The contemporary flâneur is confronted with a radically different world in comparison to the Parisian arcades of the nineteenth century during which the idea of the flâneur was conceptualised. The current urban milieu of the flâneur is dominated by consumerism, computer systems and surveillance, and the research posed here explores the flâneur within this environment. The flâneur was originally visualised on the streets and arcades of the city; however, cities do not only exist as buildings and streets and have become global entities that are constituted from the physical and the virtual. Throughout this study reference is primarily made to the work of Francis Alÿs to elucidate theoretical concepts. This study proposes that there is an absence of the teleological goal in the journey of the flâneur and as such, the flâneur wanders the streets without aim; however, in the process creates narratives and leaves traces of his journey. The ubiquity of surveillance in the contemporary metropolis complicates the flâneur's relationship with the latter. Consequently the impact of surveillance on the flâneur and the flâneur's daily wanderings are examined to ascertain its influence on the flâneur in a hyperreal society. In contemporary thinking, the traditional idea of the male flâneur requires reassessment and this research investigates the possibility of the female flâneur and women's presence in the public spaces of the city and the virtual realm of cyberspace. Furthermore, women are intricately linked to consumerism and their experience and position in the city are influenced by being seen as objects of the gaze. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

The graduation thesis is focusing on rise of mass tourism in the Federal republic of Germany in the fifties and the sixties of the twentieth century. The introductory part deals with the time of Weimar Republic, when the necessary background of subsequent post-war mass tourism development was set. One of the further crucial subjects of matter is the economic miracle and consumer society, which led among the German citizens up to the broad acceptance of travelling, as a possible way of spending their leisure time. The main part of the thesis concentrates on the mass tourism as cultural and social phenomena. Special attention is finally devoted to the tourist infrastructure in the federal republic in the fifties and the sixties and the way it formed a developed.

My dissertation deals with the progress of consumer society in the 60th of 20th century in the Czechoslovakia. At the beginning of my work i try to theory of consumer society, everydayness and the free time in czechoslovak society. My aim is equipment of electric apparatus in the families and their importance for women's work in households. Especially I reply the questions, where and how the apparatus were sold, how was the quality of them and how much apparatus saved women's jobs. I analyse the availability of those apparatus for consumers/users. I compare amount, prices and design of home appliances in Czechoslovakia and abroad. My dissertation is based on the fact that in 60th of 20th century was very big increase of refrigerators, automatic washing machines, irons, hoovers, hairdryers, televisions and next smaller home appliances. I compare this growth with countries of Western Europe. My dissertation is based on studium of specialized monographs, articles and studies of czech and english provenance. But I also use the unpublished sources of institucional and personal characters (Archive of the National Technical Museum, the National Museum Archive

Diploma thesis "Lifestyle and Social Capital 'active young generation'" discusses the background of the relevant theoretical anchor, the two dimensions of individual life in society - the lifestyle that is in this work conceived as a space for identity formation (through the dimension of consumerism) and it operationalize the concept of leisure sports and related sportive activities, the second dimension is the theme of social capital, in accordance with its structural components (egocentric individual networks) and cultural aspects (defined by degree of tolerance and social trust ). The aim of this work is through the empirical sociological analysis of representative survey ISSP 2007 Volný cas a sport and Distinkce a hodnoty 2008, map to the active lifestyle of the individual in its socio-demographic and socio-economic determinants, monitors the process of sport socialization within the family and close friends and value preferences and orientation, the which may be active in leisure sports potential impact. In conclusion, this work deals with effects of sports on the components of social capital.

The aim of this thesis is to clarify the principles of shaping the identity and image in the modern consumer society and explain the role of media in this process as well. In this thesis is used analytical comparative method. The whole work is divided into the theoretical and analytical part. The central theme of the first charter is the description of the characteristics of a modern consumer society. The second main thopic is the relationship of identity and image. In the third theoretical chapter is discussed the issue of media construction of reality. These problems are projected in the three approaches of opinion - Gilles Lipovetsky, the represenatatives of the Frakfurts School and Jean Baudrillard and finally opinion of Pierre Bourdieu. The analytical part of the thesis is concentrated on the application of the theoretical knowledge. As a specific example was selected advertising campaign Think You Can Text and Drive?, which was developed under the auspices of Oprah Winfrey, celebrity with the global reach. In the analytical part were received some essential arguments, which are summarized in the final chapter.

Cette thèse vise à répondre à la question L’entreprise d’ameublement IKEA peut-elle être envisagée comme les prémices de réalisation d’une œuvre d’art totale ? La réflexion est menée en deux grandes parties distinctes. La première se concentre sur le concept wagnérien d’œuvre d’art totale. Grâce à la littérature scientifique sur le sujet, il est montré l’importance du wagnérisme pour la culture occidentale du XXe siècle et l’intérêt du concept au sein du champ des études intermédiales. Puis, l’exposition des origines du concept et de plusieurs applications ou réappropriations, telle que celle du Bauhaus, permet d’en souligner la nature socioesthétique et d’en distinguer deux dimensions : une purement idéaliste, celle de l’utopie sociétale en devenir (l’œuvre d’art totale accomplie) ; et une dimension plus concrète, visant l’atteinte de cet idéal grâce aux arts, ce que je nomme les amorces partielles de l’œuvre d’art totale (outil de mise en place de l’œuvre d’art totale). Enfin, en vue de l’étude d’IKEA, l’attention se concentre sur la dimension concrète du concept et est ainsi proposée une liste de caractéristiques propres aux amorces partielles permettant d’évaluer l’objet d’étude. Celle-ci concerne : l’impact massif des actions de l’objet étudié, l’expression d’ambitions sociales, voire utopiques, par celui-ci, et sa capacité à représenter un « commun » du peuple. La seconde partie entièrement dédiée à IKEA vise à vérifier la correspondance entre l’entreprise (les actions de ses acteurs, ses produits et ses effets) et les trois caractéristiques identifiées des amorces partielles de l’œuvre d’art totale. Ceci est réalisé à partir de trois recherches différentes : une étude stylistique comparative entre certaines icônes du design du Bauhaus et du design scandinave avec les produits IKEA ; l’exposition du storytelling mis en place par l’enseigne et l’observation des déclarations de son fondateur, Ingvar Kamprad ; une étude des mises en scène d’aménagements intérieurs au sein des catalogues et des showrooms de la marque. Les résultats de l’ensemble semblent indiquer qu’IKEA est un élément socioculturellement structurant de notre rapport aux objets du quotidien et de notre domesticité . Et que, sous condition d’une authenticité des valeurs exprimées par l’entreprise et d’une correspondance de celles-ci avec les actions mises en place par ses acteurs, elle pourrait peut-être atteindre ses ambitions de créer « a better everyday life for the many people ». En ce sens, IKEA pourrait être considérée comme une manifestation d’une amorce partielle, tout en étant porteuse d’une évolution conceptuelle bien plus fondamentale qu’il n’y paraît. / This thesis aims to answer the question Can the IKEA furniture company be seen as the beginnings of a total work of art? The reflection is carried out in two main parts. The first part focuses on the Wagnerian concept of the total work of art. Through the scientific literature on the subject, the importance of Wagnerism for twentieth-century Western culture and the interest of the concept within the field of intermedial studies are shown. Then, the exposition of the origins of the concept and of several applications or reappropriations, such as that of the Bauhaus, allows us to underline its socio-aesthetic character and to distinguish two dimensions: a purely idealistic one, that of the societal utopia to become (the accomplished total work of art); and a more concrete one, aiming at the attainment of this ideal thanks to the arts, what we call the amorces partielles (partial triggers) of the total work of art (a tool for fulfillment of the total work of art). Finally, in view of the study of IKEA, attention is focused on the concrete dimension of the concept and a list of characteristics of the amorces partielles is proposed to evaluate the object of study. This concerns: the massive impact of the actions of the object studied, its expression of social, even utopian, ambitions, and its capacity to represent a "commun" (common) of the many people. The second part, entirely dedicated to IKEA, aims to verify the correspondence between the company (the actions of its agents, its products and its effects) and the three characteristics identified as amorces partielles of the total work of art. This is achieved through three different research projects: a comparative stylistic study between certain Bauhaus and Scandinavian iconic design objects and IKEA products; the exposition of the storytelling set up by the brand and the observation of the statements of its founder, Ingvar Kamprad; a study of the staging of interior design in the brand's catalogues and showrooms. The results of all these studies seem to indicate that IKEA is a socio-cultural element shaping our relationship with everyday objects and our domesticity. And that, provided that the values expressed by the company are authentic and correspond with the practices adopted by its agents, it could perhaps achieve its ambitions to create "a better everyday life for the many people". In this sense, IKEA could be seen as a manifestation of an amorces partielles, yet at the same time as the bearer of a much more fundamental conceptual shift than it appears.

O trabalho batizado como Elementos fundamentais para uma teoria própria dos contratos de consumo é uma tese apresentada ao Programa de Doutorado em Direito Privado, da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais – PUC Minas e que almeja comprovar a impropriedade de utilização da figura do negócio jurídico para disciplinar os contratos de consumo. Valendo-se de uma revisão bibliográfica e jurisprudencial, a pesquisa parte da observação de que a teoria do negócio jurídico, atualmente vigente no Brasil, apesar de ter logrado diversos avanços após a Constituição Federal e no início do século XXI, especialmente com o advento do Código Civil de 2002, que a fizeram mais sociabilizada, ainda permanece lastreada na atuação da liberdade do sujeito, o qual, em sendo detentor de autonomia, pode decidir por celebrar ou não celebrar contratos, assim como moldar o conteúdo desses, disso decorrendo valor jurídico-obrigacional. Entretanto, o estudo da sociedade de consumo demonstra que, na verdade, a lógica da liberdade não pode ser aplicada às relações de consumo, especialmente ao consumidor, pois este não atua no mercado guiado pelo poder da autonomia, mas sim pela necessidade que demonstrar ter em relação aos produtos e serviços necessários a uma vida digna. Por isso, tanto a Teoria do Negócio Jurídico quanto a Teoria Geral dos Contratos são tidas como inapropriadas para a tarefa de regência dos contratos de consumo. Consequentemente, é apontada a necessidade de uma teoria própria capaz de reconhecê-lo como fenômeno distinto dos contratos privados em geral e que, a partir disso, desenvolva mecanismos jurídicos ligados às suas peculiaridades. Um paradigma importante, nesse sentido, é o estudo das relações contratuais de fato, decorrentes de comportamentos sociais típicos, que oferecem reflexões importantes sobre o comportamento do consumidor em situações como a do tráfego massificado de determinados serviços. Dessa forma, são ofertados elementos fundamentais para a construção da Teoria dos Contratos de Consumo, assentados na pressuposição do contrato de consumo como promotor de funcionalidade humanizadora e constitucional, que resulta, por fim, em uma definição do contrato de consumo, dotado-o de singularidades capazes de diferenciá-lo do contrato lato sensu de que cuida o Direito Privado. / This research named Fundamental elements for an proper theory of consume contracts is the thesis presented to the PhD Program in Private Law, at Pontifícia Universidade Católica of Minas Gerais - PUC Minas. It aims at confirming the impropriety of using the “legal business” to discipline the consumer contracts. Drown on a bibliographic and jurisprudential review, the research is based on the observation that the current Brazilian legal business theory, although being developed after the Federal Constitution, and in the beginning of 21st century, is still supported by the subject’s freedom of actuation, who, as the titleholder of the autonomy, is able to decide for celebrating or not the contracts, as well as shape their content, deriving from this the juridical obligational value. Nevertheless, the study of consumer society shows that, actually, the logic of freedom cannot be applied to consumer relations, especially to the consumer, because he does not act in a market guided by the autonomy power, but by the necessity of showing relation to the products and services needed for a worthy life. Because of that, both, the legal business and contracts’ general theory, is considered inappropriate for ruling consumer contracts. Consequently, the need of a proper theory, capable of recognizing consumer contracts as a distinct phenomenon of the private contracts in general, is presented. In addition, legal mechanisms connected to its peculiarities are shown. An important paradigm, in this sense, is the study of fact contractual relations, due to their typical social behavior, that offers important reflections about the consumer’s behavior on situations like the massive traffic of certain services. In this way, some fundamental elements for creating consumer contracts are approached, based on the presupposition of the consumer contract as the promoter of a human and constitutional functionality, which results, at the end, in a definition of consumer contract, giving it a single capacity of making it different from the lato sensu contract, which is approached by private law.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:21:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tiago Moraes Goncalves.pdf: 2154021 bytes, checksum: 86a5747d3bda29b3b2db8a263e9f0aa8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-10-23 / The purpose of this Master's dissertation is to analyze a type of insurance contract ¬ that is becoming increasingly important in Brazil and the world, and that is sti11little 'explored by the doctrine and mistakenly interpreted by case law: the Consumer credit insurance. This type of insurance guarantees the payment of a debt of the insured person, or part thereof, in case of the occurrence of an event covered by the policy agreed upon. The consumer credit insurance is developed within the scope ofthe Consumer Society and one ofits focal points is precisely the credit, assisting in maintaining the status quo of the social structure, by making possible a significant reduction in the risk of default in the concession of credit, thus fulfilling, an important sgcial function. The analysis therefore is not Rossible, without a theoretical overflight on the socioeconomic reality that justified the creation and development of the consumer credit insurance. Furthermore, with the aim of establishing the foundations for the interpretation of this contract, the work focuses on an analysis of the insurance transaction, addressing key issues inc1udingtransindividual interests, the entrepreneurship of the insurance activity, the commutativeness of the contract and the; interest as a legalIy protected asset, as welI as a brief digression on the legal framework of the insurance contracts and legal matters conceming their legal c1assification. The work finalIy analyzes the consumer contract insurance itself, exploring all the components, coverage provided, interests involved, the practices of the insurance market in the pre-contractual stage, the completion and execution to, at the end, offer a new insight into their legal nature, aiming to contribute to the doctrine and national jurisprudence for a better understanding of this contractual model. / A presente dissertação de mestrado possui o objetivo de analisar uma modalidade de contrato de seguro que ganha cada vez mais importância no Brasil e no mundo, e que ainda é pouco explorado pela doutrina e equivocadamente interpretado pela Jurisprudência: o seguro prestamista. Essa modalidade de seguro garante o pagamento de uma dívida do segurado, ou de 'parte dela, em caso da ocorrência de uma dos eventos cobertos pelo contrato. O seguro "" prestamista se desenvolve no âmbito da Sociedade de Consumo, que tem como um de seus eixos justamente o crédito ao consumo, auxiliando na manutenção do st'atus quo da estrutura quo da estrutura social, ao possibilitar sensível diminuição do risco de inadimplência nos contratos de concessão de crédito, cumprindo, assim, importante função social. Impossível a análise, portanto, sem um sobrevoo teórico sobre a realidade socioeconômico que justificou a criação I e o desenvolvimento do seguro prestamista. Além disso, com intuito de estabelecer premissas para a interpretação deste contrato, buscou-se realizar uma análise da operação de seguros, passando por questões essenciais como a transindividualidade de interesses, a empresarialidade da atividade seguradora, a comutatividade e o interesse como bem juridicamente tutelado pelo seguro, assim como por breve digressão sobre o marco lega1 dos contratos de seguro e questões relativas à classificação jurídica dos mesmos. O trabalho, por fim, irá analisar o contrato de seguro prestamista propriamente dito, explorando as partes que o integram, as coberturas prestadas, os interesses envolvidos, as práticas do mercado de seguro na fase pré-contratual, em sua conclusão e execução, para, ao final, propor uma nova visão sobre sua natureza jurídica, visando contribuir com a doutrina e jurisprudência pátria para melhor compreensão desta figura contratual.

A Inteligência Artificial Distribuída traz uma série de novas perspectivas para a computação quando considera sistemas heterogêneos, adaptativos, evolutivos, continuamente em funcionamento e abertos. Estes sistemas, chamados de sociedades, apresentam tais características por permitirem que seus componentes, chamados de agentes, migrem entre sociedades, isto é, agentes podem sair e entrar em sociedades. Sociedades abertas permitem a migração dos agentes e coloca dois tipos de problemas para o agente que está migrando: problemas de linguagem e interação, que concernem ao uso de expressões usadas e à maneira como as interações são organizadas na nova sociedade; e, problemas de conhecimento e atuação, que se referem à como um agente irá se comportar a fim de realizar justamente aquilo que a sociedade espera dele. Este trabalho se atem aos problemas de conhecimento e atuação. Para que os agentes da sociedade possam cooperar e coordenar suas ações, é necessário que tenham conhecimento das capacidades, habilidades, desejos e planos dos outros agentes. Grande parte do conhecimento a respeito dos outros pode ser extraído dos papéis que estes podem assumir na sociedade. Assim sendo, o problema colocado para este trabalho é como os agentes da sociedade que receberam o agente imigrante e o próprio agente imigrante conhecerão/aprenderão os papéis uns dos outros. São desenvolvidos três mecanismos de identificação de papéis, bem como a comparação entre eles e sua adequação a tipos de migração. Os três mecanismos são os seguintes: i) Identificação de papéis por protocolo de apresentação: é proposta uma linguagem de descrição de protocolos (LDP) e uma especificação de protocolo de apresentação nesta LDP. Os agentes que utilizam este mecanismo conseguem se identificar com rapidez, porém necessitam conhecer várias informações “locais” da sociedade, o que pode ser muito restritivo para um agente migrante. ii) Identificação de papéis por observação e classificação: esta solução procura classificar o agente observado em um papel de um conjunto prédefinido de papéis. Neste conjunto, os papéis são descritos por meio de processos de interação (PI). Para isto, desenvolveu-se a noção de PI. Para isto, desenvolveu-se a noção de PI. Foram desenvolvidas duas formas de proceder a classificação: construir uma especificação do agente a partir da observação das suas ações e verificar se esta pertence ao conjunto pré-definido de papéis; e, verificar se o comportamento do agente confere com as execuções possíveis para algum dos papéis pré-definidos. Este mecanismo é mais adequado para sociedades abertas e tem boa precisão no resultado apresentado, porém, a identificação do papel de um agente pode ser demorada. iii) Identificação de papéis por reconhecimento de intenções em planos: este mecanismo baseia-se na existência de uma relação entre intenções e papéis. A partir das ações observadas para o agente, procura-se saber qual seu plano, sua intenção e, conseqüentemente, seu papel. Para isto foi implementado um procedimento de indução de planos. Este mecanismo também é adequado para sociedades abertas, no entanto, a identificação, embora satisfatória, nem sempre é completamente correta. Estes três mecanismos foram testados em simulações numa implementação da sociedade Produtor - Consumidor, onde puderam ser comprovadas as características de cada um. / Distributed Artificial Intelligence brings a number of new perspectives to Computing Science when heterogeneous, adaptative and evolutive systems, those under functioning and open, are taken into consideration. These systems, named societies, present these characteristics because they allow their components, named agents, to migrate within societies, that is, agents are allowed to enter and to leave societies. Agents' migration brings two kinds of problems to the migrating agent: language and interaction problems both related to the use of used expressions and to the way the interactions are organized in the new society; and, knowledge and performance problems refering to the way the agent will behave in order to accomplish exactly what society expects him to do. This work is limited to knowledge and performance problems. In order to cooperate and coordinate their actions, the society's agents need to learn about the capabilities, abilities wishes and plans of other agents. A great part of knowledge of others can be extracted from the social roles these agents can play. Therefore, the problem posed in this work is how social agents who has received an immigrating agent and the immigrating agent himself will know and learn one another's roles. Three role identification mechanisms, and the comparison between them and their adaptation to migration types as well are developed. The three mechanisms are the following: i) Role Identification by means of presentation protocol:a language of protocol description (LPD) and a specification of presentation protocol in this LPD are proposed. The agents who use this mechanism can rapidly identify each other, however they need know a number of 'local' social information, which can be very restrictive to the migrating agent. ii) Role identification by means of observation and classification: this solution tries to classify the observed agent as a role out of set of definite roles. In this set, the roles are described by means of interactional processes (IP). Therefore, the notion of IP was developed. Two ways to proceed the role classification were developed: to build the agent's especification departing from the observation of their actions and to check whether this especification belongs to a set of pre-defined roles; and to check whether the agent's behavior fits the possible executions to some predefined roles. This mechanism is more adequate to open societies and has good precision in the result presented, but, the agent's role identification can last longer. iii) Role Identification by means of intention and plans recognition: this mechanism is based on the existence of a relationship between intentions and roles. By departing from the agent's observed actions, his plan, intention, consequently, his role is recognized. Therefore an induced plan procedure was implemented. This mechanism is also adequate to open societies, however, the identification, though satisfactory, is not always totally correct. These three mechanisms were tested in simulated situations in a kind of Producer- Consumer Society implementation in which each one's characteristics could be verified.

以出生年份所定義的七年級生，因其富庶卻又嚴苛的生存條件而與草莓族形象疊合，形成獨一無二的「草莓世代」。筆者身為七年級生的一員，關注此世代從無到有、經由比較與召喚所被建構的過程。首先將勾勒出七年級生的成長背景，討論他們何以繼釣魚台世代之後被指認，並試圖指出其歷史意義；其次蒐集七年級生在財經企管雜誌中的相關表述，並置於時空脈絡中探討其形象如何被建構，及背後的論述形構。世代的建構與定義方式，從曼海姆與蕭阿勤的自我定義與實踐，消費社會中以行銷為本、針對年輕族群所貼的標籤，到「草莓世代」的勞動主體建構，反映不同的命名邏輯與社會脈絡。本研究發現，草莓世代中的「生產力論述」中出現了工作倫理轉向，從生產者社會的全景敞視規訓，轉化為消費者社會中具備彈性與動能、隨時召喚認同的生命治理模式：由內而外進行勞動主體的調理與改造，使之內化此規訓法則，進而成為個體化社會中自負盈虧、高度彈性的理想勞動力。 / Youths born in 1980s (The Post-80s) were raised rich yet faced relatively crucial living status when grown up, and thus were defined as unique "strawberry generation." As part of the youths, I concern the process that how the generation emerged by comparison and interpellation. First of all, the article illustrates social background in the 1980s, discussing why the Post-80s were identified as “strawberry generation” after the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands generation, and then points out the historical meaning behind. Secondly, I collected essays about the Post-80s in business magazines, analyzing how their images were constructed and the discursive formulation in temporal context. The ways that generations were constructed and defined were shifting from the self-definition/practice that Mannheim and A-chin Hsiau have discussed, labels on youths in terms of marketing strategy of consumer society, to the construction of labor subjectivity among "strawberry generation." Furthermore, the evolution reflects different naming logic as well as social context. In this research, I discover that there has been a work ethic turn in the "productivity discourses" of strawberry generation. It turns from the panoptical discipline of producer society to the flexible/dynamic biopolitics that may call for identification in consumer society. In terms of the biopolitics, it manages to convert labor subjects from the inside out, making them internalize the discipline rules and thus become ideal labor force who takes his/her own responsibility with higher mobility.