Sociology Dissertations and Theses

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Cooptation: Analysis of a neglected social process
(University of Kansas, 1978-12-31) Lacy, Michael G.
The concept of cooptation is at the same time very popular and quite neglected. One frequently reads or hears the phrase mentioned in passing, as though there were agreement as to what it meant, but there is a dearth of work on the subject. In one of the few works focusing directly on the subject, Karl Loewenstein (1973:21) decries the 11 complete lack of systematic research on cooptation11 and notes that the standard references in sociology and political science either mention it not at all or contain only a few sentences on the subject. There exist only two books, to the current author's knowledge, in which cooptation is a major concept: Loewenstein's work in German, which is an attempt to develop a model of cooptation, and one work in English, Selznick's TVA and the Grass Roots (1949), a case study of the TVA using cooptation as a basic concept. The neglect of the concept, coupled with the varieties of its use, as will be documented below, would be enough to justify the current investigation. Additional justification rests on two bases: 1) insofar as power is a basic process in all societies, organizations, and groups, and since cooptation is a part of the power process, it has import; and 2) hopefully, the reader will agree that cooptation is a ubiquitous phenomenon, occurring just as ordinarily as other recognized social processes, such as assimilation, accommodation, or revolution. The intent of this investigation is to clarify the concept of cooptation and show its use as an analytic and explanatory device, and to formulate some notions about typical patterns and outcomes of the cooptation process. To begin, my working definition of a threat model of cooptation will be presented along with a model of a power system which, as will be seen, is the locus for the occurrence of cooptation. Then, several other models of cooptation will be examined with critiques indicating the need for the new conceptualization represented by the threat model.
Women’s Hypertension in Indonesia: The Role of Religion, Trust, and Community Involvement
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Jansen, Natalie Anne
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the leading cause of death worldwide and is a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Approximately three quarters of individuals living with hypertension reside in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In Indonesia – one of the largest LMICs – women’s hypertension rates exceed men’s despite less engagement in risky health behaviors such as tobacco and alcohol consumption. In this dissertation, I explore the relationship between women’s social factors and hypertension because women’s social determinants of health are often overlooked in hypertension research. Specifically, I examine women’s religious involvement, feelings of trust, safety, and reciprocity, and involvement in community groups as potential social factors associated with hypertension. Using data from Wave 5 of the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS), I found religious differences in the likelihood of hypertension. Muslim women – and particularly Muslim women who pray daily but do not engage in salat prayer – had the highest likelihood of hypertension overall, while Hindu women – and particularly women who either participate in daily yoga/meditation or refrain from red meat consumption – had the lowest likelihood of hypertension. I also found that women needing to be alert in the community was associated with lower likelihoods of hypertension compared to women who did not report a need to be alert. Measures of both individual- and community-level thick and thin trust were associated uniquely with likelihoods of hypertension. Finally, I found that women largely did not vary in likelihoods of hypertension by participation in community programs, and there were no significant differences in the relationship between participation and hypertension for mothers and non-mothers.
A Genetic Point of View: The Effects of Ancestry Testing on Racial and Ethnic Identities
(University of Kansas, 2019-08-31) Kaiser, John W
The purpose of this research is to investigate how genetic ancestry tests can affect personal identity. Forty individuals from the cities of Topeka, Kansas City, and Lawrence who identified as primarily Black, White, or Hispanic were interviewed before and after taking a commercially-available ancestry test. The findings of this study suggest that participants selectively chose certain results to incorporate into their identity rather than accepting the entire test. Group membership strongly indicated the reasons for why participants took the test and how they reacted to the results. White participants took these tests seeking new racial labels to differentiate themselves from simply being “White”. Black participants took these tests seeking to identify ancestral genetic narratives to better inform their Black identity. Hispanic individuals had more ambiguous reasons for taking the test, as some approached the test seeking new identities while others did so to acquire ancestral genetic narratives. White individuals incorporated certain test results into their identity to make them appear more diverse while Hispanics and Blacks subsumed certain results into their identity to better inform it.
The Self-Protective Properties of Stigma within the Fat Admirer Community
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Neumann, Elyse
Due to their seemingly abnormal sexual preferences, Fat Admirers represent a group of stigmatized individuals who challenge Western ideals of beauty. This research investigates the self-protective strategies of Fat Admirers. I show how the sharing of stigmatizing experiences in a Fat Admirer online community helps structure an individual’s understanding of their identity that acts as a fourth self-protective strategy. The Fat Admirer identity consists of a stigmatized self in which individuals implement strategies that buffer against stigma in an online community setting. This research uses Crocker and Major’s (1989) conception of self-protective strategies that include 1. Attributing negative feedback to prejudice about their in-group 2. Comparing outcomes with in-group members 3. Devaluing negative attributes of the in-group. I argue that a fourth strategy (dialogic essentialism) is employed in which FAs converse with similar others in attempts to normalize their essentialist beliefs about their sexual preferences that in turn protects against possible stigmatization. Instead of interviewing participants to find out what their FA identity entails, this research uses an internet ethnographical approach to study the natural flow of conversation between members, which offers a new perspective into this community-the interaction among self-identified Fat Admirers. This research is important as it illustrates how members combat stigma through interactions that delineate acceptable membership practices. These interactions promote increased importance, validation, and protection of a stigmatized identity.
Within-group Income Inequality among Asian American Families
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Zhang, Yurong
Asian Americans have long been portrayed as a “model minority” for their relatively high socioeconomic standings in contemporary America. However, this characterization oversimplifies the economic circumstances of Asian Americans, as they also show the highest within-group inequality among all racial and ethnic groups. Asian Americans’ high within-group inequality highlights the convergence of class inequality, racial disparity, as well as the diversity of their immigration status. Focusing on the reasons that account for Asian American within-group inequality, this thesis utilizes both ordinary least square (OLS) regression and conditional quantile regression to uncover the difference in within-group inequalities between non-Hispanic white families and Asian American families. The results show that Asian American families indeed have a 24% higher income inequality (as measured by the gap between the ninetieth percentile and the tenth percentile) than whites. However, the higher income inequality is reduced to as low as 6.2% after controlling for demographic characteristics, human capital variables, immigration status, and family composition variables. As Asian American demographic characteristics and family composition have a counteracting effect on their income inequality, human capital combined with immigration status thus explains over 75% of their higher income inequality.
Pregnancy, Abortion, and Motherhood: Does Disability Matter?
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Sullivan, Darcy
Women with disabilities are classified as “risky” mothers and are encouraged by healthcare providers to not have children. Societal notions about who are appropriate mothers create barriers for women with disability who desire to have children. This study focuses on motherhood and pregnancy as one facet of WWD’s lived experiences. Using data from the National Survey of Family Growth, which included a sample size of 11,285 women, I analyze the effect of having a disability on attitudes about motherhood and likelihood of having ever pregnancy, and ever receiving an abortion. In contrast to previous studies (Horner-Johnson et. al. 2016; Shandra et. al. 2014), analyses show that women with disabilities are less likely to agree that having children are necessary to be happy compared to able-bodied women. Women with disabilities had 1.45 times the odds of ever having had an abortion compared to able-bodied women. Having a disability was found to not be a significant predictor of pregnancy or utilization of fertility services.
Who Drops Out from College? A Study of Social Origin at a Midwestern Teaching University
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Spotswood, Joelle
Previous research has examined the degree to which social origins affect college completion, but few have studied the association of family background, social class, and neighborhood contexts with regard to the rate of four-year college attrition. To fill this gap, this study utilizes rich administrative data on first-time (students who have not completed any post-secondary courses), full-time freshman cohorts (2007-2014) from a four-year Midwestern teaching university which provided information on students’ demographic information, including parental education and income, academic performance, and family background via admission and Federal Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) applications. I supplement these with secondary data on students’ county and high school socioeconomic characteristics. Linear probability and hazard models are estimated. Primary amongst the findings is that parental education is the significant predictor in dropping out of college rather than parental income, even when controlling for academic preparation and a variety of other family and neighborhood variables. Being a first-generation student, someone who does not have a parent with a college degree, significantly and substantially increases the likelihood of dropping out of college, as does being male. To a lesser though still significant extent, county unemployment also predicts retention or withdrawal, suggesting the importance of neighborhood effects. The results imply the value of cultural rather than economic capital transmission in students’ college success and lend further evidence for the widening class inequality gap regarding college completion. This study is especially significant for educational sociologists and higher education retention programs, providing empirical data from which to draw to create targeted intervention for potentially at-risk freshman.
From Tied Movers to Tied Stayers: Changes in Family Migration Decision-Making, 1989-98 to 2009-18
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Erickson, Matthew
Past research has found that when a dual-career heterosexual married couple migrates to a new labor market, the woman is more likely to be the “tied mover”: the partner whose career suffers as a result of the move. This study investigates possible changes in gendered decision-making related to internal migration among married couples in the United States between the 1990s and the 2010s. Using data from the 1989-98 and 2009-18 Annual Social and Economic Supplements of the Current Population Survey, we examine whether income equality between spouses has become a bigger barrier to migration among married individuals, and we investigate year-to-year changes in income among married migrants compared with their unmarried counterparts. Our findings show a general U-shaped association between wives' share of a married couple's income and that couple's likelihood of moving across state or county lines; in both time periods, couples are least likely to move when their incomes are roughly equal. Among young, well-educated married couples, though, we detect a notable change: Spousal income equality was not a barrier to moving in the 1990s, but it had become one by the 2010s. Among these same couples, however, we find some evidence that a gendered tied-mover effect still remains. If women in dual-career couples are less likely to be tied movers today than they once were, it may be because dual-career couples have become less likely to move for a job opportunity at all, even relative to the broader decline in internal migration across the population.
State intervention in indigenous economies : the case of Venezuelan Indian collectives
(University of Kansas, 1989-12-31) Gouveia, Lourdes
This dissertation examines the organization of an unprecedented rural development program of Indian collectives in Venezuela. Based partly on a case study of two empresa communities, the dissertation critically considers the contradictory objectives, and the forms and level of efficacy of state intervention in indigenous economies, vis a vis these communities' own characteristics, needs, and active collaboration or resistance. The majority of data for this study was collected during six months of fieldwork in two empresa communities: the Bari empresa of Saimadoyi and the Pume empresa of Kumani. Data were also obtained through interviews and archival research in national and regional government offices. The fundamental questions relate to (1) the broad economic and political factors, both historical and structural, that influenced the genesis and transformation of Indian policy from welfare to development and (2) the impact that these collective organizations had on the lives of those who joined the program. The analysis is rooted in the theoretical debates on how state policies are generated in dependent capitalist economies, and debates on state-induced agrarian transition in Latin America--particularly in the context of ethnic Indian communities.
America versus the Environment? Humanity, Nature, and the Sacred 1973-2014
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Szrot, Lukas
The relationship between environmental concern and religiosity in the United States is complex and contentious. Analyses of survey research have yielded mixed results. Historical research has indicated that some strands of present-day environmentalism in the U.S. are rooted in specific Protestant attitudes and practices. Conceptual work has suggested that faith-based environmental organizations focus on long-term ethical change, rather than issue-based policy reform. It follows that efforts to model the connection between environmental concern and religiosity should account for change over time, which is the aim of this dissertation research. Using data from the 1973-2014 General Social Survey, measures of stewardship and conservation were regressed on several dimensions of change over time within religious group identities, including cohorts (Chapter 3), upbringing and disaffiliation (Chapter 4), as well as calendar year and age (Chapter 5). Environmental concern in the U.S. increased over time across all groups, but generally increased more quickly on average among members of religious groups with historical pro-environmental stances. Upbringing in a religious group with a historical pro-environmental stance was linked to higher levels of environmental concern in adulthood, though the highest levels of environmental concern were found among those who disaffiliated in adulthood. Younger religious persons were significantly more environmentally concerned than older religious persons in the same religious group. Separating cohorts by gender (Chapter 6), class (Chapter 7), as well as political party affiliation and race (Chapter 8): religious group identity was more salient in predicting changes in environmental concern over time among men; the conditional effect of religious group identity on environmental concern is largely confined to people of average income; and the often-discussed political polarization on environmental concern is largely due to increasing divides among white Protestants. In short, environmental concern has increased among younger religious adherents relative to older members of the same group. These trends generally take the form of “catching up to” historically higher levels of environmental concern among the unaffiliated. This research offers a relatively novel means by which to approach the religion-environment connection and suggests that religious groups may play a meaningful role in future efforts to address environmental issues.
Gender and the Green Economy
(University of Kansas, 2018-08-31) Kern, Anna
The Green Economy is supposed to be sustainable but is it? Being sustainable would entail being equitable. Feminist scholarship shows that the mainstream economy is thoroughly organized by gender, is inequitable, and facilitated by the marginalization of reproductive labor or care work. Ecofeminist theory broadens feminist analysis by situating human social relations in the broader context of our relationship with the environment. In this dissertation I begin from the standpoint of women to explore the degree to which gender inequality is organizing the green economy in the U.S. I argue that a key mechanism reproducing gender inequality is the privileging of green jobs in industries dominated by men and the marginalization and devaluation of environmental care work. I do this by analyzing the organization of the green labor market in the US and through observing the organization and implementation of a program to foster green economic development in an urban area in the Midwest. Understanding the gendered nature of the green economy is important for advancing knowledge about gender segregation and integration of labor markets, gender equality in employment, and gendered opportunities in growing green sector of the economy. This research contributes to scholarship on gender and work, the green economy, ecofeminism, and care work.
Community Formation in a Nascent Retirement Village
(University of Kansas, 1984-05-31) Dickens, David Rudolph
Retirement communities are a rapidly growing phenomenon in the United States. These settings provide a variety of services and recreational activities to retired persons in an attempt to create an age-segregated community. This study comprises an analysis of the community formation process in a nascent retirement community located in a midwestern state. The first three chapters describe the nature and types of retirement communities (Chapter 1), methods used to analyze community structure (Chapter 2), and previous studies (Chapter 3). The next four chapters describe the setting (Chapter 4), social structure (Chapter 5), services and supports (Chapter 6), and everyday life (Chapter 7) at the retirement community being studied. The concluding chapter (Chapter 8) provides an assessment of the community formation in light of the data described in earlier chapters. The dissertation is based primarily on ethnographic data gathered over a sixteen month observation period. Other primary source materials include interviews with residents and management staff, as well as newspapers and journals, and contemporary published works.
How English Experience and Employment Sector Influence Immigrants’ Socioeconomic Assimilation
(University of Kansas, 2018-12-31) Slone, Avram Kerker
An abundance of research suggests that an immigrant’s English experience is a major determining factor in the success of their socioeconomic assimilation. Most scholars equate English experience with English fluency, or the ability to speak English. However, Social English Use, or the frequency and comfort with which a person uses English in social settings, is a form of English experience that is theoretically unique from English fluency. This research seeks to compare fluency and Social English Use to determine the distinct influence that each has on immigrants’ socioeconomic and linguistic assimilation in the United States. Using the 2003 New Immigrant Survey (n = 2,348) and Ordinary Least Squares regression, I determine the effect that each form of English experience has on immigrant income both within and across occupational industries. I find that although English fluency has a stronger positive linear relationship with socioeconomic status (SES) than Social English Use (β=0.523 vs. 0.224, p ≤ 0.01), this differs across occupational industry. I also find that Social English Use moderates the relationship between immigrants working in professional occupations and SES (β=0.338, p = 0.051). My findings suggest that ensuring opportunities to use English in social settings may help immigrants to the U.S. obtain and succeed in professional occupations.
Selling Seeds, Selling Communities: Re-Seeing Agronomy and Conventional Agricultural Seed Development and Exchange in Rural Kansas and Missouri
(University of Kansas, 2018-05-31) Comi, Matthew James
This qualitative research explores agri-food issues in contemporary, conventional hybrid seed production and exchange, particularly the sales of high-earning corn and soy hybrids ubiquitous on the farms practicing conventional growing techniques in Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri. Data for this project is drawn from on-site interviews conducted with sales agronomists working in the NE Kansas and NW Missouri agricultural region. The project asks about the materiality of the hybrid seeds and how sales agronomists see, interact with, and describe seeds, chemicals, and other services to farmer clients. The research reveals a hybrid seed package that bears multiple meanings across different networks of individuals alongside agronomists, a population of non-farming rural community members who feel the losses in population and community resiliency associated with large-farm agriculture but who also feel committed and responsible to the individual wellbeing of their farmer clients. The research also reveals a growing prevalence of precision agriculture services offered by sales agronomists. Drawing from the work of Bennet’s vital materialism (2010) and contemporary revisions of the Deleuze-Guattarian assemblage (DeLanda 2016), this research suggests that automated precision agriculture methods reveal a food regime which distributes agency between many participants, conversely delimiting individual autonomy of the farmer-owner. I suggest that the problems preventing higher numbers of farmers from adopting ecologically sustainable practices may not be individually ideological or economic, but rather problems of agentic capacity, of who/what makes a difference in contemporary agricultural assemblages.
Disparities in the Uptake of Colorectal Cancer Screenings: The Role of Education, Insurance, and Screening Type
(University of Kansas, 2017-05-31) Ice, Erin
Preventative screenings hold the promise of detecting disease before it becomes fatal. However, they often have the unintended consequence of creating socioeconomic disparities because individuals with social and economic resources are the heaviest users. This research investigates education- and insurance-based disparities in colorectal cancer screening participation and how these associations change over time. I use data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to analyze trends in colorectal cancer screening participation for adults over 50 from 1992 to 2013 (n=51,385). Controlling for key sociodemographic factors, results suggest that education and access to insurance have become increasingly important predictors of screening participation over time. Specifically, the findings appear to primarily apply to endoscopy use, a more invasive and expensive type of colorectal cancer screening. By showing that education and insurance are more relevant for predicting endoscopy use, this study contributes to fundamental cause research on the uptake of medical innovations; the study shows that the use of complicated technologies is more heavily influenced by socioeconomic factors. I conclude by considering how policy changes can reduce socioeconomic disparities in cancer screenings.
Motivating forces in the development of collectivized forms of leisure-time activity
(University of Kansas, 1941) McCluggage, Marston Martel
The Local Dimension of Transnational Activity in Environmental Conflicts: Tambogrande, 1961-2004
(University of Kansas, 2017-08-31) Thieroldt, Jorge Ernesto
Based on the in-depth analysis of the Tambogrande case, the most well known case of social mobilization in Peru, I argue that the success or failure of transnational activity is closely linked to actions performed on the grassroots level by local organizations before the arrival of outsiders. Between 1999 and 2004, Tambogrande was the site of intense transnational activity. The support given by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) like Oxfam Great Britain and Oxfam America was crucial to stop a Canadian mining company, Manhattan Minerals Corporation (MMC), interested in the extraction of the minerals lying underneath. The existing literature about this case of environmental conflict highlights the contributions of the INGOs neglecting a deeper account of the past trajectories of the local actors. I argue that this successful case of transnational activity was the direct result of a long series of protests that began in 1961 when hundreds of farmers from different regions of Peru arrived to colonize the desert to create what is now the San Lorenzo Valley. The reconstruction of four previous decades of protests shows that the key elements that facilitated the success of the transnational alliances established in the period 1999-2004 were domestically created long before the arrival of INGOs. Specifically, I maintain that these key elements were three. First, a social movement organization (SMO) composed of representatives of pre-existing grassroots organizations such as agricultural, labor, commercial and political guilds. Second, a porous state office (PSO) that remained at the service of social mobilization as a source of democratic and legal legitimacy for more than twenty years. Third, a domestic non-governmental bridging organization (DNGBO) that functioned as a broker between grassroots organizations, social leaders, national NGOs and international NGOs.
Parents’ Experiences as Educational Advocates for Children with Autism in Public Schools: Parent-Educator Relationships
(University of Kansas, 2017-05-31) Duenas, Jennifer
While global, interdisciplinary debates continue regarding increased prevalence in autism spectrum disorders, there is no doubt that the visibility of individuals with autism have increased in public schools. Families of children with autism are placed in an unprecedented position as they become educational advocates by default when their children become students in public schools in an age of austerity (Caruso 2010, Itkonen and Ream 2013, Kalaei 2008, Ong-Dean 2009, Tincani 2007). Using Bourdieu’s Cultural Capital theory as a guide, the purpose of this research is to gain a deeper understanding of how parents of children with autism negotiate their child’s education within the constraints of public schools through the interpersonal interactions with IEP teams. What types of parent-professional relationships exist between parents of children with autism and IEP teams? What factors influence parents’ advocacy styles?
Drawing Lines and Taking Sides: An Examination of Boundary Work among Oppositional Worldviews
(University of Kansas, 2015-12-31) Addington, Aislinn R.
Christians and atheists have clashed publicly over ideological tensions throughout the history of the United States. Active atheists and evangelical Christians have, and continue to, vie for legitimacy and access to power, often at the expense of those with whom they disagree. This research investigates identity, boundary work, and the relationship to the “other” between and within these two oppositional ideologies. Findings demonstrate how, in a variety of situations and settings, these two groups not only “other” each other, but use their “other” to bolster their own ideological community. The presence of a group with an oppositional worldview allows each community to further define itself, and individuals within each group to define and refine their own identity within the group. The data for this research is made up of 45 interviews and multiple sessions of participant observation. After analyzing the data, four substantive areas emerged as prominent fields for boundary work within and between both groups: Boundaries and Solidarity, Boundaries and Morality, Boundaries and Gender, and Boundaries and Technology. This dissertation contributes to the sociology of boundaries and identity as those concepts are stretched and manipulated to explore the inner workings and “othering” mechanisms of active atheists and evangelical Christians. This research shows how boundaries and identity work together for members of rigid ideological groups, regardless of their specific worldview. While data on both groups offers novel observation and insight, this dissertation also provides desperately needed qualitative data on the distressingly understudied atheist population.
Sustainable Practices in the High Plains: A Study of Water Conservation Efforts and Well Ownership
(University of Kansas, 2016-12-31) Ternes, Brock
Extreme demands for crop irrigation and droughts have stressed water supplies in Kansas, making the state increasingly reliant on its underground reserves of freshwater. As precipitation and the availability of surface water become less reliable, aquifers (reservoirs of groundwater) remain one of the only sources of water in the High Plains. Growing demands for water are tapping aquifers beyond their natural rates of replenishment, which has profound implications for sustaining communities in a region prone to drought. This dissertation investigates the water conservation efforts, environmental priorities, and water supply awareness of Kansas well owners, a key social group whose actual and potential water usage is pivotal to understanding and safeguarding groundwater formations. My main research goal is to learn how the reliance on different water supply infrastructures influences water usage. The central research question is: Does owning and using a well change the propensity to conserve water? This is a relevant question because previous research investigating the reproduction of conservation behaviors has not adequately explored how systems of water provision contribute to resource management decisions. To address this omission, I constructed one of the only datasets of well owners used in social scientific research by surveying well owners and non-well owners throughout Kansas (n = 864). Well owners are a key social group whose actual and potential water usage is pivotal to safeguarding groundwater formations, and researching well owners’ conservation efforts will be key to aquifer preservation and wider water management policies. Previous research has outlined how some demographic predictors like political views, age, and sex are tentatively correlated with pro-environmental behaviors; however, my work finds that a household’s water supply moderates several relationships associated with water conservation. This finding suggests that infrastructure contextualizes the adoption of conservation habits, and Kansans’ notions of environmentalism are recalibrated by their systems of water provision. The project provides quantitative and qualitative evidence that well owners embody a form of “groundwater citizenship,” an ethic of conserving and staying mindful of aquifers. Through this research, I seek to identify how infrastructure influences the decision to adopt environmentally-conscious watering practices, which will assist the development of more effective groundwater management policies, and, in turn, improve drought adaptation measures.

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