Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

"Yeah, I Drive An Suv, But I Recycle":The Cultural Foundations Of Environmentally Significant Behavior, Gail L. Markle

Sociology Dissertations

 The majority of Americans profess to hold pro-environmental attitudes and intend to engage in environmentally friendly behavior. Yet their actions tell a different story. The goal of this study was to explain the gap between widely held pro-environmental attitudes and the lack of corresponding individual and collective behavior. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods and applying the principles of grid-group cultural theory, cognitive sociology, and identity theory I examined the meanings people ascribe to the environment, how they think about behavior relative to the environment, and justifications for the performance of environmentally significant behavior.

I administered an …

Scrapworthy Lives: A Cognitive Sociological Analysis Of A Modern Narrative Form, Stephanie R. Medley-Rath

Sociology Dissertations

Over the past 20 years, scrapbooking has become immensely popular in America. This dissertation is the study of scrapworthy lives, that is, how lives become structured by scrapbooking and how people show others that their own life and the lives of their loves ones are value—or scrapworthy. I conducted in-depth interviews with 38 scrapbookers, 11 scrapbook industry workers, and 10 family and friends of scrapbookers. I also used photo-elicitation interviewing techniques with both the scrapbookers and the family members and friends of 10 scrapbookers to examine a selection of scrapbook pages the respondents had completed. I used grounded theory methods …

Constructing Definitions Of Sexual Orientation In Research And Theory, Daleana Phillips

Sociology Theses

Definitions of sexual orientation are reflections of theoretical positions within the essentialist versus social constructionist debate. A cognitive sociological approach to analyzing the positions within this debate allows theorists and researchers to be aware of three distinct theoretical positions or thought communities: natural kinds thought community, social kinds thought community, and empty kinds thought community. Standard content analysis and grounded theory methods are used to analyze the principles, strategies, and practices each thought community uses to mark group membership into various sexual categories. The analysis reveals that each theoretical perspective is marking group membership differently.