Sociology of Culture Commons^™

The Freedom Myth How Ski Cultures Hidden Conformity Reveals The Unconscious Power Of Brand Belonging, Isabel R. Phillips

University Honors Theses

Purpose: Ski culture sells freedom and enforces conformity. This review asks what unconscious behavioral patterns hold that contradiction in place, and how brands capitalize on it to manufacture belonging.

Design/Methodology/Approach: A narrative literature review across consumer psychology, behavioral neuroscience, sociology, and ski industry research. No primary data were collected. Four accounts of consistency-seeking are synthesized into one framework, then applied to three ski industry cases at ascending scales and tested against a comparative case from Spanish football.

Findings: Belonging is a conditioned response, and conditioning requires a stable stimulus. Consistency is therefore the precondition of belonging rather than a constraint …

Cultural Shadows: Vampires And The Shifting Fears Of The West, A Creative Exploration Of Vampire Media And Its Reflection Of Evolving Social Anxieties, Tasha Sayre

University Honors Theses

Cultural Shadows: Vampires and the Shifting Fears of the West is a creative-critical thesis that explores vampire media as a reflection of evolving social anxieties in Western culture. Focusing primarily on film and television, with reference to key literary texts, this study examines how the vampire figure is used to articulate and dramatize recurring societal fears—particularly those surrounding women's sexuality and autonomy, queer identity, and class-based inequality. Through close readings of influential vampire narratives, the thesis demonstrates how these stories mirror cultural tensions and moral panics, transforming the vampire into a symbol of both fear and fascination. Drawing on gender …

A Case Study In Vacillant Literary Analysis: Nella Larsen's Passing (1929), Sara Casten

University Honors Theses

For the last 95 years, Nella Larsen's Passing has been a topic of discussion within the literary and scholarly communities. First considered Larsen's folly, her second novella Passing had struggled to received a compliment from critics and was quickly lost to readers until her work was rediscovered in the early 1970s. However, unbound by the restrictive literary trope of the era, scholars now wonder if Larsen's Passing had been a misinterpreted masterpiece. This thesis outlines the initial interpretations of critics and modern understanding of scholars in order to highlight the influences of outside influences when reading a written work from …

Hegemonization Of Whiteness In The Latinx Community, Ava N. Jakubowski

University Honors Theses

This literature review aims to explore the discourse on how whiteness engages with the LatinX community. The majority of the literature asserts that whiteness is hegemonized in the LatinX community. Addressed are the claims made for how these two groups intersect, drawing on a variety of prevalent research and experts in the field. This review is situated within the social science field, with an emphasis on communications, psychology, and sociology. The current power dynamics between these two groups is explored through a variety of lenses including the assimilation and racial boundary paradigms. Also addressed are areas in the research that …

Black Voices And Perspectives On Portland's Black Lives Matter Protests With Shirley Jackson, Shirley A. Jackson

PDXPLORES Podcast

In this episode of PDXPLORERS, Professor Shirley Jackson discusses research in which she examines how members of the Black community in the Portland metro region perceived the Black Lives Matter/George Floyd protests that took place during the summer of 2020. Jackson, a sociologist and expert in race, social movements, and gender, is interviewing members of the Black community in the metro region to better understand individual and community sentiments on issues including the government response to the Black Lives Matter protests, participation of whites in BLM protests, and "Defund the Police."

Click on the "Download" button to access the audio …

Anti-Muslim Bias: Investigating Individual Differences, Threat Perceptions, And Emotions In Islamophobic Policy Support, Aeleah M. Granger

Dissertations and Theses

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Muslims in the United States were victims of increased surveillance by law enforcement on the basis of their religious identity, often resulting in mistreatment and unjustified imprisonment. These biases against Muslims and subsequent policy shifts have been pervasive and have had negative impacts on the growing number of Muslims in the United States. The current study focuses on individual differences that predict Islamophobia, including Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), Right-wing Authoritarianism (RWA), and Nationalism, as well as the specific types of intergroup threat perceptions (i.e., realistic, symbolic, terroristic) and subsequent emotional reactions (e.g., anger, fear) …

Racial Gatekeeping In Country & Hip-Hop Music, Cervanté Pope

University Honors Theses

In mass communication, gatekeeping refers to how information is edited, shaped and controlled in efforts to construct a "social reality." One way it presents itself is in regard to racial inclusion and equality, and despite the headway we’ve seemingly made as a society, we are still lightyears away from where we need to be. Because of this, the concept of cultural property has become even more paramount, as a means for keeping one's cultural history and identity-preserved. Blacks and whites similarly attempt to protect or preserve facets of their culture they feel belong to them. What’s different for both of …

Disability At The Intersections, Dara Shifrer, Angela Frederick

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Complete and accurate understandings of stratification depend on more regular consideration of disability. To build sociologists’ recognition of disability as a socially constructed axis of stratification, we first demonstrate the construction of the disability category through classic legitimating processes: moral attributions, biological attributions, separation, and dichotomization. Expanding understandings of basic processes of stratification, we then document the centrality of disability in the social construction of class, race, gender, sexual orientation, and age. Finally, we show various ways disability functions as an axis of stratification in intersection with other key axes of stratification.

Help-Seeking On Facebook Versus More Traditional Sources Of Help: Cross-Sectional Survey Of Military Veterans, Alan R. Teo, Heather E. Marsh, Samuel B.L. Liebow, Jason I. Chen, Christopher W. Forsberg, Christina Nicolaidis, Somnath Saha, Steven K. Dobscha

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The media has devoted significant attention to anecdotes of individuals who post messages on Facebook prior to suicide. However, it is unclear to what extent social media is perceived as a source of help or how it compares to other sources of potential support for mental health problems.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the degree to which military veterans with depression use social media for help-seeking in comparison to other more traditional sources of help.

Methods: Cross-sectional self-report survey of 270 adult military veterans with probable major depression. Help-seeking intentions were measured with a modified General Help-Seeking …

El Capitalismo Y El Ciudadano Del Distrito Federal: Evolución De La Identidad En La Ciudad De México En Respuesta A Los Cambios Económicos En Dos Épocas Desde La Óptica De La Región Más Transparente De Carlos Fuentes Y Hotel Df De Guillermo Fadanelli, Douglas Mitchell L. Emison

University Honors Theses

Throughout the history of Mexico, the country's gradual involvement with capitalism has given rise to different eras of profound economic change which have consequently generated a variety of influences implicating changes in Mexican sociocultural identity. This work investigates two specific eras of novel capitalist engagement to determine the relationship between these economic changes and the evolution of Mexican identity using the urban environment of Mexico City as the socio-spatial center. The sociocultural effects of Mexico's post-revolutionary era of economic development from the 1940s to the 1960s will first be explored, followed by an investigation of the post-NAFTA / WTO era …

Building A State For All Ages: Tapping The Potential Of Older Oregonians, Stephen Percy, Judith A. Ramaley, John Tapogna, Margaret B. Neal, Jay Bloom, Alexandra Reece

Institute on Aging Publications

This report explores how the aging population—including native Oregonians and senior adults moving to the state—represent an asset to Oregon. Aging in America has often been viewed from a perspective of deficit and decline. We wholeheartedly challenge this perspective. This report identifies how older adults can play vital roles in the workforce, entrepreneurship and innovation, and supporting community revitalization through volunteering of time and talent.

Most Americans Are Now Opposed To Laws Against Interracial Marriage, But Their Behavior Does Not Yet Reflect These Attitudes, Ginny Garcia-Alexander, Richard Lewis Jr., Joanne Foed-Robertson

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent decades have seen a dramatic fall in the number of people that support laws which prohibit interracial marriages, and an increase in the number of these marriages. But why does the rate of interracial marriages remain so low, when compared to same-race marriages? Using national data from the past three decades, Ginny E. Garcia, Richard Lewis Jr., and Joanne Ford-Robertson show that while attitudes towards interracial marriages have changed, many groups still have negative attitudes towards Black-White unions. They find that those who perceive social and economic competition with Blacks, such as those with lower levels of education, were …

Victimization, Separatism And Anti-Intellectualism: An Empirical Analysis Of John Mcwhorter's Theory On African American's Low Academic Performance, Marlon Dewayne Marion

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to test John McWhorter's theory on African American academic underachievement. The theory claims that since the 1960's African American identities have been significantly influenced by beliefs of victimization and anti-intellectualism along with values of separatism. In order to test for the existence of these dimensions in African American's thinking and for their relationship to academic achievement, data from the Maryland Adolescence Development In Context Study (MADICS) were used. Findings indicated that victimization, separatism and anti-intellectualism have a causal relationship and that sentiments of victimization are found to be significantly higher among African Americans. A …

Teaching Australian Literature In A Class About Literatures Of Social Reform, Per Henningsgaard

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article presents an intriguing thesis about proximity and identification, distance and empathy based on the experience of teaching Sally Morgan’s My Place to American university students alongside Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in a class examining literature as an agent of social change. Indeed, its response to the question, “How does the Australian production of My Place influence its American reception?” will surprise many people. Students more readily demonstrate empathy with characters and are prepared to ascribe their unenviable life circumstances to social structures that propagate oppression when reading literature about cultural groups …

Region-Urbanicity Differences In Locus Of Control: Social Disadvantage, Structure, Or Cultural Exceptionalism?, Dara Shifrer, April Sutton

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

People with internal rather than external locus of control experience better outcomes in multiple domains. Previous studies on spatial differences in control within America only focused on the South, relied on aggregate level data or historical evidence, or did not account for other confounding regional distinctions (such as variation in urbanicity). Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, we find differences in adolescents' loci of control depending on their region and urbanicity are largely attributable to differences in their social background, and only minimally to structural differences (i.e., differences in the qualities of adolescents' schools). Differences that persist net …

"We Don't Have Any Of Those:" Looking For Leaders In The Horizontal Structure Of Occupy Portland, Aaron Martin Bach

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis documents and examines Occupy Portland's organizational structure and the impact of this structure on the leadership roles of participants. Interviews with key activists and participant observation reveal that the ideologically influenced horizontal organization employed by the movement disrupts the emergence of centralized authority and charismatic leadership. This, in turn, encourages the rise of a "distributed leadership" comprised of multiple, task driven leaders. It finds that these task-oriented leaders within Occupy Portland tend to fulfill three specific leadership roles; the facilitation of process, the construction of movement structures, and the organization of actions. This study provides an exploration of …

Division Of Labor Within The Household: The Experience Of Bosnian Immigrant Women In Portland, Oregon, Miro Paljevic

Dissertations and Theses

This research study examines the impact of international migration of household labor for Bosnian immigrant women living in Portland, Oregon. Bosnia is a society with enduring patriarchal traditions which assume that women are in charge of doing household chores. Men are in charge of providing for the family monetarily. Many Bosnian families migrated to the U.S. in the mid 1990's in order to escape the war in Bosnia. In this study I interview 10 of these Bosnian women, concerning the division of labor in their homes in Bosnia and their homes in U.S. After migrating to the U.S. the amount …

The Gamer Subculture In Lacy, Wa, Kate Washington

Anthós

Where there is culture, there is the opportunity for subculture, groups of people who create a separate identity within and often in contrast to the dominant culture of a society. In a large society, such as America, there are many cultures and subcultures. One such is the gamer subculture, people who can be identified by their affiliation to online, tabletop, collectible card and role play games. Gamers are predominantly male, but include a wide variety of ages. If there is a large enough gamer population in an area, there is often a store to support their interests. One such store …

Residential Segregation And Social Integration: Do Blacks And Whites Differ?, Joongbaeck Kim, Hyeyoung Woo

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

While it is well known that racial residential segregation affects social behaviors and various outcomes of individuals, research about the relationship between residential segregation and social integration is limited. We examine how residential segregation is associated with three types of social integration: formal, informal, and advisory integration, and whether the associations differ for Blacks and Whites using data from the Americans’ Changing Lives survey. Our results show that residential segregation is negatively associated with advisory integration for both Blacks and Whites. It also predicts lower levels of formal integration for Blacks, but not for Whites. We did not find significant …

Diverse Contexts Of Reception And Feelings Of Belonging, Alex Stepick, Carol Dutton Stepick

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The theoretical focus of this paper is the context of reception experienced by migrants in their new homeland. In particular we examine relations between established residents and newcomers or immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, and other Caribbean and Latin American nations in South Florida. Based upon long term fieldwork among late adolescents and young adults, we develop a framework and give ethnographic examples of established resident-newcomer relations that influence the contexts of reception for immigrants in South Florida. These contexts range from positive to negative, vary between national and local settings, and change over time.

Immigrant-Established Resident Interactions In Miami, Florida, Alex Stepick, Carol Dutton Stepick

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines factors that affect interethnic relations in Miami, Florida. The theoretical framework, based on the ‘contact hypothesis’ argues that better interethnic relations stem from not only contact, but also contact in which individuals from opposing groups share equal status and a stake in outcomes, and when contact activities require cooperation. The contact hypothesis, however, does not address the factors that produce inequality in social relations. To address these factors ideas from international migration research are used to argue that those with power must create structures in which other groups feel welcome rather than rejected and that leaders must …

Traditional And Non-Traditional Dispute Settlement In The Federated States Of Micronesia, Kris Tina Yurgin Cummings

Dissertations and Theses

The current U.S. mediation system is founded on a paradigm of individual focus and Western values. This model may fail to represent the various cultural components disputants from more collective cultures may bring to the mediation process. In addition, the U.S. mediation system relies on the collaboration of two or more disputants to confront the issues between them. Again, this model presupposes that confrontation is an appropriate means of conflict resolution.

The purpose of this study is to offer a different perspective of dispute settlement as practiced in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Cultural values that emphasize the social …

Ethnic Conflict In Southern Kyrgyzstan, Jennifer Jane O'Donnell

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis focuses on the interethnic relations between ethnic groups in Southern Kyrgyzstan using survey data collected from 500 students at Osh State University. This study examines the nature of attitudes of students and faculty regarding homogeneity, exclusionary attitudes, satisfaction with current living situation, and interethnic relations.

Research on interethnic conflict suggests that interethnic relations will depend on several variables, including the size and strength of the various ethnic groups, their political opportunities, their economic situation, and their communal ties. This line of research would suggest that the Kyrgyz would be in the strongest position among the ethnic groups in …

Planning In A Multicultural Society: Building Bridges And Beyond, Nazmul Alam, Theodis Perry Jr.

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

This handbook was designed and developed within the scope of our Planning Workshop class. The Planning Workshop class, a two-term sequence course, consists of second-year graduate students in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program (MURP) at Portland State University. Students are required to do a group project which addresses a current planning problem or issue in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area.

This handbook represents our investigation of educational and training strategies for individuals in the field of urban and regional planning on possible ways to operate effectively in a racially and culturally diverse community and workplace. It is …

The Degree Of Acculturation And Success Patterns In Three Generations Of The Japanese Americans In The Portland Area, Toshimasa Fujii

Dissertations and Theses

Past research shows that Japanese Americans have been successful occupationally, financially and educationally. This thesis examines factors leading to this success. It is generally argued that the greater the congruence between minority and majority value systems, the less likely conflict would be generated in the minority group's acculturation. There appear to be two opposed aspects in the acculturation of the Japanese Americans, relinquishment or retention of traditional Japanese values. Also important is the degree to which Japanese Americans identify themselves as American, or Japanese, or some mixture. This thesis focuses on the following questions: What types of values have been …

"America 1984: Which Prejudices, Passions, And Poverties?", Carl Rowan, Portland State University

Special Collections: Oregon Public Speakers

No abstract provided.

"America: Possibilities For Transformation", Robert Jay Lifton, Portland State University

Special Collections: Oregon Public Speakers

No abstract provided.

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 …

The Women's Liberation Movement And Identity Change : An Urban Pilot Study, Molly M. Doeneka

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in Women's Liberation results in identity change in the individual participants. As a pilot study, it examines the characteristic experiences of a study group of twenty-six local participants and compares the effects of their participation with a theoretical model of identity change process proposed by Ward H. Goodenough in Cooperation in Change. According to this model the process of identity change is a consequence of specific kinds of realizations fostered by a series of definable stages which are: 1) achieving a desire for identity change, 2) making a commitment to …

"The Politics In 1972", Eugene J. Mccarthy

Special Collections: Oregon Public Speakers

No abstract provided.