Sociology Commons^™

Illness And The American Workplace: Issues And Implications For Employers And Employees, Victoria R. Dolan

Student Theses and Dissertations

This project aims to identify American employee experiences and existing workplace policies and cultures surrounding illness, disability, and sick leave. This approach was taken in order to closely examine what looks to be working well for companies and workers, and what could benefit from a more human centric approach in regards to workplace policy and employee support programs. The study of employee experiences in particular represents a gap in the current scholarly literature regarding illness and illness policy in the American workplace, and more accurately represents the experiences for both employees and employers. Furthermore, it assists with distinguishing the types …

Why The Covenant Worked: On The Institutional Foundations Of The American Civil Religion, John W. Compton

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Scholars of American civil religion (ACR) have paid insufficient attention to the micro-level processes through which civil religious ideas have historically influenced beliefs and behavior. We know little about what makes such appeals meaningful to average Americans (assuming they are meaningful); nor do we know much about the mechanisms through which abstract religious themes and imagery come to be associated with specific policy aims, or what Robert Bellah called “national goals.” This article argues that a renewed focus on the relationship between civil religion and organized religion can help fill this gap in the literature. More specifically, I draw attention …

What Predicts Social Casino Game Playing? Interrelations Of Social Casino Gaming, Gambling, And Demographic Factors, Jani Kinnunen, Joe Macey

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

Social casino games (SCG), for example those played on Facebook and on mobile devices, are one of the most profitable genres of free-to-play games. They are also an example of a convergence trend, where the line between gambling and digital gaming is blurring. Digital games integrate gambling elements, such as loot boxes, while new forms of digital, online and hybrid gambling games use similar immersive elements as those which are employed in video games.

The Finnish Player Barometer 2018, a nationally representative dataset (n = 946), included questions about digital gaming, gambling and SCG. It reveals that 5.9% of Finns …

Gaming, Gambling, And Getting Ahead In American Society, Dmitri N. Shalin

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

This paper explores a continuum of gaming, gambling, and risk taking in society at large as crucial for understanding the American dream. The distinction is made between gaming as a challenge enjoyed for its own sake, gambling as betting a value on a chancy outcome, and calculated risk taking as a means of getting ahead in life’s journey. The argument is made that everyday life is full of practical gambles which expose risk takers to setbacks and opportunities and which impact our life chances. The question is raised how the unequal distribution of life chances in American society affects the …

Determinants Of Migrant Career Success: A Study Of Recent Skilled Migrants In Australia, Eddy Ng, Diana Rajendran, Greg J. Sears, Nailah Ayub

Faculty Journal Articles

Australia has been aggressively pursuing skilled migrants to sustain its population and foster economic growth. However, many skilled migrants experience a downward career move upon migration to Australia. Based on a survey of recent skilled migrants, this study investigates how individual (age, years of settlement, qualifications), national/societal (citizenship and settlement), and organization‐level (climate of inclusion) factors influence their career success. Overall, we found that: (1) age at migration matters more than length of settlement in predicting skilled migrant career success; (2) citizenship uptake and living in a neighbourhood with a greater number of families from the same country of origin …

Dilemma And Knowledge - Book Review Of Re-Imagining Utopias: Theory And Method For Educational Research In Post-Socialist Contexts, Jessica Zychowicz

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

No abstract provided.

The Underreported Significance Of Transcription Decisions: Perspectives Gained From Two Different Vantage Points, Lilian Cibils

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, I propose redefining transcription as a significant process within qualitative research, and as more deserving of attention and of transparency in reporting. Although interviewing has become one of the most frequently used methods of qualitative data collection, when summarizing the methodology adopted in their studies, researchers are still not likely to describe either the transcription process itself or the decision-making process that led up to it. One of the problems with transcription is that it is frequently addressed separately from the broader philosophical, ideological or epistemological contexts of a study, and dealt with as a minor independent …

Untitled Screenplay, Lora A. Herman

University Honors Theses

The following document is a working copy of an untitled fictional screenplay in which the story and characters are the original work of Lora A. Herman.

In 2082 North America, the United States no longer exists as a governing entity. The vast majority of the landscape that once comprised the USA is unlivable due to irreparable advances in climate change -- flood, fire, freeze, and drought.

The remaining society has restructured itself to focus less on controlling its population and their free will, and to instead focus on maintaining the integrity of and resources for the man-made contained communities that …

After-School Martial Arts: A History, Perceptions Of Academic Advantage, And Effects On Academic Performance, Rose Marie Kelley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

After-School Martial Arts utilizes mixed methods to further our understanding of (a) how martial arts became an established after-school activity for elementary school children, (b) how parents and participants perceive the value of martial arts, and (c) whether sustained participation in martial arts is associated with academic gains. I begin with a historical case study that examines how parents came to see martial arts as one of the viable after-school activities for their elementary school age children. Next, I employed qualitative observations and in-depth interviewing techniques to learn more about what parents and participants perceived as attractive in marital arts …

Ua12/2/1 The Hill In Review, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter recapping the top stories of the week.

The Hydraulic Dimension Of Reconstruction In Louisiana, 1863-1879, Matthew P. Carlin

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Louisiana developed an extensive system of levees throughout the Atchafalaya Basin and along its territorial Mississippi River. This system reached its zenith on the eve of the American Civil War. It went into dramatic decline following the conflict due to the confluence of military activity, protracted irregular warfare, and neglect stemming from labor and capital revolution. These shifts intensified with the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and finally consolidated after the ratification of Louisiana’s Constitution of 1879. The shift of responsibility for the construction and maintenance of levees during the Reconstruction Era led to many significant changes in the character and function …

Character, Leadership, And Community: A Case Study Of A New Orleans Youth Program, Candace Colbert

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Youth outreach programs use innovative and community-based activities to fill in gaps of education, provide creative outlets, create access to opportunities, and empower youth.¹ This research investigates, records, and compares the ways in which staff and youth participants perceive the experience at a New Orleans youth program. The purpose of the research is to provide insight towards potential program improvement. The participants of this study are from Compassion Outreach of America’s summer program Project Reach NOLA in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana. There are twenty-nine participants, between the ages of fourteen and fifty years old. The …

The Role Of Temperamental Fear And Parenting Quality On Emerging Internalizing And Externalizing Problems During Early Childhood, Tejal Patel

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Temperamental characteristics may distinguish which children are at greater risk for later psychopathology. In addition, parenting quality may interact with the association between temperament and behavior problems to increase or decrease externalizing or internalizing behaviors in children. This study examined whether mothers’ parenting quality moderated the associations between children’s temperamental fear and children’s behavior problems. The sample consisted of 143 low-income mother-child dyads who participated in various interactional tasks designed to measure mothers’ parenting and children’s temperamental fear. While children’s fearless and fearful temperament were not significantly associated with externalizing and internalizing behaviors, respectively, some significant associations emerged. Positive and …

Let Me Take A #Shelfie: An Assemblage Explored Through Framing, Courtney D. Brandabur

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

As emerging technologies rapidly change the way that individuals socially interact, researchers can look back to older theories of social organization in order to apply traditional concepts to new ways of being. A #shelfie is a popular hashtag used on Instagram, a social media application, typically used with a post that consist of any visual media containing book(s) or item(s) related to literature in a physical space within, around, and/or upon a piece of furniture. This thesis is centered around the examination of a data collection that gathered top #shelfie posts on Instagram for the purpose of visual content and …

Associations Between Masculine Norms And Health-Care Utilization In Highly Religious, Heterosexual Men, Josh R. Novak, Terry Peak, Julie A. Gast, Melinda Arnell

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to use focus groups to explore married men’s avoidance of health-care utilization. Five focus groups of 8 to 10 married, heterosexual, male participants (N = 44) were conducted and analyzed using grounded theory methods. Several important themes emerged connected to how masculine norms were associated with health-care utilization at several domains including at the organizational level (perceptions of doctors), interpersonal level (past family context and current family context), and individual level (illness severity, money concerns). These themes were all connected with the societal theme of masculine norms …

Sexual Dimorphism In Homo Erectus Inferred From 1.5 Ma Footprints Near Ileret, Kenya, Brian Villmoare, Kevin G. Hatala, William Jungers

Anthropology Faculty Research

Sexual dimorphism can be one of the most important indicators of social behavior in fossil species, but the effects of time averaging, geographic variation, and differential preservation can complicate attempts to determine this measure from preserved skeletal anatomy. Here we present an alternative, using footprints from near Ileret, Kenya, to assess the sexual dimorphism of presumptive African Homo erectus at 1.5 Ma. Footprint sites have several unique advantages not typically available to fossils: a single surface can sample a population over a very brief time (in this case likely not more than a single day), and the data are geographically …

Collaborative Research For Justice And Multi-Issue Movement Building: Challenging Discriminatory Policing, School Closures, And Youth Unemployment, Ronald David Glass, Brett G. Stoudt

Publications and Research

This special issue engages ethical, epistemic, political, and institutional issues in projects of collaborative research for justice that were designed with movements contesting policing, school closures, and youth disinvestment and unemployment. Three of the articles were collaboratively written by activists and scholars who drew from movements that deployed research for community-driven progressive change. The movements and the research are thus situated at the intersection of struggles against a resurgent anti-immigrant white supremacy, gentrification, a punitive carceral state, low pay and lack of meaningful employment opportunities, and the privatization of the public sector. These articles build upon and are in conversation …

Legal Rights Of Transgender Students In Education, Almond A. Seals, Melissa C. Gonzales

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

Nearly 150,000 school-aged teenagers in the United States identify as transgender, but the population continues to face harassment, bullying, and discrimination from their peers and educators. The most recent battles for bathroom access based on gender identity has led to significant policy debates nationally and statewide. It is critical for school leaders to promote an all-inclusive and safe school environment to help improve the academic experience for transgender students. The purpose of this paper is to outline the current anti-discrimination federal and state laws that protect against sex and gender identity harassment in school, including Title IX, Equal Access Act, …

Making The Invisible Visible: Capturing The Multidimensional Value Of Volunteerism To Nonprofit Organizations, Sue Carter Kahl

Dissertations

Volunteers represent an important part of the nonprofit labor pool, and their contributions are diverse and significant. Yet, the assessment of the value that they bring to nonprofit organizations often is reduced to a few numbers and understood to be an economic decision based on their absence of wages. This value is traditionally reported as volunteer numbers, hours, and an hourly financial value assigned to volunteer time. These data are important tools for articulating volunteer contributions. However, the emphasis on numbers and economic value sometimes obscures important dimensions of service. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to reveal more …

A Co/Autoethnography Of Peer Support And Phds: Being, Doing, And Sharing In Academia, Karen Mcphail-Bell, Michelle Louise Redman-Maclaren Dr

The Qualitative Report

As doctoral students, we were well aware of the social, cultural, and economic isolation experienced by many students working towards a PhD. In this paper, we provide an account of an informal peer support model that assisted us to successfully complete our PhDs. We used co/autoethnography to write into each other’s story, seeking to improve our research practice through creative reflection. Data included over 215 emails generated through our “weekly check-ins” during our PhDs, for a period of over 18 months. Following the iterative nature of co/autoethnography, we generated further data through collaborative analysis and reflexive, creative writing. Analysis involved …

Economic Hardship During Childhood Increases The Risk Of Premature Death Later In Life, Blakelee R. Kemp

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Experiencing economic hardship during childhood can have long lasting consequences for health. This is especially true for individuals who face multiple forms of hardship early in life. Adults over the age of 50 who reported experiencing several types of childhood economic hardship, such as moving due to financial difficulties or having poor family finances, were more likely to die over the next 10 years than adults who reported no economic hardship during childhood. In fact, experiencing two or more economic hardships during childhood was associated with a 23% increase in the risk of death from any cause. The trend indicates …

The Fine Line Of Determination: Supporting The Agency Of Filipina Sex Trafficking Survivors, Jessica Taylor

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper examines the economic, geographic and cultural factors that perpetuate sex trafficking in the Philippines along with the impact of the dominant victim narrative on affected Philippine women. Along with analyzing this complex problem, the research evaluates and critiques current trends of policy support and law in the Philippines, and their level of efficacy in resolving the issue of sex trafficking and promoting agency and survivorship for the women involved. Current solutions and support from both legal and non-governmental organizations’ (NGO)are, to a large extent, rendered ineffective due to a simplified narrative of loss and victimization that is perpetuated …

"The Chinese Animation Industry: From The Mao Era To The Digital Age", Stephanie Jones

Master's Projects and Capstones

Since the 1950’s the Chinese Animation industry has been trying to create a unique national style for China. The national style of the 1950’s and early 1960’s was one of freedom, fantasy, and creativity. With the success of “Heroic Little Sisters of the Grassland”/草原英雄小姐妹(1965), the government administration, namely Jiang Qing of the “Gang of Four”, demanded that all animation should follow specific guidelines based on Social Realism guidelines. This in turn, ushered in a new national style of animation during the Cultural Revolution(1966-1976). During this ten-year period government policies imposed strict restrictions on animators and cause a drain of creative …

“I Am Not My Illness!”: Navigating The Mental Healthcare System In New Orleans, Saira Mehmood

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the experiences of individuals diagnosed with chronic mental illnesses and how they navigated the mental healthcare system in New Orleans, Louisiana. To realize the main research objective, I analyzed how individuals with chronic mental illnesses perceive mental illness and stigma; the services individuals use to address their mental health needs and the barriers they face in this process; who individuals disclose their mental illness to and under what contexts; and how individuals diagnosed with mental illness and their caregivers understand and embody recovery. Situated between medical anthropology and urban anthropology, it examines the challenges individuals diagnosed with …

Exploring Gender Roles And Gender Equality Within The Evangelical Church, Christopher Bishop

Education (PhD) Dissertations

This research aims to facilitate better understanding of perceptions of gender roles and gender equality among members of the Evangelical Church and to determine whether these perceptions differ by gender. The evangelical community’s ideologies and values have come to shape social and political dialogues within the United States. A key component of the faith is understanding the role each member plays within his or her family unit and community at large. The evangelical faith’s organizational structure and ideologies are informed by a patriarchal model that’s placed women at internal and structural odds, based on research exploring evangelically informed organizations. However, …

The Peculiarity Of Chinese Marital Relationships: Parental Hierarchy And Societal Expectation, Xinyun Wang

Senior Theses

The marital relationship in China takes on its own definitions and expectations as a result of significant research of the tradition, parental hierarchy, and the moral expectations of society. Different time periods in China obtain varied and distinctive practices on marriage and the choice of spouse. From the absolute parents arranged marriage to the gaining of the individuality through nationalism within marriage, the modern Chinese marital relationship correspondingly conveys a combination of free love relating to how society impacts the relationship. This thesis explores the history and formation of the current trend of Chinese marriage practices and provides a comprehensive …

From Dacamented To Undacamented: The Mental Health Implications Of Daca's Uncertain Future On Latino Immigrants, Isabel Cooper-Perales

Senior Theses

In response to political pressure, President Obama authorized the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012. The program gives qualified undocumented young people access to relief from deportation, renewable work permits, and temporary Social Security numbers. This policy opened up access to new jobs, higher earnings, driver’s licenses, health care, and banking. Now that DACA’ status is uncertain, Latino immigrants are faced with severe problems of mental health and wellbeing. Ending DACA without a more permanent program or solution in place has heightened the stress and fear that families with mixed citizenship status have increasingly faced. In this …

Keeping Up Appearances: Spatial Spillovers And Housing Renovations, Nicholas B. Irwin

Molasky Family Department of Economics and Real Estate Faculty Research

Spatial spillovers from renovations can bolster urban redevelopment efforts by multiplying scarce city funds, creating a reinforcing feedback cycle of redevelopment. Using spatially explicit data on renovations from Baltimore, MD, we model the extent of spatial spillovers in housing renovations and estimate the effect of previous renovations on the likelihood to renovate while controlling for underlying spatial correlation. We find strong evidence of spatial spillovers with a neighbouring renovation increasing renovation likelihood by at least 1.8% These positive feedback cycles indicate the potential for significant private market multipliers from city‐led urban revitalization policies that encourage renovation.

The Caged Bird Still Sings: The Poetics Of Peace, Sofia Diane Skavdahl

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Although poetry has been used as a method of peacemaking since Homer’s Iliad, little research, theory, or analysis has been done evaluating precisely what role poetry holds in the realms of peacemaking and conflict resolution. Poetry, along with other arts-based practices of peacemaking, is beneficial because of its ability to encourage personal autonomy and emotional communication, while offering an open and creative space to heal from violent conflict. In terms of the arts, poetry is especially unique because it holds the ability to transform relationships between adversaries and the relationship with the self. This paper seeks to analyze both the …

Bringing Research To Life: A Review Of Leavy’S Research Design, Alexandra Ch Nowakowski

The Qualitative Report

In this review, I examine the contents, themes, and possibilities of Patricia Leavy’s Research Design: Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed Methods, Arts-Based, and Community-Based Participatory Approaches. Specifically, I outline the (1) contents of the book in relation to its development of research methodology and potential for use in research methods classes, and (2) the usefulness of this text for bettering and diversifying pedagogical approaches to social research methods. Further, I discuss limitations in the work in terms of possibilities for future additions or expansions teachers may add to the use of this book in courses. In conclusion, I offer overall thoughts …