This thesis applies T.M. Scanlon's version of contractualism to the problem of future generations. I begin by analyzing Rawls' contractarian account of just savings and find that there is no plausible composition of the original position that can deal with the inclusion of future people. I then examine Scanlon's contractualism and some objections to it before moving on to applying it to future people. I argue that the disanalogies between the intra- and inter-generational contexts do not preclude including future people in the contractualist framework, and that the theory avoids the non-identity problem. Part II of the thesis applies contractualism to three intergenerational topics and develops principles governing them: resource conservation, procreation, and population size. To conclude, I address how to deal with the fact that, in the case of future generations, we often have imperfect knowledge of what they will need, how our actions will affect them, and how many of them there will be.

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<p>Education provides people with material, social, and cognitive resources which can bolster well-being, and a growing body of literature documents a positive association between adult children’s education and older parents’ health. Although researchers have begun to explore mechanisms which underlie and shape this association, few studies have considered the role of family context. Guided by the social foreground perspective, the central aims of this dissertation are to investigate: (1) whether adult children’s problems account for the relationship between adult children’s education and mothers’ depression and (2) whether the size of the association between adult children’s education and mothers’ depression varies between married and widowed mothers. To answer these questions, I utilize mediation and moderation techniques and data collected as part of the Within-Family Differences Study. Consistent with past work, I found that mothers with children who completed more education reported fewer depressive symptoms. In the first substantive chapter, mediation analyses suggested that this relationship was mediated by the proportion of adult children who have experienced physical and emotional problems in the last five years. Consistent with the life course perspective and cumulative inequality theory, these results highlight the ways in which (dis)advantages that impact health accumulate both across age and across generations. In the second substantive chapter, moderation analyses revealed that the association between adult children’s education and mothers’ psychological well-being was weaker among widowed mothers. I innovatively argue that these results are consistent with principles of socioemotional selectivity theory. Taken together, the results from these two chapters illuminate the importance of considering family context when studying the intergenerational implications of education for health. In addition, by augmenting our understanding of how and under what conditions adult children’s education matters for mothers’ psychological well-being, my results offer important insights for stakeholders invested in improving the psychological well-being of older adults.</p>

Fictive kinship is a relationship characterized by use of kin terms in addressing persons who are not genealogical relatives. The objective of this study was to clarify the discrepancy between a theoretical perspective of fictive kinship as a form of substitutive kinship in a complex, urban society, and research which indicated that fictive kinship may be characteristic of a more stable society. The sample selected for research consisted of 115 wives randomly selected from a population comprising the faculty employed at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. When generalized to an upper-middle-class, white, Protestant population, then was no substantiation for either the theoretical perspective of substitutive kinship in a complex, urban milieu, or the previous findings which suggested that fictive kin relationships were characteristic of a more stable environment. However, respondents from small families of orientation used fictive kin terms significantly more than other respondents. Intergenerational patterns of usage were also apparent. Descriptive data indicated the terms were most often used during childhood and were generally initiated by parents for their personal friends. The relationship involved appears to be one between two non-users, while a third party is encouraged to use the fictive terminology as validation of that relationship. Interpretation of the data gives rise to the suggestion that fictive kinship may be a misnomer, because the terms seem indicative of primary group associations rather than kin ties. / M.S.

Yan Chau Wai Elsie. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-90). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / LIST OF TABLES --- p.i / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.iii / ABSTRACT --- p.iv / CHAPTERS / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- Method --- p.17 / Chapter 3. --- Results --- p.25 / Chapter 4. --- Discussions --- p.75 / REFERENCES --- p.85

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / The world over, South Africa included, companies are beginning to realise that while success is measured in terms of profits and shareholder return, people and in particular, talented people drive and deliver that success. With this realisation has begun the war for talent, whereby companies now compete with each other for the best people in the pool, knowing that these talented individuals will drive sustainable success both in business ventures and over competitors in the marketplace. With this swiftly becoming the status quo, the strategic role played by human resources (HR) becomes integral to organisational success as a major facet of company strategy now needs to focus on human capital and talent management strategies in order to attract and retain the best talent to deliver business success. With Generation Y professionals entering the workforce by the masses, companies and their HR departments swiftly need to identify effective ways to best engage with Generation Y employees. As Generation Y is the only growing generational population in the current workforces of employers, the need to develop strategies, procedures and policies to address their career needs, desires and wants is becoming increasingly crucial. Companies seeking to be sustainably successful in the long-term need to begin to identify what will need to be incorporated into their current practices to appeal to Generation Y in order to motivate, attract and retain Generation Y talented professionals. While Companies acknowledge that talent is a major driver of business success and sustainability, this acknowledgment does not automatically lead to the development of strategies focused on facilitating Generation Y as the main population in the workforce. Currently little research and literature exists regarding Generation Y career needs and wants. Compounding this is the fact that many companies design and implement HR strategies aimed to address the career needs and wants of older Generations, who are either already exiting or beginning to exit the workforce

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify and compare differences in leadership behaviors of senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) based on their generational cohort (Baby Boomer, Generation X, Millennial). The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to measure nine leadership behaviors and three leadership outcomes. Surveys were administered electronically to 3,361 individuals identified as a chief student affairs officer or director of student affairs in the Higher Education Online Directory (2014). The 449 respondents included 246 Baby Boomers, 192 Generation Xers, and 11 Millennials. Due to an uneven sample size, the Millennial group was removed from the data analysis. The total respondents consisted of 215 male and 219 female SSAOs with 260 employed at four-year private institutions and 170 employed at four-year public institutions. A MANOVA was utilized to determine whether or not statistical differences existed between the nine dependent variables (leadership behaviors) and independent group variables (generational group). The findings showed that whereas Generation X SSAOs exhibited more transactional leadership behaviors, Baby Boomer SSAOs were more transformational. The results of this study have implications for the field of student affairs in that research and practice support the need for more transformational leaders in senior administrative positions in higher education. If Generation X SSAOs who represent the next generation of administrators are more transactional in their leadership, college presidents and professional associations may need to develop a new, more transformational generation of SSAOs to replace Baby Boomers as they retire.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate Linville's (1982) ingroup-outgroup complexity hypothesis through descriptive card sorts created by young, middle-aged, and older adults regarding their own and other age groups.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / W. R. Goe / This qualitative research explores the relationship between urban amenities and the employment of creative Indian workers using personal interviews conducted with Indian professional workers and their families working and residing in the Kansas City (KC) Metropolitan Area. In addressing the debate of whether creative workers follow jobs or jobs follow creative workers, the findings indicate that the decision of Indian creative workers to locate in the Kansas City metropolitan area was primarily influenced by the availability of job opportunities and had little to do with available amenities. A key finding from this study is that the presence of local amenities central to the lifestyles of American professional workers was more important to Indian professional workers than the availability of ethnic Indian amenities such as Indian grocery stores, restaurants, temples, and the screening of Bollywood movies in local theaters. It was also found that “social” amenities (e.g. participation in ethnic Indian associations and formation of networks with other Indian workers residing in the city) are crucial to the retention of Indian professional workers rather than amenities offered through the market. Further, Indian workers preferred residing in suburbs over inner city neighborhoods because of their strong emphasis on the educational achievement of their children and the presence of better schooling opportunities in the suburbs. While ‘distance from work’ and ‘safety of the neighborhood’ were other amenity considerations shaping the settlement decisions of Indian professionals, the presence of co-ethnics in the neighborhood was not an influential factor. The study revealed that most Bengali professionals considered themselves to be assimilated in United States and they appreciated the fact that they are not forced to forsake any aspects of their ethnic culture in the United States. However, some considered that their hectic work schedule, family responsibilities, and involvement with ethnic Indian associations often inhibit adequate assimilation with Americans outside of work. Furthermore, the research found that most Bengali professionals preferred not to impose career or marital choices on their children. However, most second-generation Bengalis were skeptical of their parents’ overemphasis on academic achievement and interference in their personal lives.