Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sociology and philosophy not elsewhere classified'

This thesis explores parliamentarians’ emotional labour in their workplace, and argues the enactment of passionate rationality is crucial to how parliamentarians accomplish vocational authenticity. The New Zealand parliamentary workplace is characterised by an elaborate set of feeling rules and a complex emotional culture. On entry to parliament, parliamentarians go through a period of identity transformation akin to a moral career. Parliamentarians must manage emotion to achieve their occupational identities according to local feeling rules. Based on analysis of in-depth group and individual interviews with parliamentarians, and focusing on the passage of the Civil Union Bill as an exemplar of parliamentarians’ emotion work, three interpretative repertoires were identified in their accounts of emotion in the workplace. These repertoires, The Game, The Performance and The Crusade are work-place specific meaning-making resources whose flexible deployment enabled parliamentarians to assert claims of occupational identity and vocational authenticity. These repertoires show the emotional labour involved in parliamentarians’ negotiation of shared meanings around ‘entering’ the occupational role and asserting the authenticity of their new identities. In particular, The Crusade repertoire makes available the subject position of the Knight, the subject position important for accomplishment of being a passionately rational worker. In this thesis, I introduce two new concepts for emotional labour in complex workplaces where that labour has both exchange and use value; emotional convocation and personified emotion. Together these concepts allow for a more thorough theorisation of emotion work than do existing concepts of emotional labour. Although developed in relation to the work of parliamentarians, personified emotion and emotional convocation have utility for understanding other contemporary experiences of work where emotion management within a complex emotional culture is fundamental to both occupational identity and the accomplishment of vocational authenticity.

Fair trade is an alternative approach to international trade. It is both a social movement and an economic approach that aims to make trade fair for the many small scale producers disadvantaged in international trade. This thesis explores the discursive devices used by fair trade organisations to promote fair trade. These devices have two roles: to promote an ethical connection from consumer to producer and to involve the consumer in the work of fair trade through purchasing behaviour and political action. This second role refers to the politicisation of consumption whereby shopping becomes an act of political solidarity with disadvantaged producers. I explore these devices through narrative analysis, focusing on a thematic analysis of Trade Aid’s publication, Vital. My research is framed by Michael Goodman’s (2004) work on the semiotic production of fair trade. The concept of a reflexive consumer is explored. This is the idea that consumer awareness of the conditions surrounding production can lead to purchasing decisions that reflect care for the distant producer. This opening up of the concept of consumption involves an active and engaged consumer who chooses to purchase fair trade because they feel a connection to the work of these organisations. I am interested in the particular form this information takes in Vital. I apply narrative research methods to explore the meta-narrative of fair trade promoted in Vital that tells the reader about the work of fair trade organisations, the impact this has on the lives of producer and how they can be involved in the story as a consumer and as a global citizen.

Through an analysis of critical reviews and other commentaries on the annual Turner Prize shortlist exhibitions, I examine a philosophical problem which has put into question the rational basis for evaluation in art criticism: the lack of any agreed criteria for the evaluation of artworks. This problem has been most often addressed within philosophical aesthetics through two contrasting approaches: the attempt to formulate evaluative criteria, and the denial that such criteria are either possible or necessary. My response to this meta-critical issue is an interdisciplinary study, in the form of an analysis of published commentaries on the Turner Prize, that examines theories of critical evaluation against an empirical investigation of actual critical practice. The Turner Prize has a number of advantages as a case study. Extensive media coverage of the competition means that it is possible to study a wide range of sources intended for the art-going public, that contain a large body of examples of comparative critical evaluation, and as an annual event it offers the opportunity for both synchronic and diachronic analyses. Moreover, the regular presence of artists whose work has been characterised as ‘conceptual, ensures that many of the commentaries focus on an area of art that presents a particular challenge to aesthetic theory and critical practice. In order to develop a critique of criteria based approaches, the contrasting approaches to art criticism taken by Noel Carroll and Frank Sibley are explored within an analysis of the critical reasons given to justify evaluations of Turner Prize exhibits. Suggestions are offered for ways of developing alternative approaches, drawing upon theories of the aesthetic developed by Suzanne Langer and Kendall Walton.

The purpose of this thesis is to increase understanding and contribute to knowledge about the attitudes and behaviour of men in contemporary France and Britain. The thesis has three main aims: firstly, to provide the first cross-national comparison of French and British writing and research on the place of men in contemporary society; secondly, to identify similarities and differences in the roles of men in France and Britain; and thirdly, to determine to what extent and in what way such similarities and differences are linked to the social structures and cultural background of each country. The thesis focusses on two main facets of the male experience: the relationship between men and women and the interaction between fathers and their children. Men's attitudes and behaviour are examined in relation to issues such as the division of household tasks and child care within the family, parental roles, female employment, role reversal, gender stereotyping and changes towards a new image of masculinity in society. Particular consideration is given to differences in governmental attitudes in France and Britain towards the introduction of family policy measures for men as fathers. The thesis ends with a discussion of legislative, social and educational measures which could be introduced in France and Britain in order to promote greater flexibility in men's roles and consequently improve gender equality in each country. The data analysed in the thesis are derived from a questionnaire-based empirical study involving 101 men in Britain and seventy-five men in France. The respondents' experience of and attitudes towards their roles in society are analysed and interpreted in the light of profile data relating to their family circumstances and with reference to knowledge about the broader socio-cultural context.

Over the last twenty years the situation of women in the German Democratic Republic has been the subject of a considerable number of studies. The approach has generally been of a sociological or socio-political nature. In this thesis I propose to go one step further by examining the information that may be gained from literary sources. In a state where the media are subject to censorship, and thus controlled, one can refer to literature as an acknowledged source of inside information. Literary works often provide a forum for the formulation and discussion of ideas, which could not be aired elsewhere. Chapter 1 shows why literature, which had always been allocated a special role by the GDR's leading party, the SED, may be regarded as a reliable indicator of everyday life in that country. In this thesis I compare the findings of an analysis of women's literature with sociological data on the one hand and the portrayal of the "ideal" women in GDR media and official writings on the other. The thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach and draws on sources in political, legal, sociological, and cultural fields alike. This constellation of sources allows me to show that the views that female writers expressed in their works frequently coincide with sociological findings. Both of these sources were frequently found to be at odds with statements made in official writings and the media. Such insights could not have been provided by a study conducted from within one discipline.

There have been extensive developments in 'gay rights' in the past 10 years. This has prompted the contention that some gay white men are increasingly able to access privilege at the expense of continued marginalisation for various gendered, raced and sexual others. Homonormativity describes a process through which gay white male subjects are increasingly understood as normalised and accepted within existing relations of inequalities and that this temporality is accompanied by depoliticisation and tendency towards privatisation and domesticity. I use evidence from 15 in-depth interviews with men drawn from my socio-sexual network in Brighton & Hove and autoethnographic writings in the form of reflective diary entries and short vignettes to develop a complex and fluid understanding of gay white men's spatial practices and experiences of privilege. Compared to processes of marginalisation, the study of privilege has been less prevalent, yet the concept can be found in a broad variety of disciplines and foci of study. Privilege has been predominantly developed 'on the margins' of academia to understand how certain knowledges and identities come to be 'centred'. It is only recently that privilege has been adopted as a critical tool, used to explore the production of inequalities by 'mainstream' academia. The thesis integrates Foucaultian understandings of power with a queer and feminist conception of performativity and critical geographies to contribute an understanding of privilege as processual and situated, able to explore the multiplicity of intersecting spatial practices through which individual experiences are produced occur. This thesis contributes to understandings of privilege, building upon previous work to demonstrate how participants normalise their identities and their positioning within relations of inequality. These normalising practices render the spatial production of privilege invisible through specific discourses of legitimation, in the process (re)producing relations of inequality. I develop this spatial conceptualisation of privilege, by exploring where the participants describe becoming privileged, where they feel restricted, how these processes operate and how they are experienced and understood. By using critical theories of space and place, this thesis works across multiple identities (such as race, class, gender and sexuality) to show the processes through which different individuals may be simultaneously marginalised and privileged by different apparatuses of power relations. I augment discussions of queer temporalities and the spatialities of everyday lives for gay white men by tracing an apparently normative trajectory from 'coming out' through participation in 'gay scene' spaces and towards private domesticity. This process is facilitated by the participants changing abilities to access privilege in different places as they move through their lives. However, my research demonstrates that the participants' spatial practices are not as linear as this normative trajectory suggests. While men in this research are able to access privilege, this is a fragile process, vulnerable to contestation, demonstrating the continued importance of examining processes of heteronormativity. Overall, my work contributes empirical evidence of the manifestation and maintenance of privilege in the spatial practices of gay white men living in Brighton & Hove to develop a nuanced, complex and explicitly spatial understanding of privilege in everyday life.

This thesis presents a study of innovation that focuses on the promotion of art as a force of genuine invention and the unfolding of a much-desired ability to profit from this development. Innovation lies at the heart of contested and divergent views on the role of artistic critique and the creation of value so pervasive in recent economic development, not least in the light of the financial crisis that erupted in 2007. This research connects to and builds upon an increasing engagement within economic sociology and social theory with the intermingling between art and business, or how art has come into view as a source of change. It takes experimental filmmaking and design methods associated with the European artistic avant-garde and anti-capitalistic critique as empirical examples. In doing so, this thesis explores an inclusive logic of differentiation centring on how ‘anti- capitalist’ critique feeds into processes of valuation, and explores how innovation practice benefits from the realities that it also excludes. The thesis draws together insights from two ethnographic studies of innovation in which artistic critique is translated into tools of innovation. In doing so, it explores the way in which artistic critique suspends, provokes and tests ‘realities’ that might stand as sources of knowledge for the purpose of business innovation. It makes the key argument that art and business exist in differential relations in which the principles and values associated with art and business coexist in multiple combinations, which are intimately bound up with new sites of action, such as the formation of camps, labs and studio workshops. Drawing attention to how such differential relations between art and business are becoming central to the construction of contemporary economies, this thesis makes a critical contribution to innovation studies expanding its vocabulary and, at the same time, its empirical field.

This PhD uses a queer reading strategy to explore the performative sites of lucha libre (wrestling in Mexico). My research inhabits the space behind the scene, the space between the ring and the audience, and the space of being part of the audience itself. My reading of the luchas takes place through the camera, the interview, printed works, theoretical investigation, and through the work of artists who draw on lucha libre – including myself. As lucha libre itself cannot be narrowed down to one specific medium, my subject matter allows me to utilize an interdisciplinary perspective to examine its various encounters, spaces, subjectivities and gestures. As well as attending live events in the arenas, watching lucha libre on television, exploring its circulation in artistic and filmic productions and its appropriation in advertisements and political discourse, I have carried out an intervention in a regular lucha libre programme by inventing a character, promoting, constructing and staging a match in an arena in the north of Mexico City. My methodology therefore makes use of a whole range of strategies including those borrowed from the discipline of anthropology and from practices of documentary making. Through my writing and my practice, I attempt to query and complicate these disciplinary conventions and my own use of them. I place particular emphasis in this PhD upon the possibility and use of a queer reading strategy in relation to lucha libre. Drawing on the works of Gloria Anzaldúa, Judith Butler, Judith ʻJackʼ Halberstam, José Javier Maristany, and José Esteban Muñoz, the thesis argues that a queer reading strategy has the potential to complicate ways of seeing gender and sexuality as well as race, ethnicity, class, time and space in this context. I identify the rich queer legacies within lucha libre, film and popular culture, and focus on the multiple and often conflicting readings made possible by adopting queer theory and reading practices. In doing so, the thesis interrogates the different ways in which popular cultures can go beyond accepted notions of what it means to be Mexican, a woman, macho, gay and so on. Throughout this work, I pay close attention to forms of audience participation, their verbal and gestural acts and how key these are in to the event of the lucha. These verbal and gestural acts, I argue, produce a unique complicity in the arena manifesting a transient trace of queer histories, and suggesting potential utopias.

This thesis is a response to the increasingly widespread belief in the potential for technology and modern science to enable finite subjects to overcome the essential limitations constitutive of finitude and, hence, subjectivity. It investigates the truth and extent of such claims, taking as its focus quasi-miraculous technological developments in neuroscience, in particular Brain-Computer Interfacing systems and cognitive imaging technologies. The work poses the question of whether such emergent neurotechnologies signal a profound shift beyond receptivity and finitude by effectively bridging the gap between interiority and exteriority. Organised around a quadripartite division, the thesis pursues this idea firstly with regard to the act of artistic creation; secondly through an exegesis of Kant’s account of the original or infinite creativity of the Supreme Being; thirdly through readings of Freud and Jung and their respective models of the psyche; and finally through an interrogation into the possibility of telepathy and the various ways in which it can be conceived. Each chapter thus takes place as an extended thought experiment, exploring the consequences of a seemingly unprecedented proposition that promises to eradicate the finite gap between internal and external. This is followed to the limits of conceivability before asking in each case whether we may in fact need to rethink the very premises around which each proposition has framed the problem.

This study examines football fan identity and identification within the Nationwide football league in England. A preliminary examination of the literature concludes that research on fan identity with sports teams in general, focuses primarily upon the behavioural consequences of fan identification. More specific research on the football fan concentrates predominantly upon either the F.A. Premier League or the deviant fan. The research thus attempts to fill a void in knowledge by examining football fan identification of fans of less successful football teams, using a social identity theory framework. Employing a mixed-methods research design, and an embedded case study approach, the study investigates those factors that influence fan identification at Luton Town Football Club. Methods used were those of observation/participant observation, a large scale fan survey, and indepth semi-structured interviews with fans. As part of the fan survey, the sport spectator identification scale (Wann and Branscombe, 1993), revealed a fan population that was highly identified with Luton Town. Levels of fan identification were similar across age, gender, and length of support of the club. Subsequent survey and interview data allowed six themes related to this fan identification to emerge: these being the extent of fan identification; the antecedents of fan identification; the maintenance of fan identification; the effects of fan identification upon behaviour; the influence of the cultural identity within which fan identities are enacted; and the relationship between the fan and the football club. Analysis of these themes yields a model of football fan identification which can be adapted to fans of other football clubs, or fans within other contexts. It was concluded that whenever such identification provides positive social and psychological consequences for fans, levels of identification with the club remain high. For these fans, it is the process of identification with the club that is the most important component of fandom. By contrast, where the individual derives fewer benefits from fandom, identification remains low. For such less identified fans, other factors, such as the quality of facilities or team performance, become more meaningful. The findings from the study indicate that social identity theory is an appropriate framework with which to explore the concept of football fan identification.

This research investigates the relevance of contemporary Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) to economic development in Mode-2 society. Mode-2 society is a term coined by Nowotny et al (2001) which equates with changes in productivity and the triumph of free-market capitalism commonly referred to as knowledge driven capitalism or knowledge capitalism. Building on Schumpeter's economic theory of entrepreneurial competition and Romer's new growth economic model that have transformed capitalism into 'gales of creative destruction' by which new knowledge now generates national economic advantage, the thesis examines the literature of Training Packages as the prescribed instruments of VET in the milieu of knowledge capitalism. It could be expected that Australian VET, and in particular Training Packages, would have a greater justification for pursuing a knowledge and skill application-and-transfer policy that fits the growth of knowledge capitalism which Mode-2 society represents than it had for the former manufacturing economy. To test this contention, the thesis establishes eleven key transitions from Mode-1 to Mode-2

society and the imputed education and training needs of the latter as derived from the Nowotny et al (2001) Mode-2 thesis. These transitions are formed into an Evaluative Framework and underpin an ethnographic study involving thirty-three VET experts. The literature search and ethnography responses are synthesized and analysed with new material elicited from the ethnography. The outcomes of the analysis are equated with the eleven key transitions from Mode-1 to Mode-2 society and the imputed emergent education and training needs of each transition. It is concluded that the dominant assumptions and practices of Training Packages do not align with the imputed education and training needs of Mode-2 society as indicated by the eleven key attributes of the Nowotny et al (2001) conceptualisation. The theoretical implications of this conclusion had an impact on the Australian provision of VET because they indicate that the Training Package agenda is a potential liability for national economic advantage in Mode-2 society.

Most histories and reports of Mount Morgan concentrate on the mining experience and financial achievements of the first Company rather than the mining town. This dissertation presents a social history of Mount Morgan that addresses the establishment, rise and fall of the town during the period of the first syndicate and succeeding company, 1883-1927. The thesis contends that the transformation of the landscape was to industrial, urban space where the working-class attitudes of miners and others defined a town character, despite the aspiration of many to social status through private enterprise and public influence. Further, the scope of research encompassed local involvement in colonial and state politics, and the presence of local government authority, law courts and press that placed an urban stamp on the town. Issues discussed also relate to geographic, climatic and single company influences that caused the difference between Mount Morgan and other mining towns that did not survive. The traditional perception of mining town impermanence was contradicted at Mount Morgan, where town and suburban communities were witness to a range of collective support in religious adherence, benefit associations, fraternalism and ritual, leisure, sport, education, and social cohesion in times of mining disaster. Moreover, despite increasing familial connections, antagonistic attitudes prevailed between the defensively parochial town of Mount Morgan and the nearby regional centre of Rockhampton. The rise of unionism at Mount Morgan challenged an apathetic working-class population to workplace solidarity in reaction to the Company's long established, almost feudal control of the town as well as the mine. It is argued that, despite a decade of failing ore markets and soaring production costs at the mine, the attitudes and actions of a union dominated workforce were paramount in decline of the town and ultimate closure of the mine. Mount Morgan survived the exodus of thousands of residents. A defiant place, the town exhibited a pride bolstered by the perpetuation of myths that presented a public image shielded from the life-long realities of economic and social adversity.

Investigates the relocation of 'elite' young male athletes and the environment they need to be housed in when moved from their original home to new surroundings.. Sport for Australians can mean many different things. For some it is a favourite recreational pursuit but for a small percentage of the Australian population sport represents a way of life or a career. It has become increasingly beneficial for the skills and talent of our athletes to be utilised as a natural resource (Woodman, 1985) and to be exported overseas, thus generating an international reputation via sport for Australia. To pursue the dream of 'eliteness', many individuals may often need to relocate to reach their goals. This often means moving away from their family and home and being housed in an environment unknown to them. This research was concerned with investigating the environment that relocated athletes need to be housed in, while also identifyng the issues that arise from the process of relocating an individual from their original home environment to 'new' surroundings. Two phases were employed in the research. The first phase was to identify the elements perceived necessary when establishing a suitable relocation environment for young male athletes. The second phase explored the participants' views on the identified elements and issues. It was not the focus ofthis research to study the effect of the environment on athletic ability but to determine a suitable relocation environment for young male athletes. By achieving this, a small step may be made towards enhancing the influence of environment on the development ofathletic talent.

Assessment of student performance at secondary school continues to occupy a prominent place in the mind of the community. Successive inquiries and reports ( Campbell et al, 1975; Fairbairn et al, 1976; Scott et al, 1978; Kennedy et al, 1989) highlight the efforts of the educational community to arrive at a system of assessment, reporting and certification which more adequately meets the needs of all stakeholders. In Queensland, these have resulted in such far-reaching consequences as the abolition of public exams, and the progression through norm -referenced to criterion -referenced assessments as methods of describing individual student achievement. On a national scale , the debate about assessment has taken on overt political overtones. This is undoubtedly because of the present economic climate. Australia is popularly seen as not giving a good account of itself in international commerce, and requiring the nation's schools to produce a better 'product' is proposed as one way of redressing the trend. At the same time, the necessity to rank students to provide a basis for comparison of achievement so that selection for further study can be easily and fairly made is being seen as less important for many students completing school as they do not seek admission to tertiary institutions. In addition, the Employment and Skills Formation Council (1992) is proposing a national system to describe students by competencies rather than school results for use by employers when selecting potential employees. Within the Catholic education system, questions about justice in assessment for all students, who has the right to know information about students' performance, what is actually essential for these people to know, and how to provide this information while preserving the dignity and sense of self-worth of the students are the subjects of debate. Given this questioning, the contemporary emphasis on measurement of outcomes at the end of formal schooling (i.e. Year 12) , and the fact that the majority of students now stay on past Year 10, questions about the methods and focus of assessment practices in the junior secondary school come into sharper focus. Has the role of assessment in these years of schooling changed, and, if it has, do the methods and practices presentlyemployed fit this changed emphasis?

In the last decade, a number of studies have been conducted on different types of disaster education programs for children. These studies suggest that such programs enable children to be more resilient, not only in terms of increased knowledge on disaster risk reduction (DRR) but also increased preparedness and confidence. However, despite the positive findings, significant challenges still remain. In spite of generating effective DRR outcomes, the area of program development and evaluation lacks a guiding model. This includes one that speaks to both effectiveness and sustainable implementation. Disaster education programs for children are mostly designed and implemented by non-formal educators such as development and humanitarian agencies. As a result, the literature is primarily based on the evaluation of programs (such as those of Non-Governent Organisations or NGOs). Many of these have been identified as having significant methodological limitations. Studies to date also typically rely on DRR knowledge indicators and do not identify the explicit elements of the programs responsible for generating specific positive outcomes. None of the studies has sought direct opinion from children regarding the process, efficacy and outcomes of such programs. Thus, this study aims to conduct rigorously designed research on DRR education for children in Bangladesh by involving children’s active input and participation. In so doing, it aims to identify the specific elements of the DRR education programs for children that produce positive outcomes. Another aim is to examine implementation factors, including those structural and process factors that facilitate rather than impede sustainable implementation and child-participation. Considering the role of active child participation in this research, this study sought to empower the children by engaging them as co-researchers. Since the power inequalities between child participants and adult researchers are inevitable for obvious reasons such as age gap, lack of experience of children in the field of research and, above all, the accountability mechanism in academia, child-participation literature recommends the intriguing idea of seeking children’s assistance in understanding their perspectives, instead of merely regarding them as research objects. This study therefore fostered children as co-researchers by involving them in various research activities, ranging from data collection to analysis, and importantly, in documenting the findings. To more effectively minimise the power differential, the study incorporated child-friendly methods and techniques that are built on children’s competencies and interests and ensured that the children had support from each other. This study makes a significant contribution to our theoretical understanding of DRR education for children by exploring its related challenges and achievements. It provides evidence for improvements in relevant policy and practice. The recommendations made by the child co-researchers can be used as guiding principles in the design and implementation of child-centred DRR education programs in Bangladesh. Most importantly, by bringing children on board as co-researchers, this study provides a framework for engaging children in research on disasters. It therefore encourages future researchers to empower children as co-researchers and foster their genuine participation in research.

"This thesis ... examines colour as the hues we perceive in everyday activities and their social significance when used deliberately in representation ... investigations have led into psychological, anthropological, philosophical and cultural realms to uncover colour 'knowledge' and from there to semiology, representation and feminism in search of the tools with which to expose colour to a sociological analysis. What follows in this thesis is that journey, colour use examined in respect of its marking of gender attributes in a major social reproducer of these concepts, popular narrative film"--Abstract.

Investigates one teacher's reflections in order to "ascertain possibilities for informing the question of what it means to 'be wise' or 'act wisely' in an educational setting". The study involves 'hermeneutic inteviews' and the philosophical approach of the research is articulated as a 'Practical-Philosophy Paradigm'.. In the progress of human lives, matters of choice and action are negotiated on a daily basis. The thesis takes this observation as its point of departure for a philosophical exploration of the question 'What is wisdom?'. After consideration of particular challenges that can be associated with wisdom inquiry, the contextualisation of the wisdom question as a practical concern is further developed by attending to the field of education. Here the wisdom question is investigated in a context where teaching is considered as an aspirational endeavour. The so-called problem of 'the gap' between aspiration and experienced reality in the practice of teaching is presented as a more specific context or point of reference for the exploration. A study of one teacher's reflections is conducted in order to ascertain possibilities for informing the question of what it means to 'be wise' or 'act wisely' in an educational setting. The study involves 'hernleneutic interviews' and the philosophical approach of the research is articulated as a 'Practical-Philosophy Paradigm' . It is proposed that the wisdom question can be usefully explored by developing a 'conversation' which draws upon two primary sources in this process of contextualisation. These two sources consist of the theoretical-philosophical perspectives contained in the literature and the 'voice' of the teacher with specific or extensive experience of the relevant concerns. The thesis accordingly aims to contribute a formulation, or way of considering the wisdom question more carefully, based on the transdisciplinary implications of the theoretical perspectives and the richness of practitioner-derived knowledge. This formulation, introduced n the opening chapter, proposes that wisdom is the balanced integration or 'nexus' of two contexts: a Context of Profundity where hermeneutical reflection is drawn towards the deeper meanings of human experience, and a Context of Practicality where wisdom is associated with the resolution of problems or the progress of human lives. The themes of profundity and practicality are found to be useful in the analyses of both the wisdom-related material in the literature and the teacher's articulation of his approach. In general, the wisdom question is encountered in the exploration as a challenge to learn a dynamic, creative and reflexive approach. For both the teacher and the researcher, the challenge is understood to be implicated in the deeper questions of the meaning of lived experience and in the practical concerns that accompany such experience.

Those who love and marry serving members are impacted by their military service. Partners experience the effects of deployment and relocation differently to serving members, but still profoundly, with impacts on their emotional, physical and mental well-being. Partners, in their support of the member, play a critical role in military capability. Partners directly impact the availability of the member for deployment and partners who are resilient and cope well with the significant demands of military life are more capable of supporting the member’s ongoing enlistment. Studies which focus on the needs of Australian Defence Force (ADF) partners are limited, despite previous research indicating the importance of partners to Defence capability. Studies of ADF partners conducted since 2009 by the Department of Defence and Defence Families of Australia indicate a shift in support-seeking and interaction; away from ADF-associated support organisations like the Defence Community Organisation (DCO) to informal support sources, including groups on social media sites. These Facebook groups, created by ADF partners and designed to connect the ADF family community, appeared to be offering partners access to information and support. This thesis is the first to investigate the communication, information and community needs of ADF partners, with a focus on social media use. This study collected qualitative data about ADF partners, providing insight into this highly influential yet under-studied group. This study investigated four research questions, all of which sought to understand the role online support communities perform in the life of ADF partners. This study used a digital (social media) ethnographic and sociological framework, collecting the insights and experiences of 35 partners through semi-structured interviews and focus groups. 34 of the participants were female, with one male participant. Transcripts of the interviews and focus groups were thematically analysed to generate five main findings, each which focuses on one aspect of ADF partner use of social media; community, networks, trust, identity and security. These five themes are explored individually in dedicated chapters. Also, this study uniquely contributes an insider researcher approach to understanding the issue. Through the application of Anthony Giddens’ theory of late-modernity, this thesis found ADF partners, who operate in this late-modernity society, do not have their social and informational needs met by the modernist ADF organisation. This is evident through the interactions with virtual communities, as well by partners having reduced trust in the ADF. This study demonstrates ADF partners use social media as a network for navigating their inherently risky lives. Social media and informal support networks fill gaps in ADF-affiliated services in a way that best aligns with their ideology. This study argues the ADF is an abstract organisation and military-provided supports operate as access points to that system. Partners’ interactions on social media provide evidence of their interaction within that system. The study offers recommendations to the ADF and affiliated support organisations. These recommendations include aligning ADF support systems with partner values through changes to the DCO model and online security training. These findings are critical for those who work with and support ADF families to perform their essential role alongside serving military members.

Since the late 1970s, biomedical researchers have heavily invested in the development of portable insulin pumps that allow people with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) to carry several days-worth of insulin to be injected on an as-needed basis. That means fewer needles and syringes, making regular insulin injections less time consuming and troublesome. As insulin pump use has become more widespread over the past twenty years among people with T1D, the social and cultural effects of using these medical devices on their everyday experiences have become both increasingly apparent for individuals yet consistently absent from social and cultural studies of the disease.

In this dissertation, I explore the technological, medical, and cultural networks of insulin pump treatment to identify the role(s) these biomedicalized treatment acts play in the structuring of people, their bodies, and the cultural values constructed around various medical technologies. As I will show, insulin pump treatment alters people’s bodies and identities as devices become integrated as co-productive actors within patient-users’ biological and social systems. By analyzing personal interviews and digital media produced by people with T1D alongside archival materials, this study identifies compulsory patterns in the practices, structures, and narratives related to insulin pump use to center chapters around the productive (and sometimes stifling) relationship between people, bodies, technologies, and American culture.

By analyzing the layered and intersecting sites of insulin pump treatment together, this project reveals how medical technologies, health identities, bodies, and cultures are co-constructed and co-defined in ways that bind them together—mutually constitutive, medically compelled, cultural and social. New bodies and new systems, I argue, come with new (in)visibilities, and while this new technologically-produced legibility of the body provides unprecedented management of the symptoms and side-effects of the disease, it also brings with it unforeseen social consequences that require changes to people’s everyday lives and practices.

In recent years, there has been an increase in environmental awareness in the United States leading to steady growth in environmentally conscious consumerism. These changes have come in response to issues such as the energy crisis, climate change, exponential population growth, and rapid urbanization. This fact is further supported by environmental campaigns and the green movement. Looking to the future of green home marketing, understanding the green consumer behavior of Generation Z (GenZ) is important for environmental and business reasons. The purpose of this research is to better understand the perception of GenZ on Green Homes (GHs). The study uses the lenses of dual inheritance and normative motivation theory to explain the influence of benefits and norms related to environmentalism and sustainability on GenZ consumers’ green behavior. This study seeks to evaluate 1) GenZ’s preferences related to Green Home Features (GHFs), 3) the extent of the influence of certain barriers on the adoption of GHFs, and 3) the types of motivation (intrinsic, instrumental and non-normative) influencing GenZ towards green home consumerism. Data was collected using an online survey questionnaire exclusively at Purdue University during March – April of 2021 (IRB 2020-1414). One hundred sixteen GenZ participants responded to the survey.The findings show that these GenZ consumers prefer a certain type of GHFs over others. Additionally, based on descriptive tests of GHFs, energy-related features were the most prized features, while the least preferred was water-efficient features. Descriptive tests on barriers suggest that GenZ consumers perceive the lack of choice in selecting GHFs in their homes to be a top barrier, followed by a lack of information and the perceived effort to analyze GHFs. Inferential tests for the same indicated that GenZ consumers perceive these barriers differently. Lastly, for GenZ consumers, intrinsic and non-normative motivations significantly affect their willingness to buy GHs. The findings concur with previous studies on green consumer behavior, yet they provide a new benchmark for understanding GenZ consumer behavior on GHs and an updated view of what GHFs they prefer. This research can be used by home marketers and policy makers to study future home trends, attract more potential homeowners to GHs, and help create a sustainable environment for future generations.