Sociology Commons^™

What Are The Limits To Smart Innovation? The Digital Underground Initiative And New Frontiers Of “Smartness” In Singapore, Prerona Das, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper argues that the emergence of new frontiers of smart transformation, such as underground spaces, can pose significant challenges to the implementation of “smart” technological solutions. Exploring the case of Singapore’s Digital Underground initiative, we show that elements such as material complexity, co-ordination between stakeholders, and the availability of appropriate regulatory and administrative frameworks can problematize the implementation of subterranean smart initiatives. By considering multistake-holder perspectives on these “more-than-technological” factors, this paper offers lessons for urban planners, policymakers, and developers in cities around the world that are keen to leverage technology to unlock the potential of underground space.

Prerogative In Common: On The Emancipatory Potential Of Radical Mutuality Amid Sovereign Decisionism, Matthew Builes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In times of crisis, liberal democracies resort to authoritarian measures that undermine core democratic values. Dominant thought in the study of emergency-era law and politics appeal to a dichotomy of normal and exceptional times, to critique or justify the turn to sovereign decisionism. While this strategy seems clear-cut, the persistence of exceptional spaces and the crises that supposedly generate them challenge existing frameworks by blurring the line between norm and exception. This project explores the prospect of radical mutual aid, as a transformative response to the enduring crisis of modernity.

The Normalization Of Sexual Exploitation, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Managing Crowdfunding Risks In Terrorism Financing: A Mediated Analysis Of Government Intervention And Donation Intentions, Fithriadi Muslim, Eva Achjani Zulfa, Muhamad Syauqillah

Indonesia Law Review

Crowdfunding has emerged as a popular platform for collective funding of social, charitable, and commercial projects. However, its increasing use has raised concerns over potential misuse, including as a source of terrorism financing. This study investigates the relationship between donation intentions using crowdfunding and the risk of crowdfunding being used as a source of terrorism financing. Furthermore, it explores the mediating role of government intervention in this relationship. Using a Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) second-order approach, the research evaluates the interaction between donor intentions, crowdfunding risks, and government regulations. Findings reveal that while donor intentions significantly impact the …

Towards A New Health Politics In Kenya: Labor Organizing And Strikes By Health Workers In The Public Health Sector, Michael Scanlon

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

There has been insufficient attention by global health scholars to labor organizing by health workers, including when and why organizing occurs, what forms and strategies it takes and its implications for governance and policy. These questions are critical but largely absent in research on what has been called the “global health workforce crisis.” Kenya represents an important case study. A new constitution in 2010 expanded institutional spaces for labor organizing and decentralized governance of the health system. Both reforms had significant implications for the health workforce and strikes by health workers have been pervasive. In 2017, nationwide strikes by public …

The Relations Between Online Communication, Social Capital, And Well-Being In Chinese Preadolescents, Xiaotong Li

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

In the digital era, preadolescents (aged 9–12 years) increasingly use social media platforms for communication and social interactions. However, research on whether online communication contributes positively or negatively to preadolescents’ well-being is inconclusive. Moreover, the underlying mechanism linking preadolescents’ online communication and well-being remains unclear. Hence, the research objectives are twofold. First, based on the concepts of social enhancement perspectives and self-determination theory, this study investigates the bidirectional relations and potential mechanisms between preadolescents’ online communication factors (including frequency, online self-disclosure, online perceived responsiveness) with four targets (family members, real-life friends, online friends, and online strangers) and well-being (including subjective …

Re-Imagine Paradise: The Impacts Of The Illegal Annexation Of Hawai'i & Tourism On Native Hawaiians, Paige Edwards

SMU Journal of Undergraduate Research

This literature review presents a vital exploration of colonialism, the illegal annexation of Hawai’i, and the subsequent emergence of the tourism industry as a neocolonial enterprise. Neocolonialism is the process of colonial dominance through modern exploitation, which is masked through economic opportunities and has left territories and their native people dependent on it. By tracing the major historical events in Hawai’i highlights how education was a vital aspect of Native Hawaiian culture, empowering its people - a stark contrast to the current education system where the education system perpetuates the commodification of Native Hawaiian culture. Education has played a pivotal …

The Impact Of Housing Stress On Fertility Intentions Among Young People In Urban China, Fei Ouyang

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Housing has been recognised as an important factor associated with decreasing fertility in urban China. Despite a growing number of studies dedicated to the investigation of the impact of adverse housing conditions on fertility intentions, the understanding of housing-fertility nexus remains relatively fragmented, characterised by an incomplete picture of housing stressors and conflicting findings that fail to explain why some people experiencing adverse housing conditions tend to have lower fertility intentions whilst others do not. Framing the transactional theory of stress into the housing contexts, this study redefined housing stress to enhance its explanation compared with correlation explanations in the …

Employment Status And Evaluation Of Government Performance In Covid-19 Containment : Evidence From China, Jinye Chen

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Evaluation of government performance of citizens is crucial for regime stability as it could help authoritarian regimes to identify and address brewing problems before they fuel public discontent. It can also act as a potential mechanism for improving government performance and public services and establishing a good image of government. Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese government has adopted the zero-COVID policy to keep cases as close to zero as possible until December 2022. China’s job market also faced big pressure from the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic is a shock that impact the …

Telkomsel Siaga Rafi Annual Event Strategy To Improve Brand Image By Senusa Indonesia, Margareta Manalu, Qusnul Khotimah, Alain Rishi Zacharias

Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Policy Studies

This research aims to analyze the strategy of Telkomsel Siaga RAFI annual event organized by Senusa Indonesia in order to improve Telkomsel's brand image. Through this activity, Telkomsel seeks to strengthen relationships with customers and expand its social reach, especially during Ramadan and Idul Fitri 2025. The main focus of this final report is to explore the role of event management strategies in influencing the brand image of Telkomsel. Using brand image theory and direct observation techniques, this research also identifies the steps taken by Senusa Indonesia in designing and implementing events that include knowledge sharing and donations. The results …

The State Of The Unions 2025: A Profile Of Organized Labor In New York City, New York State, And The United States, Ruth Milkman, Joseph Van Der Naald

Publications and Research

Organized labor has taken center stage in the 2020s, with workers leading successful organizing drives at Amazon, Starbucks, Apple, and across a range of industries from health care to higher education. Public approval of unions has reached its highest level in decades, and a new generation of workers is stepping forward as leaders in the movement. The State of the Unions 2025 provides the most comprehensive profile of organized labor in New York City, New York State, and the United States, highlighting where unions are growing, who is leading the charge, and how labor is shaping the future of work …

Implementation Of Public-Private Partnership Model Towards Ideal Operationalization Of Correctional Institution In Indonesia, Sani Siti Aisyah -

Jurnal Kriminologi Indonesia

The increasing popularity of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in prison or correctional institution development and management is currently often studied from an economic perspective that prioritizes state budget efficiency and is rarely studied from a social perspective that prioritizes benefits for the community in the context of social control. Realizing that PPP has positive potential in the ideal operationalization of correctional institution amidst limited human resources and budget, this study examines various correctional institution PPP models using the correction theory framework. This study was designed as an exploratory qualitative study using interview, document studies, field observations and FGD. This study successfully …

Statelessness As An Academic Concern: The Indian Supreme Court’S Engagement With Citizenship Policy In In Re: Section 6a Of The Citizenship Act, 1955, Aishwarya Birla

Articles

In October 2024, the Supreme Court of India (‘Court’) made a significant ruling regarding citizenship laws in Assam, a state in the north-east of the country. The case In Re: Section 6Aof the Citizenship Act, 1955(‘In Re: s 6A’)centred on s 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955(‘Citizenship Act’), which pertains to granting citizenship to a specific class of migrants who entered Assam before ‘the 1stday of January, 1966’.The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of s 6A in a 4:1 majority. In doing so, the Court also engaged with a multitude of important issues for constitutional law and citizenship in …

Beyond The Benefit: A Multi-Modal Narrative Study Of Black Women's Experiences With Employer-Sponsored Tuition Assistance, Britany Patricia Hamilton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the lived experiences of Black women engaging with employer-sponsored tuition assistance programs, focusing on how social, structural, and identity-based factors shape their educational and professional trajectories. While these benefits are often framed as neutral tools for career advancement, this study examines them through the intersecting lenses of race, gender, and labor, revealing deeper dynamics of access, value, and belonging. Guided by a qualitative narrative inquiry approach, this study employed a multi-modal data collection design involving video diaries, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group. Three participants, all Black women between the ages of 30 and 40, shared their …

Exhibiting Rural Consciousness: A Study Of State And Local Level Governance In Rural Higher Education, Steven J. Skadron

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Evolving economies in Craig and Salida, CO, spurred community interest in joining Colorado Mountain College’s taxing district and bringing the college to their communities. When they sought to join, Craig had a local college embedded in its community that was governed by a state-level board; in contrast, Salida had no local college of its own. The two communities’ pursuit of a locally governed college raised a question about governing boards and whether one type of governing board might serve rural communities better. Using a framework of rural consciousness, this nonexperimental, cross-sectional, quantitative study employed data gathered from a survey instrument …

Homelessness Among School-Aged Children In The Mountain West, 2022-2023, Mohit Pande, Sean Curry, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

K-12 Education

This fact sheet presents data on homelessness among school-aged children in the Mountain West during the 2022-2023 school year. The data are sourced from the “Child and Youth Homelessness in the United States: Data Profiles” dashboard produced by SchoolHouse Connection and Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan. State-level data profiles include information about child and youth homelessness at the national, state, county, school district, and congressional district levels. This fact sheet focuses on homelessness among school-aged children within the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

Public School Funding In The Mountain West, 2020-2021, Sean Curry, Mohit Pande, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

K-12 Education

This fact sheet examines the state of public school funding across the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The data are sourced from the Education Law Center’s 2023 Making the Grade report, which provides data for all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The original report provides grades for school funding, enrollment data, and funding data based on the 2020-2021 school year.

The Impacts Of Urban And Rural Education Inequality On Individual Career Development : The Case Of Guangdong Province, Shuang Chen

Lingnan Theses (Doctoral degree)

The study focused on the disparity in educational opportunities between urban and rural areas. This has been one of the most debated topics in China, especially when related to Guangdong Province. This dissertation explored how disparities in urban-rural educational outcomes influence individual career attainment and income levels and discusses the broader socio-economic implications of such disparities. This study positioned its analysis within the structural-functionalist framework and underlined how inequities in educational resources affect career outcomes. This focuses on a household registration policy called the hukou system, which has played a crucial role in determining education's access to resources and career …

How Public Education Policies Drive Economic Growth In Asean : An Analysis Of Resource Allocation Theory, Human Capital Accumulation, And Structural Transformation Pathways, Jiacheng Li

Lingnan Theses (Doctoral degree)

This study examines how public education policies influence economic growth across ASEAN nations through the theoretical lens of resource allocation theory. While ASEAN has maintained an average GDP growth rate of 5.1% since 2000, significant disparities between high-growth and low-growth economies persist in educational investment and outcomes.

Methodologically, the study conducts empirical studies and integrates panel data (1990–2023) across ten member states that underwent spatial econometrics analysis. It dissects three transmission pathways: (1) human capital accumulation enhancing labor productivity via skill development; (2) educational stratification driving industrial restructuring; and (3) spatial spillovers facilitating cross-border knowledge diffusion. These mechanisms are operationalized …

A Comparative Study Of Fgcs And Non-Fgcs In Mainland China : An Analysis Based On The G University, Meihan Tao

Lingnan Theses (Doctoral degree)

While Western scholarship on First-Generation College Students (FGCS) is well-established, research on FGCS in mainland China remains underdeveloped, despite the group’s substantial size and critical role in social mobility. This study examines the disparities between FGCS and Non-First-Generation College Students (Non-FGCS) in cultural capital accumulation, university major selection, academic adaptation, and career planning. Grounded in cultural capital theory and social cognitive career theory (SCCT), the study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative in-depth interviews and quantitative surveys to explore how familial cultural capital influences educational and career trajectories. The research focuses on students from G University in southwest China. Quantitative …

Gendered Challenges In The Chinese Workplace : Examining Maternity Leave And Discrimination Against Working Mothers In Shenzhen, Tianyang Wen

Lingnan Theses (Doctoral degree)

Under the background that labor competition and the society progress become more in-tense, the dilemma of motherhood faced by working women has become increasingly prominent. This dissertation aims to explore gender challenges in the Chinese workplace, in particular the maternity leave system and its impact on discrimination against working mothers. Taking Shenzhen as an example, this study adopts qualitative research methods and systematically examines the challenges faced by working mothers in terms of maternity leave and employment discrimination through in-depth interviews with ten working mothers, seven human resource managers, three corporate employers and three in-depth interviewers. The study found that: …

Pathways To Educational Equality : Insights From China’S Higher Education Stratification And Social Stratification, Qingbin Xu

Lingnan Theses (Doctoral degree)

It is essential to examine the equity of the newly established higher education system and elucidate the reasons and consequences of stratification within the context of China’ higher education and social hierarchy, because in the wake of massification and expansion, China’s higher education system has been seeing alterations in stratification patterns. Through the Status Attainment Model and the Wisconsin Model, this study employs a mixed-method approach that integrates quantitative and qualitative techniques to assess higher education and social inequality in mainland China. The findings indicate that the conventional status attainment model, when subjected to structural equation modelling analysis, reveals that …

Formulation And Impact Of Wellness Tourism Policy On Household Income In Rural China, Zhuoer Zhong

Lingnan Theses (Doctoral degree)

Following the policy "Health China 2030" issued by the Chinese central government in 2016, wellness tourism has become one of the key strategic industries in China. Presently, research on wellness tourism policy in China generally focuses on market development. At the same time, there is a lack of relevant research on the extent to which policies on wellness tourism pay attention to rural revitalization and its effect on rural households. This study mainly aims to explore the Chinese government's attention to wellness tourism policy and the influence of wellness tourism policies on rural residents' income.

By using quantitative research methods, …

Smartphone Attachment In Emerging Adults : Impacts On Mental Health Through Basic Psychological Needs, Jialin Xiao

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

In the digital era, smartphones have become integral to daily life, fulfilling various emotional needs. Mirroring human attachment, past studies have found people can develop three types of attachment to smartphone: secure (comfortable, dependable connection), anxious (intense emotional reliance with separation anxiety) and avoidant (preference for independence from one’ s phone) attachment. However, little is known about how these types of smartphone attachment relate to mental health over time. Moreover, the mechanism underlying the relationship between smartphone attachment and mental health is unknown. To fill these gaps, based on the attachment theory, this study examined the longitudinal associations between smartphone …

Using Economic Data To Understand Local Childcare Challenges, Andrew J. Van Leuven, Tessa Conroy

Journal of Extension

The childcare sector holds vital implications for community development. Overcoming barriers to access and affordability requires a nuanced understanding of this complex sector, a requirement which is further complicated by limited data availability. This paper reviews key data sources and uses historical business data to explore and analyze trends in childcare establishment availability by region. Supplementing the analysis is a discussion of the implications for community economic development Extension professionals, including the importance of data literacy and the need to support local childcare providers.

Immigration And Customs Enforcement (Ice) Arrests In The Mountain West, 2025, Sydney Mitchell, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet reveals data on the total Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests and daily average of ICE arrests between January 20, 2025 and June 10, 2025 for the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. Originally reported by the New York Times (NYT) in “Immigration Arrests Are Up Sharply in Every State. Here Are the Numbers,” this fact sheet also details each Mountain West state’s national ranking for total ICE arrests between January 20, 2025 and June 10, 2025, as well as the percentage increase in daily average ICE arrests between 2024 and …

Coolness, Leisure, And Power : The Development Of Mokanshan Summer Resort In Modern China, 1890–1937, Xuyan Pan

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

The concept of "coolness" (清涼) embodied fundamentally different bodily and cultural experiences in Chinese and Western traditions. With the introduction of Western-style summer resorts by foreign missionaries in the 1890s, these divergent understandings converged and clashed in new spatial forms. This study examines Mokanshan (莫干山), located in Zhejiang province and recognized as one of the Republican era’s “Four Great Summer Retreats” (民國四大避暑地), as a paradigmatic case of transnational leisure. Initially developed by missionaries as a health-oriented retreat, a transnationally managed enclave, and a nostalgic “overseas home” for expatriates, Mokanshan reflected a hybrid model of modern leisure shaped by foreign institutions. …

Implementing “Xinshimin” : Challenges In China’S Inclusive Financial Policy, Yongyi Zhao

Lingnan Theses (Doctoral degree)

This thesis investigates the implementation challenges of the “xinshimin” policy in China, focusing on its inclusive financial aspects. While previous reports have noted obstacles in its execution, this study delves into the underlying factors contributing to its inadequate implementation. Drawing insights from policy implementation theories, including Hill’s implementation study and Howlett, Tosum, and Qian’s policy process style theory, this research connects various aspects of policy implementation, such as the policy-making process, performance measurement and monitoring, inter-organizational relations, frontline workers’ behaviors, and dynamic implementation context.

The study employs a qualitative methodology, which took place in Guangzhou in the years 2022 and …

Enhancing Client Intake Efficiency In The Removal Defense Program: A Nursing-Led Quality Improvement Initiative, Johnny Linares, Julia Tran Ngo, Daniel Orea, Atheana Yadira Lopez

Master's Projects and Capstones

This quality improvement project focuses on optimizing the intake process for the Removal Defense Program at a nonprofit immigration legal office serving asylum-seeking clients. The existing intake relied on unstructured, phone-call-based intake interviews that gathered incomplete information, leading to inconsistent documentation, reduced efficiency, and significant client processing delays. A structured, multilingual, and multiplatform new-client admission protocol coupled with the implementation of a client-facing resource guide for waitlist clients were co-developed and implemented using the Lippitt Change Theory framework. Utilizing a mixed methods approach, the study involved staff interviews and observational assessments with staff members from the program. Baseline intake process …

Births In The Mountain West, 2023, Lara Karaalp, Yashesvi Sharma, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This fact sheet details data from a National Vital Statistics report on the number of births within the Mountain West in 2023. This report, offered through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), includes data on the race/ethnic demographics of mothers of American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Black, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, white, and Hispanic descent. This fact sheet explores birth data for the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, by the mother’s place of residence.