Digital Commons Network^™

Social Policy Shifts And The Relationship Between Snap Workers And Their Clients, Latrese Annette Monden

Master's Theses

In an effort to better understand how federal social policy changes shape the ways in which public service workers assist their clients in obtaining food benefits through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP), previously known as food stamps, this study uses ethnography and interviews to capture the experiences of workers and their clients. Specifically, it examines how public service workers implement new policies while maintaining their professional identities and responding to the mission of their organization. These goals may be in tension. The key findings are that workers do not resist changes in policy because of the limitations of their job …

Seeing Success: Biographies Of Low-Income Students, Julia M. Morrice

Master's Theses

The purpose of this narrative ethnographic study was to explore the success stories and lived experiences of six low-income students, utilizing an asset-based approach and attention to cultural wealth. Low-income students are less likely to attend college, and those that do are less likely to complete a degree. There is presently a lack of asset-based research that explores the successes of low-income students. A semi-structured interview protocol yielded biographical narratives of low-income students, which included discussions about identity and provided insight into the cultural wealth possessed by low-income students. In an effort to better understand the use of visual methodologies …

One County, Two Libraries: Watsonville And The Organizing Of The Santa Cruz County Library System, 1900-1930, David Robert Addison

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the creation of California’s Free County Library System during the Progressive Era. Previous histories of the topic have conveyed a partial picture of those involved in organizing county libraries, focusing on leaders at the state level, such as James L. Gillis and Harriet Eddy. Using Santa Cruz County as a case study, this thesis examines the overall process of organizing a county library system at the local level.

Primary source materials consulted include correspondence and publications from the California State Library, newspaper accounts from the time period, California Library Association meeting minutes, News Notes of California Libraries, …

Chasing Rx: A Spatial Ethnography Of The Crossfit Gym, Matt Crockett

Master's Theses

CrossFit is a group fitness program that incorporates a variety of weightlifting and gymnastic movements performed at high intensities. Although there is growing research on CrossFit’s physiological and behavioral outcomes, few studies have qualitatively examined the program’s psychological and sociological characteristics. Drawing from Henning Eichberg’s (1998) work on spatial geography, this five-month ethnographic study examined the space and place of two San Francisco Bay Area CrossFit gyms as an introduction to a broader discussion on CrossFit subculture and evolving discourses about the body, health, and fitness. Specifically, three major themes about the CrossFit space emerged from the participant-observation data, including: …

Paying For Your Crime: The Pay-To-Stay Jail Program In California, Carla Sue Schultz

Master's Theses

Many California cities have recently implemented pay-to-stay jail programs at the local level. Pay-to-stay programs provide a safe and private incarceration experience for those who can afford the nightly fee. This study provides a theoretical analysis of the pay-to-stay jail program in relation to mass incarceration and the ever-expanding prison economy. It examines pay-to-stay programs as a new method of stratified punishment, reproducing race and class oppression within the U.S. penal regime. A case study of the Fremont pay-to-stay program offers insight into the implementation, operation, and application process for inmates seeking segregation from general county jail populations. This study …

Effects Of Stress On 9-1-1 Call-Takers And Police Dispatchers: A Study At The San Jose Police Department, Kimberly D. Turner

Master's Theses

This research addresses the significant gap in literature related to stress among 9-1-1 call-takers and dispatchers. The relationship between perceived stress and work-life balance, fairness at work, support at home, and work control as well as physiological and psychological outcomes is examined. Survey responses were collected during the summer of 2012 from 89 police 9-1-1 call-takers and radio dispatchers of the San José Police Department Communications Division in San José, California. Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, I found those who enjoy a balance between work and personal life experience less stress. Also, greater stress is associated with more psychological and …

“Great Nature, Refuge Of The Weary Heart:” A Regional And Literary Exploration Of The Early Grove Plays Of The Bohemian Club, Jeremy Denouden

Master's Theses

In 1872, a group of San Francisco newspapermen came together to start their own men’s club. This group, which named itself the Bohemian Club, was an outgrowth and a representative of the rapid development of the city of San Francisco at that time. Shortly after its founding, the club began making an annual retreat to the redwood forests north of the city. Eventually, the club began producing elaborate performances of musical dramas, referred to as Grove Plays, written and performed exclusively for club members at these summer retreats. This thesis, which takes its name from a line in one of …

Assessing Lesbian Gay Bisexual Resistance In Core Team Sports, Kevin Edward Lynch

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine how sport and lesbian-gay-bisexual resistance intersect with economy, media, religion, politics, education, and race and whether those institutions reinforce the hegemonic masculinity gender construction embedded in sport. Through a review of literature, I explore whether the aforementioned institutions are incorporating sociologist Eric Anderson’s inclusive masculinity or whether they are stuck in the hegemonic form mainly in the core team sport of basketball, baseball, football and hockey. Also, I investigate if Allport’s contact hypothesis has played any role in the movement from hegemonic masculinity to inclusive masculinity. Religion, education, and economy all seem …

Walt Kuhn: From Spotlight To Studio, The Art Of Show Business, Emily May Mcewan-Upright

Master's Theses

Walt Kuhn, an American artist born in New York, is often overlooked for his contribution to Modern American Art. Kuhn is typically recognized for his organizational and curatorial role in the 1913 Armory Show, but he was also internationally known in his time for his paintings of show people and as a creative director for several vaudeville and circus acts over his lifetime. During his career as a creative director, Kuhn’s artwork evolved from superficial renderings of theatre scenes to psychologically intense tronies of performers. Kuhn and other American artists, including the Ashcan group and Edward Hopper, examined the relationship …

Migration, Global Middle Class, And Professional Development: How Chinese Graduate Students In The U.S. Re-Establish A Sense Of Selfhood, Sylvia Shi Pu

Master's Theses

Transnational migration inevitably leads to destabilization of identity. Groups with different characteristics adopt varied strategies to restabilize a sense of selfhood. Elite global migrants, well-equipped with economic, cultural, and educational capital, tend to embrace a cosmopolitan lifestyle in the new location (Favell 2008). In contrast, migrant workers with limited human capital depend on their national peers for useful information and resources in order to make smooth transition across borders (Brown 2011). However, the case of the elite Chinese student migrants fits into neither of the trajectories. In regaining a sense of personhood, those global middle-class migrants end up in a …

The Queer And The Bodily: Explorations Of Power In Women's Visionary Writing In The Book Of Margery Kempe 2014, Jayne Emerson Stacconi

Master's Theses

The provocative Book of Margery Kempe is a seminal text in the history of female authorship. Claiming to be the first written autobiography, The Book serves as a literary representation of womanhood during the late fourteenth to the fifteenth centuries when Margery was writing, and also speaks to circulating medieval discourses of religion, pilgrimage, and sexuality. Participating in medieval women’s visionary writing as a genre, Margery’s visionary power is a tool by which she is able to emancipate herself from the limiting roles of wife and mother. Additionally, by working within the conventions of visionary writing, Margery is able to …

A Case Study On The Apple Hill Grower's Association: An Agritourism Area In Camino, Ca, Christine J. Delfino

Master's Theses

The current research is a case study on the Apple Hill Grower’s Association (AHGA). The purpose of this case study was to gain a full understanding of the AHGA with a focus on the economic and social motivations of the original farmers to bring tourism to the farm. A majority of the past research on agritourism involves quantitative studies that are survey based; this study gives qualitative research perspective based on focus groups and personal interviews. In addition, past research is focused on other states (i.e. Michigan, Missouri, Montana) and countries (i.e Italy and Australia). This case study adds research …

You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown: An Analysis Of Compassion, Friendship, And Overcoming Obstacles, Jessamyn L. Miller

Master's Theses

Since the late 1960s many things have changed. With the inception of the Internet, much of the world has gone viral––including newspapers. Children rarely find the same joy their parents found in a nostalgic printed Sunday morning comic strip. In addition, societal tragedies have increased with almost daily occurrences highlighted on the news. With an influx of recent tragedies too close to home, this thesis examines arts advocacy facts, anti-bulling campaigns, and the themes of friendship, compassion, and overcoming obstacles within a production of Clark M. Gesner’s musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown [Revised]. Charles M. Schulz’s classic characters …

One Big Puzzle, Two Thousand Tiny Pieces: An Analysis Of The Juvenile Remains From The Shady Grove Ossuary, Jaimie Arlene Ide

Master's Theses

This thesis is an inventory and analysis of the juvenile remains excavated in 2010 from a Middle Mississippian ossuary at the Shady Grove site (22QU525), located in the Mississippi Delta. This project presents a clear challenge given the commingled and incomplete nature of the sample, as well as the preservation biases associated with subadult material, but this research offers valuable insight into the demographic pattern of the larger population at the site, as well as the mortuary practices which created the ossuary at Shady Grove. A “bone-by-bone” inventory revealed the presence of 43 juvenile individuals between the ages of 0 …

Intimate Partner Violence: Domestic Violence Service Providers' Perceptions Of Male Victims, Bradon Allan Valgardson

Master's Theses

Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women has been recognized as a serious issue which requires attention. Over the past 40 years there has been an increase in sensitivity to female victims of intimate partner violence, but the same has not been true for male victims. This may be attributed to the substantial influence the feminist perspective has had upon the development of the IPV resource system. Furthermore, certain research indicates IPV resource centers may refuse to help or demean men who seek assistance as victims (Hines, Brown, & Dunning, 2007).

This research project surveyed domestic violence resource centers in an …

Did Money Matter? Interpreting The Effect Of Displayed Wealth On Social Relations Within An Enslaved Community, Matthew Clark Greer

Master's Theses

Social relationships structure daily life in a startling, and important, variety of ways. However, when considering the social world that existed inside slave quarters across the Virginia Piedmont (and the Antebellum South), archaeologists have not been able to come to a clear consensus on how to approach the study of social networks; with some researchers focusing on social standing, seen most often through the role of material wealth to create connections, and others focusing on how interactions can be meaningfully interpreted from the archaeological record. This thesis represents an attempt to bridge these two theoretical stances, by looking to see …

Participatory Democracy In The Chinese Cyber World: Case Studies From Weibo, Duyi Li

Master's Theses

This thesis discusses features of citizen communication on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, and its relationship to participatory democracy in China. Weibo is a complex social space due to the interplay of different forces and social actors. On the one hand, Weibo provides the space for bottom-up political participation: it expands the horizontal discursive space where plural discourses coexist and interact; provides a social sphere where counter-discourses are created; a space where the culture of resistance is formed; and serves as an alternative source for information. On the other hand, the vertical political control of the state, and the …

An Evaluation Of Metric Methods Of Race Differentiation In The Human Pelvic Girdle For The Application Of Expert Witness Testimony, Laura Natalie Yurka

Master's Theses

Research has shown that measurements from the pelvic bones and femur can be utilized for race estimation when the skull is absent or damaged. The literature reported levels up to 95% accuracy when utilizing discriminant function analysis to simultaneously classify race and sex. This research examined the previously reported methods of race estimation within the evidence standards for forensic science as well as current statistical standards. New metric measurements from the pelvis and femur were also proposed and tested to assess their utility as race indicators. Finally, this research addressed concerns that skeletal collections like the Robert J. Terry Skeletal …

The Effects Of Student Involvement In Afterschool Activities On Childhood Obesity, Lauren E. Van Derzee

Master's Theses

Childhood obesity has been a significant health issue in the United States since the 1970s. In an effort to combat this issue, children are encouraged to be physically active and maintain a nutritional diet. Previous sociological literature has analyzed the effects of the family and neighborhood environment in an effort to understand the socioeconomic forces influencing obesity. This study extends this literature by analyzing the effects of how children spend their time in structured, semi-structured, and unstructured afterschool activities. Building upon Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice and concept of cultural capital, I argue that afterschool activities present a particular structured …

Social Exclusion And Casual Sex Willingness: The Role Of Gender And Relationship Status, Stephanie D. Finneran

Master's Theses

Previous research has shown that social exclusion has very negative effects on individuals, even when the excluders are out-group members. In fact, certain forms of out-group exclusion, such as racial discrimination, can have more detrimental effects on one’s health and well-being than being excluded by members of one’s in-group. The current study used Cyberball—a computer ball-tossing game—to examine the effects of gender-based exclusion (i.e., same vs. opposite sex) on willingness to engage in casual sex. Results showed exclusion by same-gender (in-group) players led to higher casual-sex willingness than did opposite-gender (out-group) exclusion. However, the effect was moderated by participant gender …

The Influence Of Workaholism On Work-Life Issues Through Boundary Management: Moderating Effects Of Telecommuting, Anna K. Young

Master's Theses

There are many personality and contextual variables that can contribute to negative home-domain functioning. The current study examined the effect of two specific variables, workaholism and telecommuting, on work-life issues. A moderated mediation model was tested, in which boundary flexibility mediated the relationship between workaholism and telecommuting and work-to-family conflict and family disengagement. Additionally, telecommuting was tested as a moderator of the indirect effect of workaholism on work-life issues through boundary flexibility willingness. I recruited 494 full-time, salaried, working adults through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Though there were many significant direct effects, the data only suggested partial support for the indirect …

Making The Invisible Visible: Latin American Women With Undocumented Status And Their Experiences Of Intimate Partner Violence, Maria Teresa (Maytte) Restrepo-Ruiz

Master's Theses

This study aimed to contribute to the currently scarce literature on unauthorized Latina immigration and intimate partner violence expanding the analysis to include women’s reasons for migrating, their experiences during the migration journey, and the intimate partner violence once they arrived in the United States. Through these women’s voices, this study shows how the lack of migratory documentation affects the experiences of Latina immigrant women. Qualitative data were collected from 11 in-depth interviews with Latin American women that had an undocumented status and received services from five domestic violence programs in Connecticut. A thematic analysis approach was employed to examine …

The Relationship Between Mothers' Physical Self-Perceptions, Exercise Self-Regulation, Body Image Discrepancy And Sport-Specific Socialization Support For Their Daughters, Janelle K. Beilman

Master's Theses

Opportunities in youth sport are impacted by many socialization factors. In order to keepfemales engaged in sport, the study of additional factors that predict girls sport socialization is important. This study investigated the relationships among mothers’ physical self-perceptions, self-regulation of exercise, body image discrepancies (BID) and sport/activity socialization for their daughters. One hundred and four mothers (M= 44.932, SD= 5.8078) completed self-report questionnaires that assessed their physical self-perceptions, exercise self-regulation, body image discrepancy and support for their daughters’ participation in 20 different sports and physical activities. Results indicated that no significant correlations between the physical self-perception competence and most importance …

Selling Tradition: Impression Management And Draft Animal Agriculture Of A Mississippi Farmstead, Matthew Corbin Lance

Master's Theses

This thesis is a case study of a family of farmers in Mississippi’s Piney Woods who use horse-drawn equipment to grow crops. This practice is notable in the context of a larger agricultural system that prioritizes mechanization (particularly the use of tractors). The production style and their use of local direct selling via farmers markets allowed them to thrive economically because they were able to tap into a niche market of consumers desiring an alternative to the modern, conventional agricultural system.

Other literature on Alternative Food Networks (AFN) discusses the issues of alterity and appropriation—that is, whether AFN ventures are …

Predictors Of Major Commitment, Anna Jill Womack

Master's Theses

Contextual (e.g. job fit, job involvement), individual (e.g. job satisfaction, need for achievement), and demographic (e.g. gender, educational level) factors have been related to forms of career commitment (i.e. affective, continuance, and normative commitment), highlighting that the commitment one feels toward his or her career is a complex variable. Furthermore, commitment has been associated with intent to remain within a profession or organization (Bowling, Beehr, & Lepisto, 2006; Den Hartog & Belschak, 2007; Duffy, Dik, & Steger, 2011; Goulet & Singh, 2002), suggesting that commitment is an important component of retention within a career. Correspondingly, commitment to one's academic major …

The Effects Of The Nat Turner Slave Revolt On The Health And Welfare Of 19th-Century Slaves In Southeastern Virginia, Jeffrey Clifford Auerbach

Master's Theses

The Nat Turner Slave Revolt stands as a major turning point in the history of American slavery and represents a fundamental shift in the master slave relationship. This event shattered the previous paternalistic view and caused a fundamental reorganization of slave life. Included in this reorganization was a shift in the subsistence practice, moving away from morenutritious food grown by the slaves themselves to poor quality rations provided by the masters. This change in subsistence practices dealt a serious blow to the nutritional health of those living in the area surrounding the revolt.

By examining stature recorded in the County …

Examining Student Perceptions: Ethics And Misconduct In Today's Police Department, William Andrew Davis

Master's Theses

Police ethics and decision making are issues of concern to both academic scholars and police leaders. While previous studies have focused on perceptions of police officers, little research has focused on the perceptions of young people about police ethical decision-making. This study aims to capture such perceptions from a cohort of college students majoring in criminal justice. Students from an undergraduate criminal justice program (n=263) were surveyed to determine their attitudes toward various ethical components of police work, including the prevalence of misconduct and the impact of a college education on ethical decision-making. Moreover, the effect of successful completion of …

Latino Rhythms In Downtown Los Angeles: A Case Study Of The Social, Physical, And Economic Environment Of "La Broadway", Ulises Antonio Gonzalez

Master's Theses

In an attempt to practice inclusive planning, this research project explores whether Broadway Avenue functions as an ethnic commercial strip and identifies social, physical, and economic components that contribute to the Latino neighborhood/ barrio. Using pilot studies Loukaitou-Sideris (2000), Loukaitou-Sideris (2002), Rojas (1993), Manzumdar et al. (2000), Main (2007), and Fernando (2007) as a foundation, this research uses a single case study in addition to several research methods: 42 random surveys, literature review and analysis, site observations/pictures, and land use survey.

Various scholars write that barrios have unique physical, social, economic, and political attributes. A new aesthetic, art, symbols, …

Tspoons: Tracking Salience Profiles Of Online News Stories, Kimberly Laurel Paterson

Master's Theses

News space is a relatively nebulous term that describes the general discourse concerning events that affect the populace. Past research has focused on qualitatively analyzing news space in an attempt to answer big questions about how the populace relates to the news and how they respond to it. We want to ask when do stories begin? What stories stand out among the noise? In order to answer the big questions about news space, we need to track the course of individual stories in the news. By analyzing the specific articles that comprise stories, we can synthesize the information gained from …

Integrated Senior Housing, Kyungok Ha

Master's Theses

It is difficult to have an integrated population throughout all age strata in a society. Especially if one considers the growing percentage of the aged population and their feeling alienated in their current physical surroundings. In order to solve imminent problems with the growing elderly population, a primary task should be considering how to improve the housing of senior citizens. Furthermore, bringing the youth and elderly together would produce a functioning self-help system. It engenders interaction strategies by employing the strengths of one generation to serve another generation’s needs. This idea was introduced by the systemic family therapist Gerhard Schiele. …