UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
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Item A TALE OF TWO CITIES: A CASE STUDY OF PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL DISORDER IN TWO BALTIMORE CITY NEIGHBORHOODS, USING GIS AND SPATIAL METHODS(2014) Timleck, Andrew; Falk, William; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study is to explore how urban residents respond to their social and physical environments--what they define as problems and how they respond to them. I focus on one large, city--Baltimore, Maryland--and then compare two very different neighborhoods within it: Federal Hill, a well-off, and fashionable, area with mostly white residents, contrasted with Sandtown-Winchester, a neighborhood plagued by urban blight and crime, and where the majority of residents are black. I use a geographic information system (GIS) and spatial analyses to explore neighborhood call rates regarding physical and social incivilities, using the traditional sociological framework of "social disorder" as a theoretical lens for exploring similarities and differences in what disorders increase or decrease call rates. I use more commonly applied stochastic methods for much of the analysis (statistical means and ordinary least squares statistics), but I also explore, in a tentative way, the potential power of spatial methods, which are not widely used or known in sociology, to reveal more about what makes these spaces similar and different and how they affect call rate patterns. The predictive models demonstrate mixed results when predicting variation in the call rate patterns of the two neighborhoods. Income, education, and population-density effects are consistent, yet weak, positive predictors in both areas, while other indicators (home ownership, number of vacant houses, etc.) exhibit substantive positive effects in the wealthier neighborhood but none in the poorer. Neighborhood homogeneity and stability show negative impacts on rates, but depending on the neighborhood. I focus on how local variations in action, even under similar circumstances, may depend not only on residents' aggregate capacity to commit to change, but also on how neighborhood space is internalized as a "neighborhood generalized other" as a "community," according to George Herbert Mead, either constraining or enhancing engagement. This within- and between-neighborhood variance in the strength and direction of predictor variables, and in their capacity to predict residents' calling patterns, underscores issues of validity and operationalization regarding indicators traditionally used to measure social disorganization, and how spatial methods can be valuable corrective tools.Item UTILIZING SOCIAL NETWORKS ANALYSIS IN THE CHARACTERIZATION OF AFRICAN UNGULATE SOCIAL STRUCTURE(2010) Carpenter, Leah Danielle; Ottinger, Mary Ann; Thompson, Katerina V; Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Social networks analysis tools were used to investigate the social structures of two African ungulate species. Captive herds of addra gazelle (Gazella dama) and roan antelope (Hipptragus equinus) were observed. Social networks were constructed of each herd's affiliative (socially cohesive) interactions and nearest-neighbor (closest individual within 2 body lengths) associations during three time periods. I evaluated whether network measures could be explained by individual, dyadic or sub-group attributes at three levels of social network organization. Both roan and addra males were very central to their networks, and in some time periods so were juveniles. Roan and addra partner preferences differed, with addra tending to affiliate by age class while roan were more variable in their partner preferences. Matrilinealy-related sub-groups were also identified in addra. This networks analysis approach has broad applicability for characterizing animal social organizations as well monitoring captive populations.Item Investigating the Relationship Between Micro and Macro Levels of Efficacy and Their Effects on Crime(2010) Ahlin, Eileen M.; Paternoster, Raymond; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The concepts of self-efficacy and collective efficacy have both been used by scholars to explain involvement in individual-level crime. Scholars have found that both types of efficacy are related to crime at the individual level. However, little research has examined the relationship between self-efficacy and collective efficacy and its influence on youths' involvement in crime. Using the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) data, this study focuses on the independent influences of self-efficacy and collective efficacy on involvement in crime among youths ages 9 to 19, and examines the potential moderating effect of collective efficacy on the relationship between self-efficacy and crime. The relationship between self-efficacy, collective efficacy, and crime is addressed by asking three questions. First, does a general measure of youth's self-efficacy influence their involvement in crime? Second, does a macro level measure of collective efficacy influence youths' involvement in crime? Third, does collective efficacy moderate the relationship between self-efficacy and crime? To control for the contexts in which youths live and individual-level factors that can influence involvement in crime, and may influence efficacy, neighborhood context, family context, and individual-level demographic variables are also examined. Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling, the analyses indicate mixed support for a relationship between efficacy and individual-level involvement in crime. First, a significant negative relationship exists between self-efficacy and crime. Second, no significant effects emerge between collective efficacy and crime. Third, collective efficacy completely moderates the relationship between self-efficacy and crime, but not in the expected direction. After controlling for collective efficacy, the significant negative relationship between self-efficacy and crime is nullified. The conclusion then is that a general measure of self-efficacy influences a youth's involvement in crime, while a macro level measure of collective efficacy does not. Areas of future research and implications for theory and policy are discussed.