Democracy's college: A case study of social processes in an urban community college
Author
Hanson, Chad Matthew, 1969-Issue Date
1996Advisor
Woodard, Dudley B.
Metadata
Show full item recordPublisher
The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
In professional education literature, the American community college is referred to as "democracy's college" (Diekhoff, 1950, Griffith & Connor, 1994). Yet, what it means to be democracy's college is cloudy and uncertain. In the literature on community colleges, there is a great deal of ambiguity with respect to the schools' social and political goals. This study was designed to generate theoretical concepts that describe the processes involved in the structuring of a particular college's social and political purpose. This is a case study of Cactus Community College. In this study I used a variety of qualitative methods to explore and document some of the institution's basic social processes. The techniques I used include participant observation, interviews, a survey, and content analysis. Through each of these means, I gathered data that describe the public role of the college as it is enacted by the students and personnel who live and work there. I used Glaser and Strauss' "grounded theory method" to organize the sampling and analysis of data (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), and I used Anthony Giddens' "structuration" theory as an interpretive framework (Giddens, 1976, 1984, 1992). Together, the method and framework allowed me to develop a model of theoretical concepts that describe some of the basic social processes at Cactus Community College.Type
textDissertation-Reproduction (electronic)
Degree Name
Ph.D.Degree Level
doctoralDegree Program
Graduate CollegeHigher Education