The politics of the Mezzogiorno represent an interesting point in the politics of modernization. Existing as essentially an enclave of 'backwardness' within a western industrialized country, the people of the Mezzogiorno continue to carry out political functions within a network of arrangements which are generally viewed as 'apolitical' in nature by many observers. Edward Banfield's assertion (in his book, The Moral Basis of a Backward Society) that the society is 'amoral familist' in nature is dealt with in this study, and an attempt is made to formulate a 'moral code' of the Mezzogiorno, portraying political morality as seen through the eyes of the people in that culture. The nature of this 'moral code' is based upon the experience of 'statelessness' in the Mezzogiorno, and the outcome is that the tenets of the moral code are debilitating to change in the sense of moving toward a western democratic form of government. The rules of political morality in the Mezzogiorno dictate that the individual view the government with distrust and attempt to fend for himself. In contrast to Banfield who claims that "political incapacity" is due to "amoral familism", I argue that it is due to the code of political morality at work in the Mezzogiorno. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

by Cathy Yuen. / Bibliography: leaves i-v / Thesis (M.S.W.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1984

The purpose of the study was to identify and describe the approach and strategies used to downsize a mental health organization. This ethnographic study was conducted at a psychiatric hospital that is beginning the 4th year of a 10 year downsizing plan. Data were gathered through interviews, informal observations, and field documents. This research design facilitated an understanding of the phenomenon in the context of the practices and beliefs of the executive management team. Semistructured interviews were conducted with six executive and four middle managers who were involved in the downsizing decision making process. Freeman and Cameron's (1993) definition of downsizing was broadened to encompass not-for-profit reasons for downsizing. Cameron's (1994) downsizing model was supported and an additional best practice called alignment of purpose was proposed in which the leadership of an organization attempts to align the stakeholders with similar goals and objectives for downsizing. The emotional process of downsizing emerged as a key area to address concurrently with job security and other more pragmatic consequences of downsizing. Empathy was suggested as one method of dealing with the emotional process of downsizing.

The purpose of the study was to identify and describe the approach and strategies used to downsize a mental health organization. This ethnographic study was conducted at a psychiatric hospital that is beginning the 4th year of a 10 year downsizing plan. Data were gathered through interviews, informal observations, and field documents. This research design facilitated an understanding of the phenomenon in the context of the practices and beliefs of the executive management team. Semistructured interviews were conducted with six executive and four middle managers who were involved in the downsizing decision making process. Freeman and Cameron's (1993) definition of downsizing was broadened to encompass not-for-profit reasons for downsizing. Cameron's (1994) downsizing model was supported and an additional best practice called alignment of purpose was proposed in which the leadership of an organization attempts to align the stakeholders with similar goals and objectives for downsizing. The emotional process of downsizing emerged as a key area to address concurrently with job security and other more pragmatic consequences of downsizing. Empathy was suggested as one method of dealing with the emotional process of downsizing. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The purpose of this study is to advance theoretical understanding of how an adolescent with incurable cancer prepares for end-of-life (EOL). A theoretical model was developed to link awareness, acceptance, and willingness to take action to EOL preparedness (knowledge about EOL, acknowledgement of grief and emotion, identification of the meaning of death and spirituality, and conceptualization of personal plan) and communication about EOL preferences and priorities; and to determine impact on quality of life (QOL). Method: Case study research method was used to guide data collection and analyses on two adolescent cases across two time points. The theoretically-based model was developed prior to data collection and based on research studies conducted in adult and pediatric EOL literature. Multiple sources of data were collected and triangulated to assess relationships between qualitative and quantitative data. Through an iterative process of pattern matching, data were compared to constructs in the conceptual model for both across cases, and across time. Results: Results indicate awareness (cognitive recognition of incurable prognosis) and acceptance (emotional acknowledgement of incurable prognosis) are both fluid concepts and varied within each time point and across time. Contextual factors (demographic, environmental, personal, and social support characteristics) influenced awareness, EOL preparedness, and willingness to take action; and directly influenced QOL. Level of awareness influenced involvement in EOL preparedness. Information preference and willingness to engage in discussions regarding knowledge about EOL were incongruent with actual knowledge about EOL. Adolescents demonstrated a willingness to discuss potential disease progression in order to conceptualize an EOL advanced care plan regardless of emotional acceptance of incurable prognosis. In contrast, acknowledgment of grief and emotions, and identification of the meaning of death and spirituality were related to acceptance of incurable prognosis and further determined conceptualization of immediate EOL priorities. Social constraint or lack of ability to discuss prognosis, was identified as an important construct that influenced communications. Implications: This study provides increased theoretical understanding of how adolescents living with advanced cancer confront EOL. Insight led to theory modification and expansion which may serve as a guide for future research to assist clinicians caring for adolescents living with incurable cancer. Victoria L. Champion, PhD, RN, FAAN, Chair

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Ageing is a fact of life. It often gives rise to unfortunate consequences. Physical infirmities; senile dementia; emotional disturbance. Indeed, the effects of the ageing process can be such as to render a person incapable of performing the ordinary and normal functions of life. In such a case, institutionalisation presents itself as a prospect to enable an aged person to cope with the ordinary day-to-day activities of living. The purpose of institutionalisation is to improve the quality of life of the elderly. In considering the process, a number of important facets need to be borne in mind. Firstly, the process must be seen in relation to the condition of the person being institutionalised. Secondly, the process must be seen as a matter of extraordinary change in the life of the aged person. This implies a detailed explanation and full disclosure of the process envisaged, and, if needs be, appropriate counselling of the person concerned. Thirdly, there must be sympathetic and sensitive assistance given to the aged person in adapting to a new situation. Fourthly, a continuing and intimate interest in, and concern for, the aged person on the part of the family must be accentuated and impressed. This gives rise to the importance of visitation on the part of the family. Its meaning and purpose must be understood. The need for meaningful visitation must be stressed, and the status of a respected member of the family must be emphasised. The aged person must never be cut-off, separated or neglected. Visits must not be a coincidental, haphazard and aimless occurrence. Visitation must always be directed at improving the quality of life of the aged person. The aged person, despite her advanced years and debilitated condition, remains a person with thoughts, feelings, emotions, difficulties and problems. She needs time and attention. The normal or regular pattern of visitation does not, by and large, accomplish these ends. Something more is required. Specialised visitation. This is something different from ordinary, normal, social visitation. It is more intense, more concentrated and more regular. It embodies consistent and continuous contract. It is directed at effectiveness. It is never haphazard or aimless and always has as its objective an improved quality of life for the aged. The specialised visitor and the resident come to know each other well; they come to trust each other, and they come to realise that the object of the visit is more than an exchange of frivolities. Specialised visitation manifests a concern for the aged; it offers them support, stability, certainty and security. This is so because the specialised visitor responds to an inner conviction, an infinite calling, and an earnest urging. It is not a task but a vocation. Many factors contribute to the enhancement of the quality of life of the elderly : three may be mentioned. Institutionalisation, visitation and the role undertaken by the specialised visitor. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Veroudering is 'n gegewe feit wat dikwels tot ongelukkige toestande soos fisiese swakhede, seniliteit en emosionele versteuring lei. Die gevolge van veroudering kan inderdaad 'n persoon verhinder om die alledaagse en normale funksies van lewe uit te voer. In sulke gevalle bied institusionalisering die moontlikheid dat 'n bejaarde persoon wel kan handel met die gewone dag-tot-dag aktiwiteite van die lewe. Die doel van institusionalisering is die verbetering van die kwaliteit van lewe van die bejaarde. In die beskouing van hierdie proses moet 'n aantal fasette in aanmerking geneem word. Eerstens, moet die proses in verhouding tot die toestand waarm die persoon wat geïnstitusionaliseeer word verkeer, gesien word. Tweedens, die proses verteenwoordig 'n buitengewone verandering in die lewe van die bejaarde persoon. Om dit te vergemaklik moet 'n gedetaileerde verduideliking en volle openbaarmaking van die proses wat voorlê aan die persoon gegee word en, indien nodig, toepaslike berading aan die persoon verskaf word. Derdens, die persoon moet simpatieke en sensitiewe bystand in die proses van aanpassing tot die nuwe situasie verleen word. Vierdens,die gesin van die persoon moet baie duidelik onder die indruk gebring word van die belang van voortgesette en intieme belangstelling in die persoon deur hulself Hierdie aspek bring die belangrikheid van besoek deur die gesin na vore. Die betekenis en doel van besoek moet deeglik verstaan word. Die behoefte van betekenisvolle besoek moet benadruk word en die status van die persoon as gerespekteerde lid van die gesin beklemtoon word. Die bejaarde mag nooit afgesny, afgesonder of verwaarloos word nie. Besoeke mag nie toevallig, planloos en doelloos geskied nie. Besoeke moet altyd gerig wees op die verbetering van die kwaliteit van die lewe van die bejaarde. Ten spyte van haar gevorderde jare en afgetakelde toestand bly die bejaarde persoon iemand met eie denke, gevoelens, emosies, moeilikhede en probleme. Sy benodig tyd en aandag. Die gewone of gereelde patroon van besoek bereik oor die algemeen nie hierdie doeleindes nie. Iets meer word vereis, naamlik gespesialiseerde besoek. Dit is duidelik verskillend van die gewone, normale sosiale besoek. Dit is meer intensief, meer gekonsentreerd en meer gereeld. Dit beliggaam bestendige en deurlopende kontak. Dit is gerig op doelbereiking. Dit is nooit planloos of doelloos nie en het altyd as oogmerk om die kwaliteit van lewe van die bejaarde te verbeter. Die gespesialiseerde besoeker en die inwoner leer mekaar goed ken sodat hulle mekaar vertrou, en besef dat die oogmerk van die besoeke meer behels as 'n uitruil van beuselagtighede. Gespesialiseerde besoek druk 'n besorgdheid VIT die bejaarde uit. Dit gee aan hulle ondersteuning, stabiliteit, sekerheid en sekuriteit. Dit is so omdat die gespesialiseerde besoeker vanuit 'n innerlike oortuiging, 'n onbegrensde roeping en 'n ernstige lewensdrang optree. Dit is nie 'n taak nie maar 'n roeping. Baie faktore dra by tot die verhoging van die kwaliteit van lewe van bejaardes. Drie hiervan is institusionalisering, besoek en die rol wat die gespesialiseerde besoeker onderneem.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This study explores the role of spirituality in the transition through midlife. Using narrative research methodology, in-depth tape-recorded interviews were conducted with ten self-selected adults between the ages of 47 and 63 who felt spirituality had played an important role in their transition through mid-life. Of the seven women and three men who participated, nine were Caucasian and one was Asian. Four participants were not adherents of a recognized religious faith, while the other six reported an affiliation with Eastern, middle-Eastern, or Western faiths. Of this well-educated, middle to upper income sample, four participants were married with children, three were single, and three were divorced. Tape-recorded interview transcriptions were used to develop first person narrative accounts of the role spirituality in the transition through midlife. These accounts were validated by the participants. Further analysis of the validated narratives yielded ten common elements. The first four elements indicated a significant role for spirituality in the developmental process of midlife, by helping the participants to cope with losses and challenges, revise values and identity, and find spiritual meaning. The next six elements, which suggest an expanded definition of spirituality, described the ongoing importance of spirituality in the lives of the participants. The common elements and findings are discussed in light of current theory and research on midlife, as well as psychological perspectives on spirituality.

This thesis is an investigation of the gendered, classed and racialized identities associated with living a traditional family life in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia in the 1 990s. It has two entry points. The first is a focus on gendered identities that are the result of “old” ideals in a “new” cultural and geographical context: what identities result when traditional ideals of motherhood, fatherhood and homeownership are played out in a context where the ideals are being questioned, the ability to live these ideals limited and the surrounding landscape does not seem to reflect these notions? I use the heuristics of “new traditionalism” and “declining fortunes” to understand this interpretation and reinscription of the “old” within the “new”. The second entry point is a concern with place: how, in the 1990s, are white, middle-class familial identities gendered and experienced in and through place, and specifically suburban environments? Building upon Doreen Massey’s rethinking of the notion of place, I define place as a constellation of social and cultural relations in a particular site and examine some of the ways that places and identities are articulated. The thesis is based on archival work and in-depth interviews with residents in two neighbourhoods in the Municipality of Surrey, an outer suburb of Vancouver, British Columiba. Through an analysis of the planning of Surrey I show how the construction of Surrey as suburban set the limits of possibility and impossibility for identity there, deeming some identities “natural” and others peripheral. An examination of residential location decisions demonstrates that spatially demarcated neighbourhoods were desired and reconstructed and that the meanings of places within Surrey (what I term symbolic geographies) and distancing from a familial and racial other were important in the process. By exploring the multiple linkages between gender, class and home I show how images of place, and especially the house and the neighbourhood, are part of situating the self. Through a focus on the tensions between new traditionalist ideals and practices, I suggest that cultural meanings circulating within specific places influence the experience of gendered subject positions and both exacerbate and smooth over tensions within new traditionalism. In an investigation of the links between religion, gender difference, new traditionalist convictions, and place, I highlight how religious networks involve a different relation to place compared to other residents. I conclude that traditional models of family and gender (new traditionalism) remain pervasive signposts, and underlain by a relation to feminism, but are modified in response to the pressures of homeownership and different economic positionings (understood in terms of the discourse of declining fortunes). This modification is also class and place specific; the ability to live an idealized new traditionalist life is dependent upon the “possibility” of a male breadwinner wage and the meanings circulating within the residential neighbourhood.

This thesis is an investigation of the gendered, classed and racialized identities associated with living a traditional family life in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia in the 1 990s. It has two entry points. The first is a focus on gendered identities that are the result of “old” ideals in a “new” cultural and geographical context: what identities result when traditional ideals of motherhood, fatherhood and homeownership are played out in a context where the ideals are being questioned, the ability to live these ideals limited and the surrounding landscape does not seem to reflect these notions? I use the heuristics of “new traditionalism” and “declining fortunes” to understand this interpretation and reinscription of the “old” within the “new”. The second entry point is a concern with place: how, in the 1990s, are white, middle-class familial identities gendered and experienced in and through place, and specifically suburban environments? Building upon Doreen Massey’s rethinking of the notion of place, I define place as a constellation of social and cultural relations in a particular site and examine some of the ways that places and identities are articulated. The thesis is based on archival work and in-depth interviews with residents in two neighbourhoods in the Municipality of Surrey, an outer suburb of Vancouver, British Columiba. Through an analysis of the planning of Surrey I show how the construction of Surrey as suburban set the limits of possibility and impossibility for identity there, deeming some identities “natural” and others peripheral. An examination of residential location decisions demonstrates that spatially demarcated neighbourhoods were desired and reconstructed and that the meanings of places within Surrey (what I term symbolic geographies) and distancing from a familial and racial other were important in the process. By exploring the multiple linkages between gender, class and home I show how images of place, and especially the house and the neighbourhood, are part of situating the self. Through a focus on the tensions between new traditionalist ideals and practices, I suggest that cultural meanings circulating within specific places influence the experience of gendered subject positions and both exacerbate and smooth over tensions within new traditionalism. In an investigation of the links between religion, gender difference, new traditionalist convictions, and place, I highlight how religious networks involve a different relation to place compared to other residents. I conclude that traditional models of family and gender (new traditionalism) remain pervasive signposts, and underlain by a relation to feminism, but are modified in response to the pressures of homeownership and different economic positionings (understood in terms of the discourse of declining fortunes). This modification is also class and place specific; the ability to live an idealized new traditionalist life is dependent upon the “possibility” of a male breadwinner wage and the meanings circulating within the residential neighbourhood. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate