• Collective Realities: A Durkheimian Analysis of Evolution, Climate Change, and Southern Identity 

  Dwyer, Sarah (2017)

  In this paper, I argue that the positioning of science and religion as necessarily oppositional institutions obscures their historical relationship, as well as the social and political mechanisms that have caused them to ...
• Graduation Rates, A Measure of Student Achievement 

  White, David (2017)

  From the 20th into the 21st century there has been extensive research into student achievement and the factors that bring forth such an accomplishment. Much the literature revolves around student test scores as a measure ...
• Asian American Educational Experiences and the Malleable Persistence of Orientalism 

  Owyang, Kelsey (2016)

  In this thesis, I examine contemporary stereotyping of Asian American students through the lens of the persistent and malleable legacy of Orientalism (Said 1978). I argue that Orientalism has evolved from a discourse of ...
• Beyond Flesh and Blood: Gay and Lesbian Kinship Structures in Mid-Century America 

  Thorp, Makenzie (2015)

  From the 1950s to the early 1970s, homosexual individuals experienced unprecedentedly widespread discrimination. This was largely due to the particular importance placed on the nuclear family at the time and the perception ...
• Pictures of Madness: Art therapy and Outsider Art's struggle for cultural authority 

  Poling, Jessica (2015)

  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 ...
• Toward Equity: The Rationalization of Inequality under the Utilitarian Logic of Protestantism and the Alternative Sociological Logic of Confucianism 

  Vejr, Jakob (2014)

  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 ...
• The Carceral State and the Welfare State: Traditional Racism and New Racism in the Context of Mass Incarceration 

  Thorn, Joshua (2014)

  In my thesis I attempted to synthesize two distinct ways of looking at racism in American society. Michelle Alexander calls our criminal justice system explicitly discriminatory and racist, specifically indicting mass ...
• Crisis and Resolution in the Development of Judaism 

  Stadler, Christopher (2014)

  In 587 B.C. the kingdom of Judah was invaded by the Babylonian empire, the Davidic king was dethroned, his heirs slaughtered, and Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon were razed. These events motivated the construction of ...
• Cultural Codes and Emotional Expression: The New Racism in Psychiatric Interviews 

  Howe, Nora (2014)

  The tools used to make psychiatric diagnoses are unable to evaluate effectively the emotional expression of African American patients. The different histories and social positions of Caucasians and African Americans mean ...
• Birthing Contradictions: Midwifery as a Profession and a Social Movement 

  Brashear, Hilary (2014)

  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 ...
• The New Racism and Punishment: “Facing the Facts” of Cultural Difference 

  Riccio, Michael (2013)

  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 ...
• Instrumental Activism at the End of Life: Theorizing the Role of American Culture in the Provision of Aggressive Medical Care 

  Ikeda, Daniel (2013)

  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, ...
• Making Her Fit the Mold: The Representation of Modern Presidential Candidate-Spouses 

  Sobocinski, Victoria A. (2013)

  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 ...
• Cultural Roots of the Rule of Law: Exploring the Possibility of Confucian Legal Order 

  Ngai, Angelo (2013)

  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 ...
• A Carnival of One’s Own: Contemporary Rap and the Commercial Appropriation of the Neoliberal Carnivalesque 

  Sacks, Susanna (2013)

  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 ...
• To “Act White”: Negotiating Race and Biculturalism in Public Schools 

  Liu, Lisa C. (2013)

  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 ...
• Doing Time or Wasting Time?: An Analysis Of the Accessibility of Prison Programs in State and Federal Correctional Facilities 

  Hermanto, Juliaty (2012)

  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, ...
• “Joke’s on You!”: Stand-up Comedy Performance and the Management of Hecklers 

  Rao, Sameer (2011)

  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 ...
• Classroom Structure and Student Achievement: A Theory and Case Study 

  Hulleberg, Anders (2011)

  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 ...
• Restorative Justice Doesn’t Work? In an effort to re-conceptualize punishment and to reevaluate restorative justice from the perspective of culture and ritual 

  Dutton, Zachary (2010)

  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 ...

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