Sociology Commons^™

Different Names For Bullying, Marco Poggio

Capstones

“There's all different forms of bullying,” says Steven Gray, a Lakota rancher and former law enforcement officer living in South Dakota. In this look into Gray’s life, we learn about two instances of bullying: the psychological and physical harassment that pushed his son, Tanner Thomas Gray, to commit suicide at age 12; And the controversial construction of an oil pipeline in an ancient tribal land that belongs to the Lakota people by rights of a treaty signed in 1851, which Gray sees as an institutional abuse infringing on the sovereignty of his people. Gray is involved in the movement that …

Running For Ayotzinapa: A Father's Marathon To Find His Son, Gustavo Martínez

Capstones

People find a world of reasons to run marathons: to fight cancer, to raise money for a charity, to fulfill a promise. But Antonio Tizapa runs for the reason that has dictated his every waking moment for more than two years: finding his son. The story is presented through a written piece and a video short documentary. It follows Tizapa through events and races in the New York City area.

http://intl-clarke.2016.journalism.cuny.edu/2016/12/30/running-for-ayotzinapa-a-fathers-marathon-to-find-his-missing-son/

Long Working Hours, Happiness, And Quality Of Democracy With The Case Studies Of Japan And Denmark, Yu Namie

Master's Theses

This thesis aims to reveal the hypothesis that long working hour reduce people’s happiness and undermine democracy. For achieving this goal, this study clarifies the relationship between long working hours, happiness, and political engagement. Moreover, in order to seek the way to increase social happiness, it tries to figure out how global free market economy relates the working hours. The research method mainly relies on the fieldwork in Japan and Denmark.

First, this study succeeded to reinforce the argument that long working hour negatively influenced people’s happiness. Also, if we define the quality of democracy as the society constituted with …

The Role Of Liberian Community Organizations In The Integration Of Liberian Immigrants: A Case Study Of Immigrants In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Solomon M. Muin

Capstone Collection

Immigrants that settled in a dominant new culture face challenges during the process of acculturation. Though minority culture is always at the disadvantaged end of acculturation in most cases, most research done on acculturation in the West mostly focused on the impact of immigrants on their societies, or on ways of strengthening integration in the host countries. As this continues, the dominant culture role and importance of the majority culture is what influence most narratives and not much is seeing from the minority culture. Most research on acculturation in the United States, for example, placed more emphasis on the Hispanic …

The Influence Of Social Media In Egypt During The Arab Spring, Nicole Reed

Capstone Collection

In the past 10 years social media has become a way of communicating, following the news, posting pictures, and marketing for brands. The platforms including Facebook and Twitter continue to grow, making them an ideal way of communication all across the world. It has been argued that what happened in the Arab Spring in 2010 was shaped and influenced by more people having access to the internet, and therefore having signed up for social media sights. The act of one man sent a region swirling into turmoil, political overthrow, and in some cases, such as Egypt, creating a revolution.

In …

Fortaleza's Immigrant Song: Portrait-Narratives And An Identity Needs Analysis Of Recent Immigrants' Lived Experiences, Carl Weitz-Santiago

Capstone Collection

This inquiry sheds light on the personal stories and lived experiences of a group of recent immigrants currently living in Fortaleza, the sprawling capital of the Northeastern state of Ceará, Brazil. Utilizing a theoretical framework guided by “Epistemologies of the South,” ethnographic principles, and constructivist grounded theory, this capstones presents five first person portrait-narratives highlighting intimate details of project participants’ lives prior to immigrating, and uncovers four persistent and recurrent themes expressed by project participants: (1) language and communication, (2) professional opportunity, (3) personal growth, and (4) “saudade” and belongingness.

Through the lens of Johan Galtung’s Basic Needs Approach, …

The Captivity Of Opportunity: The Conversation Surrounding Church-Going Hispanic Immigrants, Nicolet Hopper Bell

Master's Theses

Immigration is a long-standing topic of discussion in the United States. Hispanic immigrants, or families of Hispanic immigrants, living in America face unique challenges. Through focus group interviews, participants from a predominantly Hispanic Protestant church narrated their experience of living in the United States. Guided grounded theory data analysis revealed three categories and 14 subcategories, or themes of conversation, surrounding this hot topic. Participants shed light on the distinctive challenges they faced, how these challenges affected them, and how they attempted to overcome these difficulties. By exploring these results through the lens of social stigma theory (Goffman, 2009) and intergroup …

The University Of Hawaii At Hilo: National Student Exchange Four-Part Workshop For The Outgoing Students At The University Of Hawaii At Hilo, Kadian Shaw

Capstone Collection

The University of Hawaii at Hilo (UH Hilo) is part of the National Student Exchange Consortium, a unique, not for profit organization of nearly 170 accredited, baccalaureate-granting Colleges and Universities that provide exchange opportunities to undergraduate students. These exchange opportunities are across the US mainland, the US territories and Canada. The purpose of the National Student Exchange Office at the University of Hawaii at Hilo is to provide UH Hilo students with exchange opportunities at a reasonable and affordable cost. This capstone explores the idea that it is important to prepare students for a domestic exchange program. This capstone will …

Heritage Tourism In Washington County, Tennessee: Linking Place, Placelessness, And Preservation, Chad F. Bailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the formation of spatial theory and the linkage between space and place and their relationship with historic preservation and heritage tourism. First, this thesis analyzes the terms space and place, and how scholars define each term. Second, this thesis focuses on the concept of placelessness. Third, this thesis examines historic preservation as a strategy to help alleviate placelessness and as a crucial link to heritage tourism. This thesis also will use regional examples of preservation and tourism as exemplified by the preservation efforts of private organizations, citizens, and government officials in Jonesborough,Johnson City, and Washington County,Tennessee. This …

Giving Back To The Military, Lauren Martin

Honors Theses

This paper will cover the development and growth of the non-profit student organization Broncos for Heroes. The mission statement of Broncos for Heroes is to support our servicemen and women both past and present. This paper will cover the main event for Broncos for Heroes: Care Package Drives.

Integrating Evaluative Thinking Into Organisational Practice: A Case Study Of Lutino Adunu In Uganda, Shilla Adyero

Capstone Collection

Northern Uganda is still recovering from over two decades of civil war between the Government of Uganda and the Lord Resistance Army (LRA). The conflict created over 1.8 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who sought refuge in camps for 23 years. Around 80% of the affected population are mainly women and children. The displacement in the region caused large-scale loss of social and economic infrastructure, together with the productive resources. This contributed to the erosion of the social and financial capital of the affected areas population, forcing the population to depend on non-sustainable aid and relief services provided by international …

An Analysis Of The Organizational Structures Of New Types Of Children's Associations In Relation To Changing Views Of Children's Capacities As Citizens, Bijan Kimiagar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The goal of this study is to learn how new types of children’s associations around the world are organizing themselves and how their organizational structures reflect contemporary understandings of children’s capacities as citizens. The purpose is to identify different types and qualities of participatory children’s associations and how each affords opportunities for children to exercise their right to freedom of association, develop capacities for self-governance in groups, and promote the principles of inclusion (non-discrimination) and equity (fairness). To this end, I document and analyze diagrams of organizational structures that members of different children’s associations created during the Article 15 Project …

Discourses Of "Cruelty-Free" Consumerism: Peta, The Vegan Society And Examples Of Contemporary Activism, Andrea Springirth

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper draws upon the principles of critical discourse analysis in order to examine the production of capitalist and consumerist discourses within contemporary nonhuman animal rights activism. The analysis presents evidence to suggest that the discourses being produced via the websites of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and The Vegan Society are consistently being constructed through market-centric ideologies that treat activists mainly as middle-class consumers. This paper argues that the consistent presence of neoliberal discourse signals an instructive entanglement with broader sociopolitical issues. Specifically, there are concerns as to how this discourse relates to what is thought …

Understanding How Intentionally Unplugging From Cell Phones Shapes Interpersonal Relationships And The Undergraduate College Experience, Jadelin P. Felipe

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of what motivated college students—the Unplugged Students—to intentionally use their cell phones less and how they understood the impact that unplugging had on their interpersonal relationships and college experience. Nine undergraduate college students from four private schools were interviewed in one-on-one semi- structured interviews. These students, considered non-users, provided a particularly useful perspective as these students made a conscious choice to counteract social norms and experienced both being plugged in and unplugged. Cell phones and the act of unplugging proved to make up a complex and more nuanced topic than …

Movements, Moments, And Movement-Moments: Generational Approaches To Organizing For Social Change, Carissa Tinker

Capstone Collection

Due to a recent upswing of college protests, and generational theory authors positioning Millennials as powerful players in building a new left to shift American politics, this research seeks to understand how different generations of organizers for social change approach their work. Emerging literature on social movements, political efficacy, and generational frameworks, combined with an analysis of the current political climate, illustrate the strong possibility of this new left being built.

This study asked participants of multiple generations about their experiences in the field to uncover perceptions of their role in the movement, differences in collective and external efficacy, and …

Surviving In The Land Of Opportunity: Outcomes Of Post-Crisis Urban Redevelopment In The United States, Brianna D. Foster

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

How we develop cities in the twenty-first century remains a subject of contentious debate worldwide. As neoliberal strategies are implemented in redevelopment projects, public safety nets are reduced and low-income communities of color in declining urban neighborhoods become particularly vulnerable. This multiple case study seeks to understand the experiences of post crisis urban redevelopment for low-income communities of color in 5 major U.S. cities. The data I analyzed include 101 short videos from the interactive documentary platform Land of Opportunity, documenting the process of post-crisis urban redevelopment in New Orleans, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and San Francisco. In doing so, …

How The City Of Indianapolis Came To Have African American Policemen And Firemen 80 Years Before The Modern Civil Rights Movement., Leon E. Bates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores a series of events that occurred in the spring of 1876. The relationship between the Indianapolis city government, the Marion County Courts, the Indianapolis Police Department, and the African American community came together to usher in changes never before envisioned. The Indianapolis Police Department (IPD) was formed in 1855, then disbanded 12 months later in a political dispute. From 1857-to-1876, the IPD was all white. These changes took place as the Reconstruction era was coming to a close. The first Ku Klux Klan was at its apex, terrorizing black communities, and Jim Crow was coming into its …

Merging Social Science And Neuroscience In Architecture: Creating A Framework To Functionally Re-Integrate Ex-Convicts, Kylie A. Landrey

Masters Theses

Every year the United States corrections system costs tax payers $52 billion. The failures of the prison system are both tangible and intangible. This Thesis research builds on existing literature to seek out a solution to the high rate of recidivism post release.

Can design be employed as a tool with the potential to reduce rates of recidivism in the prison population? The City of Springfield, in Western Massachusetts, acts as a test case to examine the inter-relationships of social science, neuroscience, and architecture. Initial research identified the primary obstacles individuals face after prison that contribute to keeping recidivism rates …

Who You Callin' A Bitch? A Content Analysis Of The Images Used To Portray African American Women In Rap Music, Melanie Marie Lindsay

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Rap music has been a major force in American culture since the 1970s. It can be political, uplifting, and celebratory. It can also be misogynistic and degrading to women, the focus of the current research. This paper begins with a brief history of the importance of music in the African American community. It then provides a history of rap music and major influences on its development through the decades. A systematic comparison of Billboard’s top 5 rap videos for 2004 and 2014 follows. This section, the core analysis, compares the lyrical and visual content in terms of the representation of …

Voter Identification Laws: In The Name Of Reform Or Suppression?, Melissa Rodriguez

Honors Theses

Voter identification laws have been at the center of controversy in political discourse for some time now. Proponents of voter identification laws claim that they are necessary in order to curb public opinion regarding voter identity fraud. Even if there were no evidence of fraud in the system, they would still be necessary to protect the integrity of the system. Opponents counter back that due to the lack of evidence of voter identity fraud, these requirements are a part of partisan politics in which the right wing is attempting to disenfranchise groups that tend to vote democratic. These attempts are …

The Philadelphia Catto: Bridging The Racial Gap In The City Of Brotherly Love, Rachel Wyman

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to examine African American activist Octavius Valentine Catto's social and civic contributions to the African American community in Philadelphia and the nation during the Reconstruction era. Catto's militancy, courage, and devotion to the black cause, as a result of major religious and secular revolutionary ideology, offers an alternative view of the black experience in the North which was overshadowed by the myriad of research on Reconstruction in the South. Octavius Catto is part of a long tradition of black activists who led a wave of antislavery reform rooted in the secular political ideology of the American Revolution, …

The Price Of Cosmopolitanism: Globalization, Class Structure, And Language Endangerment In Shanghai, Fang Xu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the last two decades, Shanghai has experienced an unprecedented transformation, as China’s economic globalization and urban expansion have increased rapidly. Looking beyond statistics and architectural spectacles, I examine a seemingly personal choice in Shanghai, speaking Putonghua Mandarin, the official language, or the Shanghai dialect. This study contextualizes the contested urban linguistic space, and illustrates the political, social, and cultural conditions in this China’s globalizing city.

Through archival research, fifty in-depth interviews, two hundred and fifty survey questionnaires, and ethnographic fieldwork in Shanghai in the fall and winter of 2013, I document the impact of three sets of state policies …

From Empty Lot To Garden Plot: Urban Agriculture In Chula Vista, Jennifer E. Gutierrez

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project is an exploration of how agriculture can be incorporated into the fabric of the city of Chula Vista, which has both uniquely urban and suburban areas. The proposal is to integrate agriculture as a design tool to reconnect to the city’s agricultural past and as a model for cities of the future. First, I discuss Chula Vista’s history and contemporary context, including demographics. I review the existing urban agriculture policies Chula Vista has and compare them to other cities in California. The second part of the project is concerned with how to choose and develop a site for …

Seeing The Forests For The Trees: A Comparative Study Of The Green Belt And Chipko Movements, Claire E. Elverum

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The Green Belt Movement (GBM) in Kenya and the Chipko movement in India are two examples of social movements that support the ecofeminist ideology. Both of these environmental movements began under similar circumstances at around the same time, but they are now very different. While the GBM broadened its focus beyond planting trees and gained widespread international attention, the Chipko movement maintained its central focus on protecting trees and remained relatively decentralized and informal. This paper uses these two social movements to explore which factors most influence social movement success and international reach.

Abortion, Teen Pregnancy, And Feminism: Finding Women-Centric Solutions For Reproductive Justice, Jessica Faunce

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This two-part project seeks to understand, discuss, and address issues surrounding some of the most contentious debates in the United States: unplanned pregnancy and abortion. The first part of the project looks at the pro-life feminist movement’s agenda and ideals through comprehensive interviews with nine self-proclaimed pro-life feminists. The goal of this research is to gain an understanding of a women-centric opposition to abortion and to reflect on possible solutions that would benefit women and gain support from both pro-life and pro-choice advocates. Taking into account the information gathered through qualitative research on pro-life feminism, the second part of this …

The Shape Of Youth Work To Come: City Year's Approach To Youth Worker Development, Jeremy M. Joseph

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The concept of youth work as a profession is slowly gaining legitimacy in the United States and features varying approaches. In order to maintain the growth of the field, youth worker training programs must be examined through the lens of a theoretical framework to better understand best practices and ways in which the youth are impacted by the services. I have chosen to use the case of the non-profit organization, City Year to highlight ways in which young leaders from varying backgrounds are introduced to the field of youth work. Through this study I have found that City Year is …

Biblioworks: Advocating For The Creation Of Libraries For Children In Chuquisaca, Bolivia, Jhasmany Saavedra

Capstone Collection

During 2015-16, I completed my SIT professional practicum as an intern with BiblioWorks based in the Asheville, North Carolina office. Founded in 2005, the focus of this very small organization has been to provide funding and support for libraries and other educational programs in one part of Bolivia. I am from Bolivia and, prior to my scholarship to study at SIT, had worked with local NGOs. During my on-campus phase, I took a sequence of courses in policy advocacy and thus, along with other assignments, I became BiblioWorks’ US-based resource person working with the Bolivia-based director as the organization began …

Relive The Roycroft: Bringing History To Life At A National Landmark, Amizetta J. Haj

Museum Studies Projects

This project defines and validates the concept of the Roycroft Campus as a living museum and explores how the implementation of a “living” component to its educational programming would strengthen visitor engagement. It also focuses on the various ways in which to fortify the utility and visibility of a museum within a community, demonstrating how the Roycroft Campus can become a center for community engagement and cultural development. Through this research, I present the Roycroft Campus’ potential as a living museum and have created an educational based event which will bring to life the year 1915 on the historic Campus …

Student-Athlete Career Development Through Community Service: A Retrospective Study, Jackson Zane Martin

Masters Theses

This study examined the career development of seven former Southeastern Conference (SEC) student-athletes who were awarded membership to the SEC Community Service team through their contributions both with their teams and individually. The NCAA Division-I student-athlete population is a unique subset of college students that face hindrances through time restraints but also have designated sources aimed to enhance their academic and vocational development, with the latter usually assigned to full-time Life Skills administrators. Through a series of phone interviews focused on reflective collegiate community service and career development, several themes emerged. For collegiate community service the most common themes were: …

Intersectionality In Queer Activism: A Case Study, Haley Adams

Undergraduate Theses

This paper explores the relationships between intersectionality and queer activism through a case study of the Louisville, Kentucky LGBTQ+ organization The Fairness Campaign. Intersectionality has been increasingly explored by academia, but rarely ventures beyond the “big three” categorical divisions of race, gender, and class; even rarer are studies of the practical application of intersectionality in activism, particularly queer activism. Through analysis of secondary data, I examine the ways in which intersectionality has, consciously or not, played a part in the history of the Fairness Campaign, as well as its role in the future of the organization.