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This dissertation explores learning, community, identity and transformation as these transpire in the situated practices and process of The Performance Project, an artist-facilitated performing group that began in a county jail. Interpretation and discussion respond to the primary philosophical framework of Deweyan pragmatism and to Etienne Wenger's theory of learning, Communities of Practice, which is grounded in the assumption that engagement in social practice is the fundamental process by which people learn and develop a sense of identity. Too, aspects of Performance Theory are employed, as is methodological scaffolding, proposed by ethnographers of communication, that supports an understanding of the ways language and ritual may point to sacred objects and principles around which a community is organized. This dissertation submits a theoretical entity for consideration, “facilitated communities of collaborative, performative, artistic praxis,” proposing a model for pedagogic application, and contributes to an area of inquiry that is, in the author's view, under-explored by scholars of communication or performance: what occurs, for whom, in collaborative creative processes derived from theatre practices and explicitly centered upon art, participation and change.

A function of organized religion thought crucial to the maintenance of society is the passing of societal values to the young. Yet membership and participation in mainline religious organizations has been in decline since the 1960's, a fact attributed to teenage youth rejecting the institutional expression of religion. The assumption that religious dropout behavior is a normal process of adolescent development has limited the focus of social science research. Missing in this account is the actor's subjective perspective. What is needed in order to understand the forces that govern membership behavior is an exploration of the concept structure that constitutes the psychological life space of the adolescent participant. The purpose of this study was to examine the subjective meaning of church membership from the viewpoint of eight religiously active adolescents. As the first step in an action research process in organizational development, the study utilized the long ethnographic interview as a qualitative approach to problem solving by focusing on the organizational actor's inside perspective as the primary source of data. The interpretation of this data then served as the diagnostic stage of action research laying the ground work for future participatory planned change. The data in this study supported survey research that showed religious interest is strong among adolescents. The findings suggest that among church youth, both a high level of religious belief and a high level of social relationship serve as positive reinforcers in maintaining church involvement. Parents modeling religious behavior who set their children on a religious path, yet allow them to choose their own level of religious involvement in adolescence, seem to promote a process of values clarification among church youth that results in a positive religious attitude and active participation. Moreover, church youth who see a lack of tangible results in religious behavior, feel invulnerable, or have little familial support in the face of socio-economic demands for their time, are more likely to be persuaded by peer pressure than familial influence, and are more likely to disengage from religious practice.

The purpose of the study was to ascertain the effect of an Applied Group Dynamic experience on the personal and professional lives of selected graduate students. A questionnaire addressing biographical background, the experience itself, and questions about leadership and course design was designed, pre-tested, and then utilized. One hundred persons were surveyed, 52 (16 men and 36 women) responded. Responses were examined within the context of four variable categories, age, gender, minority status, and quality of experience. The average age for both men and women in the sample is forty-one and the age range is from 28 to 57. There are 12 minority respondents (all women) of which 9 are Afro-American. Chi-square tests were conducted to determine the level of significance of apparent differences among groups. The responses to the various survey questions were, overall, positive, even from those who found the experience stressful. Almost all the learnings and skills acquired are reported as useful five years later. More than two thirds of the respondents gained confrontational skills, learned about power and control, and self-disclosure, became more self-aware, and felt that their perspective had been enlarged. Two-thirds have used their learnings in both personal and professional/work life. More than half of the respondents had learnings about race and learned new communication skills. The minority group, all women, differed significantly from the non-minority women rating the experience higher in reflection than the non-minority women, and reported significantly greater learnings about social issues, especially race, gender issues, and woman's issues. A significantly higher percentage acquired communication skills and learnings about power and control and experienced greater spiritual growth. A significant percentage of both the older respondents and the neutral/negative group were critical of leadership. (The neutral/negative group wanted more support.) A higher percentage of men than women reported positive experiences and experienced more learnings in every area surveyed. Those who had a very good experience in every area reported significantly greater learnings than those who had a neutral or negative experience. These results suggest that a positive group experience is important for acquired learning and learning transfer over time.

This study examined the work experience of a selected group of business executives by extending to the executive role the debate over paradigm commensurability that is taking place in the organization literature. The study set out to answer two meta-questions. These were: (MQ1) Can executives be multi-paradigmatic? (MQ2) What are the epistemological issues that need to be resolved so we can find out? This study used Burrell & Morgan's (1979) sociological paradigms framework and a research method that appeared to be compatible, Bougon's (1983) Self-Q Method. Four top level business executives were interviewed individually in Puerto Rico and New Jersey. The data generated was then analyzed through the lenses of each paradigm in Burrell and Morgan's (1979) framework. The researcher positioned herself in each one of the paradigms and analyzed the data through the lenses of the paradigms. The first analysis covers the two paradigms status quo paradigms: interpretive and functionalist. For the interpretive analysis, life history techniques were used. For the functionalist analysis techniques associated with grounded theory were used first (Strauss, 1987). The data was then submitted to a cluster analysis. The second analysis covers the two critical paradigms. From the radical humanist paradigm, the researcher reexamined the analysis of the interpretive paradigm from a critical perspective. Particular attention was given to the notion of self created entrapments. The radical structuralist analysis focused on the systemic contradictions embedded in corporate life. The analysis was based on a reanalysis of the findings of the functionalist paradigms. In relation to the appropriateness of the Self-Q Method for multiple paradigms research, it was found that the method is a point of departure for multiparadigmatic analysis. The method as used, however, is not sufficient. It is recommended that complementary techniques be used in future studies.

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In this dissertation I explore the ramifications of political theory being freed from two opposed extremes of biologism and social constructivism because, ultimately, the human animal is both a biological creature and capable of becoming. While it has been highly significant for humanistic scholars to challenge the governing authority of the "hard sciences" as the prime site of legitimacy in modern scholarship, the position of critique has transformed into one of outright and unqualified hostility. I resist this commitment to show that work at the intersection of the human biological sciences and political theory need not amount to political conservatism or pessimism. To this end, I address two questions with the aim of (re-)situating the human animal as a common property in political theory. First, I explore and challenge the commitments that inform the strict social constructionist thesis. This move leads to a second consideration: what questions are open if we see the problem not as biology, but as biological determinism? I make four arguments in this dissertation. First, I use Ernst Cassirer to show that "human" and "animal" can be integrated in a philosophical anthropology in a constructive way, one that avoids the reductionism implied in the term "animal" (or biological creature) and the naiveté of conceiving of human beings as though they are distinct from or wholly independent of nature. Second, I use Marxist materialism to integrate the human biological sciences with a meaningful theory of human freedom. Third, I work at the intersection of contemporary political theories of identity and the human biological sciences to reconcile the effects of "predispositions" with the effects of our social identities. I do so in a way that resists essentialism. Finally, I use feminist scholarship to argue that the human biological sciences cannot be used to justify hierarchy, or rather, that "hard science" doesn't in any meaningful sense say anything at all about equality. / Political Science

<p> This dissertation tests theories about catch share approaches to fishery management, examining their validity and limits relative to the Northeast groundfish sector program, and potentially modifies them in light of research outcomes. Participants of the groundfish fishery based in New Hampshire are the particular focus of research, but broader impacts are considered. Studies of this catch share program have been limited to date, and studies of catch share programs generally have focused on a particular dimension (e.g., biological, social, economic) rather than integrate across dimensions, despite increasing needs to do so for management. Here, six key aspects of fishing are investigated: fishing practices, social capital, bycatch, economic performance, safety, and well-being. Thus, this work is a novel contribution to the field of impact assessment research, both in its topic and scope. </p><p> The primary research question is: <i>How has the advent of catch shares impacted the Northeast commercial multispecies fishery, particularly in New Hampshire?</i> This is answered through a case study that involved a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches, using semi-structured interviews of 2 informants, including members of groundfish sectors, common pool members, former fishermen, and fish dealers. Although social research often involves a process of theory generation, in the case of the Northeast groundfish fishery, and catch share programs more generally, a number of theories have already emerged that are ripe for testing. It was hypothesized here that fishing under the control rules governing sectors has resulted in: more efficiency and flexibility for fishermen to decide where, when, and how to fish; greater social capital among fishermen; reduced bycatch; and improved economic performance, safety, and well-being. </p><p> The groundfish fishermen of New Hampshire revealed that the theorized benefits of catch share programs do not necessarily hold true. Of the six key aspects of fishing investigated here, only the benefits related to fishing practices, bycatch and safety aligned with what has occurred in this local fishery, but even some of those benefits have qualifiers. The informants who were sector members generally felt that fishing in a sector was more efficient and flexible than the former Days-At-Sea program had been, generally due to shifting catch limits from a trip basis to an annual one. This had allowed more concentration of effort during times with greater potential for profitability (e.g., fish availability, favorable markets). Reducing bycatch was an important goal of the informants, and the sector participants indicated that their level of bycatch had decreased, primarily through eliminating the trip limits and discards of legal-sized fish. Some informants went above and beyond regulations to avoid bycatch in recognition of the need to steward stocks for the future. However, some sector members identified new pressures to discard when unobserved, driven largely by the high lease costs of choke stocks. There were no major changes in safety, because the informants largely strive to be safe no matter the management program. However, removal of trip limits for sector participants created flexibility and less pressure to fish in unsafe conditions. </p><p> Theorized benefits for social capital, economic performance, and well-being did not hold true. Despite being a novel focal point for industry organization, informants felt that sectors have not been catalysts for social capital. Rather, sectors have been based on and built off of pre-existing social capital. In some cases, social capital was reduced as increased organizational responsibilities were seen as a burden and fishing became more competitive and secretive. Economic profitability and predictability had not been realized, though the concomitant decline in, and persistently low, catch limits for certain key species (e.g., cod, yellowtail flounder) vanquished any potential that catch shares had for the economic success of this fishery. The need to lease quota of constraining stocks to harvest the available fish in one&rsquo;s own portfolio has been a substantial and new cost, with risky debt obligations, for several informants. Business predictability declined for a majority of informants. Catch shares has, however, transformed the business climate of the groundfish industry, with more focus on maximizing one&rsquo;s utility. With declines in fishery participation, and dim potential for positive economic performance, the sense of well-being and future outlook for self and fishery had diminished since the advent of the catch share program. Job satisfaction decreased for most of the sector members, and a majority of all informants said that they would not advise a young person to enter fishing. The New Hampshire-based fishermen have, on the whole, not fared as well as could be assumed based on theory, exemplifying the consequences of catch shares, the potential for declining performance by those participants unable to adapt.</p>

Master of Science / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional & Community Planning / Stephanie Rolley / This is an exploratory study investigating: How those currently experiencing homelessness perceive the influence of bonding and bridging social capital on their future successful residential reintegration. It is an important consideration in understanding the emotional and intellectual circumstances of residents entering a rural shelter environment, and discovering what types of social capital residents need and have access to. This research used phenomonography to gain access to the thoughts and opinions of residents of the Harvey County Homeless Shelter, coupled with grounded theory to discover emergent themes in those transcripts. The study topic was explored through direct inquiry of people experiencing homelessness in Newton, Kansas. Through an interview process, five areas of inquiry were studied: demographics, residential history, social connections, community connections, and social connectedness and community belonging. Using grounded theory methodology, the responses were coded and the writing of rich memos determined and explored themes. Emergent themes; an analysis of their relevancy to the study topic; an examination of the areas the study topic satisfied; and, identification of areas where it failed to satisfy are topics of exploration concerning the findings. Community courtesy, individual personality, healthy relationships, and social connections over address were the four emergent themes to come from the five categories of inquiry. In general, resident’s perceptions of social capital were important to their future efforts toward residential reintegration, although in slightly different ways than the study topic assumed.