Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2010 The oS cial Maze: Navigating the Space Between Cultural Ideas and Social Action in an Urban World Karen Quance Jeske Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Jeske, Karen Quance, "The ocS ial Maze: Navigating the Space Between Cultural Ideas and Social Action in an Urban World" (2010). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 11621. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/11621 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The social maze: navigating the space between cultural ideas and social action in an urban world by Karen Quance Jeske A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Sociology Program of Study Committee: William F. Woodman, Major Professor Kathleen Waggoner Lois Wright Morton Alicia Cast Michael B. Whiteford Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2010 Copyright © Karen Quance Jeske, 2010. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF DEAR ABBY EXCERPTS…………………………………………………. v LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………….. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………. vii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………. ix CHAPTER ONE. THE SOCIAL MAZE: A GENERAL INTRODUCTION………. 1 From Planning to Sociology…………………………………………………. 1 Social Change and the Individual……………………………………………. 3 Qualitative Orientation………………………………………………………. 8 Dissertation Organization…………………………………………………….