The social structure of high schools is characterized by a hierarchy of various groups to which adolescents can identify. These crowds provide reputation-based identities which are particularly salient among adolescents. Although research has provided information regarding crowd structure, less is known about effects of membership. An adolescent's crowd membership can be an important source of social identity and positive self-esteem. Social identity theory is useful in explaining this process by describing how people's psychological motivations interact with their understanding of a social situation to influence cognition. For members of low-status groups, affiliation does not readily provide a source of positive social identity. Therefore, individuals use identity-maintenance strategies to maintain self-image. In this study, I explore perceptions of ingroup homogeneity as an identity-maintenance strategy within adolescent crowds. I also examine whether membership in the more stable racial and gender categories influence the use of homogeneity perceptions in identity management. My findings indicate that membership in one group influences cognition regarding membership in a group with an entirely different social structure. / Department of Sociology

Four concepts are considered in relation to the question: can an illuminating characterization of the social sciences be given in terms of one concept of a relatively natural kind of thing? Weber's concept of 'social action' provides neither a general characterization, nor an important partial account, or so I argue after examining its relation to collectivity concepts, to suicide studies, and to standard desiderata for scientific concepts. I next assess the notion of 'meaningful'action. Peter Winch claims that such action is always 'social' in some sense, because it involves rule-following and rules f presuppose' a social setting. I consider the nature of Winch's Wittgensteinian arguments about rules; two senses in which all action might be 'social' emerge; however, were 'social actions' in either sense the focus of a science, it would not therefore aptly be called a social science, the senses of 'social' here being too weak. I turn next to what I allege is Durkheim's basic notion of a 'social fact' , roughly, that of a way of acting which 'inheres in' and is 'produced by' a social group. I present a highly articulated reconstruction of this notion: a 'collective practice', Pr, of a social group, G, will "be a 'Durkheimian social phenomenon', according to this revised conception, if and only if either Pr or another collective practice of G provides members of G who conform to Pr with a 'basic' reason for so conforming. A central element in my account of collective practices is a notion of 'group common knowledge' derived from David Lewis. I finally undertake a detailed critique of David Lewis's account of conventions and of the 'co-ordination problems' Lewis claims underlie conventions; I argue for a kind of account different in form from Lewis's, in which conventions are not, and do not necessarily involve, 'regularities' in behaviour. The Durkheimian notion is judged the best joartial characterization of a social science considered. Its presupposition of the notion of a social group is, I argue, no flaw. I conclude with a general theory of 'socialness', and hence of social science, based on my judgements about the four concepts considered.

This thesis looks at the textual representations of sociability problems in Raymond Queneau's autobiographical novels, which are also the first six novels of his career. Using an eclectic approach that combines elements of autobiographical analysis and social psychology with the numerous studies on the presence of philosophy in Queneau's work, we use the concept of identity to study social attitudes, first the author's own attitudes toward real groups, then the way the characters identify with groups, some having a tendency to share the groups identity, others choosing to distanciate themselves from the groups. / Following this path, we try to demonstrate the assumption that the tendency to identify to groups, as well as the distanciation attitudes, are represented in both a positive and a negative way, thus creating, in the novels, an actual "argumentation" between two poles. This assumption runs counter to the preconception, often conveyed by the critics, that distanciation alone is valued in Queneau's writings. / Given the impossibility to develop, within this work, a complete collection of the ways our problematics, i.e. the relation between belonging to groups and the formation of identity, is reflected in Queneau's novels, we choose (after examining the author own's attitudes) to analyse, in a first step, the major lines of thought related to our subject in each novel, and then to highlight some "attitude types" that emerge from the novels as a whole. This approach, we believe, allows us to draw out the key issues arising from this reflection.

As a means to engage with others, television offers the viewer a great deal. In Australia commercial TV is particularly popular, and many turn daily to this cultural arena which graphically portrays our shared concerns and values. Viewers are kept informed and entertained, advertisements display the luxuries and necessities that direct lifestyle choices,and local and global stories are presented for mutual consideration. Audiences are connected not only with products,personalities and newsmakers, but also with fellow viewers who are sharing the experience. Retired people take particular advantage of this multi-faceted link with the outside world, when additional leisure time and reduced social and physical mobility create spaces that can be filled with the narratives and 'para-social' connections of a medium that transports the world to the viewer. Yet one definitive statement that can be made about popular television is that older people are rarely acknowledged and often ridiculed. An easily accessible and valuable communications medium marginalises those most dependent upon it - for information and entertainment, but also, I would argue, dependent upon it to help facilitate key recommendations of the 'successful ageing' formula. Authoritative prescriptions for ageing well emphasise the benefits of social engagement, with television helping to facilitate this by involving the viewer with local concerns and wider accounts of human enterprise. Yet the popular media often presume that older people are no longer viable consumers or citizens, thus alienating them from mediated stories and populations. 'Success', according to commercial media sensibilities, is equated with youthfulness and economic means - twin attributes rarely associated with retired people. As a result, advertising is directed primarily at young, middle-class audiences, and the TV programmes to hook their attention are often typecast with similarly youthful protagonists. Older viewers are taken for granted and rarely acknowledged, and more disconcertingly, stereotyped and ridiculed to empower younger viewers. This dissertation seeks to explore these issues from a sociological perspective, primarily within the Australian context. Research strategies include a detailed analysis of the role of television in older people's lives and how they are portrayed, with results aligned with 'successful ageing' guidelines. Included in this approach is a study of how older people are portrayed on commercial TV in Australia, and a discussion of findings. The final section includes a chapter which consists of an examination of negative media portrayals from a political and human rights perspective, and the final chapter which asks how the oldest and frailest may by impacted by the cultural devaluation of old age.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Political Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 343-353). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR29495

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-52). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2008. / "May 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-140). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-62).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teacher's College, Columbia University, 1952. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Robert L. Thorndike. Dissertation Committee: Irving Lorge, Anne McKillop. Type C project. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74).