Digital Commons Network^™

Examining The Role Of Social Capital In Community Development: How The Creation Of A Land Trust Set A Small Town On The Path To Sustainability, Lynda A. Brushett

Doctoral Dissertations

Theoretical constructs of social capital and sustainable community development are examined through the lens of the lived experience of a small Vermont town. A case study of the community's land use planning history from the 1960's through to the present assesses the actions and relationships among individuals and institutions engaged in civic efforts to achieve environmental, economic, and social balance in development decision-making. The role of a land trust and its members as a community system changing variable---a self-organized institutional response to the concerns of citizens to the unsustainable development of their community---is evaluated. Findings describe the process whereby social …

Wealth And Social Responsibility: A Study Of Philanthropy In Southern New Hampshire And Southern Maine, Susan A. Lord

Doctoral Dissertations

This is a study of individual philanthropists and their beliefs and practices of philanthropy in southern New Hampshire and southern Maine. It examines the patterns and social structures of philanthropy in these areas, looking particularly at issues of class, culture, social capital, and civic participation.

Based on in-depth interviews conducted with 40 wealthy philanthropists in 2002 and 2003, the study findings suggest that I uncovered a population of philanthropists that had not been studied before. These sample philanthropists are not simply using their wealth to maintain the status quo and perpetuate their position in society, as past studies have found …

Shifting Worlds: Leading Educational *Change In A Quantum Universe, Mary O Douglas Singer

Doctoral Dissertations

The twentieth century theories of quantum physics and chaos theory in mathematics have had an impact across disciplines, but in many ways educational leaders have been trapped in the old Newtonian paradigm. The conceptual portion of this study bridges the paradigms to suggest new ways to view school leadership for the twenty-first century, using New Science constructs, systems thinking, and leadership concepts of business writers Senge (1990) and Wheatley (1992). It argues that such business models are appropriate for school organizations, and builds a conceptual model of a quantum principal who may participate in creating change through transformation (Burns, 1978) …

Asian American Perspectives On College Student Experience: An Interpretive Narrative, Linda Chen Einsiedler

Doctoral Dissertations

This is a socio-cultural study examining contemporary Asian American college student experiences at a private liberal arts residential college in the rural Northeast United States. This project utilizes a grounded theory approach designed to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. The findings include a narrative interpretation that considers emotional experiences and social behaviors as sub-consciously held internalized identity beliefs.

This project details psychological and social dimensions of shared Asian American experiences with insights into individual interpretive perspective frameworks shaped by community cultures. This study describes a distinctive Asian American identity that conjoins ethnicity with racial self-identity. Variables in ethnic identity, …

Corporal Punishment As A Determinant Of Developmental Outcomes: Longitudinal And Process Models, Matthew K. Mulvaney

Doctoral Dissertations

There were two goals of this research: (1) to establish that normative corporal punishment has an impact on children's mental health and the parent-child relationship and (2) to identify intrapersonal variables that determine the impact of this parenting behavior. The first study examined the influence of corporal punishment across infancy and early childhood with longitudinal analyses performed on data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. The results suggest that corporal punishment does have a direct, unique impact on children's mental health and on the mother-child relationship. For the second study, a college sample was studied …

Arthur Raper: Modern Realist In The New Deal South, Louis Mazzari

Doctoral Dissertations

Arthur Raper was a progressive sociologist and controversial voice for racial and social equality in the South during the 1920s and 1930s. Son of a white, North Carolina farm family, Raper became allied with modernist voices at Chapel Hill and the University of Chicago. Raper's research was widely discussed through the region and greatly influenced Southern race relations in the years leading to the civil rights movement.

Raper was the first white southerner to look critically and scientifically at the causes of racial violence. The Tragedy of Lynching (1933) was reviewed in hundreds of Southern newspapers and discussed throughout the …

The Relative Impact Of Childhood Stressor Domains On Young Adult Depression And The Mediating Role Of Social And Personal Resources, Paul A. Muller

Doctoral Dissertations

Numerous studies have documented the harmful effects of childhood exposure to adversity on adult psychopathology. The relative impact of different types of stress, however, is less certain. Moreover, while there is very good evidence that childhood exposure to adversity does increase the likelihood of experiencing psychopathology, less is known about the mechanisms through which this happens. It is my hypothesis that childhood adversity exhibits effects on psychological distress in young adulthood, at least in part, through its damaging impact on the development of social and personal resources---specifically, by affecting a reduction in family support, peer support, self-esteem, and mastery. Further, …

Needling Doubts: A Sociological Examination Of Parental Resistance To Childhood Immunizations, Catherine L. Moran

Doctoral Dissertations

Within recent years, a group of parents who question or oppose vaccination has emerged in the United States. While recently receiving attention within medicine and public health, parental questioning of and resistance to childhood immunization is a trend that has yet to be examined within sociology. This dissertation explores the role of parental characteristics, beliefs, and attitudes on resistance to pediatric immunization.

Thirty-five in-depth interviews with parents who postponed or refused vaccinations for their children were conducted. Qualitative data were used to develop a survey instrument including a series of scales measuring parental beliefs and attitudes about pediatric vaccination. The …