This study explores of how university students understand the relationship between a liberal arts undergraduate degree and becoming employment-ready. The study employs a phenomenological approach. Surveys and interviews of students were conducted on the Faculty of Arts and Science students at the St. George Campus of the University of Toronto. Supplementary data were obtained from National Survey of Student Engagement. By employing Bourdieu‟s theory of practice (especially with regard to capital, habitus and field), the study reveals how students went about preparing for the labour market differed by their social class, immigration status and race. Students‟ abilities to secure skill-enhancing extracurricular activities and maintaining high GPA scores appeared related to their cultural capital. Most racialized first generation students experienced levels of difficulties in securing skill-enhancing extracurricular skill activities and maintaining high GPAs, which affected their employment readiness, clarity about occupational direction and their entry to graduate studies. New immigrant students were least aware of the extracurricular activities needed to prepare for employment. The study concludes that most liberal arts undergraduate students are not ready for employment at the completion of their studies and that social class and race may be related to their ability to make themselves employment-ready

In this thesis I address the following questions: (1) How do dykes take up space in public in contemporary cities? (2) How does the ‘marching dyke’ emerge as a subject and what kind of subject is it? (3) How, in turn, do marching dykes affect space? In order to examine these questions I focus on the Toronto Dyke March to ask how it emerged in this particular time and place. The answer to each of these questions is paradoxical. I argue that the Dyke March is a complex, complicated and contradictory site of politics, protest and identity. Investigating ‘marching dykes’ reveals how the subject of the Dyke March is imagined in multiple and conflicting ways. The Toronto Dyke March is an event which brings together thousands of queer women annually who march together in the streets of Toronto on the Saturday afternoon of Pride weekend. My research examines how the March emerged out of a history of activism and organizing and considers how the March has been made meaningful for queer women’s communities, identities, histories and spaces. My analysis draws together queer and feminist poststructuralism, cultural geography literature on sexuality and space, and the history of sexuality in Canada. I combine a Foucaultian genealogy with visual ethnography, interviews and archival research. I argue that the Dyke March is an event which is intentionally meaningful in its claims to particular spaces and subjectivities. This research draws connections across various bodies of scholarship and offers an interdisciplinary contribution to the literature, contributing to discussions of queer women’s visibility and representation. Although my analysis is focused on Toronto as a particular site, it offers insight into broader queer women’s activist organizing efforts and queer activism in Canada.

In this thesis I address the following questions: (1) How do dykes take up space in public in contemporary cities? (2) How does the ‘marching dyke’ emerge as a subject and what kind of subject is it? (3) How, in turn, do marching dykes affect space? In order to examine these questions I focus on the Toronto Dyke March to ask how it emerged in this particular time and place. The answer to each of these questions is paradoxical. I argue that the Dyke March is a complex, complicated and contradictory site of politics, protest and identity. Investigating ‘marching dykes’ reveals how the subject of the Dyke March is imagined in multiple and conflicting ways. The Toronto Dyke March is an event which brings together thousands of queer women annually who march together in the streets of Toronto on the Saturday afternoon of Pride weekend. My research examines how the March emerged out of a history of activism and organizing and considers how the March has been made meaningful for queer women’s communities, identities, histories and spaces. My analysis draws together queer and feminist poststructuralism, cultural geography literature on sexuality and space, and the history of sexuality in Canada. I combine a Foucaultian genealogy with visual ethnography, interviews and archival research. I argue that the Dyke March is an event which is intentionally meaningful in its claims to particular spaces and subjectivities. This research draws connections across various bodies of scholarship and offers an interdisciplinary contribution to the literature, contributing to discussions of queer women’s visibility and representation. Although my analysis is focused on Toronto as a particular site, it offers insight into broader queer women’s activist organizing efforts and queer activism in Canada.

No description available.

Master of Science / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Briana S. Nelson Goff / Traumatic events affect not only the primary trauma survivor, but also secondary trauma survivors (e.g., spouses, children). Intimate partner relationships provide unique conditions for examining how the interpersonal and/or systemic impact of trauma exposure and post-trauma responses can impact both the primary and secondary trauma survivors, and the interpersonal dynamics of the couple. Preliminary work has indicated that the extent of trauma disclosure may serve as a buffering effect for relationship adjustment for those below the clinical threshold for PTSD (Monk & Nelson Goff, 2014). Researchers also have found that relationships can suffer effects in direct correlation to trauma disclosure (Creech, Benzer, Liebsack, Proctor, & Taft, 2013; Nelson Goff et al., 2006). The current study explored qualitative and quantitative data from low trauma disclosure individuals (n = 15) and their partners. The Couple Adaptation to Traumatic Stress Model (Nelson Goff & Smith, 2005; Oseland, Gallus, & Nelson Goff, in press) was used to provide the framework for understanding the experiences of low trauma disclosure to spouses in a sample of Army soldiers and their spouses. The low trauma disclosure group reported some positive and negative themes related to relationship functioning. The mixed trauma disclosure partners (n = 7) reported primarily negative themes related to relationship functioning, as well as the positive theme of increased communication. The high trauma disclosure partners (n = 4) reported all positive themes related to relationship functioning. Contrary to the original hypothesis, the results indicated mixed trauma disclosure partners seemed to be functioning at lower levels than the low or high trauma disclosure partners A quantitative analysis demonstrated a number of trends throughout the disclosure groups. The low trauma disclosure group reported scores between the mixed and high trauma disclosure groups for all measures. The mixed trauma disclosure group overall reported the highest PTSD scores and lowest couple adjustment scores, despite experiencing the lowest number of traumatic events and general trauma symptoms. The high trauma disclosure group reported the highest couple adjustment scores, despite experiencing the highest number of traumatic events, trauma symptoms, and lowest PTSD scores. Implications for practice and future research also are described.

Contexte : Pour les enfants d'âge préscolaire, avoir une télévision dans la chambre à coucher est un facteur de risque connu pour des effets psychologiques et comportementaux indésirables à l'adolescence. Grâce aux bienfaits sur le développement, la participation à des activités sportives pendant l'enfance pourrait agir comme un facteur de protection contre ces associations négatives liées à l’accès privé aux écrans. Les différences entre les sexes en ce qui concerne les habitudes d'écran et du sport prédisposent les garçons et les filles à des risques de psychopathologies développementales distincts. Objectif : Dans cette recherche, nous examinons le rôle modérateur des sports juvéniles dans l’association entre la télévision dans la chambre à coucher au préscolaire et les risques psychosociaux ultérieurs chez les garçons et les filles à 12 ans. Méthode : Cette étude examine 1859 garçons et filles de la cohorte de naissance de l'Étude longitudinale du développement de l'enfant du Québec ayant données sur la présence d’une télévision dans la chambre à coucher. Par la suite, nous examinons les risques psychosociaux rapportées par les enseignants à la fin de la sixième année. Par des régressions linéaires, l'interaction entre le placement d'une télévision dans la chambre à coucher rapporté par l'enfant (4 ans) et les trajectoires de participation sportive durant l'enfance rapportées par les parents (entre 6 et 10 ans) et leur association avec quatre comportements subséquents (12 ans) ont été examinés. Résultats : Chez les garçons, la participation sportive fréquente a amplifié l'association positive entre le une télévision dans la chambre et l'agression physique et les symptômes du TDAH ultérieurs. Chez les filles, la participation sportive moins fréquente a amplifié la relation entre la télévision dans la chambre à coucher et la timidité plus tard. Conclusion : Pour les garçons, la télévision dans la chambre à coucher peut nuire à une adaptation sociale adéquate, ce qui peut contrer les bienfaits attendus du sport. Ceci s’est traduit par une augmentation de l'agressivité physique et des symptômes du TDAH. Pour les filles ayant grandi avec une télévision dans leur chambre, moins d’opportunités sociales telles que le sport organisé était associé à un risque accru de timidité ultérieure. Ces résultats soulignent que la participation au sport parascolaire est un moyen important d'améliorer les interactions et d'acquérir des compétences sociales. / Background: Preschool bedroom television placement represents an established risk factor for negative psychological and behavioral outcomes in adolescence. Sustained childhood sport participation might be a protective factor for potential undesirable associations with having a bedroom screen in early childhood. Sex differences in screen and sport habits makes boys and girls at risk for different developmental psychopathology. Objective: This research examines the moderating role of youth sports on the association between preschool bedroom television and later psychosocial risks at age 12 for boys and girls. Method: This study examines 1859 boys and girls from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development birth cohort with a history of bedroom television. We examine subsequent teacher-reported psycho-social outcomes by the end of sixth grade. We used linear regression to examine the interaction between child-reported bedroom television placement (age 4 years) and parent-reported childhood sport participation trajectories (ages 6 to 10 years) in predicting four behavioral outcomes (age 12 years). Results: For boys, consistent extracurricular sport amplified the positive relationship between having a preschool bedroom television and subsequent physical aggression and ADHD symptoms. For girls, inconsistent extracurricular sport amplified the relationship between having a preschool bedroom television and subsequent shyness. Conclusion: For boys, bedroom television may inhibit adequate social preparedness which may unexpectedly counter the intended benefits of sport and thus, translate into higher physical aggression and ADHD symptoms. For girls having grown up with a bedroom television, limited exposure to social opportunities such as sport was associated with increased risk of later shyness. The findings corroborate that extracurricular sport is an important venue for enhancing social interactions and skill building.

Doctor of Philosophy / Family Studies and Human Services / Duane W. Crawford Jr / Farrell J. Webb / This investigation sought to examine the role of acculturation and generational theory and influenced social and cultural practices among Saudi Arabian students who were currently residing in the United States. Theoretically, it sought to answers questions that help determine how Americanization—the adaptation and acculturation of a visiting culture to absorb and incorporate the host culture into their lives, customs, and social practices, and in this case savings behavior. A comprehensive model was developed to test the idea that living in America can and does have an influence on social and cultural practices. What was of interest in this study was whether or not these same influences could have an impact on particular cultural practices, in this case how people felt about, reacted to, and addressed the concept of savings—the stockpiling of funds for future needs. Information was gathered from a sample of over 500 Saudi Arabian students living in the United States. The model as structured was tested using SEM analytic techniques in an effort to fully explore and expose the nuanced and subtle differences among the respondents. The concept of savings behavior being influenced by Americanization as originally discussed was not substantiated by the model even though some of the indicators were within expected parameters (χ² = 217.241, p < .001; CFI = 0.839, TLI = 0.732, RMSEA = 0.034). Despite the general problems the overall model revealed that at least 17% of what was termed as savings behavior could be explained by the model. The study still retained its value because it has made inroads into an area that has not yet been explored. Future investigations should take care to find better ways to incorporate some of the cultural elements of savings behavior directly into the instrument based on the perspective of their test populations rather than assume value in and use instruments tested and normed with US samples.

Abstract There is a scarcity of programs addressing psychosocial suffering in post-genocide Rwanda. The locally-initiated models are understudied and lack legitimate support to strengthen their interventions. This study addresses this gap by exploring the Healing of Life Wounds (HLW) program and its context of implementation. HLW is a community-based program that was introduced in Rwanda in 1995 by a Rwandan, Dr. Simon Gasibirege, to facilitate mutual healing among members of the groups involved in the 1994 genocide. Using a critical ethnographic approach, a multi-method data set was obtained from two groups of participants from two separate organizations applying HLW model. One group of twenty-three community participants from one local association shared their experiences as they participated in HLW. The other group included seven experienced HLW facilitators who provided their perceptions about using HLW from an international organization operating in Rwanda. The data also included HLW documents and reflexive notes. Dialogic performance analysis was the overarching analytical approach of the different data sets. Data collection, analysis and interpretation were guided by principles of critical theories, indigenous methodologies and narrative inquiry. The findings indicate that healing psychosocial suffering in the post-conflict global South requires innovative approaches that critically address on-going psychosocial issues affecting the marginalized by giving them voice and working with them to integrate contextual healing techniques. This study suggests that healing psychosocial suffering through HLW is a consciousness-raising process by which participants gain voice, acquire new understanding of issues affecting them through the sharing of personal stories, and develop mutual support and humane identities. This development contributes to individual, group and community healing. Openness and willingness to share stories of brokenness in a trustful and supportive environment enhance HLW outcomes. The study contributes to theories of knowledge and healing practices in cross-cultural settings, and to critical interdisciplinary and transnational research.

Avec ce mémoire, j’ai souhaité cerner ce qui serait le propre d’une conversion, soit ce que j’ai appelé un processus de trans-formation. Avec ce concept original, j’ai voulu orienter le regard de l’observateur vers les points de basculement de l’intimité à la publicité qui caractérisent les conversions. Pour ce faire, il m’est apparu fertile de mobiliser et de réhabiliter l’étude des valeurs, un thème classique en sociologie. Des valeurs portées par des individus aux valeurs publiques, la notion de « valeur » recèle le potentiel heuristique nécessaire pour étudier les conversions à différentes échelles d’analyse et par-delà des qualifications a priori religieuses, politiques, sexuelles, etc. Avec cette perspective théorique pragmatique inspirée par Dewey et articulée à la sensibilité aux positions sociales des cultural studies, je me suis donné les moyens d’analyser la façon dont change au cours d’une vie ce à quoi les gens tiennent. Cette représentation dynamique de la conversion vient ajouter des éléments de compréhension à un phénomène trop souvent appréhendé à la lumière de « lectures préférées » modernes et coloniales qui demandaient à être subverties pour redonner place à l’exercice de l’imagination sociologique. Les apports du concept de trans-formation sont illustrés à partir de la comparaison de quatre études de cas individuels : Paul Claudel, un écrivain converti au catholicisme ; Michelle Blanc, une transsexuelle québécoise ; Joe Loya, un Mexican American qui modifie ses conceptions du bien et du mal en isolement carcéral ; et Mlle Pigut qui est devenue « vegan ». / In this master thesis, I had the objective to pinpoint what is peculiar to conversions, that being what I have called a process of trans-formation. With this original concept, I wanted to guide the observer’s eyes toward the shifting points from intimacy to publicity, which are central in conversions process. To do so, I considered fruitful to acknowledge and reinstate the study of values, a classical theme in sociology. From values held by individuals to public values, the notion of “value” comprises the necessary heuristic potential to study conversions at different analytical scales and across assumed qualifications such as religious, political, sexual, etc. My pragmatic theoretical approach informed by Dewey and the cultural studies’ sensibility to social positions allowed me to analyse how what people value changes in the course of their life. This dynamic representation of conversions adds some insights to grasp a phenomenon often tackle from the perspective of modern and colonial “preferred readings”; readings that need to be challenged and revisited as to allow the exercise of sociological imagination. The contributions of the trans-formation’s concept are illustrated by the comparison of four individual case studies: Paul Claudel, a writer converted to Catholicism; Michelle Blanc, a québécoise transsexual; Joe Loya, a Mexican American who modifies his conceptions of good and bad in solitary confinement; and Mlle Pigut who becomes vegan.

L’Empire austro-hongrois (1867-1918) est l’un des derniers empires d’Europe à s’être effondré avec la fin de la Première Guerre mondiale. Cas particulièrement en accord avec les conditions internes de la politique et de l’économie austro-hongroise, l’apparition du phénomène social du dandysme à Vienne au début du XXe siècle est le centre de ce travail de mémoire. La figure sociale du dandy, remarquablement moderne, est étudiée en suivant la conceptualisation idéal-typique, héritage de Max Weber. En suivant les écrits sociologiques de Karl Marx, Max Weber et Robert Michels, le portrait typique des quatre figures socio-économiques que sont tour à tour la figure du bourgeois, du prolétaire, du bohème et de l’aristocrate, permettent, dans une première partie du mémoire (chapitre deux), de délinéer conceptuellement la figure du dandy. Une fois cet outil forgé, il est possible d’y comparer la réalité viennoise, avec le cas de Stefan Zweig, pour en montrer les particularités. L’apparition du dandy à la fin de la monarchie des Habsbourg n’est pas étrangère à plusieurs conditions externes que portent en soi cette première partie du XXe siècle, marquée notamment par le nationalisme et la Première Guerre mondiale. Les conditions économiques que permettent aussi l’expression littéraire et journalistique témoigne de cette phénoménalisation sociale à laquelle participe le dandy et sont discutées dans la deuxième partie du mémoire (chapitre trois). En basant cette étude sur le phénomène du dandy, le présent travail s’emploie à appréhender ce phénomène au travers d’une biographie sociologique de l’écrivain et poète Stefan Zweig. Au cours des chapitres quatre et cinq, la mise en relief de la biographie de Stefan Zweig rencontrera son écho social, entre l’étude de l’homme, de l’œuvre, de la vie et des différentes caractéristiques propres au dandy. Enfin, il sera présenté au cinquième chapitre, l’influence de l’esthétique et de la philosophie sur la conduite de vie du dandy, guidé notamment par la philosophie de Friedrich Nietzsche, et l’importance des valeurs du pacifisme et du cosmopolitisme, sous l’influence de la religion juive. En conclusion, je reviens sur l’idéal-type du dandy et m’interroge son utilité pour appréhender des phénomènes contemporains. / The Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867-1918) is one of the last European Empire to collapse with the end of World War One. Tightly linked with internal conditions such as Austro- Hungarian politics and economics, the central theme of this work concerns the emergence of the social phenomenon of dandysm in Vienna at the beginning of the XXth century. Remarquably modern, the social figure of the dandy is studied following the ideal-typical method, a legacy of Max Weber. Following the sociological writings of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Robert Michels, the typical portrait of the four socio-economic figures such as the bourgeois, the proletarian, the bohemian and the aristocrat allows, in the first part of the thesis (chapter two), to show the features and to conceptually delineate the figure of the dandy. Once this portrait is forged, it is possible to compare the Viennese reality with the case of the poet Stefan Zweig. The appearance of the dandy, at the end of the Habsburg monarchy, is not alien to many external conditions that are themselves particularly linked to this first part of the XXth century, marked notably by nationalism and World War I. Discussed in the second part of the thesis (chapter three), the economic conditions, that are expressed with either literature or journalism, reflect this social phenomenalization in which the dandy takes part. The study of the social appearance of the dandy being at the very center of this study, the present thesis seeks to understand this phenomenon through a sociological biography of the writer and poet Stefan Zweig. In the fourth and fifth chapter, highlights of his biography meet its social resonance with dandysm through the man itself, his work, his life and the way he lived it. Finally, the influence of aesthetics and philosophy on dandy’s life, especially following Friedrich Nietzsche’s very own word and ideas, will be presented as well as the importance of values of pacifism and cosmopolitism, as influences of Jewish religion. In conclusion, I return to the ideal- type of dandy by questioning its usefulness in understanding contemporary phenomena. / Die Österreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie (1867-1918) war eines der letzten europäischen Reiche, welches mit dem Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges kollabierte. Eng verbunden mit wirtschaftlichen und politischen Bedingungen des k.u.k. Österreichs, handelt das zentrale Thema dieser Arbeit von der Entstehung der sozialen Phänomene rund um den Dandyismus in Wien zu Beginn des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. Die soziale Figur des Dandy wird nach dem idealtypis- chen Konzept Max Webers untersucht. Anlehnend an die soziologischen Schriften von Karl Marx, Max Weber und Robert Michels, dem typischen Porträt der vier sozioökonomischen Zahlen, wie der Bürger, der Proletarier, die Boheme und der Aristokrat gestatten, dass im ersten Teil der Abschlussarbeit (Kapitel zwei) die Figur des Dandys konzeptionell beschrieben wird. Auf dieses Porträt aufbauend wird es möglich, die herausgearbeiteten Merkmale mit der Wiener Realität zu vergleichen. Die Texte des Dichters Stefan Zweig geben dazu genug Material. Das Aussehen des Dandys am Ende der Habsburgermonarchie ist passend zu vielen äußeren Bedin- gungen, die besonders mit dem ersten Teil des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts verbunden sind. Speziell werden diese vom Nationalismus und dem Ersten Weltkrieg beeinflusst. Im zweiten Teil der Abschlussarbeit (Kapitel drei) werden die wirtschaftlichen Bedingungen, die entweder mit Literatur oder Journalismus zum Ausdruck kommen, und die die soziale phenomenalization vom Dandy wiederspiegeln, beleuchtet. Die Untersuchung der sozialen Erscheinung des Dandy dient als Basis dieser Studie. Die vorliegende Arbeit versucht, das Phänomen des Dandyismus durch eine soziologische Biographie des Schriftstellers und Dramatikers Stefan Zweig zu verstehen. In den Kapiteln vier und fünf treffen die Höhepunkte seiner Biographie die gesellschaftliche Reso- nanz des Dandyismus auf den Mensch selbst, seine Arbeit, sein Leben und seine Lebensart. Schlussendlich wird der Einfluss von Ästhetik und Philosophie auf das Leben eines Dandy vor allem nach den Worten und Ideen von Friedrich Nietzsche präsentiert, sowie die Bedeutung der Werte des Pazifismus und Kosmopolitismus, als auch Einflüsse der jüdischen Religion. Ich kehre zum Idealtyp des Dandys zurück, indem ich seine Nützlichkeit in gegenwärtigen Phänomenen in Frage stelle.