The study of intra-state conflict has increased exponentially during the post-Cold War period. This has given rise to a variety of competing approaches, which have (i) adopted differing methodological and social theoretical orientations, and (ii) produced contradictory accounts of the causes and nature of violent conflict. This project intervenes in the debates which have resulted from this situation, and develops a critical realist approach to conflict studies. In doing so it rethinks the discipline from the philosophical ground up, by extending the ontological and epistemological insights which are provided by critical realism into more concrete reflections about methodological and social theoretical issues. In addition to engaging in reflection about philosophical, methodological, and social theoretical issues, however, the project also incorporates the insights of two largely neglected literatures into conflict studies. These are, first, the insights of the gender-studies literature, and second, the insights of decolonial/postcolonial forms of thought. It claims that the discipline is strengthened by incorporating the insights of these literatures, and that the critical realist framework provides us with the philosophical basis which is required in order to do so.

This thesis presents an ethnographic study of the role of users in user-centered design. It is written from the perspective of science and technology studies, in particular developments in actor-network theory, and draws on the notion of the assemblage from the work of Deleuze and Guattari. The data for this thesis derives from a six-month field study of the routine discourse and practices of user-centered designers working for a multinational microprocessor manufacturer. The central argument of this thesis is that users are assembled along with the new technologies whose design they resource, as well as with new configurations of socio-cultural life that they bring into view. Informing this argument are two interrelated insights. First, user-centered and participatory design processes involve interminglings of human and non-human actors. Second, users are occasioned in such processes as sociotechnical assemblages. Accordingly, this thesis: (1) reviews how the user is variously applied as a practico-theoretical concern within human-computer interaction (HCI) and as an object of analysis within the sociology and history of technology; (2) outlines a methodology for studying users variously enacted within design practice; (3) examines how a non-user is constructed and re-constructed during the development of a diabetes related technology; (4) examines how designers accomplish user-involvement by way of a gendered persona; (5) examines how the making of a technology for people suffering from obesity included multiple users that served to format the designers’ immediate practical concerns, as well as the management of future expectations; (6) examines how users serve as a means for conducting ethnography-in-design. The thesis concludes with a theoretically informed reflection on user assemblages as devices that: do representation; resource designers’ socio-material management of futures; perform modalities of scale associated with technological and product development; and mediate different forms of accountability.

The number of children living in the context of relative poverty in western industrialized countries is increasing, while at the same time a little amount of research is conducted about the impact of relative poverty on the child’s participation and development; focused on the socio-emotional development. This systematic literature review therefore investigates the impact of environmental factors, focused mainly on structural factors, in poverty settings in western industrialized countries on children´s peer relations. The focus will be laid on children´s participation in peer relations in school activities.  Current literature published from 2012 or more recent was searched and results found were linked to theories. The findings of the articles covered several environmental aspects regarding the impact of poverty on the child and its peer relations. The results, in relation to theories, show the interwoven influences of several factors and environments. They indicate the big influence poverty has on several aspects of the child´s life. Both in this systematic literature review researched hypotheses – that the poverty setting influences the child´s development negatively and that the child shows difficulties to develop and participate in positive peer relations - can be confirmed. Future research should aim at generating knowledge about the impact of relative poverty on the child´s development and perceptions of holistic wellbeing. This is necessary to enhance the understanding of the impact of relative poverty on the child´s participation.

Das Thema dieser Dissertation ist die Anwendung des „Matching Law” als Verhaltensannahme bei der Erklärung sozialer Phänomene. Das „Matching Law” ist ein Modell der behavioristischen Lerntheorie und sagt aus, dass die relative Häufigkeit der Wahl einer Handlung mit der relativen Häufigkeit der Belohnung dieser Handlung übereinstimmt. In der Dissertation werden verschiedene Probleme in Bezug auf die soziologische Anwendung des „Matching Law” erörtert. Aufbauend auf diesen Erkenntnissen wird das Entsprechungsgesetz in die ökonomische Entscheidungstheorie integriert und mit bestehenden Verhaltensprognosen theoretisch verglichen. Anschließend wird das Entsprechungsgesetz auf mehrere soziale Situationen angewandt. Dabei kommt ein Lernmodell zum Einsatz, welches als „Melioration Learning” bezeichnet wird und unter bestimmten Bedingungen zum Entsprechungsgesetz führt. Mit Hilfe dieses Lernmodells und agentenbasierter Simulationen werden Hypothesen zu sozialem Verhalten hergeleitet. Zunächst werden einfache Situationen mit nur zwei interagierenden Akteuren betrachtet. Dabei lassen sich durch das Entsprechungsgesetz einige Lösungskonzepte der Spieltheorie replizieren, obwohl weniger Annahmen bezüglich der kognitiven Fähigkeiten der Akteure und der verfügbaren Informationen gesetzt werden. Außerdem werden Interaktionen zwischen beliebig vielen Akteuren untersucht. Erstens lässt sich die Entstehung sozialer Konventionen über das Entsprechungsgesetz erklären. Zweitens wird dargestellt, dass die Akteure lernen, in einem Freiwilligendilemma oder einem Mehrpersonen-Gefangenendilemma zu kooperieren.

L'espace public (1962) de Jürgen Habermas est souvent lu comme le premier ouvrage de sa carrière. Notre mémoire tâche de porter un éclairage différent sur celui-ci, de lire L'espace public comme point d'aboutissement de la pensée habermassienne des années 1950. Par l'exploration d'un certain nombre d'écrits mineurs et majeurs pré-1962, L'espace public se révèle une sorte de théorie critique de la société, encore fortement empreinte de marxisme, faisant figure de synthèse partielle des écrits de jeunesse. / Jürgen Habermas' The structural transformation of the public sphere (1962) is often read as the first landmark of his career. Our study sets out to shed a different light upon it, to read The structural transformation of the public sphere as the arrival point of Habermas' 1950s thought. While we explore a certain number of minor and major pre-1962 works, his thesis reveals itself as some kind of critical theory of society, still deeply rooted in Marxism, that embodies a partial synthesis of his early works.

In the 21st century, this planet has experienced an explosion of social movements and protests. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Movement, global protests had become such a prominent feature of the first decade of the new millennium that Time Magazine named the protester as its person of the year in 2011. This project examines the relationship between social theory and political practice in an attempt to gain further insight into contemporary social movements. In particular, it examines the theoretical assumptions underlying the Occupy Movement in the United States and compares these assumptions with 19th century individual and collective anarchist theories, as well as with contemporary theories that have taken the postmodern turn.

This thesis supplements existing literature by examining the relationship between institutional regulations and gendered assumptions about bodies. This thesis draws from feminist social constructionist perspectives and gendered organizational theories to explore the role of gendered body assumptions in the organizational framework of a hypermasculine political institution. Using the U.S. military as an illustrative example, this thesis studies military policies and rationales historically, focusing on the post-Vietnam accelerated inclusion of women, the increasing use of combat as a divisive component, and the gendered structural elements that are used to determine physical competence. Findings coincide with existing literature and suggest that social meanings relating to gender are a prominent influence in U.S. military policy historically and contemporarily, even when biological reasons are cited as justification. This research provides implications for understanding institutional, strategic use of gender and provides analysis of how physical bodies and accompanying social meanings are impacted by institutional goals.

As investigações aqui reunidas se encaixam nos âmbitos da sociologia cognitiva e, em menor medida, da sociologia da cultura. Seu objetivo principal é organizar e esclarecer alguns dos pro-blemas básicos colocados para o estudo sociológico da ignorância humana. Para alcançar esse objetivo, começo com uma discussão de ordem conceitual sobre a ignorância, encarando a ques-tão ontológica a respeito do que ela é, assim como a questão metodológica a respeito de como melhor apreendê-la de uma perspectiva sociológica. Esse passo ocupa a primeira parte da tese, e tais questões são enfrentadas mediante um diálogo crítico com a literatura disponível sobre a ignorância nas áreas da sociologia e da epistemologia. Na segunda parte da tese, busco pôr em movimento tais discussões teóricas, por meio de duas investigações empíricas ou estudos de caso independentes uma da outra. Tais investigações se baseiam em um amplo levantamento documental, centrado em duas diferentes correntes culturais, como prefiro chamá-las: a home-opatia e o masculinismo. O que justifica tomá-las como tópicos de um estudo sobre a ignorância humana é a circunstância de que, para que a homeopatia e o masculinismo sigam existindo como doutrinas \"vivas\" em torno das quais indivíduos diferentes se associam e que de fato orientam as tomadas de decisão de inúmeras pessoas que nelas tomam parte , é preciso que se perpetue a ignorância de certos fatos passíveis de serem conhecidos com alguma facilidade, no contexto atual. Espero que, ao escrutinar, em contexto, esses dois sistemas de crença am-bos insustentáveis, à luz do estoque de conhecimento hoje à nossa disposição , avancemos na compreensão da lógica interna da ignorância e de seu condicionamento social, em particular quando o que está em jogo é a persistência das más ideias; além disso, também espero que as investigações aqui apresentadas lancem alguma luz sobre os limites da abordagem sociológica da ignorância e de outros fenômenos cognitivos aparentados a ela. / The inquiries assembled here belong primarily to the field of cognitive sociology and, to a lesser extent, to the sociology of culture. Their main goal is to sort out and clarify some of the major problems pertaining a sociological approach to the topic of human ignorance. To reach said goal, I start with a conceptual discussion of ignorance, addressing the ontological question as to what ignorance is, as well as the methodological one as to how we should appropriately grasp it from a sociological point of view. This step comprises the first part of the thesis, and said questions are tackled by means of a critical exchange with the available literature on ignorance in the fields of sociology and epistemology. In the second part of the thesis, I endeavor to bring such theoretical discussion into play by presenting two independent empirical inquiries or case studies. These are grounded on a broad documentary research I conducted on two distinct cultural currents, as I call them: namely homeopathy and masculinism. The rationale behind the choice of the aforementioned subjects is that the perpetuation of ignorance of facts one could easily know given the cognitive resources presently available is key to the endurance of both homeopathy and masculinism as \"living\" doctrines as unique belief systems around which individuals coming from different backgrounds associate with each other, and which help to shape the decision making process of a number of those individuals. I hope that, through a detailed and context-sensitive scrutiny of each of these sets of ideas both of which, as I uphold, are greatly at odds with the stock of knowledge currently available to us some insight into the inner workings of ignorance and its social conditioning may be obtained, particularly when it comes to the persistence of unsound ideas; furthermore, I hope that the theoretical and empirical inquiries presented here may shed some light upon the limits of a sociological take on ignorance and other related cognitive phenomena.

Thesis advisor: Paul Gray / Thesis advisor: Paul Schervish / The current economic crisis resembles a type of "critical situation" wherein everyday assumptions and routines sustaining hegemonic ideologies and their corresponding forms of social power are prone to be disrupted (Giddens 1987). Such situations provide opportunities for the relative strength of such hegemonies, and how they are effectively restored and/or challenged, to be uncovered. In undertaking this study I sought to discover the social and economic implications and lessons MBA students associate with the current economic crisis and how they frame and rationalize such perceptions. In so doing, I further aimed to uncover specific ideological processes they perform in preserving and/or challenging conventional tenets of liberal capitalism. I reexamine the sociological concept of ideology in reference to the empirical data, and test the capacity of Giddens' (1979, 1984) and Mannheim's (1949) combined methodologies in uncovering interconnections of consciousness, ideology and agency. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 MBA students from five universities in Boston, and used a combination of grounded theory and theory testing to analyze the data. Findings reveal not only the specific content comprising hegemonic notions of what constitutes economic and social reality among respondents, but also reflect how ideology functions as a holistic process of social and self understanding and how it reproduces, and is reproduced by, the performance of agencies within particular corporate and educational structures. I argue that the tenets espoused and enacted by many respondents reveal a stark challenge to future social change. Even amid the current crisis -the largest since the Great Depression -most respondents acknowledge that this event had little impact on how they view their professional vocations or the macro economic system. This finding not only speak strongly to the rigidity of conventional tenets underscoring our liberal capitalist culture, but also implies the urgent need to reconsider how our educational institutions should play a greater role in challenging conventional notions of reality espoused so fervently by burgeoning business professionals. I further argue that critical, systematic evaluations of consciousness and ideology should take a more substantial role in the social sciences in determining the restraints and possibilities for social change. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

A presente pesquisa pretende sustentar que a reflexão precoce sobre a sociologia durkheimeana cumpre um papel fundamental no desenvolvimento do pensamento de Georges Canguilhem sobre as ciências da vida e, por conseguinte, na elaboração da sua filosofia biológica. Como se buscará mostrar, essa importância se deve ao fato de que a teoria social de Durkheim procurou satisfazer às exigências científicas de objetividade e de quantificação dos fenômenos incorporando da biologia de Comte e da fisiologia de Claude Bernard a teoria da identidade essencial entre os estados normais e patológicos. Será a partir da crítica a essa teoria que o conceito de normatividade vital, núcleo da filosofia da vida canguilhemeana, se elaborará na tese de doutoramento de Canguilhem, em 1943, Essai sur quelques problèmes concernant le normal et le pathologique. Finalmente, concluiremos sugerindo que essa nova concepção de vida permitirá ao filósofo retornar ao campo da teoria social, nas Nouvelles réflexions, para recusar a identificação entre organismo e sociedade que ele denunciara em Durkheim. / The present research intends to sustain that the early reflection on Durkheims sociology plays an important role in the evolution of George Canguilhems thought about the life sciences, and, consequently, in the development of his biological philosophy. As this research purports to show, this importance arises from the fact that Durkheims social theory attempted to satisfy the scientific demands for the objectivity and quantification of the phenomena by incorporating, from Comtes biology and Claude Bernards physiology, a theory about the essential identity between normal and pathological states. It is by taking the critique of this theory as a starting point, that the core of Canguilhems life philosophy, namely, his concept of vital normativity, will be developed in his 1943 doctorate thesis, Essai sur quelques problèmes concernant le normal et le pathologique. Finally, by way of conclusion, we suggest that this new conception of life will allow the French philosopher to return, in his Nouvelles réflexions, to the social theory field, in order to deny the same identification between organisms and society that he denounced in Durkheim.