This dissertation addresses a question fundamental to democratic government: Under what conditions are bureaucrats responsive to citizens and elected officials?

In the decades leading up to the twentieth century, social reformers and politicians, alarmed by Mormon political control (and polygamy) in Utah Territory, challenged Mormon whiteness and their competency for American citizenship. In re-examining Mormonism’s transition period, this study reveals how Mormon conformity to an encroaching American culture increased the movement’s exposure to discursive arguments on race-mixing, marriage, and eugenics that helped legitimize Mormon citizenship claims. Focusing on the themes of race, marriage, and citizenship, this thesis examines Mormonism’s racial transformation from not white to white as they assimilated and reified the racial ideology promoted by their Progressiveera contemporaries and asserted their own racial policies against peoples of African descent. Beyond revealing the ways in which race influenced Mormon acceptance into American society, this thesis also features Mormons more prominently in the history of the American West by contextualizing the development of a racial bureaucracy in Utah tasked with enforcing the state’s 1888 miscegenation law. Utah’s miscegenation law, while creating enduring and often devastating consequences for couples whose choices and desires took them across the color line, also helped transform Utah into a western place in the twentieth century.

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Research indicates that today’s aging population may obtain various benefits from using computer technology. These benefits include increased self-esteem, decreased depression, increased life satisfaction, and decreased loneliness; however, few of these studies have employed quantitative measures to quantify these results. This study focused on the possible benefits related to self-esteem and life satisfaction of older computer users. Participants belonged to either a control group or an experimental group. The experimental group participated in an eight-week computer training course. The control group did not receive computer training. All participants were administered the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Life Satisfaction Index-Z at the beginning and the end of the study. The researcher hypothesized that participants who received computer training would have higher levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction when compared with the group of participants who did not receive computer training. Results of the study indicated life satisfaction for both the control and experimental group rose slightly, but was not statistically significant. Therefore it is impossible to say that the SeniorNet computer training course helped to increase aged individuals’ life satisfaction. These results may indicate that any sort of meaningful activity (either participating in a computer class or involvement in social activities at a senior community center) may increase an individuals’ life satisfaction. The results also indicated that self-esteem for the experimental group rose slightly after receiving computer training; however, these results were not statistically significant. It could be possible that the sense of mastery over a subject may have increased the participant’s self-esteem, as stated in the study by Hoot and Hayslip (1983). Further research needs to be conducted on this population, and such research may enhance an aging population’s outlook on life and themselves.

Research indicates that today’s aging population may obtain various benefits from using computer technology. These benefits include increased self-esteem, decreased depression, increased life satisfaction, and decreased loneliness; however, few of these studies have employed quantitative measures to quantify these results. This study focused on the possible benefits related to self-esteem and life satisfaction of older computer users. Participants belonged to either a control group or an experimental group. The experimental group participated in an eight-week computer training course. The control group did not receive computer training. All participants were administered the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Life Satisfaction Index-Z at the beginning and the end of the study. The researcher hypothesized that participants who received computer training would have higher levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction when compared with the group of participants who did not receive computer training. Results of the study indicated life satisfaction for both the control and experimental group rose slightly, but was not statistically significant. Therefore it is impossible to say that the SeniorNet computer training course helped to increase aged individuals’ life satisfaction. These results may indicate that any sort of meaningful activity (either participating in a computer class or involvement in social activities at a senior community center) may increase an individuals’ life satisfaction. The results also indicated that self-esteem for the experimental group rose slightly after receiving computer training; however, these results were not statistically significant. It could be possible that the sense of mastery over a subject may have increased the participant’s self-esteem, as stated in the study by Hoot and Hayslip (1983). Further research needs to be conducted on this population, and such research may enhance an aging population’s outlook on life and themselves.

No description available.

The rebuilding of Slussen is in this thesis used as a case study on citizens’ emotionally engagement. The purpose is to investigate why people get emotionally engaged and whether it has any effect on the planning process. The aim is to contribute to a discussion on planning where emotions play a larger role than today. Two questions are asked and answered: 1) Why do citizens get emotionally engaged in the Slussenproject? 2) In what way have the citizens’ emotions and engagement been considered and used in the Slussen project? Interviews with “ordinary” citizens and “professionals” are conducted along with a supporting analysis of written material connected to the case. Theories of emotions and protests seen from different angles are used in order to uncover citizens’ motives for engagement. Sherry Arnstein’s Ladder of citizen participation is used in order to make clear what the significance of citizens’ engagement in the Slussen case has. The result shows emotionally engagement based on protests against someone or something where the dismissal of the others’ knowledge of Slussen play a big role. Citizens’ emotions and engagement are seen as something positive and the planning process is affected but only within certain limits decided by the municipality.

No description available.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Action, agency and protest were notions that seeped through the social and political terrain of 1960s Japan. Opposition to the Vietnam War, disputes in the universities, environmental concerns and anticipation of the US-Japan Security Treaty’s renewal set down for 1970, saw the entire decade engulfed in activism and protest. This thesis explores these sites of activism revealing the disparate character of protest in the 1960s – the often competing tactics and agendas that were manifested within the burgeoning and dynamic cultures of protest. The shifting definitions of protest and the competing ideals that emerged from its various sites of articulation are crucial to our understanding of postwar Japan. Excavating these sites – reading the character of protest and the ideals expressed – exposes the notions of autonomy and activism that underpinned conceptions of the postwar national identity. In the aftermath of the Pacific War intellectuals and activists looked for new forms of political expression, outside the auspices of the state, through which to enact the postwar nation. The identity of postwar Japan was constructed within the spheres of protest and resistance as anti-Vietnam War activists, Beheiren (Betonamu ni Heiwa o! Shimin Rengō), student groups such as Zenkyōtō, and local citizens’ movements negotiated the discursive space of ‘modern Japan.’ Examining the conceptions of political practice and identity that manifested themselves in the protest and resistance of the period, provides insights into the shifting terrain of national identity in the 1960s.

Investigation into city image business cluster and citizen' joinning.