This thesis investigated the role that local environmental factors play in influencing perceptions of crime and safety across three neighbourhoods within the Region of Peel, Ontario. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with local experts to examine their perceptions of crime and safety, and elements of the built and social environment that may influence these perceptions and identified dimensions of social capital that serve as pathways through which broader environmental determinants of crime and safety can become embedded at the local neighbourhood level. Findings of this research revealed that the perceived relationships between the social and built environment and crime are complex and that dimensions of social capital such as informal social ties serve as a mediator between the environment and perceptions about crime and how perceived and actual crime may be reduced by modifying elements of the built and social environment in order to strengthen local dimensions of social capital.

This thesis investigated the role that local environmental factors play in influencing perceptions of crime and safety across three neighbourhoods within the Region of Peel, Ontario. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with local experts to examine their perceptions of crime and safety, and elements of the built and social environment that may influence these perceptions and identified dimensions of social capital that serve as pathways through which broader environmental determinants of crime and safety can become embedded at the local neighbourhood level. Findings of this research revealed that the perceived relationships between the social and built environment and crime are complex and that dimensions of social capital such as informal social ties serve as a mediator between the environment and perceptions about crime and how perceived and actual crime may be reduced by modifying elements of the built and social environment in order to strengthen local dimensions of social capital.

Tyrimo objektas: Sporto ir socialinio kapitalo ryšys Tyrimo tikslas: Nustatyti kokia įtaka sportinė veikla turi socialiniam kapitalui Tyrimo uždaviniai: 1. Apibrėžti socialinio kapitalo koncepciją ir tipus bei nustatyti kokiais metodais matuojamas socialinis kapitalas 2. Atskleisti socialinio kapitalo ir ekonominio efektyvumo ryšį. 3. Remiantis pasaulinės praktikos pavyzdžiais nustatyti sporto ir socialinio kapitalo ryšį bei apžvelgti dalyvavimo tendencijas Europoje 4. Naudojanti socialinio kapitalo indikatoriais nustatyti socialinį kapitalą merginų jaunių sportuojančių krepšinį tarpe. / N/a.

In spite of increasing interests in the relationship between neighborhood environments and children's walking-to-school behaviors, few studies have examined the dynamic nature of school-community relationships from physical and social perspectives. Questions such as how centrally the school is located within the larger community, and how connected or accessible the school is to the surrounding communities, will have significant implications for children?s walking to school and physical activity behaviors and also for the community's social capital. The primary aims of this study are: (a) to assess the association between school-community relations and social capital among parents of school children; (b) to assess the relationship between school-community relations and walking-to-school behaviors among school children; and (c) to examine the mediating effects of social capital on the relationship of (b). This cross-sectional study focuses on children and parents from 19 elementary schools in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) in Austin, Texas, utilizing the parental Safe Routes to School (SRTS) survey and conducting a follow-up Parental Social Capital survey to gather additional in-depth data on social capital. Also objective measurements are performed to assess school-community relations and physical environments using the spatial centrality index and Geographical Information System (GIS) network analysis at/around schools and surrounding communities. Data analyses are conducted based at the school/community-level and the individual-level (large full data and small sub-group data) separately by using ANOVAs, bivariate statistical analysis and multivariate statistical models. Overall findings of this study show that: (a) neighborhood schools have more students walking to school and a higher centrality of the school than non-neighborhood schools; (b) differences in social capital between neighborhood schools and non-neighborhood schools are not significant or are only marginally significantly; (c) two social capital variables, "volunteerism" and "social cohesion" are correlated with children's walking-to-school behaviors but no significant mediating effect is found for social capital in the association between school-community relations and children's walking-to-school behaviors; and (d) "volunteerism" is shown to be positively correlated with "perceived centrality" but negatively associated with all objective centrality measures. The other social capital variable of "social cohesion" has a positive correlation with one of the objective centrality measures, "closeness centrality." Findings of this study may contribute to research exploring the dynamics of school-community relations with socio-spatial perspectives, and also bring attention to the policy makers for school siting in the large community context and evidence-based knowledge promoting healthy community design.

This thesis analyses individual experiences of the promotion process to Managing Director within a global bank to identify the contribution made by social capital. Using Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) three-dimension framework as the theoretical lens, the thesis extends social capital research beyond its largely quantitative focus on network analysis (structural dimension) to understand more clearly the relative importance and impact of the relational and cognitive dimensions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 men and women in an investment bank and a template-based analysis of their accounts was made. The findings make visible, the invisible mechanisms which enable or constrain the creation, development and use of social capital and, therefore, its contribution to securing the position of Managing Director. The findings highlight the need to consider the importance of agency, relationship level and gender in this context. The study makes three key contributions. First, it extends Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) theory of social capital, in the context of career progression, by demonstrating how each social capital dimension is operationalized and interdependent. Second, the research explicitly demonstrates the crucial role social capital plays in an executive-level promotion process, thereby revealing a complex and multi-layered system. Third, the study extends our knowledge of the gendered nature of senior-level career progression by identifying the particular barriers women face, compared to men, in their efficacious use of social capital for promotion in a global bank.

First-generation students and students of lower socioeconomic status often prepare for postsecondary education without the benefit of information provided by their families, resulting in lower levels of college access (Lundberg, 2007). Few researchers have sought to understand how potential first-generation college students might go about obtaining the necessary information for a successful transition to college. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine to whom students talk about college and to explore the potential reciprocal relationship between resources for and information about college provided by others and students’ educational beliefs. This dissertation consisted of two empirical studies. In the first study, the composition of students’ networks and differences in social capital were examined among middle and high school students from a rural Appalachian school district (N = 388). Students reported to whom they talked about college and answered questions about each person that they named. Junior and senior high school students spoke to fewer individuals about college than middle grades students. Senior high school students spoke to individuals in their networks more frequently than middle grades students. Boys spoke to fewer individuals about college than girls. Boys received fewer pieces of information about college compared to girls. Potential first-generation college students had fewer individuals in their network who had completed a college degree. The purpose of the second study was to examine the relationship between students’ college information networks and students’ beliefs about college. Participants were 364 students in Grades 6-12 from a rural Appalachian school district. Information on students’ college information networks was collected to better understand the relationship among first-generation college students’ access to social capital, their college-going self-efficacy, and their educational aspirations. College-going self-efficacy and educational aspirations were both significant predictors of available social capital. Social capital was not a significant predictor of students’ educational beliefs. College cultural capital was a significant predictor of students’ social capital and educational beliefs. Results of this dissertation are discussed relative to social cognitive theory and suggestions for educational interventions and future research are offered.

This anthropological thesis focuses on female homelessness in Christchurch, New Zealand. I am interested in how different groups in society understand female homelessness and how their perceptions compare to the experiences of homeless women. Consequently, my research centres on the narratives of women who have experienced homelessness providing a view from the "inside". It is also concerned with representations of homelessness in the media and by service providers. The different representations raise issues relating to "normalisation" and "abnormalisation", classification and dichotomisation, self-governance and control, and social participation. I take up these issues to explore the social exclusion of homeless women. My research reveals a dominant homelessness discourse as well as one that might be considered a counter-discourse. The first suggests a dehumanising and unsympathetic approach as it situates homeless people as "abnormal" and "deviant" while the second suggests an empathetic and charitable approach as it situates homeless people as "normal" and "human". The media seem to reflect and reinforce the dominant discourse while service providers seem to reflect the counter-discourse. The women's narratives indicate that they reinforce the dominant discourse by internalising social norms. However, they are unable to reproduce them. Disconnection from mainstream society results in their being caught in a cycle they find difficult to break. This research shows that homeless women are predominantly positioned as social failures. They seem to be unable, or do not know how, to reproduce social norms, to govern themselves and to create meaningful and enduring social networks. Essentially, I explore why homeless women often remain on the periphery of society as "outsiders" and why they find it so difficult to transcend their circumstances. As there has been no contemporary research undertaken specifically on homeless women in New Zealand, I hope the current research will provide a building block for further research on what I conclude is a marginalised and socially excluded group of people who are dominantly portrayed as dysfunctional and "out of place".

Acceptance of emotional intelligence as a form of giftedness has been a very gradual process particularly when placed alongside more widely recognised forms of academic giftedness. This piece of research examines the incorporation of the gifted learning model Operation Houndstooth within the setting of a primary school environmental programme in order to meet the learning needs of a group emotionally gifted students. The project was initiated after observing the capacity of the New Zealand Enviro Schools programme as a learning vehicle to allow this group of gifted learners the opportunity to participate in a problem solving process within the Operation Houndstooth model. Houndstooth itself derives from the Enrichment Triad Model for learning and is the work of the American educational psychologist Joseph Renzulli. The Houndstooth model has been designed to extend the co-cognitive skills of each gifted learner. The programme itself was conducted within a primary school environment in which the researcher was employed as a teacher and the participants were members of the senior classes. The research was carried out as a qualitative study with a single-case study placed alongside action research. The completion of the project saw the emergence of a group of students who had developed their confidence as efficient communicators and capable problem solvers. The study argues for the development of gifted programmes that recognise emotional giftedness within the New Zealand primary school setting which incorporates Renzulli’s Houndstooth as a delivery model.

Certain properties of individuals’ social networks within their organizations are known to be associated with benefits. However, these properties are not universally beneficial for all individuals. To explain the differing utility of social connections for different actors, network research has tended to focus on factors relating to the actor’s characteristics, agency and cognition. With this dissertation, I explore a different contingency affecting actors’ abilities to leverage their networks: how observers perceive and evaluate the behavior of actors as they craft and use their networks, and how these attributions impact actors’ job performance. I develop a theoretical framework that incorporates social capital theory to develop a taxonomy of networking behaviors. I build upon network cognition research to explore how observers’ perceptions and attributions of actors’ networking behaviors rather than perceptions of network ties or structure affect actors’ outcomes. I draw upon attribution theory to suggest how observers’ attributions about actors may affect observers’ behavior towards actors, thus impacting actors’ outcomes. Results suggest that networking behaviors that are seen as serving the collective positively impact actors’ outcomes, while networking behaviors that are seen as self-serving negatively impact the actors’ outcomes by limiting access to high-status friends. However, attributions about an actor’s self-serving behavior augment the benefits the actor receives when he or she has access to high-status friends. When it comes to performance, networks matter, but it also matters how observers evaluate actors’ networking behaviors.

This study was designed to explore the possible connections between student peer relationships and individual students’ roles in a network as it pertained to outcomes such as self-reported academic achievement and personal satisfaction with the first year of college. The research question directing this inquiry is: How does a student’s role within a residential community of peers relate to success in college? Social network analysis was employed for examination of individual engagement within the context of a larger community. The vast learning community literature tells an interesting story: 1.) a history of co-curricular peer learning environments, 2) a tradition of research intended to assess the value of these programs, 3) a body of literature that provides theoretical explanations for why learning communities should work. The gap in the literature is found regarding what happens within the communities. To learn how individuals within community learn from one another, community of practice was utilized as a framework in this mixed-methods approach to examine the influence of relationships, and exchange, acquisition, & development of social capital within a living learning community While this network study indicated that popularity, relational ties to staff, and being someone sought-after for advice were not statistically significant predictors of higher GPA, the network analyses confirmed strong network density, cohesion, and proper structure for ideal capital flow. The results of this study confirm that this community is effective in establishing familiarity and even more so, providing an environment that fosters friendships among participants and staff. Furthermore, students developed the ability to construct knowledge alongside their peers. Given the density and relation-rich nature of this community, this positive environment is able to foster more complex and self-authored levels of meaning-making for the students involved. Building this scaffolding facilitated student development, which effectively created a student transformation from dependence on external authority to self-authorship. This study confirmed that the primary goals of a learning community have been met: a group of strangers developed into a network of friends who reap social and academic benefits by virtue of being together in a shared and successful living learning community environment.