Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Impacts Of Urban Renewal: The Residents' Experiences In Qianmen, Beijing, China, Yongxia Kou

Dissertations and Theses

The study examines the influences of the Qianmen urban renewal project on its original residents, which is one of a few demonstration projects under the new policy orientation of urban renewal practices in Beijing, China, entering the new century. It employs "residential satisfaction" as an evaluative indicator to understand the residents' experiences before and after urban renewal. Seventy-two residents were interviewed. Among them, 25 remained in Qianmen; 20 relocated to Hongshan, a neighborhood in the central city area; 21 moved to Longyue, a neighborhood in one of the suburban areas; and 6 residents relocated to other locations.

The study found …

The Primacy Of Context: An Exploration Into The Causes Of Food Insecurity In Kitere, Kenya., William O. Aludo

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this study was to explore the specific reasons why households in Kitere village, Kenya experience persistent food insecurity every year while the region enjoys the advantage of two planting/harvest seasons in a year. Kitere village lies within the lakeside region of Nyanza Province in Kenya, generally considered to be one of the more agriculturally productive parts of the country. The Participatory Rural Appraisal method was employed to gather qualitative data on the causes of food insecurity in Kitere village. The data sources were focus groups and a self-administered, one-time survey of random and non-random samples of key …

Religion’S Influence On Environmental Concern: U.S. Evangelicals’ Construction Of Climate Change Perceptions, Aaron S. Routhe

Doctoral Dissertations

Scholars identify an emerging religious social base to U.S. environmentalism and public concern about anthropogenic global climate change. Surveys also show religious and political conservatives express skepticism about this environmental problem and oppose environmental regulations addressing it. White conservative Protestants reflect this contrast by denying human activity causes it and opposing climate policy for mitigating anthropogenic effects on Earth’s atmosphere, while concern and activism for climate protection simultaneously increases among other environmental evangelical Christians. Decades of quantitative investigations reveal religion’s role in environmental concern remains murky. Little clarity exists about how biblical literalism, “end times” eschatology, and religious environmental stewardship …

Marital Strategies And Elder Care Arrangements Among Single Men In Rural China, Kun Zhang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In China, the distorted sex ratio at birth and its subsequent masculinization in the marriage market has raised significant concern. It is speculated that the large population of ‘surplus men’ will increase discordance within households and shift elder care burdens to local communities and the state. This thesis is based on a qualitative research conducted in Shannxi and Jiangsu Provinces of China in 2012. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with single men and their family members and narratives from many other locals, it examines single men’s spouse-seeking strategies; elder care arrangements among households with single men; and the relationship between …

Co-Management And The Fight For Rural Water Justice: Learning From Costa Rican Asadas, Kristin B. Dobbin

Pitzer Senior Theses

Rural communities have, for much of history, been left with inadequate or no water service. This is because the traditional state/private dichotomy of water provision is inadequate for addressing the unique needs of small, isolated communities. Drawing from the Common-Pool Resource literature, co-management arose in recent decades as a solution to address this pandemic of rural water exclusion. In Costa Rica, co-management takes the form of community water associations known as ASADAS. This thesis explores the successes and challenges of ASADAS through the use of three case study communities. Using interviews, surveys, water sampling and national legislation in addition to …

Untangling Neoliberalism’S Gordian Knot: Cancer Prevention And Control Services For Rural Appalachian Populations, George F. Bills

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

In eastern Kentucky, as in much of central Appalachia, current local storylines narrate the frictions and contradictions involved in the structural transition from a post-WWII Fordist industrial economy and a Keynesian welfare state to a Post-Fordist service economy and Neoliberal hollow state, starving for energy to sustain consumer indulgence (Jessop, 1993; Harvey, 2003; 2005). Neoliberalism is the ideological force redefining the “societal infrastructure of language” that legitimates this transition, in part by redefining the key terms of democracy and citizenship, as well as valorizing the market, the individual, and technocratic innovation (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Harvey, 2005). This project develops …