<p> The role of grievances in drawing public concern and activist support is a surprisingly understudied topic in modern social movement literature. This research is the first to parse grievances into core components to understand whether some grievances are more successful than others in evoking mobilizing, affective and cognitive reactions that can ultimately benefit social movements. I find that not all grievances are created equal when it comes to concern, support and interest in activism, and that the content of grievances can be studied in systematic ways to identify the types of grievances likely to be more powerful injustice events. </p><p> This dissertation bridges social psychology and social movements by applying concepts from Affect Control Theory (such as evaluation ratings and deflection) to grievance evaluations. To understand the differential effects of grievances, I break grievances into three basic building blocks&mdash;a Perpetrator (Actor), the act itself (Behavior), and the victim (Object). I then use measures of cultural perceptions of the goodness or badness of behaviors and identities to investigate how people react to different configurations of good or bad perpetrators, behavior and victims in injustice events. I posit that two mechanisms&mdash;concern about the wellbeing of others and desire for consistency in meanings about the world&mdash;drive reactions to the goodness or badness of elements in a grievance. I test hypotheses using an experimental design, specifically a vignette study. </p><p> I find strong support, across outcomes, that bad behavior, particularly when directed toward good victims, constitutes a form of grievance that promotes strong mobilizing, affective and cognitive reactions. I also find that the perpetrator matters for many outcomes, but that the effect of perpetrator is weaker than the effect of behavior and its target, tends to be insignificant for measures specific to behavioral activism, and largely disappears in cases of bad behavior toward good victims. In general, bad perpetrators produce higher levels of concern and emotion than do good perpetrators. The results also show that while concerns about the wellbeing of others dominate grievance evaluations, expectations about how the world should be (and deflection from those expectations) are useful for understanding reactions to perpetrators and to injustice events involving good behavior. </p><p> The conclusions from this dissertation contribute to a number of social movement arenas, including participation, movement outcomes, framing and emotions. Further, it has the real world implications of suggesting how well particular social issues might fare in attracting public concern and activist attention. This provides insights into both the types of movements more likely to be successful as well as the types of social problems less likely to draw public attention, increasing the chances that such problems persist.</p>

<p>This study focuses on the relationship between students' social backgrounds and their occupational aspirations (in terms of becoming an authority, financial success and recognition in the workplace). By applying the status attainment theory and segmented assimilation theory, this study examines the significance of parental socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and social capital in predicting college freshmen's occupational aspirations using multivariate analysis. Interaction effects between the main predictors as well as control variables such as immigrant status, gender, school performance, motivations and skills are tested in the analysis. Results suggest that socioeconomic status is not statistical significance in predicting individuals' occupational aspirations in all models. African Americans and Asians have the highest level of occupational aspirations, while Native Americans have the lowest level of occupational aspirations without introducing interactions into the model. All three social capital variables are positively related to students' occupational aspirations, especially the effects for mentors/role models. Strong interaction effects between parental socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity variables have been found in the study as well. Results of interaction effects indicate that although Native Americans have the lowest levels of occupational aspirations at lower levels of parental SES, their levels of occupational aspiration increase radically with the increase of their parental SES levels. However, groups such as African Americans and Asians experience a decrease in their occupational aspirations with an increase of parental SES. The interactions between parental SES and social capital variables are weak. The interaction effects between race/ethnicity and social capital variables suggest that Asian students' occupational aspirations are benefited from their parents' expectations, while other races and other Latino students' occupational aspirations are promoted by studying with peers. </p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to explore the subjective perceptions held by students of their interactions with faculty members in college, especially as those interactions relate to the integration and membership of students in the academic community. Academic integration, resulting primarily from student-faculty interactions, has been theorized as one element that affects students&rsquo; decisions to stay in or leave college (Tinto, 1993). This study, employing a phenomenological research design, collected data through 13 interviews with junior and senior college students attending a small, private college in northwestern Pennsylvania. Interviewees were selected from three majors (English, Psychology, and Hospitality Management). Analysis of the data followed the hermeneutical phenomenological approach described by Max Van Manen (1997). Data were analyzed by adopting three phenomenological writing &ldquo;lenses&rdquo;: the existential lens, the thematic lens, and the theoretical lens. Two themes emerged from this: Care and Boundaries. These themes are discussed in terms of Tinto&rsquo;s (1993) integrationalist theory of student departure. The theme of care (the recognition by students that faculty are attending to their personal and academic situations) was found to be present in Tinto&rsquo;s theory while the theme of boundaries (recognitions of the differences between students and faculty) is not. It is suggested that the theme of boundaries represents a separate value system held by students of their faculty. Implications of the study and future research are presented. </p>

<p> The need for public school construction and the cost of funding that construction has been the source of considerable concern and debate as far back as the late nineteenth century and has carried forward through the first decade of the twenty-first century. Although it is estimated that the United States has spent almost $750 billion on school construction since 1900, studies have also pointed out that only six percent of the schools were built since 1980. Numerous studies since 1990 to the current day have placed estimates as high as $322 billion needed to meet current needs for renovation, repair, and new construction. </p><p> The need and cost for funding public school construction is also within the context of how these costs are funded in the United States. Most school construction, with some exceptions, is heavily dependent upon local government, in other words the local taxpayer as the source of funds for the needed construction. This study focused on the needs of Winchester, Virginia, a small city located in the Northern end of the Shenandoah Valley. Winchester Public Schools and the local government were faced with $50 million in local school construction needs for its only high school, a historic building of iconic stature. The prevailing thought among many was that this figure was too high, or exceeded the fiscal capacity of local government. When the estimated cost began to rise, local decision makers were faced with the dilemma of what to do. The conclusion was to take the unheard of step of conducting a capital campaign to raise funds in order to assist in the renovation and restoration John Handley High School. </p><p> The methodology used was to conduct semi-structured interviews of persons, purposefully chosen, who were involved in the decision-making or in some way were involved in the capital campaign environment. The intent was to explore attitudes and beliefs about the school and the fundraising effort. The results reveal a fascinating story about the school&rsquo;s original benefactor and the forces of social capital and attachment to the school that occurred over its history. These forces ignited the effort to raise private funds to renovate and the restore the school that resulted in the donations of funds in excess of six million dollars and has yet to come to a conclusion. The study reveals not only the beliefs and attitudes of the individuals involved, but also the attachment that an entire community has for its beloved school and the community spirit it symbolically represents.</p>

<p> This project explores the historic, current and future services for individuals with developmental disabilities in New York State in a series of related studies presented in three chapters. The first chapter examines the history of how modern services for individuals with developmental disabilities were established. The second chapter examines the social, economic and political factors that are driving the first major changes in services for individuals with developmental disabilities since the early 1970's. The first two chapters will demonstrate similar trends that caused major changes in the 1970's and the major changes currently happening in service delivery. The final chapter examines the proposed services that will be offered to individuals in New York State, the implementation of the new services, potential barriers to implementation and both the intended and unintended consequences of the new services.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of distributed leadership at the University of ABC's SCPS, as the School worked to transform itself through reorganization. The study examined the perceptions of key leaders and members of the implementation team as they sought to understand the implementation of a more participative approach to change within the School. The primary question guiding this study was "What is the nature of leadership within a participative change effort in a higher education setting as perceived by active participants in the effort? The secondary question was "What is the nature of power sharing within this change effort?"</p><p> This descriptive case study investigated distributed leadership at the University of ABC School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) by exploring the perceptions of leaders and the implementation team as they underwent a leadership paradigm shift that required a more participative approach. The study also explored how these academic leaders adapted to sharing power in this new change effort by examining the perceptions of change for administrative and faculty leaders as they sought to make sense of the launching of a more participative approach to change efforts.</p><p> The findings from this study identified ten ways in which SCPS practiced leadership: (1) A participative approach to change influenced synergy. (2) Leader participation greatly influenced collaboration. (3) Leaders' actions created a shared sense of responsibility. (4) Change in structure influenced leader, follower behavior, and organizational culture. (5) The creation of a safe environment influenced employee conversations. (6) Engaged leaders and followers influenced decision-making. (7) Leader involvement improved efficacy of decisions. (8) The situation (tools, routines, structures) enabled leader action on process improvement. (9) A shared belief in the schools training mission influenced the mitigation of resistance and intransigence. and, (10) A focus on strategy supported collective action.</p><p> This descriptive study has drawn conclusions that begin to fill the gap in understanding the nature of leadership within a participative change effort in a higher education setting as perceived by active participants in the effort. It was discovered that a participative approach to change plays an important role in leadership practice and the interactions of leaders, followers, and their situation. The tools, routines, structures, and other aspects of the situation mediated leaders' and followers' interactions, and allowed leadership practice to move to the forefront. Finally, the study concluded that a distributed perspective, when used as a design tool for School leaders, could inform future design decisions and that strategic decision making must be ongoing when designing leadership practice. The conclusions of the study prompt questions that can be resolved by further study.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: A, page: 4099. Adviser: Pamela B. Walters. Title from dissertation home page (viewed May 5, 2008).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Burdwan, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [206]-217) and index.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4511. Adviser: Winifred Poster. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-177) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University, 2007. / (UMI)AAI3282056. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: A, page: 4075. Adviser: Lawrence Busch.