Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Climate Change And Environmental Crises In Coastal Cities: Charleston Vs New York City, Nolan Rodriguez

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper addresses the increasing vulnerability that coastal communities face regarding climate crises and rising sea levels. Specifically, this paper investigates the environmental crises facing Charleston, South Carolina, and New York City. The geographical location of these cities places a more severe threat upon their environment, as opposed to urban collectives removed from the immediate effect of rising sea levels. A cross-examination of politics and economics is discussed in order to determine the causal relationship of each city’s engagement with its surrounding environment. This paper examines how each city is affected by climate change, what measures are in place to …

Political Orientation And Its Effect On Engagement And Perception Of The Arts, Parker Robert Mckenzie

Communication Studies

Utilizing the Symbolic Interactionism Theory (Gusfield, 2011), this study explored the relationship between political orientation and one’s engagement with and perception of art forms. The study utilized qualitative methods analysis to analyze similarities between participant responses. Findings from participants revealed the following themes: engagement with history leading to a more profound understanding of art, art causing real-life inspiration, and engagement with art leads to the formation of sub-cultures. Additionally, interviews revealed that people choose not to engage with certain art based on political orientation, people who consider themselves to be “spiritual” engaged with art differently, and many people’s perception of …

Presidential Nomination Forecasting 2024: Classic Components In An Atypical Race, Sophia Coco

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The topic of American presidential elections has remained central to political discussions since the founding fathers drafted the Constitution. Article Two, Section One of the Constitution lays out the guidelines for presidential elections, yet Article Two neglects to mention the process of how to nominate candidates for the presidential race. Lacking Constitutional guidance, early presidential nomination conventions of the parties in the 19^th century and early 20^th century did not reflect ideals of democracy. The delegates that voted at the conventions were selected by party insiders and their votes reflected the sentiments of the party bosses, disregarding the …

Online Political Participation Among Younger Generations: A Case Study Of The Nigerian Presidential Election, Bowale Odukale

All Theses

The 2023 presidential elections in Nigeria represented a significant milestone in the nation's democratic progression, capturing the interest of observers both within the country and abroad. This study identifies the key online opinion leaders who participated in the electoral discourse, their generational affiliation, and the role of social media in facilitating youth engagement throughout the political process. Using Sprinkl, an online monitoring tool to harvest publicly available tweets containing the hashtag #NigeriaDecides2023 from February 11 to March 15, coupled with interviews, the study identified the prominent opinion leaders with significant influence, their types of messages and the motives behind youth …

Politics In The Classroom: A Survey On College Students’ Comfortability To Share Their Views, Ashley Rene Tuell

Communication Studies

The following study used theories of belongingness and spiral of silence to investigate students’ comfortability when sharing their political views in class. This study employed a survey distributed to a convenience sample of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students. The survey contained multiple choice and free response questions that encompassed political affiliation, willingness to share political views in class, and demographics. The results of the survey were interpreted using SPSS statistics software, specifically ANOVA tests and Fisher’s LSD. The findings of this study ultimately indicated that liberal students feel more comfortable sharing their views than moderates and conservatives. Findings also …

Multipolar Melting Pot: A Spatial Analysis Of Political Orientation In The United States, Nathanael Baumann

CMC Senior Theses

Politics at the national level seems increasingly polarized – but what does polarization really mean in a political context? Is the American political landscape so unidimensional that voters throughout the country can be represented by a linear left-right spectrum? By classifying gubernatorial candidates across the country based on their distinct social and economic positions, then mapping them in a two-dimensional space, I posit a very different kind of political landscape – one made up of diffuse, fluid political preferences.

A Symbolic Interactionism’S Perspective Of The Attack On The U.S. Capitol., Odeli Hernandez

Cal Poly Humboldt Capstone Honor Roll

This paper aims to draw the line between Symbolic Interactionism and how it ties into the political world. Symbolic Interactionism states that humans interpret and assign meanings to symbols through social interaction, thus influencing their behaviors and shaping their realities. It is said that symbolic interactionism could only be applied to micro levels of social interactions, and not to something as big and intricate as politics. This paper will focus on a stand-alone event, the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Numerous symbols were displayed before, during, and after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, each of …

Navigating Roadblocks In Utah's Path Towards Curbing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Emily K. Fletcher

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

In places where discussions about climate change have become highly political and divided, community groups have attempted to connect rival political parties by focusing on improving air quality. This topic is often less politically charged. The effects of climate change have been disproportionately felt by marginalized communities around the world. In the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, many communities are more likely to experience the negative consequences of a drying lake, a problem that Utah and other regions are currently facing, compared to others in the valley. This research focuses on the individuals who have signed the Utah …

The Politics Of Preservation: Stewarding Artifacts In Archives, Kollynn Hendry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kay Bailey Hutchison served Texas and the United States in many capacities during her political career. She vastly impacted Texas, as well as Nacogdoches, Texas in particular, through her time serving as a member of the Texas House of Representatives and as a United States Senator. In 2012, she donated her massive collection of gifts and memorabilia to the East Texas Research Center, a regional archive at Stephen F. Austin State University. The university honored her donation by creating a room to display the collection and interpret her influence on East Texas. Due to a rushed timeline, administrative interference, and …

Restrictive Pursuit Policies And Rising Violent Crime, Ryan Kelly

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

Consequences can be a driving factor for why citizens follow laws in the United States. Financial and physical freedom is valued. Citizen’s behavior may change if police officers threaten to take these things away for breaking laws. Policymakers today are working to restrict when law enforcement officers can chase criminals for breaking the law. Suppose the ability of law enforcement to hold criminals accountable is restricted. Would this not lead a reasonable person to believe that criminals may think they are free to commit crimes? This paper will cover current trends in violent crime in both the United States and …

“If I Was That Cop…”: Improving Attitudes Toward Police Through An Educational Intervention For Use-Of-Force Knowledge And Empathy, Randle Aaron Molina Villanueva

All Dissertations

While public outrage in response to excessive force is appropriate and understandable (e.g., Rodney King), there are also use-of-force instances which may be misconstrued as excessive by civilians due to a lack of understanding of the law, policies, and procedures for police use of force (UOF). This can lead to negative perceptions of police officers. This poses a threat to healthy police-community relations, as positive perceptions of the police are reliable predictors of compliance and voluntary cooperation with them (Choi, 2021). To balance overly negative perceptions of police who are following protocol and potentially increase the positivity of perceptions, this …

Effects Of Primary Competitiveness On The Emergence And Success Of Female Candidates In U.S. House Primary Elections With No Incumbent, Grace Gillespie

Women’s Leadership

No abstract provided.

Prosecutorial Discretion: District Attorneys, Public Opinion,And The Localized Rule Of Law, Yu-Hsien Sung

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses three fundamental questions regarding the politics of prosecutorial behavior. Specifically, it examines how the selectors of prosecutors influence prosecutorial decision-making under different selection methods, including electionbased systems and appointment-based systems. By using a political responsiveness framework and utilizing empirical strategies, including an experiment and the construction of prosecutor policy position data, this study offers novel insights into the subject. First, I find that voters care about prosecutors’ issue positions and rely on various cues to identify candidates whose policy positions align with their preferences, even in low-information elections. Second, elections show promise as a mechanism for holding …

Historical Trauma: Literary And Testimonial Responses To Hiroshima, Mariam Ghonim

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last …

The Journeys Of Women In Local Elected Office: From Community Engagement To Making Meaningful Contributions, Andrea Marr

Dissertations

Women remain underrepresented across every level of elected office in the United States. More than 30 years after the supposed “Year of the Woman,” women hold less than 30% of the elected positions in local, state, and federal office. In the past, researchers attributed the paucity of women in office to structural barriers, including sexism in the electorate, fundraising difficulties, and discrimination by party gate keepers. A growing body of research, however, attributes the dearth of female politicians to a lack of political ambition among women and to gender socialization that prevents women from seeing themselves as political leaders.

The …

'I'M Rooting For Everybody Black': The Intersection Of Black Joy, Politics, And Linked Fate, Rabria Moore

Honors Theses

Linked fate is a concept that says what happens to one individual in a group affects the group as a whole. Research has shown that Black people tend to subscribe to that concept of linked fate, especially in relation to politics. Further studies, although not exclusively labeled as such, have shown that Black people feel a sense of linked fate when it comes to pain too. This thesis explores the intersection of Black joy, politics, and linked fate. Black joy is understood to be a shared experience amongst individuals of African descent. Black joy emphasizes the choice that Black people …

A Critical Analysis Of Political And Media Discourse On Immigration During The Trump Era, Daleana Phillips

Dissertations

This research examines political and media discourse on Immigration through four studies: Trump’s immigration reform speech, newspaper coverage of DACA, a Saturday Night Live episode, and social media via #ColoradoBorderWall memes. Various critical cultural theoretical frameworks are used within critical discourse and textual analysis is to examine media and political rhetoric about immigrants and immigration policy during a period of drastic institutional political change evidenced by Trump’s administration. As a collective, these narratives examine how Trump’s rhetoric and populist style of communication demonstrate a return to restrictive immigration rhetoric not witnessed in a presidential administration since the 1920s. This research …

Who Changes Who? Political Implications Of The Rising Hispanic Population, Drayton Purvis

Honors Theses

Studying the growth of the Hispanic population yields specific political implications to be drawn based on the rate of growth for each Congressional District. Using Data from 2000, 2010, and 2020 Censuses along with Harvard’s Data Set titled, “Historical Congressional Legislation and District Demographics 1972-2014”, the information allows for interpretations to be made based on a Congressional District’s NOMINATE score and its percentage of the Hispanic population. After researching specific influences that help shape the Latino population in a political sense, like country of origin and level of generation in the United States, there were certain characteristics that have been …

The New Teacher Of Ideas: A Study On Social Media, Political Influencers, And Generation Z, Brenley Rinaudo

Honors Theses

The current study focuses on members of Generation Z and where they learn about politics and receive political news. Different than previous generations, Generation Z receives news on social media more than on traditional media platforms (Murmuration, 2023). Politicians must quickly begin to understand how to engage and connect with the next generation of voters on these social media platforms. For these reasons, this study surveyed members of Generation Z at The University of Mississippi. Current University of Mississippi students are members of Generation Z and reflect common trends among this Generation, such as constant usage of social media. This …

The New Media Frontier: How Social Media Affects Partisan Attachments, Candidate Evaluations, And Political Emotions, Justin Allen Rose

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to further our understanding of individual social media use on polarization, evaluation of political candidates, and political emotions. Three separate articles are utilized to illuminate the effects of individual social media use. The first article pushes forward a theory which argues that social media is uniquely positioned to affect partisan feelings due to its propensity to lead individuals into echo chambers—online places that reinforce their existing opinions and attitudes. The second argues that social media plays into the hyper-partisan nature of the American political landscape, and by way, putting forward an atmosphere which will lead individuals to …

Refugee Advocacy Organizations: Factors That Influence Success In The United States And Ireland, Caleb Elkington-Stauss

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis is a comparative study of refugee advocacy organizations in Ireland and in the United States. The goal is to research and study some of the best practices that refugee support organizations utilize and report how these two countries address the ever-growing refugee crisis. This study assesses the applications and operations in both organizations and determines how these practices contribute to the fulfillment of their missions. This better understanding of the strengths and struggles experienced by these organizations will support the development of a model and framework for successful social welfare initiatives. Within this thesis, the social initiatives in …

The Effect Of Abortion Rights’ Political Activity On Engagement With Planned Parenthood, Emma C. Hazen

Student Capstone Projects

In 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States. Abortion became a hot topic of debate. Activists turned their attention to the issue with new vigor, and countless nonprofits became involved as well. The purpose of this study serves to explore the influence of political activity pertaining to abortion rights on Planned Parenthood. The aim is to analyze the ways that Planned Parenthood, as a national nonprofit, is affected by changes in the political sphere, which in turn generates activity via abortion activists.

This study will evaluate the extent to which abortion activity in …

Une Politique Laïque: L’Utilisation De La Laïcité Dans Les Discours Politiques Français, Zachary Holmes

Honors Theses

La politique française est fortement liée avec la laïcité, comme on peut voir avec son utilisation dans les discours des politiciens. Elle a la capacité d’unifier les gens sous un idéal commun, mais elle peut aussi faire des divisions dans la société. Donc, il faut considérer comment on veut traiter l’idée en France. Il est impossible de dire comment elle va faire partie du futur, mais il est clair que, pour le moment, elle est un outil important pour les politiciens qui veulent avancer leurs programmes différents. Il est probable qu’elle continuerait à être une idée puissante dans les prochaines …

The Americans Progress Forgot? An Interdisciplinary Study Of The Role Of Media In Opiate Politics, Rachael M. Erickson

Senior Theses

The most recent opioid crisis in the United States was largely described, by politicians, the media, and subsequently members of the voting public, as being an issue primarily affecting rural White communities. This phenomenon is shaped by the fact that the rate at which White Americans use opiates is outpaced by the frequency with which White American use of opiates is described as an issue of human interest in opinion or editorial articles in news media. In this thesis I aim to understand how the racialized public and political perception of opiate use is shaped by local media.

The following …

An Ill-Suited Memorial? Nazi Atrocities In Publications On The American Right, 1930-1985, Sandor Farkas

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

From 1930 to 1985, reactions to Nazi atrocities in the Saturday Evening Post, Wall Street Journal, and National Review represent a sampling of the American political right’s understanding, memory, and use of the Holocaust. A touchstone for evil in American culture and politics, few scholarly works have explored the origins of the Holocaust’s outsized role in American political discourse, and fewer have seriously considered the American right’s role in this evolution. Nazi atrocities assumed their role in American politics because the novelty of Nazi crimes against Jews and their post-war consequences received persistent media attention. On the American political right, …

Tort Reform In Florida: The Impact Of Hb837, Kara E. Burns

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Legislative policies play a pivotal role in shaping the socio-political landscape of a nation, addressing critical issues, and reflecting the values and priorities of its citizens. This case study examines the implementation of Florida's House Bill 837 (HB837), a significant piece of legislation that has generated substantial interest and debate. The study aims to shed light on the practical implications of this policy within the context of its introduction, passage, and subsequent results. The research of this case study explores the historical and political backdrop against which HB837 was enacted. It examines the motivations behind the bill, the debates that …

Predictive Factors Of Bullshit Receptivity Among Adults, Gregory Coffing

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Bullshit receptivity is a relatively new concept in the field of psychology and refers to people’s susceptibility to providing meaning to meaningless claims. Ascribing meaning to meaningless claims is a way to make inaccurate judgments regarding the behaviors, events, and interactions around each person. The research on bullshit receptivity is scant. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional survey design study was to investigate whether critical thinking, individualism–collectivism, political ideology, religiosity, right-wing authoritarianism, social–dominance orientation, and need for closure predict bullshit receptivity. These variables were selected to represent a greater conglomeration of daily internal and external factors that affect a person’s …

Authority And Politics: The Relation Between Authority And Political Views Among Those With The Normative Identity Style, Patrick Oefelein

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between the theorized identity styles and political positions, views, and opinions. Also investigated were the effects of authority on political views, specifically within the normative identity style. Students at a large southeastern metropolitan university (N = 440) took an anonymous online survey in exchange for course credit. Those with a normative identity style, who look to authority figures for answers, were found to have much higher levels of conservatism and held more conservative positions than did those with an informational style, who seek out their own sources for …

On Your Mark, Get Set, Gender, Emilia Vella

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Women in sport is a territory that is seldom included in politics, yet “woman,” as an identity, is one that comes with political meaning. This thesis will be discussing the inadvertent politicality of women in sport, and the legislation, as well as systems that declare the identity as so.

Perceptions Of Active Social Media Adults’ Mental Health After Participating Online With Uncivil Political Discourse With Out-Group Members, Bridgette Eastman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Online incivility that occurs in the comment sections of social media sites has become increasingly prevalent. Much of this incivility occurs in the context of political debate. Previous research has indicated that heated political debates online can lead to increased levels of emotional distress and that individuals have the capacity to become addicted to a variety of activities that take place on the internet. Using the theoretical lens of the social identity model of individuation effects, this study explored the impact of online political incivility on the mental health of individuals who engage in this type of behavior. This study …