Thesis advisor: Willaim A. Gamson / What are the class culture differences among US progressive social movement groups? This mixed-methods study finds that activists speak and act differently depending on their class background, current class and upward, downward or steady class trajectory, confirming previous research on cultural capital and conditioned class predispositions. In 2007-8, 34 meetings of 25 groups in four movement traditions were observed in five states; 364 demographic surveys were collected; and 61 interviews were conducted. I compared activists' approaches to six frequently mentioned group problems. * Lifelong-working-class activists, usually drawn in through preexisting affiliations, relied on recruitment incentives such as food and one-on-one relationships. Both disempowered neophytes and experienced powerhouses believed in strength in numbers, had positive attitudes towards trustworthy leaders, and stressed loyalty and unity. * Lifelong-professional-middle-class (PMC) activists, usually individually committed to a cause prior to joining, relied on shared ideas to recruit. They focused more on internal organizational development and had negative attitudes towards leadership. Subsets of PMC activists behaved differently: lower professionals communicated tentatively and avoided conflict, while upper-middle-class people were more assertive and polished. * Upwardly mobile straddlers tended to promote their moral certainties within groups. A subset, uprooted from their working-class backgrounds but not assimilated into professional circles, sometimes pushed self-righteously and brought discord into groups. * Voluntarily downwardly mobile activists, mostly young white anarchists, drew the strongest ideological boundaries and had the most distinct movement culture. Mistrustful of new people and sometimes seeing persuasion as coercive, they had the weakest recruitment and group cohesion methods. Analysis of class speech differences found that working-class activists spoke more often but more briefly in meetings, preferred more concrete speech, and used more teasing and self-deprecating humor. The professional-middle-class (in background and/or current class) spoke longer but less often, preferred more abstract vocabulary, and used less negative humor. Group styles were formed by the interplay of members' predominant class trajectories and groups' movement traditions. Better understanding these class culture differences would enable activists to strengthen cross-class alliances to build more powerful social movements. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

中國宣傳畫作為中國政治社會變遷的記錄儀，擁有著深遠的史料價值和時代特徵。本研究運用Roland Barthes的圖像符號學理論作為分析工具，探討1949至2008年期間中國宣傳畫中圖文符號的意義指涉和運作規則。本研究將中國宣傳畫分為「中共建國時期」、「大躍進時期」、「文化大革命時期」與「改革開放時期」四個歷史階段；在每一個時期的宣傳畫中，則重點分析偉人領袖、工農兵、女性以及兒童這四類人物符號；歸納出這些人物符號在時代中的變遷以及他們所體現的意識形態與社會政治文化脈絡。 本研究發現，中國宣傳畫呈現出了領袖崇拜、敵我矛盾與階級身份的圖像符號運作原則；文字與圖像意義的連結較為緊密，圖文能產生強烈的對應關係。中國宣傳畫的意符與意指穩固了民眾的服從，它們來自傳統的文化，蘊含無數的集體記憶，也反映出群眾值得追求和嚮往的「目標」；這些「目標」均為國家的重要施政方針，例如：熱烈從事生產建設與追隨領導人等。雖然中國宣傳畫運用寫實主義的手法來勾勒出人民生活的圖景，但並非完全真實的反映，這種「真實」是經過政治考量之後被選擇與建構的「真實」。中國共產黨官方意識型態與社會主義價值觀支配著中國宣傳畫所傳遞的訊息，宣傳畫「再現」意識形態的同時，也展現出「去菁英化」的無產階級文化。然而改革開放之後，由於社會轉型和市場化進程，宣傳畫也反映出中國的中產階級與小資產階級文化的逐步發展。 / As the recorder of the changes of Chinese political society, Chinese propaganda posters showed remarkable historical values and characteristics of the times. Using Roland Barthes’ pictorial semiotics, we studied in this review the implications and rules of the images and texts signs of Chinese propaganda posters between 1949 and 2008. The review was divided into four parts: Building the People's Republic, The great leap forward and back, Cultural revolution and China opens up. In each part, four types of character signs were analyzed: great leaders, workers/farmers/soldiers, women and children. The changes of the character signs in different times and the development of ideology and social political cultures indicated by the changes were generalized. The research results indicate that Chinese propaganda posters illustrate the semiotic rules of worship to leaders, the contradiction and the classes. The close connection between images and texts generate strong correspondence. The signifier and signified in Chinese propaganda posters, which strengthened the obedience of people, came from Chinese traditional culture and involved numerous collective memories. They also reflected the targets people pursued, which were the government’s major policies, such as great emphasis on manufacturing and construction industry, or adherence to the leaders. Although the vision of people’s life was depicted in the posters in a realistic way, it was not purely real, but a politically tailored ‘reality’. The official ideology of Chinese Communist Party and socialism values dominated the information conveyed by the posters. The posters showed proletarian culture, which involved populism, as well as representing the official ideology. However, after the beginning of reform and opening, the propaganda posters started to show the development of the culture of the middle class and petty-bourgeois in China brought by the transition and the marketization of the society.