Dissertations / Theses: 'Policy sociology'

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Crowther, C. P. "The 'underclass' debate : the police policy process and the social construction of order." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.265163.

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Neylan, Julian School of History &amp Philosophy of Science UNSW. "The sociology of numbers: statistics and social policy in Australia." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of History and Philosophy of Science, 2005. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/31963.

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This dissertation presents an historical-sociological study of how governments of the modern western state use the language and techniques of quantification in the domain of social policy. The case material has an Australian focus. The thesis argues that by relying on techniques of quantification, governments risk introducing a false legitimacy to their social policy decisions. The thesis takes observed historical phenomena, language and techniques of quantification for signifying the social, and seeks meaningful interpretations in light of the culturally embedded actions of individuals and collective members of Australian bureaucracies. These interpretations are framed by the arguments of a range of scholars on the sociology of mathematics and quantitative technologies. The interpretative framework is in turn grounded in the history and sociology of modernity since the Enlightenment period, with a particular focus on three aspects: the nature and purpose of the administrative bureaucracy, the role of positivism in shaping scientific inquiry and the emergence of a risk consciousness in the late twentieth century. The thesis claim is examined across three case studies, each representative of Australian government action in formulating social policy or providing human services. Key social entities examined include the national census of population, housing needs indicators, welfare program performance and social capital. The analysis of these social statistics reveals a set of recurring characteristics that are shown to reduce their certainty. The analysis provides evidence for a common set of institutional attitudes toward social numbers, essentially that quantification is an objective technical device capable of reducing unstable social entities to stable, reliable significations (numbers). While this appears to strengthen the apparatus of governmentality for developing and implementing state policy, ignoring the many unarticulated and arbitrary judgments that are embedded in social numbers introduces a false legitimacy to these government actions.

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Taylor, Norman. "Policing domestic violence : police policy and discretion and the need for a multi-agency response." Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/294.

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As gatekeeper to the criminal justice system the Police Service is placed in a unique position to respond to the problem of domestic violence. The police are a reactive agency that is available 24 hours every day, but the activities, or more appropriately the inactivity, of the police to effectively deal with domestic violence has been the subject of considerable scrutiny over the past 20 years or so. Previous research has tended to centre around the victims and perpetrators of domestic violence and pointed towards a police service that is generally unsympathetic and unhelpful. Whilst considerable advances have been made over recent years and attitudes are changing, there is still the perception, whether right or wrong, that the police stance has not changed sufficiently to make any real difference.

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Abedin, Manzoorul. "Malfeasance, absence, silence : exploring English-in-education policy in Bangladesh from a critical policy sociology perspective." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2014. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.708125.

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Noonan-Gunning, S. E. "Food-related obesity policy, parents and class : a critical policy analysis exploring disconnect." Thesis, City, University of London, 2018. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/20096/.

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This thesis focuses on the contemporary phenomenon of ‘childhood obesity’ in England. A phenomenon historically situated in the neoliberal political economy. It is characterised by intractable high prevalence, by a social gradient of inequality, and as a complex and ‘wicked’ policy problem. It persists despite decades of food-related obesity policy interventions. While parents’ food practices are much researched, little research considers either their lived experience of food policy or their policy solutions. Understanding the working-class experience is important in the context of the social gradient. Disconnect between policy intention and the parent’s lived experience that unfolds through policy process may contribute to the intractability of the problem’s prevalence. The underlying importance is for child health and democracy. In the context of food-related obesity policy, this thesis explores disconnects between the state and its governance of parents of children with obesity, including the relevance of class. It explores the implications for policy and practice, and it aims to move forward parents’ involvement in food policy-making. The critical theory paradigm draws on Kincheloe and McLaren (2003) and provides the framework for a qualitative critical policy analysis, with an epistemology of critical hermeneutics and an ontology of dialectics. The theoretical framework explores class and power processes, and uses Marx, Bourdieu, Foucault and Gramsci. The qualitative methods include document analysis and ethnographically informed semi-structured interviews. The local state provides the interface between policy actors, who include parents as policy recipients. Thirty-one interviews were carried out, and twelve working-class mothers were among the participants. The research found multiple disconnects that would be counterproductive to achieving policy aims. These were neither superficial nor clearly demarcated, but rather they were meaningful and beneath the surface, and they interconnected and interacted. They include the material conditions of contemporary working life, unhealthful foodscapes, and governance processes around ‘responsibilities’ that produce subjectification and stigmatisation. Powerful processes of symbolic violence were found to reproduce the lived effects of class that contribute to the social gradient. Policy processes add to multi-layered stigmatisations. In essence, parents’ food policy solutions were divergent with UK government policies. Amid democracy deficits within the local state, parents believe they should contribute to food policy-making. The results support the view that the solutions to tackling the contemporary phenomenon of obesity in children are structural rather than individual, and that the balance of responsibilities is weighted against parents. Food policy needs to be integrated and ecological to ensure material realities support parents in their food practices. Meaningful processes of deliberation are required for parents to be involved in food policy-making. Key words: Disconnects, food-related obesity policy, parents, childhood obesity, social gradient, class, lived experience, critical policy analysis.

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Thomas, Marilyn. "Coalfield restructuring and the 'enterprise economy' : a sociology of re-industrialisation." Thesis, Cardiff University, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.293043.

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Milton, Pia. "Arbete i stället för bidrag? : Om aktiveringskraven i socialtjänsten och effekten för de arbetslösa bidragstagarna." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala University, Department of Sociology, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-6631.

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Between 1990 and 1992/1993 there was a dramatic change in the Swedish labor market, resulting in an increased number of unemployed and social assistance recipients. As a response to this situation, many municipalities developed local activation programs. One of these programs, the “Uppsala model” – practiced in the City of Uppsala and characterized by a “paternalistic discourse” with sharp means tests, control and sanctions – was quite controversial. The general purpose of this dissertation is to study the effects of this activation method on the claimants and to study these effects with regard to the intentions underlying the method. The central questions are whether this method contributed to a greater number of claimants leaving the system for work or education, after a shorter period of time and on a more permanent basis compared to an alternative and more “traditional” method characterized by a “redistributive discourse”. Another central question is whether the method was effective under different economic conditions. The data used in the analyses were taken from two social welfare offices and included 509 able-bodied individuals who applied for allowances in either 1990 or 1992, reporting unemployment as the main reason. The main results indicated no systematic differences between the two methods with respect to outcome variables such as length of time on social assistance, probability of obtaining a regular job or an education. There were some indications (non-significant) of an increased probability of returning with claims for social assistance and after a shorter period of time, associated with the paternalist Uppsala model. The great importance of the labor market to recipients` possibilities to leave the social assistance system for work, irrespective of working method, was also shown in the study.

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Armstrong, John. "Food security policy in Lao PDR : an analysis of policy narratives in use." Thesis, City, University of London, 2018. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/21471/.

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Food security has long been a component of the global development project. Over time, extensive definitions and conceptual frameworks for food security have emerged. This thesis explores food security policy discourse in middle income, non-crisis contexts in the Global South. Taking as its research site the Southeast Asian state of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), the thesis explores how food security is defined as a policy problem, and what solutions are proposed. Using an interpretive analytical approach, the research analyzes authored policy documents and constructed policy texts drawn from interviews conducted between 2011-2013 with 25 international experts to identify narratives emerging from the praxis of formal policy documents, institutional mandates and policy-in practice. The role of international expertise in shaping the national level discourse is explored in detail. Four policy narratives are identified: food security as modernization/economic growth, the smallholder narrative, the nutrition narrative, and food security as development. Particular attention is paid to the totemic status of rice in the discourse. For each narrative, a matrix of problem statements, proposed solutions, key indicators, and supporting institutions is presented. A metanarrative analysis of how these narratives intersect suggests that one of the characteristics of food security conceptually is its inclusiveness, giving it a remit across a range of sectors. This research presents food security as a valence issue, which, by virtue of its expansiveness, provides a platform on which multiple, divergent policy agenda coexist. Despite recognition among experts of serious shortcomings in both the conceptual framework and applied use in policy, this fluidity ensures that food security remains in consistent use, as both a component of national policy and as an artefact of global development discourse at the national level. Because of its continued focus on undernutrition in rural areas, the omission of issues such as overnutrition, urban food systems, and environmental degradation from the discourse, narratives in food security policy are presented as hewing to pre-existing problem statements and solutions. This renders food security an incomplete fit within the policy context of rapidly developing nations in 21st Century Southeast Asia.

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Richter, Christopher J. "Giddens' structuration theory and the study of policy discourse /." The Ohio State University, 1997. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487948807585015.

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Cook, Anne Patricia. "Social policy and the colonial economy in Guyana." Thesis, University of Surrey, 1985. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/2080/.

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Portugese, Jacqueline. "The gendered politics of fertility policy in Israel." Thesis, University of Exeter, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.337681.

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Stephens, Elizabeth. "United States policy towards Israel : the politics, sociology, economics & strategy of commitment." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2003. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2117/.

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The rationale for Washington's enduring and often forbearing commitment to Israel has long been a puzzle. During the Cold War it was argued that Israel, a "bastion of democracy" amidst a world of semi-authoritarian and often pro-Soviet states, was a natural ally. But the Cold War is over, and the Arab world awash with oil, a resource that is always in short supply in the US. Yet the American commitment to Israel, a small state that is largely oil free, and of little tangible economic benefit, remains. An alternative view is that the US commitment is underwritten by the Jewish lobby which exercises a disproportionate influence on American policy. Yet the Jews comprise little more than six million out of a total of nearly 300 million people. Even when combined with the influence of Protestant fundamentalists who for largely religious reasons, increasingly support Israel, it is still questionable whether interest group politics could determine American foreign policy to such an extent. Yet irrespective of transitions between Republican and Democratic presidents, bureaucratic support for Israel remains relatively constant indicating that support for Israel is not a product of partisan politics but a given firmly ingrained in the political agenda and discourse. This thesis examines some of the commonplace theories of explanation and finds them wanting. Instead it proposes to explain the American commitment to Israel in terms of a somewhat imprecise and yet still serviceable concept - that of political culture. For reasons that are elaborated in this thesis, the concept best solves the puzzle of an American commitment that is often costly in both economic and diplomatic terms. This thesis does not seek to argue that political culture is the sole explanatory factor in the development of US policy toward Israel, but that it has played a key role in serving to shape and define the American approach to foreign affairs, thus contributing to decisions and operations that cannot easily be explained solely in geopolitical, economic or military terms. It is argued that in perceiving their society to be a beacon of what they like to call 'freedom' and 'democracy', in a world in which these values are largely absent, Americans have been encouraged to believe that they share a political kinship with societies similarly imbued and that they have an obligation to assist where such values are under threat. It is this belief that sets Israel apart from other nations and forms the bedrock of the US-Israeli 'special relationship.' The relevance of the concept of political culture in accounting for US policy toward Israel is examined in a series of case studies. These focus on crisis decision-making during the presidencies of Johnson, Nixon, Reagan and Bush Sr., when domestic and organisational constraints were somewhat relaxed and decision-makers tended to act on pre-existing values and beliefs. In comparing and contrasting US decision-making both during and following the Cold War, the thesis attempts to provide an explanation for the relative continuity in US policy toward Israel in times of significant international and domestic change.

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Batteson, Charles Henry. "Inequality and the mythology of consensus in state education : perspectives in policy sociology." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.307464.

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Shields, Peter Gerald. "Theorizing policy: a framework for the study of U.S. telecommunications regulation /." The Ohio State University, 1994. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487849696964083.

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Walley, E. D. "Displacing social policy and administration : a view of discursive marginalisation." Thesis, University of York, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.288059.

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Siachiwena, Hangala. "The politics of welfare policy reforms: a comparative study of how and why changes of government affect policy making on social cash transfer programmes in Zambia and Malawi." Doctoral thesis, Faculty of Humanities, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/34009.

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This thesis examines how and why social protection policy reforms happened after changes of government in Zambia and Malawi. It provides four case studies that account for the process of reforms to promote or constrain social cash transfer programmes (SCTs) by government administrations within and across the two countries over time. Recent research on social protection in Africa shows that politics matters for the expansion of programmes, but the literature discussing the specific forms of politics that drive or limit support for reforms is still emerging. There is also a paucity of evidence accounting for variation in reforms within and between countries on the continent over time. This thesis contributes to these knowledge gaps. The study argues that while donors introduced pilot SCTs in Zambia and Malawi and continue to promote reforms, domestic politics is important for understanding when, how and why national governments expanded donor supported pilots into national programmes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand variation in political support for reforms within countries and to bring attention to the relative importance of partisanship. The study uses a process tracing method to understand the reform process from the mid-2000s until 2017. It draws on qualitative interviews with policy makers such as political elites, government technocrats and donor officials, and a review of policy documents. It also includes a statistical analysis of reforms in 10 East and Southern African countries to understand how Zambia and Malawi fit into a broader set of cases. The thesis demonstrates that in Zambia and Malawi, there was a greater incentive for political parties and the leaders within them to promote programmatic social protection when it had not already been seized as a mechanism for poverty reduction by the preceding government. Moreover, in cases where state support for social protection was limited, changes of government provided opportunities for international donors and government technocrats to persuade political elites in new ruling coalitions to push for faster reforms. This thesis accounts for the causal mechanisms that link changes of government and reforms and shows that the influence of international donors on political elites and the ideological, electoral and factional interests of elites and parties are crucial for understanding support for either clientelist or programmatic redistribution. Where the interests of donors and elites converge, there is a greater incentive for reforms to promote the provision of social protection. While the quantitative analysis does not provide evidence of a statistical relationship between changes of government and social policy reforms across the region, it demonstrates that democratization was associated with more social protection and shows that the interests of political elites and donor influence (controlling for other independent variables) were significant predictors of reform in the region. Furthermore, the trajectories of reform in Zambia and Malawi were similar to other low and lower middle-income democracies in the region but distinct from both upper middle-income democracies and weakly democratic low and lower middle-income countries.

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Chen, Jia-shin. "Assembling harm reduction policy in Taiwan." Diss., Search in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. UC Only, 2009. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3390036.

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Bowling, Benjamin. "Policing violent racism : policy and practice in the East London locality." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.294956.

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Kawashima, Nobuko. "Cultural policy research : an emerging discipline between theory and practice." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1999. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/58547/.

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Harper, Helen. "The role of research in policy development : school sex education policy in Scotland since devolution." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2004. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2198/.

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This study explores the applicability of different conceptual models to two different policy sectors in Scotland; education and health, with specific reference to SHARE a specially designed school sex education programme. The study also draws on the policy network literature to understand the way in which the interaction between organisations and actors affects the value attached to research evidence. This thesis addresses three main research questions: How has school sex education policy been developed? How is research evidence used in school sex education policy development since devolution? What factors facilitate or impede the use of research evidence? To explore these issues I carried out 21 in-depth semi-structured interviews with policy makers and researchers, all of whom had insight into various aspects of sex education policy development in health and education. Using semiotics, I also analysed four policy documents. Results The development of sex education policy in the health and education sectors appears to have different underlying objectives. In the health sector it is designed to achieve immediate action, which requires speedy decision-making, while in the education sector it is designed to build consensus, achieved through cautious and careful decision-making. In health leadership of policy development for sex education can be identified at the instigation of policies with a high turnover of actors in subsequent stages; leadership within education is controlled and maintained throughout all stages of sex education policy development. As a result, common epistemic perspectives are more easily identified amongst those developing sex education within education, than within health. These perspectives affect the way research evidence has been used in the development of sex education policy. Although research evidence has been used in different ways, the intention behind its use is nearly always political. Fast decision-making militates against the use of research evidence in the health sector, while prioritising consensus overshadows the need to be evidence-based in education. The use of research in sex education policy-making is inhibited or facilitated by external contextual factors (political and organisational priorities) and internal contextual factors (modes of decision-making, the beliefs and interests of individuals, and interaction between individuals). In addition, the dynamics of power between policy-makers and researchers need to be carefully negotiated and can also be influenced by contextual factors.

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Wolson, Rosemary A. "The evolving policy landscape for technology transfer from public research organisations in South Africa." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3845.

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Cuvelier, Steven Jay. "A generalized model of jail population dynamics : applied computer simulation for policy and research /." The Ohio State University, 1988. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487596307359018.

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Wright, Alexandra S. C. "Children in need : an examination of policy formulation in Scottish social work." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.272905.

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Sheu, Yea-Huey. "Women's poverty in Taiwan : the conflicting and complementary relationships with family policy." Thesis, University of Bath, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.263233.

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Duke, Karen. "Containing contradictions : the development of prison drugs policy in England since 1980." Thesis, Middlesex University, 1999. http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/10686/.

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This thesis is a study of policy networks in the development of prison drugs policy in England during the late twentieth century. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with key actors in the policy process, including civil servants and representatives from drug agencies, penal reform groups and professional associations, and an analysis of documentary materials, it examines the role and influence of policy networks in policy development. The thesis is multi-disciplinary in its approach, drawing on concepts, theories and research from a variety of disciplines including criminology, social policy, sociology, political science and public administration. The analysis is based upon the construction of a series of four case studies which correspond to the key phases in prison drugs policy development since 1980: 1980-1986; 1986-1993; 1993-1997; and 1997-. It explores policy development around drug treatment and throughcare, HIV / AIDS and drug misuse, supply reduction activities and security and control measures. The development of policy has hinged upon complex patterns of conflict, contradiction and convergence between treatment and punishment. Throughout the phases, particular policy networks have evolved around drug-related issues within the penal system, expanding and becoming more complex in their structure and operation over time. They have attempted to contain, balance and negotiate the contradictions within policies. This 'balancing act' or 'containment' has taken many different forms and has been shaped by several processes or forces: the way in which the drug problem has been framed and defined; the role of research, evidence and knowledge; and the impact of wider social political policy and institutional contexts. The conclusions of the thesis are: first, as prison drugs policy became more explicit and defined, the contradiction between treatment and punishment became more acute; second, the shift towards a more explicit policy was shaped by the activities of the policy networks, which in turn were influenced by changes in the drug problem, the role of research, and changes within the wider social political policy and institutional contexts; third, the role and power of the policy networks has varied over the different phases of policy development; fourth, in the process of engaging in policy development and attempting to contain the contradictions between treatment and punishment, the policy network around drug issues in prisons has changed shape with key players becoming incorporated by the state.

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Hein, James Everett. "Movement-Countermovement Dynamics in the Global Warming Policy Conflict." The Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1338406978.

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Berti, Pietro. "Fuelling expectations : UK biofuel policy." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/15278.

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This dissertation analyses the biofuel debate in the UK, focusing on how the UK Government has deployed expectations to legitimise its biofuel policy. The analysis builds on the sociology of expectations, integrated with insights from the multi-level perspective (MLP) on socio-technical transitions. By the end of the 1990s, a sustainable paradigm permeated UK road transport policy opening a space for biofuel policy to emerge. In the second half of the 2000s, disagreements among UK stakeholders over the translation of EU biofuel targets into UK biofuel policy prefigured later EU-wide discussions over limiting targets for first-generation biofuels. Biofuels critics disagreed with the UK Government and biofuels supporters over how to protect a space for future second-generation biofuels, which were expected to overcome the harm caused by currently available, but controversial, first-generation biofuels. The UK Government and biofuels supporters defended rising targets for available biofuels as a necessary stimulus for industry to help fulfil the UK’s EU obligations and eventually develop second-generation biofuels. By contrast, critics opposed biofuels targets on the grounds that these would instead lock-in first-generation biofuels, thus pre-empting second-generation biofuels. I argue that these disagreements can be explained in relation to the UK Government‘s responsibilities relating to “promise-requirement cycles”, whereby technological promises generate future requirements for the actors involved. Further, I claim that the UK Government’s stance reflects what I call a “policy-promise lock-in” – i.e. a situation in which previous policy commitments towards technology innovators of incumbent technologies (currently controversial and potentially driven by several imperatives) are officially justified as necessary for the development of preferable emerging technologies. Finally, my analysis expands the focus of the sociology of expectations, which has hitherto mostly been used to investigate expectations from technology innovators – i.e. scientists or industrialists – by investigating how other types of actor mediate expectations among different parties, in particular, public authorities, industry associations, consultancies, and non-governmental organisations.

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Yonehara, Aki Murakami. "Human development policy : theorizing and modeling /." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2006. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3215206.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Educational Policy Studies, 2006.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Dec. 5, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-04, Section: A, page: 1183. Advisers: Margaret Sutton; Barry Bull.

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Pollak, Michael. "Crime, public housing and social policy : a study of an inner city estate." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.297216.

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Chin, Tom Yee-Huei. "Old age and social security in Taiwan : a study in policy and planning." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/18782.

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Goetz, Anne Marie. "The institutional politics of gender in development policy for rural women in Bangladesh." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1991. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/272656.

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Teplitskiy, Mikhail. "Judgments of scientific quality and their effects on published knowledge and its diffusion." Thesis, The University of Chicago, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10129530.

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Collaborative efforts like modern scientific research depend on methods to evaluate and absorb participants’ contributions, and at the research frontier this evaluative step is often accomplished through the peer review of grants and manuscripts. With billions of dollars and space in prestigious journals hinging on the decisions of reviewers, the review system has attracted consistent scrutiny. Many of the thousands of studies scrutinizing peer review focus on the reliability, validity, and fairness of the reviewers’ decisions. Largely absent in this debate about peer review’s internal practices are the consequences of these practices for the character and diffusion of published knowledge. This dissertation shifts the focus to the consequences of peer review practices through four case studies. The first case investigates the negotiation of revisions authors of quantitative sociological manuscripts undertake during peer review and reveals that substantial changes concern primarily manuscripts’ theoretical framing, while the data analyses remain relatively stable. The case argues that the greater relative value placed on data and analysis over frames incentivizes investment into the former over the latter. The second case interrogates the common practice of using post-publication citations to evaluate the validity of review decisions. Analysis of the reviews of manuscripts submitted to the American Sociological Review from 1977 to 1981 and the manuscripts’ subsequent citations reveals no relationship. However, reviewers’ comments show that reviewers focused on the soundness of the manuscripts’ arguments, not their potential impact. The case shows that a review process that results in publications of variable impact is not necessarily a failing of peer review, but rather a consequence of reviewers and citers draw on different dimensions of value. The third case study examines the consequences for quantitative sociology of the common bias for positive findings in peer review. Using hundreds of studies that use the General Social Survey, the published statistical relationships are perturbed by slight changes to the model specifications. Results show that at the time of publication, results are relatively robust to this perturbation. Additionally, the published relationships are estimated using waves of the Survey that appeared after publication. Results indicate that published findings are weakened much more by social change. The last case focuses on the consequences of scientific peer review judgments outside of the sphere of science. By measuring rates at which millions of scientific journals are used as sources in Wikipedia, the largest online encyclopedia, I show that Wikipedia editors preferentially use high impact and the more accessible (open access) journals. The case shows that increased accessibility of the scientific literature improves its diffusion to the lay public and that a status ordering that review practices establish in one sphere, science, may be exported wholesale to a disparate context, Wikipedia.

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Parisian, Esther Elizabeth. "Health Care Reform and Rural Hospitals: Opportunities and Challenges under the Affordable Care Act." The Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1313596532.

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GYASI, Razak Mohammed. "Ageing, health and health-seeking behaviour in Ghana." Digital Commons @ Lingnan University, 2018. https://commons.ln.edu.hk/otd/41.

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Rapid ageing of populations globally following reductions in fertility and mortality rates has become one of the most significant demographic features in recent decades. As a low- and middle-income country, Ghana has one of the largest and fastest growing older populations in sub-Saharan Africa, where ageing often occurs ahead of socioeconomic development and provision of health and social care services. Older persons in these contexts often face greater health challenges and various life circumstances including role loss, retirement, irregular incomes and widowhood, which can increase their demand for both formal and informal support. This thesis addresses the effects of the socio-political structure, informal social support and micro-level factors on health and health-seeking behaviour among community-dwelling older persons in Ghana. The theoretical perspectives draw on political economy of ageing, social convoy theory and Andersen5s behavioural model. Using multi-stage stratified cluster cross-sectional survey data of older cohorts (N= 1,200) aged 50 years and older, multivariate generalised Poisson and logit regression models estimated the associations among variables and interaction terms. Although Ghana’s national health insurance scheme (NHIS) enrollment was significantly associated with increased log count of healthcare use (β = 0.237), the relationship was largely a function of health status. Moreover, the NHIS was related with improved time from onset of illness to healthcare use (β = 1.347). However, even with NHIS enrollment, the intermediate (OR = 1.468) and richer groups (OR = 2.149) had higher odds of seeking healthcare compared with the poor. In addition, features of meaningful informal social support including contacts with family and friends, social participation and remittances significantly improved psychological wellbeing and health services utilisation. Somewhat counter-intuitively, spousal cohabitation was associated with decreased health services use (OR = 0.999). Whilst self-rated health revealed a strong positive association with functional status of older persons (fair SRH: β = 1.346; poor SRH: β = 2.422), the relationship differed by gender and also was moderated by marital status for women but not men. The employed and urban residents somewhat surprisingly had lower odds of formal healthcare use. The findings support the hypotheses that interactive impacts of aspects of structural and functional social support and removal of catastrophic healthcare costs are particularly important in older persons’ psychological health and health service utilisation. Nevertheless, Ghana’s NHIS currently apparently lacks the capacity to improve equitable attendance at health facility between poor and non-poor. In contributing to the public health and social policy discourse, this study proposes that, whilst policies to ensure improved health status of older people are recommended, multidimensional social support and NHIS policy should be properly resourced and strengthened so they may act as critical tools for improving health and health services utilization of this marginalized and vulnerable older people in Ghana. Moreover, policies targeting and addressing economic empowerment including universal social pensions and welfare payments should be initiated and maintained to complement the NHIS for older people. The achievement of age-relevant policies and Universal Health Coverage (UCH) as advocated by WHO could be enhanced by adopting some of these suggestions.

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Anders, Bradley R. "Racial Profiling Policy and its Relation to Pro-Active Policing." Thesis, Walden University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3606796.

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To address the primary problem of racial profiling by police, many states have passed legislation that require police departments to collect demographic data on those with whom the officer comes into contact; these data are later evaluated by supervisors. The problem lies in the possibility for police officers to disengage, or depolice, when faced with data collection policies that may be viewed as lessening the officer's discretion. It was this potential to depolice as related to policy interpretation that formed the conceptual framework for this study. As a result, implementation of racial profiling policies may negatively impact the very minorities they are designed to protect. The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify and analyze the possible correlationship between statutory racial data tracking, the frequency of racial profiling discussion, the officer's time in policing, and history of disciplinary procedures for violating profiling policy in the decision to either stop or not stop a motorist when the race of that motorist is observed to be that of a racial and ethnic minority. A forward stepwise logistic regression was utilized to analyze data collected from a sample of 176 police officers in the Midwest recruited through police organizational contacts. The results showed the only significant predictor in a police officer's decision to stop or not stop a minority motorist was the presence of a state statute requiring the collection of racial profiling data. This information can be useful to administrators and policy makers in addressing allegations of racial profiling. Understanding the influence of mandated racial profiling data collection policies on police officer behavior offers potential explanation when analyzing individual officer minority contact ratios, and may prompt policy revision to effect equal treatment of all citizens regardless of race or ethnicity.

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Rosen, Eva. "The Rise of the Horizontal Ghetto: Poverty in a Post-public Housing Era." Thesis, Harvard University, 2014. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:11503.

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In the past two decades, changes in American housing policy have transformed the landscape of high-rise ghetto poverty. In its place, has emerged what I call the horizontal ghetto, where high-rise public housing has been demolished and poverty is turned on its side, spreading across the cityscape. Researchers are now beginning to document the reconcentration of voucher holders in moderately poor neighborhoods. This dissertation examines how residents come to live in this type of neighborhood, and how this new context shapes social organization for those who reside within it. I examine a case study neighborhood in Northwest Baltimore called Park Heights, in which I conducted 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork and 102 in-depth interviews. This neighborhood has a large population of working class black families who settled there in the late 1960's, a recent influx of voucher holders, and also a population of residentially unstable unassisted renters. I examine two complementary explanations for how and why voucher holders end up in neighborhoods like Park Heights. I propose that the landlord is an important piece of the puzzle; landlord practices sort the most disadvantaged voucher holders into some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, serving as a mechanism in the reproduction of spatial inequality and the concentration of poverty. I also consider how residents' experiences in contexts like Park Heights shape their decisions to remain in, and move to similar neighborhoods. Finally, I examine how the neighborhood context shapes social organization, and I argue that although poverty may be more moderate than in neighborhoods dominated by large-scale public housing, the horizontal context of instability and clustered voucher use may have deleterious consequences for social relations.
Sociology

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James, Alton Maxel IV. "Black male genocide| Sanctioned segregation in American policy." Thesis, Wayne State University, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10258178.

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College degree attainment for Black Americans has significantly fallen their majority counterparts. While educational attainment for this minority demographic has been less than average, a secondary trend emerges. Despite the rises in graduation rates, Black males consistently earn a smaller percentage of the degrees garnered by Black students. Furthermore, policies throughout sectors of American society produce segregation that manifests as genocidal realities in the lives of Black men—including college graduation. Thus, the purpose of this research was to determine the effect of neighborhood segregation on Black men and women’s 4 and 6-year graduation probability and determine if Black men reduce the gap when given 6 years to graduate. The theoretical framework of African American Male Theory guided this study. Utilizing the Princeton Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen (NLSF), the research utilized binary logistic regression to analyze the effect of 3 independent variables (household income, maternal education level, and neighborhood segregation) on dependent variables (4-year graduation and 6-year graduation).

A purposeful sample 1051 Black students (368 men and 683 women) from the NLSF were used in the analysis. The majority of study participants (55%) had a mother that had at least a bachelor’s degree; 45% of the students came from neighborhoods that were majority Black (having at least 70% Black people in their neighborhood), and 15% came from poverty, 25% were low income, and 58% had incomes greater than low income. The logistic regression analysis found that for Black men, the odds of graduating and coming from a majority Black community are .506, and from a more diverse community, they are .661. For Black women, the odds of graduating in 4 years when growing up in a majority Black neighborhood were .937 and 1.6369 when growing up in a more diverse area.

The study determined racial segregation more adversely impacts Black men’s ability to graduate with a bachelor’s degree than it does for Black women. Even in desegregated (diverse) neighborhoods, Black men were unable to reduce the degree attainment gap given 4 or 6 years to graduate. The regression analyses yielded results that support the initial hypothesis that segregation is a significant predictor of bachelor degree attainment apart from academic preparation. Based on the indicators, predictors, and factors correlated with college degree attainment from the review of the literature, the results suggest that larger societal factors could potentially be significant predictors of college degree attainment outside of academic preparation. The findings argue for targeted interventions at the local, state, and federal levels to life course barriers imposed on Black males.

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Deiters, Maximilian. "Policy receptiveness as a determinant of policy effectiveness:German child care and women’s transition to first birth." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Sociologiska institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-152788.

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Current micro-level studies on the effect of formal child care on fertility behavior cannot establish an indisputable positive link. Especially in Germany’s policy context however, such a link is crucial to en-hance the legitimacy of the more recent but long overdue policy turnaround towards the dual-earner model. The results of this paper illustrate the reliance of policy success on an alignment of preferences presupposed by the implemented policy and preferences prevalent within the exposed population. Preferences central to driving policy success are distinguished by women’s receptiveness to such policy in terms of policy applicability and acceptability. The approach is empirically tested by means of Event-History analysis of German women’s first-birth transition based on the German Pairfam panel data set. The results indicate that if formal child care options are provided to 1) women who desire to reconcile family and career, or are provided to 2) women who are open to give their child into formal care, the provision of child care is a significant factor in stimulating women’s transition to first birth. On the contrary, women with career- or family-foci and women averse to formal care are not stimulated by the provision of formal care options. From the results I conclude that a continued expansion of formal child care will aid in overcoming lowest-low fertility by providing child care to those who are receptive to it and promoting a timelier motherhood image to women who are still averse to it.

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Baej, Khalifa Ali. "Social structure, health orientation and health behavior." PDXScholar, 1985. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/3426.

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An attempt has been made to examine the relationship between social structure and medical factors in a framework which links cosmopolitanism to health orientation and behavior. Specifically, this study has attempted to investigate the variations in health knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and behavior among individuals whose social structure varies in terms of cosmopolitanism.

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Eastwood, Lauren Elaine. "The social organization of policy: An institutional ethnography of the United Nations Intergovernmental Forum on Forests." Related electronic resource: Current Research at SU : database of SU dissertations, recent titles available full text, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/syr/main.

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Bakwesegha, Babirye Brenda. "Examining South Africa 's process of cultural transformation : interrogating the Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) policy framework." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3885.

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Netrabukkana, Pimporn. "Imprisonment in Thailand : the impact of the 2003 war on drugs policy." Thesis, University of Essex, 2016. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/16374/.

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The major objective of this study was to analyse the impact of the 2003 war on drugs policy on imprisonment and the prison social world in Thailand. While most studies on the drugs war have focused mainly on the quantitative increase in the prison population in the penal systems as the policy’s main impact, this research further examined the social shifts in Thai prisons driven by the drugs war. The data were qualitatively collected and analysed through documentary analysis, observations and in-depth interviews with forty-six participants: the former Director Generals of The Corrections Department, prison inmates, prison officers, and prison directors from Bangkwang Central Prison, Klongprem Central Prison, The Central Correctional Institution for Drug-addicts and The Women’s Correctional Institution for Drug-addicts. Although the Thai government declared a victory in the drugs war by claiming that the drug business had almost been eradicated due to the decrease in the size of the prison population and in the number of drug case arrests, in reality some changes caused by the drugs war within the prison world have been overlooked. The findings of this thesis reveal that the war on drugs produced significant effects upon various spheres of imprisonment. By dividing the framework into several levels for analysis focusing on prison inmates, prison officers and the social relationships behind bars, the lives and experiences of prisoners and prison officers are shown to have been effected in a negative and tougher way. Besides, there have been changes in social relations among prisoners and between inmates and prison officers. Crucially, the key factor leading to the policy impact was the replacement by the more powerful drug dealers in Thai prisons for drug users, due to the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act B.E. 2545 (2002), which was a significant feature of the 2003 drugs war.

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Clouston, Sean. "Partnered for health: How health interacts with partnership and how policy manages health inequality." Thesis, McGill University, 2011. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=97018.

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Marriage may benefit individuals as much as smoking harms their health. Men, in particular benefit from a gain of as much as 10 years in life expectancy; for women the gain is 4 years. While we know that these inequalities exist between those who are single and those who live in partnerships (marital or cohabitating), we do not know why they exist. Here are four hypotheses that suggest why there may be a relationship: Partnership Benefits, Positive Selection, Cleaning Up, and Negative Selection. However, the impact of each is related to policy context and gender over the life course. This dissertation uses longitudinal data from panel studies in Canada and the U.S. in order to consider the variable impact of gender and policy in changing the incentives involved in partnering and partnership type. We focus on the transition into partnership as a highly selective event that is followed, in theory, by a period of health and social benefits. We use smoothed non-linear adjusted health curves surrounding the transition into partnership in order to determine who partners, along with when and how much benefits accrue. All analyses are separated by gender to understand the role that gender has in finding partners and benefiting from partnerships. Findings suggest first partnership benefits dominate in Canada, and positive selection dominates in the U.S., that differences in social benefits and healthcare policy determine the importance of health selection. We also show that partnership type plays a role that depends on policy regime and that gender modifies the role that benefits and selection play. This dissertation therefore highlights the unintended impact that social policies have in determining who partners and when. Put simply, 'marriage matters' only when being 'not married' (i.e. single or cohabiting) is risky.
Le mariage peut être avantageux pour les gens, tout autant que le tabagisme nuit à leur santé. Les hommes, en particulier, bénéficient d'une augmentation de dix ans de leur espérance de vie; pour les femmes, cette augmentation est de quatre ans. Bien que nous soyons conscients que ces inégalités existent entre les personnes célibataires et celles qui vivent en partenariat (mariage ou concubinage), il existe quatre hypothèses qui semblent indiquer en partie ce qui se passe et pourquoi il en est ainsi : les avantages du partenariat, la sélection positive, la responsabilisation et la sélection négative. Cependant, l'incidence de chacune est liée au sexe des personnes et au contexte politique au cours de leur vie. La présente dissertation s'appuie sur des données longitudinales provenant d'études par panel réalisées au Canada et aux États-Unis, afin d'examiner l'incidence variable du sexe et des politiques dans la modification des incitations en cause dans les partenariats et les types de partenariats. Nous nous concentrons sur la transition vers le partenariat comme un événement hautement sélectif qui est suivi, en théorie, par une période d'avantages sur les plans social et de la santé. Nous utilisons des courbes de santé non linéaires ajustées lissées pour illustrer la transition vers un partenariat en vue de déterminer les personnes qui entrent en partenariat, le moment qu'elles choisissent pour le faire, ainsi que les avantages que ce partenariat leur procure. Toutes les analyses sont séparées par sexe pour comprendre le rôle variable que le sexe exerce sur la découverte d'un partenaire et les avantages que procure le partenariat. Les résultats semblent indiquer que les politiques publiques, surtout celles touchant les soins de santé, déterminent l'importance de la sélection relative à la santé, et que le sexe modifie le rôle que jouent les avantages et la sélection. La présente dissertation met donc en évidence les effets non intentionnels que les politiques sociales produisent dans la détermination des personnes qui entrent en partenariat et du moment qu'elles choisissent pour le faire. En d'autres termes, le « mariage est important » seulement lorsque le fait de n'être « pas marié » (c.-à-d., célibataire ou en concubinage) est risqué.

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44

Lee, Sunju. "Women and transition : a case study of social policy effects in Hungary (1989-1996)." Thesis, University of Essex, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.285851.

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Cameron, Claire. "Child protection and independent day care services : examining the interface of policy and practice." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1999. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10006611/.

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This thesis adopted a tripartite analysis of child protection policy and independent day care practice incorporating three types of evidence including an historical policy analysis, a contemporary policy analysis and analysis of new empirical data from independent day care providers. The theoretical framework incorporated a view of power in social policy that allowed for multiple perspectives on, and sources of control over, the direction of policy, and a perspective on caring that emphasised the social relations of caring alongside the human activity of caring. Policy recipients were seen as significant social actors, whose views on policy implementation provided an important contributing voice in an evaluation of policy in practice. The policy analysis began by noting that the two fields of child protection and day care had developed in parallel, overlapping rarely, but were brought together in the Children Act 1989. Public policies in the field of child welfare have long identified a potential or actual role for public day care services in preventing abuse, but the implications in practice for such a role being undertaken by independent day care services has not been explored in practice. The study found that while there is little evidence of formal policy implementation, following the publication of Working Together (Home Office et al., 1991), about 20% of a sample of 49 day care providers had had experience of child protection nvestigations on their premises. A further 30% had experience of making referrals to, or caring for children on behalf of social services departments. Key themes used to explore the operation of the policy in practice were the particular structural contexts of independent day care services, social relations between providers and parents, and the implications of these for the policy objective of `partnership'.

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DiGiulio, Laura. "Food Policy Councils: Does Organization Type Matter." The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492620713327182.

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Henshaw, Thomas. "Agricultural Social Infrastructure: People, Policy, and Community Development." The Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1448376064.

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48

Turbyne, Judith. "The enigma of empowerment : a study of the transformation of concepts in policy making processes." Thesis, University of Bath, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.387726.

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Halliday, Jessica Jo. "A new institutionalist analysis of local level food policy in England between 2012 and 2014." Thesis, City University London, 2015. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/13768/.

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This thesis explores the potential for food policy groups in England to render the food environment within their local areas more sustainable and resilient. The main question it addresses is how institutional norms, values and practices affect food policy groups’ capacity to pursue their aims. The research is informed by earlier literature identifying factors that shape the governance context within which a food policy group operates. It finds that institutions affecting food policy groups reside in four locations: within groups, between groups and their local authorities; within the local context; and within the multilevel governance context. The study design is five case studies: the London Food Programme; the Islington Food Strategy; the Bristol Food Policy Council; Manchester Food Futures; and the County Durham Sustainable Local Food Strategy. These were selected to have diversity in: local government structure; location of the group vis-à-vis local government; and progress towards a food strategy. Data collection was through document analysis, direct observation, and semi-structured interviews. The analysis shows the importance of food policy groups purposively determining and articulating institutions for efficiency and to foster actor agency to overcome constraints. Groups try to align their institutions with organisations they seek to influence in order to boost legitimacy and influence policy efficiently. Despite the dynamism of food policy groups and the difference they make in the lived experience of local areas, at present they are not prompting major change in the over-all food system configuration. This research applies new institutionalism to the study of local level food policy for the first time, enabling insights into how institutional factors affect capacity. It contributes new perspectives to the new institutionalist literature on agency and institutional change. The research is the first coherent exploration of the capacity of English food policy groups. It provides an evidence base to guide local food policy groups to be cognisant of contextual factors as they adopt structures and practices to maximise their impact.

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Montenegro, Cristian R. "Service-user organisations and the Chilean mental health system : tracing policy expectations and political contestations." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2018. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3806/.

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Calls for the involvement of service users and their organisations in the design, provision and evaluation of services are prominent in contemporary mental health policy discourse. Models and examples have penetrated national agendas, shaping definitions and expectations about the role and potential contribution of users. The social sciences have addressed this process, especially in the English-speaking world where service-user activism has a long history and involvement practices are well established. Most of this literature assumes that between the goals of service user groups, family organisations and mental health authorities there is continuity. If friction arises, it is marginal in relation to a set of shared aspirations: More prevention, better services, safer treatments, etc. This approach, common in ‘Global Mental Health’ interventions and calls, frames participation and users’ involvement as a technical decision in the hands of mental health systems. On the other hand, a critical literature, particularly based on English-speaking countries, has denounced the futility and superficiality of participatory agendas and their ability to hijack the authentic voices of users on the ground. However, the sharp distinction between a technical and a critical approach does not provide a suitable framework for the identification, description and analysis of the processes by which participation becomes relevant for mental health systems and the emergent self-organisation and self-differentiation of user groups. Applying Niklas Luhmann’s version of social systems theory, and drawing on interviews and participant observation with users, professionals and policymakers, this project simultaneously explores the emergence of mental health service-user initiatives in Chile and the ways in which users’ participation is - and has been - approached and defined by professionals and mental health services. As an exercise of ‘second-order observation’, it takes a step back from the technical/critical distinction, asking how mental health systems observe the collective actions of users and how autonomous user groups organise and define themselves vis-à-vis the observation and expectations of mental health systems. Through four independent papers, this thesis demonstrates that the way in which the mental health system defines and approaches the actions of users is less a result of their organised actions than of the changing needs of mental health policy for ‘user representation’, both at a broader policy level (Paper 1) and at the level of local participatory initiatives (Paper 2). Autonomous user groups, on the other hand, engage in the creation of forms of reciprocity and meaningful action at the margins of the mental health system (Paper 3). They embrace a politics of disengagement and incommensurability that challenges the interests and problematises the situation of social researchers (Paper 4). By adopting a constructivist, historical and reflexive approach, this thesis: highlights the role of policy shifts in determining how participation comes to be valued or devalued; puts forward an alternative approach to the political nature of users’ collective actions, based on practices disengagement, rejection and incommensurability; reframes ethical and epistemological tensions between academic research and activism in the mental health field. Finally, it demonstrates that, regardless of global calls, practices of participation are shaped by local policy scenarios and trajectories. These findings challenge the technical implementability of participation: although involving policy decisions and designs, participation is not a decision. It responds to contingent scenarios, it is subjected to complex expectations and its definition is the subject of contention by autonomous user groups.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Policy sociology'

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