Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Wilderness Is Not A Safe Space: How Nature Has Been Used As A Form Of Oppression Towards Black People Throughout American History, Dorothy Irrera Apr 2022

Wilderness Is Not A Safe Space: How Nature Has Been Used As A Form Of Oppression Towards Black People Throughout American History, Dorothy Irrera

English Honors Theses

This Capstone won Skidmore's Racial Justice Student Award. An analysis of literature, American history, and pop culture, Wilderness Is Not a Safe Space: How Nature Has Been Used as a Form of Oppression Towards Black People Throughout American History uses a sociological lens to approach the inherent relationship between racism and wilderness.


A Social Change-Maker And A Dreamer: Olive Schreiner’S Figures For An Ideal Future, Jessica Ampel May 2020

A Social Change-Maker And A Dreamer: Olive Schreiner’S Figures For An Ideal Future, Jessica Ampel

Periclean Honors Forum Scholar Award Winners

Social activist, theorist, and author Olive Schreiner dreamed and demanded that others dream as well. Living in the Victorian era, a time of extreme change but also rigid cultural values, she dreamed about an ideal future characterized by gender equality, sexual equality, and racial equality not just in her own “homes” of England and South Africa, but globally. However, for Schreiner, dreaming was not enough; we must act on our dreams in order to make the necessary social change to reach an ideal future. Schreiner acted on her own dreams for social change throughout her life by theorizing, joining important …


Legacies Of American Slavery In The South: An Analysis Of White Racial Resentment Towards African Americans, Rebecca Raveena Feldherr May 2020

Legacies Of American Slavery In The South: An Analysis Of White Racial Resentment Towards African Americans, Rebecca Raveena Feldherr

Periclean Honors Forum Scholar Award Winners

This study aims to explore whether the historical institution of slavery in the United States is manifested in contemporary white racial resentment towards African Americans through engaging institutional replication, racial threat, and intergroup contact theories. Present differences in the residential integration of blacks and whites at the county-level is hypothesized to be a mediating factor in the relation between the presence of slavery in 1860 and attitudinal measures of current white racial resentment. This study analyzes three distinct sources of data: the proportion of slaves in 1860 counties is derived from the U.S. Census Bureau, black-white dissimilarity indices are calculated …


A Social Change-Maker And A Dreamer: Olive Schreiner’S Figures For An Ideal Future, Jessica Ampel May 2020

A Social Change-Maker And A Dreamer: Olive Schreiner’S Figures For An Ideal Future, Jessica Ampel

English Honors Theses

Social activist, theorist, and author Olive Schreiner dreamed and demanded that others dream as well. Living in the Victorian era, a time of extreme change but also rigid cultural values, she dreamed about an ideal future characterized by gender equality, sexual equality, and racial equality not just in her own “homes” of England and South Africa, but globally. However, for Schreiner, dreaming was not enough; we must act on our dreams in order to make the necessary social change to reach an ideal future. Schreiner acted on her own dreams for social change throughout her life by theorizing, joining important …


Legacies Of American Slavery In The South: An Analysis Of White Racial Resentment Towards African Americans, Rebecca Raveena Feldherr Oct 2019

Legacies Of American Slavery In The South: An Analysis Of White Racial Resentment Towards African Americans, Rebecca Raveena Feldherr

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

This study aims to explore whether the historical institution of slavery in the United States is manifested in contemporary white racial resentment towards African Americans through engaging institutional replication, racial threat, and intergroup contact theories. Present differences in the residential integration of blacks and whites at the county-level is hypothesized to be a mediating factor in the relation between the presence of slavery in 1860 and attitudinal measures of current white racial resentment. This study analyzes three distinct sources of data: the proportion of slaves in 1860 counties is derived from the U.S. Census Bureau, black-white dissimilarity indices are calculated …


American Beauty Standards: “Paling” In Comparison To The White Norm, Kristen Marrinan May 2019

American Beauty Standards: “Paling” In Comparison To The White Norm, Kristen Marrinan

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

America has a culturally accepted norm of what makes someone beautiful. A standard that is hard to meet. Being light-skinned, blonde and blue-eyed is the benchmark of beauty, of what is most desirable. But is that really what it takes to be attractive in America? This research examines the relationship between race, birth-place, ethnicity and self-rated attractiveness. The General Social Survey (2016) provides the quantitative data for this study. While past literature explores the connections between identity, self-esteem, and attractiveness, it does not explore the intersection of different identifying characteristics. Group position and Colourism approaches provide the theoretical foundations for …


Is Friendship Political In The Land Of Opportunity? How Conservative Values Affect Helping Behavior Towards Friends, Adele Fantasia May 2019

Is Friendship Political In The Land Of Opportunity? How Conservative Values Affect Helping Behavior Towards Friends, Adele Fantasia

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

Abstract Individualism operates as a dominant ideology in American society, so how does individualism pervade both people’s larger views on society as well as their dyadic relationships? Do world views about the value of hard work and if people deserve help permeate the private sphere in tangible ways? I propose a relationship between individualistic tendencies and the frequency with which individuals help their friends and family who are feeling depressed. I hypothesize that the more the respondent believes that those in need have to learn to take care of themselves, the less frequently they will help a relative, friend, or …


C'S Get Degrees And Degrees Lead Too…Healthier Mental Health? The Effect Of Cultural And Social Capital On Mental Health, Samantha Garcia May 2019

C'S Get Degrees And Degrees Lead Too…Healthier Mental Health? The Effect Of Cultural And Social Capital On Mental Health, Samantha Garcia

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

Does social and cultural capital have beneficial outcomes that extend to the mental well-being of First Generation College graduates? Obtaining higher levels of educational degrees is known to produce positive rewards in lifestyle, opportunities, and income. Educational mobility is directly linked to social mobility. As one climbs the social ladder, one builds a broader network of people to rely on. This study analyzes 2010-2014 General Social Survey (GSS) data to report on the relationship between first-generation graduate status and self-reported days of mental health among 1654 non-institutionalized respondents in the U.S. All the parents of the respondents in the subset …


Gendered Socialization And Racism, Kellianna Staier May 2019

Gendered Socialization And Racism, Kellianna Staier

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

Does gender influence racial attitudes? I propose that the differences in men and women’s emotional processing as a result of gendered socialization have an effect on their attitudes towards improving the lives of Blacks. I performed a secondary analysis on 2016 survey responses from a subset of 533 White, American, English or Spanish-speaking, non-institutionalized adults who responded to the General Social Survey. Respondents were asked about their attitudes towards spending to improve the conditions of Blacks. I found no statistically significant relationship between self-identified sex and a respondent’s attitude towards spending to improve the conditions of Blacks. These findings do …


The Effect Of Social Class On Political Party Affiliations In The African American Community, Sindiso Mafico May 2019

The Effect Of Social Class On Political Party Affiliations In The African American Community, Sindiso Mafico

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

Does social class affect political party affiliation in the African-American community? Drawing on two contrasting theories: the theory of group interests and class-based theories of stratification put forth by Wilson and Shelton (2006), I propose that African -Americans who report being of a high socio-economic class are more likely to be Republican than African Americans of a lower socio-economic class. Through secondary analysis of data provided by the General Social Survey (GSS), I investigate the relationship between political party affiliation and social class in the African-American community. By combining data across 20 years between 1996 and 2016, the sample size …


Strike More, Spend Less?: The Correlation Between Opinions On Race Specific Government Spending And Feelings Towards Police Use Of Force, Olivia Irby Jan 2018

Strike More, Spend Less?: The Correlation Between Opinions On Race Specific Government Spending And Feelings Towards Police Use Of Force, Olivia Irby

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

With the foundation of past research on the relationship between indicators of racial prejudice, police use of force and attitudes towards it, I use the General Social Survey (2016) to examine the relationship between feelings on government spending on the Black community and approval of police officers striking an adult male citizen under different circumstances. Using feelings towards government spending on the Black community as an independent variable enables me to interpret the coded and implicit anti-Black sentiments within police practices and approval towards them further. After analyzing a sample of 704 respondents, I found that those who believe that …


There's No Place Like Home? Understanding The Relationship Between Racial Residential Segregation And Self-Reported Health, Abigail Gramaglia Jan 2018

There's No Place Like Home? Understanding The Relationship Between Racial Residential Segregation And Self-Reported Health, Abigail Gramaglia

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

How does context influence health? County racial composition and racial residential segregation shape health outcomes by creating different contexts that influence access to health-related resources. White Americans disproportionately possess these material and intangible resources. Therefore, I propose that the higher the percent of non-Hispanic white residents in U.S. counties, and the higher the racial residential segregation in U.S. counties, the lower the percent of adult residents who report poor or fair health in U.S. counties. To explore these hypotheses, I analyze 2014 demographic and survey data from 2946 U.S. counties. Findings provide mixed support for my hypotheses. Percent white has …


Identity Crisis: Effect Of Immigrant Replenishment On Spanish Language Use Among Us-Born Mexican Descendants, Ana Sosa Jan 2018

Identity Crisis: Effect Of Immigrant Replenishment On Spanish Language Use Among Us-Born Mexican Descendants, Ana Sosa

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

Immigrant replenishment may affect assimilation patterns of US-born descendants by maintaining the use and relevance of the language of origin. This study asks, how does Mexican immigrant replenishment affect Spanish language use among adult US-born Mexican descendants? Descendants include members of the second or later generations. I propose that greater exposure to Mexican immigrants will encourage adult US-born Mexican descendants to maintain their ethnic origins, especially language of origin. Therefore, the higher the rate of immigrant replenishment, the more likely respondents will speak Spanish at home. I analyze a five-year cumulative data file of the US American Community Survey (ACS) …


(Un)Locking The Door? Forces Behind Responses To Refugee Crises In Germany And Denmark, Corinna Goodman May 2016

(Un)Locking The Door? Forces Behind Responses To Refugee Crises In Germany And Denmark, Corinna Goodman

International Affairs Senior Theses

This paper answers the question of why countries react to refugee crises the way they do and what factors contribute to that response. Germany and Denmark, countries that are similar in many ways, have shown different approaches to refugees and reactions to the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Germany made international headlines last year when it opened its borders and Chancellor Angela Merkel called on other EU-countries to do the same. Denmark, on the other hand, while having developed an extensive and internationally recognized refugee resettlement program, has attracted international attention with a new asylum law that can be seen as a …