Current Search: Social Construction (x)
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(1 - 8 of 8)
- Title
- EVOLUTION OF THE FOLK DEVIL: A SOCIAL NETWORK PERSPECTIVE OF THE HYBRID GANG LABEL.
- Creator
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Bolden, Christian, Huff-Corzine, Lin, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In keeping abreast of current gang phenomena, this study seeks to comparatively examine structural processes and characteristics of gangs in chronic gang city, San Antonio, and an emerging gang city that would be more likely to have ÂÂÂÂ"hybridÂÂÂÂ" gangs, Orlando. Hybrid gangs have been identified...
Show moreIn keeping abreast of current gang phenomena, this study seeks to comparatively examine structural processes and characteristics of gangs in chronic gang city, San Antonio, and an emerging gang city that would be more likely to have ÂÂÂÂ"hybridÂÂÂÂ" gangs, Orlando. Hybrid gangs have been identified as having organizational processes that differ from traditional gangs; thus, this work will examine these processes that consist of a range of non-traditional phenomena, including cooperation between gangs, members switching gang affiliations, as well as gang initiations, and members leaving gangs. Additional characteristics uniquely associated with hybrid gangs consist of the notable presence of white, middle-class, and female gang members. Evidence suggests that the hybrid gang is more of a socially constructed moral panic than a reality. A limited number of recent studies have indicated that some gangs may better fit into a social network framework rather than a solid organizational analysis. When using the social network framework it becomes apparent that alleged hybrid behaviors are no different from regular gang behaviors regardless of geographic location. Claims about hybrid gangs serve to increase the idea of gang members as folk devils and cause undue concern of normal behaviors.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003239, ucf:48536
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003239
- Title
- BROTHERS & SISTERS: A NEW IMPETUS FOR SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND ITS IMPACT ON TRADITIONAL CULTIVATION ANALYSIS.
- Creator
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Elmore, Scott, Kenney, Richard, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Scholars recognize television's ability to influence culture. According to Gerbner, television creates socially constructed realities through the cultivation of its viewers. Television is designed to satisfy the diverse needs of large audiences. The mainstream messages conveyed via television have power to alter perceptions and change culture. Gerbner's theory was constructed from the analysis of crime dramas with single plot lines. Using the ABC television program Brothers & Sisters,...
Show moreScholars recognize television's ability to influence culture. According to Gerbner, television creates socially constructed realities through the cultivation of its viewers. Television is designed to satisfy the diverse needs of large audiences. The mainstream messages conveyed via television have power to alter perceptions and change culture. Gerbner's theory was constructed from the analysis of crime dramas with single plot lines. Using the ABC television program Brothers & Sisters, this thesis explores the theoretical implications dramas with multiple plot lines have on traditional notions of cultivation theory. Through a content analysis and focus groups, evidence was acquired to suggest that cultivation theory, with the added consideration of involvement, is still able to explain television's influence on the social creation of reality.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- Identifier
- CFE0002137, ucf:47506
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002137
- Title
- Black, White, and Read All Over: Exploring Racial Bias in Print Media Coverage of Serial Rape Cases.
- Creator
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Wright, Lauren, Huff-Corzine, Lin, Corzine, Harold, Hinojosa, Melanie, Vander Ven, Thomas, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The discussion of race and crime has been a long-standing interest of researchers, with statistics consistently showing an overrepresentation of non-white offenders compared to their white counterparts (-) specifically in relation to violent crimes such as murder and rape. Prior research has found that about 46 percent of serial rapists are black, a fact that correlates with other sensationalized violent crimes such as mass murder and serial murder. The news media are the primary sources of...
Show moreThe discussion of race and crime has been a long-standing interest of researchers, with statistics consistently showing an overrepresentation of non-white offenders compared to their white counterparts (-) specifically in relation to violent crimes such as murder and rape. Prior research has found that about 46 percent of serial rapists are black, a fact that correlates with other sensationalized violent crimes such as mass murder and serial murder. The news media are the primary sources of this kind of information for the general public, with previous studies acknowledging that the media primarily focus on discussing non-white offenders in their crime-based news stories. With the majority of Americans receiving their information about crime from the news media, it is important to increase our understanding of how their representations might influence the general public. The current study explores the print media representations of serial rapists, from 1940-2010, from five newspapers: The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune. A content analysis was conducted on 524 articles covering 297 serial rape offenders from the data compiled by Wright, Vander Ven, and Fesmire (2016) in which race of the offender was known. Results show that newspaper articles tend to report about fear-related topics and anxiety surrounding offenders when the offenders are non-white. Results also indicate that while newspapers dehumanize both white and non-white offenders, white offenders tend to have their behavior neutralized using techniques to garner more sympathy.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006674, ucf:51243
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006674
- Title
- Rock-a-Buy Baby: Consumerism by New, First-Time Mothers.
- Creator
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Afflerback, Sara, Grauerholz, Elizabeth, Carter, Shannon, Koontz, Amanda, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Rock-a-Buy Baby: Consumerism by New, First-Time Mothers, is the first known sociological exploration of need-based consumption for babies, despite the baby gear industry being a $6-billion-dollar business (whattoexpect.com). Data stemmed from qualitative, semi-structured interviews with new, first-time mothers (3 months (-) 1 year postpartum) conducted within participants' households. The insights gained from the present study tell us a great deal about the (")needs(") that predominantly...
Show moreRock-a-Buy Baby: Consumerism by New, First-Time Mothers, is the first known sociological exploration of need-based consumption for babies, despite the baby gear industry being a $6-billion-dollar business (whattoexpect.com). Data stemmed from qualitative, semi-structured interviews with new, first-time mothers (3 months (-) 1 year postpartum) conducted within participants' households. The insights gained from the present study tell us a great deal about the (")needs(") that predominantly white, middle-class mothers socially constructed in anticipation of their first child, and the consumptive behaviors used to accomplish these "needs." Respondents had turned to similar resources (other mothers, online forums, consumer reports, books, magazines, etc.) to help them construct (")need(") and formulate decisions among commodities. Provided they were relying on comparable, if not overlapping, bodies of knowledge, mothers' narratives about consumer (")need(") were often congruent. Additionally, the ways expectant mothers accumulated items are ritualized and made tradition. The baby shower and gift registration process (which all of my respondents participated in to some variation) are social constructions; these practices, which are so strongly tied to consumption, also constituted reality for mothers, and inevitably, their babies.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004258, ucf:49502
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004258
- Title
- CRACK MOTHERS, CRACK BABIES, AND BLACK MALE DOPE DEALERS: PRODUCTIONS OF DEVIANCE DURING AMERICA'S CRACK COCAINE PANIC IN THE 1980S.
- Creator
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Yandow, Chantelle, Schippert, Claudia, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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A moral panic erupted during the 1980s among the American public when stories about crack cocaine saturated the media. In this thesis I analyze how discursive productions of deviancy operated in the CBS news documentary: 48 Hours on Crack Street (1986) and other print news sources at that time. Three salient characters that appear in news media discourse during the panic are "crack mothers," "crack babies," and "Black male dope dealers." The news media frightened the public with such...
Show moreA moral panic erupted during the 1980s among the American public when stories about crack cocaine saturated the media. In this thesis I analyze how discursive productions of deviancy operated in the CBS news documentary: 48 Hours on Crack Street (1986) and other print news sources at that time. Three salient characters that appear in news media discourse during the panic are "crack mothers," "crack babies," and "Black male dope dealers." The news media frightened the public with such representations (among others) and the public urged politicians to get tough on drug crime to control the so-called crack cocaine plague. Politicians responded with omnibus drug reforms that established mandatory minimum sentences and the controversial 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. The enforcement of the draconian drug laws that were passed in response to the crack cocaine panic continues to be a contributing factor to America's current prison crisis. Moreover, the laws are enforced in ways that disproportionately punish the poor and African-Americans. I conclude that the criminal disenfranchisement of millions of people since the 1980s relates to the media's representation of the crack cocaine "epidemic" and the legislation that was passed to control illicit drugs such as crack cocaine.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFH0003822, ucf:44758
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0003822
- Title
- The Moral Oppression of the Teaching Profession: Learning to Transcend.
- Creator
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Smith, Rebecca, Hewitt, Randall, Carter, Shannon, Terzian, Sevan, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This thesis is both descriptive and philosophical, and at its core, it justifies the need for social foundations of education courses and programs in the university setting. It begins by analyzing the meaning of oppression and the part knowledge plays in confining the individual. The analysis then draws upon Patricia Hill Collins' theory of intersecting oppressions to get at the complexities and restrictions of working in the public schooling institution. It works through the ways in which...
Show moreThis thesis is both descriptive and philosophical, and at its core, it justifies the need for social foundations of education courses and programs in the university setting. It begins by analyzing the meaning of oppression and the part knowledge plays in confining the individual. The analysis then draws upon Patricia Hill Collins' theory of intersecting oppressions to get at the complexities and restrictions of working in the public schooling institution. It works through the ways in which sexist, classist, and racist practices afflict everyone in the institution through the bureaucratic mechanism and collateral oppression. The four components that make up the wires on the cage (gender, class, race, and bureaucracy) not only confine; they cause varying degrees of direct and indirect harms (psychological, emotional, moral, financial) to those on the inside. The concept of the institutional cage is then merged with Rodman Webb's work on schools as total institutions. Through an analysis on the characteristics of total institutions, it becomes apparent that standardization, technological developments, and the influence of venture philanthropy have brought schools more in-line with the total institution. The study then clarifies the ways in which corporatic, bureaucratic, and technocratic mentalities infect the institution, where they intersect, and how they restrict those within. The components coalesce into the conceptualization of moral oppression: the act of being coerced to ignore and suppress one's morality, moral impulses, and moral way of knowing. The remainder of the study explores the meaning of moral action and suggests some ways educators can let go of the ways of thinking and acting that may be keeping them from confidently doing what they know to be good and just.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004940, ucf:49621
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004940
- Title
- A CONSTRUCTIONIST ANALYSIS OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE.
- Creator
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Nead, Sandra, Lynxwiler, John, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Same-sex marriage has been heavily debated in academics and in the public sphere. During the 2004 Presidential election same-sex marriage became an issue that polarized the candidates. It has become a lightning rod for public debate. Due to the increasing attention to the controversy of legalizing same-sex marriage, it is an important topic for research. This paper seeks to contribute to the research of same-sex marriage by providing insight into claims-making efforts to define same-sex...
Show moreSame-sex marriage has been heavily debated in academics and in the public sphere. During the 2004 Presidential election same-sex marriage became an issue that polarized the candidates. It has become a lightning rod for public debate. Due to the increasing attention to the controversy of legalizing same-sex marriage, it is an important topic for research. This paper seeks to contribute to the research of same-sex marriage by providing insight into claims-making efforts to define same-sex marriage as a social problem. My findings shed light on this topic from a social constructionist perspective by examining the use of rhetorical idioms of the claims made by opposing parties in the debate over same-sex marriage as it relates to the court ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000662, ucf:46552
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000662
- Title
- The Ontological Sociology of Cryptocurrency: A Theoretical Exploration of Bitcoin.
- Creator
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Villarreal, Omar, Gay, David, Hinojosa, Ramon, Corzine, Harold, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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For millennia, money has been a basal element of everyday life reality in market-organized societies. Albeit money has changed extrinsically (e.g., form, use, utility) countless of times, some intrinsic characteristics remain the same, i.e., money is reified value. But why? What gives money value? Even more crucial, what is money in the first place? This exploratory study delves into the intricacies of money, in particular the revolutionary 21st century pecuniary techno-phenomenon, a...
Show moreFor millennia, money has been a basal element of everyday life reality in market-organized societies. Albeit money has changed extrinsically (e.g., form, use, utility) countless of times, some intrinsic characteristics remain the same, i.e., money is reified value. But why? What gives money value? Even more crucial, what is money in the first place? This exploratory study delves into the intricacies of money, in particular the revolutionary 21st century pecuniary techno-phenomenon, a cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. Though cryptocurrencies have been the topic of several financial and legal scholarly publications for a few years, we rather focus our analysis on Bitcoin's ontological characteristics under a schema of overlapping theoretical layers: Social Exchange Theory, Marxian Dialectics, and Social Construction of Reality. Our intention is to dissect Bitcoin sociologically and empirically examine its global exchange, consumption, and institutionalization. Consequently, we venture to ask, can Bitcoin redefine the meaning of money and how we relate to it? Reformulate the role of banking? Disrupt the universally accepted objective reality of currency value attached to sensorial experience? Transfer trust from ambivalent human relations to an incorruptible algorithm? Or even become (")the Internet of money(")?
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006412, ucf:51468
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006412
