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- Creators: School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Resource Type: Text
Description
This interdisciplinary thesis examines the possible relationship between the public speaking experience for women and the gender gap in political ambition. First, a historical analysis of women public speakers ranging from the 1800s to the Suffragettes to female politicians in the 1900s reveals a pattern of female public speakers in politics receiving extreme criticism for their communicative behavior. The thesis then turns to the socialization of young girls, highlighting how gameplay in children translates into gendered communicative behavior in adult women. Next, an examination of the pedagogy of public speaking showcases how the public speaking experience is different for women than it is for men, and how public speaking traditionally is taught in a masculine style. Then, through a review of the literature on the gender gap in political ambition, it is seen that not only are women severely underrepresented in political office in the United States, but women have far less political ambition than men. And a case study of the 2008 presidential primaries and elections, highlighting modern women in politics, demonstrates that the few women who are politically ambitious in the 21st century face criticism that mirrors those faced by political women decades and centuries prior. Finally, the thesis offers possible solutions to changing the experience of women as public speakers and fostering political ambition in women.
ContributorsPatton, Ashley Crystal (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Wentzel, Bonnie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationship between mental illness and capitalist consumer society. Many Americans are suffering from mental illness and there has to be something causing it besides a chemical imbalance in the brain. A capitalist society creates a set of expectations that conflict with human desires. The thesis takes a historical, economical, and psychological approach to answering the following question: Does a capitalist society make its citizens mentally sick? A brief history of capitalism over the past century is discussed, as well as a more in depth look at capitalism and the creation of neoliberalism during the 1980s. The psychological effects capitalism has on human beings is discussed for the majority of the thesis and focuses on ideas from the 1950s as well as the early 2000s. To show the effect capitalism has on modern day society, an analysis of a psychopharmaceutical drug commercial is given. The concluding thoughts attempt to offer solutions to the problems of human unhappiness in a consumer culture.
ContributorsSerki, Aisling Erin (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
In the sixty-seven years following the end of World War II, West Germany and Japan underwent a remarkable series of economic and social changes that irrevocably altered their respective ways of life. Formerly xenophobic, militaristic and highly socially stratified societies, both emerged from the 20th Century as liberal, prosperous and free. Both made great strides well beyond the expectations of their occupiers, and rebounded from the overwhelming destruction of their national economies within a few short decades. While these changes have yielded dramatic results, the wartime period still looms large in their respective collective memories. Therefore, an ongoing and diverse dialectical process would engage the considerable popular, official, and intellectual energy of their post-war generations. In West Germany, the term Vergangenheitsbewältigung (VGB) emerged to describe a process of coming to terms with the past, while the Japanese chose kako no kokufuku to describe their similar historical sojourns. Although intellectuals of widely varying backgrounds in both nations made great strides toward making Japanese and German citizens cognizant of the roles that their militaries played in gruesome atrocities, popular cinematic productions served to reiterate older, discredited assertions of the fundamental honor and innocence of the average soldier, thereby nurturing a historically revisionist line of reasoning that continues to compete for public attention. All forms of media would play an important role in sustaining this “apologetic narrative,” and cinema, among the most popular and visible of these mediums, was not excluded from this. Indeed, films would play a unique recurring role, like rhetorical time capsules, in offering a sanitized historical image of Japanese and German soldiers that continues to endure in modern times. Nevertheless, even as West Germany and Japan regained their sovereignty and re-examined their pasts with ever greater resolution and insight, their respective film industries continued to “reset” the clock, and accentuated the visibility and relevancy of apologetic forces still in existence within both societies. However, it is important to note that, when speaking of “Germans” and “Japanese,” that they are not meant to be thought of as being uniformly of one mind or another. Rather, the use of these words is meant as convenient shorthand to refer to the dominant forces in Japanese and German civil society at any given time over the course of their respective post- war histories. Furthermore, references to “Germany” during the Cold War period are to be understood to mean the Federal Republic of Germany, rather than their socialist counterpart, the German Democratic Republic, a nation that undertook its own coming to terms with the past in an entirely distinct fashion.
ContributorsPiscopo, Michael (Author) / Benkert, Volker (Thesis director) / Moore, Aaron (Committee member) / Machander, Sina (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
The North American Free Trade Agreement was passed by the U.S. Congress in November 1993. The United States had decided that a regional trade approach would be more beneficial than bilateral trade with its neighbors. This move accepted Mexico as an equal economic partner with the United States and Canada despite their economic deficiencies. The NAFTA agreement came into effect on January 1, 1994. Canada, Mexico, and the United States agreed to eliminate tariffs on roughly ninety-nine percent of internationally traded goods by the end of 2004. The agreement was also significant because the three nations took a big step in further liberalizing Foreign Direct Investment policies. NAFTA resulted in what is today a $19 trillion regional market with over 470 million consumers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that six million U.S. jobs depend on trade with Mexico and another eight million jobs depend on trade with Canada. As seen, economic interests clearly dominated the NAFTA debate on all fronts. There still were other domestic political interests that further pushed the United States to seek regional integration with Canada and Mexico. Drugs, energy, pollution, and the threat of American jobs as a result of Mexico’s low wages were all major issues considered in the United States at the time. The issues noted above can be closely linked to the United States’ national security interests. Policy-makers and treaty negotiators constantly connected the passage of this agreement to the long-term interests of the United States. For NAFTA to have a chance in the first place, all operational concerns had to have been resolved first. The governing structure for management of the activities that fall under NAFTA’s umbrella was a huge prerequisite. Additionally, separate side agreements with Canada and Mexico had to be negotiated so that the they would offset any future problems NAFTA might create for the United States. Although a challenge, it all came together perfectly and the passage was successfully implemented. Taking everything into consideration, the United States should stray way from its’ isolationist ways and pursue a regional agreement like NAFTA for the betterment of all North Americans.
ContributorsIvanov, Martin (Author) / Ackroyd, William (Thesis director) / Rivero, Tony (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05