Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4307. Adviser: Peter Fritzsche. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 241-255) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

This thesis focuses on Litchurch, the railway suburb of Derby, the headquarters of the Midland Railway Company and its workforce, during the period 1840-1900, It examines the consequences of factory paternalism and company loyalty for the construction of 'community', exploring the connections between work, family, and wider social and political life. It begins by looking at Derby as a county town where an early alliance between Whigs and Liberals resulted in the political dominance of the town by a group of Liberal-radical textile manufacturers as a form of extended factory village. There is then a discussion of railway paternalism which investigates the many differences between the family firm and the corporate railway company. The relationship between the railways and the state is examined, through the twin theorization of the railway within the state-intrinsic to national integrity and as a state in microcosm- a form of space management derived from military and civil government. The role of Derby as headquarters of the M.R.is then considered: its decision making and service function; the technological mix of productive techniques; and the distinctive relationship between public and private space. A model of company loyalty based on the experience of the physical and organizational space of the railway company is developed through the notions of the career and the appropriation to the self of organisational space, the 'bailiwick'. The spatial and social structure of Litchurch is examined and its marriage and residence patterns. In the discussion of social institutions, churches, recreation and self-help, the tensions are explored between vertical integration and horizontal stratification which are intrinsic to corporate culture. The extent and limits of collective action in terms of local and national consciousness are then considered. A model of community is then proposed, founded on the routine practices of everyday life, which recognises the multiplicity of motivations and experiences subsumed within the symbolic affirmations of collective solidarity. It concludes with an examination of the antagonism between the county town of Derby, with its history and expectations of paternal intervention, and the corporate Midland Railway 1 which was economically, socially and politically independent of local systems.

O tema da investigação trata da presença estrangeira no desenvolvimento das Ciências Sociais no Brasil, entre as décadas de 1930 e 1950 tendo como fio condutor a atuação profissional e intelectual de Donald Pierson nos Estados Unidos e em dois momentos no Brasil, durante o desenvolvimento de sua pesquisa sobre relações raciais na Bahia e o período de atuação como professor na Escola Livre de Sociologia e Política de São Paulo. Esta pesquisa é desenvolvida no interior da área de história das ciências sociais com foco no momento de institucionalização das universidades brasileiras e projetos de instituições estrangeiras como a Fundação Rockefeller e a Smithsonian Institution. / The theme of this research is the foreign presence in the development of the Social Sciences in Brazil, between the decades of 1930 and 1950, having as guide line the professional performance and intellectual production of Donald Pierson in the United States and Brazil, between the development of his research on racial relation in Bahia and the period of his work as professor at the Free School of Sociology and Political Science of São Paulo. This research is developed within the area of Social Sciences History, and the focus is the moment of institutionalization of the Brazilian Universities and projects of foreign institutions such as Rockefeller Foundation and Smithsonian Institution.

<p> This thesis explores how the Haliwa-Saponi Indians Halifax and Warren County, North Carolina, challenged the Jim Crow black-white racial classification system between the 1940s and 1960s. To seek political autonomy the Indians worked with and against the dominant strategies of the civil rights movement. The Indians strategically developed Indian-only political and social institutions such as the Haliwa Indian Club, Haliwa Indian School, and Mount Bethel Indian Baptist Church by collaborating with Indians and whites alike. Internal political disagreement led to this diversity of political strategies after 1954, when school desegregation became an issue throughout the nation. One faction of Meadows Indians embraced a racial identity as "colored" and worked within the existing black-white political and institutional system, while another group eschewed the "colored" designation and, when necessary, asserted a separate political identity as Indians; as such, they empowered themselves to take advantage of the segregated status quo.</p>

<p> Hawai`i's ranching community grew out of indigenous attempts to manage European livestock introduced by explorers and merchants in the late 1700s. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the ranch workforce became increasingly multiethnic with the inclusion of Asian contract laborers and their descendants. This dissertation examines the origins and development of the ranching community to understand the underlying social forces that encouraged the incorporation of immigrants into its ranks. Hawai`i has long been considered a "social laboratory" for studying interethnic relations, and models of assimilation, acculturation, and creolization have been used to describe its multicultural population, but these models inadequately characterize and explain Hawai`i's ranching community. Rather than apply these models uncritically to describe the community's ethnogenesis, this dissertation proposes that a metaphor derived from the Hawaiian concept of <i>pili</i>, roughly "connection" in English, provides a contextualized explanatory framework appropriate to its Hawaiian linguistic, geographic, and cultural origins. <i>Pili </i> describes the ethnogenesis of the ranching community as the formation and reinforcement of kin- and kin-like connections among existing community members and newcomers. Using documentary and archaeological evidence of a century of ranching at Laumai`a on Hawai`i Island, I frame this process as one informed by tensions between two modes of capitalism used on the ranch: on the one hand, an indigenized capitalism that included Hawaiian genealogical and social connections in its management strategies, and on the other, an EuroAmerican form that emphasized profit and efficiency over human connection. These strategies structured the negotiations of identity among ranch workers that transformed transnationals into community members who contributed to a hybrid culture that, paradoxically, remains uniquely Hawaiian.</p>

<p> This qualitative study investigated the information culture and beliefs within two United Church of Christ congregations in Northeast Ohio. One congregation was Open and Affirming (ONA), and one congregation was not. ONA refers to a congregation's decision to be listed as a place where LGBT individuals&mdash;in particular&mdash;are welcomed and accepted. Using a purposive sampling technique, 8 focus groups of 4-8 participants each were asked to discuss content derived from three research question areas: participant beliefs, information that participants used to inform these beliefs, and how this information was used.</p><p> Analysis found that both congregations espoused the superiority of their beliefs about inclusivity, thus creating a paradox whereby their inclusivity involved excluding beliefs of exclusion. Because the ONA congregation preferred a personal expression of belief, they were more comfortable with the potential divisions caused by this paradox than the non-ONA congregation, which preferred a communal expression of belief. </p><p> Analysis also found that most participants relied heavily and placed great authority in information from internal sources, e.g., prayer, meditation, and emotion. The ONA congregation reflected the presence of more unique information, indicating that they approached the Bible and other common religious information critically and with more freedom to come to different conclusions than fundamentalists and biblical literalists. </p><p> Despite these differences in belief expression and information type, the analysis found that both groups showed evidence of Chatman's Small Worlds theory. First, participants showed evidence of unmet information needs. Many lacked confidence in the ability to articulate personal beliefs. Second, participants noted the presence of long-term attendees who determined the relevancy of incoming information. Finally, participants tended to guard against disclosing information about personal problems to other congregants, preferring to anonymously seek out answers. </p><p> The research highlights the social nature of belief formation and the impact of religious tradition, pastoral sermons, and external information on these beliefs. It contains important implications for pluralistic communication and the social nature of organizational legitimization. It extends the literature on belief formation and information science by developing mid-range theories about the processes by which individuals in religious communities use information to form beliefs.</p>

<p> This dissertation explores the concerns and discussions about lessons of Irish identity for the children of Irish immigrants in mid to late nineteenth-century New York and New England. The author argues that there were recurrent efforts to maintain Irish identity by ensuring the young would understand their Irish and Catholic heritage and that adults often based this identity on the themes of Irish nationalism. Yet Irish-Americans understood that they had to demonstrate Irish loyalty to the United States, so they attempted to blend Irish and American identities in their progeny, articulating an early vision of cultural pluralism for American society. This research contributes to understandings of the invention of ethnicity and ethnic endurance in the United States and how immigrants use conceptions of the meaning of "American" with their national backgrounds as they create identities for their descendants. This dissertation also illuminates the importance of children and ideas about childhood to the development of ethnicity in the United States. But it also has broader meanings for the ways in which religion, ethnicity, and nationality affect the transition of immigrant progeny from the world of their parents to that of the United States and how the children of immigrants eventually become American ethnic groups.</p>

O tema da investigação trata da presença estrangeira no desenvolvimento das Ciências Sociais no Brasil, entre as décadas de 1930 e 1950 tendo como fio condutor a atuação profissional e intelectual de Donald Pierson nos Estados Unidos e em dois momentos no Brasil, durante o desenvolvimento de sua pesquisa sobre relações raciais na Bahia e o período de atuação como professor na Escola Livre de Sociologia e Política de São Paulo. Esta pesquisa é desenvolvida no interior da área de história das ciências sociais com foco no momento de institucionalização das universidades brasileiras e projetos de instituições estrangeiras como a Fundação Rockefeller e a Smithsonian Institution. / The theme of this research is the foreign presence in the development of the Social Sciences in Brazil, between the decades of 1930 and 1950, having as guide line the professional performance and intellectual production of Donald Pierson in the United States and Brazil, between the development of his research on racial relation in Bahia and the period of his work as professor at the Free School of Sociology and Political Science of São Paulo. This research is developed within the area of Social Sciences History, and the focus is the moment of institutionalization of the Brazilian Universities and projects of foreign institutions such as Rockefeller Foundation and Smithsonian Institution.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which minority students in the Peralta Community College District in California, specifically, Merritt College have succeeded in gaining access to Merritt College and whether Merritt is providing needed remedial and other pertinent services/programs, necessary for the success of minority students enrolled in the institution. Merritt College in the Peralta Community College District was selected for this study because the Peralta District has a reputation for providing quality education along with innovative programs. A survey was designed in an attempt to ascertain students' perceptions of the importance and satisfaction with remedial and supportive services/programs that were available at Merritt College. The Statistical Package for the Social Science Computer Program was used to calculate FREQUENCIES, CROSSTABS and CHI SQUARES. The findings indicate that the majority of students felt open admission was very important or important in assisting students in accomplishing their goals. The findings also revealed that students felt that supportive services were important in community colleges. It was also indicated that students felt that it was important to have minority representation on the faculty and staff. The findings revealed that students were satisfied with the supportive services/programs and related work experience or internship programs at Merritt College.

<p> This thesis looks at over 3,000 inscriptions of unmarried daughters, under the age of 20, during the Roman Empire. It discusses the formulaic ways in which daughters were described on their tombstones based on their age and the Roman virtues valued at the time. It primarily focuses on descriptors, superlatives used, the dedicators who commissioned the work, girls who died before their wedding, and ages of girls which have excesses in the months or days she lived as inscribed on her epitaph.</p>