„Alles ist Prozess“ – so könnte man meinen, rückt doch der Prozess als Beschreibungskategorie und damit die Prozessualität der jeweils betrachteten Phänomene in den letzten Jahrzehnten immer stärker in den Fokus wissenschaftlicher und außerwissenschaftlicher Reflexionen. Heute werden Prozesse in allen Bereichen – Natur, Technik, Wirtschaft, Politik, Gesellschaft und Kultur – nicht mehr nur diagnostiziert oder gedeutet, vielmehr werden sie überwacht, zu steuern und zu regulieren versucht, sie werden ‚optimiert‘, ‚gemanaged‘ und nicht zuletzt will Veränderung auch ‚kommuniziert‘ sein.

No description available.

Although the concept of wealth is a topic that ancient philosophers have dealt with, relatively little attention is paid to it in psychology. This work sheds light on cognitive processes on how individuals derive a judgment about whether someone is rich and whether certain cues serve as subjective indicators of wealth. Based on three chapters that describe K = 11 observational and experimental studies (N = 2,315), three research questions shall be answered: First, to what extent do individuals differ when defining wealth? Secondly, are there universal cues of wealth that individuals use to identify rich people? And if yes, in what sense do these cues depend on the situation or context? Furthermore, it will be asked whether there are situational boundaries under which those cues do not apply. The present research shows that individuals differ in defining wealth and that they take their personal life circumstances and situational cues into account to define wealth. Moreover, evidence for a coherent wealth cue model was found that describes cues that are used by individuals to identify the rich (i.e., particularly wealthy people), whereby the validity of these cues depends on several contextual (e.g., cultural) factors. Lastly, it was found that by isolating individual wealth cues and looking at core mental representations of these cues, they may not be perceived as indicative for rich people anymore. The conclusions reported here set a foundation for further research on the perceptions of wealth which may be particularly relevant for the political discourse / Obwohl „Reichtum“ ein Thema ist, mit dem sich schon die Philosophen der Antike beschäftigt haben, wird ihm in der Psychologie relativ wenig Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt. Diese Arbeit beleuchtet die kognitiven Prozesse, wie Individuen ein Urteil darüber fällen, ob jemand reich ist, und ob bestimmte Anhaltspunkte als subjektive Indikatoren für Reichtum dienen. In drei Kapiteln, die k = 11 Beobachtungs- und experimentelle Studien (N = 2.315) beschreiben, sollen drei Forschungsfragen beantwortet werden. Erstens: Inwieweit unterscheiden sich Individuen, wenn sie Reichtum definieren sollen? Zweitens: Gibt es universelle Hinweisreize für Reichtum, die Individuen verwenden, um reiche Menschen zu identifizieren? Und wenn ja, inwieweit sind diese Hinweisreize kontextabhängig? Darüber hinaus wird die Frage beantwortet, ob es situative Grenzen gibt, unter denen diese Hinweisreize nicht gelten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich Individuen bei der Definition von Reichtum inter-individuell unterscheiden und dass Personen bei der Definition von Reichtum ihre Lebensumstände und situativ verfügbare Anhaltspunkte in Betracht ziehen. Darüber hinaus wurden Belege für ein kohärentes Modell von Reichtumshinweisen gefunden, das Hinweisreize beschreibt, die von Individuen verwendet werden, um reiche Personen (d.h. besonders wohlhabende Menschen) zu identifizieren, wobei die Gültigkeit dieser Merkmale von verschiedenen kontextuellen (z.B. kulturellen) Faktoren abhängt. Schließlich wurde festgestellt, dass durch die Isolierung einzelner Reichtumshinweise der mentalen Repräsentation dieser Merkmale diese möglicherweise nicht mehr als Indikator für reiche Menschen wahrgenommen werden. Aus den Schlussfolgerungen ergeben sich Grundlagen für weitere Forschungen über die Wahrnehmung von Reichtum, die insbesondere für den politischen Diskurs von Bedeutung sein können

<p>This licentiate’s thesis is concerned with how genetics is depicted and used in fictional stories. From a perspective that combines science and technology studies with cultural studies, it analyses narratives that deal with, or contain images of, genetics and gene technology. The empirical material consists of four narratives, two movies and two novels: Andrew Niccol’s film Gattaca (1997), Ang Lee’s film Hulk (2003), Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake (2003), and P.C. Jersild’s Swedish novel Geniernas återkomst ("Return of the Geniuses", 1987). The thesis has two main parts, where the first part introduces theories and perspectives on biology and narrative, whereas the second part presents the four analyses of fictional narratives.</p><p>The first part is divided into two sections. Section one is concerned with biology (primarily molecular biology), ideals of objectivity, and the relation¬ship between science and technology. I argue for a perspective where science and technology are intimately interwoven, especially in the case of the “new biology”. This section defines the concepts of genetics and gene technology, a definition that relies more on how the concept of gene is used in the analysed narratives than the scientific discipline of genetics. Then follows in the second section a discussion of narration and fiction, two cen¬tral concepts in this thesis. With the aid of structuralist literary studies, the process of narrative production and meaning making is described, and an argument is made for viewing fiction as a quality of narratives rather than a genre of its own.</p><p>Part two is also made up of two main sections. In the first of these, the four narratives are analysed separately. The narratives are viewed as examples of different perspectives on fictitious genetics: Gattaca is analysed as an exam¬ple of a genetically governed society, Hulk as a genetically manipulated individual, Oryx and Crake exemplifies the genetic apocalypse, and Genier¬nas återkomst depicts a future society where genetics has been out¬dated, banned and expelled. The second part analyses genetics and gene technology as narrative devices. Here, the four narratives are no longer separated. In¬stead, they are compared and used to exemplify a number of sometimes contradictory narrative uses of genetics and gene technology. The narratives make use of both public understandings of science and technology and the complexity of modern biology and biotechnology to balance credibility and the fantastic. Six main functions of genetics are identified in the narratives, some of wich are functions of negotiation – like the negotiations between the credible and the incredible, between threat and opportunity, between control and the loss of control, between micro and macro, and between nature and technology. Other functions are based upon genetics and gene technology being described – and understood – as both new and having potentially pro¬found consequences for society and human¬kind. In the end, genetics in fic¬tion turns out to have very little to do with genetics and gene technology as scientific discourses. Instead these sciences seem to be used because of their complexity and aura of both “cutting-edge” sciences and “code of life”, in order to negotiate a number of narrative problems and oppositions.</p>

<p>Intresset för det valda uppsatsämnet uppstod av att se om det är kultur som påverkar varumärkesassociationer. Det var därmed intressant att fördjupa sig i två olika kulturer, nämligen USA och Sverige. Detta för att göra studien mer intresseväckande, då det handlar om en jämförelse mellan dessa två länder och för att ”verklighetsförankra” studien.</p><p>Uppsatsen grundar sig på en kvalitativ ansats och avser att studera konsumenternas varumärkesassociationer. Den komponent som har analyserats, för att undersöka vilka associationer som uppstår är kulturellt bakgrund. Studien har som syfte att utvärdera om den svenska och amerikanska kulturen påverkar hur konsumenterna associerar om varumärket McDonald’s.</p><p>Den teoretiska referensramen tar sin utgångspunkt i Hofstedes kulturmanifestationer och nationella kultur skillnader, men i uppsatsen ges även en inblick i Sveriges och USA:s kultur skillnader. Teori kapitlet avslutas med en egen undersökningsmodell som tar upp de relevanta delarna för studiens syfte.</p><p>Det empiriska materialet bygger på intervjuer med svenska och amerikanska konsumenter. Intervjufrågorna formades i huvudsak utifrån komponenterna i den egna undersökningsmodellen. Denna modell användes som ett verktyg för att analysera varumärkesassociationer, där koppling skedde genom att sortera den empiriska fakta som har erhållits, för att sedan applicera den till passande delar inom undersökningsmodellen.</p><p>Resultatet av analysen bildade en grund för de slutsatser och egna reflektioner som har presenterats. Slutsatsen redovisar att en människas tankar, handlingar och känslor är kulturella produkter och att den amerikanska och svenska kulturen har en inverkan på konsumenternas associationer.</p>

This licentiate’s thesis is concerned with how genetics is depicted and used in fictional stories. From a perspective that combines science and technology studies with cultural studies, it analyses narratives that deal with, or contain images of, genetics and gene technology. The empirical material consists of four narratives, two movies and two novels: Andrew Niccol’s film Gattaca (1997), Ang Lee’s film Hulk (2003), Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake (2003), and P.C. Jersild’s Swedish novel Geniernas återkomst ("Return of the Geniuses", 1987). The thesis has two main parts, where the first part introduces theories and perspectives on biology and narrative, whereas the second part presents the four analyses of fictional narratives. The first part is divided into two sections. Section one is concerned with biology (primarily molecular biology), ideals of objectivity, and the relation¬ship between science and technology. I argue for a perspective where science and technology are intimately interwoven, especially in the case of the “new biology”. This section defines the concepts of genetics and gene technology, a definition that relies more on how the concept of gene is used in the analysed narratives than the scientific discipline of genetics. Then follows in the second section a discussion of narration and fiction, two cen¬tral concepts in this thesis. With the aid of structuralist literary studies, the process of narrative production and meaning making is described, and an argument is made for viewing fiction as a quality of narratives rather than a genre of its own. Part two is also made up of two main sections. In the first of these, the four narratives are analysed separately. The narratives are viewed as examples of different perspectives on fictitious genetics: Gattaca is analysed as an exam¬ple of a genetically governed society, Hulk as a genetically manipulated individual, Oryx and Crake exemplifies the genetic apocalypse, and Genier¬nas återkomst depicts a future society where genetics has been out¬dated, banned and expelled. The second part analyses genetics and gene technology as narrative devices. Here, the four narratives are no longer separated. In¬stead, they are compared and used to exemplify a number of sometimes contradictory narrative uses of genetics and gene technology. The narratives make use of both public understandings of science and technology and the complexity of modern biology and biotechnology to balance credibility and the fantastic. Six main functions of genetics are identified in the narratives, some of wich are functions of negotiation – like the negotiations between the credible and the incredible, between threat and opportunity, between control and the loss of control, between micro and macro, and between nature and technology. Other functions are based upon genetics and gene technology being described – and understood – as both new and having potentially pro¬found consequences for society and human¬kind. In the end, genetics in fic¬tion turns out to have very little to do with genetics and gene technology as scientific discourses. Instead these sciences seem to be used because of their complexity and aura of both “cutting-edge” sciences and “code of life”, in order to negotiate a number of narrative problems and oppositions.

Intresset för det valda uppsatsämnet uppstod av att se om det är kultur som påverkar varumärkesassociationer. Det var därmed intressant att fördjupa sig i två olika kulturer, nämligen USA och Sverige. Detta för att göra studien mer intresseväckande, då det handlar om en jämförelse mellan dessa två länder och för att ”verklighetsförankra” studien. Uppsatsen grundar sig på en kvalitativ ansats och avser att studera konsumenternas varumärkesassociationer. Den komponent som har analyserats, för att undersöka vilka associationer som uppstår är kulturellt bakgrund. Studien har som syfte att utvärdera om den svenska och amerikanska kulturen påverkar hur konsumenterna associerar om varumärket McDonald’s. Den teoretiska referensramen tar sin utgångspunkt i Hofstedes kulturmanifestationer och nationella kultur skillnader, men i uppsatsen ges även en inblick i Sveriges och USA:s kultur skillnader. Teori kapitlet avslutas med en egen undersökningsmodell som tar upp de relevanta delarna för studiens syfte. Det empiriska materialet bygger på intervjuer med svenska och amerikanska konsumenter. Intervjufrågorna formades i huvudsak utifrån komponenterna i den egna undersökningsmodellen. Denna modell användes som ett verktyg för att analysera varumärkesassociationer, där koppling skedde genom att sortera den empiriska fakta som har erhållits, för att sedan applicera den till passande delar inom undersökningsmodellen. Resultatet av analysen bildade en grund för de slutsatser och egna reflektioner som har presenterats. Slutsatsen redovisar att en människas tankar, handlingar och känslor är kulturella produkter och att den amerikanska och svenska kulturen har en inverkan på konsumenternas associationer.

Univ., Diss.--Münster (Westfalen), 2006. / Quellen- und Literaturverz. S. [717] - 808.

Univ., Diss.--Siegen, 1999. / Literaturverz. S. 396 - 408.

In the autumn of 1886 the editor in chief of the Swedish social democratic newspaper Social-Demokraten August Palm resigns and Hjalmar Branting takes over as editor in chief. This will lead toa shift how the newspaper writes about culture and general education (bildning in Swedish, after theGerman term Bildung which lacks an English equivalent). August Palm’s resignation and the shift inthe content of the newspaper is in many ways the culmination of an internal struggle within the earlysocial democratic labour movement where one side claims that culture and general education shouldbe made available to all, including workers, and that doing so will lead to the eventual transformationof society. The other side claims that the working class should indeed be granted access to culture andgeneral education, but first an economic transformation must occur. The dispute is over causality, thetwo sides in the conflict have different opinions as to whether the economic transformation of societywill happen before or after culture and general education is made available to the working masses. Inthis study I have shown how these two positions were not as clearly defined or as clearly opposed toeach other as they have sometimes been portrayed in earlier research. As I have shown, there was infact agreement on the basic goal that culture and general education ought to be something thateveryone can enjoy despite there being differing opinions as to how society might get there.