The progress of the Roman Catholic Church in Wales under a succession of able bishops between 1916 and 1962 was striking. The Church grew in strength, stature, and confidence. The expansion in the number of its adherents was largely due to continuing immigration from Ireland, England and the Continent. Although conversions from among the native population certainly occurred, they helped the Catholic cause only minimally. Furthermore, like the other Welsh denominations, the Church found itself in a constant struggle to retain its existing faithful. The growth of the Church in the Principality was one of the primary reasons why hostility and prejudice against Catholicism continued unabated down to the early 1960s. At a local level, the initial opposition to the re-emer gence of Catholicism was undramatic and soon subsided. In the wider sphere, however, animosity remained virulent. In denominational newspapers and conferences, ministers, clergymen and prominent laymen revealed deep anti-Catholic dispositions. Many reacted directly to the growth of the Church by warning fellow Welshmen of the insidious intentions of Rome and its Fascio-political threat. Others vehemently attacked Catholic belief and practice. The Catholic Church's unceasin g attempts to establish its own educational system in Wales became an ideal channel into which these prejudices were directed. While hostility remained fervent throughout the period, underlying_ it was the clear, yet gradual, acceptance of the Roman Catholic Church by the people of Wales. By 1962 the Church had achieved an accepted, and indeed revered, position among the Welsh denominations. The effect of increasing general tolerance, the wide-scale adoption of ecumenical ideals, and respect both for individual Catholics and for their promotion of social, moral and cultural issues, all helped transform the attitude of Welsh society towards the Church.

This research explores the relationship between perceptions of pain and illness and the social characteristics of the individual, with a focus on the role of gender. It emphasizes the meaning and understanding of the phenomenon of pain, which as an area of research has been neglected by medical sociology. A survey of sociological, medical, psychological, anthropological and literary perspectives on pain reveals a consensus that pain is a 'subjective' phenomenon, and that there are therefore limitations in applying 'objective' measurements. Recent developments in the sociology of health and illness, particularly in the area of emotions, offer potential theoretical and methodological frameworks and these are explored. To try to broaden the definition of pain beyond the traditional biomedical approach a multi-method form of enquiry was adopted. A self-completion questionnaire examining health beliefs, and experiences of illness and pain during the life-cycle, was administered to a random sample of 107 men and women attending a GP practice in North West London. Significant gender differences were found with respect to the role of the emotions and social expectations of coping ability. These themes formed the basis of the second stage of fieldwork, in which a sub-sample of 21 men and women participated in a semi-structured in-depth interview, including the use of visual imagery. This explored definitions and experiences of pain. Responses were taperecorded and transcribed. Analysis of both the transcripts and the material relating to the use of visual imagery revealed complex and abstract conceptualisations of pain, related to the social context of the individual. Expenences of pain were found to incorporate feelings and vulnerabilities, and existential and religious beliefs as well nociceptive or sensory components. The attribution to women of superior capacities in coping with pain were phenomenologically linked to female biological and reproductive functioning, but also seen to be underpinned by gendered socialization and role-expectations.

This research was concerned with how parents from different ethnic groups manage their children's respiratory and febrile illnesses, and their consultations at the general practitioner (GP). A review of the few British studies looking at parental health behaviour revealed that parents are continually having to make complex decisions, in which the clinical characteristics of the illness and the behaviour of the child are the most important factors in predictions of what the parent will do. Despite the belief among some GPs that their Asian patients consult more often and for trivial illnesses, we predicted that consultations, however many there are, will reflect rational decisions on the part of the parents. What may appear trivial to a doctor may not be for a parent. Including our pilot studies, we interviewed parents of 159 children - aged between two and eleven years - from three general practices in the inner-city area of Leeds. These parents were either white and indigenous, Muslims, Sikhs or Afro-Caribbeans; and approximately half of the children had been taken to see the doctor in the previous fortnight with a respiratory/febrile complaint, whereas the other half had not been to see a doctor for at least four months.

This dissertation examines how religious meanings adopted by people and cultures influence the manner in which they perceive everyday reality and how they act within it. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is used as a test case for understanding how doctrine, teachings, and culture affect beliefs and practices. In particular, I identify how the unique doctrine of celestial marriage and beliefs surrounding it establish a normative way of being Mormon. This study is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in LDS congregations in Utah and New England. It draws upon 70 in-depth interviews with married and unmarried Latter-day Saints and participant observation in church meetings, singles groups, dances, and dinners. My analysis builds upon sociological studies of coupling and the mate-selection process, feminist theory, Mormon scholarship, and on theories of lived religion and agency to explore the distinctive courtship patterns of the Latter-day Saints. My findings indicate that the belief in celestial marriage among Latter-day Saints is instrumental as they "do" gender and religion. The theological mandate to marry, the rigorous guidelines set by the church, and the cultural expectations of the Mormon community combine to influence members' beliefs about relationship formation and to dictate practices in daily life. Most active Latter-day Saints follow the guidelines of the church unquestioningly. They date with purpose and in appropriate ways, they marry in the temple, and they conform to theologically sanctioned gender norms. However, their practices do not always match their beliefs. Those who are not model Mormons may remain within the boundaries as long as they aspire to the ideal. While men and women experience the path to the ideal differently, both are "disciplined agents." Women work to empower themselves by reshaping or reframing doctrine and teachings, while men simultaneously conform to church teachings and subtly resist gender inequalities in the family. Men's efforts to alter gender norms, however, remain limited to the home. The most significant finding of this study is that even when practices are at odds with stated beliefs, the community provides ways to prevent disconfirmation and reinforce its identity and beliefs. / 2021-05-31

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Chronic pain is a costly health problem that affects more than 100 million people in the United States. Race differences exist in the way that pain is experienced and in how it is treated. Many biopsychosocial factors contribute to race differences in pain tolerance. Beliefs about race differences in pain sensitivity may be one of these factors. Previous research has identified that individuals’ explicit beliefs about their gender group influence their own pain tolerance on a cold pressor task. Explicit beliefs about race and pain sensitivity have also been identified but have yet to be linked to actual pain tolerance. Implicit beliefs about race are well documented; however, little is known about the extent to which individuals hold implicit beliefs about race differences in pain sensitivity or whether these beliefs contribute to actual race differences in pain. My thesis examined explicit and implicit beliefs about race and pain and explored whether these beliefs moderated race differences in pain tolerance. I found that White participants had a higher pain tolerance than Black participants on the cold pressor task, U=1165.50, p<.01. Participants held the explicit, t(131)=-6.83, p<.01, and implicit, t(131)=6.35, p<.01, belief that White people are more pain sensitive than Black people. Both explicit, b=-0.37, p=.71, and implicit, b=-21.87, p=.65, beliefs failed to moderate the relationship between race and pain tolerance. Further exploration indicated that participants’ comparisons of their own pain sensitivity to that of their race group moderated the relationship between race and pain tolerance, ⍵=4.40, p=.04. These results provide further insight into race differences in pain tolerance. Researchers may consider examining explicit and implicit beliefs about race differences in pain in health care providers to better understand disparities in pain related recommendations.

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Secondary choral directors often demonstrate a wide variety of organizational, instructional, and musical skills to promote and nurture thriving programs. Among the many tasks executed, choosing repertoire might be viewed as one of the most important duties performed. Material chosen for study is often the vehicle through which curricular concepts are taught. Multiple factors might influence middle school choral directors’ beliefs about repertoire choices. Ironically, repertoire choices might or might not reflect educators’ actual teaching philosophies; nevertheless, these decisions could influence student learning. This study surveyed a stratified random sampling of Texas middle school choral directors who participated in the 2010 University Interscholastic League Concert and Sight-reading competition (n = 209). Seventy middle school choral directors participated in the study. Each director took an online survey and indicated the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with 14 statements concerning repertoire choice. Many of the belief statements showed teachers were overwhelmingly in concordance with their beliefs (92.9%). Results indicated that beliefs were similar, regardless of who chose the curriculum or the amount of discussion perceived in undergraduate training. The only belief statement that continually showed differences between teachers concerned students’ ability to vote on repertoire.

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This dissertation consists of three chapters on development economics. The first two chapters are in the area of international macroeconomics. The third chapter is in an area that is the intersection of macroeconomics and population economics. The first chapter studies currency substitution in an environment where agents' inflation tax evasive demand for foreign money is balanced by the concern for the possibility that the government may impose economy-wide capital controls under which foreign currency transactions are costly. We contrast implications of constant beliefs regarding capital controls with those obtained under endogenous beliefs. With endogenous beliefs, agents expect a greater likelihood of capital controls as economy-wide currency substitution rises. Our results show a persistent demand for foreign money under endogenous beliefs despite efforts by the government to reduce inflation. The second chapter is a theoretical study of currency substitution in an overlapping-generations economy. We focus on the role of beliefs in determining the relative demands for domestic and foreign money. Domestic money suffers from a lack of confidence leading agents to demand foreign money as an alternate store-of-value. We study equilibria in which the level of confidence in domestic money evolves as a function of expected future aggregate domestic money demand: agents increase their demand for domestic money only if aggregate economy-wide real domestic money demand is expected to rise. The third chapter is a study of intertemporal substitution and fertility dynamics. The demographic experience of Iran after the revolution poses an interesting puzzle. A brief increase in period fertility after the 1979 revolution interrupted a trend of decline that had started in the 1950s. The rise in fertility, however, appears to have lasted only a few years: in the late 1980s fertility decline resumed its course at an even faster pace. We present evidence that suggests that the changes in Iranian fertility since the revolution were in part a birth timing phenomenon. The revolution may well have been a transient economic shock which temporarily depressed the relative "price" of children and caused adjustment in fertility patterns which, at least in an ex post sense, is suggestive of intertemporal substitution. / Ph. D.