Browsing by Author "Scott, Charlotte"

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    Questioning the Meritocracy: Investigating System Change Motivation in White Americans
    (2021) Scott, Charlotte; Lei, Ryan
    Based on the work of Johnson and Fujita (2012) and Stevens et al. (2008), this study investigated a method through which to activate system-change motivation in White American liberals and moderates. Using articles about the Biden administration's policy plans, we manipulated the level of perceived changeability in United States systems and participants' sense of inclusion (regular or all-inclusive multiculturalism). Contrary to our hypotheses, change and multiculturalism conditions had no main effects on our dependent variables except support for increased minimum wage. Exploratory analyses indicated multiple interaction effects between changeability condition and participants' perceived positivity of the changes. When the U.S. was presented as a changeable system, participants who rated the possible changes more positively scored lower on measures of system-legitimizing beliefs and indicated more support for progressive policies. These changes may represent the activation of system-change motivation. Overall, we conclude that there are complex relationships between changeability, multiculturalism, and perceived positivity of changes, but that our work shows tentative support for the existence of a system-change motivation. Limitations and directions for future study of system-change motivation are discussed.
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    "The Story of Girls Everywhere": Narrating the Gendered Life in Carmen Boullosa's Treinta años and Kathryn Davis's Duplex
    (2021) Scott, Charlotte; McInerney, Maud Burnett
    This thesis explores the use of narration in fictional accounts of women's lives through two novels: Carmen Boullosa's Treinta años and Kathryn Davis's Duplex. I conduct my analysis using Judith Butler's theory of gender performance, which I supplement with the concept of master narratives from the field of narrative identity in psychology. Master narratives are large-scale cultural and societal scripts for people's lives. The ways in which individuals conform to, deviate from or even resist cultural master narratives have important implications for their social and psychological experiences (McLean and Syed 323-324). I examine the way Treinta años depicts the performance of womanhood and the stress and abuse women experience within gendered bodies. Using Duplex, I showthat there is no "essence" at the heart of gender but simply a perceived cultural script for girls to imitate and perform. Finally, I analyze how both novels use embedded stories to represent the cultural master narratives for women and girls and how the protagonists resist these narratives. I also include an overview of the important contexts and intertexts for each novel.