Wie umgehen mit der Konzentration und Monopolisierung der (medialen) Öffentlichkeit? Welche Rolle spielen unterschiedliche Eigentumsformen für eine demokratische und partizipative Form des öffentlichen Austauschs? Welche Reform- und Transformationsvorschläge sind denkbar? Antworten und Lösungen zeigt der neue Tagungsband des Netzwerks Kritische Kommunikationswissenschaft auf, der Beiträge aus der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft sowie aus Nachbardisziplinen wie der Soziologie, der Politologie, der Science and Technology Studies, der Wirtschaftswissenschaft und der Geschichtswissenschaft beinhaltet.

The relationship between organisational behaviour research and commercial companies is complex, primarily because academic researchers and companies expect different outcomes from participation in the research. Businesses are usually looking to improve organisational performance and seek immediate, practical and applicable outcomes. Academic researchers seek an extension of theoretical knowledge and a contribution to the advancement of their field. Thus a researcher with a foot in both camps is seesawing between organisational behaviour and managerial practice. The task is to manage the tension to satisfy both parties. The study is an example of a piece of research aiming to satisfy the academic criteria for a PhD thesis and the commercial criteria of the sponsoring organisation, in this case British Airways (BA). BA had noted a number of business costs associated with senior managers who joined the organisation from outside. The aim was to find a way of reducing the costs and improving the joining experience for these individuals in a way which got them to high performance quickly. The theoretical field of organisational socialisation, described as having no unifying and coherent 'theory' of socialisation (Saks and Ashforth 1997:235), provided a substantially appropriate conceptual lens through which the current research could be analysed and subsequently applied in a commercial setting. In summary the two aims of this study were, first, to extend theoretical knowledge of organisational socialisation, specifically by confirming or disconfirming the relationship between investiture and performance found by Ashforth and Saks (1996) to a standard which met PhD award criteria. Second, to find a way reduce the cost and improve the experience of senior managers joining BA in a way which met this and other organisations' needs to improve performance.

Many human behaviours are thought to depend upon cognitive capacities enriched with innate domain-specific knowledge. Underpinning this view is the hypothesis that evolution can shape cognition to include strong innate inductive biases. In this thesis, I re-examine that hypothesis with respect to a broad class of behaviours: those that we learn from other individuals. Taking human language as a test case, I present an analysis of the co-evolutionary process that underpins the formation of innate constraints on cognition for behaviours that are culturally transmitted through inductive inference. I derive a series of mathematical models of this process, built around Bayesian models of cognition and cultural transmission, and ask how they can inform our expectations about cognition in a cultural species. I argue that the traditional marriage of nativism and evolutionary reasoning is undermined by this process, as is the suggestion that cognitive adaptation to cultural behaviours is outright implausible. I explore the co-evolutionary dynamics induced by cultural transmission, and conclude that they can radically manipulate the evolution of cognition: culture can intervene in the formation of hard-wired knowledge, but nevertheless facilitate rapid cognitive adaptation. The analyses I report make strong, testable predictions about the nature of inductive biases for cultural behaviours, and offer solutions to a number of long-standing conundrums in the evolution of language.

The thesis explores the impacts of being exposed to hate material online, so called cyberhate, using social psychological theories of group identity as a framework to explore victimisation experiences when targeted directly or witnessing others from the same identity group being targeted, known as indirect victimisation. Three papers examine these impacts with two commonly stigmatised groups; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people (LGB&T) and Muslims. Paper 1 reports the results from two online surveys about the nature of cyberhate experienced by these two groups. Results indicate it is a common and frequent problem occurring over a range of internet platforms and mediums and there are a number of negative emotional reactions and behavioural intentions similar to those reported by Intergroup Emotions Theory after group identity challenges. Paper 2 uses qualitative interviews with victims of cyberhate to gain a detailed understanding of the impacts of being victimised. Participants indicated that there is a level of resilience to being targeted as bad behaviour is expected online, but being exposed to hateful material causes many to take avoidance action, avoiding certain parts of the internet. Paper 3 presents the results of an innovative experimental study exposing members of the stigmatised groups and a control to hate material. Those viewing group specific hate material felt angrier than when just viewing generally unpleasant material. The current research finds that being targeted online has similar negative impacts to offline hate crime, both to those who are targeted directly but also those who are indirectly victimised.

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Age stereotypes are the different and often negative expectations and attitudes held by individuals about a given age group. Not only can age stereotyping lead to the unequal treatment of older people through differences in affective (age prejudice) and behavioural responses (age discrimination) toward them, but older people's own reactions to these stereotypes can have negative and damaging consequences. This thesis addresses the extent to which older adults' responses to negative age stereotypes impact on their performance on tests, and their health and well-being, further increasing age-based inequalities. Chapters 1 to 4, the introduction and theoretical chapters, introduce the thesis and the background for the subsequent studies. Areas reviewed include that of age stereotyping, how this may reflect negatively upon older adults' social identities, 'stereotype threat' as a specific response to this and evidence that perceiving ageism is associated with worse health and well-being in later life. Having identified research gaps, Chapter 5 then presents Study 1 (N = 105) which addresses the question of whether people are conscious of being judged negatively because of their age, what age stereotypes they are most conscious of and in what settings they believe they are applied. Findings confirmed that adults (particularly those aged 18-69) have a strong awareness of age-based judgement and that adults aged 60+ in particular are concerned about negative stereotypes of their competencies in a range of domains. Chapters 6 to 8 present studies 2, 3 and 4 which aimed to extend 'stereotype threat' research (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Stereotype threat theory posits that stigmatised individuals may fear confirming negative stereotypes about their social group. This negative experience ironically disrupts performance making it more likely that they act in line with negative stereotypes. Study 2, a meta-analysis including 82 effect sizes (N = 3882) split into multiple analyses, confirmed that age stereotypes have the potential to negatively impact older adults' memory and cognitive performance through age-based stereotype threat (ABST). Building on the findings from the meta-analysis, Study 3 experimentally tested whether uncertainty surrounding stereotype-based judgement explains why more subtle stereotype-based cues to stereotype threat have a greater impact on performance than fact-based cues, as was found in Study 2. Further, Study 4 examined whether the presence of a young observer or the giving of help to older participants might cue ABST and negatively impact maths performance. Although the hypotheses derived from stereotype threat theory were not supported by studies 3 and 4, these studies contribute to the stereotype threat literature by examining the potential everyday cues to ABST and the mechanisms through which it occurs. Finally, Chapter 9 presents Study 5 which uses survey data to examine different reactions-threat or challenge responses-to perceived ageism and whether these responses are associated with better or worse subjective health and well-being. Findings suggest that challenge responses may be a more adaptive reaction to ageism, with potential benefits for health and well-being in later life. Overall, the thesis highlights the damaging effects of older adults' threat responses to negative attitudes to ageing. Both negative societal attitudes and the way older people respond to and cope with negative stereotyping need to be addressed.

One of the most significant challenges the globalized world encounters is how to build a society that is more at peace with diversity and cosmopolitanism. Further, in a world where highly unequal power relations and a vast plethora of inequalities persist, interrogating and resisting inequalities is key. From this context, this study focuses on interrogating inequalities in addressing an equality agenda highlighting a thesis of belonging; the human need for belonging and security in that belonging and the human right to have these needs satisfied (UDHR, 1948). A thesis of belonging relates to an innate human need for belonging (Maslow, 1943) and it is argued in this thesis that this innate human need for belonging is very important and very much connected to many fundamental human rights which should be driven much more through equality focused social movements and the laws. Clearly, where human rights are not being upheld then action must be taken to uphold them. The research findings of this thesis show the relevance of a thesis of belonging and the relevance of two core theories which have a connection, a marxist theory of racism and a social identity theory of racism. A marxist understanding of racism clearly delineates the inequalities capitalism produces and in this thesis while it is not argued that a marxist understanding of racism alone completely explains all varieties of racism, through a significant number of participants' discourses this thesis shows how capitalism often appears to be a driving force behind discrimination made on the basis of ethnicity. In addition, a significant number of participants' discourses in this thesis also point towards a social identity theory of racism which indicates the significance of what a social group affords an individual where a sense of belonging derived from affiliation and acceptance in group membership provides a feeling of self esteem and security (Tajfel and Turner, 1979; Breakwell, 1986; West, 1993, Aboud, 2008). Importantly, Tajfel (1981) emphasises how crucial it is to interrogate the social and economic context of discrimination and so here is where social identity theory relates to a marxist theory of racism.

This thesis centres on how recipes and songs can generate an identity for a community in relocation. I focus upon the South Asian community in Lockwood, West Yorkshire, and show how cultural practices have migrated and relocated from the homeland to the diaspora. I read these oral texts as literature, which allows them to be heard outside the domestic arena. Following an oral history methodology, this ethnographical study focuses on three areas of significance: the matrilineal, nostalgia, and space. Each of these themes has been used to reveal how diasporic identity is attained and maintained through recipes and songs. I illustrate how the dynamics of a particular type of nostalgia, which I have termed as migrational nostalgia, allows a community in diaspora to flourish. The concept of space and time is revealed as complex and becomes multi layered when discussing a diasporic community. I have drawn upon the works of Julia Kristeva and Homi Bhabha, in particular, to analyze these narratives and position them within a liminal space. I further question what it means for a cultural practice to be legitimate and explore the idea that ultimately for those in diasporic communities authenticity can be found in the maternal voice. I show that the validation for a dish or a song is sought after in relocation and this is sustained by transmitting the oral texts through dimensions of maternal genealogy. All of these factors culminate in a unique identity for a diasporic group, which has its foundations in an alternative space and time.

Research concerning administrator effects and the wider field of experimenter expectancy effects (Rosenthal, 1976) has established the theory that the hypotheses and knowledge held by an experimenter can unconsciously influence their results. Therefore, in a novel use of a photographic line-up from an actual police investigation, this research aims to explore the impact of administrator effects without the memory component of a recalled event. Previous research in this area has used a traditional memory paradigm to test administrator effects, however this has clouded the issue of whether the witness is being influenced by the administrator or is actually remembering the event. This research removes the memory component and therefore concentrates on the expectancy effect of the administrator. In order to further the understanding of administrator effects, this research examines whether there is an aspect of interpersonal behaviour which predisposes some individuals to be more susceptible to inferences from others, or predisposes some to be more likely to influence individuals than others. In order to do this the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation: Behaviour (FIRO-B) instrument is utilised to examine the interpersonal relationship behaviour of the administrator and the participant. This research also identifies the cues emitted by the administrator by audio-recording the interaction between the administrator and the participant. Using an experimental design, which manipulated the knowledge of the location of the target, five hundred and twenty six participants were asked to identify the person responsible for the Lockerbie bombing. Line-up administrators, who were either informed of the location of the suspect, informed of the location of an alternative suspect, or uninformed of the location of the suspect, presented the participants with the photographic line-up of twelve men, one of which is believed to be the person responsible for the Lockerbie bombing. Participants were asked to pick the person they thought was the suspect from the line-up, they then completed the FIRO-B questionnaire. Analysis of the frequency of identifications suggests the presence of an experimenter expectancy effect. A chi-square goodness of fit test indicates that significantly more participants identified the target suspect when the administrator was informed of the location of the target, than when the administrator was uninformed. Analysis of the FIRO-B data found that target identifiers in the informed condition reported significantly higher received control scores than non-identifiers from an informed condition matched comparison group. Target identifiers also reported significantly higher social interactivity and received inclusion scores than non-identifiers. Analysis of the FIRO-B data from the line-up administrators found subtle differences in the FIRO-B scores of the administrators achieving a high number of target identifications compared to administrators achieving a low number of target identifications. In particular, administrators achieving a high number of target identifications reported higher levels of expressed control and lower levels of received control than administrators achieving a low number of target identifications. Analysis of the transcripts of the line-ups indicate that administrators in the informed condition interacted with their participants for longer, and exhibited more verbal cues. Administrators who obtained a target identification also spoke to their participants for longer. Those administrators who spoke to their participants for longer reported higher levels of expressed control and lower levels of received control. The results of this study point to an experimenter expectancy effect. Beyond that though there appears to be an aspect of interpersonal behaviour that may be responsible for a predisposition to influence or to be influenced. This thesis, in line with previous research advocates the use of ‘double-blind’ line-up procedures in order to eradicate the possibility of an administrator effect. However, it also highlights the importance of considering the social interaction between the experimenter and the participant that is at the heart of social psychology research with human participants. In particular, the damning effect on the results of research conducted by an experimenter who assumes the dominant role in a social interaction, with a participant who assumes the submissive role.

The ecosystem services approach is a set of institutional practices which aim to improve natural resource management and policy making, by highlighting the relationship between well-functioning ecosystems and human wellbeing. Within the approach, cultural services (CS) signify the psycho-social aspects of people-nature interrelations. This concept is an understudied area, and is recognised to exhibit high levels of complexity which make it difficult to evaluate. This thesis deconstructs, explores, clarifies and enhances the CS concept. A flexible, phased research design explores cultural services in relation to a specific case-study site, 'Aspley Woods and Heaths' (England). Cultural services are examined through a series of lenses: as an interdisciplinary construct, as an experience of place, as context, as a resource regime, as a discursive resource and as a personal discourse. Mixed qualitative methods identify how CS is constructed through action, speech and text; via an in depth analysis of primary data from semi-structured visitor and expert interviews, unstructured key informant interviews, and marginal participant observation. Additional data informs the enquiry, from a discourse analysis of key study site documents, and a review of site-related historic, ecological, land management, and policy documents. Results from this thesis subsequently challenge the current published definition and subcategorisation of cultural services. The notion that cultural services are nonmaterial is disputed due to the centrality of physical activities, physical sensations, and access management regimes which require material inputs. The benefits premise is challenged since CS experiences included references to anxiety, injury and conflict. The notion that CS are obtained is disputed due to the reciprocal nature of information exchange between people and features of the environment. The idea that CS are solely from ecosystems is challenged due to the part played by interpretative socio-cultural contexts, and natural and social processes which occur outside site boundaries and specified time frames. Instead, this thesis recommends that cultural services be redefined as the ways that humans use discourse to construct and communicate perceptions of nature. CS arise from processes of interaction (activities) and reciprocal information exchange (information functions) with ecosystems. CS subcategories are hence a series of cognitive, retrospective, intuitive, creative, communicative and regenerative interpretative repertoires, which form the basis of social practices such as designation, restoration and policy. The propensity of environments to embody discourse is concluded to be crucial in defining what is valuable about natural ecosystems, and how these contribute to wellbeing.