A central issue in the sociology of economic development of nations concerns why and how some countries have developed and others have not. The study of this question becomes important because despite sociology's preoccupation, since classical times, with the transition of societies toward more advanced social stages many questions regarding the nature of national development have been left unanswered, particularly with respect to the nonindustrialized nations. / A major assumption underlying the explanations given by traditional theories (modernization) of development is that each society is basically independent of all others, and that underdevelopment or development of any one society is caused by internal forces. / This study develops another approach based on a world-system/dependency perspective. According to this perspective the poverty of underdeveloped societies are due to their relationship with the advanced capitalist societies rather than being caused by internal conditions. / The question of development and underdevelopment is examined by applying the two theoretical frameworks to Iranian historical experiences from 1940-1978. Modernization hypotheses are found to be logically and empirically problematic or incomplete on political participation, investment capital, and liberal reforms. Alternatively, the world-system/dependency perspective tends to best conform to the Iranian Post-World War II historical experience. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-03, Section: A, page: 0945. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

Previous studies of development and underdevelopment of the Caribbean have viewed the region's backward state as a consequence of "antiquated institutional structures" or an "insufficiency of resources and skills necessary for economic development." / In contract to these analyses, this study attempts to obtain a better understanding of the production-reproduction of "underdevelopment"--the "development of underdevelopment"--through a detailed investigation of the historical conditions, and the totality of productions relations within one small Caribbean society the microstate of Grenada. The theoretical foundation of the study consists of the works of Marx, as elaborated upon by Andre Gunder Frank and Samir Amin. Frank and Amin are emphasized because their work represents the most comprehensive treatment of peripheral development and underdevelopment. A major assumption underlying their work is that development and underdevelopment is part of the same dynamic process as world capitalist accumulation, where the metropolis developed by exploiting the periphery which in turn became underdeveloped. A shortcoming of Frank and Amin's analysis is their economic deterministic approach to underdevelopment. By their emphasis on the economic they have failed to come to terms with the political, social-cultural, and ideological forces that contribute to underdevelopment. / Consistent with Frank and Amin this study shows that Grenada became underdeveloped as Britain extracted and expatriated the island's resources for the benefit of the metropolis. In contrast to Frank and Amin, however, the results also show that societal forces are complexly and dynamically intertwined, in short overdetermined, and that primacy cannot be attributed to economic factors as major determinants of underdevelopment. The complementarity of these forces are therefore crucial and must be adequately assessed if we are to have a better understanding of underdevelopment--not under-emphasized as Frank and Amin have done. / The findings of this work suggest that a more complete account of development/underdevelopment process emerges by taking the totality of social relations into consideration. Using this approach allows us to uncover some of the dynamic connecting links and basic characteristics of peripheral societal formations, and transformations within them--findings that will provide a more comprehensive understanding of problems of underdevelopment and possibilities for change. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-10, Section: A, page: 3169. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

The present research was an analysis of cities as social systems, using data for the 148 SMSA's of 200,000 or larger population in 1970. It examines the relationship among variables representative of several theoretical concepts, which are system size, productive output, complexity, growth, level of energy and system investment in regulatory and maintenance functions. Variables representing the first five concepts were considered independent variables: city size, functional specialization, occupational and racial diversity, population growth and median income. Variables representing the last two concepts were considered dependent variables: city expenditures on such regulatory functions as fire and police protection, and such maintenance functions as education, welfare and health. / The hypothesis tested was that the independent variables would demonstrate a hierarchic pattern in their unique ability to explain variation in cities' expenditures for both regulatory and maintenance activities. From most powerful to least powerful the order of the independent variables was predicted to be: city size; functional specialization; level of energy characteristic of the system, as measured by median income; system complexity, as measured by racial and occupational diversity; and population growth or decline. To determine the relative contributions of each independent variable in explaining variation in the dependent variables, the analysis relied on a multiple regression procedure which isolates the unique explanatory power of each variable. The patterns observed among the independent variables were summarized and compared by describing them with appropriate path models. / Four findings were of particular interest: first, city size, traditionally regarded as a highly important variable, demonstrated little unique ability to explain variation in maintenance expenditures; second, of all types of functional specialization only the degree of specialization in metropolitan functions (financial, diversified trade and service functions) showed significant ability to explain variation in either regulatory or maintenance expenditures; third, while city size and degree of specialization in metropolitan functions were most important in determining regulatory expenditures, system complexity in terms of occupational and racial diversity was most important in determining maintenance expenditures; fourth, population growth or decline was unimportant in unique contribution to any measures of regulatory or maintenance expenditures. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-06, Section: A, page: 2126. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

This study investigated the interpersonal communication rules within a gay community concerning the topic being a homosexual. Though the study attempted to extract rules, its primary emphasis was to describe the factors that affect rule development. To that end, the study did the following: (1) It attempted to discover rules individuals have about what can be said, under what circumstances, and to whom; (2) It examined different labels denoting homosexuality and determined when they may be used and how individuals respond to them; (3) It investigated the information sources and communication networks of the members of a gay community; and (4) It examined the sex differences in communication practices in a gay community. / A structured and open-ended questionnaire was administered by ten interviewers to 108 respondents (fifty-five males and fifty-three females) in the Pittsburgh area. The sample was generated through the snowball technique which uses relational networks. Open-ended questions were content analyzed by four coders using techniques developed for this study. Measures were taken to support intercoder reliability, over time reliability of respondent's answers, and the validity of the content analysis techniques. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used to check the results of the directional hypotheses and research questions. / The results of the study demonstrated the difficulty of predicting the content of interpersonal rules. Whether or not the receiver was gay was not crucial for the rules of self-disclosure. Neither was mutual self-disclosure a prerequisite for self-disclosure of homosexuality. The use of code words was not important in the recognition of another gay person. The most important factor for determining the receivers of self-disclosure was whether the receiver was empathetic to various lifestyles including homosexuality. Respondents had little difficulty stating their rules of taboo communication. / There was weak support for the relationship between extent of relational networks and the restrictiveness of rules of taboo communication. This relationship was stronger for females than for males. There was strong support for the relationship between "coming out" as a homosexual and information provided by the mass media. Twenty-two percent of the sample had come out having received information only from the mass media. There appeared to be a stronger relationship for males between information provided by the mass media and the structure of taboo communication rules. / Females tended more toward interlocking networks than males. Males spent more time and got more information from diverse groups than did females. Females were more comfortable with gay males than straight males, while gay males saw little difference between gay and straight females. / Gay people responded more negatively to labels when used by straight people than to gay people using the same labels. Gay males and gay females perceived some terms differently. This was especially true for words that apply to females, as "dyke" and "lesbian." Most respondents preferred the word "gay" to "homosexual" and considered it a more positive term. Both males and females relied on prevalent stereotypes for recognition of another gay person. / Before coming out, males were dependent upon mass media sources for information, while females were more dependent upon interpersonal sources. After coming out, both groups tended to rely upon same sex gay friends for information. The major stated factor in coming out for males was assertion of self. The major stated factor in coming out for females was the influence of others. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 1239. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This study was concerned with the effect of social acts upon commitment to social responsibility. Commitment was defined as the pledging or binding of an individual to an act. It was typologized into: (a) commitment to an act which had not been previously performed, termed latent commitment; and (b) commitment to an act which had been previously performed, termed consistent commitment. / This study, basically, examined the effect of two factors upon the two types of commitment. First, the factor explicitness, whether an act is performed publically or privately, was of interest with regard to the influence that it might have upon two types of commitment. Second, the factor of number of acts performed was of interest; whether two, four, or eight acts might result in differences in the two types of commitment. / A modified social responsibility scale was administered to 216 students from East Carolina University both prior to and following the performance of acts which were manipulated in respect to explicitness and number of acts performed. Subjects were randomly assigned to the two levels of explicitness and three levels of numbers of acts. The subjects were randomized to a 2 x 3 factorial research design. / Data on the 216 subjects were analyzed using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) of a social responsibility scale. The independent variables were explicitness and number of acts performed. The conditional variables were latent commitment and consistent commitment. The scores of the subjects above midpoint on the social responsibility scale were taken as the dependent variable. / The results of the analysis of variance indicated that there were no significant differences in the latent commitment condition. The main effects of the interactions were not significantly different as a result of explicitness and/or number of acts performed. / The results of the analysis of variance indicated that there were no significant differences in the consistent commitment condition. Explicitness and number of acts performed made no significant differences in either main effects or interactions. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2891. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

East Asia's capitalist growth has generated many interesting questions concerning Third World development. While radical and critical theories tend to ignore East Asia, modernization and neoclassical economic theories offer ahistorical accounts of what has actually happened. Focusing on South Korea's rapid rise in the world-system, this study seeks to address many issues surrounding East Asian development. Three successful export industries have been chosen for a detailed examination of the dialectical interaction between the state and the world-system forces. South Korea's economic success was generally attributed to its well-orchestrated policy of following the product cycle in the international division of labor. The Korean state has effectively mastered the flow of the product cycle in the three industries, but failed to do so in the machinery and chemical sectors. Its strategy of following the product cycle was mediated by the Northeast Asian political economic system, in which Japan played a central role. Since Korea's success is historically as well as regionally specific, its model of development may not be readily adaptable for the other developing countries trying to emulate the country. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-12, Section: A, page: 3892. / Major Professor: Richard Rubinson. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

In recent years, the American health care system has undergone major changes in organization and sponsorship. From the perspectives of Marxian and Weberian theories, the corporate or government sponsored arrangements which have emerged from these institutional changes are expected to reduce participating physicians' professional autonomy (self-control of their own activity) and authority (control of the medical care process). In opposition to this view, recent occupational theory, emphasizing the social power of professions, has argued that despite the transformations underway within health care, physicians can be expected to retain autonomy and authority. / This case-study of a state-sponsored, pediatric primary care project operating in two locations seeks to assess the relative merits of the prevailing theoretical perspectives described above and to investigate the factors which influence physicians' retention or loss of autonomy and authority. Data from interviews with participating pediatricians, nurse/case managers and with administrators at the project and state level are augmented by the responses of pediatricians in other areas of the state to a survey concerning their perceptions of, and willingness to participate in such a project. / The findings indicate that, although the predictions of both classical and recent theories are partly realized, neither has sufficiently recognized the effects of the composition, internal cohesion and local market circumstances of occupational segments within the medical profession on the strategies physicians use to preserve professional control. These characteristics of occupational segments are apparently associated with variations in professional values which underlie individual responses to specific practice arrangements as well as collective actions to influence the practice arrangements in which physicians participate. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 1101. / Major Professor: Allen W. Imershein. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

This study examined the role of the Saudi Arabian National Guard as an instrument of modernization. The focus of the study was the ability of the National Guard to instill in its members the Arab traditional values--male status, family ties, respect for the elderly, and predisposition toward traditional values--while strengthening the development-related values--rationality of consumption, occupational aspiration, respect for time, raising the status of women, independent decision making, and motivation. / Data were collected with questionnaires and interviews. The random sample was 803 National Guard personnel. / The results of bivariate analysis indicated that, with the exception of the male status variable, the Saudi Arabian National Guard has played a significant role in influencing the attitudes and behavior of its personnel in the desired direction with both traditional and development-related values. / A multivariate analysis was used to assess the individual and collective impact of experience in the National Guard along with eight other variables found to contribute strongly to shaping the ten examined values. These included level of education, age, local and foreign training, knowledge of foreign language, reading a weekly magazine, marital status, and place of birth. The regression analysis indicated that experience in the National Guard was the major contributor in shaping almost all the studied values. The exceptions were the male status variable, to which experience in the National Guard did not contribute, and raising the status of women, in which education was a stronger contributor than experience in the National Guard. / The study concluded with an evaluation of the concept of modernization and the feasibility of its application in Third World countries, suggesting that it should be viewed as a national goal, and offering suggestions for future research in this area. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-03, Section: A, page: 0635. / Major Professor: Monte Palmer. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University OF MICHIGAN.