This thesis presents the results of an exploratory study aimed at developing an understanding of Canadian Forces demographics and linking those demographics to current bodies of sociological theory. The background and literature review provide a starting point for sociological analysis; the study begins with a detailed review of existing literature in Canadian and United States military sociology, utilizing an exploratory approach that incorporates key elements from Bourdieus concepts of field and habitus, Habermass lifeworld and structure, and Giddenss notion of structuration. Once the key sociological theories are isolated, research methods and methodologies are developed. Data are collected from the 2006 Canada Census and the demographics of Canadian Forces members are explored through a logistic regression model. Data are interpreted within a sociological framework based on an integration of select theories from Bourdieu, Habermas and Giddens. This research identifies weak relationships between demographic characteristics and CF membership, along with socioeconomic factors and Canadian Forces membership. The completed research provides a starting point for future analyses in Canadian military sociology. Given that demographic and socioeconomic factors demonstrate weak correlation with Canadian Forces membership, future studies can focus on the motivations of Canadian Forces members knowing that background characteristics do not predetermine service. Although the Canadian Forces is primarily composed of Caucasian males, this accounts for only a small portion of variance in the Canadian Forces membership variable.

El objetivo de esta tesis doctoral consiste en analizar de manera exhaustiva el concepto de sociedad civil en la obra de Keane. Un estudio que pretende mostrar la potencialidad de la propuesta de sociedad civil de este autor que, ampliamente entendida en la definición de su espacio y de sus actores, ha destacado el papel central de los medios de comunicación en el modelo de democracia monitorizada. Un modelo democrático que se constituye fruto del creciente contrapoder adquirido por una sociedad civil que se consolida, en parte, por las oportunidades brindadas desde la nueva galaxia mediática. El estudio de la propuesta de sociedad civil en la obra de Keane se centra en los debates contemporáneos básicos que rodean al ambiguo concepto de sociedad civil, y concretamente en la definición del espacio que comprende y de los principios normativos que la caracterizan. De esta forma, se argumenta que si bien en la primera cuestión Keane ofrece un posicionamiento plausible, su propuesta deja de lado la segunda cuestión. Una limitación que lleva recurrir a la obra de Habermas para establecer un diálogo teórico entre ambos autores y plantear, así, un modelo normativo de sociedad civil amplio en su comprensión y con un horizonte crítico definido y centrado no sólo hacia el Estado sino también hacia sus propias estructuras internas.

À la base de ce travail se trouve la problématique de la place et du rôle de la religion dans l'espace public des sociétés occidentales contemporaines. Son but est de dégager des propositions qui permettront d'adapter le politique, c'est-à-dire les institutions publiques et le comportement des citoyens, à la pluralité des doctrines englobantes et des conceptions du bien qui caractérise le monde d'aujourd'hui. Et cela, tout en honorant l'ensemble des valeurs et des principes libéraux et démocratiques, à commencer par l'égalité fondamentale entre les personnes et la liberté de conscience et de religion. L'objectif général est donc de définir le sens et la forme de cette composante essentielle de toute démocratie libérale qu'est la laïcité. Étant donné sa nature normative, ce problème est abordé sous l'angle des théories normatives en philosophie morale et politique contemporaine. Il s'agit de dégager et d'analyser la conceptualisation de la laïcité présente dans l'œuvre du philosophe allemand Jürgen Habermas (1929-), plus précisément d'extraire de sa théorie de la religion et de sa théorie politique les principes constitutifs de la laïcité. Cela comprend en outre la détermination des conditions et des moyens de leur application. La religion pouvant s'insérer dans l'espace public selon deux modalités, le problème central de cette recherche se divise en deux questions. La première est celle de la mobilisation des ressources normatives de la religion pour l'orientation de la vie collective ; la seconde celle de la reconnaissance des particularismes religieux. Elle consiste donc à expliquer les réponses que leur apporte, directement ou indirectement, Habermas, de même qu'à vérifier leur force, leur validité et leur cohérence. Pour ce faire, est mise à contribution l'analyse des propositions d'autres penseurs de la religion, du social et du politique. Les propos de Habermas sont particulièrement mis en parallèle avec ceux de deux grands représentants du libéralisme politique contemporain, John Rawls et Will Kymlicka, et de Charles Taylor, un éminent représentant du communautarisme. Ce travail se divise donc en trois grandes parties. La première porte sur le concept de religion chez Habermas. Y est étudié le tournant qu'a connu la pensée habermassienne sur la religion au cours des deux dernières décennies, lequel consiste en une valorisation du potentiel sémantico-normatif de la religion en modernité. La seconde concerne l'articulation de la religion avec la raison publique. La troisième a trait à l'aménagement politique de la diversité religieuse. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : citoyenneté, démocratie, démocratie délibérative, espace public, laïcité, libéralisme politique, multiculturalisme, raison publique, religion, Habermas, Kymlicka, Rawls, Taylor

This thesis presents the results of an exploratory study aimed at developing an understanding of Canadian Forces demographics and linking those demographics to current bodies of sociological theory. The background and literature review provide a starting point for sociological analysis; the study begins with a detailed review of existing literature in Canadian and United States military sociology, utilizing an exploratory approach that incorporates key elements from Bourdieus concepts of field and habitus, Habermass lifeworld and structure, and Giddenss notion of structuration. Once the key sociological theories are isolated, research methods and methodologies are developed. Data are collected from the 2006 Canada Census and the demographics of Canadian Forces members are explored through a logistic regression model. Data are interpreted within a sociological framework based on an integration of select theories from Bourdieu, Habermas and Giddens. This research identifies weak relationships between demographic characteristics and CF membership, along with socioeconomic factors and Canadian Forces membership. The completed research provides a starting point for future analyses in Canadian military sociology. Given that demographic and socioeconomic factors demonstrate weak correlation with Canadian Forces membership, future studies can focus on the motivations of Canadian Forces members knowing that background characteristics do not predetermine service. Although the Canadian Forces is primarily composed of Caucasian males, this accounts for only a small portion of variance in the Canadian Forces membership variable.

本文所要處理的問題為：「公共」的內容究竟為何？以及在福利國家的脈絡下公私之間如何互相滲透？本文採用Naomi Pfeffer與G. Majone的見解，將福利國家分為命令與控制型模式(command and control model)與規制型國家(regulatory state)。而這二種模式的差異可以由統治(government)和治理(governance)兩字得到說明，前者與命令與控制型相關，後者則與規制型相關。而所謂「治理」之概念，即一種國家權力向社會回歸的現象。本文以哈伯瑪斯《公共領域的結構轉型》為理論背景，探討現代國家職能由福利國家的興起與轉型之國家與社會關係與公私融合的過程。 / The main purposes of this thesis are: (1) discuss the transformation of the relationship of state and society under the process of “‘societalization’ of the state” and “‘stateification’ of society” through the rise and transformation of the welfare state; (2) examine the theories of “publicness”, “public/private distinction”, and the phenomena of “public-private mix” to study the mutual relation between the public and the private; (3) review and criticize the selected public policy. The public/private distinction has declined under the welfare state nowadays. On the topic of welfare state, this thesis applies the opinions of Naomi Pfeffer and G. Majone that divide the welfare state into the command and control model and the regulatory state. The words “government” and “governance” could interpret the difference of these two kinds of patterns: the former is relative to the command and control model, while the latter is relative to the regulatory state. In addition, the conception of “governance” indicates the process of authority returns from the state to the society. On the topic of public/private relation, this thesis adopts the theories of Jürgen Habermas in his book: The Structure Transformation of Public Sphere, through his ideas of public sphere and its relation among the intimate sphere and the state to explore the relation between the state and society. In practice, this thesis takes the case of turning the national university into the corporation (juridical person) in Taiwan, and introduces to the theories discussed above: see the university as a public sphere and its reform as the transformation of welfare state.

In an accelerating Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) environment, academic libraries’ catalogs have always been part of students’ and faculty members journey of resources discovery. The master thesis intents to focus its interest in Information Systems (IS) ground related to the implementation of a new search engine at the University of Piraeus Library. The Library wants to change the search features of its traditional online services and to implement a new discover tool with Web 2.0 characteristics. The aim of this master thesis is to investigate users’ views and desires interest according to their scholarly needs and expectations about VuFind in order to facilitate the Library to customize the integration. Therefore, critical systems theory will be employed for “therapeutic” reasons to enlighten the Library’s users about their current situation. Qualitative analysis is expected to recognize discrimination against traditional Library’s search engines. Qualitative data of the user impression and reaction when operate with the VuFind interface will lead to recommendations for enhancement and improvements. Findings will assist implementers to modify the discovery layer by meeting users’ needs of the academia community. The research will collect data through qualitative method on how participants operate with the VuFind search engine merging librarians’ professional views and users’ expectations and propositions. Participatory Design (PD) will be built upon Future Workshop method.

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This thesis both draws from and contributes to the ongoing project of critiquing and reconstructing the theory of the public sphere; an undertaking that has been characterised as both valuable and necessary by Fraser (2005: 2) and many others. The subsection of theory variously described as ‘postmodern’, ‘radical’, or ‘agonistic’ informs an intensive practical and theoretical critique of the pre- and post-‘linguistic turn’ iterations of the Habermasian ideal, before culminating in the articulation of a concise and operationalisable ‘neo-Habermasian’ public sphere ideal. This revised model retains the Habermasian public sphere as its core, but expands and sensitizes it, moving away from normative preoccupations with decision-making in order to effectively comprehend issues of power and difference, and to allow publicness “to navigate through wider and wilder territory” (Ryan, 1992: 286). This theoretical framework is then mobilised through a critical discourse analytical approach, exploring three cases of hacktivist counterpublicity, and revealing the emergence of a multivalent, multimodal discourse genre capable of threatening and fracturing hegemony. The case studies are selected using Samuel’s (2004) taxonomy of hacktivism, and explore the ‘political coding’ group, Hacktivismo; the Creative Freedom Foundation and the ‘performative hacktivism’ of their New Zealand Internet Blackout; and the ‘political cracking’ operations carried out by Anonymous in protest against the Australian government’s proposed Internet filter. The analysis focuses on how the discursive form and content of hacktivism combines to function counterhegemonically; that is, how hacktivists work to provoke widespread political preference reflection and fracture the hegemony of the publics they are oriented against. This approach generates a fruitful feedback loop between theory and empirical data, in that it enriches and extends our understanding of new modes of counterpublicity, as well as providing a detailed account of the under-researched yet increasingly widespread phenomenon of hacktivism.

Diskusijoje, vykusioje tarp Gadamer ir Habermas, socialinių mokslų ir tradicijos kontekstuose buvo nagrinėjami kalbos, istorijos ir supratimo ribų bei universalumo klausimai. Šioje diskusijoje dalyviai filosofiškai sprendžia pažinimo partikuliarumo ir istoriškumo problemas. Filosofinė hermeneutika, kaip universali žmogiškojo supratimo teorija, ir socialinė kritinė teorija, kaip disciplina, išlaisvinanti visuomenę nuo prievartos, supriešina savo pozicijas dėl supratimo ribų ir universalumo. Darbe išryškinamas ir nagrinėjamas svarbiausios hermeneutinės filosofijos ir socialinės kritinės teorijos sampratos. Diskusijos tarp Gadamer ir Habermas epicentre yra žmogiškojo pažinimo universalumo klausimas. Šios diskusijos pagrindą sudaro šešių kategorijų priešprieša: trijų Gadamer – dialogas, tradicija ir horizontų susiliejimas, ir trijų Habermas – komunikacinio veiksmo, gyvenimiško pasaulio ir idealios kalbinės situacijos. 1. Centrinis Gadamer filosofinės hermeneutikos klausimas – kalbinio ir istorinio supratimo universalumas, kuris traktuojamas kaip dialogo, tradicijos ir horizontų susiliejimo dialektika. Gadamer, sistemingai tirdamas objekto ir subjekto priklausymą istorijai, plėtoja universalaus, kalbiškai įtarpinto, istorinio supratimo galimybes. 2. Centrinis Habermas epistemologijos klausimas yra pamatinių kalbinio ir istorinio pažinimo principų universalumas, kuris įvardinamas komunikacinio veiksmo, gyvenimiško pasaulio ir idealios kalbinės dialektikos sampratomis. Habermas... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Problems of language, history and understanding have been approached in discussion between Gadamer and Habermas, in the context social sciences and tradition. The participants have philosophically analysed problems of particularity and historicity of understanding. Philosophical hermeneutics, as universal theory of human reason, and social critical theory, as a discipline which emancipate society from violence, contra positioned their positions on understanding limits and universality. This contraposition of main concepts of hermeneutical philosophy and social critical theory were highlighted in this research. There is a question of universality of human reason in epicentre of discussion between Gadamer and Habermas. Basis of the discussion consist of contraposition of six categories: three of Gadamer – dialogue, tradition and fusion of horizons and three of Habermas – communicative action, living world and ideal speech situation. 1. Universality of linguistic and historic understanding are the main questions of Gadamer philosophical hermeneutics. This universality is treated as dialectic of dialogue, tradition and fusion of horizon. Gadamer systematically inquired dependence of object and subject to the history and developed possibilities for universal, linguistically mediated, historical understanding. 2. Main question of Habermas epistemology is the question of universality of linguistic and historic principles. This problem is expressed in conceptions of communicative... [to full text]

The topic of this study is one specific area where the tension between instrumental rationality and value rationality becomes prominent: the question whether we have a rational responsibility for nature or not. Such a responsibility cannot be derived from instrumental reason, but it is argued that it can be derived from discourse ethics and communicative rationality. The study begins with an examination of Georg-Henrik von Wright's cultural criticism. It is argued that his subjectivist view of values limits reason to the realm of instrumental rationality. Horkheimer and Adorno's theory of instrumental reason is examined. They claim that instrumental reason, through the negative dialectics of the enlightenment, have created a vacuum with regard to values. Marcuse's anthropological solution to the problem of values, and his theory of an emancipatory science and technology, are examined and rejected as Utopian. The philosophy of Jürgen Habermas is examined, and it is shown how he solves the problem of his predecessors through the dual framework of work and interaction. His hypothesis of three knowledge- constitutive interests is analyzed, and it is concluded that a general theory of communication is needed in order to solve the problem of value rationality. It is shown how Habermas later theory of communicative rationality and discourse ethics overcomes the shortcomings of his earlier theory. It is argued, among other things, that his theory of communicative rationality is compatible with a correspondence theory of truth, ontological realism and epistemological fallibilism. Discourse ethics makes a rational discussion of values and norms possible. It is argued that it solves the problem of value rationality, but without providing a definition of the good or the right. It is shown that revisabilty is an important part of discourse ethics. This is manifested in the hypothetical status of discourse ethics, and in the revisability of the norms proposed. It is argued that we are in fact able to rationally propose a norm, which demands responsibility for nature within the framework of communicative rationality and discourse ethics, although such a norm must be the result of the outcome of a rational discourse and is itself, revisable. / digitalisering@umu