This thesis considers how religious diversification has shaped the roles of clergy and seminaries. The focus of this qualitative, interview-based study is seminaries and clergy affiliated with various denominations of Judaism and Protestant Christianity in greater London and New York City. Religiously diversifying societies in the US and England have brought forth new challenges for clergy and seminaries, prompting new questions about how or why a faith community should or should not engage with diversity in the public square. This study investigates how seminaries and individual members of the clergy, as sources of religious authority, are responding to religious diversification in different ways - the former sluggish to recognise the impact of religious diversification in curriculum and pedagogical structures and the latter seeing it as a resource for social action initiatives, local networks, and political activism. This has created a gap between training and practice whereby clergy have assumed greater religious authority in religious life. Beyond contributing to the field of sociology of religion, this thesis concludes by allowing the experience of clergy in interreligious engagement to inform appropriate pedagogies that could be employed by seminaries.

La tesi ha l’obiettivo di analizzare il cambiamento organizzativo in una prospettiva di social network analysis, sfruttando dati longitudinali raccolti a seguito della modifica della struttura organizzativa in un Policlinico Universitario italiano. Il manoscritto è organizzativo in tre paper. Il primo paper si focalizza sul tema del rapporto tra network formali e network informali, analizzando come la modifica del primo comporti una corrispondente variazione nel secondo. Il paper dimostra come, in assenza di strutture organizzative ben formalizzate, gli individui tendono ad allacciare nuovi legami con colleghi che appartengono alla stessa specializzazione. Il secondo paper, invece, attingendo prettamente alla letteratura di comportamento organizzativo, analizza il tema della dinamicità del network, fornendo evidenze in relazione alla stabilità del network stesso a seguito del cambiamento. Particolare attenzione, è inoltre, dedicata alle dinamiche intra – team e al ruolo di quest’ultime nell’accettazione o meno del cambiamento. Infine, il terzo paper sviluppa il tema della network density e di come quest’ultima possa essere correlato al cambiamento organizzativo, in termini di reazione al cambiamento. Inoltre, si dimostra come la formalizzazione abbia un impatto positivo sulla densità del network, specie in contesti organizzativi caratterizzati da una bassa gerarchia e coordinamento orizzontale. / This thesis aims to analyze organizational change in a social network analysis perspective, exploiting longitudinal data collected after a modification of the organizational structure in an Italian Teaching Hospital The manuscript is organized into three papers. The first paper focuses on the theme of the relationship between formal networks and informal networks, analyzing how the modification of the first involves a corresponding variation in the second. The paper demonstrates how, in the absence of formalized organizational structures, individuals tend to establish new ties with colleagues who belong to the same specialization. The second paper, drawing purely from the organizational behavior literature, analyzes the issue of the network dynamics , providing evidence and antecedents for network stability in response to organizational change. Particular attention is also given to the intra - team dynamics and the impact of individual perception of collective properties in driving employees in accepting or not the organizational change. Finally, the third paper develops the theme of network density and how the latter can be related to organizational change, in terms of reaction to change. Furthermore, it is shown how formalization has a positive impact on network density, especially in organizational contexts characterized by a low hierarchy and horizontal coordination.

This thesis seeks to delineate what change in divided societies such as Northern Ireland is possible. Two steps are necessary to answer this question: first, to explain the potency of nationalism. I contend that taking the evolutionary history of humans and a human need to belong into account is essential for an understanding of A.D. Smith's ethno-symbolist approach to nationalism. We need to acknowledge that human beings emerged from small-scale settings and are therefore conservative beings who seek those patterns of familiarity that make up the ordinary ‘everyday'. They are also prejudiced beings, as prejudice helps to break down a complex world into digestible pieces. The ethnic state excluding an ethnic ‘other' is an answer to these calls for simplicity. By establishing an apparent terra firma, a habitus, symbols of an ethnic past and national present speak of nationalist narratives that provide a sense of ontological security. In (Northern) Ireland, ethno-national communities based on prejudiced understandings of history have long been established. In this second step I maintain that change that violates the core potent national narratives cannot be achieved. The Provisional IRA's change from insurrection to parliament became feasible because a radical break with republican dogmas was avoided. Sinn Féin, despite a rhetorical move towards ‘reconciliation', still seek to outmanoeuvre the unionist ‘other'. The history of Irish socialism, on the other hand, has been a failure, as it embodied a radical attempt to banish the ‘other' from the national narrative. Regarding ‘post-conflict' Northern Ireland, I argue for a peacebuilding approach that leaves the confinements of hostile identity politics, as these mass guarantors of ontological security possess only limited potential for relationship transformation. We need to appreciate those almost invisible acts of empathy and peace that could be found even in Northern Ireland's darkest hours.

Human beings have been gathering with other human beings for any and all reasons. These gatherings have occurred since biblical times. The Roman baths were the first gatherings that can be classified as clubs. In contemporary terms, humans gather in small numbers for a coffee with friends at a coffee restaurant, they gather in the thousands to show their dejection of wage offerings and they gather in the millions to support a sports jersey. The common factor in all of these gatherings is that they do it because of one shared goal, one shared vision. The places where people with the same interests gather, called clubs and organisations, have been around for many years. They fulfil some of the very basic human needs as well as some of the most intricate human wants. Ensuring that clubs or organisations remain in our social fibre for many years to come is in the best interest of all of their stakeholders. These clubs or organisations need to adjust to the times of present and adjust the offering they make to the members as the needs of the members change over time. It is this premise that led the researcher to The Port Elizabeth Club. This social club is struggling with dwindling membership numbers and the development of a membership strategy that will increase its membership numbers and the benefits that are offered to them. The secondary literature study conducted revealed many benefits and strategies that clubs currently use or that they could use to improve their membership brand. It further showed the different approaches, of the different clubs, to attracting and retaining the members they wanted. These benefits and strategies formed the basis iv of the primary study that was conducted by the researcher and were the main constructs in the study. The primary study was in the form of questionnaires and these were given to the target market of The Port Elizabeth Club as well as The Port Elizabeth Club members themselves. The primary study revealed that many of the benefits and strategies found in the literature can be used by The Port Elizabeth Club to improve their membership offering. The literature also stated this type of study, a questionnaire or survey, should be done on a regular basis by The Port Elizabeth Club to ensure that it is on track with its members’ needs and wants. The literature revealed that many club members feel that the value that is offered by clubs are diminishing and this results in the loss of members and disinterest from prospective members. It is for this reason that the research study conducted is important to The Port Elizabeth Club and shows that they should focus on the value they offer to their members and continue to improve this value offering. The research study concludes with a detailed description of benefits that The Port Elizabeth Club could implement for its members as well as strategies that will assist it in attracting new members and retaining its current members.

The "incorporation" of the GDR into FRG''s existing system of institutions after 1989 has led to a dynamic process of change in the living situation of East Germans. In the following paper stability and change of various dimensions of individual coping strategies are to be examined. To do this, I analytically distinguish four elements: frames, habits, utilisation of available resources, and framing.:Introduction; Sample and method; Theoretical framework; Stability and change; Hopes and disappointments; Conclusions

This thesis provides a framework for viewing socio-political contexts and how these relate to interventionist projects. The framework draws on and combines strands from international relations and sociological perspectives of social interaction. The central question becomes how intervention and existing social contexts interact to produce unintended outcomes. It applies the analysis to two separate wider contexts: Afghanistan and Somalia, with a particular focus on the self-declared independent Somaliland as an internally generated and controlled transformational process. Unlike abstract directions of theoretical development the framework seeks to provide a platform that sets aside ideological assumptions and from which interventionist projects can be observed and evaluated based on literature, field observations and interviews. Drawing on such diverse influences as fourth generation peace and conflict studies, Morphogenetics, and social forces theory, the framework explores conditions and interest formations to capture instances of local agency that are part of a continuity of local realities. It views social interaction without imposing Universalist value assumptions, but also without resorting to relativism or raising so many caveats that it becomes impractical. It exposes the agency of local interest formations hidden beneath the discourses of ideologically framed conflicts. These social agents are often dismissed as passive victims to be brought under the influence of for example the state, but are in reality able to subvert, co-opt, constrain or facilitate the forces that are dependent on them for social influence. In the end, it is the modes of mobilisation that emerge as the most crucial factor for understanding the relevant social dynamics.

Human capital development is one of the key factors in human development in which the state plays a tremendous and critical role. Policies and systems established by the government to enable education, trade and socialisation help or undermine human capital development. The study argues that in the post-apartheid era, the government has moved on from apartheid human capital development to equal human capital development. The state has moved away from providing a fragmented system of a racial and exclusive education and training system to a non-racial and inclusive education and training system that creates equal opportunities for learning for all races. The study identified several challenges that hinder human capital development and recommended that there is need for the current government to create clear working relations between various bodies administering the post-school system. In order to arrive at those findings, the study adopted a quantitative research methodology. / Economics / M.Com. (Economics)

An overview of global statistics on violence, country to country and worldwide, indicates that men are the main perpetrators of violence in our societies. Furthermore, the behavioural traits of risk-taking and self-harm are also associated with men. It is my contention that the formative processes involved in gender identity are at the root of these dysfunctions. In an attempt to present a positive alternative, I focus on a group I name the X- Men: white South African Generation X males. Drawing on Judith Butler‟s theory of performativity and its allowance for agency and resistance, I argue that they are not necessarily trapped by how their gender identities were formed through Apartheid‟s gendered institutions. These included schools, sport and the military. I posit that within the institution of art, self-aware artists may present visual representations of resistance and transformation. Acknowledging art as signifying text, the X-Men situate signs differently in an effort to accomplish a social and intersubjective raising-of-awareness. Additionally, this new identity and its associated positive performance have the potential to undermine certain stereotypical perceptions harboured by the broader society as a result of problematic behaviour associated with men. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.V.A.