Les recherches qui analysent le phénomène de la fiction sont innombrables, mais rares sont celles qui l'abordent à partir du large spectre de ce que les sujets-acteurs ordinaires désignent et qualifient eux-mêmes, dans le contexte de leurs vies quotidiennes, comme étant fictionnel ou en tant que fiction. Le point de départ de cette thèse se situe précisément dans cette perspective, mais plus spécifiquement dans le cadre des connaissances de sens commun — univers des représentations subjectives et intersubjectives stabilisées dans le langage — que les sujets-acteurs ordinaires possèdent sur ce qu'ils appellent fiction, pour à partir de celles-ci articuler une compréhension sociologique(constructiviste et phénoméno-compréhensive) du sens, et de la signification, que ces sujets-acteurs confèrent à ce type d'expériences vécues dans le contexte de leurs vies de tous les jours.Dans le cadre de leurs connaissances ordinaires, ou connaissances de sens commun, ce que les sujets-acteurs désignent et signifient comme étant fictionnel — ou en tant que fiction —, dépasse largement le domaine des arts — tels que le cinéma, la littérature, ou le théâtre —, et avant de relever exclusivement de celui-ci, mais bien sûr en l'incluant, il se réfère davantage à un large spectre de situations ludiques que les sujets-acteurs connotent comme fictionnelles, un type d'expériences vécues ayant des caractéristiques fort particulières. Dans le cadre de ce type d’expériences les sujets-acteurs élaborent des représentations qu'ils savent être “fausses”, ils communiquent à d'autres des informations qui se présentent comme si elles portaient sur des choses réelles alors qu'elles sont tout bonnement inventées, ou encore ils s’intéressent à des récits, à des représentations visuelles ou à des actions dont ils savent qu'il s'agit de “semblants”. Dans ce sens, l'étendue de ce type de situations inclut ce que traditionnellement — et institutionnellement— on désigne comme fiction, c'est-à-dire les expériences vécues des sujets-acteurs avec des fictions artistiques — où une œuvre d'art met en scène un univers imaginaire —, tels que lire un roman ou regarder un film de fiction. Néanmoins, ce type de situations comprend aussi un genre d'expériences que les sujets-acteurs ordinaires articulent et signifient à partir d'une opposition ludique face à ce qu'ils désignent comme étant la réalité pour de vrai, ce que les traditions savantes de la fiction auraient un peu plus de mal à cataloguer directement en tant que fictionnelles, mais que dans le contexte d'une démarche sociologique phénoméno-compréhensive nous pourrions apparenter à ce qu'Alfred Schütz désignait comme les mondes de l'imagination et les phantasmes, tel que par exemple les expériences de rêveries éveillées, mais surtout celles de jeux-de-faire-semblant (appelés aussi jeux de faire-comme-si), et que nous pourrions apparenter également aux modalisations ou cadres transformés de la microsociologie d'Erving Goffman. Dans ce panorama, où au premier abord on pourrait penser que cette synonymie utilisée par les sujets-acteurs ordinaires, pour se référer à ces deux types de phénomènes en tant que fictions (les fictions artistiques institutionnalisées d'un côté, les expériences fictionnelles ludiques de l'autre), pourrait être totalement aléatoire et même équivoque, est — bien au contraire — la piste fondamentale et le point de départ à partir duquel s'articule cette recherche doctorale, par laquelle nous cherchons à comprendre le cœur significatif et constitutif de la fiction en tant qu'expérience vécue par des sujets-acteurs ordinaires. / Research analyzing the phenomenon of fiction is countless, but rare is the one that approaches it from the broad spectrum of what the ordinary subjects-actors name and qualify themselves, in the context of their daily lives, as being fictional or as a fiction. The starting point of this thesis lies precisely in this perspective, but more specifically in the context of commonsense knowledge — universe of the stabilized subjective and inter-subjective representations within the language — that the ordinary subjects-actors have on what they call fiction, in order to articulate from these a (constructivist and phenomenological) sociological understanding of the meaning, and the significance that these subjects-actors confer to this type of experience in the context of their daily lives.In the context of their ordinary knowledge, or commonsense knowledge, what subjects-actors name and signify as fictional — or as fiction —, goes far beyond the field of arts - such as cinema, literature, or theatre - and before highlighting exclusively this, while including it of course, it refers more to a broad spectrum of playful situations that subjects-actors connote as fictional, a type of experience with very particular characteristics. In the context of this type of experiments, the subjects-actors develop representations of which they know that these are "false", they communicate to others information that is being presented as if it concerned real things while these are simply invented or they are interested in stories, in visual representations or in actions of which they know that these are "semblances". In this sense, the extent of these kinds of situations include that what traditionally — and institutionally— is named as fiction, that is to say the experiences of subjects-actors with artistic fictions — where a work of art depicts an imaginary world —, such as reading a novel or watching a fiction film. However, such situations also include a kind of experience that ordinary subjects-actors articulate and signify from a playful opposition at what they refer to as reality for real, that scholarly traditions of the fiction have a little more difficulty to catalog directly as fictional, but in the context of a comprehensive phenomenological-sociological approach we might resemble to what Alfred Schütz named as the worlds of imagination and phantasms, such as for example the experiences of daydreaming, but above all those of Make-believe Games (also called Pretend Plays), and that we also could resemble to modalizations or transformed frames found in Erving Goffman's microsociology. In this panorama, which at first glance one might think that this synonym used by ordinary subjects-actors, in order to refer to these two types of phenomena as fictions (the institutionalized artistic fictions on one side, the fictional playful experiences on the other hand), could be totally random and even ambiguous, is - quite the contrary - the fundamental way and the starting point from which articulates this doctoral research through which we seek to understand the significant and constitutive heart of fiction as experienced by the ordinary subjects/actors.

The prevailing discourse of “resistance vs. acceptance” in IT implementation research mostly personalizes the issue as “users” versus IT implementers (e.g., managers, CIOs, CMIOs, etc.). This kind of discourse has created an IT-implementer-centric attitude among IS scholars and practitioners. The IT-implementer-centric attitude, while embraces “acceptance” as a desirable reaction almost unconditionally, frequently holds for minimizing or more conservatively suppressing “resistance” to IT implementation. In other words, the mainstream IT implementation research, almost completely, treats “users” as passive recipients whose choices, as they face pre-developed/pre-designed/pre-rolled-out technology being implemented, can only be defined on a spectrum from “acceptance” to “resistance.” The current research study, however, offers an alternative perspective that views the “resistance vs. acceptance” duality “from the other side,” i.e., from the perspective of the supposed “resistors” or “acceptors” themselves. Through a review of the literature, this study first identifies major drawbacks of the extant theories and models of IT implementation research. Next, drawing on an interpretive paradigm of research (more specifically, phenomenological sociology), this study investigates a real world case of healthcare IT implementation. The results of the aforementioned literature review and case investigation subsequently form the basis for the study’s proposed theoretical account, which provides an unprecedented understanding and explanation of how actors representing different stakeholder groups, among which people who are routinely called “users” are but one group, experience IT implementation as they live their everyday lives. The proposed theoretical account is lastly used as a guide for crafting both practical and research prescriptions with respect to managing IT-involved change occasions.

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

The effectiveness of most parent education classed is measured by changes in the child. While all programs are developed from psychological theory, and have been evaluated by research, SES and cultural aspects of the undividual have been given little attention. Since public law has recognized the incidence of child abuse and neglect, large numbers of families are required to attend parent education classes. At the same time, research indicates no particular program is more effective than another.

This study was influenced by two sociological theories namely: Durkheim’s Structural Functionalism and Relativism. In terms of Durkheim’s Structural Functionalism, I claim that the aspects of social structures, cultural norms and values, which are among its main components, are also among the main components of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). In line with Relativism, this study argues against Durkheim’s claim that social structures, and cultural norms and values determine human choices and behaviour. It is claimed that in line with my understanding of IKS in this study social structures, cultural norms and values are relative aspects, because they change and differ from context to context even if their carriers are the same, and human choice in different times and places play a vital role in determining decisions. These theories have been applied practically by examining the relationship between Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and good governance. The study asserts that IKS has the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of policies at the local municipality level. Thus, the study has sought to understand the extent to which IKS is incorporated in the policy development and implementation at the local municipality level. This investigation has been undertaken in the thematic context of HIV/AIDS. I investigated the extent to which IKS is incorporated into policy development and implementation related to HIV/AIDS at the local municipality level. The study has argued that the extent to which IKS is appropriated into policy development and implementation relies on the power dynamics between the provincial and national spheres of government on the one hand, and the local municipality leaders and officials on the other. The study has found that local municipality leaders and officials have a strong affinity to the IKS due to their proximity to the local citizens. But, political leaders at the national and provincial spheres of the South African government exert influence on the local municipality leaders and officials to exercise their power with limited response to the IKS needs of the local communities. / Sociology / D. Phil. (Sociology)