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Ann Arbor And The Ann Arbor Public Schools: A Cultural Geography, Lisa R. Anglin

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the persisting disparity in academic achievement between Caucasian and African American students within the Ann Arbor Public School District. This research analyzed the historical and geographical evolution of the city of Ann Arbor, specific to the organization of its public schools. This study sought to define the dominant cultural groups of Ann Arbor, how they evolved, as well as how they migrated to the region. In addition, a critical component of this study was to explain the relationship between the cultural geography of Ann Arbor and structure of the school organization, which …

Why Culture Matters In Business Research, Gene E. Fusch Ph.D., Christina J. Fusch, Janet M. Booker Dr., Patricia I. Fusch Ph.D.

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Organizations today are changing rapidly due to technology, globalization, and cutting-edge production, subsequently morphing into new structures and workflow processes. Organizations are becoming more diverse in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. The business workplace is not the melting pot that many were taught about, but that of the ethnic salad, blended yet distinct. The core of organizational composition worldwide still remains within the human resource realm for a shared and cohesive culture is behind the success of every company. The study of workplace culture is important for business research to ascertain the construct of the successful …

Socioeconomic Status And Parenting Priorities: Child Independence And Obedience Around The World, Heejung Park, Anna S. Lau

Psychology Faculty Research and Scholarship

This study investigated the extent to which national and personal socioeconomic status shapes national norms and parenting priorities concerning child socialization. Data came from European Values Survey, World Values Survey, and World Bank Data Catalog, resulting in 227,431 parents from 90 nations across fives study waves (1981-2008). At nation-level, child independence was more popular in nations with greater wealth and higher percentage of educated populations; obedience was more popular in nations with less wealth and lower percentages of educated and urban populations. At person-level, personal socioeconomic status rather than national socioeconomic characteristics predicted individual parents’ prioritization of child independence and …

Culture Shapes Whether The Pursuit Of Happiness Predictshigher Or Lower Well-Being, Brett Q. Ford, Julia O. Dmitrieva, Daniel Heller, Yulia Chentsova-Dutton, Igor Grossmann, Maya Tamir, Yukiko Uchida, Birgit Koopmann-Holm, Victoria A. Floerke, Meike Uhrig, Tatiana Bokhan, Iris B. Mauss

Psychology

Pursuing happiness can paradoxically impair well-being. Here, the authors propose the potential downsides to pursuing happiness may be specific to individualistic cultures. In collectivistic (vs. individualistic) cultures, pursuing happiness may be more successful because happiness is viewed--and thus pursued--in relatively socially engaged ways. In 4 geographical regions that vary in level of collectivism (United States, Germany, Russia, East Asia), we assessed participants' well-being, motivation to pursue happiness, and to what extent they pursued happiness in socially engaged ways. Motivation to pursue happiness predicted lower well-being in the United States, did not predict well-being in Germany, and predicted higher well-being in …

Exploration Of The United States’ Cultural Legacy In Panama Through Analysis Of American Foreign Policy And Public Opinion, Katherine A. Boss

Honors Theses

The study of a culture is nearly too difficult to accomplish academically, therefore the consilience of data, personal experience, and public opinion offers the most comprehensive approach. The Panama Canal has just celebrated its centennial and remains to this day one of the most important geopolitical and global economic hubs in the world. Nearly every country that participates in maritime trade utilizes the canal. Panama has ambitious plans for the canal’s future, as it nears completion of a multibillion dollar expansion project; however predicting how Panama handles this growth and new responsibility as a major world power is directly related …

The Effects Of Change On Culture And Identities: Case Study Of A Higher Educational Institution, Ann Conway

Conference papers

The primary aim of the research was to identify drivers of change and mergers in higher education. It was then reflected on how changes and mergers impact on cultures and professional academic identities. The case study is based on review of government policies and institutional strategy documents looking towards the future and determining how they are affecting the current situation in the Institution. This was conducted via analysis of interviews and observations at meetings and classes, and via use of discourse analysis of some policy and strategy documents. The interviewees were asked about their views on which factors bring about …

Is “Culture” A Workable Concept For (Cross-)Cultural Psychology?, Ype Poortinga

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

In this essay three points are addressed:

First, despite repeated findings of limited cross-cultural variation for core areas of study, research in cross-cultural psychology continues to be directed mainly at finding differences in psychological functioning. This often happens at the cost of attention for similarities between groups, or invariance. As a consequence, cross-cultural psychology as a field is feeding into stereotyped views of “them” versus “us”.

Second, the notion of culture implies a holistic perspective, in which various aspects of the behavior repertoire within a group tend to be seen as hanging together. Such views tend to contribute to ideas …

Hmong Culture Club As A Place Of Belonging: The Cultivation Of Hmong Students’ Cultural And Political Identities, Bic Ngo

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

In this article, I draw on a year-long ethnographic study of an after school “Hmong Culture Club” to illuminate the ways in which it provides students with a place of belonging. I reveal the ways in which Hmong students in this setting take up ideologies of multiculturalism in response to a sense of the “loss” of Hmong culture. I explore the ways in which the Hmong Club provided Hmong students with a place to belong that simultaneously cultivated their cultural and political identities. Ultimately, I suggest that school extracurricular cultural clubs may provide insights to subtractive schooling (Valenzuela, 1999) as …

Philosopher's Stone: The Faustian Geist Of Development, Salikyu Sangtam

Dissertations

The present study juxtaposes scientific rationality with polyphonic rationality in respect to societal development. This is done to illuminate how scientific rationality provides a narrow and truncated view of development. In order to explicate the exclusion of polyphonic rationalities/knowledges in favor of scientific rationality, several development scholarships are examined along with an episode of developmental scheme and two episodes of development programs. This is done to expound (note: ‘→’ = influences) how scientific rationality → scholarships → organizational/institutional schemes, such as the MDGs → actual applications of development schemes, such as transmigration and compulsory villagization. The present inquest, …

Ethnographic Inquiry Of The Cultural Context: Academic Nurse Educators, Karen D. Cotter

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

To Use Or Not To Use: Nepal Samvat, The National Era Of Nepal, Bal G. Shrestha

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

This paper presents the importance of Nepal Samvat in Nepalese cultural life and compares it with Vikram Samvat, the official calendar of Nepal. Presenting a discussion on eras prevalent in Nepal, this paper examines the significance of the Nepal Government’s recent recognition of Nepal Samvat as the national calendar of Nepal. It presents a historical and cultural overview of the different eras and calendars that are in use in Nepal. It attempts to demonstrate a continuous historical legitimacy of Nepal Samvat, in contrast with Vikram Samvat, which is shown to be a fairly recent imposition associated with the Rana period, …

Mothers', Fathers' And Children's Perceptions Of Parents' Expectations About Children's Family Obligations In Nine Countries, Jennifer E. Lansford, Jennifer Godwin, Liane Peña Alampay, Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado, Arnaldo Zelli, Suha M. Al-Hassan, Dario Bacchini, Anna Silvia Bombi, Marc H. Bornstein, Lei Chang, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Laura Di Giunta, Kenneth A. Dodge, Patrick S. Malone, Paul Oburu, Concetta Pastorelli, Ann T. Skinner, Emma Sorbring, Sombat Tapanya

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

Children's family obligations involve assistance and respect that children are expected to provide to immediate and extended family members and reflect beliefs related to family life that may differ across cultural groups. Mothers, fathers and children (N = 1432 families) in 13 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and United States) reported on their expectations regarding children's family obligations and parenting attitudes and behaviours. Within families, mothers and fathers had more concordant expectations regarding children's family obligations than did parents and children. Parenting behaviours that were warmer, less neglectful and more controlling …

Exploring Cultural And Linguistic Aspects Within The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, And Queer Youth Community, Justine Carrillo, Julie Marie Houston

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the cultural and linguistic aspects within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) youth community. A qualitative research design with an exploratory approach was utilized in this study. An interview questionnaire was created to explore participants’ perceptions and experiences to generate an understanding on LGBTQ culture in practice. The study sample consisted of 12 youth who self‑identify as LGBTQ recruited by snowball sampling. One‑on‑one interviews were conducted, audio‑recorded, per participant consent, and transcribed for thematic analysis. Based on participant narratives, this study found there are cultural considerations that pertain specifically to …

A Cultural Perspective On Romantic Love, Victor Karandashev

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

The article presents a conceptual, historical, anthropological, psychological, and sociological review of cultural perspectives on love: how culture affects our experience and expression of love. The evidence suggests that love is a universal emotion experienced by a majority of people, in various historical eras, and in all the world’s cultures, but manifests itself in different ways because culture has an impact on people’s conceptions of love and the way they feel, think, and behave in romantic relationships.

“Third-Wave” Coffeehouses As Venues For Sociality: On Encounters Between Employees And Customers, John Manzo

The Qualitative Report

Contemporary social life is often depicted, in and out of the social sciences, as an ever-worsening subterfuge of alienation, ennui, and the systematic destruction of traditional, human-scaled, publicly-accessible, “organic” sociality that people once enjoyed. In this paper I do not contend that these trends in our social and commercial landscape are not happening. I will instead contend that conventional face-to-face sociability thrives even in the face of the loss of many traditional public meeting places. My focus in this piece is on social interaction in independent cafes that are known, and that self-identify, as what coffee connoisseurs term “third-wave” coffeehouses. …

Leadership Cultural Values Of United Arab Emirates-The Case Of United Arab Emirates University, Ebtesam Ali Alteneiji

Theses

UAE is a young country with a young population that has witnessed tremendous changes over the past decades. There has not been much research about the cultural values of the UAE in generational perspectives, and there have been rapid changes. Therefore, this study aimed at exploring systematic changes in leadership cultural values among the older and the younger generations of the United Arab Emirates. The author utilized Hofstede’s (VSM08) instrument to survey undergraduate students, administrators and faculty at UAE University.

The study found no significant differences between the younger and older generations’ tolerance to unequal distribution of power (power distance), …

Capitalizing On Distinctiveness: Creating West Virginia For A New Economy, Brian A. Hoey

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Research

This paper explores use of images and ideas of place to promote particular social and economic agendas within the regional context of Appalachia. Despite prevailing imageries of backwardness and isolation that adhere to the region, as well as recent history of often-bleak economic conditions, communities such as Huntington, West Virginia, are ideal places to observe inventive forms of community-building, place-making, and place-marketing that borrow from emerging cultural and economic models and stand in sharp contrast to a once-dominant paradigm that encouraged capital investment by relying simply on tax breaks and the provision of cheap land and labor to attract large, …

Perception Of Cultural Competence In Nurse Practitioners, Carolina G. Huerta, Peter L. Kranz, Janice A. Maville

School of Nursing Faculty Publications

Purpose: Nurse practitioners are at the forefront in providing quality care to diverse populations and must become cognizant of the importance of cultural competence in caring for diverse patients. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of cultural competence and its integration in the delivery of health care in nurse practitioners practicing in a Mexican-American region of South Texas.

Methodology: A descriptive, qualitative design using grounded theory and purposive sampling was utilized for this study. Sixteen nurse practitioners, fourteen females and two males, participated in the study. Qualitative data collection was elicited through individual interviews and …

Toward A Corporeal, Biblical Narrative: A Study In Church Transformation, David C. Scafide

Doctor of Ministry

This dissertation claims that church leaders can enact healthier church-wide transformation when changes are processed on the narrative level of culture. As the church’s narrative is transformed, the church lives out her new identity more readily and with less resistance. Chapter 1 defines key terms and examines the state of current transformation models and why they are not having widespread impact in transforming churches. Without understanding underlying narratives, church leaders face unnecessary resistance resulting from the attempt to impose changes that are not assimilated by the narrative of the church. Chapter 2 demonstrates how people always live out their perceived …

Editor's Notebook, Lisa Szabo-Jones, Paul Huebener

The Goose

Editorial introduction to The Goose Volume 13, Issue 2 (2014).

The Salience Of University Dressors In The Work For Social Justice, Esmeralda C. Chapa

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Social justice work is as relevant in the 21st century as it has ever been. Society abounds with inequalities in the various facets of life. In today’s society some continue to believe in the influence of universities to promote social justice work, however this work may be cast as the responsibility of those that need the change and not of those who know how to get change accomplished. The research questions for this study are: what are the institutional constraints to Dressor engagement in social justice work? How do Dressors overcome institutional constraints to social justice work? The theoretical basis …

The Role Of Culture In Comics Of The Quotidian, Frank Bramlett

English Faculty Publications

Studies of the quotidian often start from a social sciences perspective that daily life is made up of routine practices and ingrained assumptions. This is also found in studies of literature, art and economics. The premise of the quotidian, however, must be examined through a lens of culture. This essay explores how the notion of the quotidian in comics rests on culture, which in turn comprises various nexus of practice. Drawing evidence from Exit Wounds (by Rutu Modan) and Questionable Content (by Jeph Jacques), the essay extends the notion of the quotidian from a specific reference to ‘slice of life …

Knowledge Management And The Nigerian Culture – A Round Peg In A Square Hole?, Adeola Bamgboje-Ayodele, Leonie Ellis

The African Journal of Information Systems

Knowledge Management (KM) is a key strategy which many organizations have been leveraging upon because of its potential in achieving competitive advantage. However, factors such as the national culture can impact the efficacy of this strategy. Hence, the aim of this paper is to provide insight into how Nigerian culture influences organizational culture, which in turn influences KM practices in Nigerian organizations. Based on a post-positivist stance, this research employs a descriptive survey approach for the data collection and analysis while also incorporating Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The findings suggest that the hierarchical nature of the society in Nigeria supports centralized …

Exploring Culture-Specific Learning Styles In Accounting Education, Seth E. Sikkema, Joshua Sauerwein

Faculty Publications - College of Business

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review whether culture affects accounting students’ learning processes to identify practical guidance for accounting educators facing a culturally diverse classroom. In spite of a significant literature thread in accounting education on student learning, relatively, little emphasis has been placed on culture-specific learning differences. The literature gap is particularly acute with respect to practical culture-specific guidance for accounting educators. This paper is organized along three primary inquiries into the role of culture in accounting education: first, do we know if culture impacts learning? Second, how much do we know about culture-specific learning …

Playing With Knives: The Socialization Of Self-Initiated Learners, David F. Lancy

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Since Margaret Mead's field studies in the South Pacific a century ago, there has been the tacit understanding that as culture varies, so too must the socialization of children to become competent culture users and bearers. More recently, the work of anthropologists has been mined to find broader patterns that may be common to childhood across a range of societies. One improbable commonality has been the tolerance, even encouragement, of toddler behavior that is patently risky, such as playing with or attempting to use a sharp-edged tool. This laissez faire approach to socialization follows from a reliance on children as …

The Combined Effect Of Individualism – Collectivism On Conflict Styles And Satisfaction: An Analysis At The Individual Level, Regina Kim, Peter T. Coleman

Peace and Conflict Studies

This research examines the relationships among individualism-collectivism (IND-COL), conflict management styles and conflict satisfaction. The authors aim to explain some of the inconclusive findings in the literature related to IND-COL and conflict styles by studying IND-COL as states, rather than dispositional traits. By taking a dynamic approach to conceptualizing IND-COL and measuring IND-COL over time, we investigate how different ratios of individualistic-to-collectivistic orientations are associated with different conflict management styles. Results show that individuals who employed a balanced focus (1:1 ratio) of both individualistic and collectivistic orientations utilized an integrative style in conflict more than individuals with either …

The Role Of Culture In Agricultural Education: A Synthesis Of Research, Jonathan A. Tubbs

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Culture is studied across many different disciplines and is viewed as a topic of great and valuable interest within research. Agricultural education has come to recognize the value of embracing a multicultural attitude and the need for recruitment of culturally diverse individuals. While definitions of culture can vary from individual to individual, understanding the degree which a topic has been researched within a discipline is necessary in order to know what direction future research should take. Therefore, this study presents the findings of research on culture within the Journal of Agricultural Education from 1960-2015. This study’s findings indicate that culture, …

Where Modesty Meets Anxiety: A Cross-Cultural Study On Self-Effacing Behavior Among Americans And Filipinos, Marina Garcia

Theses & ETDs

Previous cultural research has shown that there lies a disparity in the way people of Western, individualistic cultures and the way those of Eastern, collectivistic cultures interpret socially anxious and self-effacing behaviors (e.g., being modesty or shy in a group, playing down achievements, attributing achievements to luck). The current study aims to investigate cross-cultural variations in self-reported social anxiety, as well as interpretations of self-effacing behaviors among nonclinical samples in the United States (an individualistic society) and the Philippines (a collectivistic society). Participants were recruited through the social media website of Facebook and completed an online survey via SurveyMonkey. The …

Breaking Down Walls, Building Cross-Cultural Relationships, Jonathan H. Bukowski

VA Engage Journal

Challenges for young men and women entering the workforce upon college graduation are dauntingly intimidating. Major forces driving against success are very often connected to miscommunication, inter-cultural differences, and misperceptions about contrasting values and beliefs. A very simple and exciting way to learn and build strategies for overcoming these obstacles is choosing to study abroad during college. However, I argue that one should go a step further and make the courageous choice to volunteer while abroad. Not only will students build confidence in their ability to minimize cultural conflicts and issues, but they will also uncover the true cultural norms …

Early Contexts Of Learning: Family And Community Socialization During Infancy And Toddlerhood, Carolyn P. Edwards, Lixin Ren, Jill Brown

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The contexts of early learning and socialization are diverse and complex but not without some predictability. The tension between predictability and variation fascinates researchers interested in childhood and culture and motivates careful exploration of different developmental niches to better understand socialization during infancy, toddlerhood, and early childhood. Contexts of early socialization vary in the people and activities present, and the beliefs and norms of caregivers and daily companions. The chapter utilizes anthropological constructs (household structure and composition, settlement patterns and subsistence level, mothers’ workload, gender division of labor, intimacy levels between husbands and wives, and cultural roles and norms pertaining …