Sociology Commons^™

American Beauty Standards: “Paling” In Comparison To The White Norm, Kristen Marrinan

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

America has a culturally accepted norm of what makes someone beautiful. A standard that is hard to meet. Being light-skinned, blonde and blue-eyed is the benchmark of beauty, of what is most desirable. But is that really what it takes to be attractive in America? This research examines the relationship between race, birth-place, ethnicity and self-rated attractiveness. The General Social Survey (2016) provides the quantitative data for this study. While past literature explores the connections between identity, self-esteem, and attractiveness, it does not explore the intersection of different identifying characteristics. Group position and Colourism approaches provide the theoretical foundations for …

Is Friendship Political In The Land Of Opportunity? How Conservative Values Affect Helping Behavior Towards Friends, Adele Fantasia

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

Abstract Individualism operates as a dominant ideology in American society, so how does individualism pervade both people’s larger views on society as well as their dyadic relationships? Do world views about the value of hard work and if people deserve help permeate the private sphere in tangible ways? I propose a relationship between individualistic tendencies and the frequency with which individuals help their friends and family who are feeling depressed. I hypothesize that the more the respondent believes that those in need have to learn to take care of themselves, the less frequently they will help a relative, friend, or …

Music Performance Attendance And Happiness, Byron Smith

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

How are the performing arts and happiness sociologically connected? I propose that people who have attended a music performance in the last 12 months will report an increase in happiness. Additional knowledge-besides attending Arts-related events-is required in order to understand what makes people happy. I analyzed 2016 General Social Survey (GSS) data. The N for this sample is 1,272. Personal happiness is directly tied to one’s financial situation and their educational attainment levels and not to attendance at music performances. The results indicate that satisfaction with finances has a greater impact on happiness, and that White people also report being …

Eveiluating Secularism And The Treatment Of Muslim Women: A Cross-Cultural Study Of France, The United States And India, Bridget Stack

International Affairs Senior Theses

Secularism, although linked with ideals of democracy and equality, does not always result in the equal, treatment by the government and under the law, of all religious peoples. There are many types of secularism, but the three types examined in this paper are hard secularism, moderate secularism, and soft secularism. Hard secularism discourages religious visibility and attempts to keep religion in the private sphere. Soft secularism values religious visibility and encourages religious visibility, pushing religion to enter the public sphere. Moderate secularism takes a neutral stance, not encouraging religion to enter the public sphere, nor confining religion to the private …

#Nofilter: Identities, Tourist Narratives, And The Millennial White Savior, Alicia Graziano

International Affairs Senior Theses

Throughout time, human beings have used various means of expression to create identity and fashion a brand for themselves that exhibits favorable characteristics. The age of globalization has facilitated the ease with which people travel and experience new parts of the world, but has also made it easier to share one’s experience through social media, thus allowing for wider recognition of one’s identity as a citizen of the world. Modern tourists prefer the word “traveler,” due to widespread concerns about the negative impacts on the tourism industry on certain global locations and populations. In this paper, I will explore the …

Sibling Relationships In The Context Of Birth Order, Carolyn S. Potvin

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

All of the research contained in this thesis is a collection of different methodologies and theoretical approaches on the subject of birth order and sibling relationships. Perspectives on the influence of the framework of family on personality development have been summarized, with an emphasis on empirical data related to communication patterns of siblings to each other. This paper is not so much an exploration into birth order as it is about the interactions of siblings in relation to family dynamics.

The first part of this paper probes into the consequences of birth order on individuality, in the context of the …