Previous studies have indicated that the moral development of the child may follow a "developmental" process. That is, the child progresses through an invariant series of stages, each characterized by certain modes of thought. As the child passes from one stage to another, he integrates the old stage into the new one. Kohlberg proposed a hierarchy of six stages through which the child would progress on his way to moral maturity. His hypothesis has been supported by empirical evidence.Research findings have indicated that the Mormon culture appeared to be different in values and moral behavior than other United States cultures. Kohlberg has suggested that his hypothesis could be applied cross-culturally. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the stages of moral development proposed by the Kohlberg hypothesis could be differentiated in a culture that strongly emphasizes moral behavior such as the Mormon culture. It was proposed that in the Mormon culture a developmental sequence in moral orientation would appear in the moral judgments of children in the ninth through the twelfth grades.The sample consisted of 142 students from L.D.S. Seminary classes in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades. They each completed a written instrument containing questions about five stories, each posing a moral dilemma. The instruments were scored with the "Global Rating Guide for Kohlberg Moral Judgment Situations" which gave a Moral Maturity Score for each S. Correlations between the scoring of judges and the writer on four instruments were from .785 to .97.

In this dissertation I use the production of culture perspective as a lens to analyze the emergence of craft beer in the US. In doing so, I examine how the six facets of the production of culture perspective have both constrained and stimulated the production of craft beer in the US. The six facets of the production of culture perspective are: law and regulation, industry structure, organizational structure, markets, technology, and occupational careers. These six facets, in concert, allowed the craft beer movement to emerge in the 1970s. In order to demonstrate the effects each facet has on the production of craft beer I employ a content analysis of All About Beer, an industry trade publication that reports on the craft beer culture. Additionally, I analyze the structure of the brewing industry through secondary data regarding technology, production, and industry concentration. In my analysis I demonstrate how the POC explains the production of cultural goods. I also highlight the limitations of the perspective and suggest future avenues of research. / Ph. D.

Within recent years, there has been a significant increase in popular commentary on internet trolls and what they mean for online interactions. Significant attention is often paid to framing trolls as individual, pathological, and atypical. While there is much one-sided dialogue occurring in the media, however, the literature on internet trolling remains scarce. This exploratory study contributes to the developing literature by addressing internet trolls directly. Drawing on interviews with a self-identified troll and content analysis, this thesis aims to understand how trolls operate, interact, and make meaning while highlighting the role of identity and emotions. This study finds that internet trolls are highly organized and social, in direct contradiction to the prevailing media narrative.

As emerging technologies rapidly change the way that individuals socially interact, researchers can look back to older theories of social organization in order to apply traditional concepts to new ways of being. A #shelfie is a popular hashtag used on Instagram, a social media application, typically used with a post that consist of any visual media containing book(s) or item(s) related to literature in a physical space within, around, and/or upon a piece of furniture. This thesis is centered around the examination of a data collection that gathered top #shelfie posts on Instagram for the purpose of visual content and textual analysis. I argue that users are performing and constructing identities using curated #shelfies that actually span beyond the original typical bookshelf content, that this particular content is being utilized mostly by users identifying as women, and that it highlights areas of multiple framing occurring at the same time through Instagram and the objects being posted. My thesis is anchored within a multi-disciplinary framework that utilizes Erving Goffman’s theories of self and framing, cultural materialism as framing from scholars such as Daniel Miller, and that this analysis can be understood in a Deleuzian lens by examining how assemblage theory can help to navigate what #shelfie is, how it was produced, and what it may mean for future studies of digital media and the self. There will be no pixel left unturned.

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in Women's Liberation results in identity change in the individual participants. As a pilot study, it examines the characteristic experiences of a study group of twenty-six local participants and compares the effects of their participation with a theoretical model of identity change process proposed by Ward H. Goodenough in Cooperation in Change. According to this model the process of identity change is a consequence of specific kinds of realizations fostered by a series of definable stages which are: 1) achieving a desire for identity change, 2) making a commitment to change, 3) attaining an understanding of what needs to be changed (which involves recognizing the problems and solutions to achieving change), and 4) having the new identity accepted by others. The research included an examination of available materials on Women's Liberation, the consultation of some general literature on the status of women, personal participation in various Woman's Movement activities, observation of individual participants and groups in action, the collection of in-depth interview statements and biographies from a study group of twenty-six women who are Women's Liberation participants, and finally, a comparative study of the findings. The comparative study involved an analysis of the interview information in light of the theoretical model of identity change. Specifically analyzed were the process involved in facilitating identity change, and the actual effects of participation on the women in the study group (as this related to identity change). A discussion is presented of the informants' experiences and how they see themselves since participation, and a discussion of some of the aspects of public response to women's participation in Women's Liberation activities. The findings show that all of the women studied experienced identity change in varying degrees; all have been subjected to new self-confrontation experiences; all made physical and/or psychological behavioral modifications; all experienced changes in their categories of perception and their criteria for evaluating their changed perceptions; and, all have some understanding of what they want changed and how to achieve it. The most extensive identity changes occur in those who are most actively involved, in those who have had the most exposure to radical political activities and those whose social circumstances are most favorably receptive to Women's Liberation. Individuals who are not extensively involved, who have conservative political and /or religious backgrounds, and who are exposed to continued hostile or negative reception on the part of others to their activities are blocked from achieving extensive identity change. In general, the experiences and behavior of the women in this study conforms to what is now known about women's participation in the movement and the general public's response to Women's Liberationists. The study presents a brief history of the background of the movement, a discussion of the theoretical model used, an account of the research methodology, a series of sample portraits of women in the study, the data analysis, an application of the theoretical framework to the data, and a brief discussion of some general implications of the Women's Movement as a whole. This thesis shows that participation in the movement produces identity change which conforms to an anthropological model of identity change process.

Thesis (M. Psych.Org.)--University of Queensland, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

In an age of ever-expanding digital communication platforms and the presence of news online becoming paramount, the amount of information being shared and the truth of that information is becoming more and more difficult to track. The power of these social platforms is one that all should recognize and reflect upon in terms of their use of them, and reliance on them for the information they need. This thesis seeks to explore this power and the ways in which to remedy the falsities spread on the platforms faster than ever before, through photographic journalism.

nÃo hà / The hereby research is located within the area of Sociology of Culture and consists of analyzing the development of the current tastes in the cinematographic consumption in the city of Fortaleza, CearÃ, based on the audience of two venues, namely: Cineteatro SÃo Luiz (which screens a wide range of movies, including productions acclaimed by the general audience and alternative ones) and Cinema do DragÃo (which screens movies apart from the mainstream circuit). In this sense, social determinants responsible for the construction of tastes and preferences for certain film productions in the aforementioned movie theaters were examined. Therefore, general profiles are drawn between the audiences and their practices by the use of questionnaires. Subsequently, interviews and field observations on the spot served as complementary methods for understanding the differences between audiences. From this, some aspects of the viewers were taken into consideration, such as age groups, housing and educational level. The growing urbanization, the expansion of cultural industries and the formation and consolidation of movie theaters in Fortaleza were analyzed in the process of understanding these audiences and the aforementioned movie theaters. This consolidation is immersed in the consequences and transformations carried out in the contemporary world. Thus understanding how people attending the aforesaid venues develop their tastes regarding movies helps perceive possible distinctions among audiences, thereby contributing to the understanding of cultural practices related to movie theaters in Fortaleza. For this purpose, the theoretical basis of this work finds its general orientation in the Sociology of Culture and in the analyses on taste and consumption. / A proposta de investigaÃÃo desta pesquisa situa-se dentro da Ãrea da Sociologia da Cultura e consiste em analisar a conformaÃÃo dos gostos existentes a partir do consumo cultural cinematogrÃfico na cidade de Fortaleza, no CearÃ, tendo como recorte empÃrico o pÃblico de dois espaÃos especÃficos: o Cineteatro SÃo Luiz (com programaÃÃo variada entre filmes consagrados pelo grande pÃblico a produÃÃes cults e alternativas) e o Cinema do DragÃo (possuindo uma programaÃÃo que foge ao cenÃrio mainstream). SÃo investigados os condicionantes sociais responsÃveis pela construÃÃo do gosto e de preferÃncias por determinadas produÃÃes fÃlmicas nos cinemas explicitados. Portanto, sÃo traÃados perfis gerais entre os pÃblicos e suas prÃticas, mediante a utilizaÃÃo de questionÃrios. Posteriormente, as entrevistas e as observaÃÃes de campo in loco funcionaram como mÃtodos complementares para a compreensÃo das diferenÃas entre os pÃblicos. A partir disso, foram considerados alguns aspectos dos espectadores como faixas etÃrias, moradias e grau de instruÃÃo. No processo de compreensÃo desses pÃblicos e dos cinemas elencados, analisou- se a crescente urbanizaÃÃo, a expansÃo das indÃstrias culturais e a formaÃÃo e consolidaÃÃo do cinema em Fortaleza. Esta consolidaÃÃo encontra-se imersa nas consequÃncias e transformaÃÃes operadas na contemporaneidade. Assim, entender como as pessoas frequentadoras dos cines especificados desenvolvem seus gostos referentes ao cinema ajuda na compreensÃo de possÃveis distinÃÃes entre os pÃblicos, contribuindo, desse modo, para a o entendimento das prÃticas culturais vinculadas Ãs salas de exibiÃÃes de filmes em Fortaleza. Para tanto, a base teÃrica deste trabalho encontra na Sociologia da Cultura e nas anÃlises sobre gosto e consumo sua orientaÃÃo geral.

Pierre Bourdieu and Fredric Jameson are in many respects two of the most influential contemporary theorists. Bourdieu's comprehensive theoretical model, termed "genetic structuralism", is a fruitful alternative to traditionally dichotomous modes of thinking: subjectivism vs. objectivism, agency vs. structure, micro vs. macro analysis. His model aims to subsume these divisions, by accounting for the generative ability of both mental and structural forces. Jameson on the other hand, as "America's leading Marxist critic", offers an engaging account of contemporary culture, as he attempts to find the connecting thread of our increasingly disjointed social reality to history. The following work is but a brief account of these wide-ranging theories. Its order of progression starts with contextualizing Bourdieu and Jameson in the framework of cultural debates, followed by an analysis of the structure and logic of both Bourdieu's and Jameson's theories, after which comes a look at how these theories are applied to analyzing literary works. Finally the last part tries to grasp these theories in relation to each other, by highlighting some of their differences and similarities. / Master of Science

<p>This dissertation is about how think tanks produce and promote policy ideas. It is informed by 53 semi-structured interviews, financial and employee data for 30 think tanks over 11 years, documentary materials (including newspaper data, annual reports, strategic plans, communication reports, and publications), office visits at think tanks, and observation at public events. In substantive chapters, I address (i.) the funding environment underpinning think tank policy research in Canada, (ii.) the epistemic cultures shaping knowledge production, and (iii.) the rhetorical strategies of intellectuals --- affiliated with or oriented to think tanks --- challenging the scientific consensus on climate change in "the space of opinion."</p> <p>In chapter two, I present a comparative analysis of think tank funding that challenges predictions derived from elite and pluralist theories, and builds on recent field theory. I find that the availability of state and private donor funding creates an environment where think tanks mostly cater to two types of sponsors with diverging preferences. The relative separation of state and donor funding is politically patterned, with conservative think tanks being funded by private donors and centrists by the state. Rather than being "independent" or members of a "corporate-policy elite,"" think tanks face extreme versions of common organizational problems, in particular resource dependencies and conflicting institutional logics.</p> <p>In the third chapter, I draw on the sociology of ideas to propose that the production and promotion of policy ideas in think tanks vary in three ways. First, there are diverging tendencies towards universalism and contextualism in a broadly utilitarian epistemic culture. Secondly, think tanks vary in the extent to which they integrate their research and communication strategies in short and long term projects. Finally, among those active in the ``space of opinion,'' some are seeking leverage for negotiations with elites, others to shape public opinion in specific ways, and others to rise to the top of an intellectual attention space as authoritative intellectuals.</p> <p>Chapter four is a case study of intellectuals --- affiliated with or oriented to think tanks --- discussing climate change and climate science in "the space of opinion."" Based on an inductive qualitative analysis of 417 systematically collected articles, I discuss two tactics writers have used in an effort to de-legitimate the scientific consensus on climate change. Without a vetted body of knowledge ready to take centre stage, and without appealing to non-scientific cultural authorities, writers (i.) re-frame consensus as a political construct, and their own skepticism as supremely scientific, and (ii.) personalize climate science by smearing high profile environmentalists and scientists, and chipping away at the character of mainstream climate scientists. Together, these tactics portray skeptics as more scientific than climate scientists.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)