Sociology of Culture Commons^™

Registered Savings Plans And The Making Of Middle Class Canada: Toward A Performative Theory Of Tax Policy, Lisa Philipps

Articles & Book Chapters

Politicians across Canada’s political spectrum strive to position themselves as defenders of the middle class, and tax policy is a prime vehicle for making this pitch. Any tax reform proposal can be examined critically to evaluate its likely distributional impacts and how well these map onto specific definitions of the middle class. This article attempts, however, a different project. Drawing on the ideas of Judith Butler, it analyzes instead how tax policy produces middle-class identity through the very process of claiming to advance middle-class interests. The case study for this purpose is the rise of tax incentives for saving as …

Fearless Friday: Jeffrey White, Jeffrey M. White

SURGE

In today’s edition of Fearless Friday, Surge is thrilled to honor the work of the incomparable Jeffrey White ’17. Jeffrey is a junior from Baltimore, Maryland, who is majoring in Religious Studies and minoring in Music. As an incredibly active member of the campus community, he is involved in leadership roles in many facets of campus life. He works as a Resident Assistant (RA), serves as the Program Organizer for the Office of Intercultural Advancement, the Live Music Chair of the Campus Activities Board (CAB), and devotes time to being a Peer Learning Assistant for Anthropology 103 as well. [ …

Ñaan Baat : Ousmane Sembène Et L’Adaptation Wolof Comme Discours Accessible Sur La Politique Linguistique Sénégalaise, Xavier Lee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Utilisant les romans écrits en français d’Ousmane Sembène et leurs adaptations respectives réalisées en wolof, j’avance que nous pouvons mieux comprendre la politique linguistique de la société dakaroise, particulièrement au sein des langues wolof et françaises, à travers une analyse sociolinguistique de la consommation et la production de littérature et cinéma au Sénégal. En particulier, j’essaie de mélanger une étude sociolinguistique avec une analyse littéraire et une critique culturale afin de comprendre comment Sembène utilise les langes pour atteindre une audience sénégalaise dans ses adaptations wolofs. J’avance que l’existence des « langues internes » démarque une réalité de la vie …

Analyzing Shared Value And Social Business Principles: A Case Study Of Honeydrop Beverages And Seven Hills Foundation, Sarah Dys, Maya Grevatt, Brianna Mirabile

School of Professional Studies

Can the business world come together with the nonprofit world to create systems to lift low income women, children, and families out of poverty? The following report aims to show how the changing principles of business have the potential to serve international populations living on less than $2USD per day. For-profit organizations working with citizen sector organizations instead of giving charity provides a sustainable model to connect profit maximization with social good.

Honeydrop Beverages is a company based out of New York that produces lemonade sweetened with honey. Their products do not contain any refined products, only using fresh and …

Doc Wayne Youth Services, Inc. Capstone Project Youth Employment And Mentoring, Bongani T. Jeranyama, Zhengjun Liu, Sarah Parsons

School of Professional Studies

In Boston, Massachusetts, young adults age 16-19 who have dropped out of high school have a very high unemployment rate of 43.8%. Additionally, in the United States of America the difference between a young adult with a high school diploma as opposed to a young adult without a high school diploma in terms of weekly income is $180 USD; between a young adult with a high school diploma versus a young professional with a bachelor’s degree is $433 USD. These numbers demonstrate the need for services that improve academic achievement, job readiness and preparedness, and youth mentorship for struggling young …

A Nonprofit Model In A For-Profit World: A Closer Look At Sheltered Workshops And Sustainability As An Employee Run Business, Bing Jang, Mitchell Perry, Nikolin Vangjeli, Laura Ducharme

School of Professional Studies

Historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Despite improvements such forms of discrimination continue to be a serious social problem. On October 11, 2011, the Department of Justice began an investigation into several state’s systems of providing vocational services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This action came about due to several states being out of compliance around Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability for all services, programs and activities provided to the public by state and …

How Do We Adopt Multiple Cultural Identities? A Multidimensional Operationalization Of The Sources Of Culture, Badri Zolfaghari, Guido Mollering, Timothy Adrian Robert Clark, Graham Dietz

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Given the shortcomings of unidimensional accounts of culture that are based on nationality, this paper builds on and steps beyond current multidimensional conceptualizations of culture in order to provide first empirical evidence for a multidimensional operationalization of culture. It shows the multiple and simultaneous sources of cultural values (i.e., Family, Nationality, Urban/Rural Background, etc.) that individuals draw from in order to behave in accordance with their social setting. This contributes to our understanding of how and when individuals adopt multiple cultural identities. As the first attempt to operationalize the 'mosaic' framework of culture proposed by Chao and Moon (2005), this …

An Acculturation Program For Foreign-Born Workers At Multinational Companies Transferred To Offices In The United States, Eric Krieger

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this study is to create an acculturation program that multinational companies can use to ease the transition of foreign-born employees who are transferred to the United States. There are a number of challenges for these employees, from navigating the logistics of finding a place to live, setting up a bank account and filling out taxes to the social emotional issues of trying to adapt to another culture, build community and be successful in a new work environment. Through interviews with foreign-born employees, Human Resources professionals, and intercultural trainers, qualitative and quantitative data was collected to understand current …

The Repatriation Experiences Of American Third Culture Kids, Nicole Mazzo Bennett

Educational Studies Dissertations

American families moving abroad are often informed of the initial difficulties they will encounter as residents in a new culture; however, they may not recognize the possible subsequent effects on their children, when returning home to their native cultures during the repatriation process. The children who experience the effect of living in a new culture and eventually repatriating are known as Third Culture Kids (TCK). As globalization and expatriate populations increase, it is important that society becomes aware of the Third Culture community. This qualitative research study focused on analyzing the repatriation transition process of four Adult Third Culture Kids …

Dropping In: The Emergence Of Skateboard Culture In Urban Nepal, Olivia Pincince

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since its inception less than a century ago skateboarding has epitomized youth counter culture. In recent years, this fringe sport has emerged in urban Nepal. Through in depth interviews with members of the skateboarding community and supplemental observational research, this study attempts to illuminate how social identity is realized for the skateboard community and how that conceptualization fits within the larger Nepali society. The following research suggests that skateboarding needs to overcome key economic limitations to truly become a cultural more in society.

The Impact Of Religion And Culture On Coparenting In Morocco, Corrine Ahrabi-Nejad

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Coparenting is an important relationship between mothers and fathers, which children can benefit from.Coparenting involves the active role mothers and fathers play in raising a child as well as communication between mothers and fathers regarding child related issues. Findings show that positive coparenting relationships lead to overall more satisfaction among both mothers and fathers in terms of child rearing. Additionally, positive parental involvement, especially father involvement, is shown to result in overall better psychological, physiological, and emotional development among children. Identifying ways to create positive interactions and ways to coparent can improve a child’s development. This study involves interviews with …

Counterculture: The Generational Gap And Reaction To The 1950s, Michelle Desjardins

American Studies Forum

This work focuses on the causes of the 1960s counterculture in relation to the conservative 1950s. The piece provides a wide survey of what the counterculture truly entailed- through music, movies, and social movements- and the wide range of this movement from teenage rebellion to hippie communes. The paper concludes by taking a close look at the ways that counterculture was manifested at Providence College through an examination of two decades of yearbooks, from 1950s-1970s.

A Pluralistic Universe In Twenty Years, Marilyn Fischer

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Placed side by side, James' A Pluralistic Universe and Addams’s Twenty Years at Hull-House seem to have little in common. James’s critique of absolute idealism is written for intellectuals comfortable with philosophical abstractions. Twenty Years is full of stories about the lives of poor people and immigrants. Yet, sometime after April 1909, when A Pluralistic Universe appeared, and before November 1910, when Twenty Years was published, Addams inserted a few telling quotations into her manuscript. I will give a reading of Twenty Years as a presentation in real time of James’s pluralistic universe, with both form and contents conveying the …

Formations Of Indian Cinema In Dublin: A Participatory Researcher-Fan Ethnography, Giovanna Rampazzo

Doctoral

This thesis explores emergent formations of Indian cinema in Dublin with a particular focus on globalising Bollywood film culture, offering a timely analysis of how Indian cinema circulates in the Irish capital in terms of consumption, exhibition, production and identity negotiation. The enhanced visibility of South Asian culture in the Irish context is testimony to on the one hand, the global expansion of Hindi cinema, and on the other, to the demographic expansion of the South Asian community in Ireland during the last decade. Through varying degrees of participant observation in and across sites of film production and consumption, alongside …

An Analysis Of Opposing Feminist Views Of Sex Work: Is It The Woman’S Choice? In Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Julia Webster

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sex work is an ancient profession that throughout history has been both socially stigmatized and socially sanctioned. Presently, there is conflicting discourse within the feminist movement about whether to support or combat the sex work industry. This study analyzes the current perceptions of sex work in Kolkata, India which is home to South Asia’s largest red-light district Sonagachi. It aims to answer the questions: Is sex work a respectable profession or forced labor? Are women sex workers as a result of choice or force? And are the answers to these questions determined by the sex workers themselves or by NGO …

Cultural Capital: An Investigation In Community Sustainability, Harrison Luft

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study analyzed the place and role of cultural capital within the existing community sustainability framework. The purpose of the study was to look at the organization Graos de Luz e Grio and analyze their strategies in education, dialogue, culture, empowerment, and sustainability with young people and with the community. It was built upon a review of the literature, which found that although culture is included in the current sustainability framework, it is not given the necessary credit it deserves in shaping populations. The study was conducted over four weeks in the city of Lençóis, located in the interior of …

Uso, Impacto Y Futuro Del Mapudungun En La Comunidad De Chapod, Tierney Marey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study analyzes and investigates the current vitality and use of mapudungun, the endangered indigenous language of the Mapuche people, in the small rural community of Chapod in Southern Chile. This research then looks at a particular context within a larger global frame of mass language decline and extinction. With increasing numbers of languages becoming extinct linguists and other invested bodies are examining in more detail the state of the world’s languages and the impact of their decline, particularly in terms of cultural identity. As such this study specifically investigates the level of use and knowledge of the language within …

Making Marriage: Some Key Ingredients For A More Successful Union, Caitlin Davis Hornback, Dianne Dentice

Undergraduate Research Conference

Before entering into my own marriage on October 17, 2015, I wanted to discover the factors of what makes a successful marriage to help prevent becoming part of the 50% divorce statistic. When divorce can range anywhere from $15,000- $30,000, why would anyone want to leave their spouse?

The Three Graces Of Intersectionality: A Curious Journey Across Cultures And Time, Jennifer C. Solomon

SEWSA 2016 Intersectionality in the New Millennium: An Assessment of Culture, Power, and Society

No abstract provided.

On White Guilt., Emma R. Okell

SURGE

I didn’t always realize what white guilt was, only that it existed. It’s not as cut-and-dry as it seems. It actually took me years to understand it, which is why I was not surprised when at the Town Hall Meeting back in January, one person asked a question about how to be an ally. Specifically, I found myself reflecting on her concerns regarding “white guilt” (44:01 – 45:25). I wanted to respond, but from the audience it felt out of place, and as it is, my response took two months of putting my thoughts together. [excerpt]

A Cross-Racial Study Of Attitudes Toward And Beliefs About Male Homosexuality, Alexandra D. Foster, Brad Tripp Ph.D

The Winthrop McNair Research Bulletin

This study presents data about the attitudes toward homosexuality of black and white people. The survey used in this study was adapted from Furnham and Saito (2009) which compared the attitudes and beliefs about male homosexuality of British and Japanese participants. The sample consisted of 131 (37 black, 97 white) Winthrop students. The results were analyzed using T-tests. The results of the study were consistent with the literature in inconsistency, of the 17 categories tested significant racial differences were found in 6. There were no significant racial differences in beliefs about the following factors: Attributing homosexuality to biological causes, the …

Cultivating Leaders Of Indiana, Annagul Yaryyeva, Jennifer Sdunzik

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

"Cultivating Leaders of Indiana" was developed to establish connections between the Purdue student body and the Frankfort community. By engaging high school students in workshops that focused on local, national, and global identities, the goal of the project was to encourage students to appreciate their individuality and to motivate them to translate their skills into a global perspective.Moreover, workshops centering on themes such as culture, citizenship, media, and education were designed to empower our project participants to embrace their sense of social value and responsibility not only in their immediate communities but also globally.

Remaking Selves, Repositioning Selves, Or Remaking Space: An Examination Of Asian American College Students' Processes Of "Belonging", Michelle Samura

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"Only a few studies have examined Asian American students’ sense of belonging (Hsia, 1988; Lee & Davis, 2000; Museus & Maramba, 2010). Scholars who study Asian American college students have suggested that Asian Americans are awkwardly positioned as separate from other students of color vis-à-vis the model minority stereotype (Hsia, 1988; Lee & Davis, 2000). Furthermore, Asian Americans often are viewed as overrepresented on college campuses, yet they remain under-served by campus support programs and resources and overlooked by researchers. Many Asian Americans have gained access to higher education, but the ways in which they belong on campuses is unclear. …

Measurement Invariance Of The Brief Multidimensional Student’S Life Satisfaction Scale Among Adolescents And Emerging Adults Across 23 Cultural Contexts, Amina Abubakar, Et Al, Samantha Sim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

There is hardly any cross-cultural research on the measurement invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scales (BMSLSS). The current article evaluates the measurement invariance of the BMSLSS across cultural contexts. This cross-sectional study sampled 7,739 adolescents and emerging adults in 23 countries. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit of configural and partial measurement weights invariance models, indicating similar patterns and strengths in factor loading for both adolescents and emerging adults across various countries. We found insufficient evidence for scalar invariance in both the adolescents’ and the emerging adults’ samples. A multi-level confirmatory factor analysis indicated …

Fiction As Reality: Chinese Youths Watching American Television, Yang Gao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

American television fiction is gaining traction among educated urban Chinese youths. Drawing on 29 interviews with fans among college students in Beijing, this article examines a shared perception among these youths that American television is ‘‘real.’’ This perceived realism, which is essential to their viewing pleasure, has two sources: American programming’s textual quality and the Chinese context in which it is consumed. First, US television appeals to Chinese youths because they perceive its topical content and complex characterization as true to life. This perception can be explained by the higher transnational cultural capital of these youths, which renders US programming …

The Hermeneutics Of International Trade Conflicts: U.S. Punitive Trade Policy Towards China And Japan, Barry F. Murdaco

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation analyzes punitive trade conflicts between the U.S. and two trading partners: China and Japan. Punitive trade conflicts can be defined as trade wars between two states, retaliatory tariffs, or other forms of conflict, e.g. preventing the acquisition of foreign assets or sanctions for an undervalued exchange rate. I will examine several trade conflicts between the U.S. and Japan in the 1980s and several trade conflicts between the U.S. and China from 2001 to the present. This study is situated within a larger debate concerning the resolution of four theoretical "puzzles" in political science. The first concerns the dispute …

Searching For Nature Through Frames Of Meat Production And Consumption, Elena Klonoski

Sociology Honors Papers

The relationship between meat production/consumption and the permeable boundary of nature-society has been largely ignored. Because meat consumption and production is at the crossroads of environmental sociology, sociology of food, and sociology of animal ethics, elements of each field are necessary to fully understand the closely intertwined concepts of nature and meat. By drawing from each of these sub-areas and using Brewster and Bell’s (2009) analytic ‘Goffmanian’ frames, this study explores how natural (unguided) and social (human controlled) frames of meat are used to separate modern society from nature. Semi-structured interviews (n=20), including image elicitation, were conducted with individuals at …

Best Practices To Increase Efficacy Of Graduate School Admissions Communications At Clark University, Diana Curran, Nikki Feinberg, Mitchell Kelley, Ruiqi Li, Anning Zhou

School of Professional Studies

Within the period of time that a graduate student deposits and subsequently arrives at their academic institution, receiving timely information is important for their preparation. This process has been deemed by the Deans of the Enterprise Schools at Clark University as one that needs further investigation. As such, this Capstone looks at the array of communication that goes out to each graduate student during this four-month period. The purpose of examining this communication is to analyze its effectiveness in engaging students. To analyze the effectiveness of this communication, surveys were distributed to current students in these schools to gather data …

Diversity Plan: Academic Year 2015/2016 Status Report, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Resources

As a result of the diversity plan implementation, the following took place:

• Conducted a Student Diversity Climate Assessment in the Residence Halls examining the issues of race, sexual orientation, sex and gender/gender identity, completed by 536 /642 students; followed by two diversity interventions and an Implicit Association Test,
• Facilitated two sessions with faculty and staff that included sharing the results of the Diversity Climate Assessment, listening to Peer Multicultural Educators tell stories of IMSA students’ social injustices/micro-aggressions and strategizing on how to resolve issues,
• Implemented four Read-Ins that promoted LGBTQ, Indian, Asian and Black literature in collaboration with the IRC, …

Two Cultures: One Identity, Brisly Carrera

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Mexicans travel to America in order to pursue better opportunities but in order to do so they need to assimilate themselves into the American culture.They assimilate themselves to the American culture but do not leave behind their hispanic culture, they simply blend the two due to their new life in America. This is sometimes difficult for people to balance: whether to live a more American life or stay true to their roots.

I agree with my findings for the reason that I can connect to these people, I am someone who lives between two cultures but try to blend them …