This paper examines the relationships among household income, perceived financial strain and depressive symptoms in the transition to adulthood. To assess these relationships, twelve years (2000-2012) of representative data over seven waves are extracted from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth â Young Adult Sample (N = 6,726; Observations = 18,379; Age range = 18 to 35 years). Utilizing life course theory and the cumulative disadvantages hypothesis, I found that perceived financial strain weakens the beneficial, decreasing impact of household income on depressive symptoms. Moreover, the joint effects of perceived financial strain and household income on depressive symptoms vary by age. Across levels of income (i.e., high income, mean income, low income), perceived financial strain dilutes the helpful benefits of high income such that perceptions of economic hardship similarly impacts individuals regardless of actual income level. Within income brackets, those respondents who reported never experiencing financial strain are better off than those who stated they experience hardship occasionally or all of the time. Moreover, those who reported occasionally perceiving strain had significantly lower depressive symptoms than those who detailed perceiving financial strain all of the time. Altogether, these findings indicate that perceived financial strain is more so a driver of mental health than household income as young adults seek to make ends meet.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between mutual spouse support and the psychological status of spouses whose mates were being treated for cancer. The conceptual framework was developed from a literature review in which empirical studies and interpersonal theories suggested the importance of social support to health promotion and maintenance in stressful life situations. A descriptive cross-sectional correlational design was used. A convenience sample consisted of 146 individuals (73 couples) one of whom was being treated for cancer. Subjects completed adapted versions of Tilden's Interpersonal Relationships Inventory and Braden's Disease Course Graphic Scale, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression Scale. Study findings indicate that: (1) Well spouses perceived less support in the marital relationship than did spouses with cancer. (2) Well spouses' depression was lower and self-esteem higher when both spouses perceived high levels of interpersonal support. (3) When both spouses perceived low levels of interpersonal support depression was higher and self-esteem lower in the well spouse. (4) When one spouse perceived high and the other low levels of interpersonal support depression was higher and self-esteem lower in the well spouse. (5) Well spouses' self-esteem was higher when both spouses perceived high levels of marital reciprocal support. (6) When both spouses perceived low levels of marital reciprocal support self-esteem was lower in the well spouse. (7) When one spouse perceived high and the other low levels of marital reciprocal support self-esteem was lower in the well spouse. (8) The greater the absolute difference in dyadic perception of interpersonal support the greater the well spouses' depression. (9) The more well spouses perceived marital reciprocal support the higher was their self-esteem and lower their depression. Research is needed that identifies whether health outcomes are better when spouses support each other than when the well spouse supports the patient without perceiving support in return. Results of this study provide a beginning point from which to pursue theory development, testing, and intervention studies to assist both spouses with optimal management of the cancer experience.

This study is about the development of Japanese industrial relations, based on a quantitative analysis of industrial disputes. This study proposes a model of industrial relations, which incorporates interactions between principal actors, such as the state, capital, and labor and two major contingent factors, i.e., political and economic factors. Two levels at which these factors affect industrial relations are distinguished: one at the world-systemic level, another at a subsystemic (country) level. The model predicts that the triadic relation among the state, capital, and labor affects industrial relations, and they are in turn influenced by both political and economic processes at the world-systemic as well as at a subsystemic level. An application of the model to Japanese industrial relations, however, requires a close examination of the cultural interpretation of Japanese industrial relations. It is often asserted that Japanese industrial relations, characterized as unique as they are exemplified by lifetime employment, seniority-based wage system, and enterprise unionism, are rooted in the Japanese tradition and culture. This implies the contribution of unique and continuous industrial relations to economic success in Japan. Nonetheless, the findings of this study reject the culturalist explanation of Japanese industrial relations, clearly illustrating a significant structural change in industrial relations in Japan during the period from 1916- 1934. This significant structural change was also accompanied by social, political, and economic changes. Further, industrial relations in Japan for the period from 1897-1985 were tested by the model, using the method of linear structural equation models. Findings of the study are: The strength of capital was inversely related to the likelihood of industrial disputes, while the strength of labor increased disputes. The state's strength indirectly decreased industrial disputes. In addition, substantial differences in the triadic interactions regarding industrial disputes between pre and post World War II Japan also supported the structural change in Japanese industrial relations before World War II.

In my dissertation, I argue that blackness is an accumulable cultural resource that perpetuates racial and class inequality. The overarching question I ask is what determines who benefits from blackness, black bodies or dominant resources? To answer this question, I first develop a framework that integrates cultural capital theory with two streams of research within the sociology of race - `racialization' and `race as a resource.' Next, I demonstrate my argument and address secondary theoretical goals - in globalization and race in Brazil, with an empirical study in the context of cultural tourism.I examine how individuals transform capoeira into a racialized cultural resource through connections to symbols of blackness and the meanings these symbols provoke, within the tourism market in Salvador, Brazil. Capoeira is a globally popular Brazilian martial art often linked to blackness, which brings American and European tourists together with Brazilian practitioners in an interactive setting. Cosmopolitan consumers now interpret cultural symbols of racial difference, including blackness, as valuable, and tourism exemplifies the growing value of racial otherness. Salvador, Brazil is a central site in the framing of blackness for cosmopolitan consumers. Tourist settings allow me to examine how individuals acquire embodied cultural capital through experience with cultural others. Scholars connect Brazil's extreme social inequality to race and class, and they reveal a profound ambiguity over racialized cultural heritage in Brazil. This creates a context where Brazilians of diverse racial and class backgrounds can benefit from racialized culture.How do racial meanings emerge as tourists and Brazilians interact, how does blackness becomes valuable as valuable a social, cultural, or economic resource for producers and consumers, and which actors benefit from this racialized cultural capital? I answer these questions through comparative participant observation and interviews at two capoeira studios. Long-term participant observation allows me to focus on the embodiment of experiences and the how of cultural valorization. Comparative ethnography best provides insight into how individuals, groups, and organizations put cultural capital to practical use to control and limit resources, allowing for two layers of analysis - one, of interactional meaning making and cultural enactment and the other, a cross-group comparison of these micro-level processes.

As a consequence of the iterative combination of fertility and mortality declines, the South African populationâs age structure has begun to experience significant ageing, whereby a shift from having a population characterised by many young people (0-14 years old) to a population characterised by increasingly more older persons is occurring. The demographic trend known as population ageing places numerous pressures on all social, economic and developmental fronts, requiring societies to reconfigure their developmental agendas, aims, programmes and policy in order to provide for an ageing populationâs needs. Thus, it is imperative to analyse the implications of ageing and South Africaâs policy responses to such implications so as to provide vital information that will undoubtedly prove useful in planning and decision-making processes for the future when ageing has become significantly progressive. The purpose of the study was to analyse the extent to which South African socio-economic and developmental policy frameworks take the implications and effects of population ageing into concern, while evaluating the ability and appropriateness of current South African policy initiatives in dealing with the demands and needs of an ageing population. Moreover, the study explored the demographic nature and dynamics of the age transition globally, as well as in South Africa; while providing recommendations that will benefit policy responses and their implementation, when targeting implications associated with ageing. Combining both quantitative and qualitative techniques, the study made use of an exploratory mixed methods approach, whereby several sources of information were utilised throughout the data collection process, namely in-depth primary and secondary literature sources; secondary demographic data that exemplify the occurrence of population ageing and its implications in South Africa; policy and legislative documents; and data collected from key and strategic interviews using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Several important findings were drawn from the study, namely that the South African population is ageing at a rapid rate and will most likely face a plethora of implications â challenges and opportunities â associated with ageing, such as: increased need of care for the growing older population and their families; increased demand for elderly healthcare services; increased social expenditure; greater provision of elderly household and consumptive needs; and enhanced role of older persons and focus on their needs in the political arena and so on. In response to such implications, the South African government has installed policies focused on the material and social wellbeing of the older South African population; however, these policy responses are generally only partially successful and are often hampered by several obstacles that contribute to their insufficiency; a primary hindrance being the overall lack of awareness concerning the implications, challenges and opportunities associated with the countryâs ageing population. Lastly, a number of recommendations were made based on the study, namely that programmes which facilitate the awareness of ageing implications need to be implemented and strengthened throughout South Africa, while all ageing concerns must be mainstreamed and prioritised in policy. Furthermore, research on the potential socio-economic, fiscal and monetary implications of an ageing South Africa must be initiated so as to improve the drafting and implementation of ageing policy and strategy. Finally, the scope and focus of South African policy responses targeting implications of ageing need to be broadened to include all implications and concerns, along with the strengthening of institutional arrangements.

Since the fall of apartheid and the emergence of a wholly democratic South Africa in 1994, little research has been done on the topic of white identity in this rapidly transforming multicultural society. Indeed, apart from an array of popular books on the subject, there has been virtually no academic interest in the question of how white South Africans have reconstructed their individual and collective identities since the fall of apartheid, and the resulting erosion of the ready answers previously provided to them regarding questions of belonging and identification. This study set out to remedy this situation through exploring the identities that white South Africans, and white Afrikaans speakers in particular, have constructed out of the wreckage of the 20th century. Embracing a qualitative approach, this study focused on exploring stories of contemporary white Afrikaans speaking identity as told in the participantsâ own words. Six individuals, ranging from students in their late teens to a grandson of Hendrik Verwoerd, shared their stories, which were reflexively engaged through an interpretive sociological approach that incorporated elements of phenomenology, existentialism and reflexive sociology. The dissertation starts off with an introduction to the epistemological and ontological foundation upon which the investigative process was built, before investigating the concept identity as conceptualised during the research process, namely as constituting a relatively stable but malleable set of understandings regarding the self and its place within society in general and specific racial, religious and cultural collectivities in particular. A history of white Afrikaans speaking identity is then presented, which makes clear the prior existence of at least three historical white Afrikaans speaking collectivities, namely the Burghers of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Boers of the 1800âs, and the Afrikaners of the 20th century. The stage is then set for the examination of the new collectivities that have developed since the demise of a coherent Afrikaner identity in the late 20th century. The data, collected by means of reflexive individual and group interviews, and analysed using âDialogical Narrative Analysisâ (DNA), a process that focuses on the contents and circulation of individual and collectively shared stories, or ânarrative repertoiresâ, indicate the existence of at least three relatively coherent contemporary white Afrikaans speaking collectivities. These are the âPseudo-Boersâ, the âAfrikanersâ, and the âAfrikaansesâ. These three collectivities, developing simultaneously and largely parallel to each other out of the once coherent Afrikaner collectivity of the previous century, exhibit significant variance regarding the content, structure and circulation of their narrative repertoires. This means that Afrikaners, Pseudo-Boers and Afrikaanses, on both the individual and collective levels, differ from each other in terms of the stories they tell and dynamics pertaining to the circulation of these stories, as well as the genres, plots and character types prevalent in them. These shared stories in turn represent, according to this study, the matrix out of which identity is constructed, be it individual or collective. The uncovered data are further represented in a manner borrowing from certain techniques used in the fields of semi-fiction writing and journalism, with the aim to aid understanding through presenting the data themselves in a storied form. This choice was made in line with the hypothesis, developed throughout this dissertation, that the uniquely human phenomenon of storytelling in fact underlies much of the social construction of reality, and serves to inform individual and collectively shared meaning frameworks and understandings regarding the world of everyday life.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) (2009) estimates that 4.8 million women are victims of intimate partner assault and rape every year. Receiving far less attention in the intimate partner violence literature, however, are studies of the 2.9 million male victims of this type of abuse (CDC 2009). Here I seek to explore this evolving issue of intimate partner violence, and determine to what extent the situations of male victims imitate the abundant body of literature on male violence against women. Using Googles NGram word corpus (Michel et al. 2010), I examine important changes over time in the usage of the terms commonly associated with intimate partner violence and battering. Of interest is how fluctuation in the usage of these terms in public works correlates with major societal changes such as rights movements and changing laws. Based on what we know of framing of social issues and word choice for fueling social movements, I find that the recent increase of the use of terms associated with male victims has also potentially contributed to the increase in the resources available to aid male victims by increasing public awareness of the problem. Finally, through an online survey of battered men, I find that despite the theory that relationships involving violence against male partners are more often the result of situational fights or mutual couple violence, situations do exist in which males are victims of a manipulative and controlling partner as has often been observed in cases of battered women. In addition to abusers as main aggressors, other similarities to female victims include the use of multiple tactics such as psychological manipulation and insults, verbal abuse, physical abuse and even sexual coercion in order to display dominance or force compliance.

Studies have shown the importance of the relationship that homeless individuals, including victims of domestic violence, have with their pets. This relationship can often create a barrier to accessing emergency shelters since not many shelters accept pets. This paper examines the need to create a community-wide program in Missoula, MT which provides a way to house pets while their owners access emergency shelters. The final section of this paper proposes a Pet Advocate Program that could be adopted by the Humane Society of Western Montana.

Thirty-five years ago, no one could have foreseen the dramatic changes that would transform China and shift the balance of global power. What started as a series of economic reforms in the late 1970s has redefined a nation in the time since. This study is a theoretically driven examination of the relationship between photographic portrayals of gender and observed gender inequality in Chinese society during the transformational period from 1979-2013. Dominant paradigms in the sociology of culture reflection and production theories prove inadequate to explain findings that reveal an initially surprising absence of change in representations of women and men in a sample of 240 front-page news photographs from Peoples Daily (Renmin Ribao), the Chinese Communist Party newspaper. Moderation theory accounts for this null empirical finding in images published across a time of dramatic social upheaval by considering the sociohistoric context of the photographs as well as their production processes, and additionally theorizing an interaction between those two forces. This new theory, the synthesis of two formerly incongruous frameworks of sociological thought, predicts the null finding as the result of a moderation effect such that the forces of production change the strength of the relationship between observed gender inequality and photographic portrayals of gender. Deconstructing the relationship between media representations, production forces, and societal facts explains the novel empirical findings of this study in a way that illuminates complex and ambiguous structures of gender inequality, provides unique insight into the role of the state in post-Mao China, and paves the way for contemporary strategies of social change relevant to Chinas distinctive context.

Presidential candidates have devoted a surprising amount of attention to the influence of large corporate donors and super PACs in the current election cycle. The general concern is that corporate campaign financing leaves politicians bound to elite interests. Although the association between corporate donations and legislative behavior is intuitive and theoretically appealing, empirical support for this link is mixed. I examine the effects of corporate financing on the proposal and passage of state-level labor legislation. I employ a unique combination of data on (a) all proposed state-level collective bargaining bills that were proposed in 2012, (b) financial contributions to all state legislatorsâ most recent campaigns, (c) the institutional structure of each state legislative chamber, and (d) state constituent characteristics. Results obtained from ordinary least squares and negative binomial regressions indicate that legislators are more likely to propose and pass anti-labor laws in states with greater corporate elite campaign financing. Counterfactual mediation analyses show that the association between corporate contributions and the passage of anti-labor law is fully mediated by the number of anti-labor bill proposals. Moderation analyses demonstrate that the effect of corporate donations on anti-labor law is more pronounced in labor-friendly states. Elite class dominance theory is supported by the principal finding that corporations strategically manipulate state political institutions to undermine labor.