Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons^™

Can You Help Me Now?: The Effects Of Cell Phone Use On Social Capital Formation In A Group Setting, Simon J. Purdy

Dissertations

This study examines the cause and effect relationship between the use of cell phones, which are the widest spread communication technology in the modern day, and the formation of social capital which occurs among members of small groups. Previous research into the effects of cell phone use has primarily focused on individual-level effects, such as texting while driving, leaving a gap in our understanding of the technology’s larger social implications. One social process that cell phones may affect is social capital, or the networks of assistance which exist in our lives, and the associated norms of trust and reciprocity therein. …

Social Disorganization, Disorder, Social Cohesion, Informal Controls, And Crime: A Reformulation And Test Of Systemic Social Disorganization Theory, Gayle M. Rhineberger

Dissertations

The primary purpose of this dissertation is to modify and test the systemic social disorganization models of crime proposed by Bursik and Grasmick (1993) and Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls (1997), and offer an empirical test of my hypothesized model. Specifically, the model includes traditional indicators of social disorganization (racial/ethnic heterogeneity, socioeconomic status, family disruption, residential stability) as exogenous variables; social and physical disorder, social cohesion, and three levels of informal social control (private, parochial, and public) as intervening mechanisms; and official crime counts and crime victimization as dependent variables.

The data used in this study come from the Project on …

A Kierkegaardian Understanding Of Self And Society: An Existential Sociology, Chris L. Jakway

Dissertations

In examining the history and development of existential sociology, it becomes clear that in its initial phases it was not intended to oppose traditional sociological research, but to complement it. I intend to show that the contemporary chasm between the methodologies can be narrowed with a reconsideration of their common roots in the work of G.H. Mead and the symbolic interactionists. Existential sociologists today offer a practical synthesis that combines that theoretical heritage with philosophic ontology dating back to the writings of Soren Kierkegaard.

My conceptual goal is reveal how the existential philosophy of Kierkegaard, while not irrational or solipsistic, …