Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2006. / "Title from dissertation home page (viewed July 9, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-08, Section: A, page: 3169. Adviser: Jane McLeod.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4340. Adviser: Gillian Stevens. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-164) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2110. Adviser: Brian Powell. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed June 21, 2007)."

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2006. / "Title from dissertation home page (viewed June 26, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2326. Adviser: Jane McLeod.

Cette thèse peut représenté une tentative de compréhension du fait social du backpacking, sur lequel se sont à ce jour penchés plusieurs auteurs, notamment le sociologue Erik Cohen, à l'aune de certaines théories sociologique qui postulent que la culture occidentale serait aujourd'hui aux prises avec une mutation de ses cadres normatifs, pensées parmi lesquelles nous comptons notamment la sociologie d'Alain Ehrenberg et l'analyse critique de l'historien Christopher Lasch. Notre recherche, fondée dans une exploration de la littérature et une brève recherche de terrain composé d'observations et d'entrevues ayant eu lieu au Pérou en janvier et février 2008, fait appel à certaines théories et concepts sociologiques, dont la notion d'identité et celle d'authenticité. Ces concepts, pensons-nous, constituent autant d'outils théoriques permettant de mieux saisir les enjeux qui traversent du même coup la pratique du backpacking et à la culture occidentale. En outre, notre recherche avance que le backpacking pourrait être compris comme une manifestation hyperbolique et en ce sens révélatrice des trajectoires identitaires contemporaines, autant dans ce qu'elles peuvent avoir d'unique que dans leurs axes communs. Les principales avancées proposées par notre recherche sont avant tout d'ordre typologique, typologie décrivant les multiples quoique limitées trajectoires significatives sur les plans identitaires et culturels, auxquelles peut donner lieu la sous-culture du backpacking.

In this dissertation, I investigate how thirty-nine undergraduates at Harvard College make one of their first consequential, academic decisions in the context of a powerful cultural narrative about the economic purpose of college. By examining students’ narratives about their academic decision-making, namely how they chose their concentrations, I seek to understand the underlying rationales behind their choices and relatedly, students’ ideas about the purpose of their college education. I focus on sophomores considering Economics – widely considered the most “practical” concentration and also the most popular, and those considering the arts, often considered among the “least useful” by students. I demonstrate that the dominant cultural view of the economic purpose of college also governs the academic decision-making of participants, reflecting the national norm. Despite their position as students in an elite liberal arts context, participants held this rationale as the basis for justifying and/or undermining their choice of major. Both the economics and arts students reference a shared narrative of “what Harvard students do” that is rooted in economic considerations and notions of achievement and legitimacy associated with their group identity as Harvard students. I argue that “what Harvard students do” is a shared cognition that has assumed a rule-like status in the context of Harvard. It draws upon a discourse of practicality that involves: 1) a separation between practicality and happiness; 2) a technical rational view of education that privileges quantitative skills and ways of knowing as more practical; 3) pay range expectations that will be “decent” enough to live on comfortably, to pursue hobbies and a certain lifestyle, and 4) a concern for prestige and elite status achieved through competition for particular work opportunities. I examine the ways in which this discourse informs students’ conceptions of opportunity and risk and document their strategies for decision-making in relation to this institutional constraint. Finally, I discuss the implications of these findings for students’ conceptions of the legitimacy of a liberal arts education, the impact of achievement culture and the elite admissions process on students’ approach to their education, and the dilemma of a group identity based on brand versus community.

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