Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“Mexico Has Spilt American Blood Upon American Soil!” The Role Of The Mexico-U.S. Border In The Promotion Of American Nationalism, 1821-1920, Jon M. Williams Phd

Sociology ETDs

International borders not only serve as the edge of a nation-state's sovereign territory, but they also aid in informing popular conceptions of its national identity. This study examines how the Mexico - U.S. border served as a spark for episodes of American nationalism from 1821-1920. In examining three historical periods whereby the border was forming, disrupted, or challenged, I demonstrate how borders serve as sources, both symbolically and physically for the expressions of American nationalism. I utilize inductive qualitative discourse analysis of American actors embedded along the border, in Mexico, or serving as political leaders, to sample some of the …

Disrupting Whiteness In Education Organizations: Community Testimonios Of Strategy, Resistance, And Perseverance In Educational Justice Organizing, Florence E. Castillo

Sociology ETDs

Through this project, I utilize multiple approaches to disrupt whiteness. I make a case for centering Indigenous and non-Western methods, such as testimonio in sociological studies, to disrupt the academic whiteness of knowledge creation and validation. Whiteness itself is amorphous and looks different depending on circumstances, location, who holds power, and context (Hughey 2016). Utilizing a theory of racialized organizations, I shed light on how whiteness is normalized in education institutions through race-neutral, everyday actions (Ray 2019). This further disrupts whiteness by rendering it visible. Finally, I highlight the different modes of resistance that educational activists use to disrupt whiteness. …

The Relationship Between Social Mobilization, Crime, And Crime Control: A Longitudinal Analysis Of 900 Cities In The U.S. Between 1964-1995, Erin R. Coleman

Sociology ETDs

This dissertation explores the longitudinal relationships between social mobilization, crime, and crime control. The dataset used to explore these relationships combine Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data on crimes known to the police and crime clearances by arrest with decennial census data and data on reported social mobilization events reported in the New York Times between 1964-1995. The data include information from all these sources for over 900 cities in the U.S. Analyses model violent and property crime counts, and well as clearance by arrest rates in the month after the social mobilization events. Results show that social mobilization is often …

The Gayborhood Was Never Here For Some Of Us! Health Consequences Of Racialized Exclusion Among U.S. Sexual Minorities Across The Lifecourse, Kasim Ortiz

Sociology ETDs

Sexual minorities exhibit elevated rates of cigarette smoking, although disparate patterns exist when examining racial/ethnic differences among sexual minorities in the United States. Evidence suggests examining differing neighborhood contexts may help illuminate drivers of tobacco-related outcomes among sexual minorities, especially with respect to racial/ethnic variations among this understudied population. Adapting a framework of whiteness and health, the current project examined the role of racial residential segregation and neighborhood disadvantage as neighborhood contexts significantly associated with cigarette smoking across the adult lifespan. Using data from the 2010 Social Justice Sexual Project, merged with U.S. Census data, I find that residing in …

(In) Visible In The Field And In The Data: Uncertain, Hidden, And Homeless. Essays On The Conceptualization Of Homelessness, Elements Of Social Exclusion, And Integrity Of Social Relationships, Places, And Resources, Richard Neil Greene

Sociology ETDs

This dissertation includes three empirical chapters framed by an overarching introduction and conclusion. Together, they comprise a mixed methods and community engaged study on homelessness, mortality, and systems related to homelessness. This study uniquely speaks to the social construction of homelessness and construction of knowledge about homelessness from a sociological perspective. Data come from: 1) qualitative interviews (N=20) with field deputy medical investigators (FDMI) in New Mexico about conceptualizing homelessness and housing instability as a contributing cause of death; 2) quantitative death records comparing people affected by homelessness who were identified as having been engaged with services or were not …

Intersectionality, Relational Positionality, And The Lived Experiences Of Inequality: Contextualizing Intergenerational Opioid Use And The Constrained Choices Of Indigenous, Latina, And White Women Caregivers In Rural New Mexico, Carmela M. Roybal

Sociology ETDs

Opioid addiction is a serious and persistent global health issue. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that between 1999 and 2016, more than 630,000 people in the United States died of an overdose of a prescription opioid or illicit drug (CDC 2018). Extant research has suggested that for nearly a century, New Mexico has experienced some of the highest rates of prescription and illicit opioid death in the nation (Goldstein and Herrera, 1995; Landon, 2003; Shah et al., 2008). I examined intergenerational opioid dependence through the lived experience of women caregivers of opioid-addicted family members. Data …

Three Essays On Responsibility And The Transition To Adulthood In Comparative Perspective, Andrew Lee Breidenbach

Sociology ETDs

This hybrid dissertation examines three related topics on the concept of responsibility regarding adulthood and transitioning into this status: a) youth conceptions of responsibility for delayed home-leaving, b) the relationship between family responsibility and transition timing, and c) global conceptions of parental responsibilities to children. First, I find that youth typically see external, structural causes preventing earlier home-leaving over internal, more culturally-motivated causes leading individuals to prefer staying at home longer. Second, I find that total housework and specifically the “female-typical” interior work of cooking, cleaning and caring speeds up parenthood while delaying the achievement transitions of finishing school and …

A Quantitative Investigation Of Ovarian Cancer Disparities, Jimmy Valdes

Sociology ETDs

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most deadly form of cancer, and the leading cause of death among gynecologic malignancies in US women. Although this literature has empirically investigated parts of this phenomenon, several major gaps exist. First, this literature rarely attempts to theoretically contextualize the findings by explaining broader etiologies of ovarian cancer. It also does not attempt to explain how or why the social determinants of ovarian cancer disparity, primarily socioeconomic status and race, may be interrelated. Lastly, few studies have attempted to better understand the distinct ways in which Hispanics, as an ethnic group, fit into the ovarian …

Recruitment To, And Consequences Of, High-Risk Non-Violent Anti-Regime Campaigns In Autocratic Societies: The Egyptian Uprising Of 2011, Marian Azab

Sociology ETDs

This dissertation examines whether the Western-driven model of recruitment to, and consequences of, high-risk activism that McAdam introduced before the internet applies to non-violent anti-regime campaigns in autocratic contexts after the social media revolution. I use the case of the 18-day non-violent Egyptian uprising of 2011 to investigate these topics. I specifically utilize data from the Arab Democracy Barometer survey and other micro- and macro-level sources. I find that face-to-face ties are most effective in recruitment to such movements. Online networks create new forms of dissent, such as online activism. Moreover, online ties are especially useful in mobilizing women. I …

The Association Of Psychological Distress And Mental Health With English Language Acquisition Of Recently Resettled Refugees In The United States, Charlisa C. Christian

Sociology ETDs

Host country language proficiency among resettled refugees has been associated with better mental health; yet, in qualitative studies, refugees describe psychological distress acting as a barrier to their learning. To clarify varying results, this longitudinal study of refugees from Africa, the Middle East, and Afghanistan (n=290) examined language acquisition with positive mental health and psychological distress as distinct concepts on correlated unipolar dimensions (Keyes 2002; Rumbaut 1989). With multilevel modeling, initial English speaking ability was significantly related to increasing positive mental health over time, indicating host country language proficiency acts as a protective factor for refugees, and supporting the growing …

Good And Bad Deaths: How Coalitions Transformed Framing Processes In The Movement For Physician Assisted Suicide, Keith D. Wilkins

Sociology ETDs

Research on physician assisted suicide (PAS) has largely been neglected by sociological scholarship which has focused primarily on how demographic features affect support of this contentious issue. PAS represents a unique case to contribute to sociological knowledge on coalitions and framing, which has yet to fully understand how movement frames change over time and what factors makes coalition activity worth the effort. The current study addresses these gaps in the literature by studying how activist organizations that support (right-to-die) or resist (right-to-life) PAS, frame the issue. Specifically, this study aims to answer two research questions: (1) How do PAS social …

A Multi-Level Study Of Clearance: The Role Of Gender, Jenna Dole

Sociology ETDs

Objective. To examine the role that gender plays in the clearance of a reported criminal incident, and whether it varies across places. Methods. Using multi-level logistic regressions, data from the 2014 National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), 2010 Census data, 2013 Law Enforcement Management Statistics, and the 2010 Municipal Yearbook are used to examine the effects of a victim’s sex on crime clearance. Results. Women are initially advantaged in clearance before controlling for any evidentiary factors. However, most of the relationship is explained away when controlling for the relationship between the victim and the offender. Women are more likely to be …

Race, Socioeconomics, Intelligence, And Criminal Offending: Accounting For Variation In Criminal Justice Outcomes, Elise Marie Ferguson

Sociology ETDs

Racial disparities in arrests and incarceration are well documented and typically considered the result of differences in rates of offending. However, research indicates variation in rates of arrest and incarceration by race is not due entirely to differences in offending. While criminal offending can result in part from differences in economic and social factors, these factors also influence criminal justice outcomes. The focal concerns perspective posits that criminal justice actors develop a schema – a pattern of thought or behavior – which can influence decision making and lead to differential treatment by race in criminal justice outcomes. This schema can …

A Sociological Analysis Of The Cultural Competence Construct: Essays On The Conceptualization, Operationalization, And Implementation Of Cultural Competence In The U.S. Medical Profession, Cirila Estela Vasquez Guzman

Sociology ETDs

PURPOSE: At the turn of the 21^st century, the concept of cultural competence in medicine became a strategy to address cultural diversity and widening health and healthcare inequities. Cultural competence combines the tenets of patient-centered care, with an emphasis on the social and cultural factors that affect the quality of medical services, treatment decisions, and health outcomes. Substantively, this dissertation answers core questions about the parameters of cultural competence in medicine. Theoretically, it considers the jurisdictional terrain of the medical profession and its changing nature concerning the adoption of cultural competence. The overarching research question is how, why, and …

The Racialized And Gendered Representations Of Multiculturalism From An Elite Firm Approach, Ryeora Choe

Sociology ETDs

This thesis explores how Korean business firms reproduce racial division and hierarchies in the face of changing immigration under new post-colonial dynamics. In my exploration, I ask the following questions: How is the idea of multiculturalism represented, framed, and carried out in their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs? Who is included as ‘multicultural’ in these programs? What racial meanings do these programs convey in the Korean context? Using qualitative content analysis of reports and websites, I analyze how the top 30 Korean firms negotiate the meanings of multiculturalism and shape notions of it through their CSR programs. Findings show that …

Racial Socioeconomic Inequality, Structural Disadvantage, And Neighborhood Crime: Testing The Relative And Absolute Deprivation Perspectives, Samuel A. Torres

Sociology ETDs

Few studies of urban crime patterns have explored whether indicators of relative deprivation (e.g., income inequality) significantly associate with crime at the most theoretically appropriate level of analysis, the neighborhood; whether they do so net of controls for measures of absolute deprivation (e.g., structural disadvantage); and whether their effects vary by race/ethnicity. Drawing on data from the 2000 National Neighborhood Crime Study (NNCS) and census data extracted from the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS), I explore these questions for overall, intraracial, and interracial inequality in income and educational attainment with respect to neighborhood homicide, burglary, and robbery rates. Their …

Mobilization And Repression In The Occupy Movement, Eric Turner

Sociology ETDs

This dissertation project focuses on dynamics of mobilization and repression in the Occupy movement. This movement emerged in late 2011 in the United States and sought to protest the growing economic inequality and the growing influence of corporations in politics. This project focuses on Occupy chapters which emerged in 74 out of the 100 largest cities in the United States. The first empirical chapter of this project focuses on dynamics which affect differences in protest size, measured in terms of protest turnouts relative to population. This chapter first demonstrates the importance of large student populations and greater numbers of universities …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Degree And Job Match Of Native Americans And Whites, Sofia A. Locklear

Sociology ETDs

Objective. To examine the labor market returns on education and the effects of match between degree and job field between Native Americans and their White counterparts. Methods. Using logistic and OLS regressions, pooled data from the 2003 and 2010 National Survey of College Graduates is used to examine the effects of match between bachelor’s degree and job field on earnings. Results. Having a match creates statistically significant differences in on income with those with matches in engineering making 1.26 times as much and those with a match in business making 1.17 times as much as their unmatched counterpart. Notable …

Relationally Constructing Sexual Identity: The Effect Of Friendship Networks On Same-Sex Sexuality Development, Alena Kuhlemeier

Sociology ETDs

Drawing upon social network and sexual identity literature, this study investigates the extent to which social integration can influence the development of non-normative sexuality. Existing literature demonstrates the significance of social support in predicting health outcomes. This study seeks to broaden existing understandings of the importance of friendships to encompass their influence on identity development among adolescents questioning their sexual identity. Specifically, this study uses logistic regression to analyze data from two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Logistic analyses examine the interactive effects of adolescent same sex attraction and each of three distinct friendship network variables …

Eastern Mysticism And The Sociology Of Knowledge: An Application Of Empirical Methodologies Of Mind To The Problem Of Ideology, Jeremy M. Brown

Sociology ETDs

This thesis seeks to explore the connections between mysticism and science, focusing particularly on the problems of ideological and cultural bias in the social sciences which traditional methodologies have been unable to overcome. The first and second chapters trace the development of Western science and the social sciences in an effort to define the "problem of ideology," or the problem of cultural, ideologi­cal and individual bias. Chapters three and four are devoted to the analysis of the developments of Eastern science and holistic "empirical methodologies of mind" and a re-evaluation of Eastern and Western traditions in light of historical, cultural, …

Sex Differences In Political Efficacy, 1974, Carol E. Higgins

Sociology ETDs

In a secondary analysis of data from The CPS 1974 American National Election Study the effects of sex on sense of political efficacy were tested. High political efficacy was defined by disagreement with the statement, ''Sometimes politics and government seem so complicated that a person like me can't really understand what is going on.” In the overall sample men were somewhat more likely than women to exhibit high political efficacy. Single controls for education, employment, occupational rank, presence of children in the home and their ages when they are present, region, social class, respondent age, and marital status generally revealed …

Deprivation Theory And Occult Belief, Bruce Hall

Sociology ETDs

ABSTRACT

This thesis is an investigation of a number of alternative explanations of belief in and activity in various subareas of the occult milieu. These subareas include astrology, spiritualism, satanism and various occult activities such as palm and card reading.

A number of alternative hypotheses concerning the rela­tionships between occult belief and practice and status and psychic deprivation as measured by self-esteem, self-competence and anomie were developed. Alternative explanations which centered around peer influence and religious orthodoxy were also presented. Three principle hypotheses were tested:

1)belief in and activity in various aspects of the occult

will vary inversely as a …

Social Composition, Interaction And The Success Of High School Football Teams, Jill Kendrick Schneider

Sociology ETDs

Is there a sociological explanation for the pattern of consistent winning and consistent losing that is found at all levels of football competition as well in the New Mexico high school football program? A study of the 1975 New Mexico high school football season presents evidence that definite performance patterns have persisted over the last ten years and therefore cannot be strictly accounted for on the basis of ability and talent of individual players and coaches. It is hypothesized that the social structure and social interaction of each team were possible factors affecting team performance. Three hypotheses were tested: 1) …

Substantive And Ideological Aspects Of Science: An Analysis Of The Velikovsky Controversy, Robert E. Mcaulay

Sociology ETDs

Conventional conceptions of Science hold that assessment of scientific ideas takes place without extraneous economic, social or cultural interference. Thus, while metaphysical-cultural beliefs may be integral to a theory's genesis, evaluation of scientific merit is seen to be largely based on the empirical evidence provided by observation and experiment. In fact, however, without impugning scientific knowledge it is possible to demonstrate that both substantive and ideological factors may regularly influence the course of scientific practice. Analysis of the reception afforded the ideas of Immanuel Velikovsky reveal that, as in the case of the Copernican Revolution, extra-scientific influences may intertwine with …

An Exploration Of Alternative Causal Models For A Set Of Temporally Ambiguous Social Variables, Charles Edward Mcquade

Sociology ETDs

This investigation explores and evaluates several causal models specifying alternative causal relations among a set of temporally ambiguous social variables. Using the method of path analysis and employing current techniques used in the evaluation of such models, several alternative causal models are estimated and evaluated in order to ascertain a pattern of causal relations among the variables which provides the best fit to the data. The study presents four ordinal path analyses of survey data analyzed in a previous Master's thesis (McBride, 1972). Following McBride's theoretical argument, which specifies subjectively experienced feelings of alienation among undergraduate students as a cause …

The Labeling Perspective And Commitment Procedures: A Case Study Of Bernalillo District Court In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Edeltraut Hannemann

Sociology ETDs

An effort is made to analyze the labeling perspective by contrasting the clinical vs. the societal reaction model. Erving Goffman's and Thomas J. Scheff's theory of ascribed deviance with its social consequences, and Kai Erikson's conception of role-validation and role-commitment are utilized to examine its effects on the mentally ill. In this critical analysis of current commitment procedures attention is drawn to the field of forensic psychiatry, the medicolegal criteria, to the laws and statutes, and to concepts such as mental illness, insanity, and dangerousness. These concepts are vague, undefined, and ambiguous. They are not defined in objective scientific terms …

Smelser's Value-Added Approach To The Study Of Collective Behavior: The Karate Craze As A Case In Point, Stephen Earl Doeren

Sociology ETDs

This thesis is an exploratory case study of participation in karate based on the concept of a craze presented by Smelser. Some specific hypotheses concerning how the determinants in Smelser's theory could be applied to the emergence of karate were presented for an empirical study of this phenomenon.

To test these hypotheses, a sample of adult male karate participants (karatekas) at an Albuquerque karate school were interviewed. Additional knowledge was gained by participant observation in karate classes. For comparative purposes, questionnaires were distributed to adult male members who belonged to two Albuquerque health spas.

Compared with the spa participants, the …

Tutoring In Albuquerque:A Study In Goal Transformation, Janet Frank

Sociology ETDs

This study examines the school volunteer program in Albuquerque, its organization and administration, and the people who have participated as volunteers. In this regard, comparisons were undertaken of low income and middle or upper income schools as to participation and involvement of persons from neighborhoods of both types, at the administrative and volunteer levels of the program.

A theoretical framework was provided into which the data and conclusions of the study could be integrated. This frame­work focused upon the various processes of institutionaliza­tion, the transition from charismatic to bureaucratic leader­ship, cooptation, and organizational adaptation to precarious values.

A survey was …

Emile Durkheim And The Categories Of The Understanding, Barbara Patricia Hostetler

Sociology ETDs

In The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, Emile Durkheim attempts to demonstrate the social character of the categories of the understanding--concepts such as space, time, causation, etc. The present study is devoted to clarification of this account of the categories. It is proposed that Durkheim's account of the relation between the categories and society may be understood more clearly by interpreting his categorial formulation as one concerned with the origin of the categories, not in an absolute, but in a relative sense of .. origin." To show that this is the case, the proposition "the categories are social in …

Late Industrialization And Political Change: The Case Of Germany, Judith C. Peloquin

Sociology ETDs

The advance of industrialization and the process of modernization in all countries produced significant shifts in the distribution of wealth and massively affected existing relations of power. The transition from the pre-industrial to the modern world is examined in Germany in an effort, to explore the causal factors which facilitated the rise of a fascist political system in Germany, while democratic and communistic political systems resulted in other countries. Barrington Moore's theory of the coalition of economic interests that forms as a result of the inherited social structure remaining from feudal organizations is utilized to explain the rise of the …