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Full-Text Articles in Sociology of Culture
Riding On Giants: Elephant Tourism In Chitwan National Park, Joshua Jacoves
Riding On Giants: Elephant Tourism In Chitwan National Park, Joshua Jacoves
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
For the nearly 100 Asian Elephants (elephas maximus) in and around Chitwan National Park, life revolves and often depends around their interactions with humans. Since the advent of elephant tourism for the masses in around the 1980s, the elephants in and around the park have had a dramatic shift in their ways of life. This shift has also affected those who work intimately with these animals, the mahouts, or elephant keepers / riders, have also seen a complete shift in their role and livelihood. For those involved with this industry elephants are seen through different lenses; as an investment, as …
Looking Beyond The 'Middle Class' For Other Chinas, Qian Forrest Zhang
Looking Beyond The 'Middle Class' For Other Chinas, Qian Forrest Zhang
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
There are high hopes for China’s middle class. Thanks to their rising disposable income, this group of Chinese is expected to unleash a consumer revolution in the domestic market. However, I argue that the ‘middle class’ as a concept provides at best a partial understanding of the Chinese consumer population; at worst, it can even provide a misleading perspective that brings us to erroneous conclusions about its profile and size. Instead, I propose the notion of ‘three Chinas’ as an alternative way to make sense of China’s consumers. ‘First China’ comprises residents in medium and large-sized cities, ‘Second China’ consists …
Property In Whose Name? Intrahousehold Bargaining Over Homeownership In China, Jia Yu, Cheng Cheng
Property In Whose Name? Intrahousehold Bargaining Over Homeownership In China, Jia Yu, Cheng Cheng
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Previous research typically examined homeownership inequality across individuals or households, overlooking the intrahousehold allocation of homeownership. Using couple-level data of the 2016 China Family Panel Studies, our study addresses the gap by examining the bargaining over homeownership between husbands and wives in China. Descriptive results reveal a large gender gap in homeownership: only about one-quarter of couples listed the wife as an owner on the Housing Ownership Certificate, whereas about 92% listed the husband. The gender gap in ownership, however, has narrowed among couples married after 2000. Multivariate analyses show that economic autonomy, relative resources, housing purchase conditions, and modernization …
Step By Step: Understanding Perceptions Of Time And Space In Nepal, Lillian Norton-Brainerd
Step By Step: Understanding Perceptions Of Time And Space In Nepal, Lillian Norton-Brainerd
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Time and space are part of everyone’s daily life; however, these concepts are rarely explicitly discussed. Hegemonic interpretations of time and space are part of capitalist, colonialist structures, thus understanding alternative perceptions is important to resisting these structures. To understand perceptions of time in Nepal, I spent a month in Gre, a small village near Langtang National Park. I interviewed villagers and spent time observing how people spend their time, talk about time, and give directions to physical places. While there is not one perception of time and space, I learned how time and space influence each other. Geography and …
If These Walls Could Talk: Restoring 15th Century Paintings In Upper Mustang, Ellie Penner
If These Walls Could Talk: Restoring 15th Century Paintings In Upper Mustang, Ellie Penner
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
The Thupchen monastery, or gompa, in Lomanthang is a site that hosts monumental 15th century Buddhist artworks, which reflect an abundant history from the key trade region of Upper Mustang, Nepal. This site, after neglect and use as a storage space until the 1990s, has seen radical change in the past two decades through an ongoing painting restoration project. Since these restorations began, there have been discrepancies between how scholars and restoration artists believe the work should be done, and how the local community of Lomanthang wants their monastery to be restored. This study aims to examine why the temple …
Help-Seeking Tendencies And Subjective Well-Being: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of The United States And Japan, Verity Yu Qing Lua, Nadyanna Binte Mohamed Majeed, Andree Hartanto, Angela K. Y. Leung
Help-Seeking Tendencies And Subjective Well-Being: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of The United States And Japan, Verity Yu Qing Lua, Nadyanna Binte Mohamed Majeed, Andree Hartanto, Angela K. Y. Leung
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Help-seeking is commonly conceived as an instrumental behavior that improves people’s subjective well-being. However, most findings supporting a positive association between help-seeking and subjective well-being are observed in independence-preferring countries. Drawing from research demonstrating that the pathways to subjective well-being are culturally divergent, we posit that help-seeking tendencies may be detrimental to subjective well-being for members in interdependence-preferring countries where norms for preserving relational harmony and face concerns are prevalent. This study tested the moderating role of country in the relationship between help-seeking tendencies and subjective well-being using data from 5,068 American and Japanese participants. Results revealed that although help-seeking …