Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Reclaiming Fat, Emilie Debaie

Health Policy & Management Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Changes In New Hampshire’S Republican Party: Evolving Footprint In Presidential Politics, 1960-2008, Dante J. Scala

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief describes a series of dramatic changes in New Hampshire's political landscape over the past four decades. Examining presidential elections from 1960 to 2008, author Dante Scala uncovers a series of significant shifts in New Hampshire's political geography at the county level. He reports that historically Republican counties Grafton and Merrimack have both tilted Democratic consistently in recent decades and that New Hampshire has become less Republican overall. All of these changes have impacted not just general elections in New Hampshire, but the Republican presidential primary as well.

Good Food, Good People: Understanding The Cultural Repertoire Of Ethical Eating, Josee Johnston, Michelle Szabo, Alexandra Rodney

Publications and Scholarship

Ethical consumption is understood by scholars as a key way that individuals can address social and ecological problems. While a hopeful trend, it raises the question of whether ethical consumption is primarily an elite social practice, especially since niche markets for ethical food products (for example, organics, fair trade) are thought to attract wealthy, educated consumers. Scholars do not fully understand the extent to which privileged populations think about food ethics in everyday shopping, or how groups with limited resources conceptualize ethical consumption. To address these knowledge gaps, the first goal of this paper is to better understand how consumers …

Do You Believe The Climate Is Changing? Answers From New Survey Research, Lawrence C. Hamilton

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief explores how political views influence Americans’ understanding and perception of science. The research is based on a national version of the Community and Environment in Rural America survey called NCERA, and on New Hampshire’s statewide Granite State Poll. Author Lawrence Hamilton reports that most people on both surveys feel that they understand either a great deal or a moderate amount about global warming or climate change. However, deep partisan divisions affect both personal beliefs about climate change and perceptions of agreement among scientists. Democrats are much more likely to state they believe that climate change is happening, caused …

Portraits Of Empowerment Exhibited By One Million Signatures Campaign Activists, Manijeh Badiee

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Iranian women have shown themselves to be anything but victims (Afkhami, 2009; Price, 1996; Shiranipour, 2002). Although they live in an oppressive regime (Nafisi, 1999; ―Symbolic annihilation,‖ 1999), grassroots efforts of their One Million Signatures Campaign transformed gender politics in Iran (Khorasani, 2009). The Campaign has become international, and Iranian Americans have played a prominent role in furthering its message (Tohidi, 2010).

Iranian women‘s struggles reflect the global phenomenon of women‘s movements (Ferree, 2006). Empowerment is used to conceptualize such movements, but few studies have explored individuals from the Middle East (e.g. Dufour & Giraud, 2007).

The present study addressed …

Review Of The Book Gender And Globalization: Patterns Of Women’S Resistance, Erica G. Polakoff And Ligaya Lindio-Mcgovern, (Eds.)., Mantra Roy

Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

How To Sever The Legs Of An Octopus: Tunisia’S Ongoing Revolution, Matthew Hammel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Kasbah square is large and covered in barbwire. Military men stand on the inside of the fence cradling automatic rifles, joking, chatting, texting on their cell phones. Coming out from the bustle of the souks the square feels tranquil. It is September, seven months since the square became a temporary home to thousands of protestors who demanded the end of oppressive government in Tunisia. It was here that the Tunisian people solidified their revolution, refusing to be appeased by the flight of a figurehead while the tentacles of his regime remained.

Ben Ali ruled Tunisia for twenty-three years. During …

La Derecha Contemporánea En Chile: Su Rol En El Movimiento Estudiantil, Alexandra Jane Bellows

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This investigation studies the political right in Chile and how they see their role within the student movement of 2011. One of the most relevant topics in current Chilean politics, the student movement has organized, over the course of the past nine months, a series of strikes, protests and demonstrations, rallying at certain times over 100,000 people. The students are demanding change to the structure of the higher education system, a system established during the 1980’s under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and largely influenced by the neoliberal model of Milton Freidman and the “Chicago boys.” This movement has …

Mecanismos De La Participación Política El Movimiento Para Reformar El Sistema De La Licencia Postnatal En Chile, Lucas Hernández

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This essay is intended to accomplish a systematic presentation of the postnatal debate that occurred in Chile from 2009-2011 with a specific focus on the role played by social organizations to organize and mobilize the political participation of the citizenry. The thought of an extension of post-natal leave was born in the 2009 election campaign where all candidates, including the current president Sebastian Piñera, advocated for an extension of this coverage. Sebastian Piñera, the first conservative president since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, not only promised to make maternity leave longer and more flexible, he also pledged to remove obstacles …

A Field Study Of Consociationalism In The Northern Ireland Assembly: A Moderating Influence Or Threat To Democracy?, Ellen Louise Noble

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is the outcome of a month-long exploratory study on whether consociationalism has a moderating influence on politics in Northern Ireland. I analyzed the impact of consociationalism on policymaking, party platforms and voter choice to determine if it strengthens and enlarges the middle ground or bifurcates the political community into two extreme and conflicting political agendas. Data was obtained through a literature study and eight interviews with academics as well as political representatives and advisors. This research tested two competing theories of consociationalism: David Horowitz’s theory of consociationalism as a centrifugal force and John McGarry’s and Brendand O’Leary’s theory …

The Hui Migrant Laborers’ Urban Experience And Implications For The Development Of Civil Society In China, Billy Yates

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Recent unrest in China by migrant laborers’ increasing labor militancy, as well as unrest caused by Islamic groups in China ranging from separatist movements to backlash from discrimination have been the focus of the Chinese government’ attempts to main stability within the PRC. In the largest country in the world, rapid changes as the result of economic liberalization and the introduction of global capitalism have had drastic impacts on society, from increasing inequality to the introduction of Western media and ideas. Unrest has been accompanied by developments in civil society as Islamic institutions chafing under Chinese regulations become places of …

Who Benefits From Early Childcare Subsidy Design In Ireland?, Bernie O'Donoghue Hynes, Noirin Hayes

Articles

Best Newcomer Article

The design of policy tools reveals underlying biases that are not easily identified in policy documents. A review of two early childhood education and care subsidies in Ireland aimed at different target populations exposes differential treatment of children, parents and service providers. It also demonstrates how in a split system ‘early education’ is prioritised over ‘childcare’. The designs serve to reinforce stereotypes that enable the powerful and advantaged to accrue benefits while those perceived to be less deserving are burdened through the maldistribution of resources.

The Revolutionary Art: Street Art Before And After The Tunisian Revolution, Nicholas Korody

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Art and revolution have always commingled. Often, periods of social upheaval are also periods of profound artistic experimentation. For example, the Bolshevik revolution encouraged constructivism and the daring new forms of the Russian avante-garde. Additionally, art is often used as a mechanism to incite people into action. The Cuban revolution, Chinese revolution, and Russian revolution all created unique and highly influential political propaganda.

During the Arab Spring, the series of mass protests and government-overthrows that erupted in early 2011 across North Africa and the Middle East, little was reported in the media of the cultural changes that existed. These countries …

Oduvek (Since The Beginning): Roma Narratives Of Continuous Discrimination And Perspectives On Identity, Marginalization, And Assimilation In Niš, Serbia, Erin Humphries

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Previous research into Roma memory studies and narratives has found a strong focus on the present and a tendency to ‘obliterate’ the past. This paper explores Roma perceptions of discrimination in Niš, Serbia and its continuity throughout history. Findings suggest that although a majority of participants did recognize a continuity of discrimination, agreeing that Roma had always been discriminated against, when asked about specific time periods in Serbia, such as Yugoslavia and the 1990’s, most interviewees acknowledged these as time periods of equality. The present situation is also discussed in relation to the state of discrimination, the role of the …

¡Edúcame! Violencia, Autoridad E Identidad En El Movimiento Studiantil Actual, Aila Ferguson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Controversy has surrounded the current student movement since it began six months ago. One of the main causes for concern is the violence that seems to be a constant at every protest and demonstration. There are various contradicting opinions on the subject of violence and what is appropriate behavior for the student protesters and for the carabineros, or police officers, who are ordered to “maintain control” of the marches. Through interviews with various participants and political actors this research aims to contribute to a better understanding of government violence as a form of social control and to the understanding of …

“Necesitamos Amar La Autonomía”: Los Retos Que Enfrenta El Desarrollo Autonómico De La Raas, Joshua L. Mayer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Twenty-four years after the passage of the Autonomy Law (Ley 28) by the Nicaraguan National Assembly, the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS) continues to struggle to exercise its newfound rights and fill the space provided to it. Especially in the five years since President Daniel Ortega took office for the second time and began an earnest effort to reinforce the autonomy kept weak over the past sixteen years, the internal challenges facing the region’s ability to assert itself in its own political and economic development have become increasingly clear. This project aims to highlight these challenges as a synthesis of …

A National Symbol Or A National Frustration: Academic, Artistic, And Political Perspectives Of The African Renaissance Monument, Justin Wayne Ritter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

On 3 April 2010, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal inaugurated and dedicated the African Renaissance Monument to the people of his country, the people of Africa, and the rest of the world. By far one of the largest and most ambitious of his “Grand Projects,” the Monument has been enshrouded in controversy since its inception. Some have called it an idolatrous statue that insults the fundamental values of Islam, while others have praised it as a beacon of freedom leading Africa into the future. The research focuses on this controversy, and we begin by understanding the background and underlying debate …

Alliances Et Cultures: Cap Nord, Stacey Fitzpatrick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En essence, Alliance et Culture est un endroit où les gens peuvent rencontre et apprennent comment de vivre ensemble. Cette association, officiellement crée en 1987, avait la mission de répondre à problèmes d'intégration sociale par des actions collectives, et le développement d’une vie social dans les quartiers. Pour réaliser cet objectif ils offrent des activités et services ouvrent à tout le monde comme l’accompagnement à la scolarité, les ateliers, les cours d’alphabétisation et de Français, et les ludothèques et plus. Il y a trois centres en Toulouse dans diffèrent lieux qui contribuent aux les gens dans les quartiers des Mirail, …

Still Separate And Still Unequal: Community Relations’ Policy In Post-Conflict Northern Ireland, Wilma Metcalf

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Community relations‟ policy is the only reconciliation policy in Northern Ireland. With this being said, this paper is an exploration of community relations‟ policy in Northern Ireland and its efficacy in terms of Contact Theory, identity, and education. I begin by describing my methodology, challenges of doing the fieldwork, and overview of sources used. Then, I define the issue the policies are meant to address: Northern Ireland‟s segregated society. Then, I present a description of the approaches, both political and organizational, to address segregation and improve community relations. Here, I look at the Northern Ireland Act (1998), Sharing over Separation, …

Contradictions Between Party And Man: Student Perceptions Of Julius Malema, Annie Elise Shapiro

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In many democratic nations around the world, a large degree of opinions exist in terms of the political parties and leaders. In South Africa, though, for the past 17 years since the end of Apartheid, the same party has ruled the national government, the ANC. In the most recent provincial elections, however, the citizens of the Western Cape voted to elect the DA to represent them. This study, therefore, seeks to explore the views of university students in the Cape Town area, which is the biggest city in the Western Cape, of politics in South Africa. More specifically, this paper …

2011-2012 Us Army War College Key Strategic Issues List, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

Resolution, Reinvestment, And Realignment: Three Strategies For Changing Juvenile Justice, Jeffrey A. Butts, Douglas N. Evans

Publications and Research

In recent decades, legislators and administrators have created innovative policies to reduce the demand for expensive state confinement and to supervise as many young offenders as possible in their own communities. This report reviews the history and development of these strategies and portrays their methods as following one of three models: resolution, reinvestment, and realignment.

A Multicultural Grassroots Effort To Reduce Ethnic And Racial Social Distance Among Middle School Students, Christopher Donoghue, David Brandwein

Department of Sociology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Raising tolerance for people of different ethnic and racial groups is the goal of the Multicultural Mosaic program, a grass-roots multicultural education effort initiated by a small group of middle school teachers in a private school in the northeast. After years of enjoying the comforts of a modern, but European-based, curriculum, these teachers took the initiative to pursue an ambitious transformation of their entire school's approach to pedagogy. Not only would the English teachers introduce new texts by foreign authors and the social studies teachers introduce new materials on the history of non-Western cultures, but also the teachers of mathematics …

Between Structure And Agency: Assassination, Social Forces, And The Production Of The Criminal Subject, Cary H. Federman

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Assassins are often regarded as ahistorical figures of evil. In this article, I contest this view by analyzing the assassination of President William McKinley by Leon Czolgosz in 1901. There are two purposes to this article. The first is to situate McKinley’s assassination within the history and development of the social sciences, principally sociology, rather than assume that the assassin is a trans-historical representation of willful irresponsibility. The second is to describe and critique the discourse that made Czolgosz into a rational agent once he entered history as an assassin.

When Erving Goffman Was A Boy, Sherri Cavan

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

Like creating a mosaic, the bits and pieces of Erving Goffman’s life yield a picture of a complex man who lived in troubled times and through his writings changed the way whole generations saw the world. Looking at that life I chose to focus on his boyhood, from childhood through adolescence. My purpose is here descriptive, an ethnography of a childhood recounting events of Goffman’s early life and placing them in their social, historical and cultural context. That done, I will have a few words to say about the themes that I see in this narrative as well as some …

Language In The Name Of National Security: The Transformation Of Arabic Language Instruction In U.S. Institutions Of Higher Education, Evelyn Daugherty

Sociology Honors Projects

Government designation of Arabic as a “strategic language” following WWII transformed Arabic language instruction in U.S. institutions of higher education. Funding from the government created a shift away from teaching students to read and translate classical Arabic for academic purposes and toward teaching modern varieties of the language for communication. I employ a three-pronged institutional analysis that takes into account the role of government, the role of professional associations, and the role of individual instructors in the redefinition of norms governing Arabic language instruction during the past seventy years. I find that coercive pressure stemming from government interest affected Arabic …

Why We Don't Need An Academic Rebel Alliance, Edward Brennan

Other

As an intellectual, the first duty of the academic who wishes to engage with society is on the level of ideas, writes Eddie Brennan. Trying to build a new society within the institutions, language and politics of the nineteenth century is hopeless; what is needed from intellectuals and academics is rebellious thought.

Democratic Nationalistic Privilege And The Exclusion Of Europe's "Gypsy", Eli E. Roth

Senior Honors Projects

Europe is the world’s best example of a group of countries offering similar levels of political freedom, tolerance, and economic prosperity and security. Following the fall of Communism, Europe began to outpace the rest of the planet on aggregated indicators of development, and, according to Freedomhouse.org, only two of the world’s forty seven “not free” countries, Belarus and Russia, can be found on this continent. The Roma, frequently mislabeled as “Gypsies,” are among the few troubled populations residing in Europe. In the comprehensive 2006 Final Report on the Human Rights Situation of the Roma in Europe, one Romani man describes …

Self-Preparation: From New England To The Mississippi Delta, Emily C. Wojtusik

Senior Honors Projects

Self-Preparation: From New England to the Mississippi Delta

Emily Wojtusik

Faculty Sponsor: Gail Faris, Women’s Center

I have been accepted into the Teach for America (TFA) 2011 Corp, in the Mississippi Delta teaching elementary education. I was born and raised in Connecticut, and have attended the University of Rhode Island for the past 4 years. I have studied sociology with a concentration in criminology. This Senior Honors Project is both related to my areas of study and represents a slight departure that will prepare me for my teaching responsibilities in the Delta.

This project is a comprehensive study involving social …

Freedom To Vote In Kenya: Effects Of Perceived Corruption, Levels Of Political Trust, And Fear Of Political Violence And Intimidation, Ana Carinena

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

To understand attitudes about voting in Kenya, this study examines Kenyan voters’ feelings of freedom to vote according to their own will and without pressure. More specifically it seeks to determine the extent to which these feelings are affected by 1) perception of corruption, 2) levels of trust in the government, 3) fear of political violence and intimidation, and 4) ethnic identity. Rational choice theory and an insideroutsider perspective are applied to examine the issue from a theoretical framework. Previous research conducted in relation to voting behavior and perception of corruption, trust in government, and ethnicity, among other things, are …