1,720,994 research outputs found
Gaps in Abolition: An Analysis of Public Opinion Polling on Movements Against Policing Using Philadelphia as a Case Study
No full textThis thesis seeks to reveal Black Americans’ jarring attitudes of policing that appear in public opinion polls. The goal of this project is to dispel these seeming contradictions as complexities instead by uncovering the subtleties that lead Black Americans’ to either support or oppose movements against policing using Philadelphia as the primary location of focus. I will focus on opinions of three main movements against policing: defunding the police, redistribution of police funds, and police abolition
Through the Eyes of the Beholden: A Mosaic of Grassroots Creative Placemaking in Detroit
No full textFashioning New Worlds: Weaving Alternate Futures through Fashion Technology and Black Ingenuity
No full textIn Search of Medical Truth: How the History of Biological Determinism Threatens the Future of an Equitable AI-Integrated Healthcare System in the U.S.
No full textThis thesis investigates the historical, political, and social factors that pose risks to Black Americans, as the prospect of AI-integrated healthcare becomes more imminent. This work is important in disrupting the perception that science and technology operate independently from and devoid of human biases. The following paper is propelled by the question: Does the current regulatory context in the U.S. acknowledge the history of medical racism and adequately protect the Black American community against the threat of biased AI technologies in healthcare?
The analysis that shapes this investigation contributes to existing literature that examines the use of race as a biological category in medicine. These findings are then contextualized within the broader use of science in policymaking to understand how science is operationalized in political spheres. By examining instances where decision-making healthcare AI has harmed Black Americans, the thesis identifies factors of racialized medicine that exacerbate existing healthcare inequalities. The paper also demonstrates how the structure of national institutions dedicated to the advancement of medicine and technology are exclusionary to those most at risk of discrimination in healthcare settings. Building on principles of critical race theory, calls for an understanding of race as a social construct are identified in current discussions of healthcare AI.
Following an inventory of the influence of biological determinism in the United States healthcare system, roadblocks to systemic change, and the plausible applications of AI in healthcare, a set of policy solutions are proposed. These proposals engage critical race theory and create avenues for Black voices to be heard throughout the healthcare AI development process, from national research forums to intimate clinical settings
Seeking Safety in Surveillance: The Dangers of Data Sharing During the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textThis thesis reckons with the implications of health data sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic on surveillance architectures. By connecting public health surveillance to the growing literature on racialized surveillance, technological racism, and the role of race in medicine, I highlight how carceral apparati are expanded during public health emergencies, facilitated by the legal framework outlined in the third party doctrine. My thesis then explores the oppositional work of community organizations and grassroots activists on the ground in order to highlight ways we can resist the growing pandemic surveillance state
TRUSTING TREATMENT? An Examination of Race-Based Medicine in the Context of Healthcare Inequities
No full textHealth disparities have existed across racial groups for several centuries.
Black Americans in comparison to their white counterparts have been
disproportionately affected by certain health conditions. During slavery and
Jim Crow, scientists pointed to innate biological differences to justify these
disparities and argued that blacks were naturally inferior. As a result of the
Civil Rights Movement, scientists began to reframe how they spoke about
these differences, but many nonetheless attributed health inequities to the
biological makeup of blacks.
In 2000, the completion of the Human Genome Project was announced,
demonstrating that humans are 99.9 percent genetically similar. Some
academics believed the results of the project would shift how scientists and
geneticists explained health disparities. However, the opposite occurred. In
2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved BiDil, the first
race-specific drug used to treat heart failure in self-identified African
Americans. BiDil’s release sparked controversy. While proponents praised the
drug as a step towards personalized medicine, others questioned the efficacy
of the drug because of its race-specific indication. Moreover, after BiDil’s
release, academic critique of race-based medicine increased, yet this
literature has not often engaged with research on healthcare inequities.
This thesis draws these conversations together by examining how
individuals’ experiences of healthcare inequities influence their willingness to
accept race-based medicine as a form of treatment. I conducted semistructured
interviews with ten patients and two physicians about their past
healthcare interactions. Then, patients were presented with a hypothetical
scenario, which asked whether they would be willing to use medicine that
was specifically tailored for their racial group. As a result of their history of
mistreatment within the medical arena, I hypothesized that black patients
would be more skeptical about race-based medicine in comparison to white
patients across income tiers. The interview results support my hypothesis.
Black patients were less inclined to accept race-based medicine, while white
patients were not as skeptical about race-based medicine.
The thesis concludes with policy recommendations that aim to address how
clinical interactions, medical training, and broader institutional structures
perpetuate biologically reductive ideas about race and associated racial
discrimination. Ultimately, this study contributes to current scholarship by
evaluating race-based medicine in the context of healthcare inequities, and
offers recommendations that suggest how to provide equitable care to all
patients
Viral Voices Individual Rights Versus The Public Interest In The Debate Over Mandatory Vaccination A Case Study of California’s Exemption Mandate Senate Bill No. 277
No full textThis thesis explores the passing of vaccination mandate Senate Bill No. 277 (SB
277), which eliminated the option of philosophical exemption from mandatory
school vaccinations in California, as a case study of the ongoing debate regarding
vaccination in the United States. Focusing on the relationship between individual
rights and policies in the public interest, this thesis assesses whether or not the
bill appropriately favors the public interest over individual rights, using the
following criteria: that the mandate intervention must present a clear medical
benefit; that the benefit of the mandate must be greater than the risk, and that
there are no other plausible ways of achieving the goal of the mandate. Using
these criteria, I analyze the text of the bill, interviews with key stakeholders,
legislative hearings, and media coverage. I argue that the bill’s prioritization of
the public interest over individual rights is both appropriate and necessary.
Further, the new law has the potential to provide a vital legislative precedent
towards to the goal of re-establishing herd immunity against vaccine-preventable
diseases. In terms of public policy implications, this thesis reveals that there are
valid and enduring concerns expressed by those of the anti-vaccination movement
that need to be addressed in order for vaccination policies to be embraced by a
wider public and thus have a more significant impact
Property Technology in the Age of Algorithmic Discrimination
No full textIn this paper I investigate the emergence of PropTech in the U.S. PropTech, short for property technology, is an umbrella term for all the technologies and/or algorithms utilized by the real-estate industry to manage their properties. In this thesis, I explain the social environment in which PropTech is developed to see for whom the technology is designed and implemented. Then, I explore ways PropTech is redesigned and repurposed with tenants' rights in mind. By analyzing conversations about PropTech on Twitter and in Housing Justice Advocacy spheres, I study the implications of design processes and find that the emergence of PropTech is in many ways emblematic of a new form of housing injustice: algorithmic housing discrimination
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