Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Robert K. Schaeffer / This paper asks why a progressive social movement formed in a conservative place. The People for a Progressive University City (PPUC) formed as a Political Action Committee (PAC) in a mid-sized community in order to influence the city commission and school board election of 2005. Resource Mobilization theory assumes that social movements form when they have access to resources including money, networks and leadership (Barkan 1979, McCarthy and Zald 1977). Political Opportunity theory assumes that social movements form when opportunities for mobilization are visible (Goodwin, Jaspers and Jaswin 1999, Tarrow 1996). The Framing Perspective assumes that social movements form when they describe grievances and their solutions in a way that is reasonable to potential participants (Benford and Snow 2000, Gamson and Modigliani 1989). I have taken an Action Research approach to understand what developments led to the organization’s formation and which theory best described why the movement formed in 2005. Through 31 in-depth interviews with community members, I concluded that no one theory alone can explain why the organization formed. I argue that the best theoretical explanation is a synthesis of all three. I outline several theoretical implications as well as practical implications for community organizing in University City. I argue that the future of the PPUC will depend on how it responds to changes in community discontent and if it is able to mobilize people. Additionally, I suggest the story of the PPUC has implications for the study of social movements in general.

The purpose of this study was to observe and analyze the process of regional climate adaptation planning and the role of stakeholder deliberation in decision making about adaptation actions. It employed a case study approach based on one of three total study sites of an international, multidisciplinary grant titled, “METROPOLE: An Integrated Framework to Analyze Local Decision Making and Adaptive Capacity to Large-Scale Environmental Change”. The purpose of the case study of this project was to analyze stakeholder deliberation at two workshops at the grant’s Broward County, Florida site regarding two adaptation options: elevation/floodproofing and voluntary buyouts. Analyzing stakeholder deliberation about these two options allowed for the identification of specific barriers to adaptation for stakeholders in this region. These barriers were then used to suggest values regarding adaptation priorities and planning. The primary idea driving this project was that deliberation provides a pragmatic approach to determining stakeholder values and preferences – which ought to be used to inform planning and decision making about climate policy. The ultimate goal of this project was to demonstrate how the rhetorical concepts of situated judgment, persuasion, and deliberation can be applied in adaptation planning processes and therefore, how applied rhetoric contributes to the production of “usable” science, or science that takes decision makers’ preferences and needs into account when making policy decisions. The problem that this project responds to involves three interrelated parts: framing, communication, and policymaking. Currently, climate change framing in the US is largely characterized by “debate” and emphasizes only one aspect of the climate change problem: cause. The second part of the problem pertains to communication and in particular, the way in which scientific and economic data about climate change/adaptation is typically delivered to non-scientific audiences. The third part of the problem as it is addressed in this project pertains to policymaking, or what enables or prevents progress toward effective policymaking. Data collected for this project include: surveys, 10 in-depth interviews, and field notes. The first layer of analysis was facilitated through Decision Explorer, a qualitative software commonly used in strategic management and decision sciences. For this project, Decision Explorer was used to cognitively map and analyze data from the 10 in-depth interviews. The second layer of analysis used NVivo, a qualitative coding software, to organize and code data collected from all sources. The findings of this project concluded that for stakeholders in this region, the four primary barriers to adaptation were: leadership, resources, invisibility/timing, and the limitations of modeling processes. Stakeholders’ primary values about climate adaptation reflected their strong sense of place attachment. These values were expressed in terms of altruistic values, or concerns about how the local implications of climate may affect humans (e.g., how vulnerably located critical infrastructure and weakening transportation infrastructure will affect citizens’ safety and community resilience) and “scientific” values, such as the inclusion of regional scientific factors in climate modeling and adaptation planning. One of the most significant contributions of this project was the development of an approach that leverages the application of rhetorical concepts in science policy planning/decision making. This unique strategy embedded the rhetorical components of deliberation, situated judgment, phronesis and persuasion within the three framing tasks of collective action framing (i.e., diagnostic, prognostic and motivational framing) to illustrate a unique approach for engaging stakeholders in adaptation planning. More broadly, this project responded to calls for social science research to provide useful recommendations about how to facilitate more effective stakeholder engagement and communication about climate adaptation planning and policy.

The news media have documented the missions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) since its formation in 1958. Little of that coverage, however, has focused on Mars exploration and colonization, which has only recently become a serious target of interest for NASA. The current study examines how three elite print newspapers in the United States and three in the United Kingdom framed Mars coverage between 2011 and 2016. A content analysis found that most of the frames were similar to those observed in previous studies, such as exploration, scientific knowledge, business, nationalism, settlement, legacy, and fear. New frames, including life, health, social justice, and social engagement, emerged from the current study. The framing and tone of Mars articles were deployed similarly in U.S. and U.K. newspapers despite the different objectives of each country's space program. From the Apollo moon shots to human exploration of Mars, each successive era of spaceflight has been framed in a logical progression from concept to completion that resonates with the values of the times.

Millennials are often portrayed negatively. To better understand the role news media in perpetuating stereotypes about the generation, we surveyed articles from Sweden’s two major newspapers, Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter. Nineteen articles, published between January 2016 to April of 2017, were included in the sample. All were analysed using critical discourse analysis with Norman Fairclough’s three dimensional model. The analysis revealed several tendencies for negative depictions. For example, millennial attitudes towards work were often described as lazy and entitled. In comparisons with previous generations, reports claimed millennials were disproportionately impacted by the harmful effects of technological advancement. Importantly, when these articles contained interviews with millennials or if the writers themselves were millennials, they represented themselves and their generation’s values with the same negative, stereotypical categorisations. Although these themes were more frequent than others, other forms of interpretations of millennials are possible.

Connections in wood have been investigated and advanced ever since the ground-breaking work of Johansen in the early nineteenth century. Nevertheless, not much investigation has been undertaken on the existence of load-displacement path dependency in a sheathing-to-framing connection. Herein, a sheathing-to-framing connection is investigated in relation to displacement path dependency. This work uses 3D Finite Element beam-on-foundation models of an Oriented Strand Board (OSB/2) sheathing nailed to a C24 wood framing, to study possible strategies to numerically simulate the displacement path dependency. The models are used to study if non-linear elastic or elastic-plastic embedment properties of an annular-ringed shank nail in the wood-based materials bring about the path dependency using Connector elements in combination with different material models in the FE software Abaqus. Numerical results are compared with corresponding experimental test results of the connection together with the Eurocode 5 approach. The outcome of the numerical study both; confirms the existence of displacement path dependency and shows that this property in the connection can be described by plasticity properties in nail, sheathing material and the wood framing.

This dissertation examines frame disputes within the environmental movement over geoengineering proposals. Among other core framing tasks, social movement organizations must evaluate solutions and strategies for the social problems they seek to address. These framings are frequently disputed by those within the movement. Recent controversies regarding a set of climate intervention proposals commonly known as geoengineering offer the opportunity to document the ongoing construction of competing visions of environmental sustainability. The nascent quality of these proposals generate dissonant framings—episodes where organizations within the environmental movement exhibit disagreement about one or more core framing tasks—a situation Goffman referred to as a “frame dispute.” I present the results of a frame analysis of websites, blog posts, and other online discourse produced between 2005 and 2015 by 16 environmental movement organizations about geoengineering. The findings illustrate the influence of frame disputes on the realization of movement goals and the dynamic interdependence of movement framing activities. For example, increased attention to frame resonance did not attenuate prognostic frame disputes during the period analyzed. Analyzing frame disputes generates useful insights for studies seeking to analyze collective identity construction processes and dynamics within and between social movement organizations.

This study investigated the influences of personal value systems and risk propensities on managerial decision-making quality during value clashes. The post-globalisation business landscape is impacted by role players of vastly differing personal attributes, hypothesised to have varying influences on decision-making behaviour. A deeper understanding of how these attributes impact decision-making quality will therefore enrich the literature and arm practitioners with improved decision-making skills. A review of behavioural decision-making literature revealed three core approaches: the normative (prescriptive) perspective, focussed on decision analysis, the cognitive limitations perspective highlighting the boundaries of human cognition and the psychological (values/emotions/motivations) perspective allowing for ethical- or value-boundedness. The extant literature contributes little on the quality of decision-making exhibited by managers, or how to improve it. It also doesn’t consider variance in decision-making between groups defined by personal value and risk traits. This study therefore aimed to establish whether decision-making quality varied with variances in personal attributes, and whether an intervention would improve decision-making behaviour. The research, conducted on a sample of 460 South African managers, established the demographics and value- and risk orientations of the participating group. Three value clashing scenarios, incorporating social-relational framing interventions, where introduced to gauge the decision-making behaviour of the test subjects. Decision-making quality was assessed through the integrative complexity measure and qualitative assessments were conducted on the decision motivation texts. Decision-tree analyses, multiple regression analyses as well as T-tests comparing the decision-quality produced by individuals of opposing orientations, revealed a clear relationship between the value segments of self-enhancement and openness to change and higher quality decision-making. Social risk-taking was related to better decision-making and reframing the scenarios produced better decision-making quality responses, if the reframing was done harshly enough. The qualitative analysis supported these findings, but hinted at additional, context specific decision motivators. This study contributed an integrated view of decision-making literature, tested the application of integrative complexity as a measure of decision quality and introduced new perspectives on how value orientations, risk proclivities and scenario framing relate to decision-making quality. Practitioners can apply this to assess individuals in terms of their decision-making abilities, and can improve decision-making quality in managers through scenario re-framing. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / PhD / Unrestricted

Dans cette thèse, nous proposons une perspective méthodologique sur le double rôle du langage dans la rationalité économique, les utilisations de langage par les économistes pour la théoriser et les utilisations de langage par les agents économiques pour l’exprimer, pour clarifier trois principales questions (et leurs connexions) qui sous-tendent les débats entre économie comportementale et économie standard : le problème de l’unification théorique vis-à-vis des trois dimensions de la rationalité économique, la question de l’interdisciplinarité entre économie et Psychologie, et le problème du positif/normatif dans les modèles de comportements individuels. Concernant le problème du positif/normatif et le rôle du langage dans les comportements des agents économiques, notre intention est de fournir, au-delà de la simple clarification, une critique constructive des contributions de l’économie standard comme de l’économie comportementale. Suivant la position de l’enchevêtrement du philosophe Hilary Putnam et des philosophes-économistes Vivian Walsh et Amartya Sen, il est soutenu que l’économie tant standard que comportementale propose une articulation insatisfaisante des dimensions positive et normative dans les modèles de comportements individuels; et que la reconnaissance de l’enchevêtrement de faits, de valeurs et de conventions peut être théoriquement et empiriquement fructueuse. Prêter attention au rôle du langage dans les comportements des agents économiques montre parfois qu’un comportement apparemment irrationnel peut en fait être défendu comme rationnel; c’est pourquoi nous soutenons que, et montrons comment, l'axiome implicite - connu sous le nom d’invariance à la description - dans les modèles standards de comportements individuels empêchant l’influence du langage doit être affaibli (mais pas complètement supprimé), contrairement aux positions de la plupart des économistes standards et comportementaux. / In this dissertation, we propose a methodological perspective on the twofold role of language in economic rationality, economists’ uses of language to theorize it and economic agent’s uses of language to express it, can clarify three main issues (and their connections), underlying the behavioral versus standard economics debates: the issue of the theoretical unification regarding the three dimensions of economic rationality, the issue of interdisciplinarity between economics and Psychology and the positive/normative issue within models of individual behaviors. Regarding the positive/normative issue and the role of language in the behaviors of economic agents, the intention is to provide a constructive criticism of contributions from behavioral as well as standard economists. Following the entanglement thesis of philosopher Hilary Puntam and philosophers-economists Vivian Walsh and Amartya Sen, it is argued that both standard and behavioral economists propose an unsatisfying articulation between the positive and normative dimensions of models of individual behaviors; and that recognizing the entanglement of facts, values and conventions can actually be theoretically and empirically fruitful. Paying some attention to the role of language in the behaviors of economic agents may sometimes show that a seemingly irrational behavior can in fact be defended as rational; hence we argue that, and show how, the implicit axiom -- known as ‘description invariance’ -- in standard models of individual behaviors preventing the influence of language needs to be weakened (though not dropped entirely), contrary to the positions of most behavioral and standard economists.

Worldwide, young drivers are involved in more road traffic collisions than any other age group (Taubman & Katz, 2012). Comprehensive driver training and various forms of pre- and- post-test road safety interventions (RSIs) are in place, but young drivers continue to be involved in more at-fault, fatal collisions than older, newly qualified drivers (e.g. Emmerson, 2008; Braitman et al, 2008; Clarke et al, 2010). The evidence base to date is mixed regarding why young drivers are at a heightened risk of collision and so this thesis aims to provide further understanding about the factors underpinning young drivers’ engagement in risky driving. An evaluation of a young driver RSI, found that young males were less likely than young females to report safer attitudes and intentions after attending the RSI. We considered that this may be due to young males’ behaviour being motivated by a desire to seek rewards (e.g. the thrill of risky driving) rather than a fear of punishment which forms the basis of traditional RSIs. Two subsequent studies were conducted to ascertain whether a heightened sensitivity to reward might underpin the risk-taking behaviour of those most at risk. We found that young males and females scoring high on reward sensitivity reported engaging in more road traffic violations and displayed slower reaction times on a driving game; suggesting that young people may have a heightened sensitivity to reward, in general, and concurrently tend to accept a higher degree of risk than other drivers. We also found that reward sensitive young drivers rated road safety messages framed in terms of financial gains as most effective, suggesting that financial incentives may be a potential route to engage young drivers in the future. The findings from another study provided insight into the precise mechanisms at play in the relationship between young drivers and their peer passengers, and the evaluation of the pilot peer-to-peer RSI showed how it might be possible to improve young drivers’ intentions to drive safely by modifying the norm that risky driving is an appropriate way to attain social prestige within a peer group. The thesis offers a significant contribution to the literature by establishing empirically the effect of reward sensitivity on young drivers’ engagement in risky driving and suggesting multiple ways to better improve young drivers’ safety in the future.

Lymphoedema is a chronic health condition characterized by the accumulation of lymphatic fluid in the subcutaneous tissues resulting in arm swelling and can significantly affect physical and psychological health and QOL. Although significant research on lymphoedema has developed over the past decade, the literature reveals that there are gaps in knowledge on framing the illness, communication, and effective practices to improve the QOL for individuals living with lymphoedema. This research contributes to this growing field of research through a qualitative investigation of twelve women's reported understandings, experiences, and perceptions of lymphoedema using Brown’s (1995) theory of framing disease and illness. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with women living with lymphoedema to determine the impact of health messaging, to explore the ways in which these women made sense of conflicting messages on exercise, and to better understand how barriers to the effective adoption and integration of good management practices can be overcome.