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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 9 December 2021

Ann-Marie Kennedy, Martin K.J. Waiguny and Maree Alice Lockie

This paper seeks to explore the functions of Christmas mythemes for children’s consumption culture development. In addition, the purpose of this study is to provide an insight on…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to explore the functions of Christmas mythemes for children’s consumption culture development. In addition, the purpose of this study is to provide an insight on the development of Central European Children into customers and how mythemes are associated with the wishing behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

Levi-Strauss’ (1955) structural analysis was used to uncover the mythemes of the Christmas story for Austrian children. These mythemes then informed a thematic analysis of 283 Austrian children’s Christmas letters. Campbell’s (1970) functions of myths were used to reflect on the findings.

Findings

The Christmas mythemes uncovered were found to encourage materialism by linking self-enhancement (good acquirement) with self-transcendent (good behaviour) values. The role of myths to relieve the tension between the incongruent values of collective/other-oriented and materialistic values is expanded upon. Such sanctification of selfish good acquisition is aided by the mythemes related especially to the Christkind and baby Jesus. Instead, marketers should use Christmas mythemes which emphasise family and collective/other-centred values.

Originality/value

By first uncovering the “mythemes” related to Christmas, the authors contribute to the academic understanding of Christmas, going beyond origin or single myth understandings and acknowledging the multifaceted components of Christmas. The second contribution is in exploring mytheme’s representation in children’s Christmas letters and reflecting on their functions. This differs from previous literature because it looks at one of the main cultural vehicles for Christmas socialisation and its intersection with the mythemes that feed children’s consumption culture formation. Through the authors’ presentation of a conceptual framework that links mytheme functions with proximal processes using a socioecological viewpoint, the authors demonstrate the guidance of mythemes in children’s development. The third contribution is a reflection on the potential ethical implications for children’s formation of their consumer culture based on the functions of the mythemes. Furthermore, the authors add to the existing body of research by investigating a Central European context.

Book part
Publication date: 25 April 2014

Fiona Hallett

The premise of this chapter is that methodological ‘tribes’ in higher education create ‘territories’ of research practice that do little to encourage those new to research to…

Abstract

The premise of this chapter is that methodological ‘tribes’ in higher education create ‘territories’ of research practice that do little to encourage those new to research to reconceptualise methodology. This premise is based upon the perceived absence of dialogic space, beyond an expert academic community, that would allow open critique of the degree to which research methodologies make sense for those ‘on the ground’. As such, it is argued that practices of this nature signify methodological process over genuine debate around methodological theory, which can serve to encourage methodological idolatry. Phenomenography has been selected, and analysed, in this chapter as an example of a research methodology used in higher education, in order to reveal both the encoded messages of phenomenography and the layering of meaning that such messages convey. The chapter concludes by arguing for a repositioning of research methodologies as ontologically coherent heuristic devices that enable us to generate and test theory, rather than as processes of discovery that may lead us to unsubstantiated claims of knowledge generation.

Details

Theory and Method in Higher Education Research II
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-823-5

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 29 September 2023

Giuseppe Bolotta

Thailand has seen waves of youth-led protests over the past three years. Pro-democracy youth activists have vociferously criticised authority figures: teachers, parents and…

Abstract

Thailand has seen waves of youth-led protests over the past three years. Pro-democracy youth activists have vociferously criticised authority figures: teachers, parents and political leaders, especially the king. Drawing on vignettes assembled over a 14-year ethnographic work with young people in Thailand, as well as on current research on youth (online and offline) activism in Bangkok, I examine the multi-layered meaning of kinship in Thai society. The chapter reveals the political nature of childhood and parenthood as entangled modes of governance that come into being with other, both local and international cultural entities. I argue that Thai youth activists are attempting to rework dominant tropes that sustain “age-patriarchy” in the Buddhist kingdom. Their “engaged siblinghood” aims to reframe Thailand's generational order, refuting the moral principles that establish citizens' political subordination to monarchical paternalism and, relatedly, children's unquestionable respect to parents. As I show, Thai youth activists are doing so by engaging creatively with transnational discourses such as “democracy” and “children's rights,” while simultaneously drawing on K-pop icons, Japanese manga and Buddhist astrology. In articulating their dissent, these youths are thus bearers of a “bottom-up cosmopolitanism” that channels culturally hybrid, and politically subversive notions of childhood and citizenship in Southeast Asia's cyberspace and beyond. Whatever the outcome of their commitment, Thai youth activism signals the cultural disarticulation of the mytheme of the Father in Thailand, as well as the growing political influence of younger generations in the region.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Childhood and Youth in Asian Societies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-284-6

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 20 August 2020

Vivian Asimos

The Slender Man, an online monster born to the internet in 2009, loves to live in the boundaries, specifically the boundary between the digital and the non-digital worlds. This…

Abstract

The Slender Man, an online monster born to the internet in 2009, loves to live in the boundaries, specifically the boundary between the digital and the non-digital worlds. This chapter seeks to explore the full engagement of the community with the myth, analysing it structurally to understand the way, in which the narrative’s construction reflects the relationship of monster to society and society to itself. The sincerity in which the narratives are told, at first appearing intense, is actually a form of play, revealing a boundary blurring between play and non-play as well. While fully engaging in play, the community’s structured narrative is more than this: pulling them into a trapped world in which they play with death in the digital. The triadic structure of the Slender Man narratives reveals an anxiety to the community and their place within broader non-digital worlds.

Details

Death, Culture & Leisure: Playing Dead
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83909-037-0

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 13 May 2019

Jiří Šubrt

Abstract

Details

Individualism, Holism and the Central Dilemma of Sociological Theory
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-038-7

Abstract

Details

Individualism, Holism and the Central Dilemma of Sociological Theory
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-038-7

Book part
Publication date: 16 December 2005

Dennis Beach

There are certain accepted points that influence ethnographic work, even though they do not condition or fully determine it. They include the notion that in order to develop…

Abstract

There are certain accepted points that influence ethnographic work, even though they do not condition or fully determine it. They include the notion that in order to develop theories about human life, an ethnographer must study human activities and the way people interpret their realities in their every-day context and must also identify and then synthesise the conditions of the field, the perspectives of the participants, the latent meanings of the context and the researcher's own ideas for the grounding, generation and expansion of propositions about what is actually going on in the events and places researched. In this process, foreshadowed problems are accepted to frame the initial focus, but producing and analysing materials from multiple sources and perspectives are also important in order to prevent over-steering from private ideas and concepts. Once formed, ethnographic propositions, descriptions or theories are explored and tested in terms of their general scope against further data. Ethnographic field-notes are one of the most important foundations in this activity.

Details

Methodological Issues and Practices in Ethnography
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-374-7

Book part
Publication date: 27 January 2022

Helen Gavin

Abstract

Details

Women and the Abuse of Power
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-335-9

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2014

Marc Garcelon

The diversity of social forms both regionally and historically calls for a paradigmatic reassessment of concepts used to map human societies comparatively. By differentiating…

Abstract

Purpose

The diversity of social forms both regionally and historically calls for a paradigmatic reassessment of concepts used to map human societies comparatively. By differentiating “social analytics” from “explanatory narratives,” we can distinguish concept and generic model development from causal analyses of actual empirical phenomena. In so doing, we show how five heuristic models of “modes of social practices” enable such paradigmatic formation in sociology. This reinforces Max Weber’s emphasis on the irreducible historicity of explanations in the social sciences.

Methodology

Explanatory narrative.

Findings

A paradigmatic consolidation of generalizing concepts, modes of social practices, ideal-type concepts, and generic models presents a range of “theoretical tools” capable of facilitating empirical analysis as flexibly as possible, rather than cramping their range with overly narrow conceptual strictures.

Research implications

To render social theory as flexible for practical field research as possible.

Originality/value

Develops a way of synthesizing diverse theoretical and methodological approaches in a highly pragmatic fashion.

Details

Social Theories of History and Histories of Social Theory
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-219-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 July 2012

Andrew Sinclair Lord

The initial purpose of this paper is to review the explanatory power that memetics promised for socio‐cultural evolutionary theory, for organisational adaptation, and emergent…

Abstract

Purpose

The initial purpose of this paper is to review the explanatory power that memetics promised for socio‐cultural evolutionary theory, for organisational adaptation, and emergent patterns of traits. Second, to argue that philosophical accusations and premature demands have retarded a science of memetics; regardless, isolated demonstrations of empirical research feasibility suggest a pragmatic resolution. Third, to speculate about practical applications, future advances, and prompt consideration about resuming methodological research initiatives that draw extensively from biology into organisational and managements science.

Design/methodology/approach

Owing to present methodological immaturity of cultural science then a high conceptual level of meta‐methodology is required. This scope necessarily overlooks specific technical details. Life‐science principles are well known in comparison to the embryonic memetic and cultural sciences. The meme‐gene analogy builds a bridge across which we can draw candidate hypotheses and established methods. However, memetics has inherited the expectations of genetics but without its developmental history. Memetics therefore would benefit from recapitulating the ontogenesis of the more senior science by drawing upon foundational methods.

Findings

Linnæan Systematics was elemental to evolutionary theory and genetics; a cultural analogue is proposed. Retreating to description would support emerging objective organisational taxonomies that are laying the methodological foundations for a potential synthesis between organisational replicator and evolutionary theories.

Research limitations/implications

At the moment, the number of organisational examples are few, which further suggests the fundamental nature of this area of research. They serve to illustrate that a large array of hypotheses and methods can be adapted from the biological domain, opening up a bloom of research implications for the organisational domain.

Originality/value

Discourse about memetics is commonplace, but empirical research has been undermined. Originality stems from reapplying established biological methods to the new organisational domain. The value is in conferring the rigour of natural science to socio‐cultural study.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

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