Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Five Interconnections Of Race And Class, Michael Billeaux-Martinez, David Calnitsky

Sociology Publications

This paper proposes a five-part empirical typology of interconnections of race and class. We describe the mechanisms whereby (1) race is a form of class relation; (2) race relations and class relations reciprocally affect each other; (3) race acts as a sorting mechanism into class locations; (4) race acts as a mediating linkage to class locations; and (5) race interacts with class in determining other outcomes. Rather than insisting on one or another mechanism as the overarching framework for conceptualising the interconnections between race and class, we propose a theoretical integration of all five within a functionalist model. The model …

Polisci 3210f: Feasibility Of A National Disability Insurance Plan (Ndip) In Canada, Twana Hassan, Aditi Priya, Dylan Poole, Samantha Rubin, Ethan Chen

Community Engaged Learning Final Projects

This research report presents an overview of the feasibility and reliability of a National Disability Insurance Plan (NDIP) in Canada. Several Global North countries are leading the way in disability legislation and disability funding in comparison to Canada's inaction on the matter. A National Disability Insurance Plan in Canada will have social and economic benefits for everyone in Canada. The report concluded that Canada is capable of implementing a NDIP and doing so is the right choice.

Looking In The Mirror: Including The Reflected Best Self Exercise In Management Curricula To Increase Students’ Interview Self-Efficacy, Jennifer Robertson, Noelle Baird, Mathew Mclarnon

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Students often choose to pursue a business major during their post-secondary education to increase their chances of securing employment post-graduation. However, evidence suggests that many recent business degree graduates struggle with underemployment, highlighting the importance of examining how post-secondary institutions can better prepare students for the transition to work. In the current study, we investigated how including a personal strengths-driven intervention, the Reflected Best Self Exercise (RBSE), in management curricula may help better prepare students for securing employment by increasing students’ confidence in their ability to succeed in an employment interview (i.e., by enhancing interview self-efficacy). Using a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental …

Unf@Cking People’S Problems: A Theory Of Policing, Laura Huey, Stephen Johnston

Sociology Publications

One of the problems that has plagued policing researchers over the past few decades – ourselves included -- is the interminable question of ‘what do police do?’ Some ideas, tasks, roles, institutions and other social creations are easy to define. Policing has not been one of those. In part, it’s because it’s not only a descriptive problem, it’s also a normative one. Once you start to address the question of what do police do, then you also have to wrestle with the much meatier issue of ‘what do we want police to do’? In this paper, we exercise our theory …

Bureaucratic Sorceries In The Third Policeman: Anthropological Perspectives On Magic & Officialdom, Alexandra Irimia

Languages and Cultures Publications

This article discusses The Third Policeman through the lens of a dialectic of enchantment and disenchantment that is firmly anchored in the history of anthropological discourse on bureaucracy (Malinowski, Lévi-Strauss, Tambiah, Herzfeld, Graeber, Jones). From this angle, Flann O’Brien’s novel is examined as an aesthetic illustration of an essentially anthropological argument: although bureaucracy has been described as an eminently rational form of social systematisation, regulation, and control (since Weber), it also functions, paradoxically, as a symbolic site for irrationality and supernatural occurrences, haunted by madness, mystery, and delusion. The novel is intriguing partly due to its nonchalant, humorous entwining of …

Employees’ Response To Corporate Greenwashing, Jennifer Robertson, Wren A. Montgomery, Timur Ozbilir

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Research on corporate greenwashing has expanded rapidly in recent years. At the same time, emerging studies in related literatures have found that employees are seeking out firms that are social and environmental leaders, and employee activism within firms is growing. However, the effect of firms’ exaggeration and misrepresentation of environmental claims, or greenwashing, on their own employees has been overlooked. Accordingly, we investigate greenwashing from an organizational psychology lens, exploring the impact it can have on employees, and whether these effects differ for different types of employees. Using data collected at three separate time points from a sample of employees …

Social Isolation, Third Places, And Precarious Employment Circumstances: A Scoping Review, Debbie Laliberte Rudman, Rebecca M. Aldrich

Occupational Therapy Publications

No abstract provided.

New And Transferable Digital Skills In The Era Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: Mobilizing Social Support, Molly-Gloria Harper, Anabel Quan-Haase, William Hollingshead

Sociology Presentations

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global crisis that has had profound impacts on people’s lives. Under these circumstances, social support can buffer against pandemic-related stress. Yet, the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic with its stringent health guidelines have created unique challenges to the mobilization of social support. These challenges particularly affect vulnerable groups with limited digital life skills. Based on a qualitative study of 101 semi-structured interviews with East York residents in Toronto, Canada conducted in 2013–2014, we investigate what new and transferable digital life skills are needed in the pre- and post-pandemic era to mobilize social support. Our …

Effects Of Perceived Scarcity On Covid-19 Consumer Stimulus Spending: The Roles Of Ontological Insecurity And Mutability In Predicting Prosocial Outcomes, R. Bret Leary, Rhiannon Macdonnell Mesler, Bonnie Simpson, Matthew D. Meng, William Montford

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

In 2021, the United States government provided a third Economic Impact Payment (EIP) for those designated as experiencing greater need due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With a particular focus on scarcity and ontological insecurity, we collected time-separated data prior to, and following, the third EIP to examine how these variables shape consumer allocation of stimulus funds. We find that scarcity is positively associated with feelings of ontological insecurity, which, interestingly, correlates to a greater allocation of stimulus funds towards charitable giving. We further find evidence that mutability moderates the relationship between ontological insecurity and allocations to charitable giving. In other …

Sociology 2259: Stem2stern, Tyler B. Morris, Gabriela V. Todorova, Eden M. Lloyd, Jessie E. Schnoor, Justin A. Morris, Joey Zhuo, Brooke T. Weisfeld

Community Engaged Learning Final Projects

Throughout the 2021-2022 academic year, seven students from Professor Lauren Barrs' Sociology of deviance class worked with Stem2Stern, a non for profit organization based in London Ontario. The students helped with maintaining and updating the social media pages, proposed and advertised new events, and helped the owner, David Vine become more tech-friendly. This presentation shows the students' work throughout the academic year, presented through a timeline. Showcasing their biggest contributions to the organization as well as showing Stem2Sterns growth throughout the year.

Systematizing Dark Personality Traits Within Broader Models Of Personality, Radosław Rogoza, Christopher Marcin Kowalski, Donald H. Saklofske, Julie Aitken Schermer

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Previous research has attempted to derive arguments for the categorization of traits as ‘dark’ without theoretical justification or rationalizations. We begin with a description of current conceptualizations of the darkness of traits followed by a new perspective on the catalogue of dark personality traits and the theoretical boundaries of different shades of darkness within the broader personality structure. Finally, we address the redundancy problem observed within the field on dark personality traits. Our analyses are offered as a guide to future research towards a more parsimonious and useful set of criteria (a “compass” of sorts) for inclusion within the “dark” …

Soc4425g: Concussion Legacy Foundation Media Creation, Liana S. Forsyth Ba, Vanessa A. Nasturzio Ba, Rebecca Asselstine Ba, Florencia Sofia Ba, Yarin Gurevich Ba, Mark T. Bernardi Ba

Community Engaged Learning Final Projects

Concussion Legacy Foundation Center (CLFC) aims to educated youth in Ontario about concussion awareness and prevention. Our Community Engaged Learning task was to create social media content that would engage and educate youth about concussion in a fun and relevant way. Through the use of a popular social media platform, research, and personal testimonies from youth on their knowledge and interests our group was able to create several videos that inform youths ages 9-14 years old about concussions in a brief, engaging, humorous and fun way.

Another Digital Divide: Cybersecurity In Indigenous Communities, Laura Huey, Lorna Ferguson

Sociology Publications

The Indigenous ‘digital divide’ relates to community-level disparities in access and use of online technologies, a prominent public policy issue that federal governments have attempted to address. Following from such efforts is an expected increase in communication and other technologies. However, concurrently, cybersecurity becomes a matter warranting consideration, as increased access means increased exposure to online harms for which many Indigenous communities may lack awareness, education, and prevention skills. To offer key insights relevant to this matter, this study conducted a systematic review of research pertaining to Indigeneity and cybersecurity issues. Findings show that critical subject areas, such as human …

Cyberpolicing In Canada: A Scoping Review, Laura Huey, Lorna Ferguson

Sociology Publications

A recent stream of government efforts have surfaced in an attempt to tackle cybercrime in Canada and improve law enforcement responses to cybercrime, such as funding, actionable intelligence, and the creation of new policing response units. However, we know little of ‘what works’ with respect to cyberpolicing, meaning that these endeavours, and policymakers and funding organizations, are operating without such insights. Therefore, this study sought to conduct an evidence assessment into research on cybercrime-related topics through a scoping review. Our findings show that the overall volume of Canadian cyberpolicing literature is low, and many important subjects are entirely lacking in …

Digital Media Use And Social Inclusion: A Case Study Of East York Older Adults, Anabel Quan-Haase, Molly-Gloria Harper, Alice Hwang

FIMS Publications

Digital media is essential to sustaining communication with various types of social ties. However, older adults (aged 65+) are reported to be the least likely to use digital media. While statistics show that older adults are increasingly using more digital media, evidence shows this is predominately aging long-term users of digital media rather than older adults adopting new digital media. To investigate this “grey divide” and adoption of digital media by older adults, this study qualitatively analyses semi-structured interviews of 41 individuals aged 65 and older from the East York region of Toronto, Canada. Our findings suggest that satisfaction with …

Improving Networking Supports For Women In The Workplace, Karen E. Pennesi, Javier Alvarez Vandeputte, Zsofia Agoston, Rawand Amsdr

Anthropology Publications

This report describes findings from research on networking activities and strategies among women in executive and leadership positions in Canadian organizations. The project was carried out by graduate student researchers in collaboration with the Women's Executive Network. Networking is defined as the creation and maintenance of a community of diverse interests, through in-person and online engagements, that can be mobilized for the benefit of oneself or other members of one’s network. We found that the shift to primarily online networking activities due to COVID-19 removed some existing barriers related to age, gender and location, while introducing others related to family …

Identity Salience Moderates The Effect Of Social Dominance Orientation On Covid-19 ‘Rule Bending’, Rhiannon Macdonnell, Bonnie Simpson, Jennifer Chernishenko, Shreya Jain

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Amidst the economic, political, and social turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, contrasting responses to government mandated and recommended mitigation strategies have posed many challenges for governments as they seek to persuade individuals to adhere to prevention guidelines. Much research has subsequently examined the tendency of individuals to either follow (or not) such guidelines, and yet a ‘grey area’ also exists wherein many rules are subject to individual interpretation. In a large study of Canadians (N =1032, Mage =34.39, 52% female; collected April 6, 2020), we examine how social dominance orientation (SDO) as an individual difference predicts individual propensity to …

Predicting Pro-Environmental Values And Behaviors With The Supernumerary Personality Inventory And Hope, Bonnie Simpson, Meghan Maguire, Julie Aitken Schermer

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

This research examinesthe role ofpersonality traits beyond the Five-Factor Model (FFM) frameworkin predicting pro-environmental values and behaviors. A sample of 410participants completed personality scalesand reported both their environmental values and the extent to which they had engaged in a series of pro-environmental behaviors in the preceding 24 hours. Small positive correlations were found between environmental values and behaviors with integrityand femininityand negative correlations with religiosity. Overall, the results show limited evidence supporting the personality dimensions measured in predicting pro-environmentalvalues and behaviors.Implications of the findings are discussed.

How Affective Displaysand Self-Construal Impact Consumers’ Generosity, Rhiannon Macdonnell, Bonnie Simpson

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Nonprofit brands vary widely in their positioning to consumers, ranging from crisis and desperation, to joy and optimism.The literature, however, provides limiteddirection for the many nonprofit organizations that seek to align their brand with positive emotions. Herein, we examine the relationship between affective displays (sad vs. happy) portrayed in charitable advertisements and consumer self-construal in shaping consumer generosity.We employ one field study (study 1) and one lab experiment (study 2), using different charitable causes (i.e., Kiva.org[study 1] and a fictitious children’s cancer charity [study 2]) and currencies (i.e., lending money [study 1] and volunteering time [study 2]).Taken together, we find …

What Moves You?: Georges Didi-Huberman’S Arts Of Passage And Pittsburgh Stories Of Migration, Alexandra Irimia

Languages and Cultures Publications

Contemporary art historian, critic, and theorist Georges Didi-Huberman thinks of images not as static objects, but as movements, passages, and gestures of memory and/or desire. For the French “historian of passing images,” as he has been called, “all images are migrants. Images are migrations. They are never simply local” (D2017). His book, Passer, quoi qu'il en coûte ("To Pass at Any Price"), co-written with the Greek poet and director Niki Giannari, takes on precisely the visual dynamics of passages, passengers, and passageways in the context of contemporary migration flows. In April 2018, only several months after the launching of the …

Predicting Donation Behaviour With The Supernumerary Personality Inventory, Christopher M. Kowalski, Bonnie Simpson, Julie Schermer

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

The present study aimed to broaden the investigation of personality traits and donation behaviour beyond the Five-Factor Model (FFM) framework. A sample of 506 participants completed the Supernumerary Personality Inventory (Paunonen, 2002), reported both their frequency of charitable giving and, given the option to donate potential lottery winnings to a charitable cause, the amount that they would donate. Religiosity was moderately positively correlated with charitable frequency, while integrity was weakly positively correlated with donation amount. Manipulativeness and egotism were weakly negatively correlated with donation amount. Overall, the results show limited evidence for the relevance of Supernumerary Personality Inventory personality traits …

Structural Violence And Illicit Drug Use Among Youth Living Under Occupation In Palestine, Lian Buwadi

2021 Undergraduate Awards

There is no doubt that Palestinians are living in a politically and economically repressive sociopolitical context, due to the brutal Israeli military occupation. As stated in a report by the Palestinian National Institute of Health (PNIH), “Palestinians face political violence, house demolitions, arrests, restrictions to movement, and encroachment on their land” (2017). Moreover, “civilians suffer during conflict and war from destruction of the community infrastructure and from personal stress due to disruption of services and the non-fulfillment of basic human needs” (Giacaman et al., 2004). This often leads to severe mental duress and a higher prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder, …

The Stain Of A Criminal Label: Post-Release Stigmatization And Its Effects On Reintegration And Recidivism Among Ex-Offenders, Ashlee N. Quinn-Hogan

Sociology Publications

The successful reintegration of ex-offenders into the community is a primary factor in reducing recidivism and protecting the public. However, successful reintegration is often hard to come by. Prior research has examined the ways in which the stigmatic labelling of ex-offenders disrupts their successful re-entry into the community. Further, studies have shown that the stigmatic labelling of ex-offenders by the community plays a prominent role in offender recidivism. The present study examines this prior research and explores how gender, age, race/ethnicity, and class determine the extent of stigmatization that offenders experience. I conclude that some marginalized groups, such as women, …

What Do We Know About Senior Citizens As Cybervictims? A Rapid Evidence Synthesis, Laura Huey, Lorna Ferguson

Sociology Publications

Internet-based victimization of senior citizens is an important potential threat of growing social, economic, and public policy interest. Given this, we sought to examine whether the existing research base could be used to formulate sound public policy in this area. To do so, we conducted a rapid evidence synthesis and assessment of the research literature from 2010-2020 surrounding three central organizing themes: cyber-related harms, responses and strategies, and prevention programs and solutions. Results reveal that there is an insufficient research base, lack of diverse research topics, and shortage of research beyond that of which is exploratory in nature. However, our …

“It's All Window Dressing:” Canadian Police Officers' Perceptions Of Mental Health Stigma In Their Workplace, Lesley J. Bikos

Sociology Publications

Purpose: This study will provide a preliminary, general overview of Canadian police officers’ perception of stigma toward mental illness in their workplace culture and its impacts.

Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a mixed methods approach with two nationwide datasets: a self-report survey (N=727) and 116 semi-structured interviews with police officers from 31 police services. Results are grounded in theories of stigma, masculinities, and organizational culture.

Findings: Results indicate that most officers believe stigma toward mental illness in their workplace remains, despite senior management messaging and program implementation. Reporting mental illness was often seen as high risk, both personally and professionally. Policewomen, …

Making The World A Better Place: How Crowdfunding Increases Consumer Demand For Social-Good Products, Bonnie Simpson, Martin Schreier, Sally Bitterl, Katherine White

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Crowdfunding has emerged as an alternative means of financing new ventures wherein a large number of individuals collectively back a project. This research specifically looks at reward based crowdfunding, where those who take part in the crowdfunding process receive the new product for which funding is sought in return for their financial support. This work illustrates that consumers make fundamentally different decisions when considering contributing their money to crowdfund versus purchase a product. Six studies demonstrate that compared to a traditional purchase, crowdfunding more strongly activates an interdependent mindset and, as a result, increases consumer demand for social-good products (i.e., …

"At The Very Beginning, There's This Dream." The Role Of Utopia In The Workings Of Local And Cryptocurrencies, Diane-Laure Arjalies

Business Publications

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the number of alternative currencies aiming at transforming global financial institutions, such as local and complementary currencies (LCC) and cryptocurrencies, has exploded. Yet the motivations and workings of such monies are relatively unknown. This chapter aims to fill this gap by providing a framework that uncovers the ideals pursued by alternative currencies, and the effects of those ideals on the production of money. To do so, I present a comparative analysis of the valuation infrastructure – the processes through which value(s) is produced – of one LCC, Sol Violette, and three cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ğ1 …

What Trees Taught Me About Covid-19: On Relational Accounting And Other Magic, Diane-Laure Arjalies

Business Publications

While the world was on lock down, human beings started craving for green spaces. As they walked amidst the trees, trees began to talk to them. The surprising truth then emerged: There were actually secrets to be shared by the forest. This essay reflects on the teachings offered by nature(s) during the pandemic. Based on a personal encounter with a river, it caresses the relationships that have connected humans to non-humans over time and that have led to make this confinement both a unique and universal experience. It suggests embracing relational accounting, the expression of our relationships with each other …

The Networked Question In The Digital Era: How Do Networked, Bounded, And Limited Individuals Connect At Different Stages In The Life Course?, Barry Wellman, Anabel Quan-Haase, Molly-Gloria R. Harper

FIMS Publications

We used in-depth interviews with 101 participants in the East York section of Toronto, Canada to understand how digital media affects social connectivity in general--and networked individualism in particular--for people at different stages of the life course. Although people of all ages intertwined their use of digital media with their face-to-face interactions, younger adults used more types of digital media and more diversified personal networks. People in different age-groups conserved media, tending to stick with the digital media they learned to use in earlier life stages. Approximately one-third of the participants were Networked Individuals: In each age-group, they were the …

Older Adults And Information And Communication Technologies In The Global North, Molly-Gloria R. Harper, Barry Wellman, Anabel Quan-Haase

FIMS Publications

At all ages, people are incorporating information and communication technologies (ICTs) into their lives. It is not that they have stopped talking with each other in-person, it is that ICTs complement their interactions when they cannot be together face-to-face. Since the 1990s, email has provided a routine way to stay in touch and sustain meaningful contact over distance. But not all age groups have adopted ICTs with the same enthusiasm. Research in the Global North has consistently reported that age plays an important role in ICT adoption and use (Anderson and Perrin 2017). For example, older adults have been the …