Les citadins camerounais expriment un sentiment de traverser une époque de « crise morale » en ce qui concerne la réussite sociale. Un ensemble de représentations et d’imaginaires associent la réussite à la dénonciation d’une dépravation des mœurs. La critique de ses formes « dévoyées » porte tout autant, et simultanément, sur une dénonciation de la corruption, du népotisme, de l’arnaque et du simulacre, de l’homosexualité et de formes de sexualité jugées scandaleuses, que des « sectes » et des « cercles » occultes, du « mysticisme », des « crimes rituels » et de toute une palette de pratiques rattachées aux imaginaires de la sorcellerie et de l’occulte. Cette thèse explore les enjeux liés à ce constat. L’observation des pratiques et du sens émique de différents groupes sociaux urbains montre qu’il existe plusieurs faisceaux de normes, de valeurs et d’affects pour penser, juger et légitimer la réussite sociale. Un principe d’opposition ressort entre, d’un coté, une économie morale de la facilité fondée sur la rapidité et la déconnexion du travail productif, et de l’autre coté, une économie morale du mérite articulée à la reconnaissance de la valeur du travail, du talent ou de la compétence. Cette opposition structure nombre d’enjeux moraux qui remettent en situation les discours de dénonciation des acteurs. Par leur travail critique, ceux-ci construisent sur différentes scènes, des « fléaux », des problèmes sociaux et des « causes » politiques relatives aux manières de s’enrichir et de réussir, dont l’expression la plus spectaculaire est peut-être la survenance au cours des dernières années de grandes « affaires » qui agitent l’espace public et politique camerounais. / Urban Cameroonians express a sense of passing through a time of “moral crisis” concerning the paths and foundations of social success. A sets of representations and imaginaries link intimately the question of success to the denunciation of moral depravity. Critique of “misguided” forms of success implies a denunciation of corruption, nepotism, scams, homosexuality and other forms of sexuality deemed to be scandalous. Criticism is also extended to “cults” and “occult circles”, “mysticism”, and “ritual crime”, as well as other practices connected to the imaginary of witchcraft and the occult.This thesis explores issues related to these critiques. By observing the practices of different urban social groups, an emic sense of the specific conceptions, figures, and paths of success in Yaoundé show that there are several constellations of norms, values, and feelings that impact how social success is judged, perceived, and legitimated. An opposition principle emerges between, on one side, a moral economy of a facility based on the speed and disconnection of productive work, and on the other side, a moral economy of merit that is articulated around the recognition of the value of hard work, talent and competence.A number of moral stakes are structured around this opposition and are seen in the denunciation discourse of social actors. Through their critique, these actors construct, in different contexts, the “scourges”, social problems, and political “causes” related to ways of becoming rich and succeeding. This is becoming increasingly visible and spectacular in recent years with major “affaires” agitating the public and political space of Cameroon.

Life satisfaction is key indicator of psychological well-being, a central component of positive psychology, and an important correlate of positive development. Concurrent and predictive validity of global and domain-specific life satisfaction reports were explored with respect to social success within the classroom, peer rejection, and externalizing behavior problems. The Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS), which yields an overall subjective life satisfaction score in addition to five domain-specific satisfaction scores (family, friends, self, school, living environment), was administered to a sample of 198 3rd through 8th grade students in an urban public school in a northeastern U.S. city during the fall of 2008 (Time 1) and spring 2009 (Time 2). A friendship survey was also administered at both time points; peer nominations from these surveys were used to calculate individual peer acceptance and peer rejection scores, as well as to identify classroom social networks and students' salience within them. Data were also collected on individual disciplinary incidents throughout the year resulting in a total number of office discipline referrals (ODRs) for each student. Given the abundance of literature suggesting that low levels of self-reported life satisfaction are linked to poor social and behavioral outcomes, it was expected that subjective satisfaction ratings would demonstrate an inverse relationship with peer rejection and disciplinary referrals, and a positive relationship with social success, as measured by peer acceptance and social network centrality. At Time 1, in contrast with the hypothesis, none of the domain-specific or global life satisfaction variables were found to demonstrate any significant relationships with peer rejection or acceptance. However, as expected, Time 1 social network centrality demonstrated a small but significant correlation with satisfaction with self and a moderate correlation with satisfaction with friends. This relationship remained significant with respect to satisfaction with friends and Time 2 social network centrality, but decreased in magnitude. Regression analyses revealed that Time 1 life satisfaction variables were not able to predict a significant portion of the variance in any of the established outcome variables. This research was limited by its use of a single school with a homogenous student population; nevertheless, it provides an exploratory look into the potential of subjective life satisfaction profiles to serve as a screening tool for identifying students that may benefit from targeted social or behavioral interventions. Future research should examine this potential with larger and more diverse samples of students. / School Psychology

Desde la creación de la sociedad, vivir en un constante comparativo de belleza y perfección entre los habitantes se normalizó de tal forma que se heredó a todas las generaciones posteriores hasta el día de hoy, convirtiendo la belleza en un constructo social (Yaa Oduro, 2016). Quienes tendían a sobresalir o ganar eran comúnmente quienes lograban ser superiores al resto en liderazgo económico, influencia social y belleza física. Esto los llevo a una necesidad muy fuerte por la búsqueda de la perfección y empoderamiento social. Esto ha repercutido de forma no solo simbólica sino tangible en las creencias sociales y acciones ejecutadas por los jóvenes de la sociedad de hoy, llevándolos a enfocar sus recursos, herramientas y fuerza en la búsqueda, al parecer, interminable hacia el logro social y la belleza perfecta (Ma, Fang, Zhang y Nie, 2017). Frente a dicho fenómeno, ya normalizado, los stakeholders alrededor de este sistema social han optado por responder de manera efectiva e inmediata a esta necesidad creada. Se han insertado modelos a seguir para poder alcanzar esa perfección tan deseada. Las nuevas celebridades, los influenciadores han tomado ese rol de guías hacia la perfección y éxito social que tantos parecen buscar. Pero es necesario verlo más allá de un tema psicosocial, verlo desde el punto de vista del negocio. Las marcas encuentran en estos personajes el aliado perfecto para aumentar no solo sus ventas, sino ver reflejada su personalidad de marca, a través de una comunicación efectiva generando una relación real y tangible entre la marca y el usuario (Saggers y Morris, 2018). / Since the creation of the society, living in a constant comparative of beauty and perfection among the inhabitants has been normalized in such a way that it was inherited to all subsequent generations until today, turning beauty into a social construct (Yaa Oduro, 2016). Those who tended to excel or win were commonly those who managed to be superior to the rest in economic leadership, social influence, and physical beauty. This led them to a very strong need for the search for perfection and social empowerment.This has reverberated not only symbolically but tangibly in the social beliefs and actions carried out by young people in today's society, leading them to focus their resources, tools and strength in the search, apparently, endless towards social achievement and beauty. perfect (Ma, Fang, Zhang and Nie, 2017). Faced with this phenomenon, already normalized, the stakeholders around this social system have chosen to respond effectively and immediately to this created need. Models have been inserted to follow in order to achieve that desired perfection. New celebrities, influencers have taken that role of guides to perfection and social success that so many seem to seek. But it is necessary to see it beyond a psychosocial issue, to see it from the business point of view. Brands find in these characters the perfect ally to increase not only their sales, but also to see their brand personality reflected, through effective communication generating a real and tangible relationship between the brand and the user (Saggers and Morris, 2018). / Trabajo de investigación