Sociology Commons^™

Black And Blue And Read All Over: News Framing And The Coverage Of Crime, Kalistah Quilla Cosand

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores the representation of crime in the news in relation to expressed emotion and intention for future action. Episodic and thematic framing (Iyengar, 1991) and narrative processing (Singer & Bluck, 2001) served as the theoretical foundations of this study and helped examine how scripted news stories involving crime influence levels of fear, anger, and empathy in individuals, and how these emotions subsequently affect behaviors. To measure these framing effects, an experimental manipulation was employed using three conceptually different news stories all involving gun-related crimes. One news story utilized an episodic format, while the other two stories used a …

Do You Trust Scientists About The Environment?, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Carsey Publications

In this brief, author Lawrence Hamilton examines the results of a Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center in late January–early February 2014. The poll asked about public trust in scientists, along with other questions on science, political, and social issues that help to place the science-trust results in perspective. Almost two-thirds of New Hampshire residents surveyed say that they trust scientists to provide accurate information about environmental issues. Only 12 percent do not trust scientists to provide this information. Wide disparities occur along party lines, however, regarding this and other questions about science. The …

Effects Of Jurors’ Gender And Attitudes Toward Intellectual Disability On Judgments For Disabled Juvenile Defendants, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Bette L. Bottoms

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Because many juvenile offenders are intellectually disabled and have their cases tried by jurors in adult criminal court, it is important to understand factors that influence jurors’ judgments in such cases. Using a mock trial methodology, we explored the relations among jurors’ gender, attitudes toward intellectual disability, and judgments in a criminal case involving an intellectually disabled 15-year-old girl accused of murder. Men mock jurors’ judgments were not influenced by their preexisting biases, but women's were: the more women favored special treatment for disabled offenders, the less likely they were to suspect the disabled juvenile was guilty and the less …

Evolution Of A Background Check Policy In Higher Education, Gregory T. Owen

The Qualitative Report

This article is the first of a short series of works designed to articulate the results and research approach I utilized in my dissertation Analysis of Background Check Policy in Higher Education. Results of my literature review on this topic demonstrated that in the higher education environment, lack of agreement about background checks between campus community members, fueled by unresolved tensions between security and privacy, has led many universities to adopt a patchwork of fragmented background check policies. In response to these unresolved tensions, fragmented policies, and an overall lack of systematic studies of background check policy in higher education, …

Studying The Study: Reflections On Exploring The Health And Disability Narratives Of Long-Term Sickness Benefits Recipients In The Uk, Kayleigh Garthwaite

The Qualitative Report

Researching sensitive topics such as sickness and disability can encompass a wide range of demands that must be continually negotiated throughout the research process by both the researcher and research participants. Therefore, a studying the study approach is important when exploring the quality and ethical practice in qualitative research on sensitive issues with vulnerable populations. This becomes especially important within a UK context when considering the negative discourse surrounding the sickness benefits process in the UK. Drawing upon semi-structured interviews with 25 long-term sick and disabled benefits recipients in the UK, the study sought to uncover the health and illness …

A Qualitative Inquiry Into The Life Experiences Of Unaccompanied Korean Adolescents In The United States, Tae-Sik Kim

The Qualitative Report

Recognizing the lack of comprehensive academic study concerning the life experiences of unaccompanied Korean adolescents overseas, this study inquired into many aspects of the daily life of the young sojourners. In order to achieve a comprehensive understanding of their living experiences, the present study set broad research questions: What do unaccompanied adolescents experience in host homes, schools, and communities in the United States? How do they build personal relationships with people in the United States? How do they deal with new experiences in different sociocultural environments? A total of 31 Korean students in Oklahoma City, Boston, and Dallas participated in …

Radical Housewife Activism: Subverting The Toxic Public/Private Binary, Emma Foehringer Merchant

Pomona Senior Theses

Since the 1960s, the modern environmental movement, though generally liberal in nature, has historically excluded a variety of serious and influential groups. This thesis concentrates on the movement of working-class housewives who emerged into popular American consciousness in the seventies and eighties with their increasingly radical campaigns against toxic contamination in their respective communities. These women represent a group who exhibited the convergence of cultural influences where domesticity and environmentalism met in the middle of American society, and the increasing focus on public health in the environmental movement framed the fight undertaken by women who identified as “housewives.” These women, …

Reused Refuse: Freeganism And The Shifting Hegemonies Of Consumption And Waste, Jamie Corliss

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

Freeganism is a counter-culture practice, lifestyle, and philosophy that resists the waste and exploitation inherent to capitalism. By examining freegan practices and philosophies, specifically dumpster diving, this project reveals how these actions help make apparent and shift dominant ideologies about waste and consumption by re-injecting value into wasted items. The project argues that the waste that freegans live on has the semiotic power to shift dominant attitudes about waste and gives freegans the means to survive with limited participation in the economy, but this waste is a byproduct of capitalist production, not a cause of it. Freegans are conceptually paving …

Take Off Your Masc: The Hegemonic Gay Male's Gender Performance On Grindr, Duncan Shuckerow

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

The hegemonic Grindr clone is a gay male Grindr user who enforces the privileging of traditional masculine gender performance and condemns effeminacy. Through this project’s own field work along with the website “douchebagsofgrindr,” the hegemonic Grindr clone is here within analyzed. Drawing upon the theory ofhegemony articulated by Gramsci, a historical analysis of the 1970s urban gay male clone, and contemporary analysis and research, the project argues that the hegemonic Grindr clones, while only a minority group of Grindr users, rules over the cyberspace as sexual gatekeepers. Hegemonic Grindr clones maintain their privileged status on the application through depicting and …

Fearless: Class Of 2014, Center For Public Service

SURGE

We recognize all of the Gettysburg College graduates who will use what they learned and experienced over the past four years to fearlessly promote change, seek justice, and challenge inequality after leaving Gettysburg College. The following list contains the names of all of the members of the class of 2014 who have been recognized by other members of the campus community as leaders for change, and we are proud to claim these fearless and inspirational students as our own. We know, however, that we do not have everyone who deserves to be recognized listed below, so feel free to continue …

Social Theory And The Occupy Movement: An Exploration Into The Relationship Between Social Thought And Political Practice, Jahaan Chandler

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the 21st century, this planet has experienced an explosion of social movements and protests. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Movement, global protests had become such a prominent feature of the first decade of the new millennium that Time Magazine named the protester as its person of the year in 2011. This project examines the relationship between social theory and political practice in an attempt to gain further insight into contemporary social movements. In particular, it examines the theoretical assumptions underlying the Occupy Movement in the United States and compares these assumptions with 19th century individual and collective …

Patriotism Or Financial Stability--What Drives Young Men And Women To Join The United States Armed Forces, Hannah Brantley

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The purpose of this project is to determine why men and women continue to join the Armed Forces. I looked at different factors that may be associated with why people join the Armed Forces, and used an online survey to help determine what factor(s) had the most influence on the participants to join. This research focuses on patriotism and benefits. The benefits were then broken into different categories: education, healthcare, housing, and retirement. This research, if conducted on a much larger scale, theoretically could help the Armed Forces understand soldiers’ reasoning for joining so that they could put resources and …

Leadership And Communication As Opportunities For Growth: Refining Discipline With Cross Cultural Relationships Beyond The Classroom, Sabrina D. Sanchez

Master's Projects and Capstones

Overt disciplinary tactics disproportionately affect scholars of color. This field project aims to shed light on discipline policies across a variety of learning environments and provide scholars of color with the opportunity to self-advocate. I utilize a culturally relevant pedagogy in my framework component to stress the need for reciprocal relationships based on dignity and mutual respect. I provide effective alternative strategies, framed by culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and Gregory and Mosely’s theory of culturally relevant discipline (CRD), for addressing misconduct that emphasize stronger communication and greater leadership opportunities. My project consists of three parts: a modified communications policy in …

Community Structures In Bipartite Networks: A Dual-Projection Approach, David Melamed

Faculty Publications

Identifying communities or clusters in networked systems has received much attention across the physical and social sciences. Most of this work focuses on single layer or one-mode networks, including social networks between people or hyperlinks between websites. Multilayer or multi-mode networks, such as affiliation networks linking people to organizations, receive much less attention in this literature. Common strategies for discovering the community structure of multi-mode networks identify the communities of each mode simultaneously. Here I show that this combined approach is ineffective at discovering community structures when there are an unequal number of communities between the modes of a multi-mode …

Moving Motherly: Raising Children In The Low-Wage Hospitality Industry, Anna E. Hackman

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the hospitality industry, women with children are in a unique position. Government deregulation of corporate labor practices, the exit of manufacturing overseas, and the rise of the service sector economy in the United States has contributed to the development of a surplus, low-wage labor force. Tourism is one subset of this labor force that deserves further attention. Although there is substantial literature on the structure of low-wage labor in tourism economies (Herod and Aguiar, 2006), as well as the impacts on work-family balance (Liladrie, 2009), a less explored topic is the impacts hospitality labor has on mothering. The purpose …

Smartphones And Face-To-Face Interactions: Extending Goffman To 21st Century Conversation, Omar Bradley Ictech Ii

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Smartphone is a technological innovation that has transformed for the better how billions of people live by enabling them to transcend time and space to remain socially connected to potentially millions of others despite being thousands of miles apart. Although smartphones help people connect from a distance, there has been much concern about how they affect face-to-face interactions. This study explored, drawing on Goffmanian concepts, how and why smartphones affect face-to-face encounters. The findings show there are three types of smartphone cross-talk: exclusive, semi-exclusive, and collaborative. With the addition of smartphone play and solo smartphone activity, interactants can engage …

Tertiary Prevention Programs For Women Who Use Violence In Intimate Relationships, Susan Miller, Lisa Young Larance

NSF-NIJ IPV Prevention Workshop

No abstract provided.

Restorative Justice As An Alternative To Criminalization?, James Ptacek

NSF-NIJ IPV Prevention Workshop

This paper will review the evaluation research on restorative justice (RJ) in cases of intimate partner violence. What do we know about how well RJ ensures the safety and immediate needs of survivors? What do we know about how well survivors feel a sense of justice as a result of these practices? What do we know about the ability of these practices to hold offenders accountable, and to prevent further offending?

Who Benefits And Who Loses In The Criminalization Of Ipv?, Beth E. Richie

NSF-NIJ IPV Prevention Workshop

Click the Download button on the right to access the presentation slides.

Click the Additional File link below to access the paper.

Screening For Ipv In Formal And Informal Settings, Nancy Glass, Elizabeth Miller

NSF-NIJ IPV Prevention Workshop

Overview

Within the last 20 years, gender-based violence (GBV) has gained increased attention globally. GBV is defined as types of violence that primarily women/girls experience, including physical violence (e.g., hitting, punching, kicked, slapped, choked, hurt with a weapon, or otherwise physically hurt), sexual violence (e.g. unprotected forced sex, coercive behaviors, including sexual slavery and coerced abortion), and psychological harm (e.g. controlling behaviors, stalking, threats of violence). These acts of violence are perpetrated by members of women/girl’s family, acquaintances, and/or strangers in the home, community and/or during armed conflict. Globally, an estimated 35% of women experience physical and/or sexual violence in …

Engaging Men In Ipv Prevention, Richard Tolman, Tova Walsh

NSF-NIJ IPV Prevention Workshop

Overview of the Presentation

1. Rationale and framework for engaging boys and men in IPV prevention
2. State of the research
3. Key issues and challenges
4. Priority settings and developmental periods for engaging boys and men
5. Engaging men as fathers
6. Engaging men in couples
7. Global efforts to engage men in primary prevention
8. Men as allies to end gender-based violence
9. Future directions for research

Discussion: Evaluating Bystanding And Similar Primary Prevention Programs, Victoria Banyard

NSF-NIJ IPV Prevention Workshop

No abstract provided.

Primary Prevention Programs In Educational Settings, Ann L. Coker, Eileen Recktenwald

NSF-NIJ IPV Prevention Workshop

What we will cover

• Brief review of programs with efficacy to reduce IPV / SV in educational settings.
• Story of EMPOWER to Green Dot: Practice to Research and back
• Testing a primary prevention bystander based intervention in statewide randomized intervention trial in 26 high schools
• UK and KASAP partnership

College Graduation: It's A Big Deal, Raksmeymony Yin

SURGE

College graduation is a big deal for everyone. It’s especially important to me as a graduate of the Philadelphia public schools, as a child of a low-income family, and as a first-generation Cambodian immigrant.

This Is What Happens When We Forget That Speech Has Consequences, Nathan Holic

UCF Forum

The other night, I watched a Bravo “Real Housewives” reunion show in which a woman yelled through a bullhorn “You’re a dumb ho! Shut up!” at another woman two feet away. A split-second later, this woman (the one with the bullhorn) looked genuinely surprised when the other woman (the alleged dumb ho) charged at her, furious, and began swinging.

Party Animals Or Responsible Men: Social Class, Race, And Masculinity On Campus, Brian N. Sweeney

Faculty of Sociology/Anthropology Publications

Studies of collegiate party and hookup culture tend to overlook variation along social class and racial/ethnic lines. Drawing on interview data at a “party school” in the Midwest, I examine the meanings and practices of drinking and casual sex for a group of class and race-diverse fraternity men. While more privileged men draw on ideas of age and gender to construct college as a time to let loose, indulge, and explore, men from disadvantaged backgrounds express greater ambivalence toward partying. For these men, partying presents both opportunities and dilemmas and taps into tensions inherent in being upwardly mobile college men. …

Correlates Of Maternal Mortality: A Cross-National Examination, Amanda Blasingame

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Maternal mortality is an important issue that has persisted around the world; specifically in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization (2012), about 800 women die from pregnancy or childbirth related complications around the world every day with 99 percent of maternal deaths occurring in developing countries. Previous research has linked a number of other social factors to increased rates of maternal mortality including education, socioeconomic status, access to health care, autonomy, and cultural beliefs. This secondary qualitative research study looks further into rates of maternal mortality in a selection of thirty different countries and what other factors may …

Perceptions And Misconceptions: The Relationship Between Education And Understandings Of Individuals Experiencing Homelessness, Julie Cronin

Honors Program Theses and Projects

An impediment to solving social issues such as homelessness lies in people’s stereotyped views and lack of knowledge regarding the issues. Holding stereotypes of entire groups of people often marginalizes the group of people and perpetuates their struggle. This can be seen in stereotypes that are held of individuals experiencing homelessness. The homeless population is highly stigmatized in the U.S. based on stereotyped views. Previous research, such as that completed by Knecht & Martinez (2009) indicates that individuals who have positive interaction with people experiencing homeless, as well as education about the issue, are much less likely to hold stereotyped …

Generation Peace: Peace Education To Unify A Globalized Society, Jocelyn Coombs

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study is to discuss how Peace Education may build on the objectives of Global and Diversity Education, and how it may enhance these objectives in higher education. Through a qualitative study of survey data and analysis of curriculum and diversity programs at Bridgewater State University, I examine connections between the diversity-oriented campus environment and student attitudes towards diversity. I use responses from a fifty-question survey distributed to over 300 students at BSU to analyze student attitudes towards diversity, individualism, and political engagement. While students enjoy meeting people from diverse backgrounds, a significant percent of respondents do …

Making The Dough And Knowing How To Spend It: Students' Understanding Of Personal Finance, Anthony Bazile

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This paper will explore the responsiveness Bridgewater State University (BSU) students have to the implementation of a personal finance course as part of a graduation requirement for every student. The National Financial Capability Study showed that most young people, 18-34 years old, scored the lowest in a basic financial literacy test. The aim of this paper is to analyze where BSU students stand on financial education while gauging how open students are to take personal finance courses offered on campus. In order to do so; the paper will analyze the students’ financial knowledge, attitudes and other influences to grasp what …