This thesis contributes primarily to answering two broad questions within the current scholarship on ‘everyday life’ in the Soviet Union: (1) How did Soviet citizens perceive, understand, and adapt to the 1930s? And (2) What were the principal associational structures of Soviet society in these years? These issues are not easily separated, with the second constituting a vital element of the first. They are therefore explored simultaneously in the first three chapters, which examine, respectively, the nature and possibilities of joke-telling in the 1930s; the principal targets of that humour; and, thirdly, its implicit assumptions, values and thematic proclivities. The fourth chapter concentrates on the structure and nature of sociability in the 1930s, and the final chapter incorporates those conclusions in order to address the larger question of how Soviet citizens came to understand and adapt to life in these years – for they did so together, rather than alone as old totalitarian theories of ‘atomisation’ proposed. The thesis makes two principal arguments. Firstly, all unofficial associational ties in this decade were necessarily underlaid by (and hence reliant upon) trust; therefore, the fundamental social unit in the 1930s was the trust group (small groups of citizens bound together by trust). Secondly, citizens adapted to the 1930s via an intricate blend of acceptance and criticism or, rather, of acceptance through the process of criticism. By criticising that which could not be changed, ‘ordinary’ Soviet citizens could retain some agency of their own and shared these interpretive acts with those whom they trusted. Rather than forming a critical ‘resistance’ or ‘dissent’, these processes created a pathway to adaptation without becoming simply crushed or brainwashed by ideology, and simultaneously shaped a complex, mutually affective interaction between popular values and official ideology.

Narrative journalism has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in mainstream daily newspapers in the United States during the last decade. This popularity has encouraged many journalistic experts to proclaim that narrative journalism is well-liked by readers and may well become the savior of daily newspapering. This study attempts to determine reader preferences in four areas : appeal, believability, comprehension, and retention.

本論文在引介並評析德國社會學家諾爾紐曼（Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann）的「沉默 螺旋論」（the Theory of the Spiral of Silence ）。全文凡五萬餘字，共分六章 、廿三節，各章大要如次： 第一章，緒論：說明本研究動機，臚列研究問題，並略述研究方法和限制。 第二章，螺旋論：介紹此理論的概念和變項，在民意、傳播與社會理論領域所衍生的 假設及主要代表模式；界定應用範圍並依理論特質予以定位；摘要諾氏檢驗此理論所 作的研究。 第三章，沉默螺旋論溯源：據諾氏對此理論由來的說明並藉墨頓（R.K.Merton）研究 社會學理論史的方法，來追溯螺旋論的源流。 第四章，沉默螺旋之沉默與迴響：摘要其他學者所作的有關研究；分別述析此理論引 起的共鳴、所面臨的挑戰以及諾氏的回應。 第五章，沉默螺旋「典範」：簡介孔思（Thomass Kunn）的自然科學沿革結構；比較沉默螺旋論發展歷程與此結構之異同；沉默螺旋論 蔚為典範之理由。 第六章，結論：以科學哲學的角度總評沉默螺旋論之得失；建議未來研究的方向。

The research undertakes a critical study of informal fallacies in some socio-political and religious discourses in Ghana. It clearly and aptly demonstrates that the aforementioned discourses are mostly, if not, always laced with fallacies which obscure and distort clear and critical thinking. The study shows that language, which is the fundamental means by which to engage in socio-political discourse, can be viewed as a complicated tool which is open to misuse and abuse. It shows that language used in socio-political discourses is more often than not utilized poorly, and as such assertions and appeals can be confused with factual/logical inaccuracies. Statements can be formulated in ways that make their content dangerously vague, ambiguous or generally misleading. The research shows that although fallacies can be committed intentionally or unintentionally, in discourses in general, they are mostly, if not always, committed intentionally in socio-political discourse so as to achieve political gains and agenda. Another area of discourse that is tackled in this work where fallacies frequently occur is the religious sector. The study notes that matters of religion are mostly matters that are delicate to handle as these matters are mostly, again if not always, based on faith. It is shown herein that many a time, religious personalities use fallacious as means to drive their religious agenda across. The research then looks at what these aforementioned fallacies imply in relation to socio-political and religious discourses. It proceeds to discuss the positive implications of fallacies before it progresses to the negative implications of same. It then asks how a fallacy will be beneficial to a person and or how it will disadvantage the same person. If fallacies often occur in socio-political and religious discourses, then one must have the ability to detect these fallacies and try to avoid them. The work discusses how to detect fallacies and how to avoid them. It makes bold claims that if one has knowledge about fallacies then one will be able to avoid them. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / Ph. D. (Philosophy)