Sociology Commons^™

Situational Variables And Sustainability In Multi-Attribute Decision-Making, Bonnie Simpson, Scott Radford

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to examine whether consumers demonstrate a multi-dimensional understanding of sustainability in their decision-making and addresses the situational influence of confidence and compromise on sustainable product choices.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using three choice-based conjoint experiments the authors examined the importance of sustainability, compromise and confidence to consumers across two contexts. Two-step cluster analyses were used to segment consumers based on the importance scores.

Findings

– Data indicates that the environmental dimension of sustainability is the most influential followed by economic and social. The responses suggest three distinct segments identified as self-focused, trend motivated and …

Is The Very Notion Of “Representation” Relevant For The Regulation Game Of Video Game Developers?, Marie-Josee Legault, Johanna Weststar

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Using Kelly’s mobilisation theory (1998) to assess their propensity to collective action, this article examines where videogame developers stand regarding the representation of their interests. These workers are good examples of knowledge work in project-based organisations. If Kelly’s model allows in general for projections of unionisation in a given sector, we find this is not the case here. Rather, our study leads us to observe how much the labour market has changed since the elaboration of Kelly’s model, and how much these workers’ needs differ from the options laid out by traditional unions’ action as presented by Kelly. This group …

Changes In Disability-Free Life Expectancy In Canada Between 1994 And 2007, Scott Mandich, Rachel Margolis

Sociology Publications

Life expectancy at birth continues to increase in Canada, reaching 81.2 years in 2009. Knowing whether these older years are healthy or disabled is critical for policymakers. We examine changes in disability-free life expectancy for men and women in Canada in 1994 and 2007 using the Sullivan method. We find that increases in life expectancy for men were due to a moderate increase in healthy years and a larger increase in disabled years. The increases in life expectancy for women were driven almost completely by increases in disabled years, suggesting an “expansion of morbidity” among women.

Revenge: Baltimore's Justice, Rachel M. Bellwoar

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This essay explores the concept of revenge and whether or not seeking it out is ever legitimately justified. Using an example from HBO’s critically acclaimed television drama, The Wire, specific focus is placed on fan favorite character, Omar Little’s, violent search for vengeance following the season one murder of his boyfriend, Brandon. Some points considered are what consequences Brandon’s killers would have faced for their crimes if Omar hadn’t sought punishment on his own initiative, what the collateral damage is of such focused anger, and the impact of environment on what kind of retribution is desired.

From The Other Side: Funeral Directors Talk About The Changing Face Of Funerals, Mark A. Granquist

Faculty Publications

This report of interviews with funeral directors will provide pastors with insight on funeral trends from the side of these professionals. More, it might serve as an impetus for useful conversations between pastors and funeral directors in their areas.

Disrupting Islamophobia: Teaching The Social Construction Of Terrorism In The Mass Media, Krista Mcqueeney

Criminology Faculty Publications

This article presents a critical media literacy technique for teaching about the social construction of terrorism. In a post-9/11 context where the human rights of Arabs and Muslims in the United States and overseas are threatened by drone attacks, profiling, detentions, and hate crimes, educators must not shy away from this issue. I use visual media to engage students with three questions: (1) How do everyday Americans define “terrorism” and perceive “terrorists”? (2) Where do these images come from? (3) What are the consequences for domestic and foreign policy? Using students’ own socialization as a starting point, I challenge them …

Stolen Future, Broken Present: The Human Significance Of Climate Change, David A. Collings

Bowdoin Scholars' Bookshelf

This book argues that climate change has a devastating effect on how we think about the future. Once several positive feedback loops in Earth’s dynamic systems, such as the melting of the Arctic icecap or the drying of the Amazon, cross the point of no return, the biosphere is likely to undergo severe and irreversible warming.

Nearly everything we do is premised on the assumption that the world we know will endure into the future and provide a sustaining context for our activities. But today the future of a viable biosphere, and thus the purpose of our present activities, is …

The Art Of Remembering: Iranian Political Prisoners, Resistance And Community, Bethany Osborne

Publications and Scholarship

Over the last three decades, many women and men who were political prisoners in the Middle East have come to Canada as immigrants and refugees. In their countries of origin, they resisted oppressive social policies, ideologies, and various forms of state violence. Their journeys of forced migration/exile took them away from their country, families, and friends, but they arrived in Canada with memories of violence, resistance and survival. These former political prisoners did not want the sacrifices that they and their colleagues had made to be forgotten. They needed to find effective ways to communicate these stories. This research was …

How Do We Know If It Works? Measuring Outcomes In Bystander-Focused Abuse Prevention On Campuses, Alison C. Cares, Victoria L. Banyard, Mary M. Moynihan, Rebecca Warner

Sociology and Criminology Department Faculty Works

Objective: To address acknowledged limitations in the effectiveness of sexual and relationship abuse prevention strategies, practitioners have developed new tools that use a bystander framework (Lonsway et al, 2009). Evaluation of bystander-focused prevention requires measures, specific to the bystander approach, that assess changes over time in participants’ attitudes and behaviors. Few measures exist and more psychometric analyses are needed. We present analyses to begin to establish the psychometric properties of four new measures of bystander outcomes and their subscales. Method: We collected data from 948 first year college students on two campuses in the northeast United States. Items assessing attitudes …

Makers And Mongers: Exploring Social Networks Of Vermont Artisan Cheese, Rachel Anne Distefano

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Vermont is widely-regarded as a hub for artisan cheese production, with more cheesemakers per capita than any other US state. Despite significant local and statewide support, out-of-state markets are essential to the long-term success of these small-scale producers. In spatially extended supply chains, retailers occupy a pivotal position. This thesis aims to examine the intermediary role of retailers in building social networks between producers and consumers. Consumers appreciate Vermont artisan cheese, in part, because it is embedded in a complex network of social values and relations related to where and how it is produced. Guided by social theories of consumption, …

Teaching With Audacity: A Board Game For Urban Studies, Colby King, Matthew Cazessus

Sociology Faculty Publications

In order to improve undergraduate students’ mastery of urban theory, we developed an active‐learning module that allows participants to compete with one another in a board game of strategic planning and coalition formation called “AudaCity.” Utilizing a games‐based learning design, the game places players in the roles of adversarial property developers, political actors, and zoning committees all seeking to build and raise rent from developments within a spatially constrained urban grid. Game mechanics such as proximity bonuses and limitations to available space compel players to simultaneously compete against and collaborate with their peers to advance their development agenda while thwarting …

Challenging Inequality: Professor Fernando De Maio Explores The Statistics Behind Health Disparities

DePaul Magazine

According to the World Health Organization's commission on the social determinants of health, "reducing health inequalities is ... an ethical imperative. Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale." Fernando De Maio, associate professor of sociology at DePaul University, explores this concept by examining avoidable health inequalities in the global sphere. He uses sociological methods to analyze empirical data and hopes statistics can be used to bring about policy change.

Between Ghurba And Umma: Mapping Sudanese Muslim Moralities Across National And Islamic Space, Anita H. Fabos

Faculty Works

“Muhammad¹” is a thoughtful and dedicated youth worker for the local council of a small coastal town in the United Kingdom, where he has been an especially important role model for young refugees from the Horn of Africa, including Sudan and Somalia. Muhammad, a member of Sudan’s dominant Muslim Arab professional class, claimed asylum in the United Kingdom in 1993 along with many other Sudanese.² After establishing himself professionally, Muhammad applied to the UK Home Office for his wife and four children back in Sudan to join him in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s. Over …

Women Working On A Fair Flower Farm In Ecuador: An Ethnographic Study, Corrie Grosse

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Despite a history of worker exploitation and environmental degradation, today, the cut-flower industry is striving for ethical production practices. Ecuador is leading the way in this regard, and one farm, Fairtrade-certified Nevado Roses, appears to be a shining example. In 2012, I set out to conduct ethnographic research centering workers' perspectives about labor conditions and life as Fairtrade rose cultivators at Nevado Roses. I wanted to understand how women, who comprise the majority of flower workers, fare on a farm with socially and environmentally sustainable policies. The research confirmed the benefits of ethical production practices, but also revealed that Fairtrade …

Determinants Of Crime In Chicago, Ross Olson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper addresses occurrences of violent crime and their determinants in the city of Chicago using data collected at daily intervals for a period of two years. The economics of crime, in particular the price that crime imposes on society, is briefly explored along with a discussion of general policy techniques that aim to reduce the occurrence of violent crime. The empirical analysis addresses temperature, holidays (both official federal holidays and informal "party" holidays), weekends, unemployment rate, and seasonal trends. Relationships are examined between these variables and total crime, as well as with each component of violent crime: aggravated assault, …

Training Manual On Basic Monitoring And Evaluation Of Social And Behavior Change Communication Health Programs, Praween Kumar Agrawal, Kumudha Aruldas, M.E. Khan

Reproductive Health

Social and behavior change communication (SBCC) interventions are key for addressing social and cultural barriers and achieving goals laid out for health programs. Often these interventions are not evidence based and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is limited. Lack of trained and skilled human resources for M&E has been a limitation in general. A serious effort is needed to build the capacity of M&E personnel to monitor and evaluate performance of SBCC interventions in terms of reach and effectiveness among intended audiences. The Improving Healthy Behaviors Program of FHI360 aims to provide technical assistance to strengthen capacities to monitor and evaluate …

Analyzing The Influence Of Micro-Level Factors On Cctv Camera Effect., Eric L. Piza, Joel M. Caplan, Leslie W. Kennedy

Publications and Research

Objectives Despite the popularity of closed circuit television (CCTV), evidence of its crime prevention capabilities is inconclusive. Research has largely reported CCTV effect as ‘‘mixed’’ without explaining this variance. The current study contributes to the literature by testing the influence of several micro-level factors on changes in crime levels within CCTV areas of Newark, NJ.

Methods Viewsheds, denoting the line-of-sight of CCTV cameras, were units of analysis (N = 117). Location quotients, controlling for viewshed size and control-area crime incidence, measured changes in the levels of six crime categories, from the pre-installation period to the post-installation period. Ordinary least squares …

A Plague On Both Your Houses? Risks, Repeats, And Reconsiderations Of Urban Residential Burglary, William D. Moreto, Eric L. Piza, Joel M. Caplan

Publications and Research

Research has shown that mapping techniques are useful in forecasting future crime events. However, the majority of prospective mapping techniques has focused on the event-dependent influence of instigator incidents on subsequent incidents and does not explicitly incorporate the risk heterogeneity of the setting. The study here discussed is a modest attempt to address this issue by using a two-step process: first, using risk terrain modeling, we operationalized the “environmental backcloth,” (the risk heterogeneity of an area) to forecast locations of residential burglaries in the urban city of Newark, New Jersey. Second, using the near repeat calculator, we assessed the variability …

Spatial Risk Factors Of Felonious Battery To Police Officers, Joel M. Caplan, Philip L. Marotta, Eric L. Piza, Leslie W. Kennedy

Publications and Research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the spatial influence of features of the physical environment on the risk of aggression toward law enforcement.

Design/methodology/approach – The spatial analytic technique, risk terrain modeling was performed on felonious battery data provided by the Chicago Police Department.

Findings – Out of the 991 batteries against law enforcement officers (LEOs) in Chicago, 11 features of the physical environment were identified as presenting a statistically significant spatial risk of battery to LEOs. Calls for service within three blocks of foreclosures and/or within a dense area of problem buildings pose as much …

The Psycho-Affective Echoes Of Colonialism In Fieldwork Relations, Robert Garot

Publications and Research

This article describes the varieties of relations with African immigrant interviewees in Tuscany as experienced by a white male interviewer from the United States. Franz FANON's discussion of the psycho-affective consequences of colonialism is vital for understanding how naïve and romantic notions of fieldwork relations are disingenuous, counter-productive and perhaps destructive in a neo-colonial landscape.