Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The main research question of this project is: How do the narratives of Caribbean black middle class civil society within the bounds of the “post-postcolonial” state, explain the evolving yet current environment of local and postcolonial civil society development? Using the Bahamas as a case, this project explores the historical, political, cultural, and social conditions that supported the development of civil society within the context of a postcolonial society. Furthermore, an investigation via in-depth interviews, participation observation, archival, and contemporary document analysis contextualizes the present-day work of civil society leaders in the Bahamas. Methodologically, the project employs narrative analysis to uncover the perspectives, voices, and practices of black middle-class Bahamian civil society offering an unfolding, dynamic, and nuanced approach for understanding the historical legacies and contemporary structure of local civil society and philanthropy. The study focuses on three primary forms of narratives. These include the narratives of the past (historical), the narratives of expressive and aesthetic cultural practices, and the narratives of lived experience. The project locates that the development of civil society is linked to historical and cultural forces. The findings show that that the narratives of history, social, and artistic development foregrounds a hybrid model of civil society development drawn from the experience of slavery, colonialism, decolonization, as well as the emerging structures related to economic and political globalization. Furthermore, observed through resilience narratives, local civil society leaders negotiate the boundaries of hybridity in their understanding of their personal, social, and professional identities as well as the way in which they engage government, the public, as well as local and international funders.

Este estudo versa sobre os negros das camadas médias paulistanas. Analisa a identidade de classe a partir da autoclassificação e do modo como o conceito de classes sociais é construído pelos interlocutores. A intenção é instituir uma analogia com as categorias elaboradas pelos cientistas sociais. Examina o estilo de vida, utilizando como referência o consumo material e simbólico. Desta forma, busca a especificidade do grupo em relação a gostos e preferências. Problematiza a questão da identidade racial a começar pela auto-identificação quanto à raça e classe, além de analisar quais são os fatores utilizados como referência para a construção da idéia de pertencimento étnico. Investiga as representações sociais dos negros de classe média, isto é, busca compreender como estes percebem a sociedade, a imagem que fazem de si mesmos e como julgam ser avaliados pela sociedade global. / This study is about São Paulos black middle class population. It seeks to analyse class identity from the subjects point of view: focusing, in the one hand, on the way in which the subjects classify themselves and, on the other, on how the class concept is formulated by them, drawing an analogy between this concept and those conceived by social scientists. In order to realise this aim, this study examines the blacks lifestyle, using their material and symbolic consumption as a reference. Along with this analysis, the study also questions the racial identity, as experimented by the subjects, considering both the subjects racial and social self classification and the factors used as a reference to the idea of being part of an ethnic group. This study investigates the black middle class social representation, that is to say, it seeks to understand how this population perceive their society, what is the image the blacks have of themselves and, according to their opinion, which is the opinion the encompassing society have upon them.

This master’s thesis revolves around the means of participation established around the newly formed Social Democratic Party in Sweden at the end of the 19th century. In 1889 the party was organized in close proximity to the editorial office of the party newspaper, Social-demokraten, and dependent on the support of its subscribers to uphold and increase circulation. Simultaneously, the consolidation of the Second socialist international provided a new framework for the national organisations as it was decided that May 1 of 1890 would be the date of synchronized mass- demonstrations for the legislation of the 8-hour working day. The thesis examines the means of participation and the associated construction of participatory political subjects in relation to the newspaper, the demonstration and the question of work time regulation. The analysis shows that the Swedish campaigns promoted an increased sense of self-awareness and obligation towards the larger organizational structures as well as society as a whole. Participation was put forth as a means of confessing to a genuine and unadulterated identity. This identity and its assigned biological features, as they were portrayed in relation to the question of work time regulation, created the physical characteristics of the participant as a focal point of the political project. The question was used to create knowledge about the participant as an objective outset in the quest for legitimacy. This process can also be seen as the creation of a situated public as an origin of power.

Este estudo versa sobre os negros das camadas médias paulistanas. Analisa a identidade de classe a partir da autoclassificação e do modo como o conceito de classes sociais é construído pelos interlocutores. A intenção é instituir uma analogia com as categorias elaboradas pelos cientistas sociais. Examina o estilo de vida, utilizando como referência o consumo material e simbólico. Desta forma, busca a especificidade do grupo em relação a gostos e preferências. Problematiza a questão da identidade racial a começar pela auto-identificação quanto à raça e classe, além de analisar quais são os fatores utilizados como referência para a construção da idéia de pertencimento étnico. Investiga as representações sociais dos negros de classe média, isto é, busca compreender como estes percebem a sociedade, a imagem que fazem de si mesmos e como julgam ser avaliados pela sociedade global. / This study is about São Paulos black middle class population. It seeks to analyse class identity from the subjects point of view: focusing, in the one hand, on the way in which the subjects classify themselves and, on the other, on how the class concept is formulated by them, drawing an analogy between this concept and those conceived by social scientists. In order to realise this aim, this study examines the blacks lifestyle, using their material and symbolic consumption as a reference. Along with this analysis, the study also questions the racial identity, as experimented by the subjects, considering both the subjects racial and social self classification and the factors used as a reference to the idea of being part of an ethnic group. This study investigates the black middle class social representation, that is to say, it seeks to understand how this population perceive their society, what is the image the blacks have of themselves and, according to their opinion, which is the opinion the encompassing society have upon them.

“The Conservative Party and Perceptions of the British Middle Classes, 1951 – 1974,” explores conceptions of middle-class voters at various levels of the party organization after the Second World War. Since Benjamin Disraeli, Conservatives have endeavoured to represent national rather than sectional interests and appeal widely to a growing electorate. Yet, the middle classes and their interests have also enjoyed a special position in the Conservative political imagination often because the group insists they receive special consideration. It proved especially difficult to juggle these priorities after 1951 when Conservatives encountered two colliding challenges: the middle classes growing at a rapid rate, failing to form a unified outlook or identity, and the limited appeal of consumer rhetoric and interests owing to the uneven experience of affluence and prosperity. Conservative ideas and policies failed to acknowledge and resonate with the changing nature of their core supporters and antiquated local party organization reinforced feelings of alienation from and mistrust of new members of the middle classes as well as affluent workers. This research shows that there was no clear-cut path between postwar Conservatism to Margaret Thatcher’s brand of Conservatism in which the individual, self-sufficient and acquisitive middle-class consumer became the champion. Moreover, the Conservative Party revealed, in these discussions, that it was much less ideologically certain than narratives have allowed previously. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No description available.

<p><em>This thesis applies a Bourdieuian analysis to a qualitative study of volunteerism that focuses on the question of how ‘doing good’ relates to social change overall? - in particular, the ways that social class influences the volunteer experience and the overall culture of volunteerism. I argue that the leading theoretical research models of volunteerism need to recognize the evolving nature of the activity and theorize the influences that are structuring the culture of volunteerism. What emerges is a model of volunteering where motivation is understood as a complex set of factors that are structured by social class identities and volunteering is understood as a form of distinction that can be used to acquire cultural capital. Social class-based ideas, in particular, the values related to the middle class, have become a part of the culture of volunteerism and, in part, create and reproduce the social change/volunteerism paradox. The volunteerism/social change paradox is the idea that volunteerism is often perceived as a social change activity when in many cases it reproduced the status quo. Without a strong activism component to the volunteerism, it is not an inequality challenging activity. </em></p> <p><em>This thesis presents interview and observation data collected with Habitat for Humanity Canada in their two largest programs – the National program (domestic) and the Global Village program (international). By utilizing ideas of class, class distinction and social and cultural capital from Bourdieu’s work, the role of class, the culture of benevolence (or volunteerism) can be explored in a new way. What emerges is a culture of volunteerism that is deeply influenced by middle class values where social change ideas are common but structural change is not – resulting in the volunteer/social change paradox.</em></p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Esta dissertação analisa a organização da atividade publicitária profissional no Brasil entre 1951 e 1965. Nosso objetivo é demonstrar que, por meio de discussões e disputas em torno da imagem publicitária impressa, podemos entender como se constituiu o campo publicitário brasileiro. Tais discussões envolveram o uso de uma linguagem técnica, a institucionalização da prática e a produção de uma memória. Este processo não apenas formou a classe publicitária (e sua identidade) como também monopolizou a produção de anúncios comerciais a partir da especialização da produção de imagens publicitárias. Veremos ainda que a imagem publicitária, mais do que um objeto bidimensional, é um artefato que circula por diversos espaços e se relaciona de diferentes formas em cada meio pelo qual circula. Compreender a materialidade do anúncio nos permitiu extrapolar a abordagem tradicional de imagens (a partir de seus conteúdos), para pensarmos nas relações sociais que se deram em função de sua produção, circulação e consumo. Tal abordagem foi possível graças ao nosso corpus documental, a revista especializada Propaganda, que forneceu os subsídios para o desenvolvimento da reflexão sobre as práticas publicitárias e os lugares das imagens não apenas nas representações, mas em algumas vivências de época. / This dissertation analyses the organization of the professional advertising activity in Brazil between 1951 and 1965. Our goal is to demonstrate that, through the discussion and disputes about the printed advertising image, we can understand how the Brazilian advertising field was formed. These discussions involved the use of a technical language, the institutionalization of the practice and the production of a memory. This process did not just create the advertising class (and their identity), as well as, it monopolized the commercials production, from the specialization of the advertising image production. We will see that the advertising image, more than a two-dimensional object, it is an artifact that circulates by lots spaces and relates of different forms in each way where it circulates. Comprehending the commercial materiality, let us transcend the image traditional approach (from its content), to think about the social relationships that happened from its production, circulation and consumption. This approach was possible thanks to the documental corpus, the specialized magazine Propaganda, that provided subsidies to the reflection development about the advertising practices and the image places, not only in the representations, but in some experiences in that time.

A narrativa sociológica que tentei construir sobre a Termomecanica (TM) partiu de uma retomada dos vários tons que compuseram a experiência de classe dos peões do ABC e a identidade operária combativa que daí resultou. Em seguida, me enveredei na desmontagem da teia simbólica do discurso paternalista que o patrão (Salvador Arena) articulou com vistas a bloquear o desenvolvimento de uma consciência de classe rebelde nos operários de sua fábrica, formatando-lhes, ao contrário, uma identidade resignada, leal ao patrão e à empresa. Após, procurei destacar como, apesar das estratégias de esterilização sindical empreendidas por Salvador Arena, o conflito fabril sempre foi latente. Neste ponto, a ideia foi dar voz àqueles que são cotidianamente obrigados a se calar, conferindo destaque à operários desconhecidos cujas vidas foram indelevelmente marcadas pela TM e por Salvador Arena. Por fim, tentei recuperar as tradições sociais que, num quadro socioeconômico e histórico específico, desembocaram no processo produtivo da Termomecanica e engendraram por meio da referida dominação simbólica paternalista o notável envolvimento do grupo operário, isto é, criaram o fator decisivo que permitiu à TM se colocar de forma singular diante dos concorrentes, dos demais empresários industriais e do Estado. / The sociological narrative about the Termomecanica factory (TM) that I tried to build were started with a reflection about the various aspects of the working class experience in the ABC and about the combative identity that was resulted of this experience. Afterwards, I aimed dismantling the web of symbolic ties which constitutes the patronizing speech of its founder (Salvador Arena), developed in order to hinder the establishment of a rebellious working class consciousness among his factorys workers, being able to create a subdued workers identity, loyal to their boss and company. Later, I tried to highlight the fact that the labor conflict has always been latent, in spite of Salvador Arenas strategies to make the trade unions impotent. At that point, my intention was to acknowledge the ones forcefully silenced, especially the anonymous workers who had TM and Salvador Arena printed in their lives. Finally, I tried to recover the social traditions that in a specific historical and socio-economic panorama culminate in Termomecanicas production process and engender through the patronizing symbolic domination mentioned above the remarkable workers\' engagement, creating a decisive factor to make the Salvador Arena\'s factory a case unique faced with the competitors, the others enterprises and the State.

This dissertation investigates the nature by which social class membership and identity figure in judgements of transition institutions for the citizens of post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. Using a unique dataset and a series of novel conceptual frameworks, it argues that social class is, in effect, an operationalisation of socioeconomic risk and vulnerability-a premise from which several important implications derive. Drawing on social identity theory, it presents and tests a model of self-conceptualisation, grounded in the belief that individuals variously identify with their social classes, depending on their perceptions of shared socioeconomic risk. From this, it follows that strong identifiers should derive more relevant information about the emerging market system from class-level economic experiences, and therefore accord these cues greater weight in judgements about transition institutions. Beyond testing this theory of interpersonal variation, it invokes signal detection theory from cognitive psychology to determine whether cross-group differences in economic vulnerability are responsible for observed class differentials in reliance on class-based economic cues. It then takes a wider view of class-based economic cognition by considering how the process of transition, itself, influenced the evaluative calculus of post-communist citizens. Building on cognitive mobilisation theory in political science, it is posited that on-going exposure to the prevailing economic system endows these citizens with the ability to link their class-level economic experiences to the effects of the market mechanism. The analysis largely supports the constituent hypotheses, as well as the larger notion that perceptions of shared socioeconomic risk led social class experiences to figure prominently in the minds of post-communist citizens.