This thesis explores thirty-two individuals?? experiences of involvement in Siddha Yoga. Such groups have often been labelled as cults and accused of ??brainwashing?? their followers. The conceptualisation of affiliation as brainwashing has been influential within the helping professions, including psychology, counselling and social work. However, this conceptualisation is not supported by empirical research on cults, or what have become known as New Religious Movements (NRMs). The research problem which this thesis addresses therefore is: ??If a brainwashing model of affiliation does not give an adequate explanation for cult/NRM involvement how else might it be understood??? A primary objective of this study was to inform the helping professions, in particular social work. A secondary objective was to add to knowledge about Siddha Yoga Practice in Australia, which no other study had addressed, and thereby to add to the growing understanding of NRMs in Australia. The study applied a qualitative research framework, informed by grounded theory, ethnography and phenomenology and used a purposive sampling technique. Materials were collected by semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observations and field notes, and analysed with the assistance of NVivo data analysis computer software. This study found that the conceptualisation of affiliation as brainwashing fails to account for the variety of individuals?? experiences of involvement in Siddha Yoga. Moreover, the findings highlight that involvement in regard to attraction, affiliation and disenchantment is not helpfully understood by adopting a ??brainwashing?? model and could be better understood through the lens of the sociology of religion, including studies of the experiences of those in mainstream religions. One implication of the findings for social work and other helping professions is that existing approaches to interpersonal helping could be used with individuals who seek assistance after leaving a NRM. For social work, this thesis also adds to the growing knowledge of the diverse religious orientations in the wider community. Such knowledge can enhance social work education, practice and theory in relation to social work??s diverse client population.

In this thesis I explore the significance of the publication of Betty Friedan�s The Feminine Mystique (1963) to the emergence of the second wave Women�s Liberation Movement in the US in the late 1960s. To this end, I deploy key concepts provided through social movement theory (eg collective identity, collective action frames, social problem construction). I also incorporate Max Weber and Antonio Gramsci�s insights on the indispensable role played by leaders who demonstrate a clear and effective political will. Weber�s three part model of pure charisma is used as a general template for understanding the impact of Friedan�s text. I critique aspects of Weber�s theory of charisma, in particular his failure to appreciate that the written word can mark the initial emergence phase of charisma rather than its routinisation. I augment Weber�s insights on charismatic leadership by attending to Gramsci�s emphasis on the necessity of winning the �war of ideas� that must be waged at the level of civil society within advanced capitalist societies. I examine Gramsci�s understanding of the power available to the organic intellectual who is aligned with the interests of subaltern groups and who succeeds in revealing the hegemonic commitments of accepted �common sense�. In the latter part of this thesis, I apply these many useful concepts to my case study analysis of Betty Friedan�s The Feminine Mystique. I argue that Friedan�s accessible, middlebrow text gave birth to a new discursive politics which was critically important not only for older women, but for a younger generation of more radicalised women. I emphasise how Friedan�s text mounted a concerted attack on the discursive construction of femininity under patriarchal capitalism. I question Friedan�s diagnostic claim that the problems American women faced were adequately captured by the terminology of the trapped housewife syndrome. I conclude by arguing that social movement researchers have to date failed to appreciate the leadership potential of the charismatic author-leader who succeeds in addressing and offering a solution to a pressing social problem through the medium of a best-selling, middlebrow text.

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Chemistry, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1983. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 728-748).

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-50).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of New York, 2003. / UMI Number: 3083662. Advisor: Louis Masur, Graduate Faculty in History, City University of New York. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 76-81)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Drexel University, 2007. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-171).

The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the impact that historical (and cultural) contexts have on the production of theories and concepts. In specific, I am interested in the relationship between historical and cultural contexts and the production of theoretical knowledge. I define historical periods in theory as modernist and an "after-modern" context, which comprises poststructuralism, postmodernism and post-Marxism. My case is the life and work of Antonio Gramsci; a "classical theorist" whose work remains salient across the social sciences and humanities. I hypothesize that in order to understand the historiography of knowledge in the social sciences, from the classical period to the present, significant points of "departure" in theory (e.g. Gramsci, Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism) need to be viewed contextually. By extension, a better way to fully understand Gramsci's insights, and their endurance, for the study of race, sexuality, culture and politics is to situate his methodology, theories, and concepts historically. In the dissertation propose two ways to test this hypothesis: 1. I provide an historically grounded interpretation of Gramsci's political thinking (a orienting place for much of Gramsci's thought) which includes, for example, changes in his perspective about the strategic role of specific political groups, e.g. social movement organizations, in achieving political goals; 2. I embed his theoretical and conceptual framework within the theoretical discourses prevalent during his time, which would include, for example, the rise and predominance of Italian positivist criminology as a racial discourse. I also hypothesize that in this case, such an interpretation is necessary to fully and accurately understand the potential contribution of Gramsci's theoretical framework to contemporary theoretical discourses in both the social sciences and humanities-based disciplines. This dissertation is organized around the following sets of questions. My originating question, which establishes the analytical framework for the dissertation, is: What impact does historical (and cultural) contexts have on the production of theories and concepts? As it pertains to my specific case, the life and work of Antonio Gramsci, I sharpen the point by asking: In the context of the originating research question, In what ways have the historical (and cultural) contexts effected the production of theories and concepts in Gramsci's work? This dissertation represents a contribution to the sociology of ideas as well as to classical theory by providing a new lens through which to look at the early contributions of sociological knowledge. Further, each individual section?which represents explorations of specific theoretical rubrics?may lead to contributions within these distinct areas.

Vision is important for the control of upper limb movements (Woodworth, 1899). How and when vision is used during a limb movement continues to be debated. In this thesis, I examined the use of visual feedback as a function of retinal limb position. Individuals made rapid upper limb aiming movements to a target location and vision was provided when the limb was at varying degrees of retinal eccentricity. The temporal characteristics, endpoint accuracy and precision, as well as the spatial variability of the limb trajectories were recorded and analyzed. No relationship was observed between retinal limb positions and the use of visual feedback during the movements. These results suggest that the use of vision during limb movements is not directly tied to the neuroanatomy of the eye and challenges continuous models of upper limb control.