Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item The Sociological Study of Expert Knowledge Work: Current Trends and Changes in the Study of the Professions, Professionalization, and Professionalism(2018) Yagatich, William; Fisher, Dana R; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation is a collection of three papers, separate but related investigations in the sociological study of expert knowledge. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives developed in the study of the professions, this work continues the current trend of applying the revised concepts to occupational groups that more accurately reflect contemporary economic arrangements. To contribute to the most recent trends in the study of expert knowledge, this dissertation endeavors to integrate the concepts of professionalism and professionalization to the study of expert knowledge—specifically, a group’s ability to control an area of labor and define its practice. The first case study builds on previous research pertaining to professionalization to argue control over consumers is integral to understanding how expert knowledge is leveraged and cordoned off from competition. Using a qualitative approach to the study of tattoo artists and their interactions with clientele and the public, the findings provide support for recognizing informal and formal means of control over consumers, in addition to controls over standards of practice and membership. The second case study investigates the professionalization of volunteer work. This study aims to explicate the ways in which volunteer work may operate and be understood in the same ways as paid occupational groups. Employing survey and in-depth interview data to evaluate the effects of volunteers’ training, the study reveals training programs for volunteer work can instill a sense legitimacy in volunteers and make them more effective in their work, however, like other occupational groups, to attain social closure they would also need a strong, active network of members and a coordinated means of influencing their public image. The last case study investigates how professionalism is maintained or diminished in the wake of change spurred by external bureaucratic arrangements. Taking faculty members of higher education as the focus of this study, situating them in the context of expanding enrollments and online course instruction, this work demonstrates how professionalism is exercised through defining problems in terms of their expertise. In that way, engagement with problems posed by external pressures may foster disciplinary identity and new boundaries of professional practice.Item The Interplay of Editors' News Values and Business Values: A 50-Year Case Study of The Washington Post Sunday Magazine(2013) Lemberg, Jeff; Steiner, Linda; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)How do editors of a Sunday newspaper magazine, a section first developed in the late 19th century to increase circulation, manage the interplay between editorial values and business values in producing a weekly publication for a daily newspaper? How did these editors' values change when other newspapers began eliminating their own Sunday magazines due to high costs and low advertising revenues? This project answers these questions through a 50-year case study of The Washington Post's Sunday magazine, from 1961-2011. In particular, this study examines the attitudes, perceptions and motivations of Sunday newspaper magazine editors in producing a section that is unlike any other. Sunday newspaper magazines "challenge classification," writes magazine historian William Howard Taft (1982), because they blend the aesthetics and editorial packaging of a magazine, but are produced in newspaper newsrooms that are rooted in traditional journalistic values such as objectivity and public service to society. This study accomplishes three things. First, it provides a broad history of Sunday newspaper magazine sections, including their technological, economic and cultural influences on the newspaper industry. Second, the case study of The Washington Post's Sunday magazine, starting with the founding of Potomac in 1961, illuminates for the first time the various business strategies, editorial opportunities, challenges and personalities that defined the publication over a 50-year period. Finally, this qualitative study reveals that Post magazine editors' pursuit of positive recognition and professional acceptance by the daily newspaper's most respected reporters and editors largely informed their professional values, which often included a strong distaste for the business of publishing. Moreover, Post magazine editors often sought to protect or bolster their internal status by copying the editorial approach of the most highly regarded Sunday magazine in the industry, The New York Times Magazine. Through the lens of institutional theory, such actions can be seen as highly irrational given that the Times serves a distinctly different audience (namely, national) and enjoys a much broader advertising base. Newspapers across the country have been eliminating their locally produced Sunday magazines over the past 30-plus years due to economic reasons, as opposed to a lack of reader interest. High costs and weak advertising revenues often receive the blame from publishers who announce the shuttering of their magazines. For the once venerable Sunday magazine to survive, and perhaps even enjoy a resurgence of sorts, this study shows that editors will need to reevaluate their professional motivations and find a better balance between the application of editorial and business values.