Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons^™

Native American Empowerment Through Digital Repatriation, Michelle L. Fitch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following the Enlightenment, Western adherence to positivist theory influenced practices of Western research and documentation. Prior to the introduction of positivism into Western scholarship, innovations in printing technology, literary advancements, and the development of capitalism encouraged the passing of copyright statutes by nation-states in fifteenth century Europe. The evolution of copyright and positivism in Europe influenced United States copyright and its protection of the author, as well as the practice of archiving and its role in interpreting history. Because Native American cultures practiced orality, they suffered the loss of their traditional knowledge and cultural expressions not protected by copyright. By …

Knowledge Studies, Jay Bernstein

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Egyptian Islamic Group’S Critique Of Al-Qaeda’S Interpretation Of Jihad, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Faculty Works

A specific branch of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh al-jihad) regulates the waging of the jihad of the sword (jihad bis saif). In this article, a detailed exposition is presented of the Egyptian Islamic Group’s (IG; Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiyya) use of fiqh al jihad against Al-Qaeda. The present author’s ‘jihad-realist’ approach is first briefly described; the IG’s critique of AQ systematically outlined; and in conclusion, implications are derived for counter-radicalisation strategies.

The Problem With Adhd: Researchers' Constructions And Parents' Accounts, Bora Pajo, David Cohen Dr.

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

An enduring controversy over the nature of ADHD complicates parents’ decisions regarding children likely to be diagnosed with the condition. Using a fallibilist perspective, this review examines how researchers construe ADHD and acknowledge the controversy. From a systematic literature search of empirical reports using parents of ADHD-diagnosed children as primary informants, 36 reports published between 1996 and 2008 (corresponding to 30 studies) were selected. Data on the studies’ characteristics and methodologies, definitions of ADHD, and extent of the acknowledgment of the ADHD controversy were extracted, as were data on a wide range of parental concerns and experiences. Researchers in 27 …

The Intellectual And Curricular Spaces Of Knowledge Studies, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

The words “knowledge” and “information” are sometimes used interchangeably, but the connection between them is complex and problematic. Knowledge is a mental product gained from engaging with information. All educational subjects, scholarly disciplines, occupations, and activities produce knowledge as well as information. Because libraries encompass potentially all subjects, professional vision in librarianship would benefit from an examination of knowledge that transcends the methods and topical concerns of individual disciplines. An interdisciplinary (or transdisciplinary) framework in which to view knowledge was pioneered in the post-Sputnik age by Fritz Machlup and Michael Polanyi. Their insights have stimulated scholars to develop research, publications, …

Risk, Oil Spills, And Governance: Can Organizational Theory Help Us Understand The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill?, Evelyn Cade

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico awakened communities to the increased risk of large-scale damage along their coastlines presented by new technology in deep water drilling. Normal accident theory and high reliability theory offer a framework through which to view the 2010 spill that features predictive criteria linked to a qualitative assessment of risk presented by technology and organizations. The 2010 spill took place in a sociotechnical system that can be described as complex and tightly coupled, and therefore prone to normal accidents. However, the entities in charge of managing this technology lacked the …

Science’S Harmful Power, Rochelle Thomas

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The focus of this thesis is to address and acknowledge issues identifying how applied science’s progressive impact can harm people in any society. The advancement of scientific technology can cause detrimental results to the general public. A few examples are dropping of the atomic bomb; prescription medications dispensed to patients before adequate testing studies have been completed; and scientific fraud. The scientific community promotes the scientist based on their research without thoroughly testing the theory or discovery. The scientist will go to extreme lengths to achieve specific results can cause damaging effects on society. Scientists can falsely influence society and …

The Exploration Into Achieving One Women’S ‘Freedom Of Voice’ As Relevant To Domestic Abuse Through The Sciences Of Creativity, Kathysue Dorey

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This master’s project explores one woman’s journey in applied creativity and how learning behaviors and skills became the impetus for her life’s work with domestic abuse survivors. It is from this journey, that a groundbreaking Global Longitudinal Empirical Study with sustainable arm was developed.

This Empirical research is the Freedom Impact Study with Freedom Model that was founded on the Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 psychometric measure, the Applied Creativity sciences, and the self-defense training system Pure Krav Maga™. Its sustainable arm is Freedom Global, a 10-day intensive training program for women from other countries to be trained in applied creativity …

The Third Sector Is Missing, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This article offers a detailed critique of Antonin Wagner's (2012) discussion of market, state and the intermediate institutions of civil society. It was one of 7-8 articles critiquing Wagner's previously published piece. It is argued that Wagner's perspective dissolves the third sector into a set of phenomena subordinate to markets and states; that the third sector essentially dissolves into market and state components. The article also offers an outline for a broader, multi-faceted third sector.

Transhumanism And Society: The Social Debate Over Human Enhancement, Stephen J. Lilley

Sociology Faculty Publications

This book provides an introductory overview to the social debate over enhancement technologies with an overview of the transhumanists' call to bypass human nature and conservationists' argument in defense of it. The author present this controversy as it unfolds in the contest between transhumanists proponents and conservationists, who push back with an argument to conserve human nature and to ban enhancement technologies.

Readers are informed about the discussion over humanism, the tension between science and religion, and the interpretation of socio-technological revolutions; and are invited to make up their own mind about one of the most challenging topics concerning the …

Soldiers Of Science--Agents Of Culture: American Archaeologists In The Office Of Strategic Services (Oss), Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

"Scientificity" and appeals to political independence are invaluable tools when institutions such as the American School of Classical Studies at Athens attempt to maintain professional autonomy. Nonetheless, the cooperation of scientists and scholars with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), among them archaeologists affiliated with the American School, suggests a constitutive affinity between political and cultural leadership. This relationship is here mapped in historical terms, while, at the same time, sociological categorizations of knowledge and its employment are used in order to situate archaeologists in their broader social and political context and to evaluate their work not merely as agents …

Theories Of Public Opinion, Patricia Moy, Brandon Bosch

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

While the issue of citizen competency has vexed scholars throughout history, the modern concepts of a mass public and mass media are relatively new. Beginning with the seminal works of Lippmann and Dewey, we chart the evolving theories of public opinion, from the "hypodermic needle" model of the early twentieth century to the more psychologically oriented approach to media effects of today. We argue that in addition to understanding how audiences process media content, theories of public opinion must account for how media content is constructed and disseminated, which is complicated by the ever-changing nature of our media landscape.

Untangling Neoliberalism’S Gordian Knot: Cancer Prevention And Control Services For Rural Appalachian Populations, George F. Bills

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

In eastern Kentucky, as in much of central Appalachia, current local storylines narrate the frictions and contradictions involved in the structural transition from a post-WWII Fordist industrial economy and a Keynesian welfare state to a Post-Fordist service economy and Neoliberal hollow state, starving for energy to sustain consumer indulgence (Jessop, 1993; Harvey, 2003; 2005). Neoliberalism is the ideological force redefining the “societal infrastructure of language” that legitimates this transition, in part by redefining the key terms of democracy and citizenship, as well as valorizing the market, the individual, and technocratic innovation (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Harvey, 2005). This project develops …