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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
41

Okay, Maybe You Are Your Khakis: Consumerism, Art, and Identity in American Culture

Bickerstaff, Meghan Triplett 12 August 2004 (has links)
No description available.
42

People of Hà Nội in the Bao Cấp Era : Everyday Life Under Vietnamese Socialist Rule, 1954-1986

Tran, Thi Lam Dien 28 November 2022 (has links)
"People of Hà Nội in the Bao Cấp Era: Everyday Life Under Vietnamese Socialist Rule, 1954-1986" explores the lived experiences of Hà Nội residents during the socialist era, also known as the Bao Cấp era. This thesis argues that life in Hà Nội under the central planning system - the bao cấp system - was a mix of negative and positive experiences, filled with paradoxes and unpredictable changes. Drawing on personal accounts and Vietnamese official publications, it investigates Hà Nội residents' shifting social realities, material conditions, and cultural practices. It suggests that how the residents navigated their realities were informed by, and simultaneously, informing the bao cấp system and larger ideological, political conditions. The thesis challenges conventional narratives and assumptions about socialism. It contributes to the history of Việt Nam and to the history of global socialist experiences.
43

A Utopian Failure: The One-Tonne Challenge, Climate Change and Consumer Conduct

Lait, Michael C. January 2009 (has links)
The object of this study is a program of government that has, as its immediate objective, the modification and regulation of consumer conduct deemed pertinent to climate change. Drawing from the analytical grid and conceptual tools of governmentality, this study has organized and analyzed an archive of documents related to the One-Tonne Challenge, a ‘public education’ program implemented by the Government of Canada from 2003 to 2006. There are numerous forms of conduct targeted by this program, involving many of the mundane and routine practices of everyday life. Despite their heterogeneity, the targeted forms of conduct can all be measured and evaluated according to the greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, an ecological technology of government that has had its application extended to the ‘personal’ level. As consumers increasingly engage in practices that are energy efficient, a ‘low intensity GHG emission lifestyle’ will emerge as a new societal norm, which is declared to be the ‘ultimate strategic objective’ of the program. The analysis indentifies and describes two rationalities of government articulated within the archive of the program. Liberal principles and assumptions regarding the market economy are ascendant in practice; they delimit the range of governmental techniques that can be put into operation by the state. Nevertheless, the objectives and technologies of this program belong to an ecological rationality of government. It problematizes the liberal emphasis on ‘voluntary action’ and advances state planning of the market economy through price formation as a necessary governmental technique with which to manipulate the demand for energy and ensure that consumers become energy-efficient. The conclusion interprets and diagnoses the main dangers that could arise from the radical transformation of the market economy that would be brought about by an ecological political reason.
44

The Fabricated Shopping Experience: An Impersonal Impression on Consumerism

Nienass, Sherri 01 January 2012 (has links)
I have a compulsion to document my surroundings. I do this in all forms possible; through a picture text-message, a point-and-shoot camera, or through a high end camera. Like most women in contemporary society, I feel an expectation to be gorgeous. While I do not feel this pressure directly from my boyfriend or close friends, I am constantly surrounded by advertisements for beauty products enforcing the importance of being attractive. My current occupation as a cosmetic counter makeup artist relies on convincing women to enhance their appearance. I am fascinated by how easily I can persuade clients to purchase unnecessary products. My art is both a celebration and commentary on the beauty industry and contemporary consumerism. My approach to this series is varied and complex. The individuals photographed are unaware of their participation in the creation of my work. I do not intend to exploit the subjects or places that I photograph, rather my work comes from a very natural understanding of this environment based on several years working in a major department store. I attempt to attach multiple emotions of - empathy, humor, and sometimes sympathy - to the moments I capture. My work is not fabricated or recreated, - it is documentary. I am aware of the times I live in, and the people that inhabit these times and places. Once documented, the captured moments in time can be reflected on from a multitude of perspectives at a later place and time. Because I also contribute to the general shopping and grooming experience, the details of these images come from a trained eye and attentive approach. I have chosen to write this thesis in an auto-biographical narrative because I play many roles. I am the retail specialist, the artist, the photographer, and the consumer.
45

Consumerism in the Digital Age: Motivations for College Women’s Fashion Purchases

Scott, Hannah January 2023 (has links)
Thesis advisor: Ali Kadivar / The fashion industry has historically used marketing to increase sales. Women are the primary consumers of clothing, and with the growth of social media, trends cycle more frequently. As women observe their peers and influencers on these platforms, they are encouraged to purchase more items even without viewing deliberate advertisements. However, current consumption patterns are not sustainable. The researcher conducted thirteen interviews with college women aged nineteen to twenty-two to understand their motivations for purchasing new clothing and what values informed their decisions. The hypothesis was that access to peers’ and influencers' fashion choices via social media catalyzed overspending. The environmental and social implications of the industry would only deter some individuals' habits. Other studies have used surveys to ask social media users how the platforms inform their consumption. However, this study adds to the literature by offering in-depth anecdotes of why people make purchases and how often they do so. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.
46

The Politics of Purchasing: Ethical Consumerism, Civic Engagement, and Political Participation in the United States

Katz, Meredith Ann 09 December 2011 (has links)
Although the United States is the world's leading consumer nation, limited empirical research exists on the relationship between consumer choices and political participation. This study provides the first quantitative analysis of the demographic characteristics, motivations, and political activities of political and ethical consumers in the United States. Ethical consumers are broadly defined as socially responsible consumers including the subset of political consumers. Political consumers, while also socially responsible, are primarily concerned with achievement of political or social change through purchasing decisions. While political and ethical consumers engage in similar behaviors, the distinguishing factor between the two is motivation. Participation in both political and ethical consumerism is measured through buycotting (intentionally purchasing) or boycotting (intentionally abstaining from purchasing) of particular products or companies. Based on data from the 2002 National Civic Engagement Survey II, this study finds income and education significantly predict participation in political and ethical consumerism, while race and gender do not. Across political parties, the stronger a respondents' political affiliation, the less likely they are to boycott or buycott. This study also finds the primary motivation of participation for 80 percent of boycotters and buycotters is altruistic (ethical consumerism) rather than the achievement of political objectives (political consumerism). Additionally, political and ethical consumers indicate little belief in the ability for their purchases to alter business practices and do not consider their actions a part of organized campaigns. Political and ethical consumers are politically active and individuals who contact public officials, protest, and sign email or written petitions are significantly more likely to boycott or buycott than those who do not. In lieu of these findings, suggestions are offered to consumer-activist groups and social change organizations concerning rationales of consumer motivation and political engagement in the hopes this information will be utilized to mobilize a broader base of citizen-consumers. / Ph. D.
47

Industrial Capitalism and the Company Town: Structural Power, Bio-Power, and Identity in Nineteenth-Century Fayette, Michigan

Cowie, Sarah E. January 2008 (has links)
This research explores the subtle distribution of power within early American industrial capitalism, as seen in the nineteenth-century company town of Fayette, Michigan. Research methods for the project include GIS-based analysis of the built environment and artifact patterns; the development of a historical ethnography for the town; and archaeological excavations of household refuse excavated from three class-based neighborhoods (an artifact database is attached to this document in CD format). Issues surrounding power and agency are explored in regard to three heuristic categories of power. In the first category, the company imposed a system of structural, class-based power that is most visible in hierarchical differences in pay and housing, as well as consumer behavior. A second category, bio-power, addresses disciplinary activities surrounding health and the human body. The class system extended to discrepancies in the company's regulation of employee health, as observed in medicinal artifacts, disposal patterns of industrial waste, incidence of intestinal parasites, and unequal access to healthcare. In addition, landscape analysis shows how the built environment served as a disciplinary technology to reinforce hegemonic and naturalized class divisions, to regenerate these divisions through symbolic violence and workers' daily practices, and to impose self-regulation. The third ensemble of power relations is pluralistic, heterarcical, and determined by personal identity (e.g., consumer behavior and gender). Individuals drew upon non-economic capital to bolster social status and express identity apart from the corporate hierarchy. This research explores the social impacts of our industrial heritage and the potential repercussions of industrialization today.
48

Negotiating the Middle: Interactions of Class, Gender and Consumerism Among the Middle-Class in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Higgins, Rylan G. January 2008 (has links)
This urban ethnography examines the everyday lives of young adults participating in middle-class culture in Ho Chi Minh City. My analysis illuminates the motivations and processes by which middle-class people create a social and moral middleness. Middleness refers both to the experiences of this group and to the cultural space wherein individuals perform their gender-specific, consumption-driven roles and negotiate identities as modern Vietnamese people. In attempting to understand precisely how social class functions and is experienced, my analysis focuses on how it relates to other processes of identity formation (i.e. gender and consumerism). Doing so also requires that I call attention to the uneven, unstable impacts of globalizing processes and the importance of performativity. By arguing that class is best understood as a socio-cultural process and by confronting the myth of global cultural homogenization, I reveal important insights about what it means to be middle-class in Ho Chi Minh City. Individual and group responses to the city's ever-changing consumer society show people carrying out their lives in social and cultural systems that are fundamentally unfinished.
49

Chick Lit and Its Canonical Forefathers: Anxieties About Female Subjectivity in Contemporary Women's Fiction

Gronewold, Laura January 2012 (has links)
This dissertation examines the anxieties that the contemporary genre of women’s fiction known as "chick lit" expresses about female sexuality, women and work, and the relationship between female identity and the global consumer marketplace. Furthermore, this project argues that chick lit can be productively traced to male-authored canonical texts that establish tropes and themes that chick lit novelists still grapple with at the turn of the twenty-first century. Chick lit heroines have benefitted from feminist progress, but they frequently participate in a backlash against the advances that empower them to pursue sexual pleasure outside marriage, find fulfilling careers, and challenge constructions of identity. Chapter 1 examines scholarship on constructions of gender and sexuality, affect theory, and Marxist theories. It also explores historical context through critiques of popular women writers. Chapter 2 argues that Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740) establishes the first-person confessional narrative voice and a sexualized secondary female character who is punished for her non-normative sexuality. Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) and Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada (2003) demonstrate that female sexuality must still be negotiated and contained in postfeminist culture. Chapter 3 explores how work contributes to female agency in literature. Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie (1900) depicts a heroine who successfully manages her gender, race, and class performances in order to thrive in an urban space, while Kate Reddy, from Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It (2002), must pass as a non-mother in order to participate in the affective economies that prevail in the gendered workplace. Chapter 4 analyzes the role of consumer culture in female subject formation in a capitalist material culture. In Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958) and Blake Edwards’s film version (1961), heroine Holly Golightly’s proximity to the luxury retailer legitimates her identity. But in Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic (2000), heroine Becky Bloomwood struggles against a shopping addiction and strives to define herself outside of the discourse of consumerism. Overall, this dissertation provides an important contribution to the conversation on women’s writing and contemporary identity formation because it addresses literary criticism, contemporary culture, and constructions of female subjectivity.
50

21st Century Zen Garden

Andrews, Allison Parker 01 January 2006 (has links)
This paper is a discussion of certain philosophical issues that have informed the progression of my work to date.

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