Thesis (M. S.)--Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. / Dr. Willie J. Belton, Jr., Committee Member ; Dr. Maurizio Iacopetta, Committee Member ; Dr. Rehim Kilic, Committee Chair.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 273-283). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 18, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 196-203).

In late 20th century America, multiculturalism emerged as a doctrine of equal respect and a popular ideological framework for resolving intergroup relations. Despite its dramatic presence, many sociologists conclude that the rather vigorous and often contentious academic inquiries into multiculturalism left us without a solid understanding of its significance. In this dissertation I examine survey and personal interview data to more clearly identify patterns of ideological support for multiculturalism or assimilation in the U.S. public and to isolate the motivations for their preferences. Findings based on the survey data indicate that, despite multiculturalism's symbol appeal, it does not seem to guide preferences in favor of or opposition to assimilation/multiculturalism among members of most groups. According to the quantitative data, support for intermarriage is one of the few variables that positively correlates with preferences for assimilation. The interview data indicate a strong tendency among many participants to conflate the meaning of multiculturalism and assimilation. Despite their stated aspirations, many self-identified multiculturalists do not favor cultural pluralism. Apparently a significant number of the interview participants use a synthesis of multiculturalism and assimilation to frame their preferences for social convergence within an assimilationist paradigm - a perspective that only marginally resembles multiculturalism's doctrine of equal respect. Contrary to the extant literature, patterns of support for multiculturalism among the interview participants indicate racial and ethnic cleavages and these patterns correspond to the U.S. social hierarchy. Because racial and ethnic meanings infused the multiculturalism debate with its energy, it is plausible that the subtleties of racial discourse mask common aspirations among racial and ethnic group members. In the last chapter, I employ Alba and Nee's recent theoretical reformulation of the concept of assimilation to explicate the findings of this dissertation.

In the current environment of increasing cultural diversity, it appears vital that music therapists are trained to understand the issues involved in working with clients from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this study was to examine professional music therapists' knowledge of and attitudes toward relevant multicultural issues. The study attempted to answer the question of whether there is in fact a need for multicultural training for music therapists, and if so, in what areas. A survey designed by the author was sent to 500 music therapists across the country, resulting in 298 usable responses. Analysis of the data revealed strong support for the underlying dimensions of multiculturalism, with weaker support for implementation of multicultural policies. Support for multiculturalism was correlated more strongly with attitude than with knowledge subscores. Data were also analyzed by age, gender, ethnicity, geographical location, and level of education. Significant differences in scores were found between respondents in the New England and the South Central regions of the country (p s .05). Significant differences in total and knowledge scores were found between respondents holding a Ph.D. and those with a Bachelor's degree. There were no significant differences between minority and majority culture groups. Females had consistently higher scores than males, but the differences were not significant. Also, with regard to age, results showed an improvement in attitude scores as age group increased. Results showed that 78.2% of respondents support multicultural training for music therapy students.

Cultural diversity in the United States is an issue of concern and organizations must now learn to function effectively with an increasingly diverse workforce. Since the history of U.S. organizations is a history of institutional discrimination against most ethnic and racial groups of people and the privileging of a dominant group, managing workforce diversity now constitutes one of the most difficult and important issues human resource professionals address. This study is concerned with the issues of workforce diversity, most specifically with how organizational members understand and respond to discrimination, and the utilization of this understanding to discuss implications for diversity trainers. The study analyzed data from a workshop questionnaire administered to individuals who participated in a specific organization-wide diversity training program. Self-reported critical incidents were used in gathering data about organizational members' perceptions and understandings around discrimination. An analysis of short answer self-reported responses was conducted, followed by a analysis of themes by age, ethnicity and gender. Emergent themes suggest that most organizational members encountered discriminatory incidents in the context of ongoing relationships, suggesting that it would be important for members to consider their responses in light of future consequences for the relationship. Since there are power dimensions inherent in many situations and there is a dominant cultural perception that conflict is destructive to relationships, responding to discriminatory situations may be perceived as a very high risk behavior. Many participants had difficulty responding assertively at the time of the incident and reported feeling uncomfortable, angry, hurt, embarrassed or sad about the incident. Even after thinking about it, most were still limited in their ability to think of alternative responses. Since most discriminatory incidents occurred in the context of ongoing relationships, diversity trainers and organizations may need to include a discussion of the power dimensions involved in addressing discrimination as well as address the overall U.S. cultural perception that conflict can only damage relationships. Diversity trainers as well as organizations may want to help their members frame conflict as opportunity for relationship development and discriminatory incidents as opportunity for learning.

The purpose of this study was to investigate cultural diversity training practices and to determine the deterrence factors associated instituting cultural diversity training. It attempted to measure the overall effectiveness of cultural diversity training in franchise restaurants. A total of 300 franchise restaurants were surveyed. Three practicing and fifty-eight non-practicing cultural diversity training companies participated in the study. The findings indicated that high turnover rates of employees were the most important deterrence factor in developing and using cultural diversity training programs in the franchise restaurants studied .. Respondents reported that such training was more successful in improving interpersonal skills for cross-cultural interactions than in enhancing performance of inter-cultural job tasks and decreasing perceptions and attitudes about culturally diverse people. / Master of Science