Sociology of Culture Commons^™

Serial Killer Pedagogy, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"I will not mince my words. We live at a precarious moment in history. Relations of subjection, suffering, dispossession, and contempt for human dignity and the sanctity of life are at the center of social existence. Emotional dislocation, moral sickness and individual helplessness remain a ubiquitous feature of our time. Our much heralded form of democracy has become, unbeknownst to many Americans, subverted by its contradictory relationship to the very object of it address; human freedom, social justice, and a tolerance and respect for difference. In the current historical juncture, discourses of democracy continue to masquerade as disinterested solicitations, and …

Elderly Hispanics In The United States: Their Use And Non-Use Of Social Services, Paulina X. Ruf

Masters Theses

The Commonwealth Fund Commission on Elderly people Living Alone (1988), conducted the National Survey of Hispanic Elderly, 1988. Using data from this survey, the present descriptive work, examines the use and non-use of selected social services by general demographic characteristics of the elderly Hispanic sample. In addition, general characteristics of this sample are discussed. A summary of the findings and recommendations for future research conclude this thesis.

The findings indicate that although the elderly Hispanics in the United States reported needing the selected social services used in this thesis, many of them reported not using these services. Additionally, as the …

Critical Theory And The Pragmatist Challenge, Dmitri N. Shalin

Sociology Faculty Research

Habermas's theory breaks with the Continental tradition that has denigrated pragmatism as an Anglo-Saxon philosophy subservient to technocratic capitalism. While Habermas deftly uses pragmatist insights into communicative rationality and democratic ethos, he shows little sensitivity to other facets of pragmatism. This article argues that incorporating the pragmatist perspective on experience and indeterminacy brings a corrective to the emancipatory agenda championed by critical theorists. The pragmatist alternative to the theory of communicative action is presented, with the discussion centering around the following themes: disembodied reason versus embodied reasonableness, determinate being versus indeterminate reality, discursive truth versus pragmatic certainty, rational consensus versus …

Emotions Are Social Things: An Essay In The Sociology Of Emotions, E. Doyle Mccarthy

Sociology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

G. H. Mead, Socialism, And The Progressive Agenda, Dmitri N. Shalin

Sociology Faculty Research

Mead is known today primarily for his original philosophy and social psychology. Much less familiar to us is Mead the reformer, a man who sought to balance political engagement with academic detachment and who established himself as an astute critic of contemporary American society. This paper examines Mead's political beliefs and his theory of the reform process. Drawing on little known sources and archival materials, it demonstrates that Mead shared socialism's humanitarian ends and that, following the dominant progressive ideology of his time, he sought to accomplish these ends by constitutional means. An argument is made that Mead's ideological commitments …

A Descriptive Study Of The Elements Which Affect Mexican-American Children's Educational Opportunities For Social And Economic Advancement, Linda Flores Quiroz

Graduate Theses

No abstract was provided.

Cockfighting: The Social Structure Of A Deviant Subculture, Gary Foster

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis, being one of exploratory research initially because of a paucity of research of a professional and academic nature, examines cockfighting in its social entirety, focusing upon its social structure. The lack of such previous research on cockfighting necessitated the collection of data through primary as well as secondary sources. Thus, a combination of research methods was employed to facilitate the investigation. A combination of data collection strategies also proved necessary for the realization of the total research objective, that being the presentation of cockfighting as a complete social structure involving a history and tradition, the activity as a …

The Monopoly Study Of Authority, Micheale Hall Williams

Dissertations and Theses

The Monopoly Study of Authority was an institutional grant project designed to test the variables of authority and protection in a laboratory experiment conducted in the Small Groups Laboratory. Subjects (Ss) were recruited and paid a minimum wage to play Monopoly, while the Experimenter (E) manipulated the relevant variables, observed and video-taped the games.

The hypothesis states that the greater the investment, the more likely will the individual make efforts to protect it. The dimensions of investment were ego involvement (desire to win, competitiveness), and resource commitment (Ss were offered rewards of double-time pay for winning the Monopoly game). Efforts …

Social Cohesion In Omaha, George W. Barger

Publications

"How are you feeling today?" a physician asks, and the answer to that question can become the basis for a serious analysis of the general well-being of the individual. Similarly, we now ask the question: "What makes a community?" and state that the answer can lead us to important levels of analysis into the nature of the ongoing social order.

An Analysis Of Drinking Practices And Problems Among Male Undergraduates At A Midwestern University, Ronald Charles Vanderkooi

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research was to study the patterns and problems of drinking among men at a Midwestern university. The primary method used in the study was a questionnaire given to a cross-section of the male student body. The study was designed to determine the extent of drinking at the university. Such factors as the frequency and locality of drinking were investigated. Attitudes concerning college drinking were also explored. Finally, the study was concerned with problems associated with the use of alcohol by students.

The Influence Of Max Weber And Emile Durkheim On Current American Sociology, Medard Mitchell

Sociology ETDs

The problem involved in this study is to determine as precisely as possible, through the use of a systematic method, (1) the nature and the influence of [Max] Weber and [Emile] Durkheim on American sociology; (2) the fields of American sociology that have been influenced by these men; (3) and finally, if there is an existent trend toward the greater use and concepts of these two men by American sociologists in recent years.

This work aims at a quantitative definition of the form and nature the influence of Weber and Durkheim takes in American Sociology rather than a qualitative evaluation …

The College Settlement, Anna Brown Sherman

Student and Lippitt Prize Essays

An explanation of the development of college settlements in the late nineteenth century and an exploration in the possibility of bringing citizens of different backgrounds and means together in a more communal society.