Browsing by Author "Ryan, John W."
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- Assessing Campus Community in the Twenty-First CenturyByrd, W. Carson (Virginia Tech, 2007-04-02)The sociological implications of studying campus communities can lead to breakthroughs not only in teaching and improving learning environments, but provide unique and helpful programs to aid diversity, promote unity, and decrease social inequality on campus and in American society. This study applied Boyer's campus community model to assess the campus communities of a private liberal arts college and a public state research university in the Mid-Atlantic. Using a modified version of the College and University Community Inventory (CUCI) administered through a web-based survey software, data on student perceptions of the different aspects of campus community identified by Boyer were collected and analyzed using factor analysis and regression analysis. The factor analysis led the researcher to propose modifications to the survey instrument. The regression analysis found several significant characteristics of undergraduate students and their institutions that can influence their perceptions of the campus community. A discussion of the findings and the implications of the study are presented. The results reported in this study have lead to several recommendations to be developed to enhance and improve the study of the campus community and environment in higher education using the CUCI.
- The Beats Have No Color Lines: An Exploration of White Consumption of Rap MusicKatz, Meredith Ann (Virginia Tech, 2004-05-13)The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between white consumption of politically conscious rap music and the political beliefs of white rap music consumers. The guiding research questions included an exploration of why whites with little prior concern about racism consume rap music with politically conscious antiracist messages; if whites who consume this music believe the messages spoken are an accurate depiction of reality; and if a relationship exists between consumption of politically conscious rap music and an individual's political beliefs. Through interviews of white fans at politically conscious rap shows it was found that many individuals do not understand the music they are consuming is political in intent. Individuals highlighted themes that they could identify with, namely the need for unity and love, while ignoring others, such as the need to fight against injustice and racism. While independently individuals may have liberal political beliefs and consume politically conscious rap music, there appears to be no indication that consumption of rap music alters political beliefs.
- Between the Intangible and TangibleFireman, Brian Marc (Virginia Tech, 2001-05-10)Between the intangible and tangible is the realm in which this thesis investigation takes place. The material presented here in a roughly chronological progression represents an exploration over the course of a year. This organization of thoughts and images will illustrate the processes and discoveries which occurred during this exploration. In architecture, the realm of the intangible represents ideas. Ideas are catalysts for further study and ultimate action. It was the aim of this thesis to not simply let an idea exist without further action, but to explore the evolution of an idea to the point where it may ultimately manifest in built form. The realm of the tangible, in this case the physical object, is also not the emphasis of this thesis. It is simply part of the whole, not to be confused with some sort of final end result. The built object, when studied, helps inform the original idea. The emphasis of this thesis is on the area between the intangible and the tangible. This is where explorations take place, discoveries are made, and where transformations occur. In essence, this is where the multitude acts of design transform ideas into the realm of architecture.
- Campus Climate, Racial Threat, and the Model Minority Stereotype: Asian Americans on a College Campus Following Sensational CrimesBall, Daisy Barbara (Virginia Tech, 2017-03-01)This study measures the campus climate for Asian Americans on a college campus before and after tragic events, and places it in the context of what is known about the social location of Asian American students nationally. Using a multi-method approach, including in-depth interviews supplemented by data from content analyses and surveys, it addresses perceptions of Asian American students about themselves and the campus climate. In doing so it addresses the more general question of minority stereotyping and strategies taken by minority groups to compensate for such stereotypes. Findings from this study suggest that the campus climate for Asian American undergraduates appears to be welcoming, and respondents do not report stress emanating from their 'model minority' status. Instead, they embrace and offer full-support for the 'model minority' stereotype.
- Community Solidarity and Well-Being after the Virginia Tech ShootingsAitcheson, Lindsey Reed (Virginia Tech, 2011-05-06)In the aftermath of the rampage at Virginia Tech, the community experienced a surge of social solidarity. Using a longitudinal study of 478 students, this thesis examines the impact of attitudinal solidarity on well-being nine months after the shootings. In particular, this study focuses on the interaction effects of sex and solidarity on later well-being, providing a theoretical and empirical basis for understanding the connections between these factors. Quantitative analysis, conducted using linear regression with interaction variables, found that social solidarity four months after the shootings positively and significantly predicted well-being nine months after the shootings. The predictive power, however, was stratified by sex; women experienced diminished benefits of solidarity relative to their male counterparts. The literature suggests that this disparity may be attributed to additional social burdens placed on women after traumatic stressors. Other negative predictors of well-being include knowing victims and conversations with the media in the week after the attacks, This research has the potential to shed light on effective methods of responding to community-level trauma and may provide guidance to future policy-makers in when faced with these challenging situations.
- Coping isn't for the Faint of Heart: An Investigation into the Development of Coping Strategies for Incoming Police RecruitsClifton, Stacey Anne Moore (Virginia Tech, 2020-06-18)Policing in America has lost more officers to suicides than line of duty deaths over the past four years. As the gatekeepers to the criminal justice system, the well-being of officers is critical as unhealthy police using poor coping strategies to handle their stress can lead to a multitude of negative consequences for the communities they serve, their departments, their fellow officers, and themselves. While the technology of policing is quickly advancing, the routine duties of officers remain stressful. This stress requires officers to use effective coping strategies to deal with it, but the traditional subculture of policing promotes maladaptive, rather than adaptive, coping strategies. To understand how the subculture influences police and the coping strategies they use, research must understand the socialization process of recruits entering the job. The current research seeks to understand how police recruits are socialized into the police subculture and how this affects the coping strategies they use to deal with the stressors they will confront on the job. The research analyzes how the network position of recruits influences their adoption of the police subculture and how this, in turn, affects their development of coping strategies. Recruits were surveyed three times during their academy training to examine the transitioning and socialization that occurs throughout the police academy. Results reveal that networks affect the adoption of the police subculture by recruits and this socialization process impacts the development of coping strategies by recruits. Findings highlight the need for future work to continue the longitudinal research approach to examine how the networks change once recruits complete their field training and probationary period.
- Craft Beer in the US: A Production of Culture PerspectiveChapman, Nathaniel Gray (Virginia Tech, 2015-06-26)In this dissertation I use the production of culture perspective as a lens to analyze the emergence of craft beer in the US. In doing so, I examine how the six facets of the production of culture perspective have both constrained and stimulated the production of craft beer in the US. The six facets of the production of culture perspective are: law and regulation, industry structure, organizational structure, markets, technology, and occupational careers. These six facets, in concert, allowed the craft beer movement to emerge in the 1970s. In order to demonstrate the effects each facet has on the production of craft beer I employ a content analysis of All About Beer, an industry trade publication that reports on the craft beer culture. Additionally, I analyze the structure of the brewing industry through secondary data regarding technology, production, and industry concentration. In my analysis I demonstrate how the POC explains the production of cultural goods. I also highlight the limitations of the perspective and suggest future avenues of research.
- Crafting Legitimacy: Status Shifts, Critical Discourse, and Symbolic Boundaries in the Cultural Field of Craft Beer in the United States from 2002 to 2017Lellock, John Slade (Virginia Tech, 2020-08-26)Over the last few decades, the production and consumption of craft beer in the United States has witnessed a spectacular increase. According to the Brewer's Association (2020), there were approximately 89 breweries operating in the United States in 1978 compared to 8,386 in 2019. Along with this rapid market expansion, the cultural status of beer also underwent significant changes. Despite the exponential rise in the number of craft breweries as well as the emergence of a craft beer culture, little empirical scholarship on the field of craft beer exists. In this study, I analyze the rapid status shift of craft beer by exploring its social history of changes that occurred both exogenously to the cultural field of craft beer as well as endogenous developments within the field. Further, I examine in detail the emergence and role of a critical discourse surrounding craft beer culture in relation to its involvement in the elevation of status as well as the construction of symbolic and social boundaries. The theoretical foundation for this study draws on insights from work on cultural fields (Bourdieu 1993), art worlds (Becker 1982), cultural and artistic legitimation (Baumann 2001; 2007a; 2007b; 2011), social and symbolic boundaries (Lamont and Molnar 2002), and the production of culture perspective (Peterson and Anand 2004). Data for this project come both from secondary and original sources including All About Beer magazine and semi-structured face-to-face interviews with craft beer industry professionals. My findings suggest that while the status elevation of the field of craft beer has closely followed those of other legitimized fields (e.g., film), unique discursive and institutional dynamics are also salient. Specifically, I find that through critical discourse, the status elevation of craft beer in the United States context was directly related to a.) the establishment of beer travel as a cultural good, b.) the linkage of craft beer to predominantly white, middle-class leisure activities, c.) the association of beer to other high status gastronomic fields, and d.) the historicization of the field craft beer particularly via the mythologization of early pioneers.
- A Cross-National Study of School ViolenceAgnich, Laura Elizabeth (Virginia Tech, 2011-05-11)This study examines the predictors of school violence cross-nationally, testing the applicability of criminological theories of adult violence to violence in the school setting. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), a method of multi-level linear analysis, of the 2007 Trends in International Math and Science Studies (TIMSS) data augmented with data from UN Human Development Reports, UN Demographic Yearbook, CIA World Factbook and the World Health Organization Mortality Database, I determine the predictors of school violence at the school and national levels to determine what variables account for cross-national variation in the level of school violence. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) takes into account the structure of nested data, and this study examines schools nested within nations. The relationships between school and national level inequalities, social disorganization, institutional anomie, social support, resource deprivation theories and school violence are tested. Violence is operationally defined as a continuum of aggression ranging from non-physical to physical (see Yu 2003), incorporating low-level as well as more serious forms of interpersonal violence. I find that measures of social disorganization, institutional anomie and resource deprivation at both the school and national levels predict higher levels of violence within schools. Surprisingly, homogeneity rather than heterogeneity is a significant predictor of physical bullying. In addition, math achievement and achievement score variation significantly predict the level of school violence cross-nationally. At the national level, placing too much emphasis on students' achievement on standardized tests may inadvertently create a culture conducive to school violence. Emphasizing a diverse range of ways to measure students' achievement other than standardized testing may reduce the likelihood that students experience strain and engage in violent behavior at school. This research is the first to use multi-level linear analysis to discern the school and national level predictors of school violence.
- Culture on a Plate: The Social Construction of Authenticity in Food CultureByrd, Kaitland Marie (Virginia Tech, 2017-04-21)This study uses three case studies to show how authenticity is fabricated in food culture. Conceptualizing food as a cultural product makes possible the analysis of social processes through food. In doing so, food becomes a mirror reflecting the happenings within the broader social world. This study examines three empirical cases to sociologically understand food culture: southern barbeque, Top Chef, and ramps and quinoa. Southern barbeque allows the examination of the role of fabricated authenticity within food culture. Top Chef is evidence of how chefs actively produce distinction to legitimate their position and status within the field. Ramps and quinoa are examples of two ingredients that have been exploited from their original context to become elite and mainstream ingredients without concern for the consequences to the people who relied on them in the quest for the exotic. Together these cases provide examples of how research on the fabrication of authenticity and impression management can be expanded to include food.
- Do the Views of the Prosecutor's Offices Have an Impact on Whether Intimate Partner Violence Cases Go To Trial?Kershaw, Njeri (Virginia Tech, 2009-03-30)Each year there are approximately 589,000 nonfatal violent victimizations (e.g., aggravated assault, simple assault) committed by an intimate partner (US Dept. of Justice, 2003). Of that, roughly 85% of these violent victimizations were committed against females (US Dept. of Justice, 2003). Even with this large amount of violence against women, only about 33% of the perpetrators of those crimes are brought to trial in state courts (US Dept. of Justice, 2005). Even a cursory look at the literature indicates that extra-legal factors, including the personal views of the police, judges, and prosecutors, have an effect on which cases are brought to trial. Mandatory prosecution laws attempt to overcome these extra-legal factors. I will investigate if these laws succeed in reducing prosecutorial discretion and result in a greater percentage of domestic violence cases going to trial or if the views of the prosecutors' offices still determine which cases are brought to trial.
- Exploring Educational Initiatives in Nanotechnology NetworksKnefel, Ann Margaret Callender (Virginia Tech, 2004-11-12)Nanotechnology has captured the attention of governments and corporations around the globe. It has become the subject and context for numerous conferences, media articles, websites and scientific research papers. Nano enthusiasts and government officials claim that it is an area that promises new understandings of nature, and use of that understanding to build technologies that might change our lives. Despite the growing hype surrounding this new science, what appears to be lacking is scholarly literature that examines its growth and expansion from a social science perspective. This study addressed this limitation through a sociological analysis of the network of actors, events, rhetorical strategies, practices and instrumentation that went into the construction and growth of nanotechnology. Relying heavily on actor-network theory (ANT), this study focused on a small part of the total network referred to as the knowledge education production process, which involved the enrollment of high school teachers into the nanotechnology network through a series of collaborative workshops -- the Nanotechnology Curriculum Development Project (NCDP) -- with Virginia Polytechnic and State University (Virginia Tech) scientists over a period of two years. By investigating how the nanotechnology network was constructed and maintained, this case study examined the relevance of ANT as nanotechnology moved beyond the laboratory into the public domain of high school education. It looked at the intermediary role of high school science and math teachers and revealed the function of conflict, power, authority, hierarchy, interests, motivations, gender and race in the construction and expansion of scientific networks.
- Facebook Identity: Virtual Interaction and Life SatisfactionRobinson, Anthony Quinn Jr. (Virginia Tech, 2015-06-02)Objectives. Social Networking Sites (SNSs) have exploded in popularity around the world and are composed of hundreds of millions of users. SNSs give the ability to communicate, share photos, send files, and update personal information instantaneously and continuously. Research is now being done on these sites to determine their usefulness and study whether or not its existence can enhance learning and the lives of people. The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not Facebook use has an effect on life satisfaction through Facebook identity salience and Facebook role enactment. Methods. Using data acquired at the University of Texas at Austin, this research uses a path model to identity relationships between Facebook use and life satisfaction. Results. My research finds that identity theory can be applied to learning the effect Facebook use has on life satisfaction. Overall, greater Facebook identity salience and more Facebook friends are associated with greater life satisfaction. We also find that for females, the more time spent on Facebook, the lower the reported life satisfaction. Conclusion. My research has demonstrated that identity theory can be used to examine roles that are voluntary and not highly central to one's overall life functioning. The model designed can be used as a blueprint to examine other roles relating to social media. My hope is that future research looks at the importance of the social media roles for younger generations and how they compare to older generations with more salient roles.
- Framing Crime: An Analysis of News Media Twitter DataCallahan, Jason T. (Virginia Tech, 2020-04-24)With the increased social attention to active shooting events in the United States, news outlets are featuring news briefs through social media platforms like Twitter. Using this method of information sharing, news organizations can instantly reach consumers as events unfold in real time. With character limitations with Twitter, one may assume news organizations use words carefully and succinctly to report vital information to the public. By implementing a content analysis of news organization Twitter contributions, messages provided by both legacy and digital native news outlets were evaluated. Using Department of Justice reports specifically covering active shooting events, 32 specific incidents covering the years of 2014-2018 were selected for analysis. This resulted in the identification of over 14,000 individual Tweets. These Tweets were then analyzed using a content analysis to identify overarching themes. Apparent from the onset was the clear priority of news organizations to report on the perpetrators of active shooting events while focusing noticeably less on the victims of these violent events. Further, policy advocation or calls to change current policy was noticeably absent from Twitter discussions. The focus of this paper is to explore the characteristics of emphasized by legacy and digital native news media outlets. This analysis has direct implications on the culture of gun violence, as well as market models which influence the news production process when reporting on active shooting incidents in the United States.
- From Dispossession to Surplus Production: A Theory of Capitalist Accumulation in Neoliberal BangladeshMondal, Lipon Kumar (Virginia Tech, 2020-09-11)Dispossession has been playing a central role in capitalist accumulation over the last four-hundred-year history of modern capitalism. This dissertation theorizes how dispossession contributes to producing and reproducing the capitalist mode of production in Bangladesh. To do so, the dissertation empirically examines three interrelated aspects of dispossession in its three analytical chapters. First, it explores how the state and the market work in tandem to organize and control dispossession while grabbing land and expelling peasants from their places. Next, it investigates how dispossession contributes to providing 'potential capitals,' such as grabbed land and dispossessed peasants, to the production sites to be converted into 'constant capital' and 'variable capital' and to creating antagonistic class relations. Finally, it explores how market and non-market actors control those dispossessed peasants-turned-workers inside and outside factories to produce surplus values in order to reproduce the capitalist system locally and globally. These three interactive components of dispossession show three successive phases of capitalist accumulation: land-grabbing by divorcing independent producers from their livelihoods (the initial phase), converting land into capital, peasants into wage workers, and non-capitalists into capitalists (the intermediate phase), and controlling and exploiting those wage workers to produce surpluses or a cycle of new capital (the final phase). This dissertation accordingly advances a full-scale theory of dispossession in its concluding chapter by examining how the starting, intermediate, and ending points of dispossession contribute to capitalist accumulation. The dissertation draws on a wide range of empirical evidence collected from Panthapath, Dhaka, Bangladesh. These include 77 life histories, 50 interviews, a land-use survey of 1,007 structures, and a short survey of 147 slums. It also uses various historical records and archival documents. The three major findings of this dissertation are as follows. First, the dissertation shows that the state acts as a class to organize land grabs, often working in tandem with the private sector, but also in direct competition with the market. Not only does the state monopolize extra-economic means to grab land, but the market also often gains access to extra-economic means. Next, the dissertation shows that dispossession works to privatize the commons, proletarianize subsistence labor, create antagonistic class relations, and redistribute wealth upward. Finally, the dissertation identifies a new regime of labor control, called social despotism, that dominates and exploits workers in factories to produce surpluses. I conclude this study with policy recommendations designed to address the various dimensions of structural injustice described in this dissertation.
- Funding Female Features: Crowdfunding for Gender Equity in the Film IndustryRose, Talitha Kanika (Virginia Tech, 2015-12-09)The U.S. feature film industry as a gendered organization, in which networks bound by race, gender, class and overt heterosexuality tend to exclude members of other groups. Hollywood filmmaking is a production process with high uncertainty about how to produce hits, resulting in discretion given to managers to use their personal networks to limit risk. This combination of organizational qualities limits diversity among filmmakers, such that previous research has shown women remain vastly underrepresented both on-screen and behind the camera. Crowdfunding has recently emerged as an alternative to corporate funding and traditional venture capitalism, where people donate small amounts of money online to fund business projects. Given underrepresentation of marginalized groups in the film industry and filmmakers' difficulty funding their projects, I show the use of crowdfunding to answer (1) whether it offers a more gender-equal opportunity than direct funding by major studios and (2) whether the films produced through crowdfunding are more female-centered when compared to non-crowdfunded films. Using a sample of 124 crowdfunded and traditionally funded feature films, released between 2012 and 2014; I found that crowdfunded films were more likely to employ female filmmakers and protagonist(s) than traditionally funded films. Additionally crowdfunded films had more filmmakers who are racial minorities, and filmmakers and protagonist(s) who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual. These results suggest that while women are far from achieving equity in the film industry as filmmakers or protagonists, crowdfunding may provide an alternative avenue for attaining financing for films, outside of the structure of Hollywood studios.
- Geometric Improvisations Leading to a Musical InstrumentKhoury, Sari Bassem (Virginia Tech, 2000-01-27)Thesis explores a theory of proportion, its application within a design-build experiment, while establishing essential elements of design language.
- Global Social Disorganization: Applying Social Disorganization Theory to the Study of Terrorist OrganizationsWhalen, Travis F. (Virginia Tech, 2010-04-15)The lack of a consistent theoretical framework for understanding the social context in which terrorist organizations emerge and operate stifles the systematic study of terrorism and inhibits the ability of the social sciences to influence international policy. To address this limitation, the present study begins by defining terrorism, and the related phenomena of terror, terrorist, and terrorist organization. As classification is necessary for any scientific investigation, typologies of terrorism currently found in the academic literature are reviewed next. Finally, a criminological framework is applied to the study of terrorist organizations and the environments in which they operate. The primary purpose of the present investigation is to determine whether a classic criminological theory, social disorganization theory, can be applied to the study of terrorist organizations. Drawing from several cross-national data sources, this study operationalizes Shaw and McKay's (1942; 1969) original measures of social disorganization, residential stability, ethnic heterogeneity, and socioeconomic status, at the macro-level of the nation-state. A curvilinear relationship between measures of social disorganization and the hosting of terrorist organizations in each nation-state is predicted. That is, terrorist organizations are expected to require some degree of social organization to operate but, beyond a certain point, social organization is predicted to have an inhibitive effect on the functioning of these organizations, as strong institutions emerge to control this and other forms of collective violence.
- Gray Matters: Aging in the Age of #grannyhairGiles, Sarah Elizabeth Tally (Virginia Tech, 2017-05-31)Drawing on previous literature in cultural gerontology, ageism and age relations, and cultural appropriation this study analyzes the recent grannyhair trend on instagram. Recently, younger women have been coloring their hair combinations of white, silver, and gray and posting images of their style on instagram with the #grannyhair designation. In this study we use an intersectional approach to age and gender relations to explore this phenomenon. Previous studies show that women's behaviors and presentations of aging are policed by cultural standards of age-appropriate appearance and performance, particularly in regards to their hair. Qualitative content analysis of #grannyhair images are examined to assess the extent of age-based stereotypes and policing of age-appropriate behavior and appearance. This study found that instagram users engaged in this trend did not challenge age relations. Rather, boundaries of age-appropriate behaviors enacted in the #grannyhair trend are largely set by younger users. The ways in which young users utilize ageist stereotypes as a way to emphasize the contrast between their stylistic choices and their status as young attractive women framed the #grannyhair trend as one of appropriation. That is, young women adopted gray, white, and silver hair as a cultural symbol and changed its original meaning as a marker of old age. Conversations among both young and old instagram users echoing previous literature that details the contentious relationships old women have with their aging bodies, and hair specifically.
- Historical Context, Institutional Change, Organizational Structure, and the Mental Illness CareerWalter, Charles Thomas (Virginia Tech, 2013-01-24)This dissertation demonstrates how patients' mental illness treatment careers depend on the change and/or stability among differing levels of social structure. Theorists of the mental illness career tend to ignore the role that higher levels of social structural change have on individuals' mental illness career. Researchers using an organizational perspective tend to focus on the organizational environment but ignore the treatment process from the individual's point of view. Both perspectives neglect what the nation-state's broader socio-political and economic circumstances could imply for people seeking treatment for mental disorders. Organizational theory and theories of the mental illness career are independent theoretical streams that remain separate. This dissertation connects these independent theoretical streams by developing a unifying theoretical framework based on historical analysis. This historical analysis covers three phases of treatment beginning at the end of World War II to the present. This framework identifies mechanisms through which changes in larger levels of social structure can change the experience and career of mental patients. This new perspective challenges current conceptions of the mental illness career as static by accounting for the various levels of social structure that play a part in the mental illness treatment career. Taken together, the inclusion of differing levels of social structure and the subsequent reciprocal relationship between these levels of analysis produce a narrative that explains why and how stability and change within the mental health sector shape the mental illness treatment career.