Sociology Commons^™

“All Change Is Not Progress”: Examining Concerns About The Education System Using Harry Potter, Renee Richardson

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

Despite various scholars critically engaging with the Harry Potter book and movie series, the analysis of the learning and educational environments within the series remains woefully limited. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix provides a look into the fictional world of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the specific experiences of the students and teachers during a hostile takeover of the campus. This essay analyzes the portrayal of the educational system in this entry of the series and compares it to the real-world urban educational environment in the US. Using a case study approach, this critique …

Revisionist Policies And Practices: How Black Faculty Members Combat Pedagogy And Research Challenges At A Pwi, Larry J. Walker, Amanda Wilkerson, Lisa Jones

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

This autoethnographic study critically examines faculty well-being and leadership within a predominantly White institution (PWI) amidst intensifying curricular restrictions and perceived challenges to academic freedom. Guided by fugitive pedagogy, it investigates how faculty mobilize historically situated covert-overt strategies to preserve rigorous, culturally and civically relevant learning while mitigating psychosocial strain. Utilizing reflective memos and artifacts (2022–2025) from course design, mentoring, and departmental leadership, analytic vignettes trace three tensions: (a) compliance versus intellectual honesty; (b) productivity metrics versus humane pacing; and (c) risk management versus scholarly courage. Findings reveal quiet innovations, protected dialogue protocols, the erasure of special topics in diversity, …

Contributor Bios

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

No abstract provided.

Guest Editor’S Foreward, Marlon James

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

No abstract provided.

Editor's Pen (Special Issue—Summer 2026), Ronald E. Goodwin

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

No abstract provided.

Demographic Trends And Far-Right Party Support In Europe: The Role Of The Cordon Sanitaire, Maxwell Curry

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines whether cordons sanitaires, institutional exclusionary arrangements common in Western and Central Europe on the part of mainstream political actors aimed to prevent far-right political parties perceived as posing a threat to liberal democratic order from entering into governing coalitions or otherwise participating in mainstream political life, condition the relationship between immigration-related demographic change and support for far-right political parties. Contemporary scholarship has extensively examined the relationship between immigration and support for far-right political parties, but comparatively little research has examined the institutional factors that potentially condition such a relationship. In an analysis of parliamentary election data …

Personal Goal Facilitation, Burnout And Work Engagement: The Role Of Self-Discrepancy, Jacinth Jia Xin Tan, Bek Wuay Tang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Employees who perceive greater personal goal facilitation through work (PGFW) experience lower burnout and higher work engagement. This research examined whether self-discrepancies and emotional experiences explain these relationships across two cross-sectional studies involving a nationally representative sample of working adults (Study 1; N = 889) and a sample of public school teachers (Study 2; N = 228) in Singapore. Participants listed personal goals and rated how much their jobs facilitated these goals, alongside measures of self-discrepancy, emotions, burnout, and engagement. Across both samples, higher PGFW predicted lower burnout and greater engagement. These associations were consistently explained by lower ideal self-discrepancy …

Sustainable Rural Development Under Ecological Civilization: Two Mountains Theory, “Green Rural Revival”, And Post-Productivist Transition In Zhejiang, Qian Forrest Zhang, Jianzhang Luo, Li Zhou

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Existing studies of China’s overarching ideological framework for national development, “Ecological Civilization”, have focused narrowly on environmental governance; how it reshapes sustainable rural development remains underexplored. This paper pursues two analytically distinct tasks. First, it reconstructs the policy history of how President Xi Jinping’s “Two Mountains” theory was incorporated into the Eco-civilization framework and how Zhejiang Province’s “Green Rural Revival” (GRR) program, as a lived example of Eco-civilization, was elevated as the national template for rural development in 2024. Second, drawing on three cases from a sample of 21 villages in Zhejiang, it identifies three core practices of GRR and …

Impact Of Baseline Cognition On Dual-Task Performance: Tracking Verbal Accuracy And Fluency In Adults At Risk For Alzheimer’S Disease, Rebecca Nicole Frederichs

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is increasing in prevalence as life expectancy continues to rise, highlighting the need for sensitive measures to detect early cognitive changes. This study examined the effects of baseline cognitive status on dual-task performance over time, in terms of dual-task cost, verbal fluency, and verbal accuracy in older adults at risk for AD. This study utilized a quantitative secondary analysis of the longitudinal dataset, the Digital, Cognitive, Multi-Domain Alzheimer Risk Velocity (DC-MARVel) study (Gray et al., 2022). Participants were categorized into low, medium, or high cognitive tertiles based on baseline Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status …

Influence Of Self-Reported Maternal Mental Health Diagnosis And Parenting Practice On Child Externalizing Behavior, Caitlin E. Smith

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maternal psychopathology generally has been associated with greater likelihood of childhood pathology (e.g., Bellina et al., 2020) which is likely due to both genetic (e.g. heritability of mental health diagnoses) and environmental (e.g., parenting) influences. ADHD, in particular, is a disorder with a high heritability rate (Kuja-Halkola et al., 2015). Other parent mental health difficulties, such as anxiety or depression, can also influence parenting behavior as well as child behavior. Broadly, maternal psychiatric history is related to child ADHD symptom severity (López Seco et al., 2015). Positive parenting may be especially important when parenting a child with ADHD as positive …

A 10-Minute Walk From The Mrt. But For Whom?, Paulin Tay Straughan, Yi Wen (Chen Yiwen) Tan, Wensi Lim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

They highlighted that as people age, mobility naturally declines, adding that the convenient shorthand such as a “10-minute walk” to define accessibility is ultimately a social construct – one that must be grounded in lived realities and evidence. They noted that ageing in place is not just the ability to remain at home as one transitions into later life – it is about living in an environment that fosters attachment, continuity and well-being, which requires both the built and social environments to be supportive. Responses must be guided by solid evidence – through ongoing conversations with those whose needs we …

Nh Ece Research Consortium Research & Evaluation Stakeholder Map, Jess Carson, Evan England, Lisa Bauer

New Hampshire Early Care and Education Research Consortium

New Hampshire's early care and education (ECE) ecosystem is complex and includes a broad, dynamic community of people and organizations who contribute to and rely upon ECE research. This visual stakeholder "map" documents the organizations that contribute to research and evaluation in NH ECE. These maps rely on contributions, updates, and refinements from the field and are meant to be a shared resource reflecting the complexity and partnerships in New Hampshire's ECE ecosystem.

Nh Ece Research Consortium State Government Stakeholder Map, Jess Carson, Evan England, Briana Ermanni

New Hampshire Early Care and Education Research Consortium

New Hampshire's early care and education (ECE) ecosystem is complex and includes a broad, dynamic community of people and organizations who contribute to and rely upon ECE research. This visual stakeholder "map" documents the areas of state government that support the NH ECE field. These maps rely on contributions, updates, and refinements from the field and are meant to be a shared resource reflecting the complexity of partnerships in NH's ECE ecosystem.

Nh Ece Research Consortium Research Funder Stakeholder Map, Jess Carson, Evan England, Kamala Nasirova

New Hampshire Early Care and Education Research Consortium

New Hampshire's early care and education (ECE) ecosystem is complex and includes a broad, dynamic community of people and organizations who contribute to and rely upon ECE research. This visual stakeholder "map" documents the research funders that support NH ECE. These maps rely on contributions, updates, and refinements from the field and are meant to be a shared resource reflecting the complexity of partnerships in NH's ECE ecosystem.

The Most Age-Diverse Society In Our Country's History, Cal J. Halvorsen, Logan Fox, Tim B. Zielonko

Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging

The public narrative is that the United States population is getting older. This is, indeed, true. We have more people over age 50 than we have ever had in our country—both in total numbers and in the share of the population. The numbers of older people will continue to grow, all the way up until the projections stop at the year 2100. Many have asked, “What will we do with all of these older people?”

"I Don’T Know That You Can Do That Anywhere Else": The Role Rural College Towns Play In The Formation Of Queer Identity, Amy Mcdowell, Ryan J. Parsons, Julia Kraus

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

Challenging dominant narratives suggesting that rural spaces are inhospitable to LGBTQ+ identities, this study examines how queer individuals navigate space, rurality, and queerness in Oxford, Mississippi, a historically conservative college town. Drawing on oral histories from the Queer Mississippi digital archive, we argue that rural institutions of higher learning (rural IHLs) and the college towns they are embedded in serve as critical sites of queer identity formation. The rural college town provides a unique space where LGBTQ+ individuals from both within and outside the South navigate self-discovery, social networks, and belonging. We highlight the transformative role of these spaces in …

Ice Arrests In The Mountain West, 2025, Cason Noll, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet presents data from the Prison Policy Initiative briefing on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest data for the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah from January to October of 2025.  This fact sheet reports the number of ICE arrests by location and arrest rates per 100,000 residents in each Mountain West state.

The Psychology Of Diplomacy In The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: The Role Of Emotions And Perceptions In Peace Negotiations, Tomy Octavian, Linda Noviyana

Journal of Middle East and Islamic Studies

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains one of the major challenges in building sustainable peace through diplomacy. This study analyzes the role of emotions and perceptions in Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations through the perspective of diplomacy psychology. Using an integrative literature review and an integrated theory approach that combines psychological theories and international relations theories, this study synthesizes empirical and conceptual findings on the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiation process. The results of the analysis show that negative emotions such as fear, hatred, and anger worsen diplomatic relations and hinder peace deals. Distorted perceptions of the other side's intentions and identities, as well as conflicting …

Lengua, Conocimiento Y Continuidad Cultural: Contextos De La Educación Avanzada Del Maya Kaqchikel, José Israel Herrera

Journal of Maya Heritage

Resumen. La revitalización de las lenguas indígenas ha dejado de concebirse exclusivamente como una estrategia de preservación lingüística para convertirse en un campo de reflexión sobre la continuidad de los sistemas de conocimiento, las pedagogías comunitarias y la diversidad epistémica. En este contexto, el presente ensayo analiza Kik'aslemal ri Kaqchikela': An Advanced Kaqchikel Maya Language Textbook como una propuesta educativa que trasciende la enseñanza avanzada del idioma kaqchikel para constituirse en un modelo de producción comunitaria del conocimiento. A partir del diálogo con la literatura sobre epistemologías indígenas, antropología lingüística y revitalización lingüística, se sostiene que la organización temática …

Expanding The Cognitive Attentional Standards Platform Through Artificial Influence Assessment (Aia): Rationale, Development, And Measurement Design, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping how individuals access information, make decisions, and interact with digital environments. The Cognitive Attentional Standards Platform (C.A.S.) was developed to assess attention related harms, cognitive safety, digital autonomy, and platform influence across digital systems (Clark, 2026). However, the growth of generative AI, conversational agents, and algorithmic decision support technologies has introduced new forms of influence that may not be fully captured by existing assessment domains. This paper proposes the Artificial Influence Assessment (AIA) as an expansion of the C.A.S. framework designed to measure AI mediated influence on cognition, behavior, autonomy, and information processing. Drawing on …

Governing Algorithmic Attention: Attention Safeguard Models And The Cognitive Attentional Standard As System Level Interventions In Human Computer Interaction, Behavioral Economics, And Artificial Intelligence, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Algorithmic recommendation systems and interface designs shape attention by combining visually salient cues with uncertain reward timing and low friction interaction. These conditions can sustain anticipatory checking, extend time on task, and reduce natural disengagement points through patterns such as infinite scrolling and autoplay. This paper synthesizes research across neuroscience, human computer interaction, behavioral economics, and artificial intelligence to argue that attention capture is a predictable outcome of incentive driven design rather than an individual failure of self regulation. It advances the Attention Safeguard Models and the Cognitive Attentional Standard as system level interventions that regulate exposure conditions, pacing, and …

Character Education Across School Contexts: A Qualitative Study Of High- And Regular-Performing Schools In Indonesia, Heri Retnawati, Zurqoni Zurqoni, Mukhamad Ilyasin, Hasan Djidu, Kartianom Kartianom, Ezi Apino

The Qualitative Report

This qualitative study explores how character education is understood, organized, and enacted across two types of junior high schools in Indonesia: High-Performing Schools (HPS) and Regular-Performing Schools (RPS). Using semi-structured interviews with school leaders, teachers, parents, students, and school committee members from nine schools across three provinces, we examined how institutional conditions and relational practices shape the implementation of character education. Analysis generated four themes: variation in program management approaches, differences in implementation structures and stakeholder involvement, school inputs shaping program capacity, and community perceptions of character education outcomes. Findings show that HPS tend to institutionalize character education through structured …

Thinking Silence Otherwise: Toward A “Research Other” In Qualitative Research, Rosa Vázquez Recio

The Qualitative Report

Why ask about silence when it comes to research? This paper explores and analyzes how silence, unlike words and verbal expression, has received little attention in the data production process. Despite its different manifestations and meanings in social interactions and knowledge production, silence tends to be overlooked, ignored, or silenced. We focus on analyzing how we relate silence to evidence-based research to describe the “non-places” of silence in qualitative research, addressing controversies and issues. We propose a “research other,” grounded in decolonial approaches and Southern and feminist epistemologies, to argue for the inclusion of silence in the research process. …

A Multi-Stakeholder Perception Model Of Study Tour Resources: A Grounded Theory Study, Zhao Junming, Diana Mohamad

The Qualitative Report

Understanding stakeholders’ perceptions of study tour resources is essential for improving resource planning, enhancing program quality, and fostering more sustainable tourism practices. In this study, "study tour resources" refers to the educational, cultural, natural, and service elements, among others, that support experiential learning during organized study tour activities. This study addresses the research question: What are the key dimensions of stakeholders’ perceptions of study tour resources, and how do these dimensions interact to form a coherent perception model? Our study endeavors to construct a comprehensive perception model of stakeholders regarding study tour resources. To achieve this end, guided by constructivist …

K4) Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage Inscription: End Of The Road Or A New Beginning?, Michał Duda, Bogdan Włodarczyk, Marzena Makowska-Iskierka

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

The aim of paper is to examine the changes triggered by the inscription of religious traditions on intangible cultural heritage lists - the national level and at the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Such inscriptions generate transformations observable at heritage sites, among communities safeguarding these traditions, and in the behaviours of visitors - phenomena referred to as the “UNESCO effect.” These changes often extend beyond individual sites, inspiring other communities and heritage bearers to seek heritage recognition.

The paper focuses on religious cultural heritage associated with the tradition of creating floral carpets for the Feast of Corpus Christi in Spycimierz, …

K1) Negotiating The Sacred: Religious Sensitivities Within Contemporary Tourism Practices, Polyxeni G. Moira Dr

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

This study critically analyses ways of managing religious sensitivities in the contemporary tourism environment, focusing on the dynamic intersections between religious-cultural heritage, spirituality, and the visitor experience. Recognizing the diversity of tourist motivations—which range from traditional pilgrimage to purely cultural, historical, or educational pursuits—the study argues for the need for flexible models of governance. These models must strike a delicate balance between the accessibility of sacred sites and the necessary respect for their sanctity.

Through a thorough review of the interventions of international organizations (such as UNESCO, UNWTO, and ICCROM) and the analysis of good practice studies from various continents, …

L3) Drawing, Religious Experience And The Pilgrim’S Mind, Stephen F. Haller

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

While some tourism activities can be a positive obstacle to awareness and connection, other tourism activities, like drawing, can lead to inner development, wonder, and a heightened experience. A traveller’s activity of sketching and drawing is a meditative exercise in concentration and focus that can transform one’s experience and enhance their perception. It often facilitates the experience of connection to the place being drawn; to nature; and to a community. If developed as a frequent habit, drawing can be a character-building activity with virtues that continue even after the act of drawing is over. It is a method of altering …

L2) More Than Faith: Self-Fulfilment As A Key Driver Of Memorable Religious Tourism, Sau Ying Pamela Ho, Jing (Bill) Xu

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

While traditional perspectives on religious tourism often emphasize faith as the primary motivator, this study challenges that assumption, revealing that the pursuit of self-fulfilment is a more powerful and significant driver of memorable visitor experiences. This research delves into the psychological underpinnings of pilgrimage, seeking to understand what transforms a simple visit into a profoundly impactful journey that enhances a visitor’s sense of self-worth.

To investigate these dynamics, the study adopted the ABC Model of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT). This framework posits that an Activating event (visiting a religious attraction) triggers an individual’s internal Belief system (religiosity and self-fulfilment), …

L1) Religious Tourism In Islam: Between Spiritual Purpose And Sincere Intention, Tariq Elhadary, Razaq Raj

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

This study explores religious tourism in Islam through the interrelated concepts of spiritual purpose and sincere intention. It argues that the Islamic understanding of religious experience extends beyond physical travel or the visitation of sacred sites, grounding its value in the inner dimension of faith. Islam prioritizes the essence of actions over their outward form, establishing conviction of the heart before verbal affirmation and physical practice. Accordingly, intention serves as the primary criterion for assessing the validity, acceptance, and spiritual completeness of deeds. Religious journeys such as Hajj, Umrah, and visits to holy sites therefore attain their authentic significance when …

K3) From Sacred Landscape To Pilgrimage Environment: The Case Of Monte San Giorgio And Mendrisio, Lorenzo Cantoni, Adine Gavazzi

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Across Europe, numerous historic pilgrimage landscapes no longer function as dominant religious destinations, yet devotional practices persist in fragmented, latent, or reinterpreted forms. Pilgrimage however appears to be undergoing a process of transformation within postsecular communities, where spiritual meaning coexists with heritage tourism, community identity, and cultural landscape management. Building on religious tourism studies, pilgrimage is understood as mobility toward sacred sites as well as a ritual process embedded in tradition, motivation, and lived experience (Griffin & Raj 2017). Contemporary scholarship emphasises that pilgrimage preserve the experiential and relational practice linking people, landscape and belief systems, while fighting the tourist …