Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-76).

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-76) Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-79).

This research seeks to reveal the misuse of power by some church wardens, who are in the upper echelon in the parish leadership of the Anglican Church, in the diocese of Mthatha. It also seeks to reveal that as a result of this power abuse, the clergy as well as parishioners who voted these church wardens into the parish administration suffer trauma. There are also ensuing results manifested by cracks and crevices that are created in the Anglican Church, which are signs of an unhealthy church. In the endeavour to achieve his purpose, the author has embarked in conducting a research, with affected parties. Firstly, he encounters his own experiences as an incumbent of a parish. Then he approaches a parishioner who was aspiring to be admitted into the ordained ministry of the church who suffered at the hands of the churchwardens. Lastly, he approaches an ordained minister who was an incumbent of a parish who also received ill-treatment at the hands of churchwardens, as well as other clergy of various parishes whose stories could not be accommodated in this exercise because of space. Having established that the church wardens did misuse power and exceeded their terms of reference in the exercise of their duties as shepherds of the flock of God, he embarks on devising ways to come up with positive remedies of healing this incompetent administration of lay church officials. Firstly, he seeks to curb the power the church wardens assume to have. Then he draws a church of his dreams, a healthy church, led by healthy church leaders who are not lords over God’s flock but who pastorally take care of them, and leaders who are not corrupted by power, but always conscious of the fact that they are the servants of God. This exercise demonstrates that abuse of power in any church has disastrous effects and perpetrators should be stopped, if the church which is endowed with propagating the Gospel, wishes to be effective in its mission. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This mixed methods exploratory study examined how adult male prisoners serving sentences of life without parole adapt to the probability that they will be incarcerated for the remainder of their lives. As a second element, state prison wardens were surveyed about their support for the provision of certain amenities to those serving life without parole and the extent to which they believed those prisoners presented a risk of future dangerousness. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 24 inmates serving sentences of life without parole at a high security prison in Ohio. Informants identified factors that made adjustment more difficult or which enhanced the ability to adapt. Some study participants expressed hope that a favorable court decision or a change in sentencing laws would lead to release from prison. A survey sent to 430 state prison wardens asked if they supported providing prisoners serving life without parole amenities involving access to academic and vocational education programs, special housing assignments, and special programs to enhance adaptation. Wardens were asked to rate the extent to which they believed those prisoners presented a risk of future dangerousness. Study hypotheses were tested to determine if factors related to wardens’ prior work experience as a correction officer or in a treatment position, opinions about the primary purpose of prison, experience as a warden of a facility that housed prisoners serving life without parole, level of educational attainment, and gender impacted support for amenities and perception of future dangerousness. Three different two-way ANOVA tests were conducted, each of which had a categorical predictor variable and moderating independent variables of educational attainment and gender. Several of the main effects did reach the level of statistical significance. A reported belief that rehabilitation was the primary purpose of prison and level of educational attainment were significant in predicting wardens’ support for amenities. Having served as the warden of a prison at which inmates serving life without parole were housed and being female were found to be related to a lower perception of future dangerousness.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The present treatise is an attempt to come to terms with the, by all accounts, dismal conditions that exist in present-day South African prisons by addressing these conditions as they are reflected in two interviews with individuals intimately acquainted with them, as well as by pertinent media-reports. The study is predicated on the belief that the most suitable methodological approach to a situation characterized by extreme conflicts and tensions in terms of power relations, is provided by (mainly Foucaultian) discourse-theory and the discourse-analysis that it makes possible. Consequently, after an introduction in which the present study is justified, followed by a theoretical section outlining the terrain of discourse theory and discourse-analysis, two chapters are devoted to specific discourse-analyses of interviews with an awaiting-trial prisoner in a South African prison and a warden employed at the same institution, with a view to uncovering the power-relations at stake here. While acknowledging that the implications of the insights thus afforded are not, strictly speaking, generalizable in a positivist manner, and that the power-relations brought to light by means of these discourse-analyses are highly specific, it is argued that various other studies pertaining to the South African prison system indicate that these powerrelations – more specifically the disempowerment of prisoners by the functioning of violently hierarchical discursive practices in South African prisons - are not restricted to the prison in question. In fact, given the SA Correctional Services’ stated policy of rehabilitation, it is striking that there is scant evidence of any such rehabilitation in the prisons concerned – at least in the sense of prisoners attaining a level of moral responsibility that would enable them to live as accountable citizens in a democratic society. In conclusion it is argued that the present state of affairs, far from being conducive to the stated goal of rehabilitation, actually undermines its realization, and that the social and economic inequalities in South Africa, exacerbated by the union between ‘democracy’ and global capitalism, are perpetuated and reinforced by the existing discursive practices in South African prisons.