This thesis analyses the depiction and its function of politically active women in novels by six female authors from the margins of the democratic revolution of 1848 and the first German women’s movement. The thesis asks (i) what their political stance was in relation to democratic developments and women’s rights, (ii) how they rendered their political convictions into literary form, (iii) which literary images they used, criticised, or invented in order to depict politically active women in their novels in a positive light, and (iv) which narrative strategies they employed to ‘smuggle’ politically and socially radical ideas into what were sometimes only ostensibly conventional plots. The thesis combines intertextual analysis with poetic analyses of individual texts in order to highlight deviant elements in narrative strategy, imagery, or text-internal appraisals by the narrator or author. In order to contextualise the chosen texts as well as my analyses, it draws on the historical environment (social and legal developments, revolutions, technological progress) for the definition of what can be considered radical and political in the period 1845-1919. Additionally, the thesis is firmly grounded in feminist theory, which provides the instruments for highlighting the concepts and circumstances in which the six authors’ works are situated. The essays and novels analysed were written before feminist theory was established; however, their proto-feminist observations, demands, and discursive tactics contributed much to the formation and institutionalisation of feminist thought and, ultimately, theory. In their efforts to construct a positive role model for the political woman, the six authors chosen are united in their notion that such a role model should evolve from bourgeois values of family and work ethics, but the examples manifested in their novels show a great variety of degrees of radicalism.

The research problem that this study sought to address stemmed from a lack of knowledge about South African organizations and a dearth of empirical, quantitative research into organizations, organization structure and organization climate in this country. Five research hypotheses were formulated to address this problem and its attendant subpriJblems. A comprehensive review of the related literature and research was c~trried out and Organization Theory was traced to its earliest beginnings. A number of schools hased on Max Weber's bureaucratic ideal type were described and contrasted. Much attention was paid to the work of the Aston group m the United Kingdom and to their efforts to operationalize Weberian concepts and to incorporate them into a replicable body of quantitative research. Points of departure were re-examined and some new twists to Systems Theory and Structural Functionalism were considered. It was established that the demographic characteristics of both the sample and the population were similar enough for the results of this study to be generalised to the population with some degree of confidence. Much care was taken to test and validate each of the scales that comprised the questionnaire, and item analyses and factor analyses were carried out for every variable and group of variables. The measures developed in other parts of the world and by other researchers performed very well in a South African setting - as did the measures developed specifically for this study. Statistical associations and causal relationships between the various sets of variables, both at the sector level and at individual industry subgroup level, were sought by means of multiple regression analyses. Broad support was found for a 'culture-free hypothesis' that there are a number of stable relationships between organizations and their context; and these relationships will be constant in direction and strength regardless of differences in structures, or in contexts of structures between societies. Importantly, there were also a number of significant differences between this study and the findings of other studies which reflected South Africa's unique blend of developed and developing cultures and value systems. These differences provide fertile ground for future research in the field of Organization Theory. / Business Management / DBL

The research problem that this study sought to address stemmed from a lack of knowledge about South African organizations and a dearth of empirical, quantitative research into organizations, organization structure and organization climate in this country. Five research hypotheses were formulated to address this problem and its attendant subpriJblems. A comprehensive review of the related literature and research was c~trried out and Organization Theory was traced to its earliest beginnings. A number of schools hased on Max Weber's bureaucratic ideal type were described and contrasted. Much attention was paid to the work of the Aston group m the United Kingdom and to their efforts to operationalize Weberian concepts and to incorporate them into a replicable body of quantitative research. Points of departure were re-examined and some new twists to Systems Theory and Structural Functionalism were considered. It was established that the demographic characteristics of both the sample and the population were similar enough for the results of this study to be generalised to the population with some degree of confidence. Much care was taken to test and validate each of the scales that comprised the questionnaire, and item analyses and factor analyses were carried out for every variable and group of variables. The measures developed in other parts of the world and by other researchers performed very well in a South African setting - as did the measures developed specifically for this study. Statistical associations and causal relationships between the various sets of variables, both at the sector level and at individual industry subgroup level, were sought by means of multiple regression analyses. Broad support was found for a 'culture-free hypothesis' that there are a number of stable relationships between organizations and their context; and these relationships will be constant in direction and strength regardless of differences in structures, or in contexts of structures between societies. Importantly, there were also a number of significant differences between this study and the findings of other studies which reflected South Africa's unique blend of developed and developing cultures and value systems. These differences provide fertile ground for future research in the field of Organization Theory. / Business Management / DBL