Feminist community organizing involves members of a geographic locale or social network coming together to address a shared issue or problem affecting the lives of women in order to find a collective solution (Dominelli, 1995; Israel, Checkoway, Schulz & Zimmerman, 1994; Selsky, 1991). While the organizational theory literature has traditionally focused on the exchange of financial and material resources as the main reason for forming partnerships (Gulati, 1998; Kanter, 1989; Oliver, 1991), a growing body of feminist literature (Acker, 1995; Brown, 1992; Eisenstein, 1995; Feree and Martin, 1995; Reinelt, 1994) and community development literature (Dominelli, 1995, Israel et al., 1994; Kretzman & McKnight, 1993; Minkler & Wallerstein, 1997; Selsky, 1991) emphasizes the importance of other types of resources such as skills, lived experience, knowledge, information and social networks. In addition, feminist collectivity offers a promising alternative to hierarchy in terms of valuing and mobilizing the diverse pool of resources brought to a feminist community-based initiative by participants from varied social locations (Callahan, 1997; Dominelli, 1995; Reinelt, 1994). The purpose of my study was to investigate participant understandings of the resources they brought to a feminist community organizing initiative designed to increase the access of women on low-incomes to community recreation, and how emergent organizational practices affected resource utilization. A case study analysis of 'Women Organizing Activities for Women' (WOAW) that is comprised of a diverse group of women on low incomes, community partners, and university-based researchers was conducted. The research methods for this project included the analysis data obtained in Interactive Research Meetings (n=3) with each of the WOAW participant groups to determine individual and collective resources. Observations of Phase I WOAW meetings (n=9) were recorded using fieldnotes and verbatim transcripts and served as the data source for examining patterns of resource utilization given emergent feminist collective organizing practices. Fieldnotes and transcripts were analyzed using Atlas.ti data computer software. Participants from the three groups identified over 200 examples of resources they were bringing to WOAW and described a number of connections between resources, as well as multiple meanings of single resource types, which differed based on their roles and locations in the organization. These findings contribute to the literature by linking resource identification in new ways to the process of resource utilization. The results also contribute to practice by challenging assumptions about the types of resources brought by different collaborators and by identifying organizational practices that enhance or inhibit resource utilization. My analysis revealed that there was ambiguity between participant groups about who was bringing what resources, which led to assumptions being made about who would take on certain tasks in the group. I also found that while feminist collective organizing practices enabled participants to name and share resources in an empowering and respectful environment, that time constraints, ambiguity about roles and participants' lack of familiarity with the process were challenges to mobilizing available resources.

This thesis is a comparative, data-based analysis of the empirical validity of three competing sociological models of the psychological impact of size of place of residence. The theories subjected to statistical investigation are: the ecological school of Wirth (1938), the compositionalist approach of Gans (1962) and the subcultural arguments of Fischer (1976). A secondary data analysis of selected variables from the 1979 Canadian Quality of Life Survey forms the core of this thesis. Two dimensions of the potential psychological impact of urban size are examined: powerlessness, measured by an index variable of a "sense of personal competence" and social isolation, measured by a reported sense of loneliness and contacts with significant others. Consistent with the compositionalist model, the analysis of variance performed in this research shows no association between urban size and powerlessness, after controlling for socio-economic and demographic factors. Loneliness however, shows a curvilinear negatively sloped relationship with urban size after controlling for factors lending partial support to the subcultural model. Neighbourhood involvement exhibited a significant negative association with urban size. This finding, is attributable to the relative lack of importance of proximity in the urban setting which reduces neighbourhood contacts in favour of trans-local ones. Finally, when controlling for distance of residence of children living away from home, the effect of the size of place of residence on the frequency of contact with children living away from home, reported by the respondents was significantly reduced thus, partly supporting the subcultural model's proposition.

The central problem addressed in this thesis was formulated in 1965 and 1966 during participation in a study of administrative and other problems relating to the Indians of Canada. As it is now generalized, it has become a problem of conceptualization posed by population aggregates within any larger polity. Most studies of contemporary Indians in Canada and the United States employ as a major model and unit of analysis concepts such as society and community, in which spatial and social boundaries are treated as coterminous. In the first chapter of this thesis, I have discussed the limitations of these concepts when they are applied to smaller population aggregates such as Indian bands or reserve populations. In the second chapter, I have constructed an alternative framework in which the conceptual distinction between people and systems of social relationship is made a central feature. In this model the unit of analysis is an aggregation of people either spatially or socially distinct, for which I have used the term population in an attempt to avoid the unwanted connotations of such terms as "community". The population is regarded not as having a social system in the way that societies and communities are conceived, but as being a nexus of many systems of social relationship, some of which may be contained within its boundaries and some extending far beyond them. The population is thus envisaged as the context or social field within which individuals act. The systems of social relationship intersecting in a population are conceived of as existing as models in the minds of the actors and the observer, with each actor holding at least two: an ideal model of his social context as he would like it to be, and a concrete model of how he believes it actually to be. Actors make choices of behaviour within the framework of constraints and incentives provided by these models, their situation, and the choices of others. In Chapters III, IV, and V, three Indian Reserve populations are described and discussed in terms of this conceptual scheme, using data I collected in 1965 and 1966. The potential of the scheme for explaining and interpreting behaviour and events is demonstrated in Chapter VI, where the position of the bands in the larger polity is analysed, and interaction between Indians and government personnel, the formation of reserve power groups, factionalism, and the quality of reserve life are discussed as further tests of the scheme's utility. In Chapter VII, it is concluded that in spite of differences in organization, location, cultural heritage, and economic activity, the three reserve populations have many features in common, and that these features may be accounted for in terms of the particular interconnections of systems that they represent. It is further concluded that the framework of concepts developed in Chapter II provides an improved model for the description, analysis, and comparison of aggregations of people that do not fit the standard definitions of community and society. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

This was an exploratory study which used Flanagan's Critical Incident Technique to find out the factors which hinder or facilitate the psycho-socio adjustment of students from The People's Republic of China to Canada. The 21 subjects for the sample were drawn at random from a name list provided by the Chinese Visiting Scholars and Students Association at University of British Columbia. All of the subjects were graduate students or visiting scholars and had been in Canada for 9-12 months at the time of the interviews. All subjects were able to identify incidents which hindered or facilitated their first year psycho-socio adjustment to Canada. The total of 385 incidents, 175 facilitating and 210 hindering incidents, were reported. The average number of incidents reported per student was 19.2. Ten major categories which facilitate or hinder PRC students' psycho-socio adjustment to Canada have been found through this research. Considering the number of incidents reported by the participants, Academic Study & Research was ranked the first place among 10 categories. According to the rate of participation, Language Barriers & Improvement was listed the highest among 10 categories. Considering the number of facilitating incidents reported by the participants, Initial Settlement was placed the highest. In the number of hindering incidents, category of Language Barriers & Improvement was listed the highest among the 10 categories. The explanation of the research findings and suggestions for how the findings might contribute to the understanding PRC or other Oriental international students are included in the discussion. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

A qualitative - exploratory study was conducted to investigate the experiential consequences of underemployment for Chinese immigrants who were former professionals in their country of origin. Twelve male immigrants aged 28 to 63 who have resided in Canada 1 to 4 years were interviewed. For the most part, the study was existentially based using a phenomenological - content analysis format to derive results. Results indicated that Chinese immigrants' problematic responses to underemployment differed greatly depending upon their initial place of origin i.e., familiarity with and adaptability to the host society being the significant factor. Counseling suggestions to assist these individuals followed the existential paradigm. Finally, several possibilities that exist for further research into this topic of the underemployed immigrant are described. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Feminist community organizing involves members of a geographic locale or social network coming together to address a shared issue or problem affecting the lives of women in order to find a collective solution (Dominelli, 1995; Israel, Checkoway, Schulz & Zimmerman, 1994; Selsky, 1991). While the organizational theory literature has traditionally focused on the exchange of financial and material resources as the main reason for forming partnerships (Gulati, 1998; Kanter, 1989; Oliver, 1991), a growing body of feminist literature (Acker, 1995; Brown, 1992; Eisenstein, 1995; Feree and Martin, 1995; Reinelt, 1994) and community development literature (Dominelli, 1995, Israel et al., 1994; Kretzman & McKnight, 1993; Minkler & Wallerstein, 1997; Selsky, 1991) emphasizes the importance of other types of resources such as skills, lived experience, knowledge, information and social networks. In addition, feminist collectivity offers a promising alternative to hierarchy in terms of valuing and mobilizing the diverse pool of resources brought to a feminist community-based initiative by participants from varied social locations (Callahan, 1997; Dominelli, 1995; Reinelt, 1994). The purpose of my study was to investigate participant understandings of the resources they brought to a feminist community organizing initiative designed to increase the access of women on low-incomes to community recreation, and how emergent organizational practices affected resource utilization. A case study analysis of 'Women Organizing Activities for Women' (WOAW) that is comprised of a diverse group of women on low incomes, community partners, and university-based researchers was conducted. The research methods for this project included the analysis data obtained in Interactive Research Meetings (n=3) with each of the WOAW participant groups to determine individual and collective resources. Observations of Phase I WOAW meetings (n=9) were recorded using fieldnotes and verbatim transcripts and served as the data source for examining patterns of resource utilization given emergent feminist collective organizing practices. Fieldnotes and transcripts were analyzed using Atlas.ti data computer software. Participants from the three groups identified over 200 examples of resources they were bringing to WOAW and described a number of connections between resources, as well as multiple meanings of single resource types, which differed based on their roles and locations in the organization. These findings contribute to the literature by linking resource identification in new ways to the process of resource utilization. The results also contribute to practice by challenging assumptions about the types of resources brought by different collaborators and by identifying organizational practices that enhance or inhibit resource utilization. My analysis revealed that there was ambiguity between participant groups about who was bringing what resources, which led to assumptions being made about who would take on certain tasks in the group. I also found that while feminist collective organizing practices enabled participants to name and share resources in an empowering and respectful environment, that time constraints, ambiguity about roles and participants' lack of familiarity with the process were challenges to mobilizing available resources. / Education, Faculty of / Kinesiology, School of / Graduate

Understanding the processes that allow all students to successfully learn mathematics has been an important objective for most education systems including those in Canada. Educational systems however, have not achieved this goal as many students with low socioeconomic status, females, and minority students fail to achieve an adequate knowledge of mathematics. Much of the discussion regarding this lack of achievement concerns classroom resources and practices, school policies within educational systems, and the specific domain of mathematics achievement considered. This study conceptualizes a successful mathematics classroom in terms of its level of mathematics achievement and how equitably achievement is distributed. The study employs multilevel models and the Canadian data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study to address three main research issues: 1) the extent to which differences in mathematics achievement is attributable to gender, family background, classrooms, and the province where a student attends school; 2) whether the variation in achievement is specific to a mathematics domain; and 3) whether the variation among six provinces (Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec) in the levels of their mathematics achievement is associated with various aspects of school policy and practices. The analyses indicate a slight male advantage in mathematics achievement, and a large, significant gap in achievement associated with the socioeconomic status (SES) of the students' families. Students from low SES backgrounds are disadvantaged as they tend to have relatively low achievement in mathematics within classrooms, especially in Proportionality, Measurement, and Fractions. The most successful classrooms are those in which students from disadvantaged backgrounds excel in mathematics. Disadvantaged students excel in mathematics classrooms in which there are fewer groupings, the mathematics teachers are specialized, and in schools with lower pupil-teacher ratio. Mathematics achievement is equitably distributed in provinces with high mathematics achievement levels. Provincial achievement levels are stable across mathematics domains; that is, provinces with high achievement levels in one domain also tend to have high achievement levels in other domains. On average, Quebec's mathematics achievement is higher than the other provinces in all mathematics domains, and at all levels of SES. This high achievement level in Quebec is partially attributed to higher teacher specialization, lower pupil-teacher ratio, and lower withinschool remedial tracking. The study recommends a comprehensive longitudinal study employing multilevel models with a focus on what other provinces can learn from Quebec's advantage in mathematics. Such a study should conceptualize successful mathematics classrooms as those in which an average student excels in mathematics and where mathematics achievement is equitably distributed. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

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