Sociology Commons^™

Self-Motivation In Policing, Scott W. Phillips

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Research shows that the work shift of a patrol officer includes a large amount of “down time.” Occupational scholarship has validated that workers can reduce boredom by engaging in activities that are ancillary to normal duties. The autonomous work environment of police officers provides them a unique opportunity to minimize boredom by working in a way that makes their expected behavior interesting. To date the police motivation scholarship tends to examine “job satisfaction,” but the notion of boredom is missing from the research. This study used an observational research design to provide a qualitative examination of the techniques used by …

Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish: The Birth Of The Prison, Trans. Alan Sheridan, Brian Sellers

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"For hundreds of years, criminologists and penologists alike have investigated the various functions and designs, as well as the policies and practices that regulate the effectiveness of prisons as correctional institutions. The ideological aims underpinning penal practice can be either myopically focused or quite diverse as they reflect the varying goals of retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. However, as corrections continue to undergo numerous reforms, scholars and policymakers might do well to revisit, critically reflect upon, and reexamine the socio-historical origins of the prison and its close relationship to power structures operating in the wider society. French philosopher, Michel Foucault’s …

Playing Nice In The Sandbox: An Examination Into The Working Relationships Between Retail Store Detectives And Public Law Enforcement Officers, Ronald Floridia

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This study explores the working relationship between store detectives and public law enforcement officers. Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted with store detectives from two national retail chains. The results of this study indicate that store detectives have a positive working relationship with police and engage in active cooperation with them. In addition, the presence of community development units and organized retail crime task forces enhance active cooperation between the two parties. Findings from this study can be used by both academics and practitioners to promote strong relationships between law enforcement and the retail security industry."

Some Things Are Just Better Left As Secrets: Non-Transparency And Prosecutorial Decision Making In The Era Of Neoliberal Punitivism, Shanda Angioli, Paul Kaplan

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This paper focuses on prosecutorial decision-making during the late-20th and early 21st century era of punitive American criminal justice. Qualitative semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 former prosecutors who worked in two large and diverse states to determine how they made their decisions regarding charging and plea bargaining. This study investigates how prosecutors consider legal and extra-legal factors when making decisions. The results suggest that prosecutors considered legal factors such as evidence/provability and elements of the crime, the defendant’s criminal history, and witness credibility and/or victim credibility, but also extra-legal factors such as, victim’s request, law enforcement priorities, relations …

Amazonia In The Anthropocene: Peoples, Soils, Plants, Forests, John Ben Soileau

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

A Few Days With Bill Vickers: Quietly Advancing Indigenous Rights, Ted Macdonald

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

The Political Man As A Sick Animal: On The “Ideology Of Kisêdjê Political Leadership”, André Drago

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Eloquent, wise, generous; in short, “exemplary,” Kisêdjê political leaders are also said to be “animal-like” dangerous beings. For Anthony Seeger, this “ideological ambivalence” expresses the contradiction which constitutes the leader’s position-function, whose “political power” working at the center of the village derives from peripheral kinship affiliations. Moreover, supposed to withhold the group’s “norms”, he is surprisingly entitled to violate them–primarily, he is exempted from uxorilocality. I try to demonstrate that the inflections the leader subjects patterns of kinship-making process alter his body and agency, rendering him more or less human and, therefore, capable of mediating between the Kisêdjê and their …

Sex Roles And Social Change In Amazonian Ecuador, William T. Vickers

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Health Effects Of Precarious Employment By Sex/Gender Using Mixed Methods, Kathleen Flandrick

Dissertations and Theses

Employment in the United States has changed dramatically since the mid-1970s. Labor market forces like globalization and diversification of the American workforce have led to a heavily segmented labor market where new types of flexible employment such as temporary, contingent, and nonstandard work arrangements are increasingly common. These newer types of work are often on the lower end of the precarious employment continuum, categorizing jobs by their degree of: 1) temporariness, 2) disempowerment, 3) vulnerability, 4) compensation (wages), 5) rights, and 6) ability to exercise worker rights. The increase in precarious employment likely disproportionately affects women when compared to men, …

“Don Guillermo” Or William Vickers Among The Secoya, María Susana Cipolletti

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Upper Perené Arawak Narratives Of History, Landscape, And Ritual, Fernando Santos-Granero

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Images Of Public Wealth Or The Anatomy Of Well-Being In Indigenous Amazonia, Michael Chibnik

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

William Vickers And Gender Studies Of The 1970s, E. Jean Langdon

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Bill Vickers’ Modern Political Transformation, Robert Wasserstrom

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

William T. Vickers’ Contribution To Secoya Ethnobotany, Pablo Yépez, Stella De La Torre

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Bill Vickers: A Pioneer In Engaged And Dialogic Anthropology, E. Jean Langdon

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Remembrances Of Bill Vickers: Early And Late Career Activities, Norman E. Whitten Jr.

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Remembering William T. Vickers (1942–2016), Robert Wasserstrom

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

“Being Flexible”: Reflections On How An Anthropological Theory Spills Into The Contemporary Political Life Of An Amazonian People, Stine Krøijer

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article examines the work of William T. Vickers and describes how his theory about the flexible adaptation of the Siona-Secoya to their forested environment has spilled into their contemporary political life. Based on recurring fieldwork among the Secoya in Northeastern Ecuador, the article shows that “being flexible” has become a particular way of talking about and managing relations to powerful outsiders such as representatives of oil companies and government officials. The article brings together ethnography on the Secoya’s relationship to Occidental Petroleum Company in 1999–2001 and their turn to oil palm cultivation as subcontractors to a plantation company after …

Jean-Paul Sartre: The Bad Faith Of Empire, Megan Henricks

Denison Journal of Religion

Henricks shows Sartre's concept of "bad faith" as a considerable influence several theologians' criticism of empire. In order to explain "bad faith," Henricks first elucidates Sartre's concepts of "being-in-itself" and "being-for-itself." While "being-in-itself" implies on object that simply is what it is and cannot become more than its current identity, "being-for-itself" has the capacity to change and transcend its current identity. Humans, Henricks points out, are "beings-for-themselves" but they also contain qualities associated with "beings-in-themselves." This duality of humanity is of the utmost importance to respect. "Bad faith" is a lie to oneself that has destabilizing results. "Bad Faith" can …

A President's Jeremiad Of Terror (Excerpts From Honors Thesis, The Rhetoric Of The War On Terror: George W. Bush's Transformation Of The Jeremiad), Lauren Alissa Clark

Denison Journal of Religion

Clark examines George W. Bush's transformation of the Jeremiad as an internal critique to a self-promoting form that characterizes an "other" as the enemy, and not the self. The Jeremiad is a rhetorical form that is originally taken from the biblical prophet Jeremiah. The form consists of four primary steps: (1) painting a picture of the ideal of the community, (2) clarifying how things currently stand, (3) warning against what will happen if the community does not change, (4) offering hope for a future in which the community does change its behavior. In its original form, all of these steps …

Aids And Empire: Setting: The Conditions Of A Pandemic, Cora Walsh

Denison Journal of Religion

Walsh criticizes the imperialistic tendencies of the United States for not only helping to create an economic and social system that stratifies wealth, but also creates such deplorable conditions of the poor that their physical well-being is also jeopardized. This is seen most profoundly in sub-Saharan Africa where the AIDS pandemic has hit most violently. Furthermore, Walsh is disappointed in the United States for creating an atmosphere of inefficient humanitarian response. During the presidency of George W. Bush, the U.S. frequently gave government resources to conservative Christian groups that practice such things as abstinence only responses, making effective treatment to …

When Politics Dominates Religion: A Theological Critique Of Televangelist Rod Parsley, Leigh Rogers

Denison Journal of Religion

This essay is a critique of the nationalism of the religious right, as it is personified by Rod Parsley, a televangelist based in Columbus, Ohio. Rogers claims that the election of George W. Bush, and the terrorist attacks of September 11th, have created an atmosphere in the United States that has bound religion to a partisan, nationalistic agenda. Rogers, fearing the impact of this mindset, offers a theological critique of Parsley and others with similar agendas. Rogers' critique is threefold, beginning with Parsley's polarized view of good and evil. By accepting American imperialism as an absolute good, anything that stands …

Coming To Terms With Death: Theodicy In Hindu Myth And Biblical Narrative, Gitanjali Bakshi

Denison Journal of Religion

This article examines the manner in which two major world religions explain death. Bakshi claims that both religions make peace with the end of life through an overwhelming respect for nature, theodicy, and a "masochistic attitude." Using the language and theories of Peter Berger, Bakshi examines the Hindu myth of Mahishasuramardini and the Biblical narrative of Job. The story of Mahisha, Bakshi explains, shows him as a half-brahmin, half-beast who desperately craves the immortality of the gods. All of his attempts fail under the overwhelming power of Durga, the creator and destroyer goddess. Right before Durga kills Mahisha, he surrenders …

Ritual And Religious Tradition: A Comparative Essay On The Use Of Ritual In Christian, Jewish And Hindu Practice, Joshua Clark

Denison Journal of Religion

This essay examines the link between existential despair and the use of religious ritual in several religions. Clark argues that ritual proves its significance when community members are suffering. Ritual does not offer much to those who are content within their current social frame, but it can rejuvenate those who use ritual to reconnect with divinity as they struggle through life despite their great despair. Clark first notes this process in black womanist theology. He uses the example of theologian Katie Cannon to show that the ritual of storytelling has not only provided black women with generations of stories of …

The Socioeconomic And Ecological Impact Of Cool Season Forage Production: A Case Of Black Belt Counties, Alabama, Lila B. Karki, Uma Karki

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

Abstract

Raising livestock during the lean season of forage production has become a great challenge for small and limited resource farmers because of a high cost involved in procuring supplementary feed. This study was conducted to assess the impact of cultivating cool-season forages on the feeding costs for meat goats and cattle. Three case studies were conducted in three Black Belt Counties of Alabama, Russell, Dallas, and Bullock. The socioeconomic and ecological impacts of developing cool-season pastures were evaluated using the before versus after assessment approach. The findings revealed that all three cooperator farmers reduced costs of procuring hay and …

Letting Gandhi In, Joshua Clark, Emily Teitelbaum

Denison Journal of Religion

Clark and Teitelbaum contemplate the seemingly unending cycle of violence in human history and look to nonviolent resisters as an example of how to break this pattern. They build this hope for a future unburdened of war on Gandhi's belief that all people are essentially loving. That love, he argued, must just be freed of the superficial societal pressures that debilitate it.

Clark and Teitelbaum look not only toward Gandhi's successful use of non-violent resistance, but also to other examples such as the Mothers of the Plazo de Mayo who protested the disappearance of people during Argentina's Dirty War. These …

Finding Patterns In The Chaos: Woman As Chaos Agent In Creation Myths, Amanda Vajskop

Denison Journal of Religion

This article looks primarily at two creation myths to understand the subjugation women have experienced through the patriarchy that has defined western history.

The first, Enuman Elish, is a traditional Babylonian narrative that Vajskop argues may have indirectly influenced the Genesis writers and the creation myth featured there. Both of these myths, Vajskop points out, start with a male deity creating a male progeny. This first act deprives women of their reproductive creativity and their necessity for life. Instead, women are portrayed as destabilizing and potentially dangerous persons who jeopardize life as it is known. Vajskop argues that this is …

The Passion Of The Christ As The Passion Of The Condemnation, Aaron Bestic

Denison Journal of Religion

This review of Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ reveals its anti-Semitic tendencies. Bestic reveals what, he claims, is rampant anti-Semitism through the characters of Pilate, Caiaphas, and Satan. Pilate is revealed to be both obviously anti-Semitic (lamenting over the presence of the Jewish people in his district and insulting the intelligence of that population), and also a convert to the case of Christ whom he attempts to treat fairly.

His conversion legitimizes his anti-Semitism in the film"he takes the side of God against those who are trying to persecute Him. Pilate's distaste for the Jewish people is …

The Problem Of Being At Ease In Zion, Gretchen Roeck

Denison Journal of Religion

Roeck uses her experiences in the Appalachian Service Project to serve as a springboard of her reflection on the question of what it means to be a Christian in an economically stratified world. She argues for religion as a source that can help to transform and re-stabilize society into one more suited to providing for all.

Roeck reflects on Berger's theory of world-building to show that religion can be used as a springboard for social change. According to Berger, society is created through human construction and the world that humanity constructs defines societal interactions. While Roeck acknowledges that this might …