1811 research outputs found
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You are What You Wear: Clothing in College as a Means of Individual and Group Identity through a Social Constructionist Lens
No full textThis project examines the relationship college students have with their clothing in the context of individual and group identity formation and expression. Through conducting and analyzing interviews with 15 students at The College, I explore not only how students understand clothing in relation to their own individual identity, but also how that operates in conjunction with the social world. Through this research, it is evident that college students’ relationships with clothing can be understood through a social constructionist and symbolic interactionist lens. This framework integrates the social and the personal and clothing is a unique way through which college students navigate this territory. In regards to individual identity, clothing served as an important means through which college students explored and expressed facets of their own identity including gender identity, socioeconomic status, and racial identity. This research highlights the fact that clothing is a more important, but complicated tool for students from a marginalized background for whom social norms can and will not be adhered to. For group identity, this research affirms the importance of clothing for forming group belonging in a formal setting, like sports teams and Greek societies. It furthers this idea of group identity, however, by highlighting how clothing can be a way in which college students feel belonging and affirmation within their personal friendships. Through these findings, the importance of clothing for all aspects of identity expression is emphasized.
“Asian American” as a Floating Signifier: Ascribing and Redefining Racial and Ethnic Identity at PWIs
No full textScholars of Asian America have used and contested models of panethnicity to describe Asian American identity. This dialogue can benefit from more attention to the multiple, fluid interpretations in the diaspora around what “Asian American” identity means. Based on 41 interviews with Asian American college students at two institutions on the West coast and East coast, I explore how Asian American college students understand and negotiate “Asian American” identity in different contexts. My results suggest that Asian American panethnic and ethnic identities operate as floating signifiers within predominantly white institutions (PWI). Depending on the historical, structural and cultural contexts of the PWI, Asian American college students have different capacities and resources to ascribe and contest meanings assigned to the label “Asian American.” My findings point to how Asian American identity operates as a floating signifier sensitive to local and institutional contexts
[Always] Kiss-and-Tell: A Study of the Gendered Perceptions and Uses of Gossip for Female-Identifying Students on College Campuses
No full textAlmost everyone gossips at one point in their life, people rarely talk about what the actual act of gossiping means and accomplishes. Gossip is extremely prevalent on college campuses but this population has seldom been included in studies. Drawing on quantitative survey data and qualitative interview data from female-identifying students at a small, elite liberal art college, this study looks at the meanings that gossip holds for the female-identifying students who use it and what purpose it serves. The results suggest that female-identifying students define gossip as an exchange of information. This definition, however, comes with an association of gossip with women and negative connotations. From my findings, three main uses of gossip arose: social capital, emotion and relationship building, and a tool of protection. Based on my results, I argue that the culture of college campuses necessitates the use of gossip for female-identifying students. In the current social climate, gossip networks are one of the most effective ways to communicate information that improves social capital, strengthens networks, and provides opportunities for risk management
Conflict & Creation: The Effects of Political Competition in Utica, New York’s Service Sector for the Unhoused
Full text linkWhen might competition and conflict between governing bodies improve social services? F.A. Hayek exemplifies the view that economic competition leads to results that embody more knowledge than what anyone involved had before competing. Elinor Ostrom and the Bloomington School extended Hayek’s theory to governing bodies, advocating for more decentralized, “polycentric” governments that encourage “experimental efforts at multiple levels.” This paper uses the polycentricity theory to analyze how different conceptions of homelessness have come into conflict throughout Utica’s polycentric social service sector. I study how the introduction of new service providers like the Morrow Warming Center generated brand new information about different policies’ effects after becoming a new low-barrier shelter in Utica, changing the structure of other overlapping organizations. I find that organizations can best coordinate with their competitors when there is another organization that can mediate their disputes. However, these mediations are not always consistent or clear throughout the social service sector in Utica. To improve coordination, members of the Mohawk Valley Housing and Homeless Coalition might offer to help make compromises between other members with overlapping services or jurisdictions. Conflict between different perspectives is inevitable; it is especially important to manage those conflicts when they determine the well-beings of some of the least well-off: people experiencing homelessness
Exploring Gender Stereotypes in Application: Is Maternal Warmth A Bonus or A Penalty for Women?
Full text linkHow does previous work experience connoting motherly warmth and nurturing impact evaluations of women as job applicants? Professional women are penalized for being mothers but benefit from following traditional gender scripts, which expect women to be warm, caring, and service-oriented. While there are overlaps in traits between being a mother and being a woman, the influence of motherly-warm traits on application results is unclear. To tackle this question, I conducted a survey experiment (N = 244) using a task in which each participant is asked to evaluate the resume of a prospective job applicant with or without job experiences conveying maternal warmth and then whether they would recommend the candidate for an interview. I found that candidates with work experiences that signal warmth/nurturing capacity/care were more likely to be recommended for an interview. Diverged from Quadlin (2018), candidates with B-level GPAs were not more likely to receive a recommendation for an interview than candidates with A- or C-level GPAs. In the mediation analysis, candidates with warm/nurturing/caring experiences received more favorable ratings in warmth, likability, caring quality, sincerity, pleasantness, competence, commitment, capability, organization, trustworthiness, and skillfulness, which mediated the relationship between having warm/nurturing/caring experiences and the likelihood of being recommended for an interview. The findings expand the knowledge of the intertwined gender expectations faced by professional women and encourage future studies to examine the combined impact of multiple gender expectations
Queer Movement and Community in Colombia: The Influence and Importance of Social Media as Used by Museo Q
Full text linkWithin the conservative sociohistorical context present in the Colombian society, a non-profit, voluntary, civil society museum initiative, under the name of Museo Q, makes use of digital platforms and media to give visibility to queer perspectives and people, and to argue for their wellbeing. This work is an exploration of the museum\u27s particular relationship with social media as a result of its Minor Architecture, the influence and importance of that relationship on queer activism and people in Colombia, and the use given by artists to the museum\u27s virtual spaces in order to discuss sensitive topics such as Religion. In addition to this, this work also explores the previously mentioned sociohistorical context surrounding the museum’s activistic efforts, its present recognitions, the current legislation concerning queer people in Colombia, and one of the ways in which we, as members of a reputable educational institution, can contribute to the work done by similar organizations
Front Matter
No full textInformation relating to the publisher, publication frequency, editorial staff, purchase options, submission requirements, and contact information for the American Communal Societies Quarterly
