For decades, economic theories have been mostly based on rational choices made by selfish individuals to maximize their utility, while sociology spent a lot of efforts describing the environment of individuals and explaining how this environment shapes theirs decisions. However, the last thirty years have seen many sociological concepts appear in the economic literature. For example, behavioral economics introduces things such as envy or altruism in economic theories. Other notions such as social capital, social norms, trust or community became more and more present in economic papers. The objective of this new strand of literature is to engage into sort of socioeconomic approach and to shed some light on interpersonal relationships. This thesis belongs to this socioeconomic approach, and tries to explore new aspects of various concepts. The two first papers are theoretical. In the first one, we explore the negative side of social capital, which has not been studied extensively, by investigating the effect of a norm on consumers when moving is costly. In the second one, we introduce a sociological concept, namely social identity, in a classic economic model in order to show how social interactions modifies its results, and hence, the importance of taking such interpersonal relationships into account. The third and final paper is an empirical case study of social capital in Belgium, an exercise that has not been done before, with the objective of comparing the level of social capital between the various regions of the country. <p><p>In the first paper, The Tyranny of Social Norms on Individual Behavior, we study the negative effect of the existence of a norm and moving cost inside a community. Because of deviation cost (such as social shame or peer pressure for example), consumers inside a given community may not reach their ideal consumption, that is the consumption they would have without social constraint. On the other hand, moving to another community may be too expensive (in terms of social assets needed to be part of the new community). Hence, agents may get stuck in their community, being forced to consume something they do not want to. One example of such behavior is the underinvestment in education in some neighborhood. We show that such equilibria are possible and that they may be socially suboptimal equilibria as well as Pareto inferior equilibria. We also show that state intervention can correct those “bad” equilibria by operating transfers between agents in order to lower the moving cost.<p><p>In the second paper, Social Identity, Advertising and Market Competition, we use a particular approach of a sociological concept, namely Social Identity, which focuses on the fact that people want to signal who they are to others. We assume that this is done by choosing a specific consumption (think of fashion market for example). We show that under this assumption, the classical result of Bertrand Price Competition does not hold anymore, and that prices and profits are positive, meaning that social identity creates market power for firms. Moreover, if the number of goods is limited, groups will be formed, and there will be multiple equilibria, each one corresponding to a particular partition of the consumers. We then add the possibility for firms to use advertising. This allows consumers to have a coordination tool, but increases also market powers for firms. We investigate the various equilibria that arise and their impact in term of welfare.<p><p>In the third paper, Social Capital in Belgium, we construct an index of social capital using the European Social Survey, and we show that this index can be decomposed in three aspects: Trust, Social Activities and Social Network. We then study whether there is a difference in social capital between Belgium’s regions or not. We show that indeed, such difference exists, even when controlling for socioeconomic variables. In a third part, we investigate whether the level of social capital is higher or lower in Belgium than in other European countries, and we analyze European regional differences in term of social capital.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The food choices we make every day have a great impact on our environment. Particularly meat consumption significantly contributes to global climate change. Although the current situation calls for a change towards more sustainable diet, meat consumption is still rising. Previous research show that dynamic social norms, i.e. information about ongoing collective behavioral change, can promote pro- environmental behavior, even in the context of meat consumption. Through two pre- registered online experimental studies conducted on a sample of university students (Study 1, N = 227) and on a sample of adult Czech population (Study 2, N = 462), this thesis examines whether dynamic norm message regarding the changing trends in meat consumption can influence intentions to consume less meat. We did not find any direct or total effect of dynamic norms on the preference for meatless meals. Mediation analysis only revealed rather weak indirect effect of dynamic norms on the preference for meatless meals mediated by perceived dynamic norms. In Study 2, we further examined whether the effect of dynamic norm message is conditioned by strength of the dynamic norms (effect of stronger vs weaker dynamic norm) and whether the provision of dynamic norm information triggers self-defense mechanisms which rationalize...

Text in Afrikaans / The actuality of the pedagogical question concerning the role of ideology, values and norms in the life of man in general and education specifically stimulated the interest of the author and prompted her to examine the past in this respect. The contemporary image of ideology, values, norms, personal and global philosophies are looked at in this study. Particular attention is paid to the ideologies that developed from the Renaissance e.g. Humanistic oriented Realism, Rationalism and Naturalism. Certain role players are briefly referred to. The Communist Educational System influenced more than half of the human race over a period of seventy years resulting in a thorough investigation into this system. The influence of People's Education in education in general was also scrutinized. Because so many South Africans are adherents of Calvinism it was important that attention was paid to: The philosophy of Calvinism; What it entails; How it originated and its impact on South African Education. Particular reference was made to the role of Christian National Education. It is fairly generally accepted that a new period in history of the West in relation to values, norms and education is being entered into. The period discussion is more concerned with spiritual development, culture knowledge and religion of the human race than political and military power, although, the latter is not excluded. It was also necessary to take note of the influence of the New Age movement on values and norms. The study is concluded with the evaluation of ideology, values, norms, personal and global philosophies. Some of the most important conclusions arrived at are that these aspects are interwoven and that education is pertinently influenced by the values, norms, culture, personal and global philosophies of the individual, community and government. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Historiese Opvoedkunde)

Concern about privacy is an important consideration for users of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly when using computer-mediated communication (CMC), i.e. Internet usage. Several researchers have studied privacy issues by taking into account the views of users to include individuals, organisations, privacy policy makers, governments and trust organisations. This thesis investigates whether an individual's perspectives about privacy are culturally relevant when using the Internet. This research used a survey in the form of a questionnaire in two countries, namely, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to compare online privacy perspectives of young and mature (male and female) Saudi and Malaysian students. The research examines the relationship of the effect of the cultural background including the effect of social norms, religious belief, Internet regulation and IT skills of these Internet users upon their attitude towards privacy online and their perspectives about privacy. It also examines the effect of nationality (Malaysian and Saudi), gender and age groups. In this study, online privacy perspectives are a synthesis of three perceptions; what is 'personal' information online, the online privacy concerns and the Internet trust, whereby the cultural effects are the effect of religious beliefs, social norms, Internet regulation and IT skills in the privacy attitudes of keeping personal information safe, caring about their and others' privacy online and when revealing personal information. The demographic factors in this research are nationality, gender and age. To study these relationships, the research uses t-test, ANOVA, and single regression methods as data analysis techniques. The results show that the level of concern and degree of trust exhibited by Malaysian students with regard to submitting personal information via the Internet was affected the most by their gender, and social norms upon their online privacy attitudes. For Saudi students, the level of concern and trust with regard to submitting personal information via the Internet was found to be related to the effect of their age, gender, and religious beliefs on their online privacy attitudes. The other cultural factors, i.e. Internet regulation in force in each country and the IT skills of participants, are likely to have equal effects on both Malaysian and Saudi privacy perspectives. This research adds the cultural background, age and gender effects to the model of the calculus of the privacy concern that is proposed by Dinev and Hart (2006, pp. 63-64). The research also establishes what is 'private' in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, by identifying 'what counts as personal information with regard to Internet users' and provides a comparison in this concept between the two countries, their gender and age groups. For examples, Malaysian students consider name, e-mail address, date of birth, nationality and religion as 'personal' information and Saudi students consider home address, phone number, photographic image and credit card number as 'personal' information. In addition Saudi females tend to consider, particularly, home address, phone number, and photographic image as 'personal' information more than Saudi males. These findings should help both web designers and Internet policy makers in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to consider these cultural effects when designing the privacy policies of their websites.

The objective of this thesis was to examine the effectiveness of contact and imagined contact (a derivative of direct contact) in reducing intergroup prejudice when the prejudice in question is deemed socially acceptable. Studies focused on two populations that are targets of socially acceptable, prejudice – people suffering from schizophrenia in the U.K., and homosexual men in Jamaica. These target groups were selected because they are similar in that they are both targets of socially acceptable prejudice, but also because of their differences in that the stereotypes associated with them are quite dissimilar. The first part of the thesis empirically tested the assumption that the aforementioned populations are targets of socially acceptable prejudice. Two cross-sectional studies, one of which was also cross-cultural, measured motivation to control prejudice against these target groups, and compared it to motivation to control prejudice against targets of socially unacceptable prejudice. I found that motivation to control prejudice against people with schizophrenia in the U.K. was lower than motivation to control prejudice against Black people in the U.K. Also, motivation to control prejudice against homosexual men was higher in the U.K. and the U.S.A. than in Jamaica, and differences in motivation to control unspecified prejudice were significantly smaller. The second part examined the association between actual contact and prejudice for both populations. Two cross-sectional studies, one of which was also cross-cultural, found that contact was associated with less prejudice. This effect was mediated by intergroup anxiety in all cases, and also by fear in the case of people with schizophrenia. Furthermore, I found that contact was more strongly negatively associated with anti-homosexual prejudice in Jamaica, where the prejudice is socially acceptable, than it was in Britain, where the prejudice is not socially acceptable. The third part tested the effect of imagined contact, a form of extended contact, on prejudice against people with schizophrenia. Four experimental studies demonstrated that imagined contact can be an effective means of reducing prejudice against this group. However imagined contact must be conducted in very specific ways, otherwise it has the potential to increase prejudice against people with schizophrenia.

The study aims to describe variation in the expression of students’ mathematical ability and the various ways in which their mathematical aptitude is acknowledged and supported by their teachers, parents and peers in a Swedish context. Ability is defined as a complex of various abilities each of which may be more or less pronounced in a given individual. The study is based on ten case studies of highly able students (ages 6-19). Six of the studies are longitudinal, ranging from three to six years. In order to validate the results of the case studies, two survey studies were carried out involving 180 teachers (preschool to Grade 9 in Swedish compulsory school) and 284 mathematics developers from 229 Swedish municipalities. The survey studies raised questions concerning the teachers’ personal experience of identifying and supporting highly able students, the nature of their everyday teaching, and the support given to able students. The results show that mathematical abilities can take many different forms and there is great need for pedagogical support for this group of students. Since extra resources are rarely available for the benefit of nurturing talent and since there are, as yet, no Swedish national or local policy documents that specifically address the support of talent in students, teachers are on their own in figuring out how to best help able students develop mathematically. The study points to the importance of the social norms that influence the interaction between teacher and student(s): everyday social norms as well as socio-mathematical norms, i.e. norms specific to the subject of mathematics. The latter place considerable demands on the teachers’ mathematical knowledge and competence. The benefits of early interventions, of supportive teaching environments, and of providing the students with challenging tasks and questions are also discussed.

This thesis is focused on survey of important symbolic agents, with that the organizational culture is presented in the chosen organization. Part of this thesis deals with the identification of social norms and standards of behaviour, that are thought to be important in this organization. Purpose of this thesis is verify, the relation of symbolic agents to strong embedded and sharable social norms and standards of behaviour in organization in randomly chosen research sample of employees. At the end of the thesis are the results and recommendations for lead of organization.

The present dissertation evaluates the internal dynamics of a specific type of common-pool resource, an information commons. Employing a novel dataset related to more than 800,000 transactions in distinct libraries during a 10-year period (2005-2015), I address distinct questions in the fields of organizational economics, law and economics, and public economics. This dissertation contains three chapters in the format of academic papers, besides the introduction and conclusion. The second chapter evaluates the behavioral responses of library users to monetary sanctions. I exploit variation in the timing of introduction of fines in a library, as well as differences among users, in terms of fine incidence. In the case of this chapter, I report two results: first, the introduction of fines reduces users\' delays, as predicted by standard models of law enforcement. Second, when evaluating the dynamic effects of such an introduction, I uncover a result in which fines lose efficacy over time since its nominal value remains the same after instauration. The third chapter measures externalities in an information commons. I estimate the magnitude of the impacts of actions of library users who were subject to a non-monetary sanction (professors and university employees) over users who were subject to a monetary sanction (students). Additionally, I estimate peer effects among users, considering the number of items they borrow from the library. When investigating external effects, I uncover a \"crowding-out\" effect: for an additional unity in professors and employees\' counts, there is an approximate one-to-one decrease in students\' counts. In the case of peer effects, I find that a rise in the borrowings of a user\'s peer group correlates with her own borrowings, an evidence of positive peer effects. Finally, the fourth chapter explores the interplay between common-pool resources and transaction costs. In particular, I try to answer the following question: what happens when transaction costs go down in a common-pool resource setting? I exploit variation in the timing of introduction of a cost-saving technology (return boxes) and its impacts on library performance measures. Contrarily to standard arguments based on transaction costs, I find a result in which the instauration of return boxes tend, on average, to raise the probability of delays and borrowings\' effective durations. The results reported in this dissertation have important implications for theories based on common-pool resources\' management, and constitute novel empirical evidence for the areas of law and economics, public economics, and organizational economics. / A presente tese avalia a dinâmica interna de um tipo específico de recurso comum, um \"information commons\". Utilizando uma nova base de dados contendo mais de 800.000 transações ocorridas em distintas bibliotecas, ao longo de um período superior a 10 anos (2005-2015), o trabalho busca responder distintas questões relacionadas às áreas de economia das organizações, direito econômico e economia do setor público. A tese contém três capítulos, em formato de artigos, além da introdução e conclusão. O segundo capítulo da tese avalia as respostas comportamentais de usuários de uma biblioteca a sanções monetárias, ao explorar variação no timing de introdução de multas, assim como diferenças entre usuários, em termos de incidência dessas multas. No caso deste capítulo, são reportados dois resultados: em primeiro lugar, a introdução da multa tende a reduzir atrasos dos usuários, conforme previsto por modelos convencionais de cumprimento da lei. Em segundo lugar, uma análise dos efeitos dinâmicos de instauração da multa sugere que ela perde eficácia ao longo do tempo, uma vez que seu valor nominal permanece o mesmo, desde a data de instauração. O terceiro capítulo da tese apresenta estimativas das magnitudes de externalidades em um recurso comum. Neste capítulo, são estimados os impactos das ações de usuários da biblioteca sujeitos a uma sanção não-monetária (professores e funcionários) sobre usuários sujeitos a uma sanção monetária (alunos). Adicionalmente, são estimados efeitos sobre pares (peereffects), considerando o número de itens emprestados por usuários da biblioteca. A análise da magnitude de efeitos externos leva à descoberta de um efeito \"crowding-out\": para cada unidade adicional emprestada por professores e funcionários, há uma redução, na escala de um por um, nos empréstimos de estudantes. No caso de estimações de efeitos sobre pares, um aumento nos empréstimos por parte do grupo ao qual um usuário pertence é correlacionado com seus próprios empréstimos, o que constitui evidência favorável à ocorrência de efeitos positivos sobre pares, no caso. Finalmente, no quarto capítulo, explora-se a interação entre recursos comuns e custos de transação. Especificamente, busca-se responder a seguinte questão: o que ocorre quando custos de transação são reduzidos em um contexto envolvendo recursos comuns? Para tanto, explora-se a variação no timing de introdução de uma tecnologia redutora de custos de transação (caixas de devolução), assim como seus impactos sobre medidas de desempenho na biblioteca. No caso deste capítulo, tem-se um resultado onde a instauração de caixas de devolução tende, em média, a aumentar a probabilidade de atrasos entre usuários da biblioteca, assim como a duração efetiva dos empréstimos, contrariamente a argumentos baseados em custos de transação. Os resultados reportados nesta tese têm importantes implicações para teorias baseadas no gerenciamento de recursos comuns, assim como correspondem a um novo conjunto de evidências empíricas relacionadas às áreas de direito econômico, economia do setor público e economia das organizações.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:21:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vinicius Nascimento Francisco.pdf: 1026261 bytes, checksum: 20b5cb10d78c34bc1ff4bedf5bb989c1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-11 / This study aims to analyze a particular course of action understood as a disease by the medical science and an offense to the structuring of processes ordered face-to-face interaction in everyday life. Alcoholism was selected for the theoretical and empirical object as the social experiences of members of self-help groups that acquired a social significance in recent decades: the "Alcoholics Anonymous" AA. The AA is a physical space that apprehends alcoholism as a matter related to the daily lives of men and women stigmatized as drunk. The AA members strive gradually in overlay alcoholism with a language related to the reorganization of their everyday lives. . In the first instance, we address the intrinsic relationship between the systemic world of science, its way to make sense to alcoholism (rational construction of the disease conception) and their acceptance of disability on other approaches to the problem of excessive alcohol consumption in social life. In a second step, we show the historical and political development of the United States and favorable social conditions for the emergence of a movement that understands alcoholism from the public discussion on the way to the common good of society. On a third occasion, we study the social experiences of AA members and the construction of belief in alcoholism within the group as a spring abnormality of disruption of the privacy of its visitors. We understand therefore that alcoholism for AA membership is a fact that hindered his performances in everyday social relations - and will continue blocking if nothing is done to understand the abnormality of those who constantly drink in everyday life. The work was based on qualitative methodologies such as case study, having been selected for the AA your research, semi-structured interviews with the group members, systematic observation of AA meetings and document analysis used by its frequenters / O presente trabalho analisa uma determinada maneira de agir, entendida como doença pela ciência médica, e uma ofensa à estruturação dos processos ordenados de interação face a face na vida cotidiana. Selecionou-se o alcoolismo para o estudo teórico e como objeto empírico as experiências sociais dos membros dos grupos de autoajuda que adquiriu uma importância social nas últimas décadas: os Alcoólicos Anônimos A.A. O A.A é um espaço físico que apreende o alcoolismo como uma questão relacionada ao cotidiano de homens e mulheres estigmatizados como bêbados. Os membros do A.A esforçam-se, gradativamente, em revestirem o alcoolismo com uma linguagem relacionada à reorganização de suas vidas cotidianas. Num primeiro instante, abordamos as intrínsecas relações entre o mundo sistêmico da ciência, sua forma em atribuir sentido ao alcoolismo (construção racional da concepção de doença) e sua incapacidade de aceitação diante de outras abordagens sobre o problema do consumo excessivo de álcool na vida social. Num segundo momento, mostramos o desenvolvimento histórico e político dos Estados Unidos e as condições sociais propícias para o surgimento de um movimento que compreende o alcoolismo, a partir da discussão pública em torno do caminho rumo ao bem comum da sociedade. Numa terceira ocasião, estudamos as experiências sociais dos membros do A.A e a construção da crença no alcoolismo dentro do grupo como uma anormalidade nascente da desestruturação da vida privada de seus frequentadores. Entendemos, pois, que o alcoolismo, para os membros do A.A, é um fato que obstruiu suas atuações nas relações sociais cotidianas e que continuará obstruindo, caso nada seja feito para se entender a anormalidade daqueles que bebem constantemente na vida cotidiana. O trabalho se apoiou em metodologias qualitativas como o Estudo de Caso, tendo sido selecionado o A.A para sua pesquisa, entrevistas semiestruturadas com os membros do grupo, observação sistemática das reuniões do A.A. e análise de documentos utilizados por seus frequentadores

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:55:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vinicius Nascimento Francisco.pdf: 1026261 bytes, checksum: 20b5cb10d78c34bc1ff4bedf5bb989c1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-11 / This study aims to analyze a particular course of action understood as a disease by the medical science and an offense to the structuring of processes ordered face-to-face interaction in everyday life. Alcoholism was selected for the theoretical and empirical object as the social experiences of members of self-help groups that acquired a social significance in recent decades: the "Alcoholics Anonymous" AA. The AA is a physical space that apprehends alcoholism as a matter related to the daily lives of men and women stigmatized as drunk. The AA members strive gradually in overlay alcoholism with a language related to the reorganization of their everyday lives. . In the first instance, we address the intrinsic relationship between the systemic world of science, its way to make sense to alcoholism (rational construction of the disease conception) and their acceptance of disability on other approaches to the problem of excessive alcohol consumption in social life. In a second step, we show the historical and political development of the United States and favorable social conditions for the emergence of a movement that understands alcoholism from the public discussion on the way to the common good of society. On a third occasion, we study the social experiences of AA members and the construction of belief in alcoholism within the group as a spring abnormality of disruption of the privacy of its visitors. We understand therefore that alcoholism for AA membership is a fact that hindered his performances in everyday social relations - and will continue blocking if nothing is done to understand the abnormality of those who constantly drink in everyday life. The work was based on qualitative methodologies such as case study, having been selected for the AA your research, semi-structured interviews with the group members, systematic observation of AA meetings and document analysis used by its frequenters / O presente trabalho analisa uma determinada maneira de agir, entendida como doença pela ciência médica, e uma ofensa à estruturação dos processos ordenados de interação face a face na vida cotidiana. Selecionou-se o alcoolismo para o estudo teórico e como objeto empírico as experiências sociais dos membros dos grupos de autoajuda que adquiriu uma importância social nas últimas décadas: os Alcoólicos Anônimos A.A. O A.A é um espaço físico que apreende o alcoolismo como uma questão relacionada ao cotidiano de homens e mulheres estigmatizados como bêbados. Os membros do A.A esforçam-se, gradativamente, em revestirem o alcoolismo com uma linguagem relacionada à reorganização de suas vidas cotidianas. Num primeiro instante, abordamos as intrínsecas relações entre o mundo sistêmico da ciência, sua forma em atribuir sentido ao alcoolismo (construção racional da concepção de doença) e sua incapacidade de aceitação diante de outras abordagens sobre o problema do consumo excessivo de álcool na vida social. Num segundo momento, mostramos o desenvolvimento histórico e político dos Estados Unidos e as condições sociais propícias para o surgimento de um movimento que compreende o alcoolismo, a partir da discussão pública em torno do caminho rumo ao bem comum da sociedade. Numa terceira ocasião, estudamos as experiências sociais dos membros do A.A e a construção da crença no alcoolismo dentro do grupo como uma anormalidade nascente da desestruturação da vida privada de seus frequentadores. Entendemos, pois, que o alcoolismo, para os membros do A.A, é um fato que obstruiu suas atuações nas relações sociais cotidianas e que continuará obstruindo, caso nada seja feito para se entender a anormalidade daqueles que bebem constantemente na vida cotidiana. O trabalho se apoiou em metodologias qualitativas como o Estudo de Caso, tendo sido selecionado o A.A para sua pesquisa, entrevistas semiestruturadas com os membros do grupo, observação sistemática das reuniões do A.A. e análise de documentos utilizados por seus frequentadores