Due to the rapid onset of westernization, there is a remarkable change in the life styles and the family structure of the black South African population in favour of smaller and economically manageable families. There is also an increase in political as well as family violence in black communities. children, adolescents and young adults are subject to these rapid changes. Family structures and life styles are also affected by these changes. The present study seeks to investigate the relationship between family structures and styles of coping with stressful life events. Hypotheses concerning this relationship are that adolescents from nuclear and extended family structures differ in handling stressful life events. Questions relating to family relations, stressful life events and ways of coping.were administered to 100 standard. 9 and ' 1 0 students, of which 80 were females and 20 were males. The level of stress was assessed by Moos' "Family Environment Scale" and coping efforts were assessed by Folkman and Lazarus' s "Ways of Coping Checklist". All these instruments were translated into zulu to avoid second language problems. A statistical analysis of the results was undertaken. The results did not show significant differences between coping styles of adolescent members of the two family structures. There were, however, some overlaps between the nuclear and the extended family structures concerning the way stressful life events were perceived. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1996.

South African black children have been exposed to extremely high levels of violence, especially in the townships. This study was initiated in ,order to explore the effects of violence on the self-concept of the black child in South Africa. In addition the applicability of current self-concept theories and psychometric measures to this population was investigated. This study is therefore mainly exploratory. Sixty individuals of both sexes between the ages of 8 and 10 years were sampled from two schools. Thirty from one in a high violence and the other thirty from one in a low violence area. However, after finding that the experimental and control groups did not differ signifficantly these groups were reassigned according to exposure to violence rather than geographically. Direct and indirect exposure to violence as well as family and other stressors were measured with the aid of the Life Events Questionnaire (Mason and Killian, 1993). In order to determine the effect of exposure to violence on selfconcept these two groups were compared using one quantitative and two qualitative selfconcept measures. The quantitative measure was the Piers-Harris Children's SelfConcept Scale and the qualitative measures were the Human Figure Drawing Test and an Incomplete Sentences Test. Results were analysed by multivariate statistical procedures. This study concluded that violence has no significant effect.on self-concept in black children (p,>O.05). The Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale was found to be a reliable measure of self-concept in black children. Recommendations include broadening self-concept theories for black children by incorporating theories from disciplines other than psychology. The power of the present study would have been increased by using larger samples. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1996.

Transport forms an essential element of people's lives. It is transport which determines how people access important resources and it influences the mobility of people. Transport availability improves access to resources and hence fights isolation, which derives from lack of access to resources. This case study examines the influence of transport on access to state grants and health services. The study was based on sample of 170 recipients of state grants and was carried out in September 2000. A quantitative survey through face-to-face interviews of pensioners and other recipients of state grants at two remote rural points was carried out. The results of the study showed that poor road and path infrastructure impacts negatively on old people's access to pension payout points and health services. As a result of poor road infrastructure, people have limited access to alternative means of transport and hence have to pay too much for transport to reach services essential to their livelihoods. In addition to the transport cost these elderly have to pay, they also have an extra burden of having to care for the orphans and unemployed adults staying with them. This puts an enormous pressure on their limited resources and hence deepens the cycle of poverty. The majority of people interviewed were positive about the quality of health service they are receiving and the attitude of health workers. There was no correlation between the quality of services received and the demand for using them. Amongst other things, it has been suggested that locating basic services particularly welfare services and health services nearer rural communities will improve the quality of life and minimize the cost of reaching such services. Furthermore infra structural intervention will impact positively on rural communities by providing them with a wider choice of transport and promoting intermediate means of transport. This will have a positive impact on rural communities by increasing the accessibility of services and improving mobility. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

Thesis (M.Tech.: Marketing)-Dept. of Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2007 x, 164 leaves / According to postpurchase behaviour theory, there is a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions (i.e., beliefs, opinions). When an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviours (dissonance) occurs, some change must be made in order to eliminate this behaviour. In the case of a discrepancy between attitudes and behaviour, it is most likely that the attitude will change to accommodate the behaviour. The objective of this study is to determine the extent of post purchase behaviour amongst tertiary students, with specific reference to the Durban University of Technology.

In South Africa the left-wing is currently in an ascendant mode. Yet it is not an unproblematic ascendancy. For one thing, because Marxism has been interwoven with so much of the South African struggle, the South African Left are now unable to disentangle themselves from the contemporary 'collapse of the Marxist dream'. And this translates into a South African socio-political issue because as the Left accumulates influence and power in South Africa so the problems and limitations of historical materialism acquire a wider social significance. This thesis will argue that a key problem with the historical materialist paradigm has been its limitations when dealing with communication and the media. However, there have been historical materialists (usually those who consciously stepped outside 'mainstream Marxist' discourse) who made considerable advances in attempting to develop historical materialism's capacity for dealing with communication, the media and the subjective. This thesis will examine some of the work which has attempted to 'reconstruct' historical materialism away from a narrow materialism. The aim will be to give some direction to the development of a New Left approach to communication. Such a reconstruction is seen as a precondition if the Left-wing is to find a formula for dealing with Information Age relations of production. A New Left communicology able to deal with the 'superstructuralism' of the Information Age offers a specific perspective on how to construct a development strategy for South Africa. This will be discussed, and the thesis will attempt to tie together the notions of communication, development and democracy. The relationship between communication and democracy will be especially important for the New Left approach that will be favoured in this thesis. So an important theme in the thesis will be the question of developing a left-hegemony based upon a democratic-pluralism. This will entail examining the role that media and an institutionalised social-dialogue can play in building a left-wing democracy. The extent to which the left-wing media in South Africa have contributed to a democratic dialogue is discussed. This will then be extended into a discussion of how media can contribute to the reconstruction, development and democratization of a leftist post-apartheid South Africa. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1991.

The overall purpose of this study was to analyse the perceptions and experiences of students from disadvantaged schools regarding their academic progress at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The study focused on the students’ material and social circumstances, their learning environment while at University, their connections to their home community, and their career aspirations. It set to answer three key research questions, namely: (1) what are the contours of disadvantage that can be discovered through investigating samples of students from disadvantaged schools at UKZN? (2) How do the ‘contours’ seem to co-occur with factors relating to academic progress? (3) What are the perceptions of students from disadvantaged schools at UKZN about their pre-university experience and the learning environment at university? The notion of disadvantage was defined using the Department of Education (DoE)’s classification of schools into the quintile system which is based on measurements of the poverty of the catchment community. Thus, this study shows that the notion of disadvantaged students in higher education can be investigated through class-based, rather than merely racially-based definitions. This study was conducted within a three-fold conceptual framework based on sustainable livelihoods approaches (SLA), social capital theory and social justice ideology. The SLA approach teaches us that livelihoods can only be understood and captured in particular contexts. This research project therefore aimed to gain a clearer understanding of such a context, in this case, the campus environment. Through the phenomenological approach of the openended questions in the interviews, this thesis taps into the perceptions of students themselves about their environment and how they cope. Social capital theory postulates five spheres: the academic, the social, the economic, the support, and the democratic. These were probed in both a survey of a sample of disadvantaged students, and by interviewing eight students. With regard to academic progress, the measurements used were the matric aggregate, the grade point average for salient years and programmes, and the time it took for students to graduate or dropout. Comparisons are made between the norm of students, the disadvantaged (those from low quintile schools), and those in the sample. The purpose of utilizing such measurements is to contribute to the social justice discourse about university education based on Taylor’s notion of Fair Equality of Opportunity (FEO), where disadvantaged students’ abilities and aspirations can best be developed and exercised, leading to the attainment of self-realization. Until disadvantaged students show academic progress that fits the norm, the contours of their disadvantage need to be continually investigated; it is hoped that the findings of this thesis will contribute to further research and concrete proposals which can be implemented to improve conditions so that students who are already disadvantaged as a result of their schooling are not further disadvantaged while at University . / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

The research reported in this thesis is basically applied in purpose. However the theoretical siqnificance of interactional sociolinquistics is explored by showinq that it is based on a philosophy of science which differs fundamentally from the versions of positivism which have informed linquistics over the years. The research methods consistent with this methodology are also outlined. The applied siqnificance of the sub-field is demonstrated more qenerally at first by examininq its contribution to the understandinq of the relationship between lanquaqe and context. Thereafter the contribution to the understandinq of this relationship is explored in more specific terms by examininq the role of contextual information in the form of culturally-specific interactional styles in the accomplishinq of prejudice and neqative cultural stereotypes in intercultural communication in South Africa. The siqnificance of this explanation is explored further by showinq how such an interactional account fits into a more comprehensive explanation of the causes of discrimination in South Africa, one that includes, also. structural explanations, and explanations in terms of the psycholoqy of individuals. This prepares the way for a consideration of the possible contribution of interactional sociolinquistics to solutions to the problem of discrimination both in South Africa and elsewhere. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1987.

In the South African context, the Eastern Cape Province constitutes one of the most depressed and poorest regions with widespread poverty. It is characterised by a comparatively large rural population reflecting a skewed female/male ratio in favour of females due to large-scale outmigration of adult males seeking work in urban areas both within and outside the province, widespread unemployment, and lack of access to social infrastructure and services in many areas. The region thus provides an ideal setting for investigating gender and poverty linkages. Drawing on the literature, the study addresses the conceptual definitions and notions of poverty and explores issues on gender inequality and its effect on poverty. Paramount in explaining gender inequality are the gendered social relations between males and females brought about as a result of unequal access to economic and social resources and gendered division of labour in the household, extending to other institution sites, an skewed in favour of males. From the literature then, men and women were likely to experience poverty differently. Using official survey data on the Eastern Cape for 1997 and 2002, the study selected and analysed indicators that correlate with poverty, based on gender. The analysis came out with strong linkages between gender and poverty. It is established from the findings that the living conditions and life circumstances of women were more associated with the characteristics of poverty than that of men, leading to the conclusion that poverty remains gendered, and men and women experience poverty differently, with women more likely to be adversely affected than men. The investigation has also established that the rural population is more likely than the urban population to be at risk to the experience of poverty in the Eastern Cape, and that the African population group was the most affected group. In concluding, the study advocated the adoption of gender positive alleviation policy strategies that aim at improving women's access to economic and social resources. This, it is hoped, will have the effect of enhancing their capabilities and capacities. Secondly, it called for the adoption of sustainable livelihood programs, especially in rural areas where the majority of the vulnerable women reside and eke their livelihoods. It also acknowledged, in its concluding remarks, the limitations of household data in studies on gender disparities and advocated for the need to generate disaggregated intra-household data, the analysis of which may provide a more meaningful insight into gender-poverty linkages. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

This research report looks into the factors that cause truancy among secondary school pupils. The aim is to establish ways in which the African Secondary School teachers can manage the problem. It is argued that the causes of truancy are multifaceted. Thus in attempting to understand these causes and to develop strategies to manage truancy, several approaches are considered, which focus on the individual truant, the family, the community and, in particular school, related factors. Empirical research was undertaken in the Galeshewe, Kimberley area with particular reference to Tlhomelang High School. Questionnaires were administered with the staff and interviews were conducted with both staff and pupils. Data was also obtained from official records. It is concluded that a major cause of truancy is the absence of a culture of teaching and learning. A number of recommendations are proposed to manage these problems. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1992.

This thesis posits that the experiences and emotional strain associated with being a domestic servant gave rise to a culture of anger and violence within the ranks of Indian Domestic Servants in Colonial Natal during the period 1880 to 1920. These acts of violence, in particular physical and indecent assault and poisoning are explored here not in admiration of their brutality, but for their historical relevance to the study of Indenture, more specifically in the area of servant-master/mistress relations. The study uses these crimes as a window into the social dynamics of the settler home and domestic space in Colonial Natal, since they were created within their own set of orchestrating emotions and situations. The thesis draws on international and local literature around master/mistress-servant relations as well as relations between domestic slaves and the owners of their labour at the same time in other regions of the world. The findings of this thesis contribute to the historiography of South Africa; to the historiography of Indian South African life; to the historiography of servantmaster/mistress relationships; to the analysis of the complex intermingling of private and public labour and lives bound up with this labour form, both in past moulds and in its present form; and to the growing literature on the linkages between utilizing analysis of legal institutions and legal records in researching and writing the history of South African lives. Most importantly however, this thesis is the story of ordinary men and women whose lives, cultures, individualities and histories intersected with the domestic and colonial nexus. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005