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On Measuring The Cost Of Children:The Case Of Rural Maharashtra., Manisha Chakrabarty Dr.

Doctoral Theses

In this dissertation we have attempted to measure the cost of children, which plays a crucial role in matters relating to welfare and public policy like child benefits and compensation policies of the government. The cost is measured based on the single equation as well as the systems approach using the 38th round National Sample Survey (NSS) data on household consumer expenditure for rural Maharashtra (relating to the period of January to December, 1983).The first chapter provides a brief account of the basic literature on empirical demand analysis which is relevant for welfare comparison between households. To be specific in …

Multiracial Social Identities And Self-Esteem: How Physical Appearance And Heritage Affect The Categorization Self And Others, Estrella Aurora Ramirez

Student Work

One’s self-concept is comprised of both personal and social identities. This study will focus on the racial/ethnic component of social identity for the multiracial population: individuals with heritage from two or more different racial/ethnic groups. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the racial identity process for multiracial individuals and how this process is impacted by the relative status of racial/ethnic groups that comprise one’s heritage and the perceived physical appearance of an individual. Of central concern is how multiracial individuals racially self label as well as how multiracial and monoracial individuals racially categorize other multiracial individuals. Secondly, …

The Effects Of Ethnicity, Ethnic Salience And Ethnic Identification On Consumers' Sources Of Information And Purchase Behavior, Patricia Wooten Humphrey

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any significant differences in the search and purchase behavior between white and black consumers due to ethnicity, ethnic identification, ethnic salience and ethnic situation.

The sample was chosen from two universities, one predominately white, the other predominately black. Of the 360 questionnaires administered, 345 were usable. The sample was representative of the student population of each university with respect to age, gender, and ethnicity. Statistical techniques used were ANOVAs, t-tests and paired comparisons.

The findings indicate that ethnicity plays an important role in an individual's sources of information used …

Small Firms, Global Economies: The Economic Sociology Of The Northwest Atlantic Sea Urchin Industry, Sean Raymond Lauer

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the organizational dynamics of firms operating in the East Coast sea urchin industry. First, I examine the confluence of economic and political conditions under which the industry evolved. As a part of the export driven growth of the past decade in the US the East Coast sea urchin industry benefited from political conditions, which encouraged development of global markets for US products. Along with this, the Japanese have displayed a seemingly insatiable demand for sea urchin roe through the 1990s. In 1971 the governance of the international monetary system changed from a fixed to floating exchange rate. …

Parental Alcoholism And Children's Social Skills., Marsha Dean Norton

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study focused on the daily interactions and home environments of 14 families with alcoholic fathers who were beginning primary treatment for their alcoholism. Data were collected by in-depth, face to face interviews with all family members. Social skills questionnaires administered to each child. Two specific family patterns were found to be associated with higher level social skills in children. First, father's frequent presence in the home, coupled with positive family interaction, was associated with children's high range social skills. Even in circumstances where violence existed, if the father was routinely at home and participated in positive family interactions, social …

Hazards To Navigation On The Lower Mississippi River And At -Risk Human Populations., George P. Wooddell Jr

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation tests whether known hazards to navigation determine the location of vessel accidents along the lower Mississippi River and describes the human populations most at risk according to predictions. The data are comprised of the relative risk index of river hazards (Forsyth et al. 1996, Gramling et al. 1998), the demographic characteristics of nearby residents, (U.S. Census 1990), and actual U.S. Coast Guard accident reports. Usable predictors of vessel accidents and a knowledge of population characteristics will enable better planning of emergency response, better placement of emergency response equipment, and more effective efforts to prevent vessel. accidents along the …

Confronting The War Machine: Draft Resistance During The Vietnam War, Michael Stewart Foley

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation recovers the history of the draft resistance movement in Boston during the Vietnam War. It is a blend of social, political, and cultural history that seeks not merely to assert the importance of draft resistance to our understanding of the antiwar movement and the Vietnam War era, but also to capture the experience of draft resisters and their supporters.

It is an actor-oriented history. The sources used include the personal private manuscript collections of participants, court records, underground newspapers, a 1997 survey administered to 310 former resisters and draft resistance activists (185 responded), and interviews with more than …

When Does Gender Matter? Explaining The Transition To Adulthood As A Gendered Process, Kimberly Autumn Mahaffy

Doctoral Dissertations

Most gender theory and research focuses on two points in the life course: childhood and middle adulthood. Less attention is given to the period in between. The purpose of this dissertation is to determine whether and how the transition to adulthood is gendered. To what extent do school, family, and labor market contexts have a different effect on adolescent girls and boys as they become adults?

Using data from the High School and Beyond 1980 Sophomore Cohort Study (1980--1992), 1 examine how social context differentially affects the plans for the future and adult status outcomes of young women and men. …

The Liberal Ideal And Aboriginality: Concepts Of Citizenship And Self-Determination., Russell. Nahdee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Concepts of aboriginal self-determination in the Canadian context have evolved with the development of the nation-state. Several periods of Federal Indian policy have charted the course for changing definitions of aboriginality. Overshadowing these definitions are the state imposed criteria for several categories of aboriginality. Attached to the changing concept of aboriginality are the attempts to assimilate aboriginal people into evolving state formations. A history of Federal Indian policy points to the patterns that emerge when attempts to assimilate aboriginal people are based on the tenets of liberalism as the highest ideals in Canadian state formation and nation-building, and are countered …

The Social Construction Of The Economy: Ideology, Hegemony, And Control, Carolyn M. Lewandowski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is based on the hypothesis that social structures of inequality are reproduced as individuals enact their daily lives. The discourse of investors is examined for the presence of an hegemonic economic ideology. The economy as represented in the print news-media is used as a model of ideology. Hegemony can be demonstrated for a number of economic representations including inflation and interest rates; increases in labour wages; the role and activities of government and its representatives; education; and the invisibility or inviolable nature of profit acquisition. Various means of control draw on these representations. The participants' discourse demonstrates that …

Perceptions Of Arranged Marriages By Young Pakistani Muslim Women Living In A Western Society., Arshia Urooj. Zaidi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exploration of attitudes towards arranged marriages were examined from the perspective of second-generation Pakistani Muslim women living in a western society. Symbolic Interactionism and Interpretive Interactionism were the theoretical and methodological considerations respectively. Twenty single females, between the ages of 16 to 30 years, living in Canada or the U.S. were interviewed utilizing an unstructured schedule interview. In addition to the interviews, WebGrid analyses of all females were conducted. The main research question addressed the role of western values in influencing the type of mate-selection one adheres to. Other questions centered around the Pakistani women's definition of the situation with …

Controlling Youth Crime: A Qualitative Analysis Of Informal And Formal Social Controls., Jill Elizabeth. Johns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effectiveness of the threat of punishment in deterring young offenders from criminal activity, exploring both formal and informal methods of social control. Twenty young offenders, incarcerated in an open-custody facility, were interviewed about their informal sources of social control, including their history of education, previous employment, peer groups, family relations, and perceptions of morality. More formally instituted methods of social control were also evaluated, including previous police contact, experience within the court system, custodial experience, certainty of punishment, knowledge and perceptions of a strict discipline program, probability of deterrence, and perceived fairness of punishment. (Abstract shortened …

Moral Reform And The Rise Of The Burlesque Industry In London, Ontario., Kelly Macdonald

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the various ways that the reform movement contributed to the rise of the burlesque industry in London, Ontario, during the period of 1885 to 1917. The purpose of this research is to draw attention to the uneven and contradictory ways that the behaviour of burlesque dancers and other wage-earning women were regulated. Moving beyond the stated aims of moral reform groups and their campaigns, this thesis focuses on the regulatory techniques used to control women at the turn of the century. Analysis of theatre programs, promotional advertisements, press releases, local newspapers and other accounts, highlights the ways …

Hyperdeprivation And Race -Specific Homicide, 1980--1990., Matthew Raleigh Lee

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Research on the nature of the urban underclass suggests that socioeconomic deprivation is multidimensional and involves more than just the personal experience of poverty. When negative characteristics like poverty and unemployment are concentrated geographically, it means that one is not only deprived of personal resources, but also deprived of contact with those who do have resources. Thus, when social disadvantage is concentrated, as it may be in underclass communities, this augments the effect of poverty, creating a situation of hyperdeprivation, by placing beyond reach those segments of mainstream society that are necessary for success. This dissertation extends this line of …

To Thine Own Self (And Thine Associates) Be True: The Strategic Management Of Competing Identities Among Academic Women., Shirley A. Keeton

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Social positions and social relationships are important in structuring self-concept. The self is often viewed as composed of identities related to the social positions an individual occupies. These identities are generally conceptualized as being organized hierarchically based on the individual's relative commitment to each. I contribute to this work by developing an Identity Management Model in which I propose three strategies (compartmentalization, amalgamation, and reprioritization) individuals use to manage completion among identities. In this model, I identify characteristics of (a) the identities, (b) the social environment and (c) the individual's social network that are likely to influence which strategy is …

Foreign Or Domestic?...I'Ll Take Foreign!, David. Badalamenti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Migration occurs for many reasons. Most of the research focusing on this topic has been separated into micro and macro level theories analysing each of the factors involved in the supply and demand of migration. Yet, rarely have theories adequately explained both sides of the migration equation. This thesis is theoretically based in the world systems approach to migration which views it as a result of capital integration at the global level and the expansion of a split labour in advanced countries into the primary and secondary sectors. The secondary sector, characterised by low status, poorly paid and insecure jobs …

Exploring The Links Between Sexual Coercion And Condom Negotiation., Shannon Leigh. Ferguson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory research examined the link between sexual coercion and condom negotiation. Prior research has focused on these two concepts separately. Even though researchers have suggested that there is a connection, the nature of this connection has not been examined. This research examined (1) the influence of a history of coercion on condom use and on the ability to negotiate condom use/avoidance when a partner disagrees; (2) similarities and differences in condom negotiation and sexual coercion techniques; and (3) the influence of determinants of sexual coercion identified in previous research on both sexual coercion and condom use. Four hundred and …

Single White Attractive Female Searching For Mr. Right: Characteristics In Mate Selection., Mona. Sleiman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Characteristics offered and sought in the mate selection process were examined by analyzing personal advertisements posted on the Internet. Goode's theoretical framework guided the exploration of the hypotheses addressing the salience of physical attractiveness, the exchange of packages of traits, the gender-linked valuation of traits, and the process of matching. In addition to these hypotheses, the study addressed the question of the persistence of characteristics deemed essential in past arranged and supervised mate selection practices, and examined gender and sexual orientation differences. Six hundred personal advertisements were randomly selected from Internet sites and stratified by sex and sexual orientation. The …