Millennial cultural consumers : Co-creating value through brand communities

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise millennial cultural consumers (MCCs) to bring together strands of consumer theory with branding theory to consider how to attract and retain younger audiences in arts organisations. With that the authors single out for attention how 'brand community' theory might apply.This paper contributes to the knowledge development of such concepts as value and brand communities. It also provides an explanation of these concepts connecting academic thought on value with pressing management challenges for arts organisations, suggesting ways to apply brand community thinking to innovatively conceptualised MCCs.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Master of Science

thesisWithin the field of adapted physical education, there is a lack of knowledge about who is delivering services and what attitudes they hold for curricular outcomes. The purpose of this study was to discover current adapted physical educators' attitudes towards curricular outcomes for physical education. The teacher's attitude and orientation towards specific topics and activities in physical education have the ability to influence students' physical activity level and overall physical literacy. The data indicated that adapted physical educators who teach students with mild and moderate as well as severe disabilities placed importance on all physical education domains, but they placed more importance on social development and physical activity and fitness followed by selfactualization and motor skill development, respectively. We find that adapted physical educators differ slightly from previously studied preservice educators and general physical educators who placed more importance solely on the domain of physical activity and fitness. Interestingly, adapted physical educators reported that most of their instructional time was spent on motor skill development despite the fact that they ranked this domain as the fourth out of five in terms of importance

Machine Automation and the Critique of Abstract Labor in Hegel’s Mature Social Theory

This thesis examines Hegel’s critique of abstract labor in the Philosophy of Right and the sections on objective spirit in the Encyclopaedia. Against both Frederick Neuhouser’s and Marxist interpretations, I argue that abstract labor, for Hegel, characterizes the specific kind of mechanical labor undertaken in the nineteenth-century factory. Such repetitive labor, Hegel claims, leads to the deadening (Abstumpfung) of the worker through the deforming of her ethical subjectivity, a social pathology he hopes will be resolved by machine automation. By developing two key aspects of Hegel’s social theory—that labor produces ethical subjectivity or education (Bildung) and that this education is the central locus of civil society’s ethicality—I argue that we ought to understand Hegel’s hope for machine automation as a critique of those forms of labor which prevent the worker’s rational participation in the totality of the labor process and thus fail to actualize her social freedom

American Principles of Self-Government

I revisit Thomas Jefferson\u27s Principles of Government and reformulate them into four basic principles for life in the 21st century. Next, I state the conditions necessary for these principles to be fostered within a democratic, republican context, most specifically, Jefferson\u27s Ward Republic. Finally, in reference to Jefferson\u27s thesis that the most important way to secure our liberties is via an educated and self-reliant citizenry, I present a new image of public education for an American Republic

A NEW VIEW ON SOCIAL ADAPTATION OF THE MILITARY, DISCHARGED FROM MILITARY SERVICE IN BULGARIA

This article reviews the social adaptation of the military as a social process. There is an overview of adaptation concepts adopted in science and practice. There is an attempt to classify the types of adaptation based on the nature of the interaction, the type of adaptive environments, adaptive environment structural components and based on the psychological content. Social adaptation process is presented in the following major stages: preparatory stage, stage of psychological tension before discharge; stage of acute mental reactions to entry into "civilian life"; stage of acute mental reactions to exit out of „military life” and stage of re-adaptation

A NEW VIEW ON SOCIAL ADAPTATION OF THE MILITARY, DISCHARGED FROM MILITARY SERVICE IN BULGARIA

This article reviews the social adaptation of the military as a social process. There is an overview of adaptation concepts adopted in science and practice. There is an attempt to classify the types of adaptation based on the nature of the interaction, the type of adaptive environments, adaptive environment structural components and based on the psychological content. Social adaptation process is presented in the following major stages: preparatory stage, stage of psychological tension before discharge; stage of acute mental reactions to entry into "civilian life"; stage of acute mental reactions to exit out of „military life” and stage of re-adaptation

The Perception and Management of 24/7 Work Availability: Work-life balance in the tramp shipping industry

Globalization, and fierce competition has been one of the main factors contributing to the increase of 24/7 work availability. 24/7 work availability is defined by the constant reachability of workers, and is regarded to be enhanced by the introduction and democratization of ICT. Arguably, constant work availability has shown to negatively affect individuals’ work-life balance. To contextualize, as well as illustrate 24/7 work availability, the tramp shipping industry, which is characterized by high intensity and global logistics, is analyzed due to its full implementation of 24/7 work availability. This thesis aims to advance the knowledge on the sociology of contemporary work. Particularly, to comprehend how individuals in the tramp shipping industry perceive and manage 24/7 work availability, by applying boundary theory and to understand how boundary management can be utilized to establish work-life balance. In order to provide different perspectives to the central concept, literature and theory from various fields of research is thoroughly reviewed in the thesis. Boundary theory, person-environment fit model, and cultural theory are thus used as lenses and support the analysis of the collected empirical material. The empirical material is based on thirteen semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in the tramp shipping industry from different organizations. This thesis demonstrates that the workers perceptions are heavily influenced by the shipping industry’s culture, and its survival is dependent on the industry finding workers with similar traits to ensure person-environment fit. The individuals management of 24/7 work availability seems to be determined by their professional goals, job identification, age, and experiences. In a society where unsustainable constant connectivity and availability seem to be of the essence, boundary management is raised as the main suggestion to establish work-life balance. In the long-run, this is found to benefit both employer and employee. Key words: 24/7 work availability; boundaries; work-life balance; work-life conflict; tramp shipping

The contemporary work ethic: An exploration of culture and structure in post-industrial society

In this dissertation the relationship between structure and culture is explored in the context of the American work ethic. This analysis has two components. The first involves a socio-historical examination of the evolution of conceptions of work. Work is first viewed as lacking any positive qualities but with the emergence of the Protestant ethic and its later secularized versions, work took on positive meaning. These conceptions are analyzed in relation to their structural context, particularly early capitalist industrial society. To further explore the relationship between culture and structure, a second component is included in this research. In order to characterize and analyze the contemporary work ethic, 40 in-depth interviews were conducted with and 177 open-ended questionnaires were distributed to individuals in a variety of occupations. The findings of this research indicate that the current contemporary work ethic can be characterized as containing work values emphasizing self-fulfillment, relations with others, and purpose. Relying upon structuralist constructivism theory, wherein culture is seen as being created within the boundaries delineated by structure, occupational variations in work values are shown to exist. Upper-status professionals are more likely to cite contributing to society and working for mental stimulation and self actualization as important values of work. Middle-status semi-professionals are more likely to report helping others and working to learn and grow as central values. Those working in lower-status occupations more often cite working as a team, pleasing the boss, working to fill time and fight boredom, and maintaining self-sufficiency as work values. The contemporary work ethic is analyzed according to mass culture and economic structure as well as the interaction of these two forces. Further, by treating the work ethic as an ideology, both traditional and contemporary work ethics are linked to the structural context in which they emerged. The traditional work ethic can no longer provide meaning of or justification for economic structure and has thus undergone transformation to a more self-fulfillment oriented ethic. Similarly, in transformation to a post-industrial society, the nature of the contemporary work ethic may change

Intervention Models of Non-Formal Education for the Reintegration of Abused Children in South-Western, Nigeria

This study examined application of models in the design of non-formal education programmes for capacity building among abused children for societal reintegration. It is observed that various strategies for enhancing capacity building for abused children, most of whom are victims of the mal-adjustment and inadequacies of the formal educational system, have suffered neglect and unsustainable. The study adopted the survey research design. Using a sample size of 898 participants selected purposively from trainess, instructors and organizers of technical capacity building programmes for abused children, a 4-point rating scale validate questionnaire tagged: “Non-Formal Education Reintegration Scale (NERS), (0.56) was used for data collection complemented with focus Group Discussion (FGD). The test of the two null hypotheses raised with t-test and chi-square (x2) at 0.05 alpha level shows that: Non-formal education intervention models were effective strategies for capacitating and reintegration abused children into the society P(x2= 534.5; p< 0.05). There was no significance difference among gender on the effectiveness of non-formal education intervention models in enhancing capacity building among abused children for their reintegration into society (t = 1.797;  p<0.05). Based on these findings, it was advised that models of non-formal education should be accorded more resources for social and economic re-integration of abused children for their self-actualization. Keywords: Intervention models, Non-Formal Education, Capacity building and Societal reintegration