This study is based on six narrative interviews which I conducted with students at the University of Namibia in Windhoek, Namibia. My aim is to find out how these students are creating their identity in the environment of the university, how they look at their family structure and how Namibia´s independence in 1990 has created new opportunities for young people in contemporary Namibia. I have been using postcolonial theory and identity theories to analyse the interviews. Five of the six respondents are from the northern parts of Namibia, Ovamboland, and this area is seen as a rural area. The students have made an emotional journey from the rural areas in the north to the urban area of Windhoek and they feel that they have many new opportunities and they are willing to change Namibia into a more developed country.

The existing literature in marketing and consumer behavior tends to adopt a somewhat static view of membership and belonging, focusing on the status uncertainty that surrounds new group aspirants. In the literature, the portrayal of becoming a member is one of a logical step-by-step process as members move toward the top of the social hierarchy and secure status. An underlying assumption of this process is that once an individual secures membership through status, that individual is no longer uncertain about their membership or belonging. This thesis presents an alternative to this static step-by-step view and introduces the idea of the belonging paradox. A belonging paradox is a recursive cycle of an unsolvable duality of simultaneous inclusion and exclusion that can result from idiosyncratic factors such as gender, race, disability or self-doubt. This thesis also develops a new conceptual framework or perspective on the concept of belonging by integrating Uncertainty-Identity Theory, Self-Verification Theory and Symbolic Self-Completion Theory into a more dynamic and fluid understanding about the nature of belonging. Through the introduction of the belonging paradox and the new conceptual framework of belonging, a more comprehensive understanding of belonging emerges. Specifically, the belonging paradox suggests that beyond the initial stages of striving for group membership, uncertainty of belonging can continue to be a pervasive, continuous struggle even for committed hardcore group members. Through an analysis of the skateboarding subculture, this thesis illustrates how members continuously construct and shape their own belonging experience within groups. It also demonstrates the different ways members use consumption to try to cope with the duality and constant tension of the belonging paradox as well as explores the link between uncertainty and the ability to play with identities. This leads to a number of theoretical and managerial contributions. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2011-11-27 17:42:26.54

The Canadian population is aging, as is the Canadian workforce. Today, four generations find themselves cohabiting in the workforce together. This may have an impact on workplace collaboration and communication, as both of these processes are influenced by group perceptions. Academic research has focused upon workplace interactions mainly from a younger worker’s perspective; hence, the older worker’s voice has been overlooked. The objective of this study is thereby from an older worker’s perspective, to understand how generations perceive each other in the workplace, and further, understand how these perceptions influence intergenerational communication and collaboration. To do so, we have relied upon Communication Accommodation Theory and Social Identity Theory, and have conducted a survey to measure the influence of ageist stereotypes on communication and its accommodation, in addition to such influences on knowledge transfer. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

This Thesis engages with contemporary philosophical controversies about the nature of dispositional properties or powers and the relationship they have to their non-dispositional counterparts. The focus concerns fundamentality. In particular, I seek to answer the question, ‘What fundamental properties suffice to account for the manifest world?’ The answer I defend is that fundamental categorical properties need not be invoked in order to derive a viable explanation for the manifest world. My stance is a field-theoretic view which describes the world as a single system comprised of pure power, and involves the further contention that ‘pure power’ should not be interpreted as ‘purely dispositional’, if dispositionality means potentiality, possibility or otherwise unmanifested power or ability bestowed upon some bearer. The theoretical positions examined include David Armstrong’s Categoricalism, Sydney Shoemaker’s Causal Theory of Properties, Brian Ellis’s New Essentialism, Ullin Place’s Conceptualism, Charles Martin’s and John Heil’s Identity Theory of Properties and Rom Harré’s Theory of Causal Powers. The central concern of this Thesis is to examine reasons for holding a pure-power theory, and to defend such a stance. This involves two tasks. The first requires explaining what plays the substance role in a pure-power world. This Thesis argues that fundamental power, although not categorical, can be considered ontologically-robust and thus able to fulfil the substance role. A second task—answering the challenge put forward by Richard Swinburne and thereafter replicated in various neo-Swinburne arguments—concerns how the manifestly qualitative world can be explained starting from a pure-power base. The Light-like Network Account is put forward in an attempt to show how the manifest world can be derived from fundamental pure power.

Syfte: Debatten kring revisorers oberoende har pågått länge. Idag är frågan om revisorers oberoende en av de viktigaste frågorna inom redovisning vilket delvis beror på de företagsskandaler som inträffat under senare år. Tidigare studier visar att sociala identifikationer kan utvecklas vid nära relationer vilket både kan ha en positiv och en negativ påverkan på revisorers oberoende. För att utvidga tidigare studier har vi lagt till personlig identifikation för att studera detta på individnivå. Vi har även valt att lägga till en faktor, det karismatiska ledarskapet, för att undersöka om detta påverkar samtliga identifikationer. Studien syftar till att undersöka om klientidentifikation, personlig och professionell identifikation påverkas av ett karismatiskt ledarskap och om dessa identifikationer i sin tur har en påverkan på revisorers oberoende. Metod: Vi har i studien använt oss av enkäter som metod för att samla in primärdata. Data samlades in från auktoriserade och godkända revisorer runtom i Sverige. Insamlad data har sedan bearbetats och analyserats med hjälp av statistikprogrammet SPSS statistics. Resultaten från de statistiska analyserna har sedan redovisats i olika tabeller. Resultat och slutsats: Studiens resultat visade att ett karismatiskt ledarskap har en påverkan på samtliga identifikationer, dock var denna påverkan relativt svag, vilket innebär att det är många andra faktorer som ökar identifikationerna. Vidare visade resultatet att personlig identifikation kan innebära ett större hot mot revisorers oberoende än klientidentifikation. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: För att få mer djup i studien och för att få fram respondenternas egna tankar och åsikter skulle en kvalitativt inriktad studie, med intervjuer som datainsamlingsmetod kunna genomföras. Ytterligare förslag till forskning skulle kunna vara att undersöka andra faktorer som kan tänkas påverka olika identifikationer. Uppsatsens bidrag: Uppsatsen bidrar till fortsatt forskning inom revisorers icke-finansiella beroende, genom att vi undersöker problemet ur ett socialt identitetsperspektiv. Vidare bidrar studien med kunskap om faktorer som påverkar sociala identiteter. / Aim: The debate about the auditor independence has been going on for a long time. Today is the issue of auditor independence one of the most important in accounting which depends on several corporate scandals that have occurred in recent years. Previous studies shows that close relationships explicate social identifications which can have a positive and a negative impact on auditor independence. We have added personal identification in our study at the individual level to expand previous studies. We have also added the charismatic leadership as a factor to investigate whether this affect identifications. The study aims to investigate whether the client identification, personal and professional identification is affected by a charismatic leadership and whether these identifications has an impact on auditor independence. Method: In our study we have used surveys as a method to collect primary data. Data were collected from Swedish authorized and approved auditors. The collected data where then processed and analyzed by the statistical program SPSS statistics. The results of the statistical analyzes are then presented in different tables. Result and conclusions: The results of the study showed that charismatic leadership has an impact on all identifications, however, this effect is relatively weak, which means that there are many other factors that increase these identifications. Furthermore, the result also showed that personal identification can be a greater threat to auditor independence than client identification. Suggestions for future research: To obtain the respondents' own thoughts and opinions, a qualitative focused study with interviews as a data collection method could be implemented. Further implications could be to examine other factors that may affect different identifications. Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes for further research about the auditors' non-financial dependence, in which we examine the problem from a social identity perspective. Furthermore, the study can provide knowledge of the factors that affecting social identities.

This dissertation investigates the nature by which social class membership and identity figure in judgements of transition institutions for the citizens of post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. Using a unique dataset and a series of novel conceptual frameworks, it argues that social class is, in effect, an operationalisation of socioeconomic risk and vulnerability-a premise from which several important implications derive. Drawing on social identity theory, it presents and tests a model of self-conceptualisation, grounded in the belief that individuals variously identify with their social classes, depending on their perceptions of shared socioeconomic risk. From this, it follows that strong identifiers should derive more relevant information about the emerging market system from class-level economic experiences, and therefore accord these cues greater weight in judgements about transition institutions. Beyond testing this theory of interpersonal variation, it invokes signal detection theory from cognitive psychology to determine whether cross-group differences in economic vulnerability are responsible for observed class differentials in reliance on class-based economic cues. It then takes a wider view of class-based economic cognition by considering how the process of transition, itself, influenced the evaluative calculus of post-communist citizens. Building on cognitive mobilisation theory in political science, it is posited that on-going exposure to the prevailing economic system endows these citizens with the ability to link their class-level economic experiences to the effects of the market mechanism. The analysis largely supports the constituent hypotheses, as well as the larger notion that perceptions of shared socioeconomic risk led social class experiences to figure prominently in the minds of post-communist citizens.

The aim of the thesis is to provide a social identity account of the politics of mobilisation: based on hatred mostly, in contrast with accounts of solidarity. The bulk of the thesis concentrates on exploring how and why is prejudice in the form of hatred mobilised in inter-group relations. Three studies parse the structure of hate discourse of Hindu right-wing groups in India. Study 1 and study 2 are qualitative studies that analyse the production of hate in two mediums of communication, while study 3 is an experimental study demonstrating the reception of hate. The studies analyse the structure of hate discourse with the theoretical lens of a social identity framework to explicate a context of categories and category-relations, while colouring in the contents of the categories with data from India. The first contention is, if a virtuous in-group can be construed as under threat from an out-group, then, the annihilation of the other can be justified as the defence of virtue. In the other words, violence becomes virtuous. The second contention is, the process that motivates out-group hate discourse derives from struggles over intra-group authority. That is, out-group threats are invoked in order to condemn political rivals for in-group power as not representing the group and not defending group interests. This sets up the foil for the leader to position ‘self' as the ideal leader who protects and represents the in-group, while undermining the credibility of the political rival. Study 4 is a qualitative study analysing counter-hegemonic discourse on mobilisations against the rhetoric of hatred. Taken together, the first 3 studies argue that hatred is not an inherent feature of individuals or a natural fall-out of inter-group processes, it is mobilised for specific political aims. The fourth study looks at the dimensions with which other leaders counteract the politics of hate; when hatred can be mobilised, so can solidarity. The theoretical implications and limitations have been discussed.

This paper has had the ambition to answer the question does people’s perception of group difference affect their sense of societal cohesiveness? Using survey data from a Swedish 2015 study conductedby the SOM-institute this study looks at people living in Sweden’s perceptions of differentgroup identities to see which elements come at play in forming an over-all sense of societal cohesion.This study combines theories on social capital in relation to group identities to create anadvanced model to test the data in. The analysis confirmed that people’s discernment of other groups indeed affects the level of societal cohesiveness, and that respondents who felt a stronger emotional connection towards groups with another economy, education and culture were more likely to feel like a part of the Swedish society and to be more trusting of others.

This dissertation explored how sports organizations approach the communication of a defeat on social media from the perspective of organizational image management. Furthermore, this study sought to identify how sports fans react to a defeat on social media and what kind of implications fan reactions have on the organizational image management process. The sports industry has some unique characteristics compared to other commercial industries. The overall success of sports organizations is to a great extent dependent on the on-field performances of the team and the coherence of the fan community. The image of sports organizations is likewise dependent on the combination of on-field performances and how the fan community perceives the organization. Sports fans have a strong psychological connection to their favorite team. The strong attachment to a sports organization results commonly in biased evaluations of their favorite team. This dissertation examines how this dynamic unfolds in an online media environment using a customized theoretical framework that combines organizational image management theory and social identity theory. The research strategy in this dissertation consisted of a case study of six sports organizations in the Swedish Hockey League and their fans. Empirical data was collected through six interviews with communication specialists employed by the teams and by sampling comments written by fans on the teams’ Facebook pages on posts about defeats. The findings show that sports organizations in the SHL have a desire to appear honest in their approach to communicating a defeat on social media. This desire encompasses a straightforward approach to communicating a defeat on social media to their fans, making the organization to resemble a credible disseminator of information to key stakeholders in online environments. Furthermore, through the strong psychological connection to their favorite team, fans were found to have a role in the image maintenance process on social media after a defeat. Fans took mainly two different stances on social media after a defeat and were found to both hinder and aid the image management process after a defeat.

Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse s'intéressent aux liens existant entre la théorie des représentations sociales (RS) et celle de l'identité sociale (TIS). Malgré la littérature sur la théorie des représentations sociales et celle de l'identité sociale peu de recherches ont permis de mettre en évidence les liens, de ces deux champs théoriques constitutifs de la psychologie sociale. Les objectifs de cette thèse consistent d'une part à étudier le rôle des processus identitaires dans la construction des représentations sociales, et, d'autre part, à estimer l'importance du rôle des représentations sociales dans la dynamique du groupe et les relations intergroupes.On se propose d'éprouver l'hypothèse qui postule que les éléments centraux d'une représentation sociale sont constitutifs de l'identité sociale des membres du groupe. Doise (1999) définit l'identité comme un principe qui gère les relations intergroupes et qui pour cela utilise le vecteur des représentations sociales. L'approche structurale elle pose que les représentations sociales fonctionnent comme des structures sociocognitives régulées par complémentarité de deux systèmes:les cognitions centrales et les cognitions périphériques. Au travers TIS, et des différents processus sociocognitifs relatifs à cette dernière, on se propose de manipuler expérimentalement les différents processus constitutifs de l'identité d'un groupe au travers du prisme des représentations sociales. Autrement dit, nous nous intéressons à l'effet de la manipulation des éléments centraux dans le cas, notamment, du processus de comparaison sociale, des normes sociales ainsi que de l'effet brebis galeuse. / This thesis refers to the existing links between the social representation (SR) theory and the social identity (TSI) theory. Little research work has highlighted the contribution between these two theories and showed the reciprocal provisions of these two and constituting theoretical fields of social psychology. This thesis consist in supporting a correlation between the role of self-defining processes in the building of SR on one hand, and the importance of SR on the dynamics of the group and of the intergroup relations on the other hand. In this frame the purpose is to test the hypothesis that the central elements of a social representation are constituting of the social identity of the members of the group. Doise (1999) defines identity as a principle which manages intergroup relations and therefore uses the vector of SR.However,the structural approach puts down that social representations work as social cognitive structures regulated by the complementarity of two systems: central and peripheral cognitions.The individuals have a full knowledge to belong to a definite social group with a framework of reference,common representations. Thus,through the theory of TSI and through the various socio-cognitive processes related,this research is to handle in experiments of the various processes constitutive of the group identity through the prism of SR.In the effect of handling the central elements in the case, in particular,of the process of social comparison, the social norms as well as the black sheep effect. According to any logic resulting from the central core theory, the handling of central elements of a SR should not unbalance the identity of the group. / Os trabalhos apresentado desta tese se interessam às relações existentes entre a teoria das representações sociais (RS) e a da identidade social (TIS). Apesar da abundante literatura sobre a teoria das representações sociais e sobre a da identidade social, poucas pesquisas realçam as relações, bem como as contribuições recíprocas destes dois campos teóricos constitutivos da psicologia social. Os objectivos científicos desta tese suportam a interação entre, por um lado, o papel dos processos identitários na construção das representações sociais, e por outro, a importância das representações sociais na dinâmica do grupo e nas relações intergrupais. Neste sentido, através de diferentes experimentos, propomos testar a hipótese de que os elementos centrais de uma representação social são constitutivos da identidade social dos membros de um grupo. Doise (1999) define a identidade como um princípio gerador das relações intergrupais e que, para isto, utiliza o vector das representações sociais. A abordagem estrutural, por sua vez, propõe que as representações sociais funcionam como estruturas cognitivas reguladas pela complementaridade de dois sistemas: o das cognições centrais (caracterizado por seus aspectos consensuais que asseguram a perenidade da RS) e as cognições periféricas (submetidas às variações interindividuais). Os indivíduos têm plena consciência de pertencer à um grupo social definido, com um quadro de referência e representações comuns. Desta forma, a partir da teoria da identidade social (TIS) e dos diferentes processos sociocognitivos à ela relacionados, propomos manipular experimentalmente os diferentes processos constitutivos da identidade de um grupo partindo do prisma das representações sociais. Ou seja, nos interessamos aos efeitos da manipulação dos elementos centrais sobre, nomeadamente, os processos de comparação social, as normas sociais, e o efeito ovelha negra. De acordo com a lógica da teoria do núcleo central, a manipulação dos elementos centrais de uma representação não deveria desequilibrar a identidade grupal.