  In this study, one of the mean-field theories in nematics, the Maier-Saupe
theory (MST), is generalized within Tsallis Thermostatistics (TT). The
variation of the order parameter versus temperature has been investigated and
compared with experimental data for PAA (p-azoxyanisole). So far we believe
that this is the first attempt of the application of TT in liquid crystals. It
is well known that MST fails to explain the experimental data for some of the
nematics, one of which is PAA. However generalized MST (GMST) is able to
account for the experimental data for a long range of temperatures. Also in
this study, the effect of nonextensivity is shown for various values of the
entropic index.
