published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

In China‘s expanded higher education, middle and upper middle class students continue to outpace those from less privileged backgrounds not only in job access but also occupational attainment. Literature depends mainly on social capital theory, attributing the advantages of middle class students in the graduate labour market to their higher status contacts and vaster social networks. Yet, literature has largely ignored the influence of growing market mechanisms in the graduate labour market, as well as the agency of individual job seekers. Inspired by cultural capital theory, this study is devoted to understanding the cultural processes that underlie individual advancement in a stratified society. Emphasizing the influences of cultural capital in the process and outcome of job searching, this study argues that the advantage of middle class students during job search is determined not only by the higher status contacts embedded in their family social network, but by the tight link between parental involvement, accepted institutional policies and practices, and ideal notions of personhood, i.e., a highly synthesized cultural advancement system. Between January and June, 2012, 60 fourth-year students from two universities in Wuhan were interviewed. Drawing upon these data, it is found that, firstly, the family cultivated certain qualities at the early stage before the student entered higher education. What‘s more, middle class parents always keep their children on the right track of the ‘standard middle class career path‘, and sometimes even act in a more assertive role to ‗correct‘ students‘ derailed inclinations. However, the parents of underprivileged students know little about campus life and the job searching experiences of their children. Secondly, the ―excellence‖ emphasized in school discourse aligns with middle class values. Middle class students are very familiar with the cultural codes and manners required to obtain this ―excellence.‖ Additionally, the evaluation criteria and award mechanisms prevailing on campus also favor the performance of middle class students. Their awards, usually in the form of certificates, prizes or titles, are directly interpreted into higher employability during their job search, contributing to greater opportunities of the middle class during their job search. And thirdly, shaped by their socialization both at home and school, middle class students manage to accumulate a whole set of class-based dispositions towards control and success while underprivileged students fail to do so. Guided by these dispositions, middle class students employ purposeful strategies and demeanours on campus in order to cater to the labour market‘s requirements. The findings suggest that social reproduction during job search is due to the mixed functioning of the cultural advancement system, taking into consideration the negotiation and interaction between the contextual features, i.e., the gradually implemented market mechanism, inadequate legal enforcement, and guanxi as a cultural psychology. This study suggests that the cultural advancement system could be extended through more scholarly thesis to explain how the middle class continue to pull ahead of lower classes, thus perpetuating class inequality in transitional China. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Federal and state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies are putting increased emphasis on, and providing more resources for, self-employment for individuals who are blind or visually-impaired since the Rehabilitation Act was amended in 1998. Additional emphasis is being placed on self-employment because VR system consumers – especially those who are blind or visually-impaired – are disproportionately likely to have difficulty obtaining other kinds of competitive employment in the aftermath of the 2007-2009 recession. The purpose of this quantitative study is to identify variables in the administrative records of the federal Rehabilitation Service Agency that impact self-employment outcomes and earnings among blind or visually-impaired consumers. The file, comprised of 13,998 cases closed in Texas from Fiscal Years 2008 through 2012, spans the national recession and subsequent slow recovery. From the original file, 798 cases closed through self-employment were examined by employment status at application, cost of services and returns on investments (ROI). This study found those who were self-employed at application were 50 times more likely to be self-employed at closure. Those who received assessments, diagnosis and treatment, technical assistance, and rehabilitation services were more likely to be self-employed at closure. The variables most closely related to weekly earnings at closure for self-employed consumers were: gender (male), being self-employed at application and receiving some form of rehabilitation technology. Disproportionate numbers of those who were self-employed at application were 55 to 65 and self-identified as White only with weekly earnings at application above the mean for the entire population of consumers whose cases were closed through self-employment. They received the fewest services on average over the shortest period of time at the lost average cost. Returns on investments in serving those who were self-employed at application were positive but small. The average cost of services provided to those employed at application was the highest. However, on average, they experienced decreases in the hours worked per week and weekly earnings. Thus, returns on investments were, on average, negative. Limitations of the study, implications for practice, and future research are discussed. / text

Not available / text

Traditionally Bangladeshi women were not expected to work outside their homes, except in cases of dire necessity. The post independence period, since 1971, saw some major demographic changes, including the greater participation of women in various types of waged work. However, a more recent stage in this development has led to large numbers of women being drawn into the garments industry over the last decade. , In many ways the advent of the 'garments women represents a change in the traditional image of the Bangladeshi women. This thesis explores legal and social aspects of the lives of women in the garments industry in Bangladesh. A central theme is the possibilities for the use of law by women workers in the garments industry to protect their own interests. The legal research, therefore, examines the relevant law pertaining to industrial workers and their working conditions, and empirically investigates its application with respect to garments workers. The ideology relating to women in Bangladesh represented them as mute and . helpless victims. As a consequence it has been assumed that the legal system is beyond their reach. However, this investigation was predicated upon the idea of women's own agency. It is argued that, despite the constraints faced by women in every facet of their lives, they are able to act in their own interest and assert their rights on the basis of their own notions of fairness and justice. It was necessary, therefore, to listen to women's voices and acknowledge their own articulation of rights and resistance to masculine hegemony, both at work and in their homes. This was made possible by in-depth interviewing of garments workers. A decentred view of law helped to evaluate the ways in which women perceive their problems at work and make claims to fair treatment. The findings of the study led to a subversion of the myth of helpless Bangladeshi women, by presenting the diverse ways in which women in the garments industry resist socio-economic pressures. Data from in-depth interviews with women workers, lawyers, factory inspectors and legal claimants, and a quantitative analysis of Labour Court records, were all mutually reinforcing. They confirmed that women workers in the garments industry are using the law to resist workplace oppression. At the same time the particular litigation process pursued by the lawyers is unconventional in that it is used as a pressure mechanism against erring employers. The majority of the cases are settled outside the courtroom so that the women workers avoid the potential problems of a contested hearing. The lawyers apply their creativity in order to achieve maximum benefits for the workers. Some women, however, prefer to use the court as a platform to confront their employers. It is argued that .women are benefiting from these legal strategies both - materially and in other ways, not least in terms of enhanced self-esteem. These findings, which are contrary to the prevailing orthodoxy, open up the study of women workers and law in Bangladesh. Finally, the thesis suggests a number of seemingly small legal and administrative reforms which could improve the lives of women workers in the garments industry.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Japanese Studies / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Statistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

No description available.