4 research outputs found
SCIENCE WARS AS CULTURE WARS: FRACKING AND THE BATTLE FOR THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF WOMEN
No full textIn this thesis, I examine how claims regarding the environmental and health impacts of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” are constructed by industry advocates who promote the practice and environmental and social justice groups who reject it. More specifically, I examine the cultural underpinnings of the debate over fracking, and the prominence of gender as a central framing device in that debate. While the controversy over fracking is often presented as scientific or technical in nature, I maintain that it is as much a culture war as it is a science war. I demonstrate this by showing how both pro-fracking and anti-fracking groups mobilize cultural symbols and identities—motherhood, environmentalism, family farming, family values, individualism, and patriotism among them—in order to persuade the public and advocate for their positions. I contend that engagement with the cultural and ideological dimensions of those debates, including their gendered dimensions, is as important as engagement with its scientific and technical dimensions. Ultimately, I argue that a greater focus on gender contributes to our understanding of environmental risk more broadly, and to the field of environmental sociology as a whole. As such, gender deserves more scholarly attention within the field than it is currently receiving
Taking Small Steps With Big Data: Exploring the Impact of Education on Social Mobility
No full textHistorically, education and workforce-development programs have relied on survey data or state-government administrative data to examine program impacts. However, surveys are costly, reasonable comparison groups can be difficult to identify, and results from analyses of a single state’s administrative data can seldom be generalized to enable broader conclusions. This brief discusses a research collaboration between the Center for Social Development, the National Student Clearinghouse, and a large credit bureau. Through this collaboration researchers used large, frequently updated, multi-type (i.e., “big”) data to examine the impact of education and certificate programs on social mobility, as well as racial and gender equity.
This Practice Brief is the first in a series of case studies that highlight how social sector organizations are implementing collaborative and equitable data practices to increase their impact. The series promotes peer learning and knowledge sharing among social sector practitioners from diverse backgrounds, sectors, and roles
Data for Social Impact - Data Persona Worksheet
No full textDeveloped in collaboration with Amelia Parnell and drawing upon the framework from Parnell\u27s 2021 book You Are a Data Person: Strategies for Using Analytics on Campus, this worksheet facilitates exploration of data identity and the identification of data personas
[no individual presentation titles or abstracts to be printed]
No full textNote to program reviewers: we do not expect these abstracts to be published, since this is a roundtable, but are providing them so that you can see what we hope to discuss in the session. Dwight Billings will be in attendance, but does not wish to be a formal respondent as part of the roundtable. The first presentation, by the convener, will introduce the roundtable with a quick overview of the facets of Dwight Billings\u27 career contributions to Appalachian Studies being discussed in the formal presentations, a reading of comments sent by those unable to attend in person, and an invitation to those present to consider standing and making remarks after the last formal presentation. (The formal presenters\u27 remarks will be 5 minutes each, leaving time for this.
