Evans, Arthur S.

This thesis examines the sociological factors underlying the development of a
Confederate Countermovement, which has resulted in a Confederate Flag controversy in
South Carolina. In order to account for this development, a test of Herbert Blumer's race
prejudice as a sense of group position theory was conducted. Blumer's theory holds that
when dominant racial groups perceive a threat to their proprietary claims from a
subordinate group, they will emotionally recoil from the potential loss of privilege. Using
content analysis, the three major members of the Confederate Countermovement were
analyzed. Results confirmed the usefulness of Blumer's theory for understanding this
controversy. By viewing the conflict as the last stand of a small group of whites, efforts
can be directed toward improving the position of blacks without generating
countermovement action and bringing an end to the controversy.

Research has shown that generally no more than 20% of populations surveyed have completed Advance Medical Directives and that there is a strong ethnic variation in their choice (i.e. Protestants and Whites were more likely to have an Advance Medical Directive than Jews, Catholics, Hispanics, or Blacks). This thesis developed and tested the hypothesis that the use of Advance Medical Directives by Jews would comparably vary inversely with their degree of social integration as measured by their degree of orthodoxy. Survey results confirmed this hypothesis, but more significantly demonstrated that for all samples tested, regardless of religion, 74% of the over-65 respondents had completed an Advance Medical Directive. It is postulated that this high rate of implementation is an effect of the lower degree of social integration of the Boca Raton retirees brought about by a physical relocation to Florida from their former family, residential, and business networks.

Using the assumptions of symbolic interactionism, this thesis examines the importance of place to the interaction of co-partner sex participants (also known as swingers). Using a modification of the various elements of place discussed by Denzin (1974), this examination of social interaction investigates the situational contexts that individuals are placed in. Building on Goffman (1959), Denzin (1974), and Lofland (1969), this exploratory research discusses how the physical setting which provides the conditions, the relationships which bind the participants, and the rules which shape alliances affect interaction. Data for this research was gathered through the distribution of questionnaires at three public swinger's clubs in South Florida. Results show that perceived level of involvement in the swinging community, frequency of swinging, gender, and education level produced statistically significant differences in swinging encounters.

Over the last fifty years quality of care has been a consistent problem in nursing home facilities. The federal government implemented a bureaucratic system as an attempt to improve this standard. This thesis traces the emergence of this system in nursing homes and illustrates its failure to solve the problem. George Ritzer's four-point McDonaldization model of bureaucracy is applied to argue that the bureaucratic system for governing nursing homes has a negative effect on the quality of care. Although this hypothesis has proven to be accurate, additional factors were consistently cited as having detrimental effects on resident care. These include issues such as insufficient pay and lack of training/education for CNAs. Moreover, human greed and societal views of the elderly appear to be the true root of the problem.

Max Weber, Karl Mannheim, and Karl Marx suggested that there is a relationship between economic and political institutions and that behaviors and attitudes are influenced by this. Viewing this postulate as a conception which posits the economic mode of production as the locus of causality for culture, this examination of capitalism as culture, investigates how education and its pedagogical techniques, as a means of "enculturation," reflects the capitalist economic mode of production. Building on the theoretical notions in the Sociology of knowledge and Structuralism, this hermeneutical analysis discusses how pedagogical techniques and curriculum arrangements of public schools in capitalist societies correlate with the organization of labor (for it is that role of the self which is dominant in capitalist societies). Data for this research was gathered through the content analysis of pedagogical techniques and curriculum arrangements adopted by The School Board of Broward County, Florida. Results show that the current shift in the organization of labor (from industrial to post-industrial) parallels, and therefore correlates with, the shift in curriculum and pedagogical arrangements' of The School Board of Broward County, Florida; as such it is a legitimate claim to suggest that the socialization of the self is determined by its relation to the mode of production.