Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Rhode Island College

Series

2012

Discipline
Keyword
Publication

Articles 1 - 13 of 13

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Environmental Justice Discomfort And Disconnect In Ibm's Tainted Birthplace: A Micropolitical Ecology Perspective, Peter C. Little Aug 2012

Environmental Justice Discomfort And Disconnect In Ibm's Tainted Birthplace: A Micropolitical Ecology Perspective, Peter C. Little

Faculty Publications

The ‘‘toxic time bomb’’ of the so-called ‘‘green’’ high-tech industry is no longer a secret. Today, ‘‘[h]igh-tech pollution is a fact of life wherever the industry has operated for any length of time, from Malaysia to Massachusetts’’ (Siegel and Markoff 1985, 163), and so is resistance to high-tech toxic disaster. Since at least the late 1970s, electronics workers, academics, and environmental justice and labor rights activists have ‘‘challenged the chip’’ industry (Smith, Sonnenfeld, and Pellow 2006; see also Pellow and Sun-Hee Park 2003). Their struggle exposed not only the toxic externalities of microelectronic modernization, but also the emergence of redgreen …


Working-Class Students And Historical Inquiry, Leslie Schuster Jun 2012

Working-Class Students And Historical Inquiry, Leslie Schuster

Faculty Publications

For the past twelve years, I have been teaching a lower division introductory historical methods course that uses active learning to introduce students to the issues and practices of historical methods, the "how to" of historical inquiry, research and writing. While there are many models for such a course, including the one described by Jeffrey Merrick in the February 2006 issue of this journal, the design of such a course at my institution requires consideration of an often-overlooked dimension. The student body at Rhode Island College (RIC) is primarily working class, mirroring a significant transformation in the traditional college student …


What's Best For Women: Examining The Impact Of Legal Approaches To Prostitution In Cross-National Perspective And Rhode Island, Malinda Bridges May 2012

What's Best For Women: Examining The Impact Of Legal Approaches To Prostitution In Cross-National Perspective And Rhode Island, Malinda Bridges

Honors Projects

This research analyzes legal approaches to prostitution on a cross-national level in order to determine if legal methods that regulate prostitution have an effect on prostitution. In order to examine these concepts, legel approaches were first identifed in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Following this analysis, the effects of these legal approaches are reported. Instead of working from a strictly sociological standpoint, this project focused greatly on the legal aspects that affect prostitution.


Generational Differences: A Look At Dialectic Formation In Cranston, Rhode Island, Michaela Delgallo May 2012

Generational Differences: A Look At Dialectic Formation In Cranston, Rhode Island, Michaela Delgallo

Honors Projects

In most dialects, the pronunciation of the words bear and beer is different. However, dialects found in Charleston, SC and New Zealand merge the vowel sounds found in these words. In both locations, it appears that there is a sound change in progress, resulting in different pronunciations among generations. Cranston, RI may also have this merger and may be undergoing a sound change as well.
To explore this possibility, acoustic recordings and analyses have been made of 18 participants from Cranston. Each participant produced different pairs of words that contained the vowels heard in beer and bear. Three different …


Perceived Job Readiness Among The Previously Incarcerated, Amy Audet Apr 2012

Perceived Job Readiness Among The Previously Incarcerated, Amy Audet

Honors Projects

This study aims to determine the primary factor in employment readiness for previously incarcerated individuals. Ex offenders were were surveyed for job readiness using a scale developed in the studies' literature review. This scale emcompasses factors such as skills, knowledge, confidence and goals. Surveys were also done according to age, age of first incarceration, incarceration history and job training history. Because this population is marginalized, this study may bring new awareness about the effects of employer discrimination and the need for future programs to increase job readiness among the previously incarcerated individuals.


Food Inequality And Social Justice, Jim Almo Apr 2012

Food Inequality And Social Justice, Jim Almo

Honors Projects

Inequality in regular access to healthy food is a complex social justice issue in the United States. The health ramifications of poor food access and the unaffordability of healthy food choices are a consequence of economic systems based on a hierarchy of race, gender, and class structures. This research explores this inequality through the medium of three organizations that are challenging this systemic violence toward marginalized peoples. City Meal Site, Big Train Farm, and The Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island serve different populations with the unified goal of getting healthy food into the hands and mouths of people through …


The Infamous ‘One Percenters’: A Review Of The Criminality, Subculture, And Structure Of Modern Biker Gangs, Danielle Shields Apr 2012

The Infamous ‘One Percenters’: A Review Of The Criminality, Subculture, And Structure Of Modern Biker Gangs, Danielle Shields

Faculty Publications

Owing to the difficulty of conducting empirical research within sophisticated and highly organized criminal enterprises, modern biker gangs have long remained an enigma within law enforcement and academic circles. Despite their secrecy, with an army of an estimated 20,000 members and an unknown number of associates willing to do their bidding, these organizations are responsible for drug trafficking in the streets and within prisons, violence, theft, prostitution rings, and other dangerous criminal behavior both domestically and abroad. In order to address the dearth of readily available information regarding modern biker gangs, this paper serves as a review of the current …


Biased Visual Attention To Out-Group Members' Skin Tone Does Not Lead To Discriminatory Behavior, Sathiarith Chau Apr 2012

Biased Visual Attention To Out-Group Members' Skin Tone Does Not Lead To Discriminatory Behavior, Sathiarith Chau

Honors Projects

According to the racial phenotype theory, the extent to which members resemble or depart from the physical prototype of a particular race will determine how strongly the perceiver associates them with preconceived racial stereotypes. For Blacks, skin color was predicted to be a primary feature attended to and those with dark skin were more negatively stereotyped. The current study aimed to explicitly measure visual attention during judgment of faces through the use of eye-tracking. Past methodologies measuring the attention to skin tone and its relationship to stereotype judgment were not directly measured. The study used a mixed model design: Label …


Stereological Assessment Of The Thalamus In A Rat Model Of Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia, Jason Lennox Apr 2012

Stereological Assessment Of The Thalamus In A Rat Model Of Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia, Jason Lennox

Honors Projects

Malformations of neocortical development such as microgyria (MG) and periventricular nodular heterotopia (PNH) have been observed in the brains of language learning impaired (LLI) humans. Rats with MG have shown rapid auditory processing (RAP) deficits similar to acoustic deficits observed in some human LLI populations. Threlkeld et al., (2009) previously reported RAP and other learning impairments in rats with PNH resulting from disruption to embryonic neuronal cell division by way of Methylazoxymethanol (MAM) treatment on embryonic day 15 (E15). The thalamus and its subnuclei may be vulnerable to neurodevelopmental disruptions. Studies of MG rats have shown changes in cell size …


Sex Education In Our Schools, Kelley Conti Apr 2012

Sex Education In Our Schools, Kelley Conti

Honors Projects

This research project involved interviewing 42 parents with children between the ages of 12 to 18-years-old regarding their views and opinions on sex education for today’s youth. All 42 parents agreed they wanted a more informative sex education for their children than what they were exposed to as children. This included those with formal sex education as well as those that learned from peers, siblings or in their neighborhood. Another aspect all parents agreed on was the need for a more comprehensive sex education. Thirty-eight parents thought abstinence should be included as an option in sex education classes but not …


Explicit Weight Biases Are Curvilinear: Testing Pathogen Avoidance, Intergroup Relations And Socialization Theories., Lauren Chaunt Apr 2012

Explicit Weight Biases Are Curvilinear: Testing Pathogen Avoidance, Intergroup Relations And Socialization Theories., Lauren Chaunt

Honors Projects

The present study builds on research (Malloy et al. 2011) that weight bias is best fit by a curvilinear function, that is; trait judgments should vary significantly as a function of weight. More weight bias should be elicited by those body types at extreme weights (i.e., skeletally thin and morbidly obese). Targets at such extreme weights were included to adequately test a new theoretical model of weight bias termed the Pathogen Avoidance Theory. Other theories of weight bias were also considered; Socialization and Intergroup Relations. Participants were presented with six female body types varying in weight and were then asked …


The War Next Door: Peace Journalism In Us Local And Distant Newspapers' Coverage Of Mexico, Katherine Lacasse, Larissa Forster Jan 2012

The War Next Door: Peace Journalism In Us Local And Distant Newspapers' Coverage Of Mexico, Katherine Lacasse, Larissa Forster

Faculty Publications

This study explores the relationship between proximity to a conflict and the tendency to use peace journalism rather than war journalism modes of reporting. In the context of the current drug war occurring in Mexico, articles from both local, border region US newspapers and from distant US newspapers were coded according to their usage of war or peace journalism frames. Analyses revealed that local newspapers utilized more peace journalism frames overall, and presented a less pessimistic and negative view of the conflict and parties. Distant newspapers, however, were more likely to showcase complexity of the conflict and many parties and …


Essential Ethics Education In Social Work Field Instruction: A Blueprint For Field Educators, Frederic G. Reamer Jan 2012

Essential Ethics Education In Social Work Field Instruction: A Blueprint For Field Educators, Frederic G. Reamer

Faculty Publications

Ethics content in field instruction is a vital component of social work education. Ethical standards and knowledge have expanded significantly in recent years. The author provides a comprehensive overview of core ethics content that should be incorporated into students’ internships, and also highlights key themes that should be addressed. Essential ethics content addresses core social work values, students’ personal and professional values, ethical dilemmas in field placements and social work practice, ethical decision-making frameworks and strategies to manage ethics risks.