Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mlcp Of Red Bull, Micah Winningham

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Red Bull is a marketer and distributor of one of the first major sports drinks to be introduced into the world, called the same name: Red Bull energy. Since the inception of the drink in the mid 1980’s by Dietrich Mateschitz in Austria as an attempt to create an alternative to coffee, the drink and brand of the Red Bull organization have exploded into one of the most popular and recognizable organizations of all time. The brand pushes the idea of their product giving the greatest boost of energy, and their slogan “Red Bull gives you wings!” reinforces the idea …

Don't Pop My Bubble: The Conundrum Of Cultural Codes And "Meeting In The Middle", Catherine Van Wey

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

The question of navigating cultural codes and nuances has been widely debated in the field of interpreting, with scholars advocating either for interpreters to be active cultural mediators for the people they are interpreting for, or to steer on the side of remaining culturally neutral. However, these perspectives have not adequately addressed the issue of cultural collisions and unspoken norms that may be prevalent in the backgrounds of the interpreters themselves, namely those located in Minnesota. My paper addresses the issue of cultural assimilation in interpreting, with special attention to the implicit cultural rules prevalent in Minnesota. The specific material …

What Influences Reproductive Rights Policy? State Abortion Restrictions And The Level Of State Democracy, Dylan C. Naughton

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

The overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 greatly altered the way reproductive rights policy is regulated in the United States. Sole policy-making jurisdiction was given to individual states, and many states have already passed legislation that both expands and restricts abortion access. This research examines what factors have the most influence on state-level abortion policy-making, specifically testing to determine how significant the level of democracy is in deciding how restrictive reproductive rights policies are implemented. Multiple regression models were run using various other variables to examine their impact on state reproduction restriction ranking using multiple subsets of data. Through …

Organizational Communication In The Wnba, Paris Fierkelepp

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

There are over 42,000 organizations in the world, each of which has their own style and practice of organization communication. Out of all those organizations, the one that I chose as the subject of my research paper is the Women’s National Basketball Association, better known as the WNBA. Throughout this paper, I will provide a brief history of the WNBA, patterns that I have identified regarding communication in the WNBA, connections between communication in the WNBA and the course content, some problems I identified regarding the communication in the WNBA, and my recommendations for fixing those problems.

A Heart On Ice: My Complicated Relationship With Minnesota’S Favorite Game, Mason Eischens

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Of all the states in the union, Minnesota is undoubtedly the most hockey-obsessed. At the heart of this fanaticism is a frigid town called Saint Paul where membership to a particular hockey club is akin to religious devotion. In this paper, I recall my own experiences with the sport and use them to analyze, from both a linguistic and ethnographic standpoint, the mechanisms of hockey culture both in my hometown of Saint Paul and more broadly throughout the state. In reliving my experiences, I illuminate both the joy of sports and a thread of toxicity, bullying, homophobia, and hazing that …

Not-So-Super Superfund: Cercla’S Biggest Issues, Cameron Berthiaume

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA/Superfund) is a federal law that allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clean up contaminated sites and hold the parties responsible for the contamination financially liable. However, CERCLA faces a number of challenges to fulfilling its mission. This report examines some of the biggest issues facing the law in the past and present.

Diversity In Morris With Social Media, Trey Rockey, Breckin Silvain

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This work is about how the media can affect the college process, which can let schools have more of a diverse school. Also this work discusses how the media has its positive and negative side effects.

Public Perceptions Of Corruption In East Asia: A Comparative Study Of Japan, Singapore, And South Korea, Isaiah Nielsen

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This research analyzes perceptions of corruption through comparative case studies of South Korea, Japan, and Singapore. It looks to political party affiliation and socioeconomic status for effects on an individual’s perception of corruption. It hypothesizes that individuals more affiliated with the ruling party will perceive the government as less corrupt and individuals that are less affiliated will perceive it as more. Socioeconomic status is split into income, social status, and education variables. Individuals with a lower income and status will perceive the government as more corrupt, while overall higher status and income individuals will perceive it as less. On the …

Fighting Gerrymandering By Automating Congressional Redistricting, Jacob Jenness

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Gerrymandering is a political problem that the United States has had for more than 200 years. Politicians have taken the dull and routine process of drawing congressional districts and turned it into a highly-partisan process. However, with recent improvements in redistricting algorithms, researchers Harry Levin and Sorelle Friedler have introduced their recursive Divide and Conquer Redistricting Algorithm. This algorithm has the potential to automate the process of congressional redistricting, thereby removing the potential for bias. By utilizing a set of partitioning and swapping algorithms, the Divide and Conquer Redistricting Algorithm achieves desirable goals, such as low population deviation, and high …

Electronic Voting Implementation Through Bitcoin Blockchain Technology, Cassie Schultz

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Even with all the advances we have seen in secure digital technology, the most secure way to currently cast a vote on election day consist of a hand-marked paper ballot. When extenuating circumstances arise, offering a voting environment that is accessible and safe for everyone, but also secure can be a difficult task under the current voting system. This paper discusses one proposed electronic voting system which uses blockchain technology. Based on a review of literature on blockchain technology and specific implementations of voting systems, a summary of relevant background information as well as implementation protocol are provided. Even though …

The Path To Eliminating Oppression: Why Anarchist Thinkers And Intersectional Practitioners Should Work Together, Samantha Montgomery

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

In this paper, I examine the similarities between the tenets of anarcha-feminism and the practices of those with intersectional viewpoints. During my research, I interviewed 3 women of color who are leaders in the elimination of oppression in Denver, CO, and learned that having an increased experience with interlocking oppression, as those with multi-marginalized identities do, results in having the expertise to recognize where oppression exists, and, in most cases, developing the empathy to fight against it. This paper thus concludes that if the United States of America was to systemically implement an intersectional perspective, it would then take measurable …

Ethnographic Moment: Navajo Nation Changing Racial Terminology In Response To Black Lives Matter Protests, Dani M. Austin

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

"Given Navajo Nation debates about changing racial terminology in response to Black Lives Matter protests, I will argue that modification of Diné Bizaad (Diné Bizaad means Navajo Language) is a progressive and positive shift. Language is constantly changing across social groups and time. From generation to generation, words take on different meanings. Words are invented and acquired from a variety of sources. Furthermore, unused words can expire from everyday usage. How do shifts in language occur?"

The Rise Of The Ideological Left? Testing The Asymmetrical Party Theory Through Case Studies Of 2018 Primary Elections, Wyatt Anderson

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

During the mid-term elections of 2018, primary challenges against Democratic incumbents in Congress captured the attention of national media. One of the most prominent cases of this was the victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York’s 14th Congressional District against the ten-time incumbent and Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley on June 26. While her successful primary challenge could be attributed to many different factors, of interest is the way in which she campaigned – bringing into question how primary campaigns have changed in recent years and the rhetoric that hopeful-nominees adopt to secure their party’s nomination. The central question of …

Immigrants Or Elites?: Contextualizing The Motivation Of The Rural American Vote In The Trump Era, Annika Johnson

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

The rural American vote was central to Donald Trump’s presidential victory in 2016. In an attempt to unpack the strongest motivators for rural Americans who voted for Trump, analyses explored the importance of anti-immigrant and anti-elite sentiment using a subset of rural participants in the 2016 American National Elections Study. Through a combination of quantitative data work, qualitative case studies and an extensive literature review, it was found that both anti-immigrant and anti-elite sentiments are indicators of a vote for Trump. However, the research and analyses suggest anti-immigrant sentiment is a stronger indicator.

Motivating Climate Activism Through Framing: Hope, Fear, Injustice, And Sacrifice, Josiah Gregg

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Climate Change is considered by many scientists to present a dire threat to world through its catastrophic potential. When this potential is combined with a political reality where political climate action seems impossible, citizens concerned by climate change are often paralyzed from climate activism through despair. It would thus be useful to discover how citizens can frame climate change in order to motivate themselves to action. In this project, I explore how political theorists have linked fear, hope, injustice, sacrifice, and the economic theories that have caused climate change, to their ability to inspire climate activism. I argue that political …

The Weathering Hypothesis: Sociocultural And Biological Factors Of Postpartum Depression Among Black Women, Anna Van Beusekom

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Black women experience higher rates of PPD than their White counterparts. To date, no one has linked experiences of racism and discrimination, the impacts racism and discrimination have on allostatic load, and the subsequent process of weathering to the elevated levels of PPD in Black women. However, the Weathering Hypothesis can be utilized to explain the higher rates of PPD seen in Black women via the interactions between sociocultural factors and biological factors.

International Environmental Agreements On Climate Change, Katie Crawford

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This paper analyzes International Environmental Agreements (IEAs) as tools to fight the threat climate change poses on the environment and sustainable development. The paper reviews the literature that provides a theoretical foundation for the IEAs. Particularly, the issues such as the greenhouse gas emissions levels, investments in green technology, the duration of agreements, and the process of negotiation that goes behind these agreements are reviewed. Past agreements (such as the Kyoto Protocol, Copenhagen Accord, and Paris Agreement) are studied to determine their effectiveness and potential problematic aspects related to the contracts.

Russia's Use Of The Energy Weapon: How Russia Manipulates Ukraine, Georgia, And The Baltic States, Sierra Brown

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Russia’s stranglehold on oil and gas as a resource, and use of energy as a weapon is a long standing humanitarian crisis as shown by the cut off of oil exports to former Soviet Republics, in efforts to gain political and economic dependence, resulting in, as one example shows, electricity and heat suspensions of innocent citizens homes. Other concerted efforts of Moscow include control over export routes, the attempt to reinstate the Soviet Union, and the intimidation of the Western World. The Soviet Union may have collapsed, but the drive for state control over resources, people, and land did not. …

Climate Refugees: Establishing Legal Responses And U.S. Policy Possibilities, Steven Tetrick

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

“Climate Refugee” describes a person who is forced to leave their home or community due to changes to the local environment, such as rising sea level, drought, famine, or other side effects of climate change. A study from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that with the current rate of climate change, 250 million people will become climate refugees by 2050. Under the current global institutions, climate refugees are not granted legal refugee rights and there are no specific legal frameworks protecting them at the international or national levels. This paper will focus on refugee and immigration policy …

Why Can't We Be Friends? Rapprochement In Us Foreign Policy, Karyssa Scheck

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This comparative case study examines which factors lead the United States to reexamine its policies toward countries with which it has severed diplomatic ties. I theorize that two particular factors are instrumental in foreign policy decision-making when it comes to reversing US foreign policy to improve bilateral relations: perception of economic benefit for the US and perception of international pressure on the US to change its policy. I evaluate the presence and importance of these factors in the cases of US rapprochement with Iran, Libya, Vietnam, and Cuba, as they represent recent, major changes in the course of US foreign …

The Resource Curse: A Look Into The Implications Of An Abundance Of Natural Resources In The Democratic Republic Of Congo, Erin Nichols

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This paper’s purpose was to look at why the Democratic Republic of the Congo faces consistent economic and political instability despite having an abundance of natural resources. The goal was to connect the economic instability and overall downfall of the Congolese government with the notion of the resource curse which focuses on the concept that countries who have an abundance of natural resources tend to have less economic growth and experience more conflict. This has been done by examining the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s past of colonization as well as its current issues such as conflicts within and near …

Elections, Rhetoric, And Policy: Comparing The Rise Of Far-Right Nationalism In Western Europe And The United States, Ruby Debellis

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Western Europe and the United States have both seen an increase in the number of elected officials who represent the far-right ideologically. In this paper, I investigate the reasons behind the rise of far-right nationalist parties, as well as the impacts it has on policy and implications for international relations. To do this, I compared recent election results from Western Europe and the US, the populist rhetoric used by these parties and their candidates, and the subsequent changes in immigration and trade policy due to far-right politicians enacting their agenda. Through this comparison, I concluded first that the elections in …

Chinese Export Porcelain: Similarities And Differences Between Independent Nations, Australia And The United States Of America, Erica Selly

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This paper examines various archaeological sites from both Australia and the United States in order to compare the early consumption of Chinese Export Porcelain; how the amounts of porcelain found on site reflected wealth and status in both nations, and differences in preferred design.

The Platform Strategy: Concession To Win Elections, Jon R. Antonsen

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

This paper sought to provide one answer to the question: when do parties incorporate centrist ideas in a platform? This question came about from the 1988 election: the Democrats controlled the Congress, but they wanted to regain footing in the presidency. Their previous election performance was fraught with inter-partisan conflict: the liberal House of Humphrey had fallen victim to the Vietnam War and Ronald Reagan had effectively poisoned the word “liberal.” Centrist Democrats fought with liberal Democrats over trivial issues, and the 1984 convention ended in fiery disunity. After being out of power for a long time, to reconcile their …

The Role Of Government In Cases Of Faith Based Child Medical Neglect, Megan Jacobson

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

In the United States, parental rights have been defined by a strong liberal conception of individual rights, giving parents huge leeway in determining how their children are raised. In this paper, I examine one extreme example of parental rights gone wrong: faith based child medical neglect, a phenomenon that occurs when parents turn to faith healing for their children instead of standard medical care, resulting in the child’s death. First, I show how liberal theory has failed to address key questions regarding the limits of both parental and child rights as they apply to faith healing. Then I apply the …

Transforming Families: The Effects Of Familial Social Support And Belongingness On The Health Identity Development Of Trans Youth, Maggie Elinson

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

"TRANSforming Families: The Effects of Familial Social Support and Belongingness on the Healthy Identity Development of Trans Youth" focuses on the dual transitioning process that both trans children and their families experience. This process is examined through the recognition of psychological processes that affect both the trans child and family's perception of themselves and others. This literature review also assesses the challenges and rewards in providing support to trans children, via the perspective of parents. Included are successful navigations of negative reactions towards the transitioning process, which aim to promote equitable and safe spaces for children to grow and thrive …

Intersections Between Gender And Disability In A Clinical Setting: The Need For Clinicians’ Awareness Of The Gendered Effects Of Disability, Maria Medlyn

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

While gender is a large topic in psychological research, little research investigates the intersection between gender and disability. This research is vital in psychology as gender strongly impacts an individual’s experience with disability and people with disabilities are at an increased risk for numerous mental disorders. Despite this need for clinician’s awareness of the gendered effects of disability, disability has been historically ignored in psychological research.

This literature review investigates common perspectives used to study disability including the medical model, feminist model, social model, and disabilities studies. Psychological research on disability demonstrates that men with disabilities commonly experience conflict between …

Mental Health Disparities By Identity Among Gender And Sexual Minorities, Shelby Flanagan

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

One of the major obstacles faced by the queer and trans community is the poorer mental health outcomes this group tends to have. There is a disparity in mental health between people who are part of gender and sexual minority groups, and those who are not, meaning that gender and sexual minorities tend to have poorer mental health outcomes and higher incidences of mental health symptoms than people outside of that community. Due to the connection between mental health, marginalization, and stigma in society, this disparity may weigh more heavily on people whose identities are especially marginalized, such as bisexuals, …

Presidential Modernity: Harry Truman And The Foreign Policy Decision Making Process, Samuel Gill

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Harry Truman is an overshadowed figure in presidential politics and history. His presidency was wedged between two titans of the office, the politically savvy Franklin Roosevelt and universally beloved war hero Dwight Eisenhower, and his overall influence and impact is downplayed when compared these two men. This research examines what influence Truman exerted upon the executive branch by asking “how has Harry Truman influenced the foreign policy decision making process of office of the presidency and how, if at all, could his actions be considered modern?” Through a comparative case study analysis of four foreign policy events, this paper highlights …

Do Human Rights Matter? An Analysis Of Presidential Human Rights Rhetoric From 1993-2014, Nathan Bean

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

My research examines how and why American presidents speak about human rights issues around the world, using rhetoric about human rights from the Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama administrations. I theorized that rhetorical attention to human rights issues would be dependent on the strategic value of the region where the abuses take place, and that the president would shy away from criticizing countries where high numbers of U.S. military personnel were stationed. Using descriptive statistics and a measure of bivariate correlation, I found compelling evidence that presidential human rights attention was influenced by regional location, but only weak evidence …