Beginning in the early 1990s and continuing through today, emerging Latino destinations such as Knoxville, Tennessee experienced tremendous growth in their population of Latina/o immigrants. Given that our traditional theories of immigrant adjustment address the formation of social networks exclusively in established immigrant gateways, and primarily based on observations of men, there is no reason to assume that Latina/o immigrants in emerging destinations build networks in similar ways as those in established destinations. This thesis first explores why some immigrants choose to migrate to Knoxville, Tennessee. Second, this thesis explores the extent to which the dominant theoretical frameworks of immigrant adjustment – specifically bounded solidarity and enforceable trust – speak to the behaviors of immigrants in one emerging Latino destination as they develop new networks of support. Third, by incorporating the voices of female immigrants alongside those of male immigrants, this thesis presents a gendered perspective on the creation of social networks. This thesis builds on previous research of immigrant support networks by examining how two largely understudied groups of immigrants – women and those in non-traditional gateways – adjust to life in the United States.

The deteriorating societal conditions that have accompanied the implementation of the neoliberal model in Latin America have been well documented. This analysis draws heavily on this work to identify the emergence of de-industrialization, displacement of food production, exclusion of basic human services, and excessive unemployment following the application of neoliberal reform. Such ill effects have ushered in a strong anti-neoliberal current that has opened up new spaces for discussion and debate about alternative development models for the region. Perhaps the most radical alternative to emerge is the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). ALBA’s architects have been explicit in their denunciation of neoliberalism and insist that ALBA is an alternative that has been designed to rectify the ills associated with neoliberal reform. The following analysis examines ALBA as an alternative idea and practice of development. The following analysis examines the ways in which ALBA is formulated as an abstract alternative to neoliberalism and highlights the concrete policies and projects that distinguish it from the defining aspects of the neoliberal model.

This study examines how the national policy climate affects individual driving behavior in the European Union. Using secondary data from the International Social Survey Program: Environment II 2000 in conjunction with national scores from the 2001 and 2002 Environmental Sustainability Indexes, I analyze the relationship between three macro-level predictors and the reduction of individual car driving. My results indicate that the national environmental policy climate positively relates with the likelihood of individuals driving less. Further individual’s likelihood to reduce car driving is significantly affected by the individual’s type of employment, education level, family income level, gender, age, and concerns toward the danger of air pollution for the environment and the respondent. Variables measuring respondent urbanicity, religiosity, and union/marriage status do not significantly affect individual driving behavior.

Marx considered his theory of the falling rate of profit to be one of the most important discoveries in the field of political economy. According to Marx’s theory, productivity increases put downward pressure on prices and hence profits. Recurrent crises of capital devaluation are both the consequence and solution to this pressure, aggravating the loss of profits initially, but enabling the pursuit of profits via accumulation to once again ensue. Marx’s argument, however, has been the subject of intense dispute for over a century. His critics charge that Marx’s thesis is not only improbable but impossible. This study is an attempt at arbitration of this dispute, inspired by recent quantitative reinterpretations of Marx’s critique of political economy. In the interest of providing a detailed review of the theoretical and empirical literature surrounding this issue, I specifically address the debate about the “transformation” of values into prices. Resolving this issue not only removes some a priori objections to Marx’s value theory, it also provides a coherent interpretation of Marx’s falling profit rate thesis. It appears, then, that the alleged refutations of Marx have themselves been refuted. In addition to investigating the logical validity of Marx’s argument, I attempt to ascertain whether and to what extent his argument is supported empirically. I therefore conduct a multivariate time-series regression analysis of various profit rates in the United States. I test several partially competing hypotheses concerning the most important determinants of the profit rate. Most importantly, I operationalize Marx’s concept of value by calculating an aggregate ratio of total price to total labor hours. I find that accelerating value accumulation correlates with a falling rate of profit, which is entirely consistent with Marx’s thesis. Sociology, knowingly or not, has always been the study of modern society. Because of this, I suggest that there are certain core processes at work that are necessary for its reconstitution and which therefore retain a spatial and temporal contiguity. My aim in this study is to help reclaim for sociology the investigation of one of modern society’s most fundamental processes: the accumulation of value.

Substance abuse among women continues to increase; however, relatively few of these women seek addictions treatment. Despite evidence suggesting that addicted women face diverse gender-specific barriers that deter them from seeking treatment and impede successful recovery if they do, few studies have focused on understanding the barriers, how they operate, and how they can be overcome by exploring the experiences and perceptions of substance-dependent women. This study will employ a three-group comparison design to investigate if, and how, the experiences and perceptions of substance-dependent women who overcome treatment barriers differ from those of women who do not. Data will be gathered in in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 30 women who differ by race, ethnicity, and class; 10 will be inpatients in a treatment facility, 10 will be participants in an aftercare program, and 10 will not be in treatment. It is anticipated that the findings will address the crucial gap in extant research regarding the barriers substance-dependent women confront and how these barriers can be surmounted to facilitate successful recovery.

The aim of the present study was to discover whether there is a relationship between locus of control and court attendance. Data were collected from 95 inmates residing in a southern Louisiana jail. It was expected that a person with an internal locus of control would choose to comply with court attendance requirements because of the belief that he may affect the outcome, while another individual with an external locus of control would passively respond through absence because the outcome is believed to be controlled by chance, luck, or fate. The Prison Locus of Control scale was employed to measure the inmates' origin of control. The logistic regression analysis revealed statistically significant relationships in the predicted direction between locus of control and court attendance in two models. The first model also included marital tie, education, and belief in the importance of a court appearance as being significantly associated with court attendance. In the second model, in addition to locus of control, education remained significant and age, race, and two interaction effects also achieve statistical significance.

Much existing research on migration of Mexican women has focused on those who migrate to the United States. However, most Mexican female migrants move within the country. This study asks two interrelated questions: (1) Does education, marital status, and the number of children influence Mexican women's migration status and (2) are there any differences in the way these factors affect internal versus international migration. Data from the Mexican Migration Project (2001) collected during the winter months of 1987-1997 (N=7610) are employed and three models are constructed, where non-migrants serve as the reference category. These models are also used to examine differential effects of these determinants for internal and international migrants. I find that higher educational attainment consistently increases the likelihood of internal migration. Among migrants, having some college education is a strong predictor of internal migration. In addition, being single increases the likelihood of being a migrant. I also find that larger family size decreases the odds of being an international migrant, but it has no such effect on internal migration. I conclude that beneficial returns to increasing educational attainment for women encourage their migration within Mexico, regardless of the number of children. Moreover, the temporary nature of international migration and the pattern of migrating prior to marriage (thus, usually prior to having children) contribute to the different effects of education and number of children on internal and international.

In this dissertation, through the lens of the civic community perspective, I examine the role of nonprofit organizations in enhancing community wellbeing. The primary contribution of this dissertation to existing literature on civic communities is the theoretical development of the concept of civically engaging institutions. I take a multifaceted approach to the understanding and investigation of civically engaged institutions, in which I expand the concept beyond civic congregations and associations, to include all organizations categorized as nonprofit. Synthesizing literatures on nonprofit organizations and civic communities, I argue that nonprofits can be considered locally oriented and civically engaged as they are economically embedded in locales and dependent on local populations as sources of volunteers and labor and as consumers for services; they often are exclusively local and/or tailor their services to local populations; they often are oriented towards the public good; and they are often sites and sources of association and civic activities. This dissertation also contributes to civic community scholarship through the investigation of nonprofits as civic institutions; I examine how the size of local nonprofit sectors is related to community wellbeing. Also, believing that different types of nonprofits offer potentially unique benefits to locales, I examine how local wellbeing is related to the composition of local nonprofit sectors in terms of organizational diversity organizational evenness, and organizational concentration. I examine these relationships using three analytic models, which explore three components of wellbeing on which past research has found civic institutions to have a positive effect these are local economic wellbeing, safety, and health. Though findings both support and negate my hypothesized relationships, results demonstrate that nonprofit sector structure is a significant determinant of local quality of life.

The Sweet Grass Hills of north-central Montana are part of the four Tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacys traditional territory and play a vital role in perpetuating Blackfeet culture. The Blackfeet Tribe of Montana was forced to sell the Sweet Grass Hills to the federal government in 1888 after the decimation of bison populations. In 1992, the first large-scale corporate mining proposal in the Sweet Grass Hills was proposed by Lehmann and Associates and Manhattan Mineral, Ltd. In response to public outcries, environmental impact statements were issued by the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that manages the area, and Secretary of Interior Babbitt closed the Sweet Grass Hills to mineral entry through Public Land Order 7254 from 1997 to 2017. To assess how the Blackfeet Tribe and other stakeholders have attempted to influence stewardship of the Sweet Grass Hills from 1985-present, I engage a discourse analysis of public documents and informant interviews. Post-structuralism and standpoint theory frameworks are used for analysis. I found that Blackfeet Indians succeeded in influencing stewardship of the Sweet Grass Hills through sharing of cultural information, which has been part of a burden of proof to demonstrate their traditional ties to the Sweet Grass Hills to the dominant society. However, Blackfeet Indians failed to influence stewardship of the area through legal means because American Indian religious and cultural are subjugated, which I argue exemplifies institutional discrimination against Blackfeet Indians. Blackfeet Indians group identity politics were weakened because Canadian Blackfeet were excluded from consultation processes. Non-Native American residents living near the Sweet Grass Hills emphasized protecting their private property rights which decreased their support for Blackfeet influence over the area. The establishment of a Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Officer in 2004 increased the potential for Blackfeet Indians influence of stewardship in the area, but there is ambivalent evidence that consultations with the Office have been effective in affording Blackfeet power. With several years left before Order 7254 expires, assessment of discrimination against and political opportunities for the Blackfoot Confederacy is necessary before their culture and the Sweet Grass Hills landscape once again become vulnerable to mining in 2017.

This qualitative study examines the ways in which educators interpret and respond to government interventions in public schools. I conducted semi-structured interviews with eleven teachers and two principals at two public high schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana . By comparing the perceptions of educators at a low-performing school (which serves high percentages of minority and low-income students) with perceptions of educators at a high-performing school (which serves fewer numbers of minority and low-income students), this study demonstrates how an educators sense of autonomy relates to students socioeconomic backgrounds. Findings show that educators, who work in schools with high numbers of poor students and students of color, are deeply frustrated by their own powerlessness. These educators are also angered by what they believe is an unfair system that rewards educators who work in high-performing, high socioeconomic schools, and punishes those who work in far more challenging environments.