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- Creators: Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business
- Creators: Gruber, Diane
Description
Millennials turn out to vote at significantly lower rates than the rest of the population, sparking commentary on their apathy and lack of contributions to American society. This thesis attempts to paint an accurate description of why these trends have persisted in the past, and finds that there are many complex reasons that serve as explanations. Many of these reasons can be explained by an analysis of Millennials' characteristics and political attitudes, which research has found includes a prioritization of achievement and Independent political ideologies. Additionally, by differentiating between civic engagement and political engagement, data and research find that Millennials choose forms of civic participation over political participation as an active choice and alternative avenue for electoral participation. Ultimately, Millennials are disillusioned with the politically polarized landscape and are unable to navigate the saturated information environment to make confident voting decisions. The rest of the thesis explores organizations, campaigns, and potential reforms that attempt to turn out Millennials. A thorough evaluation of campaigns' and nonpartisan organizations' efforts reveal the best practices for reaching Millennials, which include prioritizing substantive policy discussions, implementing grassroots and bottom-up organizational strategies, and avoiding flashiness and pandering. Another clear area for potential reform is civic education, which is currently not prioritized in the public education system. Some education reforms that would be particularly effective at reversing these negative trends include allowing for political debate within the classroom, teaching civics through more vibrant and hands-on curriculum and directly highlighting and perpetuating the importance of voting in the classroom. This thesis evaluates these and many other potential policy reforms that will encourage Millennials' political engagement as they further enter into adulthood.
ContributorsBockrath, Stephanie Michelle (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Kirkpatrick, Jennet (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This paper puts forth an argument for a new form of political survey that is aimed towards those who have the ability to vote, but choose not to. First, I will explain the importance of voting. Second, I will outline the structure of the survey. Third, I will explain how current surveys are inadequate. I will go into detail on the methods by which people make the decision whether or not to vote, and will discuss some issues of pragmatism that will need to be answered for this survey to find success.
ContributorsHoover, John William (Author) / Ramirez, Mark (Thesis director) / Neuner, Fabian (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This paper focusses on voter disenfranchisement among people who have been previously incarcerated in Arizona. It seeks to answer the question how does removing a felon’s right to vote affect their ties to community?
ContributorsPrida, Savannah (Author) / Comstock, Audrey (Thesis director) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / Chapman, Darren (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
“Why We Vote” explores attitudes and rationales among college students regarding civic and voter engagement. The major tangible outcome of this project is a photo series displaying portraits of students paired with a short vignette about their voting or civic engagement story. To diversify the series, we have engaged participants from a broad range of personal identities and civic engagement levels. We want to give visibility to the experiences of those who are commonly cast aside, especially in regard to civic and voting initiatives. Our project utilizes personal storytelling to spark dialogue about civic engagement,
particularly among the 18-24 age demographic. We chose to use storytelling as the primary medium for our project because it is a vehicle for empathy, a lacking component of modern civic life in the United States. It provokes students to think critically about how and why they engage in civic life and connect campus communities of students with common experiences. We are interested to see how our presence on campuses impacts the level and nature of their civic dialogue and how our findings are situated within our quantitative research.
particularly among the 18-24 age demographic. We chose to use storytelling as the primary medium for our project because it is a vehicle for empathy, a lacking component of modern civic life in the United States. It provokes students to think critically about how and why they engage in civic life and connect campus communities of students with common experiences. We are interested to see how our presence on campuses impacts the level and nature of their civic dialogue and how our findings are situated within our quantitative research.
ContributorsKwan, Alexis (Co-author) / Leveque, Trey (Co-author) / Salem, Hanna (Co-author) / Taliaferro, Karen (Thesis director) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
For the sake of this thesis, two scholarly collections edited by Dr. Robin S. Rosenberg – Our Superheroes, Ourselves (2013) and The Psychology of Superheroes: An Unauthorized Exploration (2008) – were reviewed. From these two collections and the multitude of psychological theories they cite, those most relevant to adolescent character development are considered. Three broad theories are examined first: positive psychology, equity theory, and attachment style. Then, six additional specific theories that define temperament (behavioral activation system and behavioral inhibition system), personality theory, duel identity, media identification, parasocial interaction, and comparison theory are reviewed. After reviewing each theory, Heroes in Crisis (2019) , a recent bestselling DC offering that addresses superhero trauma, is analyzed through the lens of these psychological theories in order to provide insight into the psychology or both superheroes and their adolescent fans.
ContributorsGutierrez, Jairo Gerardo (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Amparano, Julie (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This paper proposes that voter decision making is determined by more than just the policy positions adopted by the candidates in the election as proposed by Antony Downs (1957). Using a vector valued voting model proposed by William Foster (2014), voter behavior can be described by a mathematical model. Voters assign scores to candidates based on both policy and non-policy considerations, then voters then decide which candidate they support based on which has a higher candidate score. The traditional assumption that most of the population will vote is replaced by a function describing the probability of voting based on candidate scores assigned by individual voters. If the voter's likelihood of voting is not certain, but rather modelled by a sigmoid curve, it has radical implications on party decisions and actions taken during an election cycle. The model also includes a significant interaction term between the candidate scores and the differential between the scores which enhances the Downsian model. The thesis is proposed in a similar manner to Downs' original presentation, including several allegorical and hypothetical examples of the model in action. The results of the model reveal that single issue voters can have a significant impact on election outcomes, and that the weight of non-policy considerations is high enough that political parties would spend large sums of money on campaigning. Future research will include creating an experiment to verify the interaction terms, as well as adjusting the model for individual costs so that more empirical analysis may be completed.
ContributorsCoulter, Jarod Maxwell (Author) / Foster, William (Thesis director) / Goegan, Brian (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05