Sociology

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A prototype analysis of missing : centrality, valence, and correlates of the experience of interpersonal separation
(2003) Fiorentino, Remy
To date there has been no research on the experience of 'missing' in romantic relationships. The current study seeks to define and analyze the concept of missing from a prototype perspective. In Study 1, subjects listed features of missing. In Study 2, centrality and valence rankings for these features were collected, and a prototype of missing was created. Analysis revealed significant differences in how each gender defined missing. Analysis also revealed a number of significant correlations between specific feature ratings and attachment style, implicit theories of relationships, self-esteem, and neuroticism. The correlations between centrality/valence of features and certain personality traits, such as low self-esteem, suggest serious potential problems in the context of a 'missing' situation. Each independent variable yielded a prototype that differed significantly from the general prototype, suggesting that it may be crucial to relationship stability and satisfaction to understand how one's partner might define missing differently from one's self.
The role of education as a cultural construct in the United States and France
(2004) Newshel, Amy; Hohenstein, William
France and the United States often have opposing cultural value systems that arise from the ideologies of their political foundations and are mirrored in the structuring of their school systems. While both are historical allies and were founded as democratic republics, France and the United States experience common cross-cultural misunderstandings. This is caused by the divergent social ideals for the structure of government authority and individual autonomy. American culture tends to view education as a private or local concern, thus allowing for increased adaptability and individualized educational pursuits. However, the structure perpetuates significant gaps in accessibility to quality education due to socio-economic class. French culture values fixed systematization and places education as a public concern on the national level. Therefore the structure meets efforts for equality in mass education, but limits development and adaptation. As the demands of greater society change and the needs of the labor market shift, an educational system must adapt in response. The United States and France thus face different challenges in reacting to this evolution. They must address these changing demands within the limitations of structure and cultural values produced by their original frameworks of political ideology.
Social Class and Its Impact on Maternal Awareness of Child Sexual Abuse in Pakistan
(2005) Khan, Nadia Rafi; Hohenstein, William
I performed a study in the summer of 2004 funded by the Kessinger Grant from the Department of Anthropology at Haverford College. I worked for a non profit organization in Islamabad, SAHIL, which has been working with the issue of child sexual abuse in Pakistan for the part seven years. Supervised by Ms. Manizeh Bano, the executive director, I carried out a social class comparative study examining social disparity in Pakistan and its effects on upper and lower class mothers’ awareness and attitude towards child sexual abuse. Using a piloted questionnaire I interviewed sixty two women from each sample and compiled and analyzed the data from the study. The purpose of this study was to see whether social class, education, status and financial status had any impact of the awareness/attitude of mothers towards child sexual abuse.
Blueprints and Bars: An Exploration into the Effects of Architecture Upon Rehabilitation in Correctional Institutions
(2007) Elton, Margot; Hohenstein, William
The United States Criminal Justice System claims to aim for rehabilitation of all inmates who pass through the prison system. However, only approximately 1 out of every 12 inmates is offered the type of extensive counseling and programming needed to promote reformation. In addition, the Federal Bureau of Prisons only spends between 2 and 3 dollars a day per inmate, not enough to provide inmates with anything more than the bare necessities. These statements beg the question: what is the true aim of the prison system, rehabilitation or simple incarceration? To fully understand the mentality of incarceration in the United States, the evolution of penological philosophy is traced from First Generation through to Third, or New, Generation prisons, looking at the manners in which these philosophies incorporated ideas of rehabilitation into the functionality of the prison institution. In conjunction with an examination of rehabilitation in correctional facilities, this paper considers architecture in the context of corrections. In the last two hundred years, prisons have been constructed in a variety of architecture styles— radial, circular, octagonal—in an attempt to find the design most conducive to inmate rehabilitation. This paper examines the most important designs in history, John Haviland’s Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia and Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, in order to discover which aspects positively affect reformation of inmates and which create more problems than they solve. Following this is an examination of architectural issues important to consider when designing a prison, from lighting and noise level to inmate respect and the problem of inmate alienation from society. Finally, an ideal prison design is proposed, using the research compiled throughout the paper. This design takes many of its ideas from the Judicial Center of Leoben in Austria, and works to create a corrections facility that promotes the Third Generation penal philosophy as well as inmate rehabilitation.
Labor Relations in the NBA: The Analysis of Labor Conflicts Between Owners, Players, and Management from 1998-2006
(2007) Brown, Steven; Hohenstein, William
This study is focused on the evolution of the National Basketball Association between 1998 and 2006, primarily the relationships between owners, players, and management in this time period. More specifically, this study assesses the changing working conditions of NBA players during this time period, and how the actions of owners, players, and management have reduced and restricted the earning potential of NBA players. In 1998, the NBA underwent its largest labor conflict in its recent history. The owners decided to suspend competition to enforce a new collective bargaining agreement in the NBA. Owners saw that players’ salaries were being paid at too high of an expense to teams’ revenues, and that this increasing percentage would hurt NBA franchises. The relationship between owners/management and players reflects the mindset of business owners in capitalism, as the capitalist’s aim for profitability conflicts at times with the comfort of the laborers they employ. This conflict is shown through the Lockout, as well as other labor conflicts displayed in this study. Players were unhappy with the lockout, and felt that it had social implications as well as financial implications. Some players alluded to their race as a large influence on the enactment of the lockout. As the majority of players in the NBA are African-American (73%), and the majority of owners (1 African-American owner out of 31 teams) and NBA management are white, race was an extremely important variable to consider in evaluating labor relations between the parties. Since the Lockout in 1998, players have faced many new policies that have sought to improve the marketability of the league. The player’s off-court behavior has faced new regulations. The players received a new dress code last season, which pertains to what players wear as they head towards and leave games, and are also required to perform more community service, in the aftermath of a brawl during a Pistons-Pacers game in the 2004-2005 season that severely damaged the image of the NBA. The dress code caused controversy among the league’s players and the media, as it equated the casual attire of players to unprofessional behavior, and the lockout caused many fans to criticize the greed of both players and owners. In addition, in the 2006-2007 Season, NBA management has given referees more leeway to give out technical fouls to its players during a game, citing that players protested calls to a degree that disrupted the flow and entertainment value of the game. NBA management often implements controversial policies because they assert that the league stands to lose money if its image becomes tarnished. However, players felt that these policies only served to reinforce the notion in the public that players are uncivilized, aggressive and violent. This study will assess the effectiveness of these policies in improving the NBA's image and marketability, as well as the impact of these policies on the players' relationship with owners and management. This study will also assess whether NBA management is accurate in their claims of players potentially damaging the league’s image, and what the league’s image consists of. These rule changes have also encompassed competitive aspects of the game. For example, hand-checking has been enforced to a greater degree since the 2005-2006 season, the NBA has increased its enforcement of offensive fouls during the 2006-2007 season, and during the 2006-2007 season, the NBA has introduced a new official basketball to be used league-wide. These rule changes were controversial, and highlighted conflicts of interest between players and owners. The league instituted these rule changes to give players more offensive freedom, increase offensive performance, and make the game more entertaining for fans, thus increasing the league’s profitability. However, players were forced to adjust their offensive and defensive skills to these rules, and some players felt that these adjustments impeded them from performing at a high level. This study will observe player perspectives on these moves, and attempt to determine what effect these policies have had on the ability of NBA players to earn salaries based on merit and playing ability, as well as the impact of these rule changes on the NBA’s image. The league also introduced an age limit last season, in which players are only eligible to be drafted in the league if they are 19 years old or over, or have played 1 year of NCAA basketball. The age limit was formed in response to claims that the league was becoming weaker and less competitive because of the influx of younger players. NBA management felt that, in the eyes of its league’s fans, the quality of the game was suffering because of high school NBA draft entrants. Thus, NBA management worried that the potential for fans to lose interest in the game, and for the NBA to experience decreased television ratings and attendance, was increasing. This has led to dramatic changes in the composition of NBA teams, as potential NBA superstars and “lottery” (top 13) draft picks such as Greg Oden, Bill Walker, Kevin Durant, OJ Mayo, Josh McRoberts, Spencer Hawes, Thaddeus Young, Hasheem Thabeet, Brandan Wright, and Mike Beasley have had to forego NBA salaries directly out of high school to enroll in college for a year. The social relevance, as well as the legality of, this move have been highly debated, and will be examined in this study. The age limit is an important part of today’s collective bargaining relationship between owners and players, and this study will reveal the significance of this dynamic to the league at large. While the policies of owners and management are crucial to determining the working conditions and salaries of NBA players, this study will also examine the perspectives of players in the NBA. In cases such as the Lockout, the introduction of the new official basketball, and the Age Limit, the player’s union either did not strongly contest, or did not attempt to contest, proposed policies by owners and management. In these cases, players appeared to have strong inclinations to stand against the policies, as well as a credible legal defense. This study will observe social theory, as well as player accounts, as an attempt to explain how players feel about their working conditions and salaries, and why players have not defended their workers rights more actively. The state of the relationship between owners/management and NBA players is complex, and the profitability of the league, perceptions of NBA fans at large, the racial and social divide between players and owners/management and the media, and the actions of NBA players influence the working climate in the NBA for players. This study will work to determine how effective NBA players are in maximizing their earning potential, as well as whether NBA management and owners propose policies that are successful at creating profitability and a stronger image for the league, in spite of the potential of alienating NBA players from their work.
The North Korean Conundrum and the Deficiencies of Western-Rational Social Theory
(2007) Stephens, Nick
Structures, the Construction of Meaning, and Subsequent Strategies in Online Poker
(2007) Ezrapour, Shawn; Gould, Mark
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.
Contingency, Validity, and Consent: A Critique of Power in Williamson’s Transaction Cost Economics
(2010) Sanchez, David V.; Gould, Mark
In his Transaction Cost Economics, Oliver Williamson conceptualizes power as hierarchical fiat that is obeyed by agents out of their self-interest. This conception of power is consistent with the neoclassical nature of his theory, but it means that he cannot understand the motivation of consummate performance in the workplace (and hence the solution to the principal-agent problem), the constitution of valid power that is obeyed by an agent even when it is not in her self-interest, or the importance of reduced complexity for the successful operation of power. In contrast, conceptualizing power as a generalized medium of communication allows one to better understand the operation of power within the firm.
Restorative Justice Doesn’t Work? In an effort to re-conceptualize punishment and to reevaluate restorative justice from the perspective of culture and ritual
(2010) Dutton, Zachary
I assess ritual theory and its relevance and workability in explaining postmodern Western societies, and I thereby arrive at a functional definition for ritual. I center this functional definition within cultural theories in sociology, arguing that the crux of human action remains squarely within ritualistic meaning making processes that reinforce values and (when needed) redress deviance. Punishment, therefore, is a kind of ritual. Punishment is a name for ritual when it redresses deviance. Restorative justice is another name for the same kind of ritual. I further structurally distinguish between punishment and restorative justice, arguing that they are functionally equivalent. I achieve this argument by asserting that all ritual activity in postmodern Western societies is procedural: ritualistic and oriented to rational egalitarian values. Though restorative justice is different in form than punishment, it takes the same function as punishment in Western societies in so far as all restorative justice processes retain some "sanctioning" component. No restorative justice process is successful in redressing deviance in postmodern Western societies without at least the threat of negative sanctions, which would rest in the background.
Classroom Structure and Student Achievement: A Theory and Case Study
(2011) Hulleberg, Anders; Gould, Mark
Over the preceding decade, elementary school students in the Middleton and Orchardville school districts performed comparably on the mathematics section of the yearly state-administered standardized test. During the same period, however, secondary school students from the same two districts consistently performed disparately on the same section of the same test. After reviewing and rejecting the prevailing perspectives on inequality in student achievement, I propose that the divergence in test scores results from a lack of cooperative learning in Middleton secondary schools. I construct a theory of the necessary and sufficient conditions for the successful implementation of cooperative curricula in a classroom, hypothesizing that at least one of these conditions is absent in Middleton. Data collected during participant observation research, though not representative of the two districts, suggest that cooperative learning is more prevalent in Orchardville.
“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.
Doing Time or Wasting Time?: An Analysis Of the Accessibility of Prison Programs in State and Federal Correctional Facilities
(2012) Hermanto, Juliaty; Yom-Tov, Anat
Nearly forty percent of released prisoners recidivate and are re-incarcerated within three years of their release. Released prisoners not only face the stigma of having a criminal record but also perpetual unemployment, court fees, and eroded network and family ties. The lack of access to employment opportunities, adequate housing, and basic necessities causes many ex-offenders to participate in illegitimate opportunity structures and as a result, they are re-incarcerated. Education programs, vocational programs, and substance abuse treatment programs have been effective in lowering rates of recidivism by providing offenders the means to access legitimate opportunities. However, as prison programs are a resource, how they are allocated amongst prisoners gives us insight into potential perpetuation of inequality. Do those with the lowest levels of education and least skills have access to resources that could better their chances in the “open” labor market? With data from the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities, I estimate the likelihood of participation in prison programs based on a variety of factors such as race, age, mental stability, prior substance abuse, pre-incarceration capital, type of crime, and behavior within prison. Logistic regression is utilized to estimate probabilities. I also study the effects that these different factors have on the probability of participation by race. I found that (1) African Americans are more likely to participate in high school education programs, inside work assignments, and substance abuse programs; (2) having completed high school and having been employed prior to incarceration greatly increases the probability of participation in vocational training programs and outside work assignments; and (3) only a small percentage of those who have had prior substance abuse have access to substance abuse treatment programs.
To “Act White”: Negotiating Race and Biculturalism in Public Schools
(2013) Liu, Lisa C.; Gould, Mark
My following project explores the intersection of race, culture, and differential academic student outcomes in public schools. Located in my research is a deeper inquiry concerning the challenges of integrating cultural differences in public schools in particular and American institutions at large. In bringing my attention to the underachievement of black students, it is my endeavor to find and construct alternative frameworks and cultural explanations for explaining black underachievement. Embedded in my study is a discussion of racial discourse and its relation to the assimilationist paradigm that underlies our egalitarian values and ideology. By identifying black students as social and (bi)cultural actors who must necessarily navigate between different spheres of socialization and communities, I will be exploring peer relations and identity processes in public schools through the “Acting White” phenomenon first observed by Signithia Fordham in her ethnography of Capital High. Through my study I hope to argue that race operates as a central normative framework for determining self and group identity within the black community—as social actors who operate within a collective and racialized culture, black students are held first and foremost to sustaining their racial identity and moral obligations to the collective even at the expense of individual failures and sacrifice. This moral commitment and spirit of resistance was necessary in enabling blacks to collectively overcome their marginalization in a racist society, but become processes into cultural deficiencies within a structure of assimilation. In a world where educational success is strongly correlated with “Acting White,” black‐Americans, who remain committed to the cultural expression of their black identity, will fail in disproportionately high numbers.
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.
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.
Instrumental Activism at the End of Life: Theorizing the Role of American Culture in the Provision of Aggressive Medical Care
(2013) Ikeda, Daniel; Gould, Mark
In this thesis, I move to situate the provision of "aggressive" end of life care within the broader context of Americans' cultural understandings of death and dying. Drawing principally from the works of Talcott Parsons, Victor Lidz, and Renée C. Fox, I argue that Americans approach death with a cultural orientation of “instrumental activism,” a pattern of action whose roots in a neo-Weberian conceptualization of the Protestant Ethic leads individuals to dedicate themselves to activities that, on rational grounds, seek “to maximize human control over the conditional elements of the life situation” (Parsons and Lidz 1967: 139). As a result, I hypothesize, individuals steeped in an American cultural orientation of “instrumental activism” are more apt to embrace aggressive care—like CPR—at the end of life even with the knowledge that such interventions might not prove successful in the meaningful extension of life.
The New Racism and Punishment: “Facing the Facts” of Cultural Difference
(2013) Riccio, Michael; Gould, Mark
Most Americans today believe that racism was a problem overcome by the civil rights movement, and what social inequalities remain today can be overcome through hard work and persistence. While contemporary African Americans enjoy full inclusion under the egalitarian values articulated in the constitution, a new type of racism flourishes today that is built upon this same egalitarian commitment. The “new racism” is essentially the belief that there is equal opportunity and groups that tend not to succeed are inhibited by their culture. Instead of questioning the “neutral” structure of institutions, Americans tend to find fault with the individual who does not perform well. Employers see themselves as facing the fact that in a competitive market, they are constrained to pick the most productive workers, so it is not their job to hire from different social groups when there is greater risk involved in doing so. This type of racism that disadvantages different cultures is an operative mechanism for explaining poor performances of poor inner city black people. By extension, might this type of racism help explain the disproportionate incarceration of poor inner city black people? Do governments cut funding for opportunity structures for poor inner city black folk and instead direct it towards prisons? While this comparative study between public school funding in Philadelphia and Chester County reveals relatively little, a more thorough analysis would likely reveal that budget cuts or plateaus might be legitimated by appealing to neoclassical economic theory.
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.
Toward Equity: The Rationalization of Inequality under the Utilitarian Logic of Protestantism and the Alternative Sociological Logic of Confucianism
(2014) Vejr, Jakob; Gould, Mark
This paper compares the cultural logics of contemporary USA and China through analysis of their respective religious foundations: Protestantism and Confucianism. The logics are analyzed with respect to their facilitation of a rationalization of inequality. It is found that the Protestant cultural logic is fundamentally utilitarian and thus unable to adequately conceptualize of social structural variables when formulating explanations for success and social stratification. Specifically this paper shows how a utilitarian logic is unable to distinguish between formal equality and equality of opportunity. Unable to conceptualize of the cultural construction of facially neutral institutions, utilitarian logic does not explain an individual's performance in institutions of the market or education as a product of their internal attributes or capacities and the structure of the institutions, but rather explains their performance in terms of the individual's attributes alone. This means that under the Protestant utilitarian cultural logic, individuals are blamed for their economic positions and structural inequality cannot be acknowledged. Under a Confucian logic, however, social structural variables can be fully conceptualized. The importance of ritual in the Confucian tradition indicates an awareness of and emphasis on social facts as important variables in explanations of human action. Thus, under the Confucian cultural logic, social structural variables are considered in the explanation of success of individuals in the institutions of the market and education. Inequality is thus not rationalized because formal equality and equality of opportunity are not conflated. Evidence for this claim comes from analysis of minority education policy in contemporary China. Affirmative action programs of many sorts indicate an awareness of the unequal structural barriers that minorities face in facially neutral and formally free institutions.

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