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This thesis concerns the process of everyday identity formation within Camphill settings. Specifically the research investigates the ways that Camphill places construct their identity around notions of deviance, repetitive practice, material spaces and the social self. Using a broad ethnographic methodology the thesis examines the ways that making, verifying and ascribing such identity claims occur and in what situations and contexts. The research further contributes to debates around the particular ways that social research constructs an understanding of the social world and argues that knowledge of normative rules and social practices are crucial skills that determine our ability to function within society. Chapter One reviews the genesis of Camphill as residential settings for children and adults with disabilities. Discussions around the textual representations of Camphills’ seventy year history are critiqued. The three fieldsites and the particular challenges present in undertaking multi-sited and ethically challenging research are discussed. Chapter Two discusses the practical, epistemological and conceptual lens through which the research is devised. Further the process of ‘doing’ ethnography shapes the researcher’s identity as much as deviance, repetitive practice and the social self are implicated within Camphill’s identity work. The discussion argues for socially positioned ethnographies that reflect the multiple and competing social worlds of researcher, text and other. Chapter Three examines the particular ways that deviant identity is lived and experienced. It suggests that deviance is an important part of socialisation as it constructs social norms and rules, even if those norms are largely imagined. A key point is that non-conformity is person specific and engaged in differently across the fieldsites. Chapter Four examines the role materiality plays in the formation of Camphill identity work. It suggests that engagement with material things is done as part of wider ongoing socialisation processes. Chapter Five argues that Camphills’ highly structured everyday life is a crucial means for wider group and individual socialisation, with the expectation that such knowledge enables successful participation within society. The conclusion considers Camphill identity work and theorises its connections to collective experiences and structural processes.

Research investigating etiology, or beliefs and values related to prejudice toward transgender individuals, is in the early stages. This study examined correlates and predictors of anti-transgender prejudice from a sample of 298 undergraduates at a large, urban university in the Southeastern United States. Measures of traditional values and beliefs, such as right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation, as well as social identity factors, such as intergroup contact, intergroup anxiety, in-group identity, and contact apprehension toward transgender individuals were examined. Bivariate correlations revealed that right-wing authoritarianism, contact apprehension, and intergroup anxiety were strongly correlated with anti-transgender prejudice, using the Genderism Transphobia Scale Revised version (GTS-R; Tebbe & Moradi, 2014). Contact with gay men and lesbians yielded a moderate negative correlation with GTS-R. Contact with transgender individuals yielded a small, but significant negative correlation with GTS-R. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that contact apprehension, right-wing authoritarianism, and contact with gay men and lesbians were significant predictors of GTS-R. A post hoc mediation analysis revealed that contact apprehension significantly mediated the relationship between gender and anti-transgender prejudice.

Thesis advisor: Marilyn Matelski / Every college basketball team competes at the highest level, and has goals both on and off the court. But how often do those goals align themselves with the university that the team is affiliated with? This thesis examines the relationship that the Boston College men’s basketball team has with the University through the lens of social identity. Through library research, participant observation, and one-on-one interviews with individuals around the team and the university, a pattern of the relationship emerged. By focusing on doing things the Boston College way, recruiting a “BC type of kid,” keeping sports in its place, and by creating relationships with different publics outside of the team, the men’s basketball team strives to align itself with the university’s social identity. This thesis will map out what this unique interaction entails and attempt to provide a comprehensive look of the social identity of the men’s basketball team and how it relates to the social identity of Boston College. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Communication Honors Program. / Discipline: Communication.

Ett företags organisationskultur består av ett gemensamt värdesystem som har en meningsskapande funktion för de anställda i företaget som identifierar sig med organisationen. I en företagsfusion, där två eller flera företag går samman, har det visat sig vara svårt att förena olika organisationskulturer på grund av motstånd från de anställda. Tidigare forskning kring detta har till stor del fokuserat på de anställdas agerande i en fusion. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur anställdas meningsskapande i en fusion påverkades av deras identifikation med organisationen. Med en kvalitativ intervjustudie undersöktes hur anställda i fyra företag hade upplevt en fusion av företagen. Resultatet visade att även om förändringsprocessen hade upplevts negativt av samtliga deltagare varierade upplevelsen av det nya företaget och dess kultur utifrån deltagarnas tidigare bolagstillhörighet. Analysen visade att identifikationen med de tidigare organisationskulturerna påverkade de anställdas menings-skapande i situationen och därmed skapandet av en ny gemensam organisationskultur.

Enron, Pfizer, UBS, Halliburton: In recent years, organizational wrongdoing has cost taxpayers and stakeholders billions of dollars. Whistleblowers, organizational insiders who witness and report wrongdoing with the intent of effecting an organizational response, play a major role as combatants to such corruption. What motivates whistleblowers versus silent witnesses of wrongdoing? And what cognitive and emotional patterns underlie their actions? Here I construe whistleblowing as a personally costly but pro-organizational action (Miceli, Near, & Dworkin, 2008). As such, whistleblowing represents a novel type of extreme pro-group behavior that identity fusion theory seeks to explain (Swann, Jetten, Gomez, Whitehouse, & Bastian, 2012). The identity fusion approach posits that some people experience a visceral feeling of "oneness" with a group, a feeling that motivates a range of extreme pro-group actions. Across four preliminary studies, I first establish that fusion with one's organization (i.e., work or university) parallels fusion with other groups (e.g., country, political party). In addition, Preliminary Study 4 shows that fusion and whistleblowing are associated in retrospective accounts of workplace behavior. Given this initial support, a controlled lab experiment was conducted to address two major questions. First, to what extent is identity fusion with one's university associated with initial and formal whistleblowing behaviors? Second, in what ways, if any, do strongly vs. weakly fused individuals' cognitive and emotional experiences differ in response to witnessing organizational wrongdoing? As hypothesized, fusion with one's university predicted spontaneous reporting of an in-group transgressor. Strongly fused students' actions were associated with several cognitive and emotional factors, and cross-method evidence indicated that active negative emotions (e.g., anger) coupled with a heightened sense of personal responsibility drove strongly fused persons to spontaneously blow the whistle. Furthermore, strongly fused students were also especially likely to formally (as compared to spontaneously) report the transgressor. Evidence from participants' debriefing responses suggested that while weakly fused students diffused formal reporting responsibility to others, strongly fused students felt personally responsible to follow-through with a formal report. Overall, these results suggest that identity fusion is a promising perspective for understanding motives underlying personally costly pro-group behaviors. / text

Past research has suggested that exposure to media in which the audience can observe positive interactions between a member or their group and a member of an outgroup can have a positive impact on audience attitudes towards the outgroup. This dissertation examines the reasons why individuals might voluntarily watch these types of intergroup media. Participants were exposed to two television show proposals in which three media features were experimentally manipulated: The social comparison between groups, the stereotypicality of outgroup character, and the presence of intergroup romance. The findings indicate that individuals were motivated to consume media that reduced uncertainty about other groups and increased the perceived status of their own. In addition, although not consistent across the two proposed shows, several of the manipulated media features were found to interact and/or relate indirectly to the attractiveness of the television show through the gratification of these motivations. The theoretical relevance and applicability of these findings is discussed.

Drawing on data collected in rural Serenje District, in the Central Province of Zambia, this thesis focuses on the production, consumption and valorisation of grain beer, a significant livelihood practice for people. The discussion is contextualised by detailed reference to both the changing national and global politico-economic scene and to local agricultural practices. I argue that an understanding of livelihood practices must take account of both 'micro' and 'macro' level factors, as these form part of the material and conceptual 'resource repertoire' of local people. Focusing on particular case examples, the discussion reveals, for rural Serenje, the multiplex ways in which value is ascribed to beer - a highly significant livelihood resource. The data highlights the socio-symbolic, ritual, and commoditised contexts in which beer is produced and consumed. The analysis of this resource highlights how the relationship between different social arenas of experience, and the socially constructed value of beer are integrated in subtle and complex ways. A central theme of the thesis focuses on issues of value and argues that value notions are multiple social constructions. Resources, then, have many different associations of value. These different kinds of value are, in certain contexts, contested by actors, and it is in contexts of social interaction, negotiation and accommodation that resources are ascribed with value. Furthermore the fixing of value in this way provides contexts in which social identities are asserted and modified. The empirical chapters of the thesis draw attention to the importance of beer and maize in terms of people's income strategies. These livelihood practices remain firmly embedded in social life, however, and therefore concern more than the singular pursuit of cash. Consolidating, establishing, and reaffirming social relations are also a fundamental part of people's 'economic' life and co-operation in securing material and social resources remains vital. Methodologically the thesis synthesises situational analysis and discourse practice paying particular attention to the concepts of practice and agency.

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