This project is an attempt to define both culture and political culture, and thus enable Italian subcultures to be identified. The paper discusses the "meaning" of political subcultures regarding the levels and styles of political participation in Italy_ It does so primarily from a sociohistorical perspective. It also offers a critique of the methods of analysis commonly used in Political Science. The aim of the first part is to offer a reliable theoretical background concerning the operationalization of the concept Culture. In the second part of this paper, I describe and analyze the influences of state formation on Italian political culture and subcultures. The third part of the paper is a quantitative analysis of the regional Italian subcultures. The statistical procedure is interesting and confirms the conclusions drawn from the socio-historical analysis. It shows that socio-historical forces do have tenacious influences on the levels and styles of political participation in Italy. / Master of Arts

Although previous research has focused on subcultures among deviant groups, very little research has been conducted on older adults' subcultures or subcultures within exercise settings. Given the lack of research on older and non-deviant groups, the current research study was designed to reveal how a senior water aerobics exercise class is indeed a subculture and provide a rich description of this understudied and unappreciated subculture. Data collection took place at a water aerobics exercise class at a health club in Central Florida. In the first phase of data collection, ethnographic observations were utilized to identify the social processes in the pool setting. In the second phase of data collection, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 seniors to provide a rich description of a water aerobics subculture. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, the results revealed that the water aerobics class resembles a subculture with distinctive norms, social roles and rituals. Based on these findings, this study concludes that groups such as water aerobics classes may influence seniors' self-esteem, wellbeing and transition into late adulthood.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This study investigates presence of religion in Hardcore/Punk. While Hardcore/Punk traditionally is a secular subculture, study investigates how bands with religious agendas claim space within this subculture and the attitudes they encounter within it. That is, how they relate to the subculture, and consequently the mainstream culture. Further, the study takes interest in how non-religious bands relate to religious history, institutions and faith. This is done through a qualitative content analysis of lyrics from American hardcore/punkbands between 1986-2007. The bands investigated devote themselves to one of the three beliefs: Hare Krishna, Christians or Non-believers. The main findings are that hardcore/punk bands, despite of religion, share common ground. They all carry strong convictions, share the same artistic expressions and make use of the same language. Yet, the respective convictions, grounded in different religious worldviews, sometimes clash. Religious as well as nonreligious bands express the same attitudes to a large extent, even though these attitudes are grounded in different worldviews (e.g., religious or political). However, in spite such differences, they still have managed to share space within the subculture. What we see is that the two religious’ groups of Hare Krishna and Christians make themselves, through their presence in hardcore/punk, subcultures within a subculture.

Cette thèse traite des school shootings, soit les fusillades perpétrées par des élèves dans leur école. Elle rend compte de la globalisation de ce phénomène, observée depuis que les auteurs des fusillades prémédient leurs actes de violence via l'usage des médias participatifs. Il s'agit d'analyser cette stratégie de communication et montrer comment différents publics se l'approprient. Cette forme de violence produit des événements médiatiques disruptifs globaux. Nous montrons comment les citoyens ordinaires prennent part à ces événements en développant des formes contemporaines de sociation au sein des réseaux sociaux numériques. Nous en singularisons notamment une, la communauté cocon. Parmi ces publics ordinaires, on voit également émerger un contre public, celui des school shootings. Ils investissent les médias participatifs pour rappeler qu'une révolte souterraine se prépare. Ils la font vivre au quotidien dans une scène subculturelle numérique hébergée par YouTube, via des vidéos à l'effigie des tueurs. Leurs pratiques communicationnelles sont au cœur de cette thèse tant leur association est suspectée d'alimenter le vivier de futurs tueurs. L'investigation de cette subculture nous a amenée à singulariser le fait que les plus extrêmes, ceux qui passent à l'acte, s'engagent dans un processus d'individuation posthume d'anti-sujet. Si les auteurs des fusillades connaissent l'issue fatale qui les attend, un suicide by cop, ils la déjouent avec leurs stratégies médiatiques. En mobilisant des procédés imitatifs, ils instrumentalisent les médias pour garantir la signification de leurs actes et prendre leur revanche sociale en accédant au statut d'anti-héros. / This thesis deals with the phenomenon of "school shootings". It accounts for the globalization of this phenomenon, observed since school shooters started using participatory media for communication strategies. This thesis analyzes this strategy of premediation and shows how their audiences appropriate it. This extreme form of school violence creates global disruptive media events. We show how ordinary citizens take part in this event by developing contemporary forms of sociation in digital social networks. We shall highlight one particular: the cocoon community. Among the ordinary audience of the media event, we see the emergence of counter-public, “school shooting” fans. The use participatory media to remind everyone that an underground revolt is underway. The remind us of this daily in broadcasting videos to the effigy of the killers on a digital subcultural stage hosted by YouTube. These fans, as well as their audiovisual and communication practices, are at the heart of this thesis, as their subculture is suspected of constituting a pool of future killers. The investigation of this subversive subcultural scene has led us to single out a phenomenon that is characteristic of the youth in search of points of reference beyond good and evil. The most extreme, those planning to act, appear to engage in what we call a process of posthumous anti-subject individuation. Even if they know the fatal outcome awaiting them, “a suicide by cop”, they thwart it with their media strategies. By the means of imitation, they guarantee the attribution of meaning to their acts and instrumentalize the media to take their revenge by achieving social fame and the status of an anti-hero.