Pakistan, a late starter in fertility transition, has been experiencing a rapid fertility decline since 1990. Although existing research often presents patriarchal family systems as a major reason for the delay of the onset of this transition, there is no empirical study investigating the transformations in these family systems or intrafamilial power relationships during the ongoing transition. Published research also often fails to reflect the complex nature and processes behind this fertility transition as it lacks diachronic analysis and remains within disciplinary boundaries. This thesis contributes to filling these gaps through investigating the social processes underpinning the fertility decline in Punjab, Pakistan by: 1. employing an interdisciplinary approach that links demography with sociology, and quantitative approaches with qualitative ones, to provide a more comprehensive analysis of fertility and family change 2. employing an intergenerational approach that enables diachronic analysis of the differences in the reproductive careers of two generations of women and the actors’ perceptions of factors contributing to these differences 3. providing multiple perspectives of family members regarding the reasons for fertility change, how reproduction is negotiated within the existing power hierarchies in the family, and how familial power relationships evolve to adjust these changes The study employs a two-phased explanatory sequential mixed methods approach. Phase one utilises two existing Demographic and Health Surveys to compare the changes in fertility preferences and behaviour of Punjabi women aged 25-34 in 1990/1 and 2006/7. Phase two is a qualitative study conducted in Punjab in 2010/11 among young women, their mothers, mothers-in-law and husbands to gather data on their perceptions of reasons for fertility change and the ways in which families and family relationships bearing on reproductive decision-making has transformed during the ongoing transition. The findings show that “planning a family”, which was seen to be in the hands of God among the older generation, has entered into the “calculus of conscious choice” among young women who have specific preferences with regard to when and how many children to have. This transition has mainly been a response to rapid socioeconomic developments and improved living conditions that are paradoxically experienced as growing economic constraints for the households through increasing costs of childbearing and rearing as well as generating aspirations for social mobility. This was also complemented by changes in values and attitudes regarding family planning, parenthood and familial relationships led by institutional changes and policy developments including expansion of family planning programme, changing religious stances about family planning, the spread of mass media, and increased (importance given to) female schooling. All of these developments also coincide with a subtle transformation of family systems in Punjab, as well as a limited dissolution of previously existing power relationships within the families by expansion of the boundaries of gender roles, honour and obedience. Although young women are expected to be obedient to their husbands and mothers-in-law with regard to fertility decisions, they have been able to influence the power dynamics between themselves and their mothers-in-law by building stronger conjugal relationships and being submissive to their husbands’ desires.

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This study examines the role of the churches of various Christian denominations during the period 1870-1914. It investigates three areas of County Durham. The Borough of South Shields is the main focus of the study and provides evidence of the churches' work in a large urban centre. Two comparative studies are also included: the coal mining villages of the Deerness Valley close to Durham City provide evidence from a newly industrialised area whilst the villages of Upper Teesdale illustrate trends in a more rural area in which the lead mining industry was in significant decline during this period. The approach of the study is comparative throughout. The study concentrates on several aspects of the churches' work. The provision of manpower and buildings are examined as the churches' response to the needs created by social change; there is also an investigation of the effectiveness of evangelical mission as a means of recruiting support for the churches. The study examines the churches' work with and attitude towards children - both inside and outside Sunday school - and with adults in various non liturgical activities. There are also sections on the churches' role in education and social welfare work. The study reflects recent developments in the fields of social and religious history in its examination of the churches' fears of 'decline' during this period and the extent to which such fears were justified. The comparative approach enables urban developments to be compared and contrasted with rural activities and allows the experience of different denominations to be included in the study.

This dissertation explores how the tea-growing districts of China and colonial India were integrated into the global division of labor over a formative century of boom-bust expansion. I explore this history of competition by highlighting two dimensions of economic and intellectual change: the intensification of agrarian labor and the synchronous emergence of new paradigms of economic thought. As tea exports from China and India soared and competition grew fiercer, planters, factory overseers, peasants, and government officials shifted their attention from the wealth-creating possibilities of commerce to the value-creating potential of labor and industrial production. This study also historically situates two older, teleological assumptions in the field of Asian economic history: the inevitability of industrialization and of proletarianization. Both assumptions emerged from social and economic transformations during the nineteenth century. In particular, periodic market crises compelled Chinese and colonial Indian officials to seriously question older "Smithian" theories premised upon the "sphere of circulation." Instead, both regional industries pursued interventionist measures focused on the "abode of production." In India, officials passed special laws for indentured labor recruitment. In China, reformers organized tea peasants and workers into agrarian cooperatives. Finally, colonial officials and Bengali reformers in India agreed that they needed to liberate the unfree "coolie" from the shackles of unfree labor. And in China, reformers articulated a critique of rentier "comprador" merchants and moneylenders who exploited peasant labor. Thus, although the "coolie" and "comprador" became twentieth-century symbols of Asian economic backwardness, they were each, as concepts, produced by profound social and economic changes that were dynamic, eventful, and global in nature.

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As China is undergoing a great social transformation, urbanization has brought millions of domestic migrants into Beijing. After the 2008 Olympics, long term Beijingers have started to express their hostility against the overwhelming population of domestic migrants. This thesis seeks to enlarge our understanding of the nature and dynamics of this local hostility in Beijing, as a case study of the construction of prejudice that results from social change. It is illustrated under a combined framework of Durkheim’s theories of social change and anomie, Allport’s theorizing about prejudice, and Elias’s writings on insiders and outsiders. In order to answer how and why local hostility happened recently in Beijing, I located my ethnographic research on a grassroots organization consisting of long term Beijingers. There are three main findings. First, social change provides the invention of new traditions and norms that long term Beijingers were able to adopt before migrants came and had the chance to get settled. This enabled long term Beijingers to express their hostility by claiming that the migrants were “uncivilized”. Second, urbanization and a series of urban reforms not only brought migrants into the city, but also disturbed the existing lifestyles of the long term Beijingers and made them feel relatively deprived. Nostalgic sentiments aroused among long term Beijingers blamed outsiders for their perceived deprivation. Thirdly, the civic participation that the grassroots organization encouraged did not significantly reduce their prejudice against outsiders. Instead, local hostility was veiled by active participation and was believed to be legitimate because of the support of the local power structure, the mainstream media, and by other government policies.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2006 / Refer to document

Refugee studies often focus on the devastating effects forced migration can have on a refugee population, both mentally and physically. This research investigates the case of Saharawis living in refugee camps in south-west Algeria and the social change experienced over 30 years. The method was a case study with qualitative interviews supported with secondary data. The Saharawis went through a period of positive social change, to some a revolution, while living in the refugee camps. The empirical study identifies three theme areas; Education, Women??s rights and Democracy. These circumstances are unlike many other refugee studies, thus providing what may be a unique case of positive social change. The case demonstrates how forced migration of a population may not just be a destructive process, but instead has the potential to reconstruct a society. Theories of social change and unanticipated outcomes are explored. Utilising the theories of Bourdieu and Merton, it is proposed that the Saharawi refugee experience is the unanticipated outcome of forced migration. This thesis explores commonalities and differences between Bourdieu??s study of the Kabyle population, and whether his theory of habitus is applicable. Bourdieu??s theories, heavily criticised for being too structuralist, show their limitations when dealing with positive social change. Bourdieu??s approach can suggest that it is inevitable for refugee populations to spiral into despair. The Saharawi case challenges these presumptions and highlights that neither sociologists nor populations should exclude the possibility of unexpected outcomes. Unanticipated outcomes are an acknowledgement of social change and the fact that at its heart no one can predict the future.

Papua New Guinea, a society with diverse natural environments (muddy swamps to soaring mountains, snake-shaped winding rivers, open seas) and cultural environments (different languages, customs, traditions) is undergoing massive and rapid social changes. The occurrence of these social changes and social problems are due to a combination of diverse exogenous and endogenous changes in different areas such as politics, economic, cultural, bureaucratic structure, technology and changes in other societies. These changes are explicitly stipulated and reflected during the process of the discussion and analysis. The purpose of this paper is an attempt to analyze social change and the emerging social problems in light of the colonisation process right up to the post independence era. The social functions and dysfunctions of the innovated Western type education system during the contemporary modernisation and development process are also examined. The theoretical frameworks used to analyze social change are (1) the structural functionalism theory, (2) modernisation theory, and (3) the theories of change and development. The rapid social changes, modernisation and other developments occurring in Papua New Guinea are a new experience. Prior to this, people have lived in Papua New Guinea for 50,000 years, developing material and nonmaterial cultures such as the use of simple technology including stone axes, digging sticks, dug out canoes etc., houses made of sago or kunai grass, reciprocity or gift-exchanges, interdependence, sharing, consensus, behaviour controlled by established social norms, and the overall social, political, economic and cultural structures and functions fused into a single dynamic institution, predominantly through the family units and kinship relationships. The destabilisation of this traditional social structural system occurred as a consequence of the introduction of profound changes and transformations when Great Britain annexed Papua and Germany proclaimed New Guinea in 1884. Further developments that occurred during the colonisation process are discussed in the paper. Education, a powerful agent of social change, has and is playing a crucial role during the modernisation and development process in meeting such requirements as manpower needs of the country or enabling political and economic development. Not only that but it is maintaining the new social strata that are emerging in the society. The top cream of the new social strata, called here the social, political, and economic elite are enjoying the perks and privileges associated with the positions they hold. They have been emancipated from the hard rural life as far as Western schooling is concerned. Simultaneously, being a heterogeneous society, the dysfunctions of education are also playing a role in which students are screened using examinations as the criteria and a majority of them are leaving school annually along the different levels of the education system. This is contributing to the over-production of educated people for the limited supply of jobs in both the government and private sectors,'consequently leading to unemployment and an upsurge in social problems. It is argued here that it would be completely a false assumption if people believe that education is wholly responsible for the social stratification, social inequality, instability and unemployment related problems such as the break down of law and order, disrespect for authority and established social norms, or rascalism. According to Etzioni and Etzioni, all efforts to explain societal change, whether positive or negative, as originating in one single factor have so utterly failed, thus, contemporary sociologists have almost unanimously have adopted a multifactor approach (1964:7). Etzioni and Etzioni also claim that social change may originate in any institutional area, bringing about changes in other areas, which in turn make for further adaptations in the initial sphere of change. Technological, economic, political, religious, ideological, invention, demographic and stratificational factors are all viewed as potentially independent variables which influence each other, as well as the course of society. The current social situation in Papua New Guinea appears daunting and pessimistic and for the masses of the people, the prospect is one of rising inequalities, more intensive exploitation, chronic unemployment and insecurity, misgovernment, social disruptions and blighted opportunity during the modernisation and development process. The paper suggests some ways in which the national education system and the national government could address some of these socio-economic problems to bring about positive social changes in society. There is a need for strong genuine political will, firm policy direction, diversification and industrialisation of the economy, prudent planning, educational reforms, constitutional reforms, increased training of skilled manpower, coordinated integration, wise spending of available resources and critical examination and analysis of wider social, political, economic, and cultural issues and implications by those in power. Perhaps these actions may help in some ways to bring about equilibrium in the different components that make up the whole social system, consequently creating a more just and stable society. Social, political, and economic stability is vitally essential for economic investment, modernisation and industrial growth.