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AN INVESTIGATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS A DIMENSION OF THE SOCIAL IDENTITY FORMATION AMONG FEMALE ADOLESCENTS IN KING WILLIAM'S TOWN

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The Meaning of Things explores the meanings of household possessions for three generation families in the Chicago area, and the place of materialism in American culture. Now regarded as a keystone in material culture studies, Halton's first book is based on his dissertation and coauthored with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. First published by Cambridge University Press in 1981, it has been translated into German, Italian, Japanese, and Hungarian. The Meaning of Things is a study of the significance of material possessions in contemporary urban life, and of the ways people carve meaning out of their domestic environment. Drawing on a survey of eighty families in Chicago who were interviewed on the subject of their feelings about common household objects, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochberg-Halton provide a unique perspective on materialism, American culture, and the self. They begin by reviewing what social scientists and philosophers have said about the transactions between people and things. In the model of 'personhood' that the authors develop, goal-directed action and the cultivation of meaning through signs assume central importance. They then relate theoretical issues to the results of their survey. An important finding is the distinction between objects valued for action and those valued for contemplation. The authors compare families who have warm emotional attachments to their homes with those in which a common set of positive meanings is lacking, and interpret the different patterns of involvement. They then trace the cultivation of meaning in case studies of four families. Finally, the authors address what they describe as the current crisis of environmental and material exploitation, and suggest that human capacities for the creation and redirection of meaning offer the only hope for survival. A wide range of scholars - urban and family sociologists, clinical, developmental and environmental psychologists, cultural anthropologists and philosophers, and many general readers - will find this book stimulating and compelling. Translations: Il significato degli oggetti. Italian translation. Rome: Edizione Kappa, 1986. Der Sinn der Dinge. German translation. Munich: Psychologie Verlags Union, 1989. Japanese translation 2007. Targyaink tukreben. Hungarian translation, 2011.
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This paper presents a theory of potentially universal aspects in the content of human values. Ten types of values are distinguished by their motivational goals. The theory also postulates a structure of relations among the value types, based on the conflicts and compatibilities experienced when pursuing them. This structure permits one to relate systems of value priorities, as an integrated whole, to other variables. A new values instrument, based on the theory and suitable for cross-cultural research, is described. Evidence relevant for assessing the theory, from 97 samples in 44 countries, is summarized. Relations of this approach to Rokeach's work on values and to other theories and research on value dimensions are discussed. Application of the approach to social issues is exemplified in the domains of politics and intergroup relations.
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Organizational Identity presents the classic works on organizational identity alongside more current thinking on the issues. Ranging from theoretical contributions to empirical studies, the readings in this volume address the key issues of organizational identity, and show how these issues have developed through contributions from such diverse fields of study as sociology, psychology, management studies and cultural studies. The readings examine questions such as how organizations understand who they are, why organizations develop a sense of identity and belonging where the boundaries of identity lie and the implications of postmodern and critical theories' challenges to the concept of identity as deeply-rooted and authentic. Includes work by: Stuart Albert, Mats Alvesson, Blake E. Ashforth, Marilynn B. Brewer, George Cheney, Lars Thoger Christensen, C.H. Cooley, Kevin G. Corley, Barbara Czarniawska, Janet M. Dukerich, Jane E. Dutton, Kimberly D. Elsbach, Wendi Gardner, Linda E. Ginzela, Dennis A. Gioia, E. Goffman, Karen Golden-Biddle, Mary Jo Hatch, Roderick M. Kramer, Fred Rael, G.H. Mead, Michael G. Pratt, Anat Rafaeli, Hayagreeva Rao, Majken Schultz, Howard S. Schwartz, Robert I. Sutton, Henri Taijfel, John Turner, David A. Wherren, and Hugh Willmott. Intended to provide easy access to this material for students of organizational identity, it will also be of interest more broadly to students of business, sociology and psychology.
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This book raises for the first time developmental issues in relation to the theory of social representations, which Duveen and Lloyd introduced to account for the influence of social life on psychological processes. He describes a society's values, ideas, beliefs and practices as social representations which function both as rule systems structuring social life and as codes facilitating communication. The editors' introduction identifies the need to expand the theory of social representations to consider developmental changes in social beliefs, in individual understanding, and in the process of communication. Individual chapters examine aspects of such processes in the domains of nursery-school life, of gender, of social divisions in society, of images of childhood, of emotion, of intelligence and of psychology. In the final chapter Moscovici considers the contribution which these developmental perspectives make to the theory. The book will interest specialists and students in the human and social sciences, including developmental and social psychology, sociology, and communication studies.
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Dressing up as Vampires is an ethnographic audience study investigating issues of identity and the masquerade within the active female vampire fan community. Drawing on previous theoretical material by Milly Williamson (2005), Paul Hodkinson (2002) and wider methodological approaches such as Lori Kendall (1999) this paper will focus on the negotiation of female fans’ identities across various online networks such as MySpace, LiveJournal, VEIN (Vampire Exchange Information Network) and Yahoo newsgroups. Its objective is to explore how identity is constructed in the virtual community via imagery (avatars & graphics), photography and text and to what extent this online persona encroaches and impacts upon fans’ ‘real lives’. Through analysis of these online networks I will suggest that female vampire fans use the Internet as an extension of their identity, and although they may construct an alternate persona within cyberspace, this usually serves as a reinforcement of their idealised ‘real life’ identity.
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First published in 1990, this title presents a rich account of how television intersects with family life in American and other world cultures. From an analysis of the political and cultural significance of China’s most important television series to detailed descriptions of how families in the United States interpret and use television at home, James Lull’s ethnographic work marks an important stage in the study of the role of the mass media in contemporary culture. This title will be of interest not only to those in media and communications, but also to those in the broader fields of cultural anthropology and sociology.
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Numerous investigations of involvement dimensionality have asserted the existence of cognitive and affective involvement or analogous constructs, but leave the nature of the relationship between the two dimensions unclear. This paper tests the proposition that cognitive and affective involvement are independent, uncorrelated constructs. Correlational and causal modeling analyses conducted on data collected for twelve different product categories support that proposition and related hypotheses, and suggest the need to modify some prevailing involvement-based decision-making approaches.
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An updated edition of the classic guide to technical communication. Consider that 20 to 50 percent of a technology professional's time is spent communicating with others. Whether writing a memo, preparing a set of procedures, or making an oral presentation, effective communication is vital to your professional success. This anthology delivers concrete advice from the foremost experts on how to communicate more effectively in the workplace. The revised and expanded second edition of this popular book completely updates the original, providing authoritative guidance on communicating via modern technology in the contemporary work environment. Two new sections on global communication and the Internet address communicating effectively in the context of increased e-mail and web usage. As in the original, David Beer's Second Edition discusses a variety of approaches, such as: * Writing technical documents that are clear and effective * Giving oral presentations more confidently * Using graphics and other visual aids judiciously * Holding productive meetings * Becoming an effective listener. The new edition also includes updated articles on working with others to get results and on giving directions that work. Each article is aimed specifically at the needs of engineers and others in the technology professions, and is written by a practicing engineer or a technical communicator. Technical engineers, IEEE society members, and technical writing teachers will find this updated edition of David Beer's classic Writing and Speaking in the Technology Professions an invaluable guide to successful communication. © 2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved.