Sociology Commons^™

Gender, Sexuality, And Religion: A Critical Integrative Review And Agenda For Future Research, Landon Schnabel, Eman Abdelhadi, Katherine Zaslavsky, Jacqueline Ho, Angie Torres-Beltran

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article sets forth a critical integrative review of the study of gender, sexuality, and religion. Treating religion as a cause, an effect, and an intermediary factor in relation to gender and sexuality, it draws on and synthesizes multiple theoretical approaches, including gender and queer lenses on religion, cultural analysis, and intersectionality. The article is structured around 10 big-picture questions about gender, sexuality, and religion and argues that gender and sexuality are a key symbolic boundary and cultural divide in religious and political life in the United States and around the world. It concludes with an agenda for future research.

Communities And World Heritage Nomination: The Journey Of The Valentia Transatlantic Cable Ensemble, Elizabeth Baxter

Theses

In recent years, the role of communities in the stewardship of World Heritage (WH) sites has been recognised and encouraged by UNESCO. Communities have formally been included in all WH processes from nomination to inscription on the WH List. This case study documents a community-led approach to Ireland’s first industrial WH nomination; The ‘Valentia Transatlantic Cable Ensemble’ (VTCE) on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry. Objectives of this project have been fulfilled through a comprehensive literature review and a qualitative research design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of the Valentia Island community and other stakeholders. Examination and analysis of the data …

The Weight Of The Interaction: An Exploration Of Fat Women's Experiences In Healthcare Settings, Danielle Snow

Masters Theses

Despite making up a large portion of the United States population, fat people are stigmatized, discriminated against, and treated as deviant. Though there is a large body of interdisciplinary literature on obesity and health, and a large body of sociological literature on stigma, there is little literature on fat stigma. Thus, using a Goffman’s stigma theory with the added contribution of Foucault’s concept the medical gaze and medical anthropological concept delegitimization, this qualitative thesis explores the health care experiences of 13 White and 2 Black fat women in the U.S. First, context for fatness and health is explored within chapter …

Community Violence Intervention At The Roots (Cvi–R), Katheryne Pugliese, Paul Oder, Talib Hudson, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

The crime and justice field recently started to label a wide array of violence prevention strategies as Community Violence Interventions. Many of these strategies depend on law enforcement and social services, but the most innovative approaches are community-centered and community-sourced. They are grassroots efforts that rely on the resources of neighborhoods and residents themselves, operating separately from law enforcement and traditional human services. Researchers from the John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center reviewed the history of community violence intervention strategies that operate at the grassroots level (or CVI-R) and examined evaluations of several community-centered approaches, providing recommendations for researchers …

The Economic And Demographic Dynamics Of Pretrial Justice, Christopher Thomas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Scholars since Rusche (1978 [1933]) have tried to explain the observed relationship between changes in punishment patterns and changes in local labor markets, most recently framing the criminal justice system as a racialized labor market institution. In an era of bail and jail reform, this dissertation contributes to the literature on the causes and consequences of changes in one especially salient form of punishment, pretrial detention. In particular, it focuses on the macro relationship between pretrial detention and local labor markets. Prior research in this tradition has examined how changes in labor markets lead to changes in penality, as reflected …

The Problem Of Blackness In America: Becoming When The Being Never Comes To Be, Nkiru Anyaegbunam

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The problem of Blackness in America is a consequence of the historical reality and continued legacies of colonialism, the triangular trade and chattel slavery that have been facilitated through violence and capitalism. This thesis will argue that this problem that is pronounced through racialized institutional systems of violence such as mass incarceration and housing inequality, which disproportionately negatively impacts Black Americans is part of a larger discourse on the human and (mis)recognition. This violence has created a quintessential incompleteness for Black Americans who neither are recognized as citizens nor human. The problem of Blackness will be continuously grounded in this …

"Queering" Age-Friendly New York City, Austin G. Oswald

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background and aims: The global population is aging and becoming more culturally diverse. As such, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers are expected to think critically about strategies to improve the quality of life of people as they age. In 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Age-Friendly Cities movement to improve the well-being and meaningful engagement of older adults living in the community. New York City (NYC) was the first city in the world to be designated “age-friendly” by the WHO, and is possibly viewed as a model for other cities to emulate. Few empirical studies have examined the age-friendly …

Diversion: Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion And The Nonprofit Organization, Leah E. Glass

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work is a billion-dollar industry that companies across all industries utilize to “transform” their workplaces and for many, increase profit. Despite the resources invested, there is, unfortunately, little to show for it. This qualitative case study draws on three years of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews at a national nonprofit, Education for All (EFA), to examine how DEI, coupled with organizational culture and structure, works to engrain inequality, rather than lessen it.

This research is based on 49 interviews with employees at Education for All, supplemented with observations and analyses of organizational artifacts. This study uncovers …

Lactating Justice: Constructing A Society Economically Focused On Optimizing Health Through Human Lactation, Shadley Hobour

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper uses a qualitative research method to answer if a Universal Base Income would be a good economic policy to adopt to optimize Black chestfeeding. The key idea this thesis aims to clarify is how anti Blackness is killing Black people and how one economic policy could improve health. In this essay, I will break down the significance and importance of human lactation for lifelong better health, and investment in a UBI would especially work as a preventative measure for several health issues Black people experiences.

Colonial Education: Puerto Ricans And The Carlisle Indian School, Progenitors Of The Mythic Identity, Melissa Swinea

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

‘GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES’ reads a subheading of The Red Man –a historic periodical memorializing the tune of 19th century Americana with references to Godliness and its connection to Indianness and ostentatious capitalism in a canon of school newspapers. The Red Man was the staple periodical of the Carlisle Indian Industrial Institute published monthly and declared “in the interest of Indian education and civilization” for the annual price of 50 cents[1] The subject and recipients of The Red Man would also include 193 Puerto Rican students sent to Carlisle through the U.S.’s campaign to Americanize the Caribbean …

Exploring The Boundaries Of Queerness From Academia To Activism, Jillian M. (Silvia) Miranda

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper gives a literature review that uses texts at the intersection of queerness, blackness, and/or criminality to explore the ways in which Queer Studies can be useful in the classroom (within critical race theory, quare theory) and on the streets in the fight for black lives.

Brave New Wombs: Hysterectomy, Gender, And Stratified Reproduction, Andréa Becker

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Hysterectomy is the most common gynecological surgery worldwide and approximately one third of people assigned female at birth in the U.S. will have their uterus removed by the age of 65. Despite the high prevalence, sociologists have neglected to examine this procedure amid broader systems of gender, health, and race inequality. Over 90% of hysterectomies are deemed “elective,” including for chronic reproductive illness or as gender affirming care for trans and nonbinary individuals. Given the various reasons for a hysterectomy, and the incidence of this procedure across gender identities, an analysis of hysterectomy experiences allows for a rich investigation into …

Time And Power: The Will To Temporalize In Digital Culture, Talha Issevenler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I analyze the new forms of temporalization of social media in relationship to arrangements of power through nonhuman agency of the algorithm. The new social media industry refers to the entities that make up its circulatory movement, simply as ‘content’. This suggests that scientific or empirical study of social media should deal with content and analyze this as the data of research through sampling (Manovich, 2020, p. 93-94). Yet the forms and the temporality in which the content is presented not only are open to empirical research but should be central to our understanding of the organization …

Navigating Their Way In: Non-Hispanic West Indians’ Class Of Admission And Neighborhood Settlement, Kenisha J.A. White

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

West Indians in New York City are as segregated today as they were 30 years ago. Not only are they segregated from the city’s Anglo population, but they are also moderately segregated from each other. As of 2019, West Indians were still concentrated in neighborhoods across the North Bronx, Central Brooklyn and South Queens. These were neighborhoods that were regarded as West Indian enclaves back in the 1980s and 1990s. As this project reviews, the experiences of non-Hispanic West Indians in the United States, specifically their neighborhood settlement patterns and the role of race in influencing their integration outcomes, have …

Elements Of Social Disorganization And Environmental Criminology: A Spatial Analysis Of Homicides In Villa Nueva, Guatemala, David J. Topel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study seeks to integrate the main spatial theories of crime, social disorganization, and routine activities theories while investigating the spatial dimension of homicides in Villa Nueva, Guatemala. Empirical relationships at a small unit of analysis, the natural cadaster blocks as defined by the municipality offer a more appropriate unit of analysis for the context of the city. While there is a robust body of work in developed nations synthetizing social disorganization and routine activities theories, the exploration of criminological theory integration and the use of the smallest unit of analysis still needs the addition of empirical research in Latin …

Perceptions Of Economic Vulnerability And Public Opinion In The United States: A Theoretical, Historical, And Quantitative Approach, Cody R. Melcher

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation combines three related essays that analyze the effect of the perception of economic vulnerability on the social and political attitudes of Americans. Through a heterodox reading of W.E.B. Du Bois’s intellectual work and political career in the latter half of his life, the first essay develops the theoretical thrust of the dissertation. It is argued that Du Bois primarily grounds white supremacy in an elementary feature of capitalism: the fact that survival under capitalism presumes the successful engagement, either directly or indirectly, with the labor market. Due to the historical legacy of slavery, however, labor market competition in …

Where Gunshots Turn Fatal: A Geographic Examination Of The Spatial Patterning Of Gun Violence, David Hatten

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation contributes fundamental work to the examination of gun violence through an investigation of prevalence, trends, and likely place-based dynamics that explain the spatial patterning of gun violence in Kansas City, MO over a 5-year period (2015-2019). Specifically, this dissertation assesses 1) the degree to which separate shooting typologies (fatal and non-fatal) concentrate in micro-places, 2) whether they co-locate at micro-places, and 3) the likely community characteristics and place-based dynamics that explain these observed patterns. Importantly, the role of place-based dynamics related to the post-incident operational response to gun violence is tested (e.g., a street segment’s proximity to trauma …

Making The Rural Urban: Inter-Class Dynamics To Protect The Environment In The Colombian Countryside, Sebastián F. Villamizar Santamaría

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For the past thirty years, the small rural town of La Calera in the outskirts of the Colombian capital of Bogotá has received an influx of upper-middle class residents that want to live “in nature.” These ex-urban newcomers arrived in the Andean highlands to live next to the long-time residents, who are descendants of peasants and mining workers that live “off nature.” The different visions of what nature or its uses should create a series of interactions among residents that will decide how will this area’s ecological resources be used in the face of further urban expansion.

Yet, contrary to …

Tablets As A Vehicle For Imprisoned People’S Digital Connection With Loved Ones, Andrea Mufarreh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The intersection between criminal justice and technology is fairly understudied, despite increasing technological advancements in the world and within the criminal justice system. A rather recent addition to the technological landscape of prison is the adoption of tablets used by imprisoned people for communication and connection with loved ones and other activities, which is particularly important given the context of COVID-19, a virus which caused a global pandemic from 2020-2022. While the use of tablets by imprisoned people appears to be a new trend, the use of tablets in prison both prior to and during the pandemic has remained an …

Syllabus: Sociology Of Mass Media And Popular Culture, Alecea Ritter Standlee

Open Syllabus Collection

This syllabus is for a 200 level Sociology of Mass Media and Popular Culture course that uses a combination of open-access and library-licensed material. The course explores two of the most transformational and interconnected social institutions in contemporary society, mass media and popular culture. Material is included to analyze the social impact of music, film, television, social media, gaming, sport and related topics. The material also includes an annotated list of additional resources and readings to help professors adapt this course to their own needs.

Covid-19 Negatively Impacted Health And Social Relationships Among Working-Age Adults With Disabilities, Claire Pendergrast, Shannon M. Monnat

Population Health Research Brief Series

Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) are related to personal care and mobility. COVID-19 disrupted access to care for many working-age adults with ADL difficulties, potentially creating negative health and social impacts. This research brief shows that working-age adults (18-64) with ADL difficulty faced worse health and social impacts than their peers without ADL difficulty during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The needs of people with disabilities must be prioritized in policy decisions to increase equity and reduce health disparities during the ongoing COVID-19 response and in future public health emergencies.

Rethinking Human-Local Wildlife Relations, Yin Chan

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The plight of suburban wildlife receives considerably less attention than that of exotic or endangered species despite facing similar threats due to the decline of their natural habitats as humans expand upon them. From the perspective of a reflective practitioner, this paper provides new avenues to rethink current views on human-local wildlife relations and answer some of the difficult questions surrounding the topic. The methodology of Action Research is employed to explore concepts relevant to human-local wildlife relations. A synthesized practical framework integrating Action Research with Permaculture Design is proposed to create models for mutually beneficial coexistence between local wildlife …

On A Mission: Examination Of Graduate Resources For Multicultural Women At The University Of Massachusetts Boston, Annmarie Mccluskey

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper discusses significant issues affecting Multicultural Women Graduate Students at the University of Massachusetts Boston, a Predominately White Institution, for creating a centralized graduate resources weblink on the Office of Graduate Studies website. The intervention seeks to address navigating gender and race inequalities that create a double bind experience of stress within a dominant academic culture that reinforces isolation, intersectional barriers, microaggressions, and pressure to assimilate to the dominant culture. Facilitation of this proposal will impact Multicultural Women Graduate Students, the Office of Graduate Studies, the Provost’s Office which oversees the OGS, and the entirety of the University of …

The Role Of Physical Activity And Gender As Moderators For The Relationship Between Insomnia And Depression, Claire E. Wickersham

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the association between insomnia and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older adults and to investigate whether gender or physical activity moderates this relationship. Method: This study used nationally representative data from the 2016 and 2018 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and binomial logistic regression was used to estimate models. Regression models for risk of depressive symptoms (2018) were based on a longitudinal model with time-lagged indicators of insomnia, levels of physical activity, and covariates (2016). Results: Analyses showed that participants who reported having insomnia in 2016 were more …

The Powerful Myth Of Racial Equality: A Review Of Colombia’S Mestizaje, Adriana Fajardo Mazorra

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

Centering On Bipoc Experiences In Multi-Stakeholder Processes With Marisa Zapata, Marisa A. Zapata

PDXPLORES Podcast

Involving BIPOC experiences and perspectives in multi-stakeholder processes is like making Jazz. In this episode, Associate Professor Marisa Zapata, director of the Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative at PSU discusses how convening a process is like composing jazz music in which stakeholders listen closely to one another and add individual contributions that enhance the whole.

Click on the "Download" button to access the audio transcript.

Behind Closed Doors, Kaylee Inloes

University Honors Theses

Child sex trafficking is an increasing problem among Black, Indigenous, and girls of color and the media is ignoring them. Most child sex trafficking victims are girls and women of color. Minority women and children are being sold like they are property and used for sexual activities. Using content analysis, I analyzed three different forms of media, including Willamette Weekly article Portland Police's "Human Trafficking" Arrests Aren't What They Seem, the film Cuties (2020) and a young adult fiction book, The Life I'm in (2021). Through a critical race feminist lens, I analyzed the connections between race, gender, and …

“Put It In Your Toolbox”: How Vocational Programs Support Formerly Incarcerated Persons Through Reentry, Katelynn Towne, Michael Campagna, Ryan E. Spohn, Amber Richey

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This study utilized life story interviews with 21 formerly incarcerated individuals to examine the role vocational reentry programming played in the desistance process. We begin with a review of theories of desistance and the state of reentry programs. A thematic analysis revealed that providers assisted individuals to understand their behavioral trajectories and to take steps toward desistance. Further, participants felt empowered by program provided social support, developed strategies to overcome employment barriers, and held resilient and optimistic attitudes in changing their identities and behavioral trajectories. We conclude with a discussion on how these findings can inform desistance theory and reentry …

Table Of Contents 4(1) May 2022, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

In Memoriam, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.