This thesis is a comparative, data-based analysis of the empirical validity of three competing sociological models of the psychological impact of size of place of residence. The theories subjected to statistical investigation are: the ecological school of Wirth (1938), the compositionalist approach of Gans (1962) and the subcultural arguments of Fischer (1976). A secondary data analysis of selected variables from the 1979 Canadian Quality of Life Survey forms the core of this thesis. Two dimensions of the potential psychological impact of urban size are examined: powerlessness, measured by an index variable of a "sense of personal competence" and social isolation, measured by a reported sense of loneliness and contacts with significant others. Consistent with the compositionalist model, the analysis of variance performed in this research shows no association between urban size and powerlessness, after controlling for socio-economic and demographic factors. Loneliness however, shows a curvilinear negatively sloped relationship with urban size after controlling for factors lending partial support to the subcultural model. Neighbourhood involvement exhibited a significant negative association with urban size. This finding, is attributable to the relative lack of importance of proximity in the urban setting which reduces neighbourhood contacts in favour of trans-local ones. Finally, when controlling for distance of residence of children living away from home, the effect of the size of place of residence on the frequency of contact with children living away from home, reported by the respondents was significantly reduced thus, partly supporting the subcultural model's proposition.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.59279 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Quesney, Consuelo Errázuriz |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Sociology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001073681, proquestno: AAIMM63480, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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