Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exploring Environmental Racism, Quality Of Life, And Inequalities In Kentucky Counties, Bailey Harder, James Maples

Kentucky Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Environmental racism explores how pollution-producing industries are systematically constructed in and around poor, minority communities. Exposure to pollutants over time negatively impacts resident well being and quality of life while economic trends limit opportunities to relocated. Kentucky provides a valuable opportunity for exploring environmental racism. The state’s long dependency on coal extraction has created environmental opportunities for studying this phenomenon amid deindustrialization throughout the region. This study examines how changes in air pollution (a proxy measure of environmental toxins) correlates to poverty, quality of life, and resident racial demographics. Results indicate that Kentucky counties with higher air pollution had lower …

Comparing Substance Use Social Issues In Appalachian And Non-Appalachian Regions In Kentucky, Erica C. Bellamy, James N. Maples

Kentucky Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Substance use and abuse is not a uniquely Appalachian problem, but it remains a prevalent social problem for the geographical region. Kentucky has been one of the central states experiencing generations of substance abuse, ranging from methamphetamines to OxyContin to heroin. Eastern Kentucky, which includes a portion of Central Appalachia, has been a focal point for the proposed war against substance use. What remains undemonstrated in studies is exactly how substance abuse differs between the Central Appalachian counties of Eastern Kentucky and the remainder of the state, if any difference exists at all. In this study, the researchers examine how …

Sociological Explanations Of Coronavirus Incidence Rates In Kentucky Counties, Sarah Cooper, James N. Maples

Kentucky Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

This study explores sociological explanations for Covid-19 incidence rates among Kentucky Counties. The authors examine how incidence rates varied pre/post-Omicron variant based on a county’s educational attainment, poverty rates, political perspective, health status, and place status (Appalachian status, metropolitan status). The authors discovered that none of these variables effectively explained differences in county level Covid-19 rates before Omicron. However, once Omicron became the prevalent variant in Kentucky, metropolitan status, Appalachian status, two measures of poverty rates, political perspective, and three measure of educational attainment all predicted differences in mean Covid-19 incidence rates.

Scope Of Homelessness In Kentucky, Shannon Elyse Catron

Online Theses and Dissertations

This paper is based on a data project that pulled together publicly available data from several sources to examine the scope of homelessness in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The primary findings of the project conclude that there is a lack of data regarding counting homeless individuals, and that the available data should be examined to determine changes in the homeless population and demographics over time. Examining this data would also reveal the rate of progress in the number of counties that have began participating in the K-count since 2006. Increasing awareness about the topic and encouraging local governments to develop …

Different Hollers, Different Outcomes: Differences In Health Outcomes Among Appalachian And Non-Appalachian Counties In Kentucky, Allexys Krasnopolsky, James N. Maples

Kentucky Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

This study examines difference in health outcomes, health insurance, and doctor access between Kentucky’s Appalachian and non-Appalachian counties. Using 2018 data curated by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this study analyzes differences in means in overall health outcomes, health insurance, and the number of primary care physicians at the county level for Appalachian and non-Appalachian counties in Kentucky .This study finds that persons living in Appalachian Kentucky counties have statistically-different and worse overall health outcomes, health insurance access, and physician access compared to those living in non-Appalachian Kentucky counties.

Whither Education In Kentucky: The Challenges And Promises For The 21st Century, William E. Ellis

The Chautauqua Journal

From its founding in 1792, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, compared with the states north of the Ohio River, followed a typically southern style of education. Before the Civil War a slave oligarchy controlled the political destiny of the state. After the Civil War, ironically because two-thirds of Kentuckians who fought in that war were on the Union side, the state became even more southern in many ways. Racism and segregation prevailed until the mid-1950s when the state began making rapid and successful strides to integrate its public and private schools. Equity and equality have always been stumbling blocks for education …

"You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive": Using Fx's Justified To Form A Cultural Understanding Of Crime In Harlan County, Kentucky, Morgan Stone

Online Theses and Dissertations

Rural southern violence has long been a sensationalized issue. From the Hatfield and McCoy feud to Deliverance, social issues unique to the rural south have received a significant amount of focus within modern popular culture. One of the most recent and popular examples of southern culture and violence is the television network FX’s Justified, set in Harlan County, Kentucky. The storyline follows US Marshal Raylan Givens as he is sent back to Kentucky after a misstep during his tenure in Miami. After arriving in his home state, he finds himself constantly drawn back to his hometown of Harlan, Kentucky, whether …

Everybody Matters: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Support Services Available To Survivors Of Human Trafficking In Central Kentucky, Arika Morgan Bow

Online Theses and Dissertations

This research is designed to identify service and capacity gaps that exist and need to be addressed in Central Kentucky to improve the provision of social services for survivors of human trafficking. Relying upon in-depth interviews with individuals from different organizations/agencies (e.g., social service providers, federal and local law enforcement agencies, human trafficking task forces) in Central Kentucky that work on human trafficking and with survivors, this research provides a comprehensive picture of the social services available to survivors of human trafficking, including the need for additional services. This research offers an analysis of the capacity gaps that exist, making …

The Persistence Of Place In Appalachia: The Phenomena Of Post-Death Migration, 1930-1970, Marjorie Fey Farris

Online Theses and Dissertations

The research for this paper has been over forty years in the making as I first read the obituaries of deceased Kentuckians in state and local newspapers beginning in 1972. A pattern became clear that Kentuckians who had left their mountains and moved to northern industrial cities in order to find work as the coal fields played out and after the Great Depression often returned, or were returned after death, to their birthplaces for burial. Further investigation revealed that the religious beliefs that were deeply embedded in so many mountaineers' lives played a large part in their desire to have …

Courting Toyota, Selling Kentucky: Conflict And Relationship Building In The Establishment Of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Of Kentucky, 1984-1989, Eric Shea Bailey

Online Theses and Dissertations

This study is an examination of the social, economic, and governmental factors that surrounded the establishment of Toyota Motor Corporation's first wholly owned automobile plant in the United States. After a lengthy negotiation with several states, the plant was built in Scott County, Kentucky, near the city of Georgetown. The collected and archived correspondence of Governor Martha Layne Collins as well as contemporary media accounts and interviews with Governor Collins, Larry Hayes, Jiro Hashimoto, and Bill Londrigan served as the evidentiary basis for the research for this thesis. Previous interpretations have regarded the establishment of the factory as both a …

The Phenomenon Of Identity Theft, Hollie Reni Freeman

Online Theses and Dissertations

This research is a descriptive study of the prevalence of Identity Theft in the Commonwealth of Kentucky from 2004 to 2009 and the procedures used by the Kentucky State Police to deal with this crime. The data for this study is a combination of violation code use retrieved from Kentucky's Open Portal Solution (KYOPS) and complaint and case data retrieved from Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD). By gathering data from each of the 16 posts across the state of Kentucky, an evaluation of the prevalence of the crime of Identity Theft yields conclusive results. KYOPS Violation Code data showed a progressive …