Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Indoctrination Into Hate: The Development Of Racial Neuroses Resulting From Racist Socialization Under White Supremacy, Aliya Kathryn Benabderrazak

Haslam Scholars Projects

Racial-ethnic socialization is critical to our unique and individual conceptualization of reality. This socialization occurs explicitly and implicitly across the lifespan and has significant implications for one’s behavior, social relationships, and ideological beliefs. Two of the most notable and impactful spheres in which racial-ethnic socialization occurs are within the family unit and schooling contexts. The treatment and teachings within these two spaces shape our social and psychological development. The first part of my project considers the neurosis of Whiteness as a psychological consequence of racist socialization within school settings and primarily White communities—as a macro example of the family unit—to …

Economic Disadvantage, Nativity, And Academic Performance And School Punishment Among Latino/A Children, Yolanda Chavez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cultural explanations of how familial resource inequality negatively impacts the academic well-being of a Latino/a child saturate the literature. This study examines the relationship between economic disadvantage and academic performance and school punishment through Family Stress Process Theory, providing a contextual analysis of resource instability. The additional myriad of legal and social constraints that parental nativity provides for family members can moderate this relationship. Data was drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal measure of U.S. couples and their children in 20 large U.S. cities. Regression models indicate the relationship between economic disadvantage and academic performance …

The Secret History: The Statistics And Sociology Behind Fiction, Sam Wick

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Advised by Dr. Sara Vega, Sam used Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History' as an entry point for exploration into the statistical accuracy of fiction. Using NHANES data from the 2017-18 survey cycle, Sam sought to investigate the real-world health outcomes of individuals from the same demographic as the protagonist, and analyze the trends that emerged.

Cultural Capital, Habitus And Academic Achievement, Tevin Vaughan

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Education in the United States is directly tied to social mobility for students with low socioeconomic status. The fact that these same students are less likely to succeed academically and that the interaction between cultural capital (knowledge, skills, mannerisms, etc.) and habitus (dispositions and attitudes) are understudied has led to the formulation of this study. This study looks to identify a mechanism that can be leveraged by low SES students for educational attainment. This research will follow an exploratory, cross-sectional design, that will use quantitative methods to examine the influence that cultural capital and habitus on low income student academic …

How Race, Socioeconomic Status, And Gender Shape Feelings Of Competition Within The Pre-Med Department At A Small Liberal Arts College, Amanda B. Deming

Honors Theses

This study aims to understand how students of color navigate feelings of competition in the pre-medical (“pre-med”) track at a small liberal arts college. I argue that there are differences in navigational strategies by race, socioeconomic status (SES), and gender. Respondents in my sample (9 women and 6 men) were interviewed for 30 to 60 minutes about their relationships with fellow pre-med students, mentors, alumni, advisors, and professors. The primary findings of this project were that students who are more competitive dominate the culture among pre-med students; less competitive individuals persist through the pre-med track by forming study groups with …

To Tell Or Not To Tell: Student Responses To Negative Behavior In Elementary School, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

In this article I examine the factors that influence fifth grade student decisions regarding whether or not to report negative interactions to adults. Data from observations and interviews with students and adults show that there are many factors influencing the reluctance to tell on others. Among them is a school context in which verbal attacks are downplayed and telling is seen as ineffective and stigmatized. This context prevents bystanders from reporting what they have observed and places those with a lack of social support at a significant disadvantage when dealing with negative behavior.

Cs + Sociology: Using Big Data To Identify And Understand Educational Inequality In America ( 2), Joseph Cleary, Elin Waring

Open Educational Resources

This lesson is connected to but can be used independently of "Using Big Data to Identify and Understand Educational Inequality in America (1)"

Students will develop CS skills and behaviors including but not limited to: learning what an API is, learning how to access and utilize data on an API, and developing their R coding skills and knowledge. Students will also learn basic, but important, sociological principles such as how poverty is related to educational opportunities in America (and how this relationship varies between and among states). Although prior knowledge of CS and sociology is helpful, neither is necessary for …

Cs + Sociology: Using Big Data To Identify And Understand Educational Inequality In America (1), Joseph Cleary, Elin Waring

Open Educational Resources

This is the first of two lessons/labs for teaching and learning of computer science and sociology. Either and be used on their own or they can be used in sequence, in which case this should be used first.

Students will develop CS skills and behaviors including but not limited to: learning what an API is, learning how to access and utilize data on an API, and developing their R coding skills and knowledge. Students will also learn basic, but important, sociological principles such as how poverty is related to educational opportunities in America. Although prior knowledge of CS and sociology …

“I’M Going To Help You Become A Better You”: Teacher-Student Dynamics In Special Education, Sophie Sadovnikoff

Honors Projects

This study explores teachers’ roles in special education in terms of how they interact with students with disabilities. In the struggle against oppression and disempowerment, teachers can play a crucial role in employing education as the great equalizer, or else not. The question this research seeks to answer is: how do special education teachers interact with their students with disabilities, and how does this teacher role fit within a society that seeks to marginalize these students? I argue that special education teachers reproduce ableism by disciplining, normalizing, and controlling their students, but teachers express a deep sense of caring for …

Evaluation Of A Learning Community Program For Developmental Reading Students At A Two-Year College., Tonya Scott Lanphier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Learning communities have become an integral part of higher education. Numerous studies have examined the effectiveness of learning communities at colleges and universities. This study, extended over two years, is an in-depth analysis of a learning community program serving developmental reading students at a public, two-year college. A primary aim of the program was to improve students’ reading skills to increase student persistence. In this dissertation, mixed methods were used and data came from six sources: in-depth interviews with students, instructors, and administrators, focus groups with students, a content review of internal and external program documents, pre-post reading test, a …

Career Technical Students And Post-Secondary Education: A Hidden Population In The Massachusetts Education System, Nicolette Haug

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

This research looks into Career-Technical Education in Massachusetts, and what makes these institutions successful. Five career-technical high schools in Massachusetts are highlighted in this capstone project, including Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School in Upton, MA, as well as all of the public high schools in the regions. By analyzing standardized test scores and demographics, this project seeks to understand the differences in the way each school is performing academically, and recognizes Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School as a positive outlier. The capstone concludes with recommendations of success factors other career-technical high schools can adopt in order …

Empathy Institutionalized: Sociocultural Dialogue As A Strategic Peacebuilding Initiative, Emily Owens

Bridge/Work

A common adage used in psychological exploration tells us that “If you want to know the end, look at the beginning.” While typically employed to emphasize the importance of upbringing and environment on personal outcomes, this phrase can be equally applicable in examining the ways in which society has developed over time to produce our polarized sociopolitical culture of today. This work explores from an integrative psychosocial perspective the potential that exists in working to define a new “end” by shaping a new “beginning,” through going directly to the institutions that comprise our own beginnings— schools. Through a combined research …

The Bureau Of Sociological Research At The University Of Nebraska–Lincoln: A Brief History 1964–2014, Michael R. Hill

Zea E-Books Collection

This volume is a provisional account of the origins and subsequent work of the Bureau of Sociological Research (BOSR) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL). This study was prepared at the request of Julia McQuillan, Chair of the UNL Department of Sociology and a past BOSR Director, for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Bureau in April 2014.

This study falls within the field known generally as “the sociology of sociology” and this accounts for the devising of a typology of sociologies that delineates the intellectual field of play historically occupied by the Bureau of Sociological Research at the University …

The Relationship Between Fraternity Recruitment Experiences, Perceptions Of Fraternity Life, And Self-Esteem, Kendall Ladd

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Self-esteem on its own has been studied extensively, including as part of a study examining the effects of sorority recruitment on the self-esteem of the female participants (Chapman, Hirt, and Spruill, 2008). However, there is relatively little research on men’s self-esteem and no studies examining the potential impact of the fraternity recruitment process on students’ self-esteem. The present study examined this through a longitudinal study utilizing two surveys. The initial survey was completed the day before the fraternity recruitment process began to establish a baseline for 155 participants. The follow-up survey received a total of 99 responses from the original …

Community College For All: How Two-Year Criminal Justice Transfer Students Perceive Their Educational Experience, Elizabeth Monk-Turner, John Allen, John Casten, Cathy Cowling, Charles Gray, David Guhr, Kara Hoofnagle, Jessica Huffman, Moises Mina, Brian Moore

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

[Introduction] President Obama and others have called for free community college-- "America's College Promise." Yet controversy surrounds the community college system, with proponents emphasizing the educational opportunities provided while critics bemoan the high dropout rate and lack of equality of educational outcomes. Little research explores how students perceive their educational experiences at two-year colleges. This article explores community college strengths and weaknesses as perceived by a sample of successful criminal justice transfer students. During qualitative interviewing, students reported that they had a positive experience at community college and that it allowed them to prepare to be successful at university. Expense, …

Teacher Retention And Student Achievement: Environmental Factors, Social Capital And Interventions In Urban, Pre-Dominantly Latino Schools, Luis Xavier Benavides

Master's Theses

The quality of education in high poverty areas is often blamed on a number of factors - poor teaching, inadequate resources, an environment of hopelessness and mediocrity, lack of perseverance in the learner, lack of social programs and social capital. These factors are often compounded by effects of systemic racism in the student’s surrounding environment and in education system. This study focuses on one aspect of investigation: the impact of increased social capital for teachers on students’ school performance and interventions focused on building social capital between students, parents and teachers in urban, pre-dominantly Latino schools. Improving links between students, …

Hoping For Help: The Organizational Response To Street Children In Tangier, Stefanie Cruz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Although the exact number is impossible to obtain, there are an estimated 30,000 street children living in Morocco. There are many different profiles of street children, but they are categorized mainly as children in the street and children of the street. Children in the street leave home due to poverty and precarious family situations but still return home from time to time if not every night. Children of the street have no homes to go to; they live, sleep and struggle to survive on the streets. In the city of Tangier where this study takes place, most of the children …

Late Night At Lds, Mary E. Maloney

SURGE

As I am giving my full attention to the Western omelet, home fries, and rye toast on my plate, I do not notice what is going on around me. I’m not drunk, but I’m not sober either. I’m with some friends I know well and some people I barely know, but they all seem nice enough to share a late night meal. I’m starving.

I start to realize that more and more non-college students enter LDs, presumably local Gettysburg residents. Some are being loud and boisterous, not unlike many of the people sitting at my very own table, and someone …

Meta-Analysis Of The Book: "Privilege, Power And Difference" -- A Review Of The Dimensions Of Institutional Segregation As Psychological Paradox, Alexej Savreux

Sociology Student Papers and Presentations

This paper analyzes and synthesizes concepts and alternative perspectives of sociologist and author Allan G. Johnson’s book “Privilege, Power and Difference” through the lens of the sociological imagination. The first phase of the review addresses the different chapter dimensions of the concept (or purported abstraction) of ‘inequality’ as social, economic and historical concretion. The model is later elaborated upon and the work extrapolated into a meta-theoretical analysis of the first seven chapters of the textbook. By identifying and reviewing the principal points within the book, we present a multitude of vantage points by which continuation and assimilation of material in …

The Brutal Reality Of Bringing Kids Up To Level: Are Critical Thinking And Creativity Lost In The World Of Standardized Testing?, Jamie M. Carroll

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, the output of education has been measured through student achievement on standardized tests. School ratings, student graduation, teacher jobs and school charters are all tied to these tests. This study analyzes the extent to which math and science public high school teachers in New Orleans focus on critical thinking and creativity, skills needed to be successful in the future. Through a framework of Richard Paul’s model of critical thinking and Theresa Amabile’s social psychology of creativity, this study evaluates support for critical thinking and creativity through classroom observations, analysis of instructional materials …

November Uri Community Diversity Project 2010, Joseph A. Santiago Mr, Riley Davis Ms, Richard V. Travisano Mr

Richard Travisano

November is National Novel Writing Month. For the first time at the University of Rhode Island November was a month for the URI community to share their stories, poems, art, and photos with the world. The Writing to Model Diversity project intends to connect individuals across cultural boundaries and borders by sharing the stories and experiences that challenge our everyday experiences and the dreams of the future. Built on the efforts of the World Voice series, URI presents a book that shares the stories and culture of the students, faculty, staff, and community members who embrace the idea of becoming …

Freire Vs. Marx: The Tension Between Liberating Education And Student Alienation, Jonathan Martin

Jonathan Martin

The article cites a paper that compares Paulo Freire's concept of pedagogy and Karl Marx's concept of alienation in the U.S. educational context. Freire is well-known for having developed a student-centered teaching approach that assists learners in developing the awareness of their oppression. It mentioned that Marx would argue that the existing educational system naturally produces the forms of alienation and revolution can abolish the inequalities within schools.

Becoming An Administrator, F. Patrick Lattuca Iii

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

This study is part of a limited but growing body of research that examines and describes the social side of pulic school administration. Most training programs that prepare public school administrators are highly effective with regard to providing students the theoretical foundation that surrounds administrative roles, but as the literature illustrates, there is a gap between theory and practice. This autoethnographical dissertation addresse this gap by providing an analytical description of what individuals do when acting as a public school administrator. Specifically, this study follows the transition into an assistant principalship and how the author was socialized into that role

Balancing Yin And Yang, Roger Clark, Angela Lang

Roger D. Clark

The first three-quarters of the semester flew by. We learned about quantitative data analysis and I loved it. I really enjoyed the numerical manipulations and seeing how it all related to people. Everything was there in front of me. Not too much imagination on my part was really needed. Then it all ended. Professor Clark introduced qualitative methods and the anxiety began. I soon realized I had to reinvent my creative side, which is something that as an undergraduate I am not required to do very often. I was nervous that I would discover that I was not creative at …

Beyond The Black Horizon, Aaron Bruce

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

Although U.S. colleges and universities continue to discuss creative ways to increase the number of African American collegians participating in study abroad, this research is limited when revealing the unique perspectives of African American collegians who have studied abroad. Traditionally an emphasis on program success has been placed on the quantity of study abroad participants rather than the quality of African American student support and engagement; the personal reflections through the lens of African American race and identity are often overlooked. A series of culturally responsive, guided interviews were conducted with African American collegians from a variety of institutions across …

Youth Empowerment Through Math Literacy: An Analysis Of Young People’S Project At Hamilton College, Hannah Roth

Hannah Roth

Through my sociology concentration I was able to experience working as a Coordinator for Young People's Project (YPP), as well as the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.

YPP is a grass roots youth organization that focuses on math literacy and social justice for local disadvantaged students. Hamilton College students are trained to develop and facilitate workshops to students in the Utica area middle schools. Each week Hamilton College students travel to the Donovan Middle School in Utica, NY to facilitate these workshops. YPP strives to use math literacy as a tool to develop young leaders with the …

Kicking And Screaming, Roger Clark, Rachel Filinson

Faculty Publications

The authors provide an account of their department's minimalist and largely reluctant approach to mandatory assessment in the past decade. A decade earlier, the department had gone all out in an experimental assessment effort supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, an effort the department was neither willing nor able to make once the college's accreditation agency mandated assessment in 2000. The authors describe another "less-than-ideal design" that has nonetheless involved many of the assessment elements described elsewhere (e.g., alumni and student surveys, classroom assignments, external reviewers, research papers) and has nonetheless yielded usable and utilized feedback …

November Uri Community Diversity Project 2010, Joseph A. Santiago, Riley Davis, Richard V. Travisano

November Diversity Project

November is National Novel Writing Month. For the first time at the University of Rhode Island November was a month for the URI community to share their stories, poems, art, and photos with the world. The Writing to Model Diversity project intends to connect individuals across cultural boundaries and borders by sharing the stories and experiences that challenge our everyday experiences and the dreams of the future. Built on the efforts of the World Voice series, URI presents a book that shares the stories and culture of the students, faculty, staff, and community members who embrace the idea of becoming …

November Uri Community Diversity Project 2010, Joseph A. Santiago Mr, Riley Davis Ms, Richard V. Travisano Mr

November Diversity Project

November is National Novel Writing Month. For the first time at the University of Rhode Island November was a month for the URI community to share their stories, poems, art, and photos with the world. The Writing to Model Diversity project intends to connect individuals across cultural boundaries and borders by sharing the stories and experiences that challenge our everyday experiences and the dreams of the future. Built on the efforts of the World Voice series, URI presents a book that shares the stories and culture of the students, faculty, staff, and community members who embrace the idea of becoming …

Social Movements In Organizations, Mikaila M. L. Arthur

Faculty Publications

This article reviews the literature on social movements within organizations such as colleges and universities, corporations, religious orders, and governmental agencies. It brings together work from disparate fields to advance an understanding of how movements happen within organizations to introduce students and scholars to the promise of such research.