This mixed-method case study examined effects of high school musicians' participation in the jam session, a student-directed, extracurricular music activity. The single case study site was a rural British Columbia high school exceptional for its support of jamming. Forty-four subjects, including 21 who fully met stated criteria for jammers, and 13 non-jamming subjects, were studied over a period of four months. The general research question was: Does participation in a band room jam session benefit students cognitively and motivationally? Specific research questions were: Do students who informally jam on various forms of music enhance their music skills in the perception and meaningful manipulation of music elements, and if so, how? In what ways does Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory explain the continued participation of students in the jam session? Three quantitative instruments were administered to 13 jammers capable of playing a Bb Concert scale on a melody instrument as well as to a comparable group of 13 non-jammers. These instruments included Gordon's Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA), Froseth's Test of Melodic Ear-to-Hand Coordination (TMEHC), and a researcher-developed test of ear-to-hand coordination (SOR). An ANOVA test showed no significant difference between jammer and non-jammer groups on AMMA scores (p<0.05). ANOVA showed a notable but not significant difference (p<0.056) between groups on the TMEHC, while a Repeated Measures Analysis of pre/post test TMEHC scores showed no effect of jamming over a period of 10 weeks. ANOVA showed a very clear difference between groups on the SOR (p<0.001). Qualitative data collected via journaling, interviews, observation, and participant-observer tasks indicated that jammers were perceiving and manipulating music elements in meaningful ways, and also supported Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory as an explanation for jam session participation. In particular, flow characteristics including transformation of time, loss of self-consciousness, and challenge/skill balance were both observed and reported. The role of the teacher, the presence of a music subculture, and the pseudo-curricular nature of jamming were noted as possible topics for further research.

Les raves sont des événements festifs dédiés à la musique techno et à la danse qui se distinguent des autres lieux de rassemblement tels que les bars et les discothèques notamment par le fait qu’ils se déroulent toute la nuit dans un lieu aménagé pour l’occasion et qu’il n’y a généralement pas de vente d’alcool. La consommation de drogues de synthèse telles que l’ecstasy et les speeds y est toutefois largement répandue. La tenue de ces rassemblements pose une série de problèmes du point de vue des autorités policières, tels que la présence de trafiquants de drogues ainsi que la sécurité des lieux où se déroulent les raves. Dans le contexte particulier de ces événements, les pratiques de contrôle social sont soumises à un certain nombre d’ambiguïtés. Le but général de l’étude est de permettre une compréhension de la façon dont se déterminent et s’appliquent les règles qui visent à encadrer la tenue de ce type de rassemblements. Trois objectifs spécifiques sont poursuivis, soit 1) de comprendre comment on a tenté de réguler ce type d’événements à Montréal, 2) de comprendre comment les différents acteurs responsables de l’organisation et du bon déroulement des événements établissent une série de règles, aussi bien formelles qu’informelles, et négocient leur application dans le cadre de leur pratique, et 3) de comprendre comment ces acteurs identifient certaines situations comme constituant un problème et éventuellement, y réagissent. La principale méthode de recueil des données a consisté à réaliser des entretiens semi-dirigés avec des promoteurs d’événements rave, des agents de sécurité ainsi que d’autres personnes impliquées dans le milieu telles que policier, pompier, artistes de la scène rave et intervenants. L’observation participante lors d’événements rave fut utilisée comme méthode complémentaire. L’étude démontre comment le service de police s’est vu confronté avec les raves à un vide juridique et comment l’encadrement de ce type d’événements s’est plutôt exercé par le service de prévention des incendies. Les autorités ont également tenté d’encadrer le phénomène par des modifications à certaines règlementations, dont celles sur les permis d’alcool. L’étude démontre également de quelle manière et en fonction de quoi les différents acteurs du milieu négocient les règles en cours d’action dans un contexte où la frontière entre le licite et l’illicite est floue. / Raves are festive events dedicated to dance and techno music, different from other places of gathering such as bars and discotheques by the fact that they take place in all night venues converted for the occasion and where there is generally no sale of alcohol. Synthetic drug consumption such as ecstasy and speed is largely widespread in these events. The existence of these gatherings poses a series of problems from the point of view of the police authorities, such as the presence of drug dealers as well as the safety of the venue where the raves are held. In the particular context of these events, social control practices are subjected to a certain number of ambiguities. The general goal of this study is to allow an understanding of the way the rules, that constitute the framework of this type of gathering, are determined and applied. Three specific objectives pursued in this study are 1) to understand how authorities tried to control these types of events in Montreal, 2) to understand how the various actors responsible for the organization of these events establish a series of rules, formal and informal, and negotiate their application within the framework of their practice, and 3) to understand how these actors identify certain situations as problematic and eventually react to them. The main data collection method consisted in carrying out semi-directed interviews with rave Producers, Security Agents, Police Officer, Fire Marshal, Artists of the rave scene and other parties involved. Participating observation in actual events was a complementary method. This study demonstrates how the police service faced a legal void regarding rave events and how the regulatory framework was rather introduced by the fire department. The authorities also tried to control the rave phenomenon by modifying certain regulations, such as those applicable to alcohol licence. The study also demonstrates how and why key stakeholders negotiate the rules in the course of action in this particular context where the frontier between the licit and the illicit is woolly.

Syftet med studien är att få en ökad förståelse för några bakomliggande orsaker till varför människor begår kriminella handlingar. Studiens övergripande frågeställningar är följande; På vilket sätt påverkar umgängeskretsen en individs förutsättningar för att utveckla en kriminell livsstil? Hur kan dessa bakomliggande orsaker till kriminalitet förklaras och förstås? Frågeställningarna besvaras genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem individer med tidigare kriminell bakgrund. Med hjälp av en tematisk analysmetod struktureras intervjumaterialet upp i tre teman vilka har formulerats med utgångspunkt i det datamaterial som har samlats in. Analysen görs med hjälp av tidigare forskning och teorier om differentiella associationer och förstärkningar, symbolisk interaktionism, stämpling och sociala band. Studien visar att de intervjuade hamnade i kriminalitet till följd av att deras uppväxt, skolsituation och umgänge interagerade negativt med varandra. Gemensamt för samtliga intervjuade informanter är att de hade bristfällig kontakt med båda föräldrarna under uppväxten. Den uteblivna tryggheten från föräldrarna var något de istället sökte i sin umgängeskrets. Informanternas skolgång kantades av dåliga skolprestationer där de ofta umgicks med personer som misskötte sig. / The purpose of this study is to gain a greater understanding of some underlying causes of why people commit criminal acts. The general questions of the study are; in what way does the social circle of friends affect the individual’s prerequisites for developing a criminal lifestyle? How can these underlying causes of crime be explained and understood? The questions are answered by semi-structured interviews with five individuals with previous criminal background. With the use of a thematic analysis method the interview material was structured into three themes that have been formulated based on the datasets that have been collected. The analysis is done with the use of previous research and theories of differential association and reinforcements, symbolic interactionism, labeling and social bond. The study shows that the interview participants end up in crime as a result of their growth, school situation and their circle of friends interacted in a negative way. Common to all those interviewed informants is that they had insufficient contact with both parents during childhood. The lack of assurance from the parents was something they instead searched for in their social circle of friends. The informants schooling was consisted of poor school performances, and they often socialized with friends who also misbehaved.

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 following thesis is an exploration of some of the limits of subcultural theory. Beginning with an overview of British subcultural theory, it uses two examples of contemporary musical practice to provide alternative readings of cultural activity in a global cultural economy. Examining music scenes in Montreal as well as New Zealand music fans in North America, the following is a consideration of the construction of cultural communities across the globe it offers an analysis of the depth and scope of their interactions and how a range of cultural values and meanings are produced, distributed and consumed within those communities. Rather than seeing subcultures as geographically located in specific and discrete locales, I aim to illustrate how the various networks connecting them (whether they be affective alliances or computer-mediated communications) have in many ways realigned these communities along axes which differ from those proposed by earlier subcultural theories.

This mixed-method case study examined effects of high school musicians' participation in the jam session, a student-directed, extracurricular music activity. The single case study site was a rural British Columbia high school exceptional for its support of jamming. Forty-four subjects, including 21 who fully met stated criteria for jammers, and 13 non-jamming subjects, were studied over a period of four months. The general research question was: Does participation in a band room jam session benefit students cognitively and motivationally? Specific research questions were: Do students who informally jam on various forms of music enhance their music skills in the perception and meaningful manipulation of music elements, and if so, how? In what ways does Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory explain the continued participation of students in the jam session? Three quantitative instruments were administered to 13 jammers capable of playing a Bb Concert scale on a melody instrument as well as to a comparable group of 13 non-jammers. These instruments included Gordon's Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA), Froseth's Test of Melodic Ear-to-Hand Coordination (TMEHC), and a researcher-developed test of ear-to-hand coordination (SOR). An ANOVA test showed no significant difference between jammer and non-jammer groups on AMMA scores (p<0.05). ANOVA showed a notable but not significant difference (p<0.056) between groups on the TMEHC, while a Repeated Measures Analysis of pre/post test TMEHC scores showed no effect of jamming over a period of 10 weeks. ANOVA showed a very clear difference between groups on the SOR (p<0.001). Qualitative data collected via journaling, interviews, observation, and participant-observer tasks indicated that jammers were perceiving and manipulating music elements in meaningful ways, and also supported Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory as an explanation for jam session participation. In particular, flow characteristics including transformation of time, loss of self-consciousness, and challenge/skill balance were both observed and reported. The role of the teacher, the presence of a music subculture, and the pseudo-curricular nature of jamming were noted as possible topics for further research.

No description available.

Lifestyle sport has become a significant sociological phenomenon, with millions participating worldwide. Using windsurfing as a case study, this thesis focuses on core members of this subculture to discover their motivations for involvement and the degree to which they are willing to sacrifice other areas of their lives in order to participate. The thesis explores the contention that this level of sacrifice amounts to resistance to the dominant consumerist culture of our society. The study examines the way subculture members manifest an embodied critique of urban experience that takes place outside of that environment in natural spaces, using time that consumerist imperatives would have them in the earn-spend spiral dictated by that ideology. It does this through a twelve month ethnographic study, with the author as a complete participant, then as a participant observer, completing formal interviews with a number of selected core members of the subculture. Through interviewing and observation it became clear that it is only possible for subculture members to participate through the consumption of considerable quantities of the material objects associated with the activity. This means that participants are resisting consumerist culture through the consumption of consumer goods. This contradiction goes to the heart of the ways that consumerist ideology co-opts resistant behaviour. The study shows that windsurfers are resistant to consumerism in a number of ways. The rejection of traditional sporting values, the use of time in opposition to dominant practices, the rejection of wealth as the primary measure of success, and resisting cultural expectations are all manifestations of this resistance. The niche visual media of the subculture creates a dreamworld of natural perfection and freedom. The way that the visual culture mediates the paradox central to my thesis is by valourising a lifestyle, and those who adopt it, rather than selling consumer goods.

No description available.

No description available.