Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the United States, which predominately occurs in the manufacturing sector, remains critically important for a strong regional and local economy, due to the resulting increase in employment, wages, and tax revenue. Traditionally, local economic development strategies have focused on attracting external manufacturing plants or facilities as the primary route to economic growth, through the expansion of the tax base and/or an increase in employment. In comparison, Sustainable Local Economic Development (SLED) emphasizes the establishment of a minimum standard of living for all and an increase in this standard over time; a reduction in the steady growth in inequality among people; a reduction in spatial inequality; and the promotion and encouragement of sustainable resource use and production (Blakely & Leigh, 2010). These essential SLED principles motivate this study, which will seek to develop a better understanding of whether and how FDI contributes to SLED in terms of its spatial patterns and its impact on middle class earnings. By selecting Georgia as a case study area, this research specifically examines whether and how the location of manufacturing FDI has reduced (or increased) spatial inequality at the intra-state and intra-metropolitan levels. It also identifies whether and how manufacturing FDI has reduced (or increased) inequality among people, focusing on its impact on middle class earnings. This study finds a strong spatial concentration of manufacturing FDI employment in metropolitan areas, particularly in a large metropolitan area, at the intra-state spatial pattern analysis. The results of panel regression analysis suggest that presence of agglomeration economies in metropolitan areas has positively influenced the location of manufacturing FDI jobs. The study also finds a suburbanization pattern of manufacturing FDI employment in the intra-metropolitan spatial pattern analysis. This intra-metropolitan suburbanization of FDI in manufacturing jobs is associated with loss of urban industrial land in the central areas within a large metropolitan area. These uneven distribution patterns of manufacturing FDI jobs indicate increased spatial inequality at both intra-state and intra-metropolitan levels, but the implications of this finding are mixed. Using individual earnings data from the American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample files, this study also conducts a quantile regression to estimate the earnings distribution effects that a concentration of manufacturing FDI may have on different earnings groups. The findings both from place-of-work and place-of-residence earnings analysis suggest that manufacturing FDI generally has reduced inequality among people. The concentration of manufacturing FDI in a certain area show the largest distribution effects on area workers in the lower earnings group and residents in the middle earnings group.

郭康健. / 論文(博士)--香港中文大學, 2000. / 參考文獻 (p. 187-211) / 中英文摘要. / Available also through the Internet via Dissertations & theses @ Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Guo Kangjian. / Lun wen (bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2000. / Can kao wen xian (p. 187-211) / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao.

by Chu Sheng Hua. / Thesis submitted in: December 2000. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-134). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / "List of Map, Tables and Figures" / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Consumption: The Prism of Contemporary China / Chapter I. --- Introduction: Consumption in China --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- Material Conditions under Communist China --- p.3 / Chapter III --- . The Advent into a Consumer Society --- p.4 / Chapter ■ --- Increase in the Level of Affluence / Chapter ■ --- De-regularisation of the Marketing System / Chapter ■ --- Emergence of a Capital Owning Class / Chapter ■ --- Explosion of Consumption Information / Chapter ■ --- Change in Consumption Structures --- p.11 / Chapter IV. --- Guangzhou: Center of Consumption / Chapter ■ --- Location / Chapter ■ --- One Step Ahead --- p.15 / Chapter V. --- Objectives of Study --- p.17 / Chapter VI. --- Organisation of Thesis / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Sociological Theorising of Consumption： Thematic Issues / Chapter I. --- The Acknowledgement of Consumption: From Production to Consumption --- p.19 / Chapter II. --- Consumption as Communication --- p.21 / Chapter III. --- Consumption as Distinction --- p.22 / Chapter ■ --- Veblen: Leisure Class and Conspicuous Consumption / Chapter ■ --- "Bourdieu: Habitus, Taste and Cultural Capital" / Chapter ■ --- Lamont: Symbolic Boundaries / Chapter IV. --- Consumption as Pleasure and Play --- p.27 / Chapter V. --- "Consumption, Advertising and the Symbolic" --- p.28 / Chapter ■ --- Postmodernism and Baudrillard / Chapter ■ --- Consumption and the Symbolic: Theorising Lifestyle / Chapter ■ --- The Polemics / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Research Design / Chapter I. --- Conducting China Studies --- p.32 / Chapter II. --- Data Sources --- p.32 / Chapter ■ --- The Unobtrusive Method / Chapter ■ --- Sources of Data / Chapter III. --- Data Analysis --- p.35 / Chapter ■ --- Content Analysis / Chapter ■ --- Semiotic Analysis / Chapter ■ --- Symbolic Reality and Objective Reality / Chapter IV. --- Data Sampling --- p.39 / Chapter V. --- Analysing Advertisements --- p.42 / Chapter ■ --- Advertising Categories / Chapter ■ --- Advertising Formats / Chapter ■ --- Covert Advertisements / Chapter Chapter 4 --- "Advertising, Consumption and the New Middle Class" / Chapter I. --- The Re-birth of Advertising in China --- p.47 / Chapter ■ --- From Political to Marketing Tool / Chapter ■ --- Advertising Boom / Chapter II. --- A New World of Goods and Dreams --- p.49 / Chapter ■ --- Forms and Contents of Advertisements: From Product-oriented to Consumer-oriented / Chapter ■ --- Ownership of Goods / Chapter III. --- Market Segmentation: Locating the Middle Class and Their Consumption Patterns / Chapter ■ --- Market Segmentation and the New Middle Class / Chapter ■ --- Economic Capital and Consumption Patterns / Chapter ■ --- Cultural Capital and Taste / Chapter ■ --- Advertising and Consumption Categories / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Cultivating Differences I： Constructing the Ideal Home / Chapter I. --- Housing Reform and Rising Demand for Commodity Housing --- p.66 / Chapter II. --- Housing Advertisements --- p.68 / Chapter III. --- Advertising Themes: Alluding to the Middle Class Aspirations --- p.70 / Chapter ■ --- Establishing Class and Status Distinction / Chapter ■ --- Emphasis on Superiority/Luxury / Chapter ■ --- Desire of Naturalism / Chapter ■ --- Sports-oriented and Health-conscious / Chapter ■ --- Foreign Lifestyle / Chapter ■ --- Cultural Taste / Chapter ■ --- Education and Learning / Chapter IV. --- Ownership of Lifestyle --- p.84 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Cultivating Differences II： Consuming Technologies / Chapter I. --- Modernisation and Good Life --- p.87 / Chapter II. --- The Modern Home Electrification --- p.89 / Chapter ■ --- Wither Tidal Wave Consumption? / Chapter ■ --- The Making of a Modern Home / Chapter III. --- Deciphering Information and Communication Technologies --- p.93 / Chapter ■ --- The Latest Gadgets / Chapter ■ --- Fashionable Lifestyle and Aesthetic Qualities / Chapter IV. --- Private Cars: Riding on the Tide of Consumerism --- p.99 / Chapter ■ --- Car Ownership / Chapter ■ --- Who are the Owners? / Chapter ■ --- Status Symbols / Chapter ■ --- Car as Person: Intelligent but Reserved / Chapter ■ --- Desire for Freedom and Touristic Experience / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Conclusion： Beyond Consumption / Chapter I. --- "Consumption, Advertising and Beyond" --- p.106 / Chapter II. --- Social Stratification and the Cultivation of Differences: Towards the Construction and Pursuit of a Middle Class Way of Life --- p.109 / Chapter III. --- New Sensibilities & Outlook --- p.111 / Chapter ■ --- "Stylisation, Aestheticisation and the Cultivation of a Lifestyle" / Chapter ■ --- Cultural Refinement and Sophistication / Chapter ■ --- Cosmopolitanism / Chapter IV. --- The Politics of Consumption --- p.116 / Chapter V. --- Consumption with Chinese Characteristics --- p.119 / Chapter VI. --- Suggestions for Future Studies --- p.122 / Bibliography --- p.126

Since the start of the 20th century, the Black Middle Class (BMC) has been a creation of both direct and indirect government policy and action. More importantly, had it not been for government action directed towards blacks, the BMC that is visible today would not exist. During the time period of the great migration, blacks prospered from increased economic demand along with policy targeted both directly and indirectly at employing millions of blacks. During the 1960’s and 70’s, the BMC became a viable entity with civil rights laws that forced black men and women into higher education institutions as well as public and private employment. The policy implemented during this time sought to end discrimination by making it illegal and tightly monitoring it. As a result, the BMC saw accelerated growth in both educational attainment and wage. However, this immediate progress was brought to a standstill starting with a wave of conservatism sparked and led by the election of Ronald Reagan. Since that time, the BMC has made gains both educationally and economically, but the growth has been much less apparent. Also, many in the BMC have sought careers in the public sector due to discrimination that may exist because of a lack of governmental regulation and oversight in the private sector. There are many perils that face the BMC today, but most importantly the threat to massive reductions in the public sector federally and locally.

Current debates in the anthropology of the Indian middle classes suggest a preponderant theme of balance - between 'Indian' and 'Western'; 'traditional' and 'modern'; 'global' and 'local'. Scholars like Säävälä (2010) Nisbett (2007, 2009), and Donner (2011) demonstrate a range of practices through which the ideal of middle class life is positioned in a precarious median between the imagined decadence of the upper classes and the perceived immorality and lack of responsibility of the working classes. Sexuality and intimacy, it has been observed, are important sites, where this balancing act is played out and risks to its stability are disciplined. Young women have particularly come under a great deal of pressure to position themselves dually as modern representatives of a global nation, who are, at the same time, epitomes of a nationalised narrative of tradition. In this thesis I examine, through an ethnographic study, the ways in which young women's bodies are implicated in the normative reproduction of everyday middle class life, as well as unpacking the social meanings of youth and adulthood for women in this context. Further, locating my study in the context of women's colleges in Chennai, this thesis comments on the significance of educational spaces as sites where normative ideals of middle class life and femininity are both produced and contested. The chief arguments in this thesis are organised into five chapters that draw primarily on ethnographic material to examine categories of risk, danger and pleasure as mutually constituted in young women's lives through everyday practice, as well as the making of the everyday as a precarious and compositional event.

The purpose of this study was to provide a space in which white, middle-class men could consider and discuss their identity and its relationship to privilege. Transcripts from focus group number three is included in the thesis' appendix.

No description available.

Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / South Africa is currently not considered a wine-drinking nation. The consumption per capita rate is very low, especially for a wine-producing country. To date, the wine industry has grown due to exports allowed since sanctions were lifted in 1994. With the export market set to decelerate over the next few years, the wine industry will have to develop the domestic market, especially the black consumer market for future growth. The emerging black market of South Africa has materialised as the strongest buying influence in the economy. They have an overwhelming desire to have access to a lifestyle, which in the past was not possible. While they are status and lifestyle orientated, they want products and brands that are aspirational and close to them. Understanding this market and the potential they pose is vital for the wine industry’s future. Wine marketers need to understand this target market’s thoughts and perceptions around wine, as this market is still largely untapped. The emerging black market has had little exposure to wine compared with other alcoholic drinks such as beer, brandy and the ready-to-drink category and the wine industry will have to look at a comprehensive strategy to target them. It is the purpose of this study to provide detailed insights into the emerging black market of South Africa in connection with wine consumption. Initially, a literature review was conducted to investigate this target market and the wine industry’s current situation. Various marketing tools were discussed designed to specifically target the emerging black market. Based on this information, a consumer survey was conducted amongst black MBA students of the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB). The data was analysed and conclusions were drawn that answered the questions and objectives of this study. The analyses showed that the wine industry should focus on the women segment of the emerging black market, as they are the current group interested in wine. Other main findings included that wine needed to be positioned as an aspirational product; that brand ambassadors in large social networks should be identified; and finally that the wine industry and all its stakeholders should work together to educate the emerging black market and collectively apply the various marketing techniques found to be popular.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

<p>The subject of this thesis is Scandinavian nationalism from the late 18th century to ca 1920. The focus lies on that particular aspect of nationalism that was at the same time the most mundane and the most enigmatic: the ever-present depicting of the nation in words, pictures and music, which in effect created a parallel universe, a patriotic dreamland. This creation was highly gendered, and the media in which it flourished most abundantly was the patriotic song. The study therefore uses song texts as its primary source material and builds upon the theoretical foundations laid by, e.g., Joan Scott and Michael Billig.</p><p>Geographically, the investigation centers on Sweden, using Norway and Swedish-speaking Finland as objects of comparison. The main producers of the lyrics and their intended target groups are identified, and an in-depth analysis of a large corpus of songs is made.</p><p>The main conclusion is that the patriotic songs, in spite of spreading to an ever increasing proportion of the population, were not an expression of the ‘voice of the people’ or even that of the bourgeoisie as a whole. The texts were chiefly written by male academics, and from their formative years during the Napoleonic wars the songs preserved an obsession with a warlike unmarried manhood. Only in the last decades of the period were civilian virtues and national womanhood slightly more emphasized. It is suggested that the songs, apart from being an expression of what Billig has termed ‘banal nationalism,’ also functioned as a bastion of a ‘banal androcentrism.’</p><p>The thesis shows that the patriotic dreamland of the patriotic songs was designed in a way that promoted the interests of its producers and reproducers. The seemingly semi-autonomous quality of the discourse is also discussed, employing meme theory as used by, e.g., Daniel Dennett.</p>