Sociology Commons^™

Family, Housing, And The Political Geography Of Gay Liberation In Los Angeles County, 1960-1986, Ian M. Baldwin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examines the gay liberation movement in Los Angeles County through the lens of housing rights. It illustrates how sexual justice activism evolved in tandem with the fates of the welfare state and urban politics. Like racial minorities, queers have been stymied by economic barriers. Beginning in the 1930s, federal housing agencies established “family” requirements to housing subsidies, which the state defined through biology or marriage. In L.A. County, activists worked to overcome this heteronormative barrier at the grassroots and within the political establishment. Binding gay liberation to economic and family justice, queers opened housing shelters and social service …

Understanding Contingent Faculty: A Quantitative Study Of Engagement, Satisfaction, Commitment, And Mentoring Needs, Heidi Batiste

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The representation of contingent faculty in higher education is prevalent, as a result of changes in the staffing practices in academia. The American higher education system currently employs roughly 4 contingent faculty members for every one, which is tenured or on the tenure-track. As a result of an extensive study on part-time academic faculty, Gappa and Leslie (1993) developed a typology as a way to categorize them. The typology consisted of four employment profiles based primarily on academic background, employment history, and career motivations: career-enders, specialists/experts/professionals, aspiring academics, and freelancers (Gappa & Leslie, 1993). This quantitative study used survey research …

Analyzing The Relationship Between Job Demands, Job Resources, And Personal Resources On Employee Engagement And Exhaustion Of Juvenile Probation/Parole Officers, Danilo Estuardo Chavarria

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Organizations should constantly strive to improve their levels of employee engagement, because improving employee engagement influences the well-being of both employees and organizations (Bakker, 2011, p. 268). In today’s workplaces, organizations need employees who are psychologically connected to their work, who are willing and able to invest themselves in their roles, and who are proactive and committed to high quality standards.” (Bakker, Albrecht, & Leiter, 2011, pp. 4-5). This is important; not only for private organizations but for public organizations as well, especially organizations in the criminal justice system who continuously strive to keep the peace, have constant contact with …

How Queer!: Camp Expression In Francis Poulenc's Trio For Oboe, Bassoon, And Piano, Kevin Ryland Eberle

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The music of Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) contains a great deal of humor, irony, and drama. These elements have mostly been attributed to Poulenc’s personal frivolity and associations with over-the-top figures such as Jean Cocteau. Poulenc’s homosexuality, until recently, was marginalized by a discourse shaped by Claude Rostand’s 1950 binary of “monk” (moine) and “bad boy” (voyou). In the early 21st century, Richard Burton notes that this cliché focused the discourse of a sacred/profane binary instead of a heterosexual/homosexual binary. The sacred/profane binary is used by scholars such as H. Wendell Howard to explain the distinction between Les Mamelles de Tirésias …

#Therighttoremainsilent: Police Department Adoption And Deployment Of Social Media, 2010-~2015, Paul Geary

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Police have a complex myriad of ever-changing responsibilities and fluid expectations from the public, and traditional media has performed a largely ambivalent self-appointed oversight and agenda-setting function vis-à-vis police for decades. But in the last five years, the second wave of the first new mass communications medium since the 1940s, social media, has democratized both that oversight function as well as traditional media's agenda-setting ability. Meanwhile, police have been characterized as slow to adapt to change and to adopt new practices in response to a changing world. This work analyzed police agency social media adoption and explained the rate at …

The Birth Of An Arts Scene, William Goldberg

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Scenes, created and defined by particular social settings offer a central activity that help to focus community interaction, a sense of purpose and of being in the right place. This dissertation is about the grassroots development of an art scene in the most unlikely of places – Las Vegas, a city sociologists have often described as having an isolating character with an outward focus on tourism, a weak civic culture and social fragmentation, resulting in an individually-focused and socially isolated population.

Using the multiple techniques of ethnographic research, this work comes out of: (1) conversations with early visionaries, (2) participant …

A Content Analysis Of Gender-Specific Media Coverage Of Sport: Ncaa Athletic Department Home Webpages, Margo R. Malik

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Studies have found that media coverage of women’s sports is inadequate when compared with coverage of men’s sports. The results of these studies have revealed inadequacies in terms of amount of coverage as well as type of coverage. Findings demonstrate that there is a certain way media frame female athletes when they are covered. Female athletes are often portrayed in overly sexualized images, as feminine role models, as passive rather than active, and in sports that are considered gender-appropriate. These types of portrayals can perpetuate gender bias and stereotypes, undermine the true athletic ability of female athletes, and give the …

Growing Together? Community, Culture, And Gardening In Downtown Las Vegas, Tyler S. Schafer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this manuscript I explore the issue of how groups appropriate broad cultural trends in local contexts. Using the case of a community garden in Las Vegas I examine how social space is imbued with meaning and how those meanings come to shape the subsequent interactions that take place in the meaningful place. This research draws from four years of participant observation at Vegas Roots Community Garden (VRCG), 20 in-depth interviews, hundreds of informal interviews, and content analysis of documents produced by others about the garden and by the garden organization about itself.

I expand on Howard Becker’s (1974) work …

"Mother, I Will": Female Subjectivity And Religious Vision In The Brontës Novels, Amanda Scott

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Anne, Charlotte, and Emily Brontë have long attracted sustained critical attention, in

large part because of their strong female protagonists. These strong-willed women self-assuredly reject oppression and model new paradigms for the Victorian woman to empower her subjectivity. This subjectivity serves, in turn, not only as the ability to form and express views counter to outworn social prescriptions, but it also serves as the centralized interior focus that allows their protagonists to think of themselves as the foremost subjects of their lives, rather than see themselves as pawns to be moved about in the games of patriarchal hierarchy. This study …

Doctor, Lawyer, Social Worker?: Exploring The Experiences Of Asian American Pacific Islander (Apia) Social Work Students, Jiabao Zhang, Kathleen J. Bergquist, Arthur Tabrizi

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

This study examined preliminary result using a snowball sample of 121 APIA social work students from accredited institutions that offer social work programs. The purpose of this study was to explore APIA social work students’ perceptions and experiences in the program and their expectations from classmates, APIA faculty, field liaison, and agencies. A 44-item survey was sent through an online survey site to APIA students. The results indicated that while most participants reported that family do not have a strong influence on their profession, 39% out of 83 respondents reported positive experiences with social workers drove them to pursue this …

Systems Of Access: A Multidisciplinary Strategy For Assessing The Social Dimensions Of Sustainability, Christopher Wolsko, Elizabeth Marino, Thomas J. Doherty, Steve Fisher, Amanda S. Green, Briana Goodwin, Ryan Reese, Andrea Wirth

Library Faculty Research

The concept of access to natural resources has been a specific concern of economists and ecologists and is a distinct component in recent models of social sustainability. Using a series of conceptual and empirical examples, this article extends the notion of access broadly to social institutions and sociocultural norms. We argue that access may be usefully construed as an analytic tool that has direct applicability to many sustainability issues as it allows for cross-disciplinary and public engagement. Here the concept of access, linked to Amartya Sen’s theory of capabilities, also makes visible the multi-scaled and interconnected social processes that influence …

The Role Of Adaptive Capacity On The Subjective Career Success Of Former D-I African-American Male Athletes: A Mixed-Method Study, Leon Antonio Jackson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

African-American male student-athletes who played a revenue-generating sport enter the labor market having relatively poor social networks, low grade point averages, few marketable skills outside of sports, restricted work experiences, and marginal subject matter knowledge; most of which are the result of their participation in sports (Singer, 2008). Therefore making the transition more difficult than even the average African-American male (Edwards, 1980). The purpose of this study was to: (1) Determine the factors that predict subjective career success for former D-I African-American male athletes who played a revenue-generating sport, and (2) Explore how former D-I African-American male athletes, who played …

Scardovia Wiggsiae Prevalence In Orthodontic Patients, Brandon Joseph Streiff

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Dental caries has mainly been associated with Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, Actinomyces and Veillonella species. But in recent salivary studies a new cariogenic pathogen, has been identified. This new bacteria, Scardovia wiggsiae (SW), is currently being tested within the UNLV School of Dental Medicine patient population. Although these current studies are being conducted to study its prevalence in both pediatric and adult populations, it has not been evaluated among patients with an altered oral environment as seen in patients with orthodontic appliances. Fixed orthodontic appliances increase the difficulty of removing daily plaque on and in between the teeth with standard oral hygiene …

Without Mandate For Conquest: A Transnational Comparison Of Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon And Isabel Allende's Eva Luna, Vivianna Noelle Orsini

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In our current age of globalization, multiculturalism is a key component of human relations. Place, when thought of as a geographic concept is more than just coordinates on a map, it is a concentration of a set of social relations. Geographers use this information to see how places are relational to other places. Morrison and Allende are relational because of their consciousness of place especially exhibited in Song of Solomon and Eva Luna. This project examines the disparate histories, politics, and landscapes that both authors emerged from, and argue the complexity of their work stems from thinking geographically, their conscious …

Television Consumption And Child Obesity: Linking Children's Contemporary Television Use, Physical Activity, And Advertising To Putnam's Displacement Hypothesis, Brittany L. Altamirano

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study observed the relationship between television consumption and child obesity through the theoretical construct of Putnam’s displacement hypothesis. It did so by updating the previous research through the investigation of the displacement of both physical activity and advertisements on contemporary television platforms. The inclusion of Putnam’s displacement hypothesis was to provide a foundational framework, not found in previous literature, to study two important paradigms that were represented in previous research: 1) the displacement of physical activity; and 2) the displacement of traditional advertisement exposure.

Several trends became apparent within previous literature. Previous literature did not include an explicitly stated …

The Painted Motifs Of Cypriot Ceramic Art: A Study Of Iconography & Identity, Paige Bockman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The aim of this master’s thesis is to explore the iconography of Chalcolithic (c. 3900-2300 cal. BC) Cyprus using ceramic motifs and identify their potential use in revealing differences between the cultural identity present at archaeological sites, as well as the possible causes of such variation. By exploring the existence and origins of subtle differences between the iconographic repertoires of related sites, the study seeks a better understanding of the movement of both ideas and symbols, and how the meaning of symbols developed within the context of a site.

Currently, Cypriot Chalcolithic sites are believed to be largely homogeneous in …

Electronic Dance Music: From Deviant Subculture To Culture Industry, Christopher T. Conner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Utilizing a mixed qualitative research methods design, including interviews, ethnographic field work, and analyzing historical documents, I examine the Electronic Dance Music (EDM) subculture, since its inception in the late 80s as a deviant subculture. Previous studies of raves and other music subcultures focus almost exclusively on the role of popularity in transforming the subculture. In this research, I found, in the case of EDM at least, a more complicated process in which structural factors such as mass media, public officials (politicians and law enforcement), and major music corporations played a prominent role in the transformation. Media coverage focused on …

If There Were A Nobel Prize For Sociology And/Or Social Psychology, Goffman Would Deserve To Be The First One Considered, Thomas Schelling

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

Dr. Thomas Schelling, professor emeritus a Harvard University, wrote this memoir at the request of Dmitri Shalin and approved posting the present version in the Erving Goffman Archives.

Corruption And Criminal Sentencing Dispositions In China, Qingting Hu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Corruption is a prevalent crime worldwide. In China, it is drawing increased attention because the current administration is making intensified efforts to fight corruption. Despite its importance, empirical research on the characteristics and sentencing dispositions of corruption cases is rare. Based on 343 corruption cases, and using the focal concerns theory of sentencing as an interpretive framework, this study examines the main corruption offense and offender characteristics and the sentencing of corruption offenders. It also tests several specific hypotheses linked to the focal concerns theory: (1) If a case has characteristics indicating higher blameworthiness (e.g., higher amount of property involved), …

Sexual Harassment In Las Vegas Nightclub Industry, Ksenia Kondratyuk

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Las Vegas nightclub industry creates awfully ideal conditions for workplace sexual harassment. Considering the history of sexual harassment cases against major Las Vegas nightclub operators, the industry is currently facing the problem of either continuing to follow the “good old days” model of using bottle service girls’ sexuality to attract business or develop safer and more efficient business model to protect themselves and their employees. Analyses of secondary data including academic literature, trade publications and press, showed that similarly to the city itself, Las Vegas nightclub industry expanded and evolved from a boy's town to one of the most visited …

Examining The Factors That Impact Work Life Balance For Executive Chefs, Lisa Nicole Cain

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation served to deepen the theoretical and practical understanding of work life balance in the hospitality industry. Defined as “achieving satisfying experiences in all life domains to a level consistent with the salience of each role for the individual….[that] introduces the possibility of a hierarchy of roles; however… it does not demand that a hierarchy is neither necessary nor desirable for balance” (Reiter, 2007, p.277), the study examined work life balance from a situationist perspective whereby the perspective of the individual determines whether or not balance exists. Further, the relationship between work life balance and callings, employee engagement, organizational …

Creating The Black California Dream: Virna Canson And The Black Freedom Struggle In The Golden State’S Capital, 1940-1988, Kendra M. Gage

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines the black struggle for racial equality in the Golden State’s capital from 1940-1988 and an integral leader of the movement, Virna Canson. Canson fought for nearly fifty years to dismantle discriminatory practices in housing, education, employment and worked to protect consumers. Her lifetime of activism reveals a different set of key issues people focused on at the grassroots level and shows how the fight for freedom in California differed from the South because the state’s discriminatory practices were harder to pinpoint. Her work and the larger black community’s activism in Sacramento also reveals how the black freedom …

The Convergence Of Structure And Design Between Video Games And Video Gambling, Daniel Sahl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study looks at the incorporation of video game design and structure into contemporary slot machines. The investigation was guided by theoretical and empirical works from a range of scholarly fields: gambling studies, video-game studies, digital communication, psychology, and sociology. Two methodological designs were employed. The first phase used a content analysis that identified the distribution of video-game styles and design in the most recent slot games on display at a major industry conference. The second phase employed semi-structured interviews with both experienced and inexperienced slot players to assess the impact of different design elements on their playing experience and …

What I Wore Today: Gender, Self, And Brand Culture In The Blogosphere, Jennifer Marie Whitmer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Drawing on qualitative research with personal style bloggers, I examine how contemporary social conditions impact the parameters for the presentation of self in gendered ways. I relate these changes to the struggle for recognition in the face of social anxieties and a lack of stable referents for the self. Bloggers are encouraged to think of themselves as brands. The discourse of self-branding promises greater control over one’s image and life chances, but the practice of presenting a cohesive self-brand to an unseen audience destabilizes the self and increases bloggers’ risk of discreditation and invalidation. Bloggers manage their brands through the …

My Father And Erving Made A Number Of Trips To Nevada To Play Blackjack, Dan Cisin

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

Dan Cisin, son of Dr. Ira Cisin who taught statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1960’s, wrote this memoir for the Erving Goffman Archives at the request of Dmitri Shalin and approved posting the present version on the web.

Disparities In Hospital Services Utilization Among Patients With Mental Health Issues: A Statewide Example Examining Insurance Status And Race Factors From 1999-2010, Viann N. Nguyen-Feng, Hind A. Beydoun, Michael K. Mcshane, James D. Blando

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

There exist many disconnects between the mental and general health care sectors. However, a goal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 is to change this by improving insurance access and the intersection of mental and general health care. As insurance status intersects with race, the present study examines how race, insurance status, and hospital mental health services utilization differ across groups within the state of New Jersey. The present study aims to determine trends in hospital mental health care utilization by insurance status and race from 1999 to 2010. The rate of self-pay for mental health disorders in …

Forging Political Will From A Shared Vision: A Critical Social Justice Agenda Against Neoliberalism And Other Systems Of Domination, Renato M. Liboro

Psychology Faculty Research

Due to pervasive inequalities and inequities in society, many people have a difficult time envisaging a just society, let alone how to go about actualizing such an aspiration. A critical reflection on the concept of a just society and the role that community psychologists and other advocates can play in upholding a critical social justice agenda in their research and civic engagement, particularly against neoliberalism and other systems of domination, is discussed. As part of a proffered framework, four tasks are proposed to fulfil the role: (1) raising public critical consciousness, (2) convincing people of the possibility of change, (3) …

Unrealistic Weeds Of Love And Romance: The Korean Drama And The "Flower Boy" Genre, Colby Y. Miyose

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The concept of love has intrigued many social critics, and has led them to accuse media of perpetuating unrealistic notions of romance that are unattainable for a healthy and satisfying relationship. Unrealistic expectations of love and romance are a primary cause of relationship dissatisfaction among real couples. It is imperative to critically analyze media sources in order to gain knowledge of how to counter unhealthy notions of romance. Korean dramas (K-dramas) typically present a scenario in which strong mutual love and desire between two people come into conflict with existing sociocultural values. The kkonminam (Flower Boy) genre in particular, caters …

Gender, Employment Status, And Unpaid Household Labor: A Test Of The Time Availability Perspective On Housework, Child Care, And Emotion Work Before, During, And After The 2007 U.S. Economic Recession, Allison Sahl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Using the American Time Use Survey (2003-2011), I examine gender differences in time spent performing housework, child care, and emotion work before, during, and after the 2007 U.S. economic recession. This study draws on three primary theoretical perspectives; time availability theory, gender socialization theories, and relative resources theory, to explain differences in unpaid household labor tasks. I examine these differences across three time periods to explain the recessionary impact on the division of household labor. With a sample of 22,507 respondents, I employ ordinary least squares regression models to predict the total number of minutes per day that respondents spend …

Siren Song: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Gender And Intimate Partner Violence In Gotham City Sirens, Katlin Schmidt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project investigates comic book discourse. Specifically, I investigate how comic narratives provide readers with an interpretation for how they should discern and assess “appropriate” behaviors for women. The artifact of analysis included in this project is DC Comics Gotham City Sirens (2009). This text features popular female superheroes, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. Because comic books utilize both textual and visual means to disseminate a message, this project evaluates the visual rhetoric of these characters within the narrative. Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm is used to provide an understanding to how these visual means contribute to the meanings assigned …