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The primary purpose of this thesis is to provide an exploratory study and descriptive case history of the Atlanta Outcast Motorcycle Club. Motorcyclists traveling in groups give a superficial appearance of being a cohesive social group. Motorcyclists in such unions tend to be stigmatized by the society in the same manner that gangs are stigmatized. This study focuses on one outlaw club to determine the codes and behavior patterns as well as the extent to which the group can be classified as a gang. One of the questions posed and addressed by the researcher has to do with differentiating between the life styles of a conventional motorcycle club" and an "outlaw motorcycle club” of Atlanta: 1) By study of the latter to determine if the social structure and culture of the Atlanta Outcast Motorcycle Club is similar to or different from those of other approved (conventional) motorcycle clubs. It is therefore necessary to determine a. what are the patterns of life characteristic of conventional clubs? b. what are the patterns of life perculiar to this outlaw club? 2) Another question raised is to determine to what extent the social patterns of the Atlanta outlaw motorcycle club may be considered deviant from the norm. Is the Atlanta Outcast Motorcycle Club a club which ordinarily exhibits acceptable behavior? 3) Does motorcycling in this kind of group lead a member to engage more extensively in activities which would justify the classification of the group as a gangland its behavior as deviant? The findings suggest that the patterns which differentiate the conventional motorcycle club from the outlaw motorcycle club are: (a) membership; (b) loyalty; (c) sexism; (d) type of dress; (e) cultural system (life style). 4) The researcher has concluded that the Atlanta Outcast Motorcycle Club is an outlaw motorcycle club. Several facts point to the public at large as being a primary source of support in defining this club as outlaw. Each member of the Atlanta Outcast Motorcycle Club in his behavior patterns tend to support the above findings. It was also determined by the researcher that this club has contributed to the changing face of motorcycle clubs in Atlanta. The social and cultural system of the Atlanta Outcast Motorcycle Club can be considered its corner stone. 5) The researcher determined the most effective means of collecting data for this study was through participant observation. The criteria mentioned above tend to I support the claim by the Atlanta Outcast Motorcycle Club that their club is an outlaw club.

<p> Place is a setting for everyday life. Through processes of meaning making that are rooted in experience and interaction, places become meaningful and structure much of everyday life. Place is simultaneously a physical construction that gives it material form. Place is an object that is envisioned, designed, organized, redesigned, and reorganized. Often, the (re)creation of places is entrusted to professional placemakers, a population with decision making power over processes of physical construction. This research broadly identifies professional placemakers as a population whose professional work can affect change onto the built environment. The literature of place attachment provides strong testimony to the meaningful relationships that people have to built environments and physical forms. For example, the meanings and emotions that residents and stakeholders attach to their homes, neighborhoods, cities, and communities. Professional placemakers hold a degree of power over the built environment and can drastically transform the attachments that people have to place. This research explores the interaction of the social and physical construction of place by considering how placemakers socially construct places in their professional work of physically constructing sites. I ask: how do professional placemakers form emotional bonds to the places they work to (re)create? And, what do those places mean to them? Primary data analysis of eight in-depth interviews with professional placemakers reveal that placemakers socially construct places they work to (re)create in different ways. The data revealed two interacting themes &ndash; &lsquo;for the people&rsquo; and pride. Further analysis concluded that some professional placemakers see place as a social territory that is unique with history, people, and problems; while others see place as a piece of the built environment that is the successful product of their professional work. While this research underscores the saliency of place attachment across populations by addressing a gap in the literature, these findings have implications for the professional field of placemaking in general. If placemakers are varied in the ways they socially construct the places they are charged to (re)create, what are the consequences for the places on which they work and the people who will live, work, or play in those places?</p>

Scholarship indicates that racial group identity is important to the psychological well-being and health of Black Americans. Racial group identity is beneficial, because it provides group members with a sense of belonging and solidarity with similarly situated others. Operationalizing racial group identity as closeness to other Blacks and Black group evaluation, this dissertation investigates the extent to which early and current socioeconomic factors shape racial group identity. Furthermore, this work gauges the impact of racial group identity on self-concept and physical health among a diverse sample of Black Americans - specifically, African Americans and Caribbean Blacks. <p> This study consists of three interrelated papers, which utilize data from National Survey of American Life. The first paper examines how socioeconomic status of origin and current socioeconomic status shape racial group identity. Results show that for both African Americans and Caribbean Blacks, the respondent's education is positively associated with group evaluation. Among African Americans only, receipt of public assistance while growing up has a lasting negative effect on group evaluation net of respondent's current socioeconomic status. With respect to closeness to other Blacks, parental education has a negative impact for African Americans, while neither socioeconomic status of origin nor current socioeconomic status is associated with closeness for Caribbean Blacks. <p> The second paper considers how closeness and group evaluation shape self-esteem and mastery. Results show that for both African Americans and Caribbean Blacks closeness and group evaluation are positively associated with self-esteem, while group evaluation is positively associated with mastery. For African Americans only, there is a significant relationship between closeness and mastery. Finally, the third paper assesses the relationships among racial group identity, self-concept, and physical health. For both African Americans and Caribbean Blacks, the positive effects of group evaluation on physical health is fully mediated by self-esteem and mastery. For Caribbean Blacks, the positive relationship between closeness and physical health is only partially explained by self-esteem and mastery.

Neighborhoods structure the availability of resources necessary for the healthy functioning of their residents. Because neighborhoods vary greatly in the amount of physical, social, and economic resources available, they have been implicated in creating disparities in health and well-being based on levels of neighborhood disadvantage and disorder. Drawing on social capital, social disorganization, and stress process frameworks, this dissertation examines processes linking neighborhood perceptions to a variety of well-being outcomes during three periods in the early life course: childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. The dissertation consists of three papers which each focus on a single life stage. The data for these studies come from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child and Young Adult surveys. <p> Paper 1 explores the relationship between maternal perceptions of neighborhood disorder and child distress. In this paper, I find that disordered neighborhoods are associated with higher levels of child distress through maternal distress and strained mother-child relationships. Paper 2 examines how childhood neighborhood perceptions influence the growth of self-esteem and mastery, two aspects of self-concept. I find that these early experiences are related to lower levels of both self-esteem and mastery, but tend not to alter growth trajectories. Nonetheless, these early experiences of disorder appear to establish low levels of self-concept that last through young adulthood. Paper 3 extends the finding from Paper 2 by showing that childhood perceptions of disorder are associated with more depressive symptoms, lower self-rated health, and more arguments between spouses and partners in young adulthood. This relationship appears to be mediated by neighborhood impacts on self-concept. However, these findings were not supported for two other outcomes: alcohol consumption and positive relationship interactions. <p> The dissertation demonstrates how neighborhoods can influence well-being in different ways at each stage in the early life course. Further, this research supports the assertion that early experiences of neighborhood disadvantage can accumulate throughout life to create worse well-being for those continuously exposed to neighborhood disorder.

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