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Jane Minot Sedgwick Ii And The World Of American Catholic Converts, 1820-1890, Erin M. Bartram Dec 2015

Jane Minot Sedgwick Ii And The World Of American Catholic Converts, 1820-1890, Erin M. Bartram

Doctoral Dissertations

When Jane Minot Sedgwick II (1821-1889), the daughter of an elite New England Unitarian family, became a Catholic in 1853, she joined a new faith culture while remaining embedded in the social world of her birth. As a young woman, she was uninterested in her family’s religious activities and uncomfortable with their zeal. This dissertation argues that Sedgwick only came to see Catholicism as a viable religious option after developing friendships with other elite women who had recently converted. After studying Catholicism for ten years, Sedgwick joined the Church, a decision she described as rational. In light of her independent …


Labor Unions And Economic Inequality In The Wealthy Democracies, Eric Graig Castater Dec 2015

Labor Unions And Economic Inequality In The Wealthy Democracies, Eric Graig Castater

Doctoral Dissertations

Previous research on the determinants of economic inequality in the wealthy democracies has found that differences in the size and constitution of labor unions accounts for much of the cross-national and over time variation in economic inequality. Despite numerous theoretical and empirical reasons to suppose the contrary, most of this research assumes that the union effect on economic inequality is independent of the particular socio-economic and political environment unions are situated within and the types of workers actually unionized. The broad purpose of this dissertation is to push back against these assumptions and examine whether the union effect on economic …


Predictors Of Youth Empathy: Early Adolescents’ Perceptions Of Maternal And Paternal Support, Emily Elizabeth Stone Dec 2015

Predictors Of Youth Empathy: Early Adolescents’ Perceptions Of Maternal And Paternal Support, Emily Elizabeth Stone

Doctoral Dissertations

The world in which children develop is becoming increasingly complex and includes exposure to individuals with variations in background and identity. The development of a peaceful global community will demand empathy (compassionate perspective taking and empathic concern for the position of another person). Data examined in this study came from the Ogden Youth and Family Project. A random sample of fifth- and eighth-grade classrooms in the Ogden City School District in 1994 and 1996 provided the data examined on empathy and perceived parental support. The final sample for this study was comprised of 286 cases. Perceived Mother Support and Father …


You Kind Of Have To Prove It: Gender Microaggressions Within The Lived Experiences Of Women In Engineering, Crystal Rose Diaz-Espinoza Dec 2015

You Kind Of Have To Prove It: Gender Microaggressions Within The Lived Experiences Of Women In Engineering, Crystal Rose Diaz-Espinoza

Doctoral Dissertations

This intrinsic case study explored the lived experiences of women within three engineering majors at a mid-sized institution in the Mid-Atlantic using gender microaggressions (Nadal, 2010; Sue, 2007) as a theoretical lens. Data included individual interviews with 28 participants as well as document review from Web pages and observations from physical spaces within the campus engineering building. Data analysis resulted in seven themes in congruence with Sue’s (2007) taxonomy of gender microaggressions and further established the three levels of gender microaggressions distinguished by Nadal (2010). Findings also revealed that barriers within engineering were less visible or outwardly sexist, and that …


Young Germans In The World: Race, Gender, And Imperialism In Wilhelmine Young Adult Literature, Maureen O. Gallagher Nov 2015

Young Germans In The World: Race, Gender, And Imperialism In Wilhelmine Young Adult Literature, Maureen O. Gallagher

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation shows how popular reading material for young adults was used to craft a new generation of German imperial citizens in the Second Empire (1871-1918). Uniting insights from contemporary postcolonial theory, gender studies, and the global history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Germany, it shows the intersectional development of German national identity in the children’s and young adult literature of Wilhelmine Germany. As literature written by adults for young people, designed both to entertain and instruct, children’s and young adult literature offers a unique window on how Germany built nation and empire simultaneously during this period. Focusing on texts set …


Structural Transformation, Culture, And Women’S Labor Force Participation In Turkey, Yasemin Dildar Nov 2015

Structural Transformation, Culture, And Women’S Labor Force Participation In Turkey, Yasemin Dildar

Doctoral Dissertations

Turkey has experienced important structural and social changes that would be expected to facilitate women’s participation in market work. Social attitudes toward working women have changed in recent years; women are becoming more educated; they are getting married at a later age; and fertility rates are declining. Despite these factors, women’s labor force participation rates are very low in comparison to the countries at a similar development stage. This dissertation analyzes the underlying causes of low female labor force participation in Turkey. In addition to a background chapter (Chapter 2) analyzing structural transformation and employment generation patterns, the dissertation has …


The Shifting Structure Of Chicago's Organized Crime Network And The Women It Left Behind, Christina Smith Nov 2015

The Shifting Structure Of Chicago's Organized Crime Network And The Women It Left Behind, Christina Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

Women are underrepresented in crime and criminal economies compared to men. However, research on the gender gap in crime tends to not employ relational methods and theories, even though crime is often relational. In the predominantly male world of Chicago organized crime at the turn of the twentieth century existed a dynamic gender gap. Combining social network analysis and historical research methods to examine the case of organized crime in Chicago, I uncover a group of women who made up a substantial portion of the Chicago organized crime network from 1900 to 1919. Before Prohibition, women of organized crime operated …


Bringing The Household Back In: Family Wage Gaps And The Intersection Of Gender, Race, And Class In The Household Context., Melissa J. Hodges Aug 2015

Bringing The Household Back In: Family Wage Gaps And The Intersection Of Gender, Race, And Class In The Household Context., Melissa J. Hodges

Doctoral Dissertations

Using the 1980- 2008 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), this dissertation examines how parenthood exacerbates gender wage inequality within married, heterosexual households and across families stratified by race and social class. The majority of research on motherhood penalties and fatherhood premiums investigates how individual men and women’s earnings change after the arrival of children, yet it is unclear how parental bonuses and penalties accrue within coupled households. Although studies investigating child effects on individuals’ wages draw on theoretical explanations that rely on the joint decision-making of couples, empirical analysis rarely situates the effects of children on …


Confessing Nuns: Gender, Hierarchy, And Institutionalized Power In Early Modern Hispanic Literature, Jason Michael Stinnett Aug 2015

Confessing Nuns: Gender, Hierarchy, And Institutionalized Power In Early Modern Hispanic Literature, Jason Michael Stinnett

Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation discusses the inversion of power dynamics between nuns and the Catholic Church during the Early Modern period in Spain and in the New World. I study how Santa Teresa de Ávila, Catalina de Erauso, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz use traditional modes of male thought and action regarding feminine weakness in order to realize their own agendas and participate in arenas generally forbidden to women. In analyzing how these women reinforce the weaknesses and strengths of the gender binary through written confession, I am able to trace their appropriation of power and authoritative voice in spaces …


An Empirical Examination Of Gender, Political Affiliation, And Family Composition Issues Affecting Reasonable Compensation In Closely Held Corporations, Dowis W. Brian Jul 2015

An Empirical Examination Of Gender, Political Affiliation, And Family Composition Issues Affecting Reasonable Compensation In Closely Held Corporations, Dowis W. Brian

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the effect of gender, political affiliation, and family composition issues on reasonable compensation in closely held corporations. It is broken down into two parts: an archival and behavioral (survey) portion. The archival part analyzes decisions made in the U.S. Tax Court spanning 1983-2014 through the use of simple regression, multiple regression/ordinary least squares, and logistic regression. Four variables were found to be significant: judge gender, tenure, number of tax years decided, and taxpayer gender. The behavioral portion investigates the current perceptions of tax practitioners through surveying Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Analysis of variance is used in this …


Social Change In Social Dominance Theory: Ideological Norms And Violence Prevention In Gender Relations, Andrew L. Stewart May 2015

Social Change In Social Dominance Theory: Ideological Norms And Violence Prevention In Gender Relations, Andrew L. Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

The present dissertation examines ways to study social change using social dominance theory in the context of gender relations. The first paper outlines a theoretical reconceptualization of social change that focuses on the dynamics of intergroup behavior and power. The remaining papers in this dissertation demonstrate how to conduct social change research using social dominance theory by exploring the effects of ideological norms on support for violence against women, and by exploring violence prevention and collective action aimed at reducing intergroup inequality. I find that societal disagreement (rather than agreement) about sexism predicts normative? justification of domestic violence, and that …


Nipe-Nikupe: A Multi-Level Perspective Of Gender And Hiv Prevention In Heterosexual Marriages In Kenya, Rose Anne N. Njiru May 2015

Nipe-Nikupe: A Multi-Level Perspective Of Gender And Hiv Prevention In Heterosexual Marriages In Kenya, Rose Anne N. Njiru

Doctoral Dissertations

Archival abstract submitted


Dynamics Between Weavers And Voluntourists In Guatemala: Giving Ideas, Taking Photos, Rebecca L. Nelson May 2015

Dynamics Between Weavers And Voluntourists In Guatemala: Giving Ideas, Taking Photos, Rebecca L. Nelson

Doctoral Dissertations

Drawing from 20 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the voluntourism program of a women’s weaving cooperative based in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, this dissertation argues that voluntourists and their cooperative hosts developed more globally-oriented subjectivities through their daily information exchanges. Voluntourists shared their knowledge of tastes and practices in their countries; in return, the cooperative leaders offered them exposure to Mayan customs and weaving classes. At the same time, these interactions highlighted the hosts’ anxieties about sharing such knowledge. The cooperative leaders utilized their association with tourists to develop cosmopolitan competencies, pursue alternative gender relations, and push the boundaries of relationships with …


Transgender Kinship: Transforming Family, Dianne M. Schindler May 2015

Transgender Kinship: Transforming Family, Dianne M. Schindler

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the processes of negotiating and redrawing concepts of relatedness, kinship, group membership, and citizenship for transgender people. Examining relationships in the context of family, friendship, group membership, and law, I explore how relationships are defined, challenged, and transformed in the context of gender transition. By conducting structured interviews of transgender people and their family members, and engaging in participant observation in support group meetings, conferences, and social events, I was able to collect a wide range of data to utilize in my analysis. I sought to understand the ways in which transgender people identify the place …