Browsing by Author "McCormick, Lisa"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    A Carnival of One’s Own: Contemporary Rap and the Commercial Appropriation of the Neoliberal Carnivalesque
    (2013) Sacks, Susanna; McCormick, Lisa
    I argue that the performance of deviant black masculinity – as articulated through images of bodily violence, criminal activity and exaggerated sexuality – represents a carnivalesque space, in which neoliberal life goals of individual`, competition and material success, are glorified and, ultimately, reified. By studying patterns of imagery in the lyrics of popular artists during the 1990s and 2000s, we see a clear correlation between rap’s increasing popularity and artists’ emphasis on political respectability, with the latter following closely on the heels of the former. We may understand this shift through an examination of three categories of rapper: the gangsta, who operates antagonistically to conservative social values while adhering to neoliberal ideologies; the entrepreneur, who successfully navigates the change from criminal to capitalism; and the integrationist, the product of rap’s new place in American society. The changing image of deviant masculinity in rap over the last two decades reflects shifts in media and political responses to the genre, so that it may fruitfully speak to rather than against imagined mainstream values: where rap music originally had to be deviant, its assimilation into popular cultural and media forms has led to the articulation of relatively conservative values by contemporary rap artists.
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    Beauty is in the Mouth of the Beholder: Advice Networks at Haverford College
    (2009) Orlansky, Emily; McCormick, Lisa
    My study investigates media and personal influence on the everyday use of beauty products. Previous research identifies two roles in the spread of ideas from media: the influential and the imitator. Using social network analysis, I traced a beauty advice network by interviewing 30 women at Haverford College to observe the formation of local network structures in space and the location of imitators and influentials in two different groups. I speculate that friendship can overcome this space barrier and create bridging ties. I also introduce a new role in advice networks, the "transitional," who performs the dual function of influential and imitator. The practical and theoretical implications of the transitional for beauty advice are discussed.
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    Birthing Contradictions: Midwifery as a Profession and a Social Movement
    (2014) Brashear, Hilary; McCormick, Lisa
    In this paper I argue that midwifery as a profession is counter to midwifery as a social movement. A profession contradicts a social movement because professions are task oriented and conflict stays within the bounds of a system operating through rational-legal authority. Social movements can be seen as enacting charismatic authority, which is fundamentally opposed to rational-legal authority. Social movements are conflict oriented and want to change the system in which they exist. As a profession midwifery organizations and systems of education are focused on legitimating their jurisdiction over tasks by appealing to legal-rational authority. Conflict is avoided and the underlying philosophies of midwifery are expressed through a language of consumerism that works with current power systems rather than expressed as a political position challenging power. As a profession midwifery enables the potential for competition, desire for distinction, and different communities of midwives based on worksite, weakening solidarity for the potential mobilization of a social movement.
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    Cultural Roots of the Rule of Law: Exploring the Possibility of Confucian Legal Order
    (2013) Ngai, Angelo; McCormick, Lisa
    The goal of this paper is to make the argument that Confucian Chinese government capable of upholding the rule of law is possible. We address this question in three phases: 1) characterizing Confucianism’s influence in shaping the cultural logic and values of Chinese people, 2) deducing what kind of legal order Confucian values and cultural logic has the capacity to enable and 3) theorizing whether Confucian legal order has the institutional attributes necessary to uphold the rule of law. Using textual analysis of the Analects and Mencius, we argue that the cultural logic of Constitutional Democracy orients to human beings as discrete, autonomous and intrinsically isolated from one another while the cultural logic of Confucianism perceives individuals and their welfare to be inherently interconnected and part of a larger fundamental macro-order that precedes formal government. We argue that this fundamental difference, along with several others, results in Confucianism being incompatible with several of Constitutional Democracy’s most important features, such as inalienable individual rights and popular elections. We then speculate on alternative structural features Confucianism has the capacity to legitimate, and outline a hypothetical legal-order as an example of how these structures could be used to uphold the rule of law.
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    “Joke’s on You!”: Stand-up Comedy Performance and the Management of Hecklers
    (2011) Rao, Sameer; McCormick, Lisa
    Stand-up comedy performance provides a space for audiences to experience collective effervescence. The biggest challenge to that effervescence is the heckler, and the ways in which comedians deal with hecklers underscore cultural understandings of what is or is not funny. I explore stand-up comedy shows on various levels to understand different forms of heckling and strategies for managing disruption through Michael Reay’s work on the social origins of humor and Jeffrey Alexander’s cultural pragmatics model. After explicating these theoretical models in relation to stand-up comedy, examples from live performances in Philadelphia and Boston, as well as selections from televised comedy performances, are used to examine heckling incidents and identify the advantages and risks involved in each type of response.
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    Making Her Fit the Mold: The Representation of Modern Presidential Candidate-Spouses
    (2013) Sobocinski, Victoria A.; McCormick, Lisa
    During the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, the United States witnessed the strikingly unfamiliar qualities of African American race, Mormon religious faith, and female gender in front-running candidates Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, and Hillary Clinton, respectively. To address this unfamiliarity, the spouses of these candidates were called forth by the campaign to act as surrogates for their loved ones, validating their character and redirecting uncertainty about their socially charged identifying quality. While I had anticipated an expanding role of the spouses within these historical campaigns alongside the progressive expansion of women in American society, my investigation of election newspaper coverage quickly portrayed a restriction of the spousal image within the confines of conventional femininity discourse. Engaging sociological theory on collective representations and collective memory, I argue that the ingrained collective sentiments of the American electorate compels the media to frame Michelle Obama, Ann Romney, and Bill Clinton positively only if they portray traditional feminine images. I examine both the sacred and profane narratives of Michelle Obama, Ann Romney, and Bill Clinton to conclude that the expectation of feminine performance restricts the capacity of these spouses to bring new meaning to their highly public position. I explore the influence and importance of the candidate-spouse’s image (as traditional as it may remain) on the candidate’s image as well as give final comments on how the non-expanding role of the spouse discredits speculation about future “copresidencies” in the White House.
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    Pictures of Madness: Art therapy and Outsider Art's struggle for cultural authority
    (2015) Poling, Jessica; McCormick, Lisa
    Art therapy and Outsider Art share similar beginnings as both were founded on similar psychological, philosophical, and artistic trends that highlighted the connection between madness and creativity. Despite this, contemporary art therapists reject this concept and instead use art for strictly therapeutic purposes. Art therapy’s evolution has consequently created a discrepancy between how art therapy and Outsider Art approach “psychotic art”. This discrepancy poses a significant problem for art therapists as Outsider Art now challenges the cultural authority art therapists strive for. I argue that the professionalization of art therapy since the 1970’s has allowed art therapists to maintain this authority by aligning art therapy with Western medicine and creating practices within the field that allow art therapy to coexist with Outsider Art. These practices namely include the medicalization of patient artwork and the projection of art therapy’s values onto Outsider Art exhibitions, thus undermining Outsider Art’s legitimacy and preventing galleries from acquiring this art. By instituting these practices at both a macro and micro level, art therapists have protected their profession’s cultural authority.