ETDs

This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.

In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.

Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.

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How discourses cast airport security characters: a discourse tracing and qualitative analysis of identity and emotional performances

Description
Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and subsequent creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), airport security has become an increasingly invasive, cumbersome, and expensive process. Fraught with tension and discomfort, "airport security" is a dirty phrase in the popular imagination, synonymous with long lines, unimpressive employees, and indignity.…

Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and subsequent creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), airport security has become an increasingly invasive, cumbersome, and expensive process. Fraught with tension and discomfort, "airport security" is a dirty phrase in the popular imagination, synonymous with long lines, unimpressive employees, and indignity. In fact, the TSA and its employees have featured as topic and punch line of news and popular culture stories. This image complicates the TSA's mission to ensure the nation's air travel safety and the ways that its officers interact with passengers. Every day, nearly two million people fly domestically in the United States. Each passenger must interact with many of the approximately 50,000 agents in airports. How employees and travelers make sense of interactions in airport security contexts can have significant implications for individual wellbeing, personal and professional relationships, and organizational policies and practices. Furthermore, the meaning making of travelers and employees is complexly connected to broad social discourses and issues of identity. In this study, I focus on the communication implications of identity and emotional performances in airport security in light of discourses at macro, meso, and micro levels. Using discourse tracing (LeGreco & Tracy, 2009), I construct the historical and discursive landscape of airport security, and via participant observation and various types of interviews, demonstrate how officers and passengers develop and perform identity, and the resulting interactional consequences. My analysis suggests that passengers and Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) perform three main types of identities in airport security contexts--what I call Stereotypical, Ideal, and Mindful--which reflect different types and levels of discourse. Identity performances are intricately related to emotional processes and occur dynamically, in relation to the identity and emotional performances of others. Theoretical implications direct attention to the ways that identity and emotional performances structure interactions, cause burdensome emotion management, and present organizational actors with tension, contradiction, and paradox to manage. Practical implications suggest consideration of passenger and TSO emotional wellbeing, policy framing, passenger agency, and preferred identities. Methodologically, this dissertation offers insight into discourse tracing and challenges of embodied "undercover" research in public spaces.
ContributorsRedden, Shawna Malvini (Author) / Tracy, Sarah J. (Thesis advisor) / Corley, Kevin (Committee member) / Alberts, Janet (Committee member) / Trethewey, Angela (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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The influence of social approval and support on the maintenance behaviors of same-sex and heterosexual relationships

Description
Same-sex couples establish and maintain relationships for many of the reasons heterosexuals do, even without widespread acceptance. The manner in which couples maintain their relationships constitutes a subject of considerable research, though such research has primarily examined heterosexuals. Yet, two studies have evaluated relational maintenance behaviors for same-sex couples and…

Same-sex couples establish and maintain relationships for many of the reasons heterosexuals do, even without widespread acceptance. The manner in which couples maintain their relationships constitutes a subject of considerable research, though such research has primarily examined heterosexuals. Yet, two studies have evaluated relational maintenance behaviors for same-sex couples and heterosexuals: Haas and Stafford (1998, 2005). Although these studies found similarities between heterosexual and homosexual relationships, significant differences emerged involving social networks and meta-relational talk. Haas and Stafford attributed these differences to the lack of societal and legal support. The present thesis examined empirically the link between perceived social approval, and relational maintenance behaviors, focusing on differences between cross-sex and same-sex involvements. Dainton and Stafford's (1993) typology of social network compositions, measures of social approval and encouragement based on Felmlee (2001), and Canary and Stafford's (1992) five behavior relational maintenance typology tool with Haas and Stafford's (2005) measures of meta-relational talk were utilized for an online survey. A total of 157 online, geographically diverse surveys were collected from heterosexual and homosexual individuals involved stable, intimate relationships. Unique to this study, results demonstrate significant correlations between overall social approval and the use of relational maintenance behaviors for both heterosexual and same-sex couples. Previous literature has linked lack of social approval with the use of unique maintenance strategies employed by same-sex couples; however, findings from the present study do not support this. Interestingly, increases in overall social approval, not decreases, are positively correlated with the use of meta-relational talk for same-sex couples.
ContributorsMcDonald, Patrick (Author) / Alberts, Jess K. (Thesis advisor) / Canary, Daniel J. (Thesis advisor) / Guerrero, Laura (Committee member) / Trethewey, Angela (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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Identity in ideologically driven organizing: narrative construction of individual and organizational identity in al Qaeda's public discourse

Description
More than a decade after the events of September 11, the kinetic conflict between U.S. forces and Islamist extremist groups continues, albeit in a more limited fashion. In the post 9/11 decade there has been increased recognition that factors such as globalization, economic insecurity, regional political unrest, and the rapid…

More than a decade after the events of September 11, the kinetic conflict between U.S. forces and Islamist extremist groups continues, albeit in a more limited fashion. In the post 9/11 decade there has been increased recognition that factors such as globalization, economic insecurity, regional political unrest, and the rapid advancement and diffusion of communication technologies will continue to influence the nature of international warfare for the foreseeable future. Industrial, interstate wars between sanctioned armies (Kilcullen, 2007; Tatham, 2008) is giving way to asymmetric forms of conflict exemplified by the conflict between the U.S. and its allies, and al Qaeda and ideological affiliates like al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Kilcullen, 2004; Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, 2007). This shift has brought counterinsurgency (Petraeus, 2008) tactics to the forefront of policy discussion. A result of this focus on counterinsurgency efforts is increased interest in strategic communication (stratcom) (Nagl, Amos, Sewall, & Petraeus, 2008; Paul, 2009) and the function of narrative (Roberts, 2007) in kinetic conflict (Zalman, 2010). The U.S. has been said to be "losing the battle of narrative" to the extent that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has spoken of the need to "supplant the extremist narrative" (Mullen, 2009). Understanding how narrative functions in ideologically driven organizing (IDO) remains under developed, however. Little empirical research has examined how al Qaeda's use of narrative contributes to organizational success. Drawing on the tradition of narrative in organizational communication scholarship (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002; Ashcraft & Mumby, 2004) this project interrogates al Qaeda's use of narrative from an identity perspective, exploring the ways in which narrative is constitutive of identity at individual and organizational levels. The analysis focuses on public communication produced by al Qaeda, intended for various stakeholder audiences including potential recruits, the broader Muslim community, and adversaries such as the United States and its allies. This project makes practical contributions to U.S. public policy and countering violent extremism (CVE) efforts, offering rigorous empirical examination of the ways in which al Qaeda uses narrative to construct individual and organizational identity. Theoretical contributions are made by extending existing organizational scholarship into a currently under-developed area: ideologically driven conflict.
ContributorsFleischer, Kristin (Author) / Alberts, Janet K (Thesis advisor) / Furlow, Richard (Committee member) / Trethewey, Angela (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017