This dissertation analyzes the modes of social emergences and the transformations in Taiwanese oppositional movements during Japanese rule from 1895 to 1945 and the KMT's rule from 1945 to 1987 on the basis of Deleuze and Guattari's theorizations. Five types of multiplicity of States, of towns, of primitives, of bands, and of nomads developed from Deleuze and Guattari's theories were used to provide the genealogical interpretation of the seventeen oppositional events and their sub-events from five significant periods in the actualization of imperial and capitalist stratification from 1895 to 1987. Each oppositional event was analyzed as it was presented as the individuated modes of social emergence and transformation which were directed respectively by the quality of its will to power or desire produced from its oppositional machinic assemblage through the interactions with multiplicities deterrotorializing from the complex of state-form at its specific time and space. In my finding, the modes of social emergences of Taiwanese oppositional events were shown as expressions reflecting phenomena in a manner of bi-polarization, especially when the multiplicity of oppositional assemblages encountered the multiplicity of colonial nation-states. In the first part of my dissertation, the research objective, the scope of research, and the research method accompanying a molar entity of Taiwanese history from the sixteenth century on were introduced. In the second part, Deleuze and Guattari's philosophy and the relevant theories to my study were discussed. The third part analyzed in detail the oppositional events occurred during Japanese rule. The fourth part analyzed in detail those oppositional events during KMT rule. In the fifth part, five types of multiplicity were used to offer a genealogical interpretation of the modes of social emergences and the transformations of Taiwanese oppositional movements. In the conclusion, the shortcomings of previous approaches as well as my analysis were addressed.

In the past decade the burgeoning field of gay and lesbian studies has been mired in a philosophic and epistemic morass over the question of sexual identity. Known as the essentialist/constructivist debate, there is much agreement among scholars that the debate has outlived its usefulness, but it persists nonetheless to divide gay and lesbian communities, within academia as well as without. This question of sexual identity is not without consequences, as the perceived determinants of sexuality inform the social and political question "What is to be done with the sodomite, the homosexual, the gay and lesbian person?" Examining the epistemological models developed in the Nineteenth century to explain first the sodomite, and then the homosexual, I argue that these same models of criminal deviance, medical disorder, and psychological illness circulate still in the modern representation of the gay or lesbian person. Central to this debate over sexual identity, is political identification. How the State represents gays and lesbians in policy decisions will have a great impact on the daily lives of millions of gay and lesbian people. From civil rights and employment rights to privacy rights and protection from harassment and violence, the modern State has become both arbiter for, and contributor to the political creation of the gay/lesbian 'other.' Examining this process of political identification in the policy texts and political debates in The United States, I focus on the recent controversy over allowing "homosexuals" in the military, demonstrating how the state deploys both essentialist and constructivist strategies, often contradictorily in its construction of the modern gay and lesbian person. Finally, I examine the gay community's "flight to essentialism," questioning whether this recent trend is really the most productive and strategic conceptualization of identity. I conclude that although it may prove useful in the short run, it may also open the door to forms of regulation and scrutinization of our intimate lives previously unknown. There is much which suggests that this process of heightened surveillance and control is already underway.

This dissertation examines the gender differences among the homeless. Although women with dependent children comprise the fastest growing subgroup among the homeless population, most of the homeless are still single adults. The vast majority of these single adults are men, though the number of single women has increased notably in recent years. The second purpose of the dissertation is to examine who is most vulnerable to homelessness. The analysis strategy was to examine the literal homeless comparing three subgroups, unattached men, unattached women, and women with dependent children, and then to examine the very poor who are housed comparing the corresponding subgroups. Comparisons were made of the characteristics of and the financial and social resources available to the literal homeless and the domiciled poor. The descriptive analysis of the gender differences among the homeless are based on empirical data collected from the Chicago Homeless Study in 1985. Data on unattached men and women who are housed come from the General Assistance Study conducted in Chicago in 1984 and data on women with dependent children come from a 1985 study of welfare families in Chicago. The findings indicate that homeless men are poorer, more disabled, and more socially isolated than homeless women. In particular, their levels of poverty, disability, and social isolation are substantially higher than that of homeless women with dependent children. Their high levels of disabilities make it extremely difficult for the homeless men to find employment or to reciprocate in social relations. Most of them have had their social networks destroyed or exhausted and few receive needed social services. The absence of social and public resources means that homeless men have difficulty extricating themselves from homelessness. For these reasons, the men are more vulnerable to chronic homelessness. There is a subset of homeless single women whose conditions are not very different from homeless men. Women with dependent children have the best chances of extricating themselves from homelessness. Policy implications are discussed.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 278-299).

<p> This study examines the social organization of Gaisc&iacute;och, a large online gaming community that exists within the simulated world of a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). It provides an ethnographic account of an online gaming community that is open to any player without skill or time commitment requirements, but still maintains high status within the game world. This project identifies eight elements that make this inclusive, friendly, and casual community successful in virtual worlds that tend to be dominated by communities that have a competitive, strict, and exclusive approach to online gaming (social interaction, code of values, leadership, rank system, events, community building, population size, gameplay). Lastly, this project briefly inquires about the nature of the border between the virtual and the physical and establishes that gamers can be considered pseudo-border-inhabitants that are in control of the community they place adjacent to them in the cyber world.</p>

The purpose with this study was to find out about the perception of a couple of individuals regarding the feature of gender in lifestyle magazines. This is a qualitative journalistic study with focus on gender, lifestyle magazines and reception.   One of our main questions was to find out about our respondents opinion concerning the content through a gender perspective. We were also interested in their thoughts about their own consciousness and others regarding the representation of gender in lifestyle magazines and how they think that their interpretation of male and female features in lifestyle magazines may shape their lives.   In our study we chose to interview eight (8) people. We had a qualitative approach and an open structure regarding the questions during the interviews. Almost all of them took place in Kalmar and a few of them on Skype. To get our respondents to understand our definition of lifestyle magazines we chose to provide them with six (6) articles from the swedish lifestyle magazines Solo and Café, three (3) from each.   The results of the study show that our respondents over all seemed to be conscious readers according to themselves. At the same time they thought that other readers besides themselves did not question how gender were presented in the magazines and therefore contributed to the gender structure in society. According to our respondents one of the main reasons for applying both content and values of the magazines seems to be driven by the age of the reader. Something that we thought was quite interesting, especially considering that almost all of them brought up this subject.   We are hoping this study will contribute to the research about gender and in particular regarding lifestyle magazines and to inspire others to take interest in further studies about gender.