Sociology
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Item Online fandom communities and queer identity formation: An autoethnography(Aug-23) Buchanan, Kaylee 1997-; Bones, Paul; Williams, James; Beins, Agatha“Online fandom communities'' (OFCs) operate across different social media platforms with the common characteristics of anonymity, internet dialect, and subcultural ideals. Using an autoethnographic approach, this thesis examines the effect of online fandom communities on queer identification. These characteristics can operate as a safe space for queer peers to engage with the art they admire and with people who share their experiences. This has been the experience of the author who, as a queer woman on the cusp of the Millennial and Gen. Z generations, has been engaged with fandom in different forms for over 10 years.Item Replacing identity: Evangelical Christianity's role in identity creation and restoration(Aug-23) Cohoon, Wesley Don 1978-; Gullion, Jessica; Sahlin, Claire L.; Williams, James; Sadri, MahmoudPeople understand themselves by the roles that they play in society. These roles are developed by both the individual and the confirmation of their communities. Due to this interconnectedness, identities, biographies, and histories are constantly changing. The problem is understanding the difference between successful identity reconfiguration and the community’s role in confirming identity. This three-article dissertation explores how identities are impacted after experiencing a damaging experience by examining Evangelical Christianity’s role in identity creation and restoration. The articles specifically deal with the role stigma has on identity. The findings indicate that a primary function of Evangelical Christianity is redeeming “spoiled” identities. The articles utilize autoethnography and phenomenology to capture first-person accounts and experiences of stigma management and identity transformation. The articles find that Evangelical Christianity is one way that allows people to engage in identity repair and reconstruction.Item Virtual funerals: A dramaturgical analysis of participants’ experiences(Aug-23) Toombs, Elizabeth 1993-; Sadri, Mahmoud; Williams, James; Gullion, Jessica; Donal KeyIn 2020 virtual funerals became a widely utilized format for conducting funeral services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. To better understand the phenomenon of virtual funerals, this study explores the experiences of virtual funeral participants. It analyzes the positive and negative effects of it while elucidating participants’ self-impressions and those of others during the service. The sociological theory of Dramaturgy was applied to the data, and a typology of participants’ experiences was derived. The findings suggest a varying degree of technology-based limitations and opportunities that attend virtual funerals. Perceptions of practicality and authenticity are salient features of the experience.Item Confidence divide: An examination of the rural communities attitudes concerning education(Dec-22) Grant-Panting, Alexis; Sadri, Mahmoud; Williams, JamesThe US education institutions faced political attacks on almost every aspect of their systems from K-12 to the university. Most notably regarding curriculum, school choice, after higher education, and openness to various viewpoints (Laloggia 2019). Furthermore, the coronavirus pandemic highlighted the actual dimensions of inequality in America, particularly as it relates to rural communities and the ways in which they struggle with high unemployment, financial and resource access, constraints impacting low-income families, and the challenges of education. The education institutions play a vital role in community development and success. However, despite the challenges that rural communities face few scholars have examined rural communities’ attitudes regarding these institutions. This highlights the pressing need to examine American attitudes in this regard. Utilizing data from the GSS 1972-2020 this quantitative study investigates the differences in rural and urban communities’ confidence in U.S education institutions, and other factors that may contribute to their confidence levels.Item The wages of fear: How gender, ideology, and symbolic threat influenced the voting behaviors of white southern women in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections(Dec-22) Hinton, Stanley Joe 1960-; Williams, James; Bones, Paul; Sadri, MahmoudABSTRACT STANLEY J. HINTON THE WAGES OF FEAR: HOW RACE, IDEOLOGY, AND SYMBOLIC THREAT INFLUENCED THE VOTING BEHAVIORS OF WHITE SOUTHERN WOMEN IN THE 2016 AND 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS DECEMBER 2022 The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether gender, ideology, and symbolic threat predict the voting behaviors of white southern women; whether these decisions influence political affiliation of partners/spouses/family; and whether threat is weaponized to influence voting behaviors. This study uses three sources of data: the 2016 ANES Time Series Study, the 2020 Time Series study, and a third source consisting of systematic analysis by CPOST in 2021 of those who stormed the U. S. Capitol on 6 January, included to further explore the role of symbolic threat. Multinomial logistic regression is used to model the relationship between the independent variables and the nominal dependent variable. Using models for politics, religiosity, demographics, threat, and all measures combined, the research reveals that white Southern women are responsible for the selection of political candidates for their families and symbolic threat controls the selection of political candidates by targeting family values.Item The impact personal religious adherence on emerging America adults' use of illegal drugs(Dec-23) Ombati, Josiah 1976-; Sadri, Mahmoud; Williams, James; Yang, Philip Q; Bones, PaulEmerging adulthood is defined as a stage of the life course, characterized by many changes and unique demographic shifts. Among these, one notices a steady rise in use of drugs among certain sections of this population. Despite this situation, little is known about personal religious adherence as a possible mitigating factor. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of personal religious adherence on use of illegal drugs among emerging American adults. Data were analyzed from the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The sample consisted of 14,226 emerging adults aged 18-25 representing weighted N=33,732,492 I used four indicators of religiosity (embedded in the following items: “Number of religious services attended past year,” “My personal religious beliefs are important,” “My religious beliefs shape my decisions, “and “It is important that my friends share my religious beliefs'‘) to create a personal religious adherence factor scale. Indicators of religiosity and personal religious adherence factor scale were separately analyzed with regards to past year’s use of hallucinogens and marijuana and the probability of having ever used selected illegal drugs. Results showed that personal religious adherence was inversely and significantly related to the past year use of hallucinogens and marijuana, and the same held true for the probability of having ever used selected drugs. Additionally, all indicators of religiosity were inversely associated with past year use of hallucinogens and marijuana. However, there were mixed results for the impact of indicators of religiosity on the probability of having ever used selected illegal drugs. Although most indicators of religiosity were found to be inversely correlated with use of the rest of the drugs, religious beliefs, and personal decisions to use Heroin, LSD and salvia were positively correlated. These findings should be considered by public health educators and drug prevention specialists when developing and implementing interventions for hallucinogens, marijuana, heroin, LSD, salvia, psilocybin, and ecstasy. Incorporating religiosity in prevention efforts may assist in reducing the use of these drugs.Item Motherhood: Examining the social well-being and social support of mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic(May-23) Holmes, Sonya Kay 1984-; Bones, Paul; Gullion, Jessica S; Kelly-Ricks, NilaMothers have had an immense responsibility for the protection of children for centuries and this responsibility has grown with the occurrence of catastrophic world events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and health pandemics such as Covid-19. Covid-19 (C-19P) is a fatal virus that has infected more than 101 million individuals and has resulted in the death of more than 2.18 million people as of 2021 (Koutsakos et al., 2021). The complications of the virus have proven to be deadly. When not deadly, individuals are still at risk of adverse effects of the virus, both directly and indirectly. Mothers having to manage through a health crisis, such as C-19P, has revealed some of the negative effects related to motherhood, which includes concerns about their health and well-being. Research reveals the C-19P virus posing not only threats to one’s physical health, but also one’s mental health (including fear of death or becoming ill), loosing family members because of the illness, loosing livelihood including employment and income, and being socially excluded from family and friends (Ghebreyesus 2020). The long standing physical and mental consequences present increasing concerns to this public health crisis. The uncertainties of the virus have resulted in elevated mental and behavioral health conditions including anxiety, depression, substance use, trauma, and stress (Czeisler et al., 2020).Item Trust in doctors: Is there a black-white difference?(1/1/2012) Guffey, Thomas; Yang, Philip Q.; Williams, James L.; Gullion, Jessica Smartt, 1972-Previous research has not been consistent in providing evidence on whether there is a significant difference between African Americans and white Americans in trust in doctors. This study uses data from the 2002 General Social Survey and ordinary least squares regression to reexamine this issue. It was expected that blacks are less likely to trust their doctors than whites either before or after controlling for other predictors of trust. The results of the study support this hypothesis and confirm previous reports that blacks are less likely to trust their doctors than whites. The implications of the findings are discussed.Item On the Side-lines: How New Asian Indian Immigrants Come to Terms with Racialization(1/1/2013) Koshy, Kavitha; Yang, Philip Q.; Zottarelli, Lisa K.; Williams, James L.; Yancey, George A.; Keating, AnaLouise, 1961-Given the pervasiveness of racialization in U.S. life, this research is aimed at uncovering the racialized structural-level processes and interpersonal encounters that make new nonwhite immigrant groups such as Asian Indians more aware of how race operates in U.S. life. Although the racialized experiences of nonwhite immigrants in the United States have been written about extensively, most research on Asian Indian immigrant experiences in the U.S. tends to focus on ethnic adaptation, with only a cursory look at racialization processes. While a growing literature in the last fifteen years has attested to South Asian "racial ambiguity" and resistance to being "raced," there is little in-depth qualitative evidence of how South Asians or Asian Indians in particular racially identify or avoid racialization. Additionally, with a focus on the racialization experiences of post-1985 Asian Indian immigrants, this study throws light on immigrant worker racialization under conditions of accelerated globalization, characteristic of the last two decades. Twenty-three in-depth interviews were conducted with both men and women of Asian Indian origin who entered the United States after 1985, and are currently residing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The data collected uncovers a) the ebbs and flows of the paradoxical experience of "racialized otherness" and "racialized inclusion;" b) a crisis of understanding when the interpretation of racialized experiences and emerging racial (or non-racial) identities do not align with the actual experience of U.S. style racialization and deliberate racialized actions (choices, decisions, racial positioning, etc.); c) two ideal types ("disidentifier" and "relational") emerge, that depict two ends of a spectrum that represents how the participants approached their racial ambiguity in the U.S.; and d) racialization is exacerbated by contextual factors such as geographical location (the U.S. South or Texas), location in the global occupational structure, "post-race" and "flat world" perspectives, and U.S. racial politics, immigration policies, and growing nativism. The study findings as a whole allow us to frame theoretical propositions that undergird nonwhite immigrant racialization in the United States.Item A Phenomenological study of racial identity development of Black-White mixed-race Children in the United States(Texas Woman s University, 1/1/2013) Furdge, Cherly Gary; Yang, Philip Q.; Grant, Kizuwanda; Rose, Katherine K.; Marshall, LindaThis study examines how black-white mixed-race children develop their racial identity and how black-white parents of mixed-race children help their children with developing their racial identity. For this study, racial identity development is the process by which one selects or identifies his/her racial category. Three research questions are explored: (1) How do black-white interracial couples assist their children with developing their racial identities? (2) How do children born to black-white parents develop their racial identities? (3) What are some of the challenges faced by black-white mixed-race children? This study included 36 participants: 12 biracial children who were raised by their biological parents and 12 black-white interracial couples who conceived a child together. In-depth interviews were conducted to collect data about how the parents assisted the children with developing their racial identity, how the children developed their racial identity, and what challenges are encountered by these children. The data collected for this study provide answers to all of the three research questions. The parent participants used four strategies to assist their children with their racial identity development: educating them about their culture, the "one drop rule", using their race to benefit them, and "see no race and hear no race." The adult children in this study chose either black or biracial as their racial identities because of their experiences, but none of them chose white as their racial identity. The adult children participants also reported challenges they experienced, including being rejected by family members, the object of prejudiced in school, and being made to feel invisible.Item A comparative analysis of information for international students provided by U.S. and Canadian universities.(Texas Woman s University, 1/1/2013) Singh, Arati; Gullion, Jessica Smartt, 1972-With a focus on socioeconomic issues considered important by the international students in the host nation, this study asks two research questions: How do United States and Canadian universities provide information on immigration policies that address the socioeconomic issues pertaining to international students? How are American and Canadian universities similar and different in the information they provide on immigration policies on socioeconomic issues pertaining to international students? Five universities each from U.S. and Canada that received most international students were purposively selected. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on the websites of the universities. The U.S. and Canadian universities are similar in the approach of presenting policies on employment and costs of education, and different in regard to the focus on immigration policies and international students' immigration status maintenance in the presentation of the policies. Despite presenting restrictive U.S. immigration policies, international students have selected the U.S. universities for their higher education. Conversely, the presentation of flexible Canadian immigration policies has seemingly helped in the enrollment of international students in the Canadian universitiesItem Dieting for weight loss amongst African American female college students: An application of social cognitive theory(Texas Woman s University, 1/1/2014) Hasan, Kamilah Denise; Gullion, Jessica Smartt, 1972-; Zottarelli, Lisa K.; Tilton, Abigail; Williams, James L.The purpose of this thesis was to examine the weight loss behavior of dieting amongst African American women in higher education in using the Social Cognitive Theory personal, behavioral, and environmental constructs. This research looks to fill the space in the literature about the influences that affect African American women below the age of 30 which may eventually lead to increased levels of being overweight and obese at later ages. Data analysis was limited to African American students from The American College Health Association final National College Health Assessment II. The data was then analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 19, chi square, Fisher's exact, and their respective measures of association were used to analyze the data. The results of this analysis found that several factors associated with the personal, behavioral, and mainly the social aspects of the environmental construct of SCT were statistically significant. In conclusion, SCT was an excellent theoretical perspective to study dieting for weight loss amongst African American college women. The results of this research can be utilized to create and evaluate the effectiveness of holistic health programs at higher education institutions.Item Sociology of water: power and politics(1/1/2014) Jordan, Dian; Gullion, Jessica; Sadri, Mahmoud; Jones, Richard; Williams, James L.Water issues are often studied as conflicts; less is studied on how resolutions are negotiated and maintained. A number of factors influence how conflicts are framed and how resolutions are determined regarding shared waters. This dissertation explores the power and politics regarding water practices and policy development. Understanding who makes decisions and how those decisions are made for water rights is critical to realizing the consequences of market based decisions, lawsuits, and negotiated settlements. Decisions often ignore ecological and social sustainability stewardship needs. Ritzer's theory of integrative social analysis is used to present three case studies. The first case addresses the international dispute between the United States and Mexico regarding the transboundary border of the Rio Grande River. The second case analyzes interstate conflicts between urban populations of Texas and the State of Oklahoma regarding the Red River Compact. The third case identifies power and conflict between governmental institutions and Oklahoma Indian tribes over the sale of Sardis Lake water. The cases build a linking research agenda to explain how macro and micro functions influence water discourse. In essence, sociology of water can be understood as "a practice in which structure and agency `meet' to reproduce and transform society" (Mollinga 2008:7).Item The missing link: Early Turkish immigration to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries(1/1/2014) Sert, Bilal; Sadri, Mahmoud; Williams, James L.; Gullion, Jessica Smartt, 1972-Sociologists, economists, and historians have the study of international migration because of its social and economic impact both in sending and receiving countries. European, Asian, Latino, Cuban and African immigration waves and immigrants' adaptation experiences in the United States have been explored in great depth. When it comes to the Turkish Immigration, however, the literature is limited to the migrants who have been coming to the New Land for last two/three decades in search of higher education and better life standards. I have located archival documents and early Turkish immigrants' offspring currently residing in multiple states in the United States. I confirmed that 40-50,000 early Turkish immigrants arrived at the American East Cost's seaports in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This information merits elaborate sociological treatment since early Turkish immigration and immigrants' adaptation experiences in the United States have been neglected in sociological literature. Therefore, I decided to conduct a research that can be considered as the first step for tracking early Turkish immigration to the United States from a sociological point of view. The aim of this study is to answer two sociological inquiries: First, what were initiating factors of early Turkish immigration to the United States? Second, what were early Turkish immigrants' adaptation experiences in the United Sates? Using qualitative research method I concluded that initiating factors and adaptation experiences in early Turkish immigration to the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries cannot be explained through single motive. Various and multifaceted factors initiated and sustained early Turkish immigration to the New Land and multiple internal and external factors led early Turkish immigrants' adaptation experiences.Item Effects of black racialization of public opinion on support for government financed health care(1/1/2014) Levasseur, Patricia Holland; Williams, James L.; Tilton, Abigail; Gullion, Jessica SmarttThis thesis examines the relationship between black racialization of public opinion and support for government financed health care. Four hypotheses are tested. Previous research has provided evidence of the impact of elite cuing as a mechanism to racialize public opinion. This issue is examined using the 2012 American National Election Survey Time Study (ANES) and ordinary least squares regression. Elite cuing is a contributing factor to the racialization of public opinion. The trend toward conservative ideology is often exacerbated black racialization. Results of this thesis support the hypotheses and are consistent with previous reports that public opinion is affected by use of racial cuing. Implications of the findings are discussed.Item Are older people really happier than younger people?(1/22/2019) Leone, Erica C; Yang, Philip Q.In recent years, quite a few studies and media reports have claimed that older people are happier than younger people. Although this argument may contain partial truth, I question the total validity of this claim. This study investigates several possibilities. I first examine how the effect of age on happiness varies by health status and economic status. I then investigate a possible non-linear effect of age over a life time. I also analyze the effect of generational cohorts and period on happiness. Data from General Social Surveys 1972-2016 and logistic regression are used to test the possibilities. The results show that the effect of age on happiness is moderated by health status and by income. This study also detects a significant nonlinear effect of age on happiness, namely, as people age they become less happy and least happy at the age of 52, and then gradually regain happiness. It is also found that later generations are happier than earlier generations and that the happiness of Americans has ebbed and flown with the peak in 1990. The findings of this study challenge the popular position that older people are happier than younger people and provide a more complete picture of the relationship between age and happiness. The findings also have significant implications for government policies and programs to improve the well-being of the elderly.Item Obstetric procedures and childbirth: Educated women's perceptions of patient autonomy(1/22/2019) Faglie, Tanya; Sadri, MahmoudResearch suggests that women who are subjected to an increased use of obstetric interventions and standard procedures may have a diminished perception of their decision-making ability during childbirth. To identify the extent to which women believed they maintained their decision-making power in childbirth, female students at Texas Woman’s University, who have given birth, were surveyed through an online questionnaire containing closed-ended and open-ended questions, designed to measure perceptions of autonomy, and were analyzed for themes pertaining to autonomy and consent. The main finding of this study is that there is a discrepancy between what women report (diminished autonomy) and what they assert (a perception of satisfaction with their medical care). The results of this study point to the existence of an “ideology” of expert authority that is operative in the obstetric practice in the United States. These results are analyzed through theories of hegemony, hygienic regime, embodiment, and metaphysical violence.Item The global path of human rights: A quantitative analysis of trajectories, democracy, and development(1/27/2020) Gerling, Heather M.; Lo, Celia C.Despite common international acceptance of human rights law, countries and regions vary in their understandings and practices of human rights. This nation-level study sought, first, to develop empirical definitions of human rights; second, to describe the trend of human rights levels across countries and regions of the world; and third, to link development and democracy to country- and region-specific adoption of different generations of human rights. With data taken from the CIRI Human Rights Data Project, the Social Progress Imperative, the Human Development Report, the Polity IV Project, the World Bank Group, and the Association of Religion Data Archives, indicators were extracted to empirically develop human rights constructs, which were then plotted to determine human rights trends over time. Finally, democracy and economic development were used to explain the human rights constructs globally and across 5 geographic world regions. Using principal component method with varimax rotation to conduct exploratory factor analysis, results showed that the latent constructs corresponded to the three-generation framework; however, women’s right were found to be empirically separate from general human rights. First-generation human rights (civil and political) were trending down, while second-generation rights (economic, social, and cultural) were rising. Results also affirmed expectations of higher levels of first-generation human rights in countries and regions of the Global North. There was no support for the expectation of higher levels of second- and third-generation rights (environmental) among countries and regions of the Global South. Additionally, using generalized least squares (GLS) random-effects modeling for panel data (with robust standard errors) in STATA to analyze the outcome variables did not yield support for the expected positive associations of human rights outcome with democracy and economic development across all three generations. The findings indicate a need for more critical analyses of the causes for the decreases in first-generation rights. Further analyses of countries who have achieved something in the way of gender parity in human rights, and additional work in examining the effects of human rights embedded within a nation’s constitution would also be beneficial.Item Status Characteristics and Judicial Discretion(Texas Woman s University, 1/9/2013) Lynton, EddyThis research examines the idea that status characteristics influence criminal justice decision making and case processing. This study is rooted in the status-characteristics/expectation states tradition in sociological social psychology. While quantitative studies at the macro level consistently suggest that status characteristics such as race and gender have an impact on criminal justice decision making, what is lacking is an understanding of how these factors operate at the micro level of the individual case. A promising alternative for understanding the impact of individual characteristics at the micro level is the status-characteristics/expectation states tradition in sociological social psychology. Twelve Felony district court judges from the State of Texas were interviewed and asked to provide perspective, sentencing, and observations for three felony cases. The findings indicate that specific and diffuse characteristics do influence performance expectations and thereby case processing. The results show that specific structural characteristics such as financial and familial support as well as diffuse characteristics, chiefly age and education stimulate performance expectations among criminal justice decision makers. The likelihood of offender rehabilitation and the safety of the community factor heavily in performance expectations associated with status characteristics. Significant findings in the study include process level thinking on the part of judges, and the influence of judges` personal experience with victimization on sentencing decisions. Furthermore, the research suggests that judges appear to have treated legal variables in a manner similar to status characteristics. Findings point to the need for continued qualitative research on criminal justice decision making and the influence of status characteristics on case processing.Item You must be superwoman! How graduate student mothers negotiate conflicting roles(Texas Woman s University, 11/26/2014) Ellis, Erin GraybillThe lived experiences of graduate student mothers and their unique challenges in comparison to working or faculty mothers are explored through their own words utilizing the theoretical perspective of Dorothy E. Smith. Their jobs as graduate students are rarely viewed as `real' work outside of academia, they face financial woes due to low pay and high student loan debt. Graduate school and motherhood have cultural expectations of a full-time commitment and these incompatible idealizations leave graduate student mothers feeling incapable of meeting the cultural expectations of being a `good' mother and `good' graduate student. Through in-depth, semi-structured, intensive interviews with twelve graduate student mothers, I explored how graduate student mothers negotiate conflicting roles, how their lives are shaped by cultural expectations of a `good mother,' departmental, graduate school, and university policies, how they attempt to find balance, and what roles support systems play in their successes or struggles.