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The concept of community has been of great importance to sociologists throughout the discipline's history. There has been numerous definitions used in research. However, according to the literature, most agree that community must consist of geographical proximity, regular interactions, and shared goals. These definitions, and any consensus, are again being challenged by the creation of new communicative technologies. In particular, with the creation of new social spaces by computer technologies such as the Internet, the potential exists for community to occur in many new ways. This paper looks at the types of community that can exist in the various social spaces created by the Internet. These spaces are conceptualized and explained comparing the various ways and types of communication that are occurring in the various facets of Internet. The literature indicates that community is occurring in some of these Internet technologies, such as USENET. However, no such literature exists for IRC networks. This research focuses on an examination of the type of community that occurs on the Internet's synchronous Internet Relay Chat network using computer-mediated-communication. Naturalistic inquiry is used to examine how community exists in two separate channels of an Internet Relay Chat network. The concepts of geographical proximity, regular interaction, and shared goals are examined in relation to this technology. In a final analysis, the importance in examining the community occurring in these new social spaces is detailed. This type of social space is fast becoming a very important area for researchers as Internet usage is growing daily and becoming more prevalent in everyday society. / Master of Science

Having lived in apartments in densely populated cities most of my life, I felt this stark difference between my experiences in India and residing in the United States for the last several years. The silence, hiding neighbors, smiles consumed by KN 95 respirators, deserted ground plane, long narrow corridors, disconnection from the rest of the city, all this prevented me from seeing a home in the apartment I had rented in the United States. Philosopher Lars Svendsen's analysis and understanding of this feeling of perceived disconnection has made me to give it a name – Loneliness. One may reasonably hold the global pandemic accountable for this feeling. It can be true; the pandemic has forced a lot of us to spend all of our time at home, and be socially distant from other human beings. But surveys and studies suggest that the pandemic has only accelerated this feeling and is not the only causal factor. This thesis explores the widespread feeling of loneliness and how it relates to the design of physical space. As we continue to spend a lot of time at home, I have chosen to rethink the conception of a multifamily residential complex keeping in mind the opportunities architecture can create for people to redefine the space they occupy, connect with neighbors and retain the option of solitude as they choose. If there is something we think that we never have enough is time. We spend a lot of our time in cars commuting to and from work during the week and to the grocery store over the weekend. In a time when we are slowly moving towards normalcy, if normalcy still is physically going to places, I wanted to take into account some factors to help me identify a suitable site - access to public transportation, walkability, property prices, access to a grocery store, census data on demographics, household income, and car ownership. These factors are considered to motivate residents to interact with the street and provide flexibility for people of different age groups to live together. / Master of Architecture / This thesis explores the feeling of loneliness and how architecture can contribute towards creating better living spaces that can help overcome this feeling. Philosopher Lars Svendsen describes loneliness as "an emotional response to the fact that a person's need for connection to others is not satisfied"¹ My experience of living in apartment complexes for the past several years in India has got me thinking about what is preventing me from seeing a home in the apartment I live in the United States. The disconnection I experienced within the apartment, with neighbors, and the rest of the city has motivated me to investigate this invisible tie between the feeling of loneliness and the design of physical space. The United States census data and other studies over the years indicate a significant number of the US population living alone, increasing rates of divorce, childlessness, cultural detachment and smaller family size. These indicators exemplify social disconnection or isolation, a causal factor to this feeling of loneliness, as psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad suggests "has a significant and equivalent effect on risk of mortality, which exceeds the risk associated with obesity."² There are many factors that have contributed to this social isolation over the past several years, the most recent one being the global pandemic. As we continue to spend a lot of time at home, I have chosen to rethink the conception of a multifamily residential complex keeping in mind the opportunities architecture can create for people to feel a sense of belonging and community, connect with neighbors and retain the option of solitude as they choose. I have identified three different personas to help conceive the design of this residential complex. This method has helped me think about the organization of spaces within the unit, interaction with the public realm outside the building, and how this project ties to the rest of the city. The feeling of loneliness may be subjective but this thesis reinforces the fact that architecture can create opportunities to help overcome this feeling through self-reflection and social interaction.

LD2668 .T4 1947 M36

This paper aim to give a new perspective to science about service worker and their difficult situation between the organization and the customer. By using Goffman´s theories about how we act and define ourselves by others I hope to give a new dimension to understand what happens in the meeting between a customer and a service-worker. The essay is based on a category of service-worker called “servicerådgivare”. They are the ones who are between the car owner and the mechanics. Their job is to receive the cars in the morning and inform the customer of what has been done at the end of the day. During this process they are supposed to satisfy the customer while following the instructions from the organization, which leads to a tricky middle position. Theories about how people act and establish different faces are used to understand how the service worker always have to change face to different customers. It also discusses how a person can feel when being told to do one thing (by the company) and morally feel like doing another thing to satisfy the customer. Some researchers claim that this could make them feel bad and that working with customers all day may lead to social exhaustion. Trying to increase the understanding for people working in service work interviews and observations where used to form the material and the basis for my final discussion. Some comments from customers are also used to see what expectations they have on the service worker. The founding’s in this study is that “servicerådgivarna” have a hard time trying to balance between the organizational demands and the customer´s expectations. Many time lacks of resources are the biggest trouble and makes them improvise, which some finds satisfying but most of them are felling stressed and insufficient.

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether an autism diagnosiscould be predicted by social interaction as measured by the Ghuman-Folstein Screen forSocial Interaction in conjunction with selected demographic variables (i.e., sex, age,ethnicity, mother's educational level, and socio-economic status). Univariate andbivariate analyses were conducted to explore each predictor variable and to explorepossible relationships between predictor variables and autism. Binary logistic regressionwas utilized to examine various models' ability to predict autism. The final model wasable to correctly identify 74% of the cases. The GF-SSI was the greatest predictor ofautism. The selected demographic variables were not significant predictors of autism.These results were discussed in relation to the literature on sex, age, ethnicity, maternaleducation and socio-economic status. Future directions for research were also discussed.

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No description available.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate a growth/awareness group experience by determining the effects of the group on interpersonal personality characteristics of the participants as measured by six selected scales of the California Psychological Inventory (Dominance, Capacity for Status, Sociability, Social Presence, Tolerance, and Good Impression). The two main null hypotheses stated that (1) there would be no differences between the experimental (treatment) group, the informed control group, and the uninformed control groups on the six scales of the California Psychological Inventory, dealing with social interaction and (2) if change occurred, the change would not be sustained over a three month period. Eighteen sub-hypotheses in all were tested statistically with non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis One-Way Analysis of Variance and the Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed Ranks Test.The population of the study included seventeen experimental group participants, who volunteered in response to advertisements and took part in a three day (fifteen hour) growth/awareness group led by three experienced doctoral students in counseling. Two control groups were utilized: (1) an informed control group of twenty-two who knew about the experiment and stated that they would, if they could at a more appropriate time, participate in this or a similar group, and (2) an uninformed control group of twenty-seven who were taken from two university classes and were told nothing about the testing or the experiment. These three groups were not statistically different on their pre-test scores. Neither control group received any treatment.The group or treatment was a combination of exercises used in sensory awareness, sensitivity training, and human relations training groups. The activities were highly to moderately structured with a low to moderate level of threat (encounter or confrontation). The leaders were used as directors, giving instructions and facilitating the execution of the exercises. The leaders did not take an active part in interaction.Six scales of the California Psychological Inventory were administered to all three groups before and after the group experience. Analysis of the data revealed no significant difference between groups at the .05 level of confidence on any of the six scales of the California Psychological Inventory. Experimental group participants were administered the same instrument three months after the last group meeting. Statistical procedures for sustained growth were not significant.