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Overrating Bruins, Underrating Badgers: Media, Bias, And College Basketball, Daniel Hawkins, Andrew M. Linder, Ryan Larson, Jonathan Santo
Overrating Bruins, Underrating Badgers: Media, Bias, And College Basketball, Daniel Hawkins, Andrew M. Linder, Ryan Larson, Jonathan Santo
Psychology Faculty Publications
Why are some teams perennial darlings of sports journalists while other talented squads get overlooked? Each week during the NCAA basketball season, the Associated Press releases a ranked poll of the top 25 teams. By comparing the preseason and postseason rankings, we construct a measure of how much sports journalists who respond to the poll overrate (or underrate) college teams relative to their actual performance. Using this metric for the 115 NCAA schools that have appeared at least once in the opening or final AP poll in the last 25 years, we examine a range of institutional characteristics that may …
Overrating Bruins, Underrating Badgers: Media, Bias, And College Basketball, Daniel N. Hawkins, Andrew M. Linder, Ryan Larson, Jonathan B. Santo
Overrating Bruins, Underrating Badgers: Media, Bias, And College Basketball, Daniel N. Hawkins, Andrew M. Linder, Ryan Larson, Jonathan B. Santo
Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications
Why are some teams perennial darlings of sports journalists while other talented squads get overlooked? Each week during the NCAA basketball season, the Associated Press releases a ranked poll of the top 25 teams. By comparing the preseason and postseason rankings, we construct a measure of how much sports journalists who respond to the poll overrate (or underrate) college teams relative to their actual performance. Using this metric for the 115 NCAA schools that have appeared at least once in the opening or final AP poll in the last 25 years, we examine a range of institutional characteristics that may …
An Invitation To Debate: Envisioning An Africa-Centered Perspective, Engaging Sociological Endeavor, Nikitah O. Imani
An Invitation To Debate: Envisioning An Africa-Centered Perspective, Engaging Sociological Endeavor, Nikitah O. Imani
Black Studies Faculty Publications
This article frames the focus of this special Africana studies issue of Critical Sociology, discussing its theoretical and epistemological necessity for the discipline, its potential for critical informing inquiry within the discipline with respect to Africana social phenomena as well the human experience, the challenges it poses for the traditional conduct of sociological inquiry and what the particular pieces selected for this issue contribute to each of these.
The Implications Of Africa-Centered Conceptions Of Time And Space For Quantitative Theorizing: Limitations Of Paradigmatically-Bound Philosophical Meta-Assumptions, Nikitah O. Imani
Black Studies Faculty Publications
“The Implications of Africa-centered Conceptions of Time and Space for Quantitative Theorizing,” looks at Eurocentric scientific conceptions of time and space, how they effect theorizing concerned with these matters, and how they are altered as one considers non- Eurocentric conceptions. For example, one might look at the assertion of circularity, holism, and continuity in contrast to linearity, disjunction, and discontinuity. The example focused on is a scholarly article focusing on constraints associated with time travel. The article deconstructs the piece as Eurocentric and re-conceptualizes it from an African-centered cultural and social perspective.
Then The Burning Began: Omaha, Riots, And The Growth Of Black Radicalism, 1966-1969, Ashley M. Howard
Then The Burning Began: Omaha, Riots, And The Growth Of Black Radicalism, 1966-1969, Ashley M. Howard
Student Work
Throughout the 1960s, America witnessed one metropolis after another suffer from major civil disturbances. The first of these incidents occurred in Selma, Alabama, but it was not until Watts, California exploded that the nation began to take notice. As America was throttling towards a major race war, nobody anticipated the Midwestern town of 'Omaha, Nebraska to experience the same disturbances larger cities had. Although the life of average Omaha blacks was better than that of many of their urban counterparts, black Omahans still faced frequent job discrimination, lack of adequate educational facilities, and general disenchantment with Northern ghetto life. Between …
Si, Se Puede: Organizing Latino Immigrant Workers In South Omaha's Meatpacking Industry, Jacqulyn S. Gabriel
Si, Se Puede: Organizing Latino Immigrant Workers In South Omaha's Meatpacking Industry, Jacqulyn S. Gabriel
Student Work
Faced with declining union density and a growing immigrant workforce, the U.S. labor movement has begun to realize the importance of organizing Latino immigrant workers. However, the “conventional wisdom” among many within the movement is that these workers are “unorganizable.” Labor scholar Ruth Milkman (2002), for example, explains that the “conventional wisdom” is that immigrants are vulnerable, docile persons, intensely fearful of any confrontation with authority, who accept substandard wages and poor working conditions because their standard of comparison is drawn from their home countries, and who therefore are extremely unlikely to unionize. Through an in-depth study of a successful …
Accessibility, Settlement Dispersion, And Unemployment In Slovakia, Pavol Hurbanek
Accessibility, Settlement Dispersion, And Unemployment In Slovakia, Pavol Hurbanek
Student Work
The thesis examines the relationship between accessibility and unemployment and the relationship between settlement dispersion and unemployment in Slovakia. The two main hypotheses are as follows: First, the settlements with lower accessibility have higher rates of unemployment. Second, because the areas of dispersed settlement most likely experience poor accessibility, these areas have also higher rates of unemployment. While Slovakia is the main study area, additional analysis is conducted in the case-study region of the Myjava and Skalica Counties in the western part of Slovakia. Several methods are used to evaluate accessibility and settlement dispersion. Container approach and distance approach are …
Correlates And Predictors Of Employee Turnover Intentions In The Postal Industry! A Case Study Of The Omaha Hub Of United Parcel Service, Carla Y. Garay
Correlates And Predictors Of Employee Turnover Intentions In The Postal Industry! A Case Study Of The Omaha Hub Of United Parcel Service, Carla Y. Garay
Student Work
The purpose of this study was to identify the correlates and predictors of turnover intentions among manual laborers. The study was exploratory and used a modification of the Rusbult and Farrell (1983) investment model as its theoretical framework. Simple correlation analysis uncovered no significant relationships between the fifteen independent variables and turnover intention, with one exception; there was a significant correlation between intent to retire and turnover intention. Therefore, further analysis was conducted by testing each independent variable against each item of turnover intentions. The independent variables that were found to be significantly correlated with the items of turnover intentions …
Multiracial Social Identities And Self-Esteem: How Physical Appearance And Heritage Affect The Categorization Self And Others, Estrella Aurora Ramirez
Multiracial Social Identities And Self-Esteem: How Physical Appearance And Heritage Affect The Categorization Self And Others, Estrella Aurora Ramirez
Student Work
One’s self-concept is comprised of both personal and social identities. This study will focus on the racial/ethnic component of social identity for the multiracial population: individuals with heritage from two or more different racial/ethnic groups. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the racial identity process for multiracial individuals and how this process is impacted by the relative status of racial/ethnic groups that comprise one’s heritage and the perceived physical appearance of an individual. Of central concern is how multiracial individuals racially self label as well as how multiracial and monoracial individuals racially categorize other multiracial individuals. Secondly, …
Alternative Spring Break And Social Responsibility Is There A Relationship?, Judith Angela Biggs Garbuio
Alternative Spring Break And Social Responsibility Is There A Relationship?, Judith Angela Biggs Garbuio
Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship
Humans are living in a complex, interdependent, global society. Violence by youth is at an all-time high, the school system is failing to educate students (especially in urban areas), and all of this is compounded by major economic and social forces that are significantly altering the fabric of our lives. According to Keith (1994) these forces include: “… the impact of technology and the globalization of the economy on social relations and the structure of work (Broyn. 1991; Mingrone, 1983; Offee & Heinz. 1992; Wilson. 1987); the depletion of non-renewable resources and the ecological crisis; the mounting pace of population …
Happy Meals At Mcdonald's : A Qualitative Field Study Of Family Dinner At Mcdonald's, Joy Sandersen-Smith
Happy Meals At Mcdonald's : A Qualitative Field Study Of Family Dinner At Mcdonald's, Joy Sandersen-Smith
Student Work
The purpose of this study was to examine the family meal at McDonald’s as a family dinner ritual and as an arena for socialization of children. A field study, including six McDonald’s restaurants in Omaha, Nebraska, was conducted during the months of May and June. Approximately 25 hours of observations were recorded using the method of participant observation. The main sample consisted of 58 families (adults with children) and included single mothers, single fathers, two-parent families, as well as grandparents with children and other family constellations with children and adults. The most common family type at McDonald’s was single mothers …
Conflicting Partial Paradigms: An Analysis Of Stratification Articles, 1953-1990, Kaj E. Williams
Conflicting Partial Paradigms: An Analysis Of Stratification Articles, 1953-1990, Kaj E. Williams
Student Work
This thesis addresses the relevance of paradigms to the field of social stratification. Social stratification articles appearing in the American Sociological Review and the American Journal of Sociology from the years 1953-1990 are analyzed. The results provide evidence for a multiplicity of paradigms within the field. A life cycle model for paradigm development is proposed to account for the changes exhibited by the paradigms. I suggested that paradigms go through four stages and that movement through each stage is caused by interactions between the paradigms. Similarities and differences to Kuhn's original paradigm concept are emphasized, and suggestions are provided for …
The Effect Of Clothing Upon Perceptions Of Source Credibility, Ana M. Cruz
The Effect Of Clothing Upon Perceptions Of Source Credibility, Ana M. Cruz
Student Work
This study investigated the effect of clothing upon perceptions of credibility. A male an female model were dressed either formally (in a suit) or informally (in casual slacks). Subjects were 399 undergraduatee students from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Each suject viewed one of four photographs (male dressed formally, male dressed informally, female dressed formally, female dressed informally) and read a narrative accompanying each photograph. The narrative described the situational context, which included high-reputed characteristics (education, managerial occupation, and expertise in the topic of communication) for each model. Subjects completed McCroskey and Jenson's 25 bipolar adjectives to measure five …
The Raising And Feeding Of Red Meat Animals In The U.S. Since 1945: A Case Study Comparing Marxist Crisis Theories, Scott Hunt
Student Work
Political economists have traditionally treated capitalist crisis as a central theoretical focus. Starting with Marx and Engels, Marxian political economists have viewed crisis as a necessary result of ordinary capitalist economic life. Recent Marxist scholars have argued that capitalist crisis is a predominant feature of contemporary capitalism... Non-Marxian political economists have also emphasized crisis in their work. Given the focus on crisis in political economy, and its particular prominence in Marxian theory, the current project centers around that theme. The objective is to systematically evaluate two competing Marxist theories of crisis, contrasting the "Fundamentalist" approach and its emphasis on the …
Soudeska: The Czech Festival Change And Continuity In Wilber, Nebraska, Lois Shimerda Rood
Soudeska: The Czech Festival Change And Continuity In Wilber, Nebraska, Lois Shimerda Rood
Student Work
This field study explores the meaning of the Czech Festival, Soudeska, to the members of the community of Wilber, Nebraska and to those who participate. It examines the ways in which the festival affects both change and continuity in the major institutions of the community--specifically the family, the church, the education system, the political structure, and the economy. The meaning of festival to various groups of citizens important to the community is analyzed. The purpose of this project is to produce an ethnography of the Czech Festival of Wilber, Nebraska.
The Czech Immigrant - A Process Of Acculturation: Schuyler, Nebraska, 1870-1920, Janet Varejcka
The Czech Immigrant - A Process Of Acculturation: Schuyler, Nebraska, 1870-1920, Janet Varejcka
Student Work
Oscar Handlin wrote, "Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history." Yet, how strange that so many people are reluctant to be referred to as Irish, Polish, German, or Swedish. Their wish is to be called an American. The heritage their parents or grandparents left behind has often been ignored. I did not fully understand the traditions of my Czechoslovak heritage even though I grew up with a foreign language and hints of a different culture. In a time of resurgent interest in the ethnic dimensions of …
The Ideology Of Growth And The Utopia Of Equilibrium, John C. Cunningham
The Ideology Of Growth And The Utopia Of Equilibrium, John C. Cunningham
Student Work
This study focuses on the ongoing social processes of theory formation. It is a description of how individuals as members of a concrete social group think about social systems, share their world views within their group, explain their ideas to others, and attempt to produce realities corresponding to these ideas. The types of individuals under consideration are "policymakers" or "decisionmaker," and the substantive issue is that of theories about global trends of world growth, particularly economic growth. The study depicts the procress of social change as a sonstruction arising out of interaction between social groups with conflicting visions of past, …
Neighborhood Analysis: A Survey Approach To South Omaha, Carol J. Lunbeck
Neighborhood Analysis: A Survey Approach To South Omaha, Carol J. Lunbeck
Student Work
The massive urban renewal and highway construction projects undertaken in recent years represent efforts to alleviate some of the problems of modern society. Urban renewal was dedicated to solving the social problems of the slums. Highway construction projects are efforts to solve problems of a more technical nature. Both have tended to leave in their wake other problems as least as difficult as those they were intended to solve. Urban renewal has demolished old slums and created new ones. Highway construction has disrupted established neighborhoods without consideration of the effect on the social structure of the area. Now there is …
Occupational Expectations, Future Aspirations, And Adaptation To Formal Education At An Off-Reservation Boarding School For Indian High School Students Of The Northern Plains Region, Donald R. Nugent
Student Work
Little research has been done on the attitudes of American Indian groups toward occupation, education, or occupational mobility. Although anthropologists have studied the American Indian since the early 1940's, they have tended to focus upon tribal groupings studying each as an isolated people bearing the survivals of an aboriginal culture.
The Anti-Greek Riot Of 1909: South Omaha, John G. Bitzes
The Anti-Greek Riot Of 1909: South Omaha, John G. Bitzes
Student Work
The anti-Greek riot of 1909, in South Omaha, Nebraska, was a violent, regrettable, but significant episode in American history. Its importance rests in the fact that it took place at a time when the American people were in the process of making a very important decision concerning immigration. By 1908, the problem of the oriental immigrant entering and living on the west coast of the United States had been solved largely by adopting a policy of exclusion. There still remained, however, the great wave of the "new immigration" from southern and eastern Europe. The American native, largely of northwestern European …
A Study Of Inter-Department Mobility Of Workers In A Meat Packing Plant: Volitional Versus Non-Volitional, John A. Ballweg
A Study Of Inter-Department Mobility Of Workers In A Meat Packing Plant: Volitional Versus Non-Volitional, John A. Ballweg
Student Work
In general, this study investigates inter-department mobility with respect to a representative group of blue collar workers in a mean packing plant. More specifically, the distinction is being made between what might be called volitional and non-volitional mobility. An effort will be made to ascertain to what degree volitional mobility exists in the plant. In addition, various correlates of respondents will be explored and an attempt will be made to determine the relationship which prevails between the correlates and the source of inter-plant mobility.
River Town, A Descriptive Survey Of A Unique Community, Robert F. Simpson
River Town, A Descriptive Survey Of A Unique Community, Robert F. Simpson
Student Work
Since the Lynds first presented the study of Middle-town to the social science world in 1937, there has been an increasing interest in community studies. Many social scientists have presented their studies for the interested reader. The community study titles are familiar ones for the majority of the social science students. Among them are such studies as: Hollingshead's Elmstown's Youth, Warner's Yankee City Series, Redfield's The Little Community, and Lantz and McCrary's People of Coaltown. Each study approaches the community from a different point of view, but each has one thing in common with all other: the desire to present …
The Impact Of The Urban League On A Community, Frank Wilkerson
The Impact Of The Urban League On A Community, Frank Wilkerson
Student Work
The Urban League is a social service organization for the improvement of living and working conditions of Negroes. It is also interested in increasing cooperative and understanding relationships between white and colored citizens. Specifically, its program is one of research and community organization in the fields of (1) employment, industrial relations and vocational guidance, (2) housing, (3) health, (4) recreation, (5) race relations.
A Study Of The People Of Omaha On Vacation, John R. Dick
A Study Of The People Of Omaha On Vacation, John R. Dick
Student Work
The word "vacation" carriews with it’s a number of keen anticipations: 1) a change from our daily routine of work 2) an opportunity to travel and to see other countries 3) a visit with friends and relatives 4) and experience of new pleasures and 5) an enjoyment of new adventures. Most people look forward to a vacation trip with sincere anticipation. The very expectation of a trip seems to make the daily work easier and the burdens lighter.
A Survey Of The Leisure Time Activities Of Elementary School Children Of South Side Omaha Based On Responses To A Questionnaire, Libbie Parke
Student Work
The purpose of this survey is to make a detailed inventory of the leisure time activities of the children of grades 4 to 8 inclusive, of sixteen school in the industrial area of South Side, Omaha, Nebraska, to ascertain how and where they spend their spare time. It aims also to discover what these children would like to do but do not do, together with the reasons therefore. This method provides an opportunity to study information which reflects the children's own point of view.
An Ecological Study Of The Negro In Ward Seven, Murphy Cleophas Williams
An Ecological Study Of The Negro In Ward Seven, Murphy Cleophas Williams
Student Work
The concept of the term "ecology' as it relates to sociology and social research is well interpreeted in Gist and Halbert's book, Urban Society… From the above explanation and from the interpretations of the term "ecology" in the writings of Park and Eurgess and others, we get the idea that an ecological study involves the spatial, selective and distributive functions and melations of human beings in a given geographical and cultural area, and that these functions and relations characterize the forms and types of social interaction.
A Study Of Intra-Urban Mobility In Omaha, Magdalene Pickens
A Study Of Intra-Urban Mobility In Omaha, Magdalene Pickens
Student Work
"Mobility" is moving about, from one place to another. The word urban is from the Latin word, "urbanus", meaning "belonging to a city". "Intra" is a prefix meaning "within", taken from the Latin preposition "intra", which has the same meaning. Intra-urban mobility then, is the moving from place to place of the individual or family within the city. This thesis will treat of the intra-urban mobility of Omaha, Nebraska and its suburban areas, for the period of three years, from 1942 to 1945.
The Social Significance Of Public Housing, With Special Emphasis On The North Side Project, Laura M. Heacock
The Social Significance Of Public Housing, With Special Emphasis On The North Side Project, Laura M. Heacock
Student Work
Social significance is the quality of being important to the welfare of human society or the meaning of any institution to members of society. The purpose of this study is to find out how Public Housing has affected the welfare of the citizens of Omaha generally, and how the Logan Fontenelle Homes Project has affected the social conditions of those people who formerly lived in that area as well as those who now live in the project.
Benson: A Residential Suburban Community, Dorothy Ruth Mutz
Benson: A Residential Suburban Community, Dorothy Ruth Mutz
Student Work
Before making a study of the social life of a particular area it is essential to classify the area as to type and character with reference to the surrounding area. Various interpretations are givens the terms "community" and "neighborhood", the terms often being used synonymously. The term "suburb", a comparatively recent sociological term, is also open to diverse interpretation. Thus in order to systematize the variety of terms only those interpretations will be analyzed which seem to apply most directly to the area studied.
Industrial And Business Life Of Negroes In Omaha, James Harvey Kerns
Industrial And Business Life Of Negroes In Omaha, James Harvey Kerns
Student Work
There are in the city of Omaha according to the census report of 1930, 11,123 Negros. They have come to this city from various sections of the country. But in the main from rural and urban centers of the South. They have migrated here, as to other Northern and Western cities, to improve their social and economic conditions and for better opportunities in general. They have secured employment in the various industries of the city and have found positions in domestic employment. Some have engaged in business of their own, while still others have entered the different professions. There have …