This thesis stresses the centrality today of synthetical sociological theories, such as those of Habermas, Giddens and Alexander, but criticises them for neglecting the problem of collective subjectivity. The failure to consider this topic stems from deep problems in the history of sociology. Emerging from the social thinking of the Enlightenment and the Counter-Enlightenment, sociology has been keen on perceiving social life in the mould of a polarisation between active individuals and passive societies or, more generally, social systems or structures. Although the dialectics between subject and object plus the notion of interaction have allowed for bridges between those two poles, a crucial idea has not been receiving enough attention. Marx - with the concept of social class - and Parsons - with the concept of collective actor - produced two important departures from the presuppositional universe of the Enlightenment. But their elaboration does not suffice and, more regrettably however, those synthetical theories have not acknowledged and worked on the problems and concepts Marx and Parsons highlighted. The concept of collective subjectivity is, therefore, introduced to resume their insights and connect them to the issues and formulations put forward in synthetical theories. A critique of the philosophy of the subject, aiming at its decentring, is moreover pursued, for Marx and Parsons still embraced some of its main tenets. The concept of collective causality holds centre stage for the definition of collective subjectivity. Alongside collective causality, interaction, dialectics, levels of (de)centring, the syllogism of the general, the particular and the individual, plus multidimensionality, furnish the categorial axis for the development of the thesis. Concerned with general theoretical questions, this study makes, however, reference to "middle range" theories, in order to develop, ground its propositions and suggest ways in which its concepts may be useful in more empirically oriented research.

The German social-philosophical tradition of Critical Theory has recently undergone what its current practitioners have themselves described as a "paradigm shift". Writers like Jurgen Habermas and Kari-Otto Apel are today attempting to reformulate the socially-critical insights of Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno in new terms. Where Horkheimer and Adorno had tried to articulate their critique of existing social relations in a language of "subjectivity" and "objectivity" drawn largely from the classical German philosophical tradition, Habermas and Apel are trying to formulate an - ostensibly - similar critique in a language of "a priori intersubjectivity" drawn from the "ordinary language" and "speech-act" theory which has emerged since the Second World War in the Anglo-American philosophical sphere. This thesis examines the key structural features of the "paradigm shift" carried out by Habermas and his generation and weighs up what has been philosophically and politically gained and lost for Critical Theory with this development.

Museum anthropology, which can involve any or all of anthropology’s subfields, is largely a performative, interdisciplinary enterprise using collaborative methods while engaged with knowledgeable and skilled members of the community, and involves creating new narratives about things of interest to the partners and wider public. This study interlinks applied anthropology, ethnography, ethnohistory, Indigenous archaeology, art, museums as places of interaction, and cultural revitalization, through the description of creative collaborative projects undertaken in partnership with Tli?cho? and other Dene elders, artists, and other skilled practitioners between 1990 and 2011 by staff of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Exploring themes in the ontology and materiality of objects, relationships between humans and animals, links between technology and cosmology, the epistemology and ontology of Dene conceptions and experiences of the environment and ways of knowing, the composition of new landscapes through art, and the epistemological role of stories in the transmission of knowledge, the study demonstrates that these creative practices are performative and allow collaborators to engage in new ways of knowing, while building trust and respect between participants.

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This thesis seeks provide an original contribution by extending rational choice theory into a general theory of law which has not been done before. I term this theoretical framework rational constraint to distinguish it from other rational choice and contractarian theories. This is predicated on the increasing heterogeneity of contemporary populations and the claim that moral claims cannot resolve conflicts because they are not truth-apt (as I argue in chapter 1). I seek to extend rational choice theory by further developing the tradition of social contract theory as it applies to law in the contractarian tradition of Thomas Hobbes and David Gauthier. This can roughly be termed the contractarian version of social contract theory (in the introduction I distinguish this tradition from the other social contract tradition of contractualism). This tradition takes rationality to be a practical method for determining action based upon self-interest – this assumes that agents are not concerned about the wellbeing of others. Even so a broad range of restrictions are possible – this thesis seeks to take Gauthier’s theory (as the most contemporary and developed contractarian theory) further by providing a system that takes account of higher-order constraints as well. This approach is not concerned with the application of different competing sets of moral claims – rather the application of self-interested rationality to law is the focus and the original contribution of this thesis. Ultimately, I seek to provide a method for designing legal rules that can minimise conflict and cost in a heterogeneous population. The subject that I apply this framework to is reproduction which is non-economic in nature thus extending rational choice beyond it normal economic haunts. Moreover it is an area of law that concerns a part of life subject to a great deal of moral controversy thus demonstrating the superiority of the extended rational choice framework over moral systems in designing laws.

Markets and mediators: Politics and primary art markets in Montréal is an ethnographic study of Montrealʼs primary art market and explains how history, government policy and calculative agency operate together to frame the practice of cultural mediators in the visual arts field. Actors operate within a complex financial and symbolic economy that must respond to changing modes of governance and international trends that increasingly concern metropolitan rather than national development. These forms of agency are situated within overlapping discourses concerning cultural policy at a provincial and municipal level that organize the artistic field in the city, the ʻrule and rolesʼ and ʻweak tiesʼ that format legitimate action in the primary market and the processes that are used to incorporate new trends and innovation in the field. The thesis argues that mediators in the primary art market play a generative role in the creation of a multicultural and cosmopolitan cultural capital while addressing the conflicting demands of Quebecʼs nationalist politics. The thesis uses Bourdieuʼs field and cultural theory, Callonʼs theory of markets and contemporary work on cities and multicultures to understand this competition over scarce resources by actors in an art world dominated by state support and institutions. The function of art worlds and their mediation by urban elites reiterates the political importance of aesthetic canonization and labor market practice in a city held to bear a specific responsibility for maintaining a sense of culture and identity.