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<p> In contrast to the fast-paced changes and lifestyle that are endemic to modem, secular society, the Old Order Mennonites live a simple, religious life and aim to keep it that way by mediating change. How they are actively able to preserve their culture is the focus of this dissertation. The Old Order Mennonite community of Waterloo Region in southwestern Ontario, Canada served as the case study for understanding the minded aspects of social change and continuity. Fourteen in-depth, qualitative interviews were held with current and former Old Order Mennonites. A further five interviews were conducted with public school teachers and principals. Two interviews with health care providers and four interviews with members of more liberal Mennonite churches were also carried out. These additional interviews offered perspectives on the dynamics of Old Order Mennonite to non Mennonite interaction and provided general background data on the Old Order way of life. Participant-observation in participants' homes, workplaces, schools, and churches was also undertaken. </p> <p> Building on Barth's (1969) notion of social boundary maintenance and working from an interactionist perspective on social change, I argue that the key ways in which the Old Order manage change revolve around: (a) social distancing through isolation (e.g., farming, separate schooling) and insulation (e.g., technological barriers such as the continued use of the horse and buggy, distinct language, and conservative dress); (b) taking a "prescribed" approach to change such that the group's leaders control and dictate change through the Ordnung (church rules) and manage both internal issues (e.g., problems with youth) and external threats to continuity (e.g., a turbulent farm industry); and, (c) constructing and maintaining an ideology which reinforces the Old Order way of life as sacred and worthy of preservation. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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The purpose of this study is (1) to determine the need for a creative program of interaction among the various community agencies, and (2) to determine the sound processes to be used in bringing about desirable social change through interaction among the agencies. Improving social conditions that affect the welfare of youth in the community is the primary concern of this study.

As China is undergoing a great social transformation, urbanization has brought millions of domestic migrants into Beijing. After the 2008 Olympics, long term Beijingers have started to express their hostility against the overwhelming population of domestic migrants. This thesis seeks to enlarge our understanding of the nature and dynamics of this local hostility in Beijing, as a case study of the construction of prejudice that results from social change. It is illustrated under a combined framework of Durkheim’s theories of social change and anomie, Allport’s theorizing about prejudice, and Elias’s writings on insiders and outsiders. In order to answer how and why local hostility happened recently in Beijing, I located my ethnographic research on a grassroots organization consisting of long term Beijingers. There are three main findings. First, social change provides the invention of new traditions and norms that long term Beijingers were able to adopt before migrants came and had the chance to get settled. This enabled long term Beijingers to express their hostility by claiming that the migrants were “uncivilized”. Second, urbanization and a series of urban reforms not only brought migrants into the city, but also disturbed the existing lifestyles of the long term Beijingers and made them feel relatively deprived. Nostalgic sentiments aroused among long term Beijingers blamed outsiders for their perceived deprivation. Thirdly, the civic participation that the grassroots organization encouraged did not significantly reduce their prejudice against outsiders. Instead, local hostility was veiled by active participation and was believed to be legitimate because of the support of the local power structure, the mainstream media, and by other government policies.