A panel study of twenty two middle class couples, each with two children, was carried out using a minimally structured methodology. The resulting accounts of parenthood are analysed from the perspective of family life as a mutually constructed social reality. Attention is focussed on the exchange of meanings within the nuclear group. Aspects of the form and content of the negotiation of parenthood between spouses are examined. Underlying assumptions about family behaviour as a learned, shared and life-cyclically oriented reality are found to characterise respondents' accounts. These assumptions provide a broad framework for the family's mutually held reality but offer considerable scope for variation in everyday practical interpretations. Thus the negotiation of parental behaviour involves continuous exchange of legitimations between spouses. Coping mechanisms are employed to sustain belief in the viability of the mutually held reality when tensions and dilemmas arise. It is suggested that images of children are important factors in the development of parental behaviour. These are separated analytically into "abstract" and "grounded". These categorisations refer respectively to the individual's social stock of knowledge and to the ongoing biographical experience of the parent. Finally, being a mother and being a father are discussed. Interactional and definitional elements in the spouses' construction of these mutually held realities are highlighted. In particular, it is demonstrated that there exists an implicit assumption of the woman's overall responsibility for the administration of household and children. By contrast, the problematical nature of fatherhood relates to sustaining belief in his direct involvement in these spheres. The thesis has theoretical and empirical implications. The adoption of an interactionist perspective allows examination of the effects of group members on one another's family behaviour. The material also contributes to areas of substantive neglect: notably the indirect power of the mother, the social construction of paternal behaviour and the effects of children on parenthood.

No description available.

Leisure research and theory lack cohesion because: (i) current definitions identify leisure as either a period of time, an activity, or an experience; and (ii) leisure tends to be conceptualized as the "ideal" antithesis of alienated work. The present research is designed to investigate meanings of work and leisure and it is based on the premise that it is the situation within which an activity is carried out, and not the activity itself, that is defined as work or leisure. Analysis includes subjects who defined football or gardening situations as work, and others who defined them as leisure. To account for meanings of work and leisure the concept "personal expectations" is introduced. This involves: positive expectations, or elements which are sought in a situation; negative expectations, or elements the individual would prefer to avoid; and neutral expectations, or elements toward which the individual is impartial. It is suggested that at a general level people have an imago of work and leisure which is based on at least one of six considerations: remuneration, time, pressures, the nature of the task, notions of freedom, and to a lesser extent, personal aptitudes or inclinations. The notion of work involves negative expectations, while the notion of leisure involves positive expectations with respect to at least one of these considerations. At a personal level, people attach meanings to specific situations defined as work or leisure. These involve attitudes toward the self/others determination of action, the self/others determination of a situation's environment, and the strength of social relationships within a situation. Attitudes toward these dimensions form the basis of the individual's general orientation toward, and definition of, a situation. The turee attitude and the general orientation dimensions are presented as continua between complying with negative expectations and realizing positive ones. Although both positive and negative expectations can be experienced in any situation, situations defined as work are typically those wherein the individual is oriented toward complying with negative expectations, while situations defined as leisure are typically those wherein the individual is oriented toward realizing positive expectations. The Personal Expectations Theory may be useful for predicting how a situation will be defined, for integrating and enriching existing propositions in the study of work and leisure, and for future research.

No description available.

The community elite members of Rajshahi have been largely recruited from the maddhabitta category. The new elites are predominant in the power structure. They are involved in exchange relationships amongst themselves, with the non-elite members and with some national elite members in order to maintain or enhance their privileged positions. This relationship generally assumes the character of patronclientage or a horizontal alliance. The involved parties perceive their mutual advantage. Elite conflict centres around the sharing of privileges, distribution of patronage resources, personal jealousies, political rivalry etc. Conflicts simultaneously lead to the break-up of old exchange relationships and the emergence of new ones. The kinship system, caste and land tenure relationships facilitate the emergence of exchange relationships. In politics patronage plays a major role; political mobilization and alliance are effected through the distribution of patronage. Politics is largely non-ideological, pragmatic and leadership-centred. It ultimately leads to legitimacy crises of the ruling elites because of inadequacy, maldistribution and misappropriation of patronage resources, irregular practices and repression. They are subsequently displaced by the new ruling elites who undergo the same process. Resources must be available for the functioning of the patronage system. Private resources in Bangladesh are inadequate to maintain the system as a whole. Access to official resources are important because most of the resources are controlled by the government and the government-supported organizations. The securing of these resources and the distribution of resources through intermediaries give rise to brokerage in certain spheres. Brokerage plays a significant role in various community affairs. The semi-feudalistic system of production, parochialism, manipulation, poverty, very weak class consciousness, and quick upward mobility keep the patronage system operative. The growth of Western type capitalism or a communistic type social system may break up the system, but both these possibilities seem to be very remote in Bangladesh.

This thesis examines transformations in spouses' bargaining power regarding land and money within rural households over the last 70 years and underlying factors in the context of both long-standing and recent rural changes in Colombia. The research takes an intra-household perspective drawing on Sen's cooperativeconflict model, separate spheres bargaining models and Kabeer's framework of power across institutional sites, as well as other feminists' contributions to bargaining models. The thesis uses the life course theory to draw out interrelated factors (e.g. material, ideological, emotional and state interventions) which have affected intra-household bargaining power regarding assets over time in the larger socio-economic context of Latin America's new rurality. The research settings are two villages in a rural municipality in the central region of the Colombian Andes. One of these, Romita, has undergone substantial change with an increasing population and diversification of its productive activities towards non-farm activities. The population of the second village, Pefia Blanca, has decreased and the diversification of productive activities is not as evident. Through a detailed study of intra-household gender relations I have demonstrated in this thesis that spouses make decisions about money and land more jointly now than before, irrespective of what each contributes in terms of money and independently of whether or not s/he owns land. This trend towards more joint decisions about money and land has been largely determined by the fact that joint household headship is increasingly becoming as the social norm and practice in Paipan households. In many cases joint household headship coexists with two separate heads and even with husband-centred household headship. A household model representing just one of these types of household headship cannot explain the simultaneous presence of different types of headships within one household in rural settings such as Paipa. These changes to social norms and practices of household headship have occurred due to the influence of changes in civil law, although the former have been slower to change than the legislation. Shifts in notions and practices of household headship and in law have been linked to women's greater awareness of their personal practical and strategic interests regarding money and land.

This thesis has the double aim of presenting data on the socioeconomic position of secondary school leavers in Sierra Leone, and of examining the characteristics of the new system of social stratification which is emerging there. Of particular interest is the extent to which this resembles the stratification systems of Western industrialized societies. The pattern of recruitmentmafct to the secondary educated population was first examined. It was shown that a relatively high proportion of this is drawn from the lower socio-economic strata, suggesting a fairly high rate of mobility into the sub-elite? and the importance of the extended family in promoting this was stressed. There is also considerable selectivity, however, with those of higher socio-economic background having a great advantage in gaining a good education, and hence the best occupational positions. Occupational selection and adaptation among respondents were examined next. It appeared that many of them, especially males, aspired to the highest rewarded positions in society, irrespective of their socio¬ economic backgrounds. Because they had to leave school early, however, they could only obtain lower level employment, for example as clerks, teachers and semi-skilled workers. But despite this frustration of their original ambitions, they usually made a satisfactory adjustment on entering the labour market, though this often appeared to depend on the persistence of their beliefs in opportunities for further upward mobility in the future. Two other indices of the development of classes were examined. Firstly, it was shown that there was some evidence of the social separation of strata in primary relationships, particularly in terras of friendship and marriage, but also in kinship terms. Secondly, at least among the sub-elite, there was some development of class awareness. In summary, then, the evidence supports the contention that social classes are emerging in Africa.

The aim of the thesis was to examine patterns of family formation, to consider the ways families in one developed country had been built up and the future fertility changes that were anticipated. Interviews were conducted with one hundredd and five women, each of whom had just had a second child and the resulting accounts of their family formation patterns were subjected to a qualitative and quantitative analysis. Timing to the first child seemed to stem from the couple's view of marriage and the place of children within it. Three constellations of ideas were noted. Firstly, there were those couples (largely working class) who felt children were the primary reason for marriage and, hence, once married, it was best to begin the family as quickly as possible. Seconly, there were those couples (largely middle class) who, though they felt children were essential to a marriage, felt it was more important for newly-married couples to establish themselves financially. These couples tended to wait two or three years before beginning their families. Thirdly, there were those couples who felt children added to a marriage but that they must "fit in" with other arrangements the husband and wife had. These couples were not characteristically middle or working class and, in most cases, it was the woman's age which prompted them to have their first child. Timing to the second child seemed to be influenced mainly by the desire for a specific interval of time between children and there appeared to be two competing considerations in this regard. On the one hand it was important to have children close so that they could be playmates and on the other hand it was important to have some space between them so that each child could get its share of attention. Most women appeared to be trying to balance these two considerations. With regard to future fertility intentions, most couples wanted, and were planning on having, only the two children. Most had always wanted a small family and could see few reasons to continue with childbearing. Those couples who were planning (or undecided about) additional children tended to be desirous of a mixed-sex family and/or positively oriented towards larger families.

No description available.

This thesis sets out to examine the East African intellectual stratum in terms of its origine, institutional bases, membership, relations with government, party and society, cultural debates and! socio-political thought, within the overall framework of colonialism, underdevelopment and persisting neo-colonial economic and cultural relations. It posits a definition of the intellectual which, by focussing on qualitative thought, cultural validation and social activism, takes into account not only the nature of the intellectual's thought and the structures and contexts in which it is articulated and disseminated, but his relationship with structures of discontent or dissent in society as well. It is argued that while East Africa possesses a certain cultural homogeneity which is the product of the subjection to the rule of a single colonial power, the development of inter-territorial institutions such is Makerere, and the diffusion of Swahili culture, different socio-economic and political systems in Kenya and Tanzania in particular have affected intellectual life deeply. The differences have affected not only intellectual debates about the nature, redefinition and role of institutions such as the press and universities, but thought about the nature of postinde; endence state and society as well. Universities, newspapers, journals, publishing houses and theatre are examined as employers of intellectual personnel, channels of articulation and dissemination, and the debate about their redefinition and role In the light of African traditions, European cultural domination, and development requirements is explored. The social backgrounds of intellectuals are examined as a way of showing how thought, occupational choice, perceptions of role, and position in society have differed in terms of generation and to some extent country, and it is suggested that the wedge between pre- and post-independence generations is crucial in explaining the importance of different intellectual influences and ideological orientations. Many of the problems which complicate intellectual role definition are considered. Most have their roots in the changes wrought by colonialism, and include language, literacy, and cultural factors, the intellectual's position of marginality and lack: of recognition in his own society, and the problem of relating to intellectual traditions. The debate about the nature of intellectual role is examined, and three strands which loosely correspond to cultural nationalist, scientific socialist, and individ¬ ualistic positions are identified. Intellectual ooncerns with the recovery of initiative in history and cultured reassertion are examined, and an attempt is made to show how these concerns tend to underplay the importance of the colonial impact and the integration of African societies into the international capitalist system. The three major critical responses to cultural nationalism, African socialism and African humanism are examined, especially the Marxist critique which seeks to undermine the claims of African socialism and to establish the relevance and applicability of a flexible Marxist thought. In the final section of the thesis, intellectual interpretations of the post-independence situation are briefly examined, with a special emphasis being given to the Tanzanian radical intelligentsia.