Sociology Commons^™

Race, Sense Of Belonging, And The African American Student Experience At Predominantly White Institutions, Anthony Kane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study utilized a critical race theoretical framework and methodology to explore the lived experiences of African American students at a predominantly White institution. The purpose of this study was to identify how race impacts the sense of belonging of African American students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). This study highlighted the racialized experiences of African American students at a predominantly White institution and how these experiences impacted their sense of belonging. Additionally, this study sought to understand the type of support African Americans students preferred and needed in order to develop a positive sense of belonging.

Six African …

Crip Time In Fin-De-Siècle Spain: Disability, Degeneration, And Eugenics, Erika Rodriguez

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A period of intense nation-building, the late nineteenth century was marked by the search for medical and legal solutions to the increasing number of bodies that did not align with culturally constructed expectations of productivity and reproduction in Spanish modernity. Authors of this time used representations of disability to engage in urgent political questions about population control and the rights of individuals in the face of increasing medical intervention. In carrying out this analysis, I raise the question of how representations of disability created a space to reconfigure the social values that determined what lives matter. Focusing on canonical realist …

An Intersectional Analysis Of The Role Race And Gender Play In Welfare Recipients’ And Case Manager Experiences, Stephanie Baran

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an ethnographic study of food insecurity in Milwaukee and how people receiving benefit assistance understand themselves, others and how they thought others understand them. This frame was duplicated for social workers and poverty organizations in the Milwaukee area. Using a series of theoretical viewpoints, the study utilizes racial theories, as well as, symbolic violence and annihilation to discuss how various aspects of recipients, social workers and poverty organizations interact within the theoretical margins. Taking place over one and a half years and including 350 observation hours at a local food pantry, the study found that respondents feel …

Linked By Race, Detached By Class: Intersectional Identities Of Black And Latinx Students At An Elite College,, Amber Montalvo

Senior Theses and Projects

Elite higher education institutions reflect the culture of the upper-class population in the United States. Trinity College is ranked fifth on a list of schools with the highest ratio of students from the top 1% of income earners relative to the bottom 60%. While there have been successful efforts to increase campus diversity, such efforts focus on race and ethnicity more than social class. In this context, I asked the following research question: how does social class condition the experience of Black and Latinx students at Trinity College? Methods: This project relied on interviews with 7 juniors and seniors at …

Cw Is Open To All: Post-Difference Representation And Hegemonic Time-Travel Narratives In Dc's Legends Of Tomorrow, Claire Elizabeth Hackett

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis examines how a post-difference perspective, where diversity is shallowly embraced, can influence the characters and narratives of a television show, with DC’s Legends of Tomorrow as the prime example. Legends is a great example of this because it is an ensemble show that features characters who are from different races, religions, sexualities, ages, genders and historical time periods. A post-difference lens myopically pushes the narrative that everyone in society is equal, and the discrimination faced by marginalized communities is no longer relevant. This perspective is problematic because it reinforces how whiteness is the norm in society, and the …

Selling White Masculinity: An Analysis Of Cultural Intermediaries In The Craft Beverage Industry, Erik Tyler Withers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to use the craft beverage industry as a case study in which to investigate how white masculinity is reproduced within consumer spaces. This study explores the roles that cultural intermediaries in the craft beverage industry play in the reproduction and contestation of white masculinity. Cultural intermediaries can be understood as tastemakers who play a large role in assigning value and legitimacy to products, practices and people within consumer industries. Intermediaries such as marketing and advertising firms, industry writers, and critics have been widely studied in the past. However, the day to day interactional work …

Does Money Indeed Buy Happiness? “The Forms Of Capital” In Fitzgerald’S Gatsby And Watts’ No One Is Coming To Save Us, Allie Harrison Vernon

English (MA) Theses

Looking primarily at two critically acclaimed texts that concern themselves with American citizenship—F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Stephanie Powell Watts’ No One is Coming to Save Us—I analyze the claims made about citizenship identities, rights, and consequential access to said rights. I ask, how do these narratives about citizenship sustain, create, or re-envision American myth? Similarly, how do the narratives interact with the dominant culture at large? Do any of these texts achieve oppositional value, and/or modify the complex hegemonic structure? I use Pierre Bourdieu’s “The Forms of Capital” to investigate the ways in which economic, cultural, …

Black Body Memory: A Philosophy Of The Talk, Autumn Redcross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project offers the term Black body memory to point toward the threatened existential disposition of Black people in society today. Moreover, Black body memory points to the narrative paradigm of a shared experience. While popular conceptions theorize race as a social construction, the lived reality of Black people is frequently imbued by racialization and racism. Black body memory emerges from the intersection of the Black body articulated by Franz Fanon, Charles Johnson, and George Yancy, among others, and body memory, as described by Edward Casey and Thomas Fuchs. Black body memory is a culturally-laden and sedimented lived reality. The …

Double Jeopardy: Minority Stress And The Influence Of Transgender Identity And Race/Ethnicity, Krystina Millar, Jason Eastman

Honors Theses

This study assessed gender and racial/ethnic differences in gender-related discrimination and psychological distress within a sample of transgender and gender nonconforming individuals. Prior research suggests transgender individuals with multiple minority statuses experience higher psychological stress than their singly disadvantaged counterparts, and both minority race/ethnicity and transgender minorities experience more frequent and severe forms of discrimination than white and cisgender individuals. Using data from a convenience sample of 101 self-identified transgender and gender nonconforming adults recruited through LGBTQ+ organizations from across North America, I analyzed the relationship between race/ethnicity, gender-related minority stress, and psychological distress. Gender-related discrimination and gender-related victimization did …

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 …

The Effect Of Social Class On Political Party Affiliations In The African American Community, Sindiso Mafico

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

Does social class affect political party affiliation in the African-American community? Drawing on two contrasting theories: the theory of group interests and class-based theories of stratification put forth by Wilson and Shelton (2006), I propose that African -Americans who report being of a high socio-economic class are more likely to be Republican than African Americans of a lower socio-economic class. Through secondary analysis of data provided by the General Social Survey (GSS), I investigate the relationship between political party affiliation and social class in the African-American community. By combining data across 20 years between 1996 and 2016, the sample size …

Black Female Graduate Students' Experiences Of Racial Microaggressions At A Southern University, Kendra Elizabeth Shoge

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have found that microaggressions can cause psychological distress, frustration, avoidance, confusion, resentment, hopelessness, and fear. Previous studies from Southern universities have addressed the adjustment experiences of Black women in graduate programs, obstacles faced by Black women in higher education and strategies to overcome those obstacles, and factors associated with Black student motivation and achievement. Discrimination and racism are factors identified in those studies, however, there is little research on the experiences of Black women in graduate programs and the impact of racial microaggressions on them.

The purpose of this study was to examine Black female graduate students’ experiences of …

Race, Threat, And Firearms: : Analysis Of State-Level Self-Defense And "Stand Your Ground" Laws, John-Michael Simpson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study explores the expansion of state-level self-defense laws between 2005 and 2010 using a threat theory framework. Unlike prior historical changes in self-defense law, which were largely made through judicial avenues and were localized at the state-level, the recent expansions of self-defense have been driven by state legislatures to produce notable patterns of change, including protections of criminal immunity and codifications of presumption of reasonable fear. Threat theory would predict that the strengthening of informal social controls to use violence in self-defense is a response by the dominant group to perceived threats to power from a subordinate group. In …

Mestizo, Negro, Blanco—What Does It Mean? Racism And Colorism’S Effects In The Latinx Community, Frida Alvarez

Culminating Projects in Social Responsibility

This study explores how Latinxs understand their racial identity and how colorism emerges, develops and evolves in the lives of Latinxs. We want to look into how racial identity affects race and color perceptions and relationships in the community. Data in this study came from 10 individuals who participated through in-person interviews or submitted a paper survey between March 2018 and March 2019. The patterns that emerged in this research demonstrate a challenge and confusion to Latinx racial identity. Familial influence is a way that colorism and racial identity is formed and understood. Colonial history of Latinxs is also discussed …

Everyday Violence: Catcalling And Lgbtq-Directed Aggression In The Public Sphere, Simone A. Kolysh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation aims to expose how women and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) people are barred from full participation in the public sphere and public life because of catcalling and LGBTQ-directed aggression on the streets of New York City. The harmful, cumulative, and long-lasting effects of these interactions make it difficult for marginalized people to belong and benefit from a supposedly inclusive and democratic society. Focusing on the public sphere of New York City, this dissertation is a qualitative study of catcalling and LGBTQ-directed aggression. I analyze interviews with catcallers and sixty-seven recipients of everyday violence as well …

Italian/Americans And The American Racial System: Contadini To Settler Colonists?, Stephen J. Cerulli

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores the relationship between ethnicity and race, “whiteness,” in the American racial system through the lens of Italian/Americans. Firstly, it overviews the current scholarship on Italian/Americans and whiteness. Secondly, it analyzes methodologies that are useful for understanding race in an American context. Thirdly, it presents a case study on the Columbus symbol and the battle over identity that arose out of, and continues over, this symbol. Finally, this thesis provides suggestions using the case study and methodologies to open up new ways of understanding Italian/Americans and the American racial system.

Racial/Ethnic Identity Expression At Trinity College: An Exploration Of The P.R.I.D.E. Program, Joanne Chambers

Senior Theses and Projects

Previous research has focused on how students of color are enculturated on college campuses, and particularly how ethnic subcultures on campus may facilitate adjustment into the larger campus community (Museus, 2008). Additionally, research has focused on how ethnically- oriented social groups affect intergroup attitudes and behaviors within ethnic classes (Sidanius et al., 2004). P.R.I.D.E. is a student organization at Trinity College that focuses on creating a supportive environment for all students, with an emphasis on students of color. In order to better understand how this organization affects students’ sense of racial/ethnic identity and sense of belonging on campus, I conduct …

American Converts To Islam: Identity, Racialization, And Authenticity, Patrick M. Casey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Working within a social identity theory model, which posits that identities gain or lose salience depending on the situation and the actors, this study brings into focus the identity management of Americans who have converted to Islam. More specifically, this study of American Muslim converts seeks to understand how the authenticity of their religious identities is challenged and affirmed by others and themselves. Thirty-nine in-depth interviews were examined and interpreted using the insights of narrative analysis and racialization theory. The first finding is that although converts may tell a variety of different stories about how and why they converted to …

Do College Students’ Perceptions Of The Police Differ By Education Level And Major?, Lashanti Wilson Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about the impact that higher education has on students’ perceptions of the police, especially with respect to justice education. This study examines perceptions of the police among college students at Illinois State University. It questions how differences in education levels, major, race, age, and gender affect student perceptions about the police. A 55-question online survey was administered to 451 students at Illinois State University.

Results revealed that those with more education did not have significantly different contact with police officers than those with less education, however, they were significantly more likely to report negative attitudes towards the …

The Disproportionate Burden Of Asthma By Race, Sex, Income And Education, Lisa Elizabeth Stack

Wayne State University Dissertations

This paper seeks to understand the relationship of county level median air quality with adult asthma risk, and the disproportional adult asthma risk by sex, race, income and education, controlling for individual and county effects. The specific objectives of this work are to answer the following questions: 1) What is the difference exposure of the median AQI by race, controlling for county and individual effects? 2) What is the difference in exposure of the median AQI by sex, controlling for county and individual effects? 3) What is the difference in exposure of the median AQI by education, controlling for county …

An Examination Of Oppression Via Anti-Abortion Legislation, Saphronia P. Carson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis utilizes a reproductive justice framework to discuss the impact of anti-abortion legislation and the anti-abortion movement on women of color and low-income women, arguing that reduced access to abortion is oppressive to minority women. Chapter 1 outlines the theoretical framework of this thesis, focusing on feminist Marxism, Intersectionality, Critical Race Theory, and radical and third wave feminist perspectives. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the anti-abortion movement and the major state and federal laws and court cases that have defined women's access to abortion in the United States, including Roe v Wade, the Hyde Amendment, Planned Parenthood v …

Cultivating Chingona Power: A Study On The Chingona Identity, Celia Orosco Haro

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Mujeres across the country are claiming the Chingona identity and using it to cultivate their Chingona strength, feel empowered, and live for their own approval. A Chingona in this newly reclaimed use means a woman who embodies confidence, acceptance of self, reclamation of sexuality, siguiendo le adelante por su propio camino sin importarle lo que digan los demás, rejects social and cultural norms/expectations of women, and uses her strengths to empower and uplift others. Through the reclamation of this identity, these mujeres are moving beyond being hijas de la chingada to being Chingonas. This research highlights the Chingona identity …