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Consider the following Hegelian idea: It is important that we be at home in the social world, and it is deeply problematic if we are not. In this dissertation, I employ concepts of contemporary vintage to specify the meaning of the Hegelian notions of the social world, being at home in the social world, and being alienated from it. I also explicate the value of being at home in one's world and the conditions under which being at home in this manner is possible. This dissertation proceeds in six chapters. In the first chapter, I describe the social world as comprising social institutions and social roles. I argue that being at home in the social world entails identifying with one's roles and institutions. In the second chapter, I argue that an agent realizes the values of meaning and self-determination through pursuing her social roles. Thus, the value of being at home in the social world is that when the world is a home and one perceives it to be such, one can realize the values of meaning and self-determination through participating in its institutions. Moreover, I argue that when one identifies with one's role one thereby has a further weighty reason to conform to the duties that constitute the role--namely, by so doing one achieves the goods of meaning and self-determination. In chapters three through five, I consider whether it is possible to identify with and experience roles characterized by authority structures as homes. Chapters three and four specify the notion of an authority structure. In chapter five, I enumerate the conditions under which an agent can be at home in an authority-claiming institution. In short, I argue that the key conditions are that the institution's authority is justified and that the agent identifies with the institution and her role within it. Finally, in chapter six I develop an implication of chapter four's discussion of authority for the debate in analytic jurisprudence between the proponents of exclusive and inclusive legal positivism. In short, this discussion supports inclusive legal positivism and weighs against exclusive legal positivism.

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Using a social constructionist perspective, this thesis explores the development of the concepts of “parental alienation syndrome” and “false allegations” in the context of custody and access, as ‘social problems’. Following Joel Best’s framework for critically analysing social problems, it examines the life course of these concepts through an historical account of Canada’s divorce arena and recent changes to custody and access law. It analyzes the reasoning and motives of the major claimsmakers: the Fathers’ Right Movement, medical experts, the legal arena and the counter-claims of Feminist activists. It examines the role of the supervised access facilitator in the construction of the concepts as ‘social problems’. The theories of psychiatrist Richard Gardner are examined in particular, due to their pivotal role in the advancement of the claimsmakers’ goals. Finally, empirical studies are reviewed and analyzed, demonstrating how the concepts of “parental alienation syndrome” and “false allegations” have mutated and permeated the domain of divorce and access in Western society. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-04 11:36:28.395

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In this Research Document I would attempt to quantify the degree of Cultural Alienation that fellow South Africans (from the major ethnic, racial and religious groupings) experience when they embrace Islam. A secondary objective would be to quantify the degree to which one 's worldview changes (views on the Middle East conflict, America and the West and South African politics) on embracing Islam. I will attempt to do so by employing both qualitative and quantitative methods in the Research process. Questions such as: is culture a separate entity from religion and if so what is the difference? What are the ingredients that comprise this concept we call culture? I will also look at the theoretical and theological arguments surrounding these issues in Islam from its original sources and scholars. A survey will be conducted by way of a questionnaire, with reverts to Islam, to establish the degree of their alienation with regard to food, dress, Arabic as a language, rejection from family and friends and views on the Middle East conflict, USA and the West and South African politics. Since all data collected will be analysed according to acceptable statistical methods, it will be assumed that the average results obtained would be a good indicator of the degree of cultural alienation a fellow South African (from a particular ethnic / cultural group) would have to undergo when contemplating embracing Islam. The Research findings indicate that cultural alienation does indeed take place when someone embraces Islam, but that it varies and is dependent on both individual, external and cultural factors . The Research findings also show that in the case of reversion to Islam, changes in one's worldview also take place, the extent of which is dependent once again on individual and external factors . One of the main findings of the research is that there is no specific quantum percentage with regard to the extent of cultural alienation for any given individual embracing Islam, as there are many variables. There are however, general trends and patterns, which do provide helpful guidelines for someone contemplating embracing Islam. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

The developing discipline of Food Crime requires the analysis of food safety responsibility from a critical structural perspective. Analyzing the Canadian dairy industry, this project seeks to answer how the legal definition of food safety impacts the production practices of farmers, and where farmers place the burden of food safety responsibility, while partially testing institutional anomie theory. A legal discourse analysis of food safety law in Canada is performed to contextualize individual interviews with six active family-farmers in rural southern Ontario in order to determine how dairy farmers experience food safety legislation. As hypothesized, farmers experience food safety law through forms of disempowerment and alienation involving dairy production products, leading to a partial displacement of responsibility for safe food. The ideas of institutional anomie theory were insignificant or inconclusive for these case studies. More research is required to determine potential policy implications concerning the safety of Canadian food.

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Thesis (Ph.D) -- Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1999. / Adviser: Scott Thompson. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 292-304). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;