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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Discourse, Meaning-Making, And Emotion: The Pressure To Have A “Feminist Abortion Experience”, Derek Siegel Jul 2019

Discourse, Meaning-Making, And Emotion: The Pressure To Have A “Feminist Abortion Experience”, Derek Siegel

Masters Theses

During interviews with self-identified feminists (n=27), respondents express discomfort when their abortion experiences fail to match perceived expectations from the pro-choice movement. They describe a “feminist abortion experience” as eliciting a sense of relief, empowerment, and detachment. An “anti-feminist abortion,” on the other hand, involves sadness, ambivalence, and a high attachment to the pregnancy. Respondents not only self-police this boundary but also perform emotion work to change an undesirable emotional state. First, I ask how pro-choice norms and constructed and perpetuated? I find that people learn what is expected of them from the contents of pro-choice discourse and learn about …


‘How Yoga Are You?’: Exploring The Contemporary Practice Of Yoga In The United States, Olivia Mclaughlin Dec 2016

‘How Yoga Are You?’: Exploring The Contemporary Practice Of Yoga In The United States, Olivia Mclaughlin

Masters Theses

In 2015, to the United States, 21 million Americans claimed to be regular practitioners of yoga. Yoga has long been studied by psychologists, therapists, and medical scientists for its ability to affect positive change in people’s lives, particularly in regards to mental and emotional health and well-being. Within the field of sociology, yoga has gained an increasing amount of attention for its ability to help treat chronic eating disorders among women, becoming extremely popular within the subfields of sociology of the body and gender. Additionally, the cultural impact of the transmission of yoga has fascinated social scientists interested in studying …


Approved For All Audiences: A Longitudinal Content Analysis Of The Portrayal Of Women In Movie Trailers, Brooke S. O’Neil Aug 2016

Approved For All Audiences: A Longitudinal Content Analysis Of The Portrayal Of Women In Movie Trailers, Brooke S. O’Neil

Masters Theses

Movie trailers are ever present in our society and impactful in the way society constructs views about various aspects of life. Trailers are unique in that they are specifically tailored and edited to entice audiences to buy tickets to the film. Further, prior research has indicated that in various forms of media, women are continuously underrepresented, disproportionately sexualized, stereotyped, and victimized. The present study examines the portrayal of women through a content analysis of 230 of the top grossing trailers across seven decades: 1950-2015. The research focuses on women’s representation, sexualization, gender roles, and violence. The analysis reveals that in …


Young Adults And The Consequences Of Precarious Work, Aaron Robert Lemelin Aug 2016

Young Adults And The Consequences Of Precarious Work, Aaron Robert Lemelin

Masters Theses

Despite the appearance of affluence attained by the community’s economic growth, the prevalence of service sector jobs have altered the employment structure of South County. Within this thesis, it is my purpose to answer two questions. First, how are young adults limited in their economic security due to precarious work? Second, how has precarious work disempowered young adults and altered their ability to respond to their immiseration? In order to answer these questions I conduct qualitative interviews with young adults within a region of Hillsborough County, Florida. These interviews help me elaborate on young adults and their experiences with precarious …


The Internet And Mass Society: Civic Engagement In The Digital Age, Simon J. Purdy Apr 2013

The Internet And Mass Society: Civic Engagement In The Digital Age, Simon J. Purdy

Masters Theses

In this study, the relationship between Internet use and civic engagement is examined. Building off of the work of previous researchers, which has found no clear relationship between Internet use and civic engagement, this analysis attempts to find differences between those who are civically engaged at different levels, in terms of Internet use, types of civic engagement and feelings of being able to affect change through civic engagement. Several hypotheses about this relationship are tested using data collected from undergraduate students at a medium sized Midwestern university with an online survey method. The statistical analysis entails building a series of …


Mediating Justice: Toward A Critical-Reflexive Sociology, George Christopher Gondo Dec 2011

Mediating Justice: Toward A Critical-Reflexive Sociology, George Christopher Gondo

Masters Theses

Today, an increasing number of sociologists incorporate the theme of social justice within their work and strive to contribute to efforts to improve existing social conditions. In their view, sociological work that actively engages in issues related to social justice exemplifies ‘the promise’ of sociology and represents a means of refocusing and reinvigorating the discipline at a time of perceived crisis. Yet, a growing body of evidence questions whether previous efforts to use sociology as a mechanism of improving social conditions have been successful. In this thesis, I rely on the works of Alvin W. Gouldner to examine the relationship …


Georgian's Reaction To Water Shortage: Water Conservation Behavior During The 2007 Drought, Alexander M. Stoner May 2010

Georgian's Reaction To Water Shortage: Water Conservation Behavior During The 2007 Drought, Alexander M. Stoner

Masters Theses

This thesis examines whether or not differences in people’s water conservation attitudes, political party orientation, severity of drought, and attention to drought news affect their engagement in water conservation behavior during a time of continued water shortage. Previously, it has been found that attitudes are predictive of intentions that relate to behaviors (e.g., Dietz et al. 2005). Democrats have been shown to be more pro-environmental then Republicans (e.g., Dunlap et al. 2000). It has also been found that severity of drought is positively related with environmental concern (e.g., Accury and Christianson 1990), and access to news information is directly related …