For 17 years, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Public Law 104-199, 110 U.S. Statutes at Large 2419 (1996), prevented same-sex couples from enjoying the same federal benefits granted to heteronormative married couples. Among these benefits, the inability to provide immigration sponsorship for foreign-born spouses was particularly burdensome for bi-national same-sex couples. In this dissertation, marriage inequality serves as the backdrop for an investigation of bi-national same-sex couples’ dilemmas, strategies, and ultimate outcomes during and after the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Section 3 of DOMA. With the use of semi-structured interviews, I collected data from 30 individuals in bi-national same-sex relationships who were together before and after the United States v. Windsor decision. My intent is to both document their experiences and to advance scholarship in the areas of social inequality and social change.

As terrorism continues to evolve, can we better understand when a terrorist group will utilize mass violence as opposed to targeted violence? Jeff Goodwin argues that by understanding societal factors, we can predict when a terrorist organization will choose selective or categorical terrorism. But, can we rely on these societal factors alone or can other factors allow for a more complex understanding? After testing each of the variables and additional factors against three case studies, it became apparent that Goodwin’s theory could be utilized to better understand when a terrorist organization will utilize selective versus categorical terrorism. Additionally, the presence or absence of a culture of honor may also predict the type of violence a terrorist organization will utilize. I propose that future research examine the relationship between target and violence type and a culture of honor.

In the last twenty years, Saudi Arabia has been modernizing much faster and in a shorter period than in the majority of the world’s countries. This study seeks to examine factors that influence the diet of Saudi Arabians. Aside from language, one of the principal manifestations of culture is a country’s cuisine. I sought to determine whether factors, such as exposure to other countries, an income increase, or simply the desire to diversify the palette have led to a change in diet. This mixed-methods study employed 148 surveys looking at attitudes towards the United States and other countries, travel abroad, age, religiousness, and the influence of television and the Internet. These variables were correlated against where food is bought and dining preference. Fifteen in-depth interviews looked at longitudinal changes in traditional vegetable and meat markets since the arrival of the hypermarket. Findings indicated that the recent introduction of a multitude of foreign restaurants and foods into Saudi Arabia is not a new story, but only a new chapter in a book written by Saudi merchants. The Gulf Arabs are known, and have been known for millennia, as traders. I put forward that Saudi businessmen are the agents of change not multinational corporations. The presence of these restaurants and hypermarkets is due largely to pull, not push factors. If their culture is dramatically changing, then it is at the behest of Saudi Arabians themselves.

Work in general is under-theorised as a site of oppression in queer and intersectional studies, despite the power imbalances it manifests and its far-reaching effects on everyday lives. Anti-work theory is a useful conceptual tool for examining work critically. The purpose of this study is therefore to form a bridge between queer and anti-work politics and theory. Using a broad conception of work drawing on the Marxist and feminist concepts of social reproduction and emotional labour, this study explores anti-work politics situated in relation to the author (who is queer), in contrast to previous accounts which focus on a heteronormative division of labour. The text lays down a theoretical background bringing together elements of queer, anti-work and intersectional theory. With the lack of previous work on the topic, the study instead incorporates previous empirical research on queer work and delves into their problems, before returning to theoretical texts on the relation between queer and capitalism, and the politics of anti-work. This study is centred around the reports of nine queers in Berlin, Germany. It uses the ethnographic methods of semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to gain intersectional insights into the links people make between queerness and the drive to work, resisting work, and the future.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management specialising in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation Johannesburg, 2016 / Social entrepreneurship is considered to be a practical way of solving global social challenges. Social entrepreneurs are considered to be change agents with a purpose of making a difference to those in need. Therefore, developing social entrepreneurship and potential social entrepreneurs should be encouraged and celebrated. This study aims to identify potential entrepreneurs in South Africa, by examining the intentions of students at universities in South Africa with regard to establishing a social venture. Empirical evidence suggests that motivational factors influencing behaviour can be summarised as intentions. Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (1991) suggests that intentions are a prerequisite for entrepreneurial behaviour. This study presents an integrated model drawing on existing social intention-based models by Mair and Noboa (2003) and Ayob et al. (2013). The study seeks to establish the significance of relationships between antecedents (empathy, exposure and selfefficacy) and perceived feasibility and desirability and their influence on social entrepreneurial intentions. In order to analyse the hypothesised relationships in the proposed model, Structural Equation Modelling was conducted, based on 171 respondents. The findings of the study indicate that only empathy and exposure as antecedents to perceived feasibility had positive and significant relationships. The relationships between the antecedents of empathy, exposure and self-perceived desirability were insignificant. Surprisingly, the relationship between self-efficacy and perceived feasibility in this study was non-significant. Social entrepreneurship has the potential to solve the challenging social problems currently facing South Africa. Because of this, a study to determine the elements that motivate Social Entrepreneurship Intentions is invaluable. The study should provide some guidance in promoting and encouraging entrepreneurship through various interventions (Malebana, 2014). / MT2016

Hegemonic discourses and ideologies of social work in South Africa, arose from the racist capitalism of colonialism and apartheid. Imperatives for social justice and social change therefore require that social work education reflect on and develop discourses of radical and critical knowledge and practice. The main aim of the study was to explore the extent to which South African social work knowledge and education, as reflected in various formal and narrative discourses, meets critical imperatives for social change and transformation. The study was qualitative in nature, using a depth-hermeneutic approach, with various interrelated, coherent empirical processes. These include reviewing extant theory to contribute to a framework of knowledge and practice constitutive of social change, conducting a politically engaged, critical thematic analysis of social work discourse constitutive of social change, as reflected historically in a selection of formal South African social work texts and in the narratives from group conversations among South African social work educators. Early South African social work knowledge and practice had emerged from the ‘social hygiene’ and eugenics movement, but later, Afrikaner nationalist ideology and liberal and racist capitalism shaped social work. In postapartheid South Africa, discourses of social development and reform within a free market rational economy; ideologies of liberalism and capitalism as solutions to structural social problems, neo-liberal discourses of individual responsibility and valorisation of agency, social control and regulation, are prevalent. Social work knowledge and practice consistently supported hegemonic ideologies of the state. Throughout the history of social work however, there was evidence of counterhegemonic, radical and critical discourse, albeit suppressed and hidden. Knowledge and practice constitutive of social change can be positioned on a continuum from oppressive, domesticating and colonizing knowledge and practice, to coercion and status quo maintenance, to institutional and societal reformist knowledge and practice; to transformational and critical knowledge and practice; and to radical and revolutionary knowledge and practice.

Faced with global challenges, like environmental degradation, poverty, social injustice, and discrimination against marginalized societal groups, it is important to develop strategies that promote concern for the well-being of others and encourage prosocial action. Engaging in prosocial behaviors can contribute to positive social change through reducing discrimination, improving the situation and well-being of those in need, and fostering more sustainable personal lifestyles. One important factor that limits human prosociality is our ‘finite pool of worry’, the fact that humans have only finite resources, physiologically, cognitively, and socially (Linville & Fischer, 1991; Weber, 2006). Effortful and costly prosociality (Dovidio, 1984; Gneezy, Imas, Brown, Nelson, & Norton, 2012; Rand, Greene, & Nowak, 2012; Rand & Nowak, 2013; Simpson & Willer, 2008), especially towards distant and unknown others, stigmatized groups, or the natural environment, may not receive preference in the allocation of resources over self-related goals and the fulfillment of crucial personal needs. One of the most fundamental human needs is establishing and maintaining a positive self-image (Epstein, 1973; Heine, Lehman, Markus, & Kitayama, 1999; Leary, Tambor, Terdal, & Downs, 1995). This dissertation investigates two strategies for motivating prosocial behavior that leverage this need for a positive self-image and the fact that humans are motivated to fulfill it. Paper I explores anticipated emotions in the context of pro-environmental decision making. It assess the effects of inducing people to consider their future feelings with a certain decision they are about to take. Results show that inducing people to anticipate pride from prosocial action versus guilt from inaction is relatively more effective at instilling pro-environmental motivation. Furthermore, exploratory findings point toward potential reactance to attempts to solicit prosocial behavior by prompting anticipated guilt. Papers II and III explore the potential of a values affirmation intervention to motivate prosocial behavior. Starting from self-affirmation theory (Steele, 1988), paper II hypothesizes that the act of affirming one’s values may increase positive self-directed emotions (‘positive self-regard’) which can translate into downstream prosociality. It proposes a potential explanation for this effect, such that a heightened positive sense of self, stemming from engaging in the affirmation intervention, may reduce worry about the self, thus freeing up cognitive and emotional resources to engage in behaviors directed towards others. Results show that a values affirmation intervention can successfully promote prosocial behavior towards unknown and distant others in the form of volunteering time and donating real money to charity. As hypothesized, positive self-regard mediates the effect of the affirmation intervention on prosociality. Paper III extends the scope of the work to situations in which the beneficiaries of the prosocial action are members of marginalized and stigmatized societal groups, such as ex-prisoners. It tests the generalizability of the hypothesized affirmation effects in two countries, Nigeria and the United States. Results show that engaging members of the public in a values affirmation intervention can reduce discriminatory tendencies and promote prosociality towards ex-prisoners in both countries under investigation. Implications and recommendations for policy and practice are discussed in each paper. This dissertation is of high theoretical as well as applied relevance and makes important contributions to scholarship and practice. It contributes to the advancement of psychological theory as well as its application potential to help foster social change in an endeavor to address some of the most pressing and challenging social issues nations around the world face.

This thesis investigates the effects of participating in activism on the people who struggle for social change. Using a critical pedagogical framework, the study contributes to the theorisation of 'social movement learning' by drawing distinctions between processes, outcomes and implications of learning, and by developing the concepts '(un)learning'and 'pedagogical adversaries'. The research examines how activists who participate in social and political action develop different perspectives of social change. The conclusions draw on data collected throughout 2014, specifically interviews with, and observations of, UK-based Egyptian activists who engaged in social action during the continuing 25 January revolution between 2011-2014. As activists reflect on their understandings in the context of revolution and counter-revolution, coup d'etat, elections, strikes and various forms of social and political change, they reveal many 'pedagogical entry points'. The findings illustrate that social movements are continuous processes and sites of important, rich and potentially transformative learning because they generate pedagogical moments through which activists can engage with and develop critical perspectives of the way the world is and should be. Analysis of social movement learning as (un)learning exposes the cumulative and continuing nature of learning and unlearning, and generates important insights into how social movements challenge established 'knowledge' and 'truths' to create progressive alternatives. Drawing on critical and radical theories of social change, the thesis demonstrates the importance of continuing to question conceptualisations of social change and of a political imagination that understands the pedagogical potential of disjuncture and challenge.

This thesis explores how Chilean teachers understand their life trajectories in terms of life-course change, socio-historical change and social mobility, examining whether they make distinctions between these different kinds of understandings of transitions. In a context of 40 years of transformations in Chile, teachers are used as a case-study for examination of the subjective dimension of social mobility, and people's sense of class location and inequality. Methodologically, this research adopted the approach of exploring people's sense of life course and social movement in its broadest sense, examining how teachers talked about their life trajectories in order to consider whether questions of social change, life-course change, social structure and social mobility featured. It is built on data collected through interviews with 41 teachers who live in Santiago, who were asked to outline their personal timelines as a way to reflect on the main changes which they regarded as significant in their life stories. The argument of this thesis draws on and contributes to sociological work on class and social mobility. Most social mobility research has been dominated by quantitative work about occupational patterns of movement, with subjective social mobility neglected because people's subjective understandings of social movement have been seen to be contradictory and inconsistent. It has been suggested that 'lay' understandings fail to distinguish 'social mobility' from socio-historical change and life-course change, so people fail to recognise the true extent of inequality and the limited nature of social mobility. This thesis foregrounds subjective social mobility and critically examines these assumptions. On the basis of my empirical research, I argue that the apparent inconsistences in 'lay' subjective social mobility disappear, or at least make more sense, when we locate people's understandings of social location, social change and social mobility within their broader sense of their life stories. These inconsistencies are partly the result of the complex ways in which people understand their life stories and position themselves within a broader social structure, and are best explained using an analytical focus which emphasises the multidimensional nature of trajectories in social space (Bourdieu, 1984) and a methodological focus which is sensitive to the multifaceted and practical ways in which people speak about their lives. The teachers in my sample resisted a linear summary of their timelines and issues of life-course change and socio-historical change also framed their accounts, adding additional layers of complexity to them, in narratives of trajectories along different dimensions which qualified or disrupted each other. Despite that the teachers framed their trajectories as complex, non-linear constructs, and some rejected 'social mobility' stories, they still all offered overall evaluations of their changing life circumstances. They looked beyond their own trajectories to make different sort of comparisons which helped them to establish a sense of relative social movement, characterising their lives as showing social improvement, stability or decline as different views of their relative social position, and of the social structure and inequalities. I argue that rather than focusing on whether or not ordinary people correctly recognise relative or absolute mobility, it is more pivotal to examine how these different understandings come into play when ordinary people reflect about their location in an unequal society. The thesis argues that subjective social mobility needs to be analysed in term of a multidimensional model of class location and class movement, and this also argues for a greater understanding of the complexities of issues of social location, trajectories and social mobility in which 'class' emerges in different way in people's accounts. Therefore, a more open-ended approach to how people understand their relative situation is needed, in order to explore whether and how issues of class position, social inequalities and social mobility feature in the accounts of 'ordinary' people when they discuss the key transitions of their lives.

This dissertation builds upon a 25-year old study by Mizrahi and Rosenthal (1993) which examined how coalition leaders defined and perceived success and failure in their respective coalitions. This study replicates the Mizrahi and Rosenthal study by returning to participants from the original study and, adapting the original instrument, interviewing those participants to examine their perceptions after 25 years has passed. Utilizing the same instrument, new coalition leaders from the originally studied coalitions which are still intact are also interviewed and their responses are compared against responses from leaders of coalitions which have since dissolved. The current study uses basic descriptive analysis for the structured survey items and grounded theory methodology for the qualitative analysis of open-ended questions. The analysis examines participant responses in the following areas: participant information; coalition information; demographic information of working group, board and constituency; characterization of coalition; internal and environmental predictors of dissolution; political and social climate during dissolution; political forces influencing dissolution; events in the lifespan; benefits and drawback of permanency; target information; definition of success; internal and environmental predictors of success; goals; strategies and tactics; decision-making processes; modes of communication; coalition resources; membership and participation; leadership; and practice wisdom. Utilizing organizational, ecological, social capital and collaboration literature and theory, indicators of coalition success are reviewed. Specifically, findings from this study confirm that coalition success should be defined multi-dimensionally and that coalitions should be operationalized as networks more than as organizations. Findings demonstrate that coalition success is predicted by the following internal factors: impetus to form and coalition purpose; goal-setting, identification of target and strategy; internal resources; leadership; power and decision-making; coalition structure; member contributions; diversity; and relationships, including dynamics of respect, trust, commitment and communication. Additionally, findings demonstrate that coalition success is predicted by the following environmental factors: external resource and resource dependence; goal-setting, identification of target and strategy; relationship with community and degree of coupling; and political, fiscal and social climate. Theoretical and practical implications for these findings are discussed along with limitations to current research and areas for potential future research.