Politics and Social Change Commons^™

C.A.S. Full Assessment Report: State Of Florida Government Portal, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

The purpose of this assessment is to evaluate the cognitive overhead, transparency, and attentional integrity of

official State of Florida digital interfaces using the Cognitive Attentional Standards (C.A.S.) platform.

While the Florida Digital Bill of Rights (FDBR) establishes strict regulatory guardrails for consumer data

transparency, tracking opt-outs, and attentional safeguards, the State of Florida explicitly exempts its own

government agencies, public universities, and non-profit entities from complying with these rules.

This assessment serves to investigate the tension between legislative intent and government execution. By

analyzing public sector websites through the C.A.S. platform, this project will establish a “state-enforced vs.

state-executed” …

The Impact Of Social Media Movements On Policy Changes Made In The United States, Michelle Levy Korine

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study focuses on researching the relationship between social media movements and policy changes in the United States. Over the last decade, digital platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and X have become important tools to encourage political involvement. These platforms have led to an increase in public participation, movements to become more popular and to organize protests. Many current studies focus on the social and cultural aspects of online activism, but fewer examine wither these movements lead to the legislative change asked for.

This thesis relies on the question, "To what extent does social media activism contribute to policy change …

Design Thinking For Corporate Social Responsibility Program Proposal Creation, Michelle "Mindy" D. Danovaro

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study used action research to explore how the use of design thinking engaged employees in the creation of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program proposal in a small- to medium-enterprises (SME) in the Sacramento region of California. The purpose of the study was to assess whether employee participation in a design thinking exercise could improve employee perception of engagement, inclusion, and reciprocity during the CSR program proposal creation. The study was grounded in social exchange theory, stakeholder theory, and design thinking methodologies. The iterative research process followed action research cycles (i.e., plan, act, observe, and reflect) integrated with …

Utahns' Views On Data Centers, Jessica Schad, Gina Gilson, Stacia Ryder, Elizabeth Long-Meek, Alexandrea Sherman

Utah People and Environment Poll (UPEP)

Data center development is expanding across the western U.S., raising concerns about water, energy, land, and air quality, particularly in rural communities experiencing rapid growth. However, data center impacts are highly context-specific, depending on factors such as regional energy availability, cooling technologies, facility design, and state and local regulations. In Utah, policymakers are increasingly addressing data center resource use, but direct water-use reporting captures only part of the picture: the energy used to operate data centers can also have water demands. Greater understanding of this water-energy nexus and of community concerns can help inform decision-making. Using representative survey data collected …

East To West: Cultural Attitudes And The Perceptions Of Death, Hannah F. Ahmed

UROP Posters

Death is a universal human experience, but cultures teach people to interpret it in different ways. These interpretations influence how individuals understand dying, how they cope with loss, what support looks like, and what meaning death makes in their lives. Eastern, spiritual, and religious traditions emphasize death as a natural transition or return to divinity rather than an endpoint, and as something one must prepare for. In these contexts, people often grow up hearing stories, prayers, and teachings that situate death within a broader journey. Because of this, death becomes something familiar and speakable rather than distant or frightening (Naderi-Afif …

Righteous Defenders And Evil Challengers: The Morally Polarized Battle For Books On Reddit, Erika Casburn

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The issue of book bans has moved to the forefront of public and political debate over the past few years. Anti-censorship advocates who defend against these challenges have yet to be studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs and worldviews as expressed by those defenders in a public forum—Reddit. Data in the form of Reddit threads was collected from subreddits belonging to states that have seen the greatest number of book challenges. This data was subjected to discourse analysis, first manually, then by qualitative analysis software (MAXQDA). Analysis revealed that defenders spent a majority of discursive …

Community Care During Austerity: Mutual Aid And Online Connection Among Disabled Americans, Maeve J. King

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Amidst a mental health epidemic and rising inequality, online communities offer a medium for peer support networks for disabled Americans. Community care, especially in the form of mutual aid, has increased in popularity since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering troubling increases in eugenics-based messaging and disproportionate economic inequality, disabled Americans in particular have leaned into community care. Previous research establishes social media as a hub for resource mobilization and safe space for members of marginalized communities to connect. This research aims to explore the impacts of social, political, and economic unrest on the development of community care and …

The Gender Binary And Its Effects On Athletes And Society At Large As Described In Newspaper Accounts Of Competitors In The Summer 2024 Olympics, Neo Zheng

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this paper is to look at the impact of gendered language and gender rhetoric on the continued social maintenance of gender, especially as it relates to athletes. This project focuses on the patterns that arise in language of news articles on two female athletes participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics who are accused of being transgender or male, shedding light on how media outlets talk about the topic of gender in athletes specifically, and society itself more generally.

Translation And Transformation Of Class Through Migration: Rethinking Social And Spatial Mobility Across Contexts, Jamie Coates, Catriona Turnbull, Maja Cederberg

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This issue of Current Sociology Monographs explores new conceptual opportunities at the intersection of migration studies and the sociology of class. The contributions examine migration as a distinct site where class is translated and transformed, using rich, empirically specific cases to show how social class is experienced and produced relationally, transnationally and temporally through the lives of migrants. Through this focus, the papers conceptualise class as a mobile process that travels with migrants, links different contexts and is translated through movement. Distinct from paradigms that tend to universalise a particular narrative or definition of class, this issue adopts a comparative …

Below The Rows, Beyond The Roots: An Art Exhibition Depicting Agriculture Across The Globe, Maggie Enoch

Honors Theses and Capstones

In Below the Rows, Beyond the Roots, artist Maggie Enoch creates multimedia works inspired by her exposure to diverse agricultural systems and perspectives while studying geography and sustainable agriculture/food systems around the world. By integrating complex histories with the contemporary realities of farming, Maggie paints vivid pictures of the power of food in this five-piece exhibition.

Symbolic Racism And Punitive Policy Preferences In The First Quarter Of The Twenty-First Century, Anthony T. Fulinello

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Despite the decay in the acceptability of explicit racism brought about by the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, implicit racism may continue to inform individual decision making even into the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Utilizing data from 25 years of the General Social Survey, this study examines how indicators of symbolic racism, a form of implicit racism, impact punitive policy preferences among the general United States population using separate logistic regression models isolating each indicator, plus a full model, for each outcome. Punitive policy preferences were operationalized as support for increased spending on crime prevention …

Illusions Of Fairness And Sacrifice, Brady Schwertfeger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The American West is a shifting landscape. An incongruous expanse of isolation and urbanity, wilderness and extraction, wealth and welfare, clear water and fire. Fifteen years ago, I moved to my mother’s ancestral homeland of Montana, and have been here ever since. Before that, I was born and raised in Texas, both the West and the South (and often something else entirely), depending on who you ask. My experiences in this region have shaped me indelibly, and have inspired this collection of essays built around culture, politics, and justice in the West. “Pinedale, Wyoming” considers the musician as itinerant wanderer …

Taking A Seat In The Circle: Decolonizing Gender Roles That Argue Against The Participation Of Feminine Bodies At The Big Drum, Juli Suzukawa

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The origins of the Big Drum can be traced back to the 1860s when Tail Feather Woman, a Dakota woman, had a vision of its creation as a tool of resistance. The Big Drum has since expanded and can now be seen at various Indigenous ceremonies and social events. However, there has been controversy regarding the participation of feminine and queer bodies. While reasons for this vary, it has also contributed to harm amongst Indigenous youths that have a more fluid stand on gender identity and may not conform to colonial “gender norms”. In this paper, I will explore how …

Cultivating Diversity In Sustainable Food Systems: Black Farming And Lived Experience In Rural Southern Ontario, Kadeem Jerofy Morgan-Adamson Mr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research examines the lived experiences of Black food growers in rural Southern Ontario to understand how their perspectives challenge dominant narratives of rurality and inform broader discussions on food sovereignty in Canada. Grounded in postcolonial theory, the study highlights how historical dispossession and persistent inequities shape the access of Black communities to land and resources. Using a mixed-methods approach that includes surveys, semi-structured interviews, and reflexive journaling within a community-based research framework, the study documents the barriers Black food growers face. These include limited land access, insufficient funding, inadequate training pathways, and experiences of racial isolation in rural contexts. …

Speaking Freedom: Black Liberation, Abolitionism, And Substantive Justice, Darren L. Hutchinson

Faculty Articles

Subordinate groups form social movements to contest societal norms and practices that sustain inequality. Social mobilization by subordinates can spark countermovements by privileged classes who perceive egalitarianism as a threat to their economic, political, and social power. Privileged-group countermovements often seek to suppress speech that challenges oppression, known as liberation speech. In the nineteenth century, defenders of enslavement suppressed “liberation speech” by legal and extralegal means in order to maintain Whites’ social dominance. Abolitionist resistance to speech suppression helped foster a culture of free speech that created a foundation for First Amendment doctrines developed in the twentieth century. Drawing from …

Locked And Loaded: The Truth Behind Gun Violence, Alana N. Shroyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Gun control remains one of the most controversial policy issues in the United States. While gun reform advocates argue for stricter firearm regulations to reduce gun violence, pro-gun advocates contend that crime is driven more by individual behavior, socioeconomic conditions, and mental health than by gun availability alone. This research project examines gun control laws in the United States, analyzes gun violence data, explores illegal firearm trade markets, compares international approaches, and evaluates whether gun control laws effectively reduce violence while preserving constitutional rights.