Nowhere is the tendency to typologize in criminological research more evident than in the area of white-collar crime research, which is often aimed at distinguishing white-collar criminals and their crimes from other types of criminals and their offenses. This study incorporates a test of the applicability of Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory to white-collar crime--a form of criminal conduct to which the theory's critics assert it is inapplicable. For those who attribute more planning and sophistication to white-collar crime than to other forms of offending, explanations for white-collar offending that reference impulsivity and inattention to the consequences of action are decidedly unsatisfactory. Analyses of survey data, collected as part of the Tucson Youth Project, indicate that self-control is a significant predictor of workplace offending. From an operational standpoint, the relative merits of behavioral versus attitudinal measures of self-control were considered. These findings suggest that behavioral measures of self-control are better predictors of offending. Although possibly a measurement artifact, the findings also suggest that attitudinal self-control is only spuriously related to offending. The perceived need to distinguish white-collar crime stems from the dissimilarities between white-collar crime and "ordinary" street crime. These crimes are often separated along spatial lines, and their perpetrators are often separated along race and socioeconomic status lines. Testing the validity of these distinctions was another objective of this study. Analyses were performed to determine whether the patterns of association between offending and known correlates of offending are similar for both white-collar and non-white-collar crime. The results indicate that offending in the workplace and offending beyond the workplace are more similar than not. One important finding is that self-control explains less of the variation in white-collar offending than in non-white-collar offending. One plausible explanation for this finding is that criminal opportunity plays a relatively more important role in workplace deviance than in other contexts. The mechanisms by which organizations affect the behavior of individuals are, of course, still a matter of theoretical conjecture, and an important subject for future research.

Most crime prevention practices assume offenders will desist from crime if the opportunity to offend is made more difficult. In practice, this means more alarms and guards, and higher awareness about protecting yourself from crime. The legal costs of offending have become greater as punishments have become more punitive. A rational choice theory of crime predicts that individuals weigh costs and benefits of crime to maximize their own self-interest. When the costs outweigh the benefits of crime, the individual will not offend. In spite of this prevention approach, crime continues. Where rational choice explains why offenders desist from crime, self-control explains the individual's ability to engage in that decisionmaking process. Low self-control is characterized by being impulsive, risk-seeking, self-interested, physical, temperamental, and lazy. Singly and combined, these tendencies are more likely to create behavior that neglects future consequences in favor of current satisfaction. Where rational choice and self-control theories are similar is in using opportunity as a gateway for criminal conduct. Both see opportunity as an objective feature of the environment. The current work questions this assumption. Instead, it is hypothesized that perceptions of opportunity are subjective, tending to vary according to a person's level of self-control. An experiment was done with 132 students on computers, where opportunities to earn money in 1.00 increments were encountered over a five-step process. The maximum payoff was 5.00. Tasks became more frustrating at each step, though no task would be considered "difficult". Those with low self-control were expected to lack persistence toward the 5.00 goal, taking the easier, smaller, payoff earlier in the process. At the experimental prompt, subjects were told they could proceed to the 5.00 payoff, but would have to give back 1.00 to classmates unable to attend. Those in the control group were told they could continue for

The twin objectives of this dissertation, understanding political behavior as a social phenomenon and assessing the relative impacts of action and interaction on behavior, are realized through the empirical study of cosponsorship in the United States Congress. Cosponsorship, the formal support of a bill, is commonly said to be a rational action by a member of Congress designed to further electoral goals. However, it is also possible that cosponsorship is the arational result of social interaction. Processes based on the principles of action and interaction may occur within the Congress or with reference to entities outside the Congress. Combinations of principle and environment provide a simple theoretical framework from which a number of hypotheses are generated. To test these hypotheses, a random sample of 100 bills from the House of Representatives during the 105th Congress is generated. Information regarding leadership, reciprocity, congressional districts, campaign contributions, media coverage, election results, organizational memberships, member demography and bill cosponsorship is recorded for each combination of sampled bill, member of the House, and week the Congress was in session. Comparisons and relations between members are represented in matrix form. A combined network effects-discrete time approximation approach converts these matrices into individual-level predictions of a congressperson's likelihood of cosponsorship over time. Alternatively, QAP analysis regresses relations on relations to make cross-sectional predictions about any two members' cosponsorship overlap. Results illuminate the importance of interaction to political behavior.

<p> The first wave of Baby Boomers became eligible for early retirement in January 2008. This qualitative phenomenological study of 15 Baby Boomer retirees was conducted to understand the Baby Boomer retirees lived experiences and determine if they might want to return to work after they retired. Themes extracted from the semi-structured interview process included planning and expectations, how retirement stacked up against expectations, financial impact, interest in work in the future, and new skills or training wanted. Changing economic conditions mandate that individuals assume more responsibility for their retirement. Concurrently, organizational leadership must recognize that shifts in population growth in the U. S. may affect their staffing needs and that retirees are one viable source of these skills.</p>

<p> Everything we touch, sit on, use and lean against is designed. Design disciplines (e.g. architecture, landscape architecture, city/urban planning, interior design and industrial design) play an extremely significant role in shaping the man-made environment we live in. They help to populate it with cars, furniture, buildings, clothes, cell phones, and countless other artifacts and also play a significant role in producing innovations that drive successful companies in a challenging and fiercely competitive global market. Perhaps more importantly, the consumption and use of designed goods, spaces, and services produce, reproduce, and mediate our very identities and culture. </p><p> Despite their cultural, economic, and political significance, design professions are understudied in sociology. In sociology, the few available case studies of design professions emphasize professional practice and tend not to study the higher education system, where professional designers are produced. Moreover, there are no studies in sociology that examine academic design disciplines comparatively. </p><p> This dissertation undertakes a quantitative, macro-comparative study of the institutionalization and growth of design disciplines in the US during the past 26 years, 1984-2010, using a unique longitudinal dataset. Through analysis of the intra- and extra-institutional resources and conditions that promote the growth of design disciplines and comparing their growth to those of art and engineering, this study provides valuable insights to policymakers and administrators who seek to make meaningful interventions within the academy and will advance sociological understanding of the changing organization of academic knowledge.</p>

<p> This research was conducted in collaboration with rural Yup'ik residents of the Yukon River delta region of Alaska. The thesis explores traditional knowledge and conservation ethics among rural Yup'ik residents who continue to maintain active subsistence lifestyles. From the end of July through August of 2012, ethnographic field research was conducted primarily through participant observation and semi-structured interviews, documenting Yup'ik subsistence hunting and fishing practices. Research participants invited me beluga whale hunting, seal hunting, moose hunting, commercial and subsistence fishing, gathering berries, and a variety of other activities that highlights local Yup'ik environmental knowledge, practices, and ethics. Through firsthand examples of these experiences, this thesis attempts to explore what conservation means through a Yup'ik cultural lens. Documenting Yup'ik traditional knowledge offers an opportunity to shine a light on the stewardship of local people's relationship with their traditional lands. The importance of maintaining direct relationships with the natural world, eating Native foods, and passing on hunting and gathering skills to future generations help develop the narrative of my analysis. In many ways, the cultural heritage of the Yup'ik people are embodied in such practices, providing a direct link between nature and culture.</p>

<p> This study analyzes the narratives of 38 married, heterosexual, infertile adoptive parents. It asks how parents use narrative to reconcile a presumed reluctance to adopt with presumed satisfaction with adoption, and if there are differences in the narratives of men and women. </p><p> Qualitative analysis reveals that participants place recollections of suffering within redemptive sequences, reinterpreting difficult experiences as leading to personal growth and transformation, which in turn leads to greater connection with others. A majority of participants find profound retrospective meaning in a belief in fate and describe a greater appreciation for their children and for life itself as a result of their experiences. </p><p> Women were identified as the protagonists of the stories in the majority of cases by both husband and wife. When women were the protagonists men tended to worry about their wives, view her suffering and her path to motherhood as central to the story, and to easily give up control of the adoption process. When men were the protagonist or couples viewed themselves as equal protagonists, the process involved both partners. </p><p> The only theme that participants had a difficult time interpreting was that of race. Pals' (2006) transformational processing model was adapted to rate participants' sense of resolution regarding race. For same-race adopters resolution was associated with placing desire for a same-race child in a broader belief system, while for transracial adopters it was associated with comfort with the community of the child's birth, a belief that one could grow into dealing with race, and a belief in fate. Unresolved same-race adopters felt judged, experienced identity threat, and were inarticulate about race. One group of unresolved transracial adopters paid little attention to race at the time of adoption and later struggled with it, while another group had difficulty discussing race at all, minimized its importance, and often contradicted themselves. </p><p> The narratives are analyzed in the context of white racial experience in the United States and to discover the personal, cultural and ecological factors that contribute to a person's ability to engage in autobiographical reasoning (Habermas &amp; Bluck, 2000) and tell a "good story" (McAdams, 2008). </p>

<p> This study examined the common essence of language restriction and then resurgence among Quechan Native American elders. The data suggests that Quechan elders' sense of culture and identity was influenced by speaking the native language. Bourdieu's work on language and power were supported as socially constructed means of communication. Findings from this study provided empirical support for Hatch's Cultural Dynamics model. Erikson's work on identity was also supported with additional suggestions made to expand his final stage of psychosocial development for the Quechan Native American. </p><p> This research primarily focused on the individual level of analysis and provided practical application for the constructs of language, culture, and identity. In addition, this research also provided theoretical contributions for identity while embracing the existing body of knowledge. The research question, <i>"How does speaking the native language affect one's sense of culture and identity?"</i> was addressed through ten interviews with elders of the Quechan Native American Tribe. </p><p> Three distinct findings emerged from data gathered in this research. The first major finding indicated that language is a means of survival for the Quechan elders who forms much of their current reality on historical knowledge. The second finding suggests that the identity of Quechan elders is under reconstruction through the resurgence of the Quechan language and subsequent legitimization of that linguistic symbol. Lastly, the Quechan elders may be realigning their individual view of culture based on a combination of long-standing tribal knowledge and documentation presented by the dominant culture. </p><p> This study suggests a need to draw stronger theoretical connections between the constructs of identity and culture. On the individual level of analysis, culture and identity form and reform constantly to emerge as new entities. However, as this research has suggested, the individual may greatly influence the group's fundamental ideas of culture and identity.</p>

<p> Nestled into an isolated, rural community along the Pacific Northwest Oregon coastline, the first Victory Over Child Abuse (VOCA) Camp for girls was held in 1988. Four years later, VOCA Camp for boys was initiated. The two separate camps provide intentionally safe camp environments for child survivors of sexual abuse. The VOCA Camp program continues annually. </p><p> The VOCA Camp story disrupts the belief that humans are innately violent and presents the camp program as a working model of partnership, directly linked to Riane Eisler's Cultural Transformation Theory. </p><p> This dissertation weaves feminist ethnographical analysis with Eisler's description of four cornerstones necessary for cultural transformation to occur. Public and archival documentation, personal reflections, past participant statements, camp stories are used to illustrate the camp's culture and to tell the unique story of the camp program as a working model of partnership. As such, this dissertation portrays the VOCA Camp story as a step toward the elimination of child sexual abuse. </p><p> This research is significant because it acknowledges that cultures, organizations, and families that orient toward systems of partnership are more apt to manifest environments where the abuse of children is reduced and potentially eliminated. </p>

<p> Amid the uniformly low physical activity rates among children in the United State, practical solutions for increasing physical activity (PA) are needed. Whether interventions to increase PA need to account for individual demographic characteristics or safety context is unknown. </p><p> <b>Methods:</b> Study Design: This community based participatory research project used mixed methods, including secondary data analyses and concept mapping. Setting: Five demographically diverse, geographically contiguous, urban neighborhoods in Colorado, including one of the largest redevelopments in the United States designed for active living. Measures: Secondary data identified neighborhood safety contexts. Concept mapping participants identified, sorted and rated interventions to increase youth PA. Population: Participants were purposefully sampled households, including equal numbers of black, white and Latino adults from each safety context, and their 10-14 year-old children. Analysis: Cluster analysis using measures of social cohesion, incivilities, discrimination, and fear of crime and traffic safety identified homogenous safety subgroups. ANOVA, multivariable analyses and concept mapping pattern matching were used to compare ratings between safety contexts and demographic groups. </p><p> <b>Results:</b> Cluster analyses identified three distinct safety contexts. Concept mapping elicited 330 ideas, 100 of which were randomly selected for participants to sort and rate. Three intervention groupings were identified: 1) activity interventions, 2) safety interventions, and 3) infrastructure/access interventions. Participants residing in less safe contexts, and black and Latino adults, rated all interventions as more needed than participants from the safest context and white adults. Adults residing in the safest context thought infrastructure/access interventions were most needed, while adults from less safe contexts rated safety interventions as most needed. Youth across all contexts thought safety interventions were least needed; activity and infrastructure/access interventions were most needed. Community-led analyses identified that all youth across all contexts wanted safe, free and fun physical activity resources and opportunities. </p><p> <b>Discussion:</b> Safety context is an indicator of community need for youth physical activity interventions. Communities recommend framing and implementing interventions that are simultaneously safe, free and fun, rather than focusing exclusively on safety intervention needs that stigmatize neighborhoods. Top rated interventions are consistent with nationally recommended interventions.</p>