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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
A Theory Of Democratic Christian Appeals, Andrew Macphail
A Theory Of Democratic Christian Appeals, Andrew Macphail
Honors Papers
The conventional wisdom in American politics associates Christian appeals with the Republican Party. However, the fact is, many prominent Democratic politicians identify as Christian along with many Democratic voters. This paper draws upon extant research in political psychology to propose a theory of how Christian appeals from Democratic politicians might positively influence liberal voters’ political decision-making. The first section provides a brief overview of Christian social activism in the United States in order to establish the compatibility between progressivism and Christianity throughout American history. The second section outlines the theory that proposes how Democratic politicians could use Christian appeals to …
Individualism, Privacy, And Poverty In Determining The Best Interests Of The Child, Dena Jolie Miller
Individualism, Privacy, And Poverty In Determining The Best Interests Of The Child, Dena Jolie Miller
Honors Papers
This thesis explores the guiding legal standard in child custody law, that custody should be decided 'in the best interests of the child.' I begin with the most common critique of the best interests standard: that it is too vague, allowing for the personal biases of judges to play too great a role in custody decision-making. I challenge this critique by examining the standard in a different context, shifting from divorce proceedings to the child welfare system, to ask how the vagueness of the standard is mobilized differently in child protective proceedings. I argue that it is not the individual …