Sociology of Culture Commons^™

Denial: A Sociological Theory, Christina Nadler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation develops a theory of sociological denial through an investigation of contested social problems. I begin by reviewing the literature on denial, both sociological and psychological, in order to situate the project and exemplify the relevance and need for a sociological theory of denial. Then, through examining three scales of the social, I account for multiple layers of the social structure and denial’s place in each. These scales are the sites at which denial happens: geographic, cognitive, and unconscious. I explore five contested social problems through varied paradigms that allow me to analyze each scale of the structural. I …

Black Models Matter: Challenging The Racism Of Aesthetics And The Facade Of Inclusion In The Fashion Industry, Scarlett L. Newman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The global fashion market is expanding every day, but often, the global fashion runways do not reflect that reality. On average, black models make up for six percent of models used on the runway during the fashion month calendar. This small percentage is also mirrored in advertisements and editorials featured in popular fashion magazines. In the 1970s, black models were met with great opportunities, and that success trickled down into the 1980s and the 1990s. As the 90s came to a close, top designers opted for an aesthetic that ultimately excluded models of color, but black models beared the brunt …

Native American Tribal Child Social Workers' Experiences On Co-Occurrences Of Domestic Violence And Child Maltreatment, Elaine Brown

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Native American women and children suffer from domestic violence at an alarming rate on and off Indian reservations in the United States. Often these families that are impacted by domestic violence are involved in the state/county child welfare system. This study was to gain knowledge about Native American tribal child social workers experiences and challenges with co-occurrences of domestic violence and child maltreatment cases. This study used an exploratory, qualitative design with a phenomenological approach by collecting data through face-to-face and over the phone interviews with four Native American tribal child social workers from four different tribes across the nation. …

Multiple Perspectives On Service Animals In Society, Arthur W. Blaser

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

This paper explores alternative strategies for taking service dogs seriously. I argue for multiple analytical perspectives to understand service dog issues (as opposed to overreliance on a single method). Analysts (including journalists, policy-makers, and activists) should reflect on media coverage, socio-economic realities, politics and law, and many other factors. Rather than thinking "either/or" on service dogs in society, we need to move to thinking "both/and," to critical analysis of multiple perspectives.

Foreign-Born Artists Making “American” Pictures: The Immigrant Experience And The Art Of The United States, 1819–1893, Whitney Thompson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite the fact that historians centralize immigration as a defining social phenomenon of the nineteenth century, art historians maintain nationalistic parameters that suppress artists’ immigration and assimilation experiences. While scholars have foregrounded the transatlantic migration of artists who entered during the postbellum Great Wave (1881-1920) and the twentieth century, immigration in the first two-thirds of the nineteenth century has been largely neglected, a striking omission given that roughly six million people arrived to the United States between 1820 and 1865. To reconcile this gap, this dissertation examines artists who were part of the major antebellum- and Civil War-era migration streams …

The Power Of Prayer, Victoria Dawn Thompson

Capstone Collection

If words are arbitrary, how does prayer have power?” is the question of inquiry in this paper. An unobtrusive Content Analysis inquiry methodology was used to answer this question. The answer lies in the finding that words and thoughts are not the same thing, and our thoughts expand beyond the audible and visible. The implication for professional practice these findings present is that a deeper awareness of “Self” is needed to understand people’s miraculous way of resolving conflict via prayer.

Bridges Out Of Poverty As An Anti-Poverty Strategy In Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Katlyn M. Uhler

Capstone Collection

This paper explores the initial results of the Bridges Out of Poverty (“Bridges”) community framework as implemented by the organization Kennett Area Community Service in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The aim of this research is to provide perspective on Bridges Out of Poverty’s contribution to the understanding of poverty in the United States and its potential as an antipoverty intervention. It does so first through an exploration of the historical and current discussion on poverty and anti-poverty interventions in the United States, followed by research on the Bridges model itself and its implementation in Kennett Square. This latter research includes content …

Proliferating A Culture Of Fear: Islam In A Post 9/11 America, Setareh Motamedi

Political Science Student Papers and Posters

The threat of terrorism perceived by the American public has been shaped by a series of traumatic events over the past decade. In the years following the attacks of September 11, 2001, fear of terrorism has extended beyond the threat of terrorist groups. Much of the American public considers not only terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, but the entire religion of Islam to be a security threat. In much of this security discourse, ideas of hatred, violence, and terror have become associated with Islam. This study explores that association, and aims to identify what motivates existing stereotypes. Drawing on research from …

The Art Of Discord: Organization And Planning Among Internet Trolls, Paige Miller

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Within recent years, there has been a significant increase in popular commentary on internet trolls and what they mean for online interactions. Significant attention is often paid to framing trolls as individual, pathological, and atypical. While there is much one-sided dialogue occurring in the media, however, the literature on internet trolling remains scarce. This exploratory study contributes to the developing literature by addressing internet trolls directly. Drawing on interviews with a self-identified troll and content analysis, this thesis aims to understand how trolls operate, interact, and make meaning while highlighting the role of identity and emotions. This study finds that …

Transparency, Accountability, And Culture, Annetta M. Gibson

Faculty Publications

Presentation for the SPD 2017 Business Professional Convention, May 16, 2017

How Japan’S Cultural Norms Affect Policing: A Side-By-Side Comparison With The United States, Katrina Tran

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

The ways of policing have been critiqued throughout the years—some have advocated for a direct approach while others value diplomatic techniques. Consideration is emphasized by how culture affects policing in the United States and Japan. In the United States, the customs of policing involve violence, individualism, pragmatism, social mobility, and low power distance, whereas Japan encourages non-violence, face-saving, conservatism, and high power distance. The difference in these cultural norms reflects how policing is conducted in these two countries. To understand how policing in these two countries are different, this paper examines the difference of cultural norms and its impact on …

Haunted By Waters: The Future Of Memory And The Red River Flood Of 1997, David Haeselin

Digital Press Books

“… gives a new generation of Grand Forksers and Red River valley valley citizens the occasion to look backward so that they can look forward”

This twentieth anniversary of the Red River Flood of 1997, which devastated the town of Grand Forks, North Dakota and surrounding areas, gives a new generation of Grand Forksers and Red River valley citizens the occasion to look backward so that they can look forward. Taking stock of how the city and its people have changed in these last twenty years offers us a new chance to envision the future of Grand Forks and the …

Girls Are Us: A Collection Of Oral Histories From The Jmu Community, Anne M. Sherman

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

On a campus where women make up a majority of the student population, it is especially important that female voices are heard and given a platform on which they can control their own narrative. I wanted to give those female-identifying voices that platform. I conducted a series of interviews to examine how college-aged female-identifying students feel about their identity and how they construct that identity within the climate of the JMU community. I was particularly interested in the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual preference, and ability. I asked each person to share their stories of times when they …

Teaching Hate In The Name Of Good, Constance A. Dorn

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Hate groups are often portrayed as the province of men. Yet wives have not only supported their husbands in these groups, they have had their own organizations. These groups proclaim that their goal is not the propagation of hate, but some higher purpose, such as protecting America from that which is un-American. The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) sought to preserve the memory of the Confederacy, through memorials, parades, and the teaching of catechisms to the children ensuring that the right history was conveyed. Among many things, the children were taught to hate Northerners. Later during the 1920s, many …

“White People Are Gay, But So Are Some Of My Kids”: Examining The Intersections Of Race, Sexuality, And Gender, Stephanie A. Shelton

Occasional Paper Series

A significant body of research examines the roles and characteristics of teachers who identify as allies to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students. Literature notes LGBTQ students’ vulnerability but often excludes students’ racial identities as relevant to LGBTQ identities. Drawing on queer theory and a longitudinal study, this paper examines through individual and focus group interviews the ways that a novice English Education teacher shifted from a bifurcated understanding of race as separate from LGBTQ topics to a position that fully embraced the importance of race as a factor in both serving LGBTQ students and teaching LGBTQ-positive topics.

Why Are We Fascinated With Violence? An Investigation Of Mass Media’S Role In Depicting Violence As Entertainment., Kseniya I. Dmitrieva

Senior Honors Projects

A literature review was conducted to determine the most common patterns in violence- related topics portrayed in mass media. Psychological research suggests that violence is a by-product of society: as a learned behavior, violence and aggression are experienced through modeling by adults, peers, and outside sources. With the vast emergence of mass media in the 20th and 21st centuries, mass media channels have been branded “responsible” for the formation of aggressive behaviors in children and young adults. The relationship between publications of violent events in mass media and viewers’ role is far more complicated. Mass media is a common way …

Umass Memorial Healthcare Information System Job Ladder, Matthew Simoncini, Vamsi Kavuru, Antariksh Nanda, Tahaseen Mahaboob Basha, Vikram Patil

School of Professional Studies

The capstone project report emphasizes the importance of a job ladder and the need of an hour to implement it at UMASS Memorial health care. The scope of this project is to create a well-established job ladder at UMASS with pre-defined standards on job levels related to Information Technology department that would facilitate in hiring, developing and promoting employees at various stages.

A Learning Framework For The Ywca Central Massachusetts, Dayna Ankermann, Manjushree Burdekar, Priyanka Joshi, Ying Song, Yumeng Chen, Xing Xie

School of Professional Studies

After meeting with the Director of Wellness and Health Equity at the YWCA Central Massachusetts (which will be referred to as the YWCA from here on out), we learned that as a non-profit gym and health center, it is heavily underfunded. The main focus of the project was to determine how to upkeep the facility while bringing in new customers with limited resources and budget. Due to the needs of the YWCA, our group focused on six aspects: revenue stream, donor retention, increasing membership, customer experience, social media marketing, and membership fee structure. After completing extensive research, we were able …

Human Services Management (Hsm) Certificate Program Expansion To Western Massachusetts Feasibility Study, Paul Campbell, Patrick Deschenes, Maria Pacheco, Bradley Paul, Elizabeth Vittum, Jing Zhang

School of Professional Studies

One of the most popular cost-savings programs that the Providers’ Council currently offers its members is a Certificate in Nonprofit Human Service Management (HSM) provided in partnership with Clark University and Suffolk University. As human services providers are struggling to hire and retain qualified staff, the need to provide professional development opportunities to help grow and expand a skilled health and human services workforce is a critical issue facing nonprofit organizations and communities in Massachusetts. This feasibility study examines the viability of Providers’ Council and Clark University expanding its HSM Certificate Program to organizations and staff located in western Massachusetts. …

Somali National University, Sharmarke Abdulla, Nikala Pieroni, Jenna Caskie, Sergii Odnodvorets, Tanyue Gong, Lahari Dasari

School of Professional Studies

The executive summary presents an overview of the principal conclusions and recommendations for Somali National University Faculty of Education (FoEd) regarding the following concerns: Difficulty with recruiting high quality prospects to the FoEd; Ineffective and counterintuitive use of social media as a tool to improve brand equity, as well as as a tool to attract and communicate with prospective and current students; Unbalanced gender ratio of current student body; Absence of student services and student supports; Low student retention rate; Limited resources for academic advising; This document is the result of a Clark University School of Professional Studies Capstone Project.