)，形成一種新聞框架 (news frame)。新聞框架對 事件或議題意義的詮釋，可能經由新聞報導的語言結構或形式結構上的選 擇與排除，產生不同的意義。但是不同的新聞框架是否使讀者對新聞事件 或議題產生不同的認知呢？本研究以不同背景結構的新聞報導，探討不同 形式結構的新聞框架是否影響讀者對事件的推論，因而產生不同的認知。 本研究採實驗法與小組焦點訪談並行的方法，探討有、無背景的新聞報導 ，及兩則相同結構不同背景內容的新聞報導，與實驗對象的推論之間的關 聯，推論的項目包含對事件的因果推論與歸類及對新聞報導與新聞人物的 評價。研究結果發現新聞報導的背景可能影響受訪者的歸因，其它的推論 可能較無關聯，以下分別就兩次研究的結果作一說明：第一個研究受訪者 分別讀有背景或無背景的南非抗議新聞，結果有背景組大都將事件的原因 歸於政府缺失，與背景訊息的方向大致相同；而無背景組沒有人歸因於此 ，幾乎都歸因於種族問題。第二個研究受訪者分別讀不同背景內容的空難 新聞，結果指出雖然背景沒有提出空難的原因，只提供過去人員疏失導致 空難的歷史或失事飛機機型的記錄，但是受訪者大都依循背景訊息的方向 ，分別歸因於人為疏失及飛機問題。兩次研究的結果似乎說明，新聞的背 景可能影響讀者對事件歸因的方向，即使受訪者推論的原因不盡相同，例 如歸因於人為疏失者可能歸於駕駛員的疏失或塔台人員的疏失，但是歸因 的方向與背景可能具有某些的關聯，而背景結構的差異可能使受訪者對事 件因果的認知不同。由於本研究屬初探性的研究，研究對象只有廿二人， 其目的在於提供後續研究一些啟示，因此無法逕以研究結果推論文本結構 對認知的影響，這部份仍有待未來研究以更周密的方法加以探討。

<p>The aim of this study was to find out whether Europeans and North Americans differ as to what they consider to be best examples of four categories; namely vehicles, clothes, vegetables, and furniture. I compared the two continents with each other and tried to find out to what extent the cultural differences really influence the best examples chosen by the research participants. Further, I briefly</p><p>compared the prototypes with European females and males and North American females and males and tried to point out some differences between the two genders. Moreover I tried to connect the differences to cultural and gender related factors. The results show the existence of some good and some bad examples that were the same no matter if we looked at the European list or the North American one. However, as we have found out through our research there seem to be strong cultural reasons for the best examples the participants chose. It is a natural behavior to choose prototypes of categories that are well known by the research participants. The best known items are those which are present in the lives of the participants. So, for example riding a bicycle does not seem to be very common among people in North America. They consider bicycle only a lower average example for the category vehicles, whereas Europeans for example seem to use bicycles much more often. They place it on rank four out of 17. People seem to choose things they know or are interested in.</p>

We present a novel scheme ("Categorical Basis Functions", CBF) for object class representation in the brain and contrast it to the "Chorus of Prototypes" scheme recently proposed by Edelman. The power and flexibility of CBF is demonstrated in two examples. CBF is then applied to investigate the phenomenon of Categorical Perception, in particular the finding by Bulthoff et al. (1998) of categorization of faces by gender without corresponding Categorical Perception. Here, CBF makes predictions that can be tested in a psychophysical experiment. Finally, experiments are suggested to further test CBF.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-130).

Categories are semantic objects that create order in markets. By categorization, market actors and products become comparable and understandable to various audiences. This thesis examines the construction of the product category of public relations (PR) consultancy in Sweden; a market that has arisen, become economically successful and gained  recognition over the past thirty years, but which still lacks the legitimacy and clarity normally thought of as basic criteria of market categories. Using a semiotic framework and a mixed-method approach, I explore category construction 1) over time, and 2) in practice. In generalized terms, my findings suggest that market categorization processes cannot be understood without taking into account the characteristics of the product being categorized. Whereas ambiguity around labels, denotations and connotations is normally regarded as incompatible with categorization, such fuzziness should be expected to be intrinsic in markets for professional service products like PR consultancy, where the product itself is often thriving on, as well as continuously creating, ambiguity. For instance, the lack of clarity and lack of legitimacy in the Swedish PR consultancy market are found to be both logical outcomes, and enablers, of visibilization and amalgamation, referring to PR consultants’ conscientious management of visibility, and tendency to span boundaries in constructing their services, respectively. Categorization in the traditional sense is further hampered by the dominant label of “PR consultancy” being stigmatized, i.e. suffering from “sticky” negative connotations. In the cultural context of Sweden, the emergence of a PR consultancy market has al-so meant commodification, i.e. the introduction of something hitherto not sold into a sphere of exchangeable things. In this process, PR consultancy seems to have gotten “stuck” between the sphere of salable and unsalable things, as the product is widely sold but continues to be contested across various audiences. Again, my analysis puts this difficulty of PR consultancy finding legitimacy in relation to the product category’s actual content, i.e. rendering legitimacy to others. Finally, I argue that the emergence of PR consultancy, by providing a market place for corporate legitimacy, might be under-stood as a case of a cognitive-cultural market logic on the rise, characterized by struggles for organizational visibility and semiotic sophistication.