A Study Testing the Control Theory: Teenage Drinking in Four Nebraska High Schools

The U.S. Congress, through the findings of the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, holds that alcohol abuse is the nation\u27s greatest drug problem, asserting that it warps nine million lives and costs approximately $28billion per year. There are 95 million drinkers in the U.S., most of whom drink alcohol without harm, but approximately five percent of adult Americans have serious drinking problems and are the source of much personal grief and huge cost to the nation (New York Times Review, 1973: 71)

Developmental strategies and styles and their measurement

Developmental styles and strategies (DSS) are preferences and repeated patterns in intentional self-development. A taxonomy of DSS based on the convergence of talent development and Sternberg\u27s Triarchic Model of Intelligences was proposed to distinguish school learners, street learners, talent developers (specialists), and all-knowers (generalists). This study explored the reliability of the researcher-developed Educational Developmental Style and Strategy Scale, the relationships of age, gender, birth order, ethnicity, and SES to developmental DSS adoption, and the characteristics of five types of DSS adopters (i.e., street learning specialists, street learning generalists, school learning specialists, school learning generalists, the neutral group). Eighty out of 160 students at a governor\u27s school for science and technology completed the survey.;The major findings were the following. (1) The reliability coefficient for the Specialist-Generalist Subscale (SGS) was .79, and that for the Street Learning-School Learning Subscale (SLSLS) was .76. (2) There were no statistically significant differences among the five types of DSS adopters in age, gender, ethnicity, number of siblings, birth order, and parental education. (3) There were no statistically significant differences across five groups in most measures in the questionnaire. The five groups did not differ significantly in books at home and amount of reading, strengths during childhood, Holland personality types, educational aspirations, developmental ideals and parental expectations, contributors to educational growth, contributors to strength development, source of influence on students\u27 development, amount of time spent on activities weekly, taking private lessons, parents\u27 ability to give good advice on students\u27 development, parents\u27 knowledge in students\u27 areas of interest, the freedom to make decisions on one\u27s own development, having different values from peers, have interests different from peers, not following the crowd, grade-orientation, importance of schooling, diversification strategy, opportunity-orientation, spending efforts on the nearest goal, basing their career choices on their missions rather than on competences and interests, having private projects, considering school as an extra burden, ability to learn on one\u27s own, and having highly developed talents.;There were some significant differences found in some areas. Generalists had more books at home than specialists had. Generalists were more likely to have military, political, and sports books. School learners were more likely to have science books and less likely to have social science books. School learners\u27 mean school rank in percentile was significantly higher than that of street learners. School learning generalists were different from street learning generalists and school learning specialists in perceiving whether their interests were shared by their classmates

Adolescents' reference groups in the school situation

Most researchers who have studied the relationship between the adolescent, his parents and his peers have cast parents and peers as mutually exclusive forces - to follow one is automatically to reject the other. These researchers have turned up inconsistent findings, some finding the adolescent's conformity to his peers so great that they write of a separate youth culture, while others have found that the adolescent is still very much under the thumb of his parents

Myths and rituals surrounding delinquent gangs in Edinburgh and Dundee

At the time of this research (1971-73) the 'problem' of group violence had become an area of public concern in Edinburgh and Dundee. The Media and the Courts, as well as those agencies involved in working with young people, tended to put forward an interpretation based on the 'gang' as a structured phenomenon. However, work in the field suggested that this explanation over-simplified the issues involved and that 'ganging' could only be adequately described if it were placed in a social context rather wider than that suggested by any of the contemporary areas of deviancy theory. In short, a brief outline of the 'development' of theories of deviance suggests the need for a 'cultural' explanation rather than a more limited view based variously on infraction, a 'search for differences', the phenomenon, social reaction or a class analysis. Having suggested the need for a 'cultural* explanation, a discussion of some of the major views of 'culture' (especially Marxist and Structural-Functionalist) reveals a tendency towards mutual exclusion, with an emphasis in the former on 'conflict* and in the latter on 'consensus'. Neither seems adequately to approach the central issues of unity and diversity in contemporary British Society. A heuristic and exploratory approach to 'culture' is required which allows for man's ability to adapt to, and sometimes transcend, inequality and 'repression', while at the same time remaining in some way a 'member' of the total society. Briefly, the suggestion is that this problematic can only be resolved, albeit in a tentative fashion, by the 'rediscovery' of the centrality of the symbol in 'cultural' studies. A greater emphasis is required on the ways in which symbolic adaptations 'defuse' and adapt 'contradictions' in the material circumstance and also on the complex ways in which 'key' values disseminate a symbolic 'togetherness'. Again, although these concepts are exploratory, requiring refinement and validation in the field, a discussion of 'ganging' takes place in terms of a contemporary view of adolescence and the primacy of symbolic structures in that 'liminal' period. It is suggested that such a view of 'ganging' as symbolic structure is more informative than an interpretation based on a 'myopic' view of infraction and deviancy without reference to a 'cultural' context

The use of peer review as an evaluative tool in science

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2001.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Peer review as an institutional mechanism for certifying knowledge and allocating resources dates back as far as 1665. Today it can with confidence be stated that it is one of the most prominent evaluative tools used in science to determine the quality of research across all scientific fields. Given the transformation within the processes of knowledge production, peer review as an institutionalised method of the evaluation of scientific research has not been unaffected. Peer reviewers have to act within a system of relevant science and find themselves responsible to the scientific community as well as to public decision-makers, who in turn are responsible to the public. This dual responsibility of reviewers led to the development of criteria to be used in the evaluation process to enable them to measure scientific excellence as well as the societal relevance of science. In this thesis peer review in science is examined within the context of these transformations. In looking at the conceptual and methodological issues raised by peer review, definitions of peer review, its history and contexts of application are examined followed by a critique on peer review. Peer review in practice is also explored and the evaluation processes of four respective funding agencies are analysed with regards to three aspects intrinsic to the peer review process: the method by which reviewers are selected, the review criteria by which proposals are rated, and the number of review stages within each review process. The thesis concludes with recommendations for possible improvements to the peer review process and recommended alternatives to peer review as an evaluative tool.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Portuurgroep-evaluering as 'n geïnsitutsionaliseerde meganisme in die sertifisering van kennis en die toewys van hulpbronne dateer terug so ver as 1665. Huidiglik kan dit as een van die mees prominente metingsinstrumente van die kwaliteit van navorsing in alle wetenskaplike velde beskou word. Die transformasies wat plaasgevind het binne die prosesse waar kennis gegenereer word, het ook nie portuurgroep-evaluaring as 'n geïnstitusionaliseerde metode van evaluering ongeraak gelaat nie. Portuurgroep-evalueerders bevind hulself binne 'n sisteem van relevante wetenskap. Binne hierdie sisteem het hulle 'n verantwoordelikheid teenoor die wetenskaplike gemeenskap sowel as die publiekebesluitnemers wat op hul beurt weer verantwoordelik is teenoor die publiek. Hierdie dubbele verantwoordelikheid het tot gevolg die saamstel van kriteria waarvolgens evalueerders wetenskaplike uitmuntendheid sowel as relevansie tot die breër samelewing kan meet. Hierdie tesis ondersoek portuurgroep-evaluering teen die agtergrond van hierdie transformasies. Die konseptueie en metodologiese aspekte van portuurgroepevaluering word ondersoek deur eerstens te kyk na definisies van portuurgroepevaluering, die geskiedenis daarvan en kontekste waarbinne dit gebruik word. Tweedens word gekyk na kritiek gelewer op portuurgroep-evaluering. Portuurgroep evaluering binne die praktyk word ook ondersoek waar vier onderskeie befondsingsagentskappe se evaluerings prosesse geanaliseer word. Hierdie analise word gedoen in terme van drie essensiële aspekte binne portuurgroep- evaluering. Hierdie drie aspekte is as volg: 1) die wyse waarop evalueerders geselekteer word, 2) die evalueringskriteria waarvolgens navorsingsvoorstelle gemeet word en 3) die hoeveelheid evalueringsfases binne die protuurgroep-evaluerings proses. Laastens word aanbevelings ter verbetering van die portuurgroep-evaluerings proses as ook voorstelle tot moontlike alternatiewe tot portuurgroep-evaluering as 'n evaluerings instrument gebied

Competing agendas : an ecological analysis of jointly constructed task systems in physical education and sport education

This thesis addresses how teachers and pupils jointly constructed a physical education classroom ecology in one case study school. Taking into account the persuasive influences facing young people in contemporary society, this research addresses the complexity of young people's agendas in physical education from a socio-cultural perspective. Situating this study in a physical education class meant that I needed to explore, not only how young people's agendas influenced the classroom ecology, but also how the classroom structure influenced the agendas the young people pursued and how these were manifested during the lesson. This study is concerned primarily with describing and explaining a case of pupil engagement in physical education and to generate at a substantive level (Glaser and Strauss, 1978) theory which can make sense of the events in the one case study school. The aim is to provide some insights into why things happened the way they did and attempt to explain these happenings. The data presented in this study endorse to some extent the values claimed for the implementation of Sport Education. However, the implementation of Sport Education did not lead to all its' advocates claim for it and, although its implementation highlighted that it is possible to modify some of the agendas young people pursue during physical education lessons, I became particularly interested in the circumstances where sport education failed to hold the many benefits it purports to. Having presented these key findings, this thesis concludes with a discussion of the implications for those working with and for young people, and for the design and implementation of policies and practice in relation to physical education. Although I outline the implications of the issues emerging from this study for future practice which, at the very least, we need to consider, this study has made particularly clear the complexities of introducing change in schools.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Farm Life in the Asset Economy: First-generation Farmers and the Agrarian Question

A massive transition of land ownership is currently underway in the U.S. as an increasing proportion of farmers near retirement age with no successor in place. The question of who will replace them has come to the fore as policy makers and food justice activists alike contemplate a shift to a more equitable and ecologically sustainable food system. Embracing a beginning farmer theory of change, some scholars have called for an increase in the number of first-generation farmers to account for the labor- and knowledge-intensive methods required for agroecological production. Others have brought attention to the historical and ongoing racial, ethnic, and colonial violence that precludes beginning farmers of color from accessing land and capital. But questions of beginning farmers are also inherently questions of political economy and to-date, no research has attempted to understand the extent to which class and inherited wealth might impact land access among beginning farmers. As a result, most available literature on beginning farmers misses the significance of class as a driver of agrarian change. Through the use of semi-structured interviews with 20 first-generation farmers in the Hudson Valley region, the following research considers how access to financial and symbolic capital underwrite the successful launch of new sustainable farm enterprises and privilege some beginning farmers to engage in self-exploitation. Furthermore, this research implicates impact investment firms in search of reservoirs for overaccumulated capital, raising questions about farmland assetization in buoying the beginning farmers movement. Anchored within conversations around the agrarian question, these findings illuminate new areas of inquiry for understanding how capital is seizing hold of agriculture

Hooligans, vandals and the community: a study of social reaction to juvenile delinquency

The thesis consists of three studies on various ways in which society reacts to juvenile delinquency. It is introduced with an account of recent developments in the sociology of deviance which have drawn attention to the nature and effect of the societal reaction to deviance. These developments, termed the "transactional perspective", are put in the context of a "sceptical" reaction against more conventional ways of conceptualizing deviance. The implications of this new perspective for theory and research are indicated. The first study is on vandalism, and starts by attempting to unravel the different definitions of this behaviour as a form of rule-breaking and deviance. It goes on to consider the processes through which vandalism becomes defined as a social problem and then discusses the main images and stereotypes through which society tries to conceptualize this form of delinquency. It finally considers the organized approaches to the prevention and control of vandalism. The second study is a survey of the views about delinquency - its nature, causes and control - and allied topics, held by a selected sample of official and unofficial control agents in a London Borough "Northview". The relevance of these views to understanding the social control of delinquency is considered. The final study is of various types of response to the Mods and Rockers phenomenon. Using mass media and observational sources, an analysis is made of how this form of deviance was reported and conceptualized. The emergent images of the behaviour are related to the ways in which society attempted to control it. The effects of these reactions on the form and development of the phenomenon are suggested