Social Influence and Political Communication Commons^™

Paying Attention: The Effects Of Different Social Media Posts On Consumers, Noah Lapointe

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Vaccine Diplomacy Game: The Race For Soft Power, Isaac Antwiboasiako

Articles

This article examines the motivations and dynamics of the donors and suppliers of the covid-19 vaccines to the global south countries in the context of public diplomacy to wield soft power. Thus, it investigates how the West and East use the vaccines as a public diplomacy tool to influence public opinion in other nations or continents in order to either enhance their global image and reputation or exert some form of international influence or have new allies. The article argues that covid-19 vaccines are a soft power asset; therefore, the manufacturing nations may use them to shape their target foreign …

A Stillness In The Desert? Engaging The Public Through An Immersive Exploration Of Southwest Soundscapes, Julian Kilker, Thomas Bjelic

Creative Collaborations

The pandemic highlighted the anthropocentric nature of soundscapes, while the recent popularity of electric cars, quadcopters, and “noise cancellation” earbuds demonstrated how consumer products can rapidly change our awareness of sound. While light pollution is already extensively addressed in scholarly research, popular works such as The End of Night, and public engagement such as The International Dark Sky Association, the complex interplay of sound, natural resources, and public engagement is still emerging, particularly in creative fields.

Two UNLV scholars and artists are collaborating on this project: Julian Kilker, who specializes in visual and emerging technology research, and Tom Bjelic, who …

Difficult Dialogues: Toward Building Community Through Conversation, Jessica Rhyne, David Marlow

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

This paper examines the construct of community: its nature, ontological significance, and role in society, as well as determining factors in community fragmentation and the role constructive dialogues can play in community building. With this knowledge, a campus conversation was orchestrated to explore students’ perceptions of our community and wicked problems confronting our world.

Students were asked the ways in which they engage with their communities, what barriers they identify as inhibiting community cohesion, and potential paths for progress. Challenges with orchestration as well as student responses are discussed.

This paper concludes that, among this demographic, there is very little …

Cultural Materialism Theory & The Kardashian Family, Jaylin Redman

Capstone Showcase

Raymond Williams popularized cultural materialism theory and used it to help understand cultural texts and their contribution to society. This theory is used to understand societal interactions and cultural shifts. This includes areas of society such as economics and politics. We focus on the Kardashian family as a cultural product used to influence society, using cultural materialism theory to understand them.

The Disappearance Of The Anti-Aesthetic; The Death Of Fashion, Scrap Evans

Capstone Showcase

In this essay, Scrap explores the connection between famous nihilist and postmodernist theorists, Dadaism, the concept of the anti-aesthetic, and today's high fashion. They provide a history of nihilism and follow its influence through time upon other social, political, and artistic movements. They then make direct connections between famous theorists' prose and famous fashion designers' collections. Finally, they analyze the current state of the fashion world and discuss their plan of action.

The Program To Reduce Implicit Bias In Carroll Hospital Center Using The Implicit Association Test, Katherine E. Traynor

Capstone Showcase

Natural brain processes make all individuals susceptible to unconscious bias; however, stressful, fearful, or anger-evoking situations as well as the negative influence of media and social surroundings increase the risk of holding obstructive bias, and there is a greater risk of being negatively impacted by this phenomenon when belonging to a minority population (Rose & Flores, 2020). As a result, high rates of infant mortality (10.2 deaths per 1,000 live births for the Non-Hispanic Black population compared to 4.1 in the White population) and cardiovascular related diseases (190.0 cases per 1,000 in the Non-Hispanic Black population compared to 161.3 in …

The Relationship Between Food Retailers And Distributors, Madison Seigler, Julia Anderson, Aidan Morton, Cassandra Williams, Victoria Bloomgren, Jacob Tutty

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Our understanding of the science of anthropogenic climate change and its immediate and indirect impacts has grown within the last decade.Alongside anincrease in concern for the inequities within the industrialized food system, climate change is impacting agriculture and the communities that depend on it in myriad ways. These challenges have catalyzed investment in sustainable agriculture, “eat local” food movements, and rethinking of all aspects of food systems, including consumers, producers, retailers, and distributors. The body of literature on food systems primarily focuses on the connection between consumers and retailers; however, there is a notable absence of literature on the relationships …

Rhetoric Of Surrogacy: Re-Considering Agency Through Embodied Performance, Ann Kitalong-Will

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Surrogacy as a medical practice goes back, in a practical sense, to 1988, when the court case, “In the Matter of Baby M, A Pseudonym for an Actual Person,” was tried in the Supreme Court of New Jersey. At the heart of the issue, was the question of who Baby M’s legally-recognized mother was in the relationship between the contracting parents and the woman who gestated and gave birth to Baby M. Using this case as a jumping off point, this dissertation traces a history of surrogacy as a global industry. This project explores rhetorical agency in the embodied performance …

News Treatment Of The Supreme Court: Language Selection, Ideological Directions, And Public Support, Alexander Denison

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

In an increasingly diverse media landscape, how much of the ideological trends seen in current news reporting affect coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court? This work examines two different aspects of the Court's activities, their decisions and the confirmation hearings of Court nominees, analyzing what factors, if any, lead to differences in coverage language. Finally, through the use of a survey experiment, I analyze whether these differences in language, in combination with positive symbolic imagery, affect attitudes toward the institution. This work provides a novel consideration of whether the Court is subject to the same ideological slant found in coverage …

Stay-At-Home Fathers: What Is Their Life Really Like? An Intimate Portrayal, Christi Ann Hosking

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Reinforced by years of gender stereotypes is modern societies’ definition of masculinity, which has long been characterized by breadwinning and providing. Current literature has observed the growing trend which finds an increasing number of men engaged in the role of caregiver and the dynamic change in the home-work balance. Only a few studies looked at what life is like for a stay-at-home father and even fewer have allowed these fathers a unique voice for sharing their story. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of what day to day life was really like as a stay-at-home …

Digital News Literacy And Social Work: Core Competencies, Cynthia H. Nover

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Digital news refers to online news, television news, and other electronic sources where individuals can gather information about the world around them. As college students increasingly get their news from online sources and comedy television, it is important for students to have appropriate media literacy skills to evaluate content. The relationship between news literacy skills and core competencies of social work education is discussed in this paper, with recommendations for incorporating news literacy in the classroom.

Social Movement Splintering: An Examination Of Stockton Stands With Minneapolis And News Media Representation, Kevin Ozomaro

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The phenomenon surrounding news media’s power to alter group identity and group cohesion is something that rarely a point of focus in communication studies. In this study I worked with a local social movement group called Stockton Stands with Minneapolis. This group illustrated the importance of maintaining shared values. Utilizing relational Interviewing, SSWM members provided evidence showing the connection between news media and group success. News media has had a role in shaping group members’ understanding of SSWM and activism. SSWM has faced internal conflict as a result of negative news representation. SSWM is a relatively small and young (2 …

À La Carte Cable: A Regulatory Solution To The Misinformation Subsidy, Christopher R. Terry, Eliezer J. Silberberg, Stephen Schmitz, John Stack, Eve Sando

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Although “fake news” is as old as mass media itself, concerns over disinformation have reached a fever pitch in our current media environment. Online media outlets’ heavy reliance on user-generated content has altered the traditional gatekeeping functions and professional standards associated with traditional news organizations. The idea of objectivity-focused informational content has primarily been substituted for a realist acceptance of the power and popularity of opinion-driven “news.” This shift is starkly visible now: mainstream news media outlets knowingly spread hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and the like.

This current state of affairs is not some freak accident. The Supreme Court’s First Amendment …

Ideological Boundaries Of Status Advantages: Legislative Effectiveness In The House Of Representatives In The United States Congress, Francois Collet, Gianluca Carnabuci, Gokhan Ertug, Tengjian Zou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Prior research assumes that high-status actors have greater organizational influence than lower-status ones, that is, it is easier for the former to get their ideas and initiatives adopted by the organization than it is for the latter. Drawing from the literature on ideology, we posit that the status-influence link is contingent on actors’ ideological position. Specifically, status confers organizational influence to the degree that the focal actor is ideologically mainstream. The more an actor’s ideology deviates from the mainstream the less will her status translate into increased organizational influence. We find support for this hypothesis using data on the work …

Canceling Vs. #Cancel Culture: An Analysis On The Surveillance And Discipline Of Social Media Behavior Through Competing Discourses Of Power, Julia G. Bezio

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Canceling and #cancelculture have become the topic of many debates over free speech and accountability for oppressive behaviors in social media discourse. This thesis examines Twitter discourse from two recent racism-based cancel cases. Using Foss and Gill’s (1987) adapted epistemic rhetoric framework and emphasizing elements of Foucauldian surveillance and discipline in the discourse, I conduct a comparative qualitative examination of Gina Rodriguez’s and Chris Harrison’s cancel discourse. I contend that in the cancel process, Twitter users engage in surveillance to discipline one another on multiple levels: first, as cancelers use the practice to discipline oppressive behaviors on social media, and …

Partnerships Create Success For The Devil’S Garden Wild Horses, Laura K. Snell

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Many wild horse (Equus ferus caballus) populations that inhabit designated federal land in the United States currently exceed management objectives. Overabundant wild horse populations can adversely impact the ecosystem, native wildlife, and other land uses. Unfortunately, there is not a universal solution, as each impacted area may differ ecologically, economically, socially, and politically. Wild horse management is not just a 1-time project but a long-term program where buy-in is needed from the federal and state agencies, local governments, and private partners. Local county governments and private partners can have important insights and significant influence on the development and …

On (Not) Seeing The Chicken: Perdue, Animal Welfare, And The Failure Of Transparency, Calvin Coker, Rachel A. Coker

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

In this essay, we analyze Perdue’s animal welfare campaign from 2016 to 2020 to isolate how demands for transparency are mediated and subverted by Perdue’s public facing rhetoric. Though Perdue’s annual releases and commitments to change nominally constitute a victory for animal welfare advocates, the company’s campaign enacts transparency as a sort of publicity for the company that belies marginal gains for the lives of chickens and may ultimately result in increased meat consumption. In providing trackable metrics, offering paternalistic justifications for their treatments of chickens, and through strategic omissions of language and visuals, Perdue satisfies demands for transparency without …