Matching Items (251)
Description
The purpose of this research is to identify the factors contributing the resiliency of Syria's President Assad amongst a backdrop of falling authoritarians during the Arab Spring. After determining the Assad's regime's strategies of authoritarian rule both before and after the 2011 uprisings, this paper theorizes what Assad's persistence is most dependent on today by analyzing his discourse throughout the conflict. Assad's framing of the war to the media has significantly legitimized his rule.
ContributorsKassab, Seema (Author) / Parmentier, Mary Jane (Thesis director) / Simon, Sheldon (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The gendered pay gap is a phenomenon experienced by many within the workplace. Title IX is presented because of its significance in aiding women to get fair and equal treatment, particularly in sports. Intersectionality is a research lens used to examine how the various aspects that make up an individual (e.g. race, class, sexuality, or gender) impact their life experiences, and is utilized to examine the experiences of athletes in the United States and overseas. The field of professional sports possess salary disparities and in order to analyze them between men and women in professional sports, case studies are presented. Case studies of basketball and soccer, along with interviews and secondary research, are utilized and analyzed to understand how the gendered pay gap continues to persist. In comparison to the United States, women are being paid significantly more in other nations. Women continue to go overseas because of money and the treatment athletes get from local fans. Fans in other nations love their athletes and view them as an expression of pride in their nation. Women in sports currently experience salary disparities and will continue to do so because of various factors.
ContributorsWeiler, Erika Morgan (Author) / Holman, Christine (Thesis director) / Koblitz, Ann (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
In the mid-1970s, social scientists began observing marital dyad conversations in laboratory settings with the hope of determining which observable features best discriminate couples who report being either satisfied or unsatisfied with their relationship. These studies continued until about a decade ago when, in addition to increasing laboratory costs slowing the pace of new data collection, researchers realized that distressed couples were easier to quantitatively describe than nondistressed couples. Specifically, distressed couples exhibit rigid patterns of negativity whereas couples who report being maritally satisfied show minimal rigidity in the opposite direction \u2014 positivity. This was, and is, a theoretical dilemma: how can clinicians understand and eventually modify distressed relationships when the behavior of satisfied couples are less patterned, less predictable and more diverse? A recent study by Griffin and Li (2015), using contemporary machine learning techniques, reanalyzed existing marital interaction data and found that, contrary to expectation and existing theory, nondistressed couples should be further subdivided into two groups \u2014 those who are predictably positive or neutral and those who interact using diverse and varying levels of positive and negative behaviors. The latter group is the focus of this thesis. Using these recent findings as discussion points, I review how the unexpected behaviors in this novel group can maintain and possibly perpetuate marital satisfaction.
ContributorsAbdul-Quadir, Hasana (Author) / Griffin, William A. (Thesis director) / Li, Xun (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
In 1972, the United States Supreme Court found that the death penalty was being applied too arbitrarily in the United States and that this arbitrary application constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the eighth amendment (Furman V. Georgia, 1972). This lead to a moratorium on capital punishment until the case Gregg V. Georgia, which outlined guidelines for the states in applying the death penalty in order to ensure that its application was constitutional (Gregg V. Georgia, 1976). These guidelines included enumerated aggravating factors and a bifurcated capital trial (Gregg V. Georgia, 1976). Despite these findings from the Supreme Court, the application of the death penalty in Arizona has remained problematic. In practice, Arizona has adopted a death penalty statute that appears to conform to the standards set by Furman and Gregg. Arizona state law includes a list of aggravating factors to help guide juries in capital trials and these trials are bifurcated. However, Arizona's aggravating factors are both numerous and inclusive, to the point that it is challenging to commit a first-degree murder in Arizona that does not include an aggravating factor. The statute fails to limit the crimes that qualify for the death penalty so state budgetary concerns become the limiting factor. Arizona's application of the death penalty remains arbitrary, in consistent, and as a result, unconstitutional as defined by the United States Supreme Court.
ContributorsPerez-Vargas, Maricarmen Contreras (Author) / Cavender, Gray (Thesis director) / Corey, Susan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
There is a disconnect between the way people are taught to find success and happiness, and the results observed. Society teaches us that success will lead to happiness. Instead, it is argued that success is engrained in happiness. Case studies of four, established, successful people: Jack Ma, Elon Musk, Ricardo Semler, and William Gore, have been conducted in order to observe an apparent pattern. This data, coupled with the data from Michael Boehringer's story, is used to formulate a solution to the proposed problem. Each case study is designed to observe characteristics of the individuals that allow them to be successful and exhibit traits of happiness. Happiness will be analyzed in terms of passion and desire to perform consistently. Someone who does what they love, paired with the ability to perform on a regular basis, is considered to be a happy person. The data indicates that there is an observable pattern within the results. From this pattern, certain traits have been highlighted and used to formulate guidelines that will aid someone falling short of success and happiness in their lives. The results indicate that there are simple questions that can guide people to a happier life. Three basic questions are defined: is it something you love, can you see yourself doing this every day and does it add value? If someone can answer yes to all three requirements, the person will be able to find happiness, with success following. These guidelines can be taken and applied to those struggling with unhappiness and failure. By creating such a formula, the youth can be taught a new way of thinking that will help to eliminate these issues, that many people are facing.
ContributorsBoehringer, Michael Alexander (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Department of Management (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
A growing number of jobs in the US require a college degree or technical education, and the wage difference between jobs requiring a high school diploma and a college education has increased to over $17,000 per year. Enrollment levels in postsecondary education have been rising for at least the past decade, and this paper attempts to tease out how much of the increasing enrollment is due to changes in the demand by companies for workers. A Bartik Instrument, which is a measure of local area labor demand, for each county in the US was constructed from 2007 to 2014, and using multivariate linear regression the effect of changing labor demand on local postsecondary education enrollment rates was examined. A small positive effect was found, but the effect size in relation to the total change in enrollment levels was diminutive. From the start to the end of the recession (2007 to 2010), Bartik Instrument calculated unemployment increased from 5.3% nationally to 8.2%. This level of labor demand contraction would lead to a 0.42% increase in enrollment between 2008 and 2011. The true enrollment increase over this period was 7.6%, so the model calculated 5.5% of the enrollment increase was based on the changes in labor demand.
ContributorsHerder, Daniel Steven (Author) / Dillon, Eleanor (Thesis director) / Schoellman, Todd (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
In the last seven years the practice of capital punishment in the United States has been shaken by one of the most unlikely suspects- the prescription drug market. The practice of capital punishment has gone from fervent support to abolishment and back again throughout the nation's history. Over time the process of capital punishment has evolved from public hangings to a secretive medical procedure. The American people have become detached from the act because it is no longer right in front of their face, but often occurs in a small prison room with a viewing window for a select group of witnesses. The modern method of capital punishment is lethal injection- a three-drug protocol that is accepted as the most humane means of executing criminals. The protocol has faced criticism and legal challenges for years. This is in part because the United States stands alone as one of the last westernized democratic nations to regularly execute convicted criminals. European activist groups and government agencies have been fighting for abolishment in the United States for years with little progress. Recently, the activist groups discovered a novel way to make an impact on the capital punishment system in the United States that had not been attempted. The groups appealed to the drug manufacturing companies in Europe and exposed their supply chains to the public. When it was revealed that the drugs these companies produced were ending up in U.S. prisons for executions the companies eventually stopped all sales of execution drugs to U.S. corrections facilities. This led to the European Union banning all exports of drugs for lethal use in 2011. This study will analyze the effects of the lethal injection drug boycott on the death penalty in the United States. Since the ban, death penalty states have been scrambling in order to procure enough drugs to carry out their future executions. They have attempted to obtain the drugs illegally, trade between each other, reinstate older methods of execution, and entirely change their three-drug protocol to incorporate new drugs or less drugs. Executions have dropped both in the number of death sentences handed down and the number of executions. Also, polls analyzing acceptance of the death penalty have shown decreasing support for the practice domestically. Although there are other factors that may have contributed to the decline of capital punishment in the United States, it seems as though the international lethal injection boycott has made the most progress in the shortest amount of time and has the potential to drastically change the future of the death penalty in the United States.
ContributorsFleming, Karlea Paulette (Author) / Herbert, Anne (Thesis director) / Bodansky, Daniel (Committee member) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The following study applies research on Implicit Person Theory (IPT) to the context of organizational communication. IPT scholars argue that most individuals ascribe to one of two groups regarding perceptions of ability: entity or incremental theorists. Entity theorists believe abilities are fixed, unchanging, and constant, whereas incremental theorists believe abilities are changeable, malleable, and subject to development. Incremental theories are a predictor of success, while entity theories can stifle development (e.g., Dweck, 2006). This study explores the relationship employees' mindsets have on the organization, including learner empowerment, impression management, organizational dissent, and guilt. The present study reasons that incremental (versus entity) theorists will exhibit higher perception of learner empowerment, lower expression of impression management behaviors, higher expression of organizational dissent, and a lower perception of organizational related guilt. No significant results were found on the directional relationships predicted; however, this study presents implications for future research in the area of IPT and organizational communication.
ContributorsWallace, Brittney Sierra (Author) / Adame, Elissa (Thesis director) / Martin, Judith (Committee member) / Saffer, Adam (Committee member) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Research on voter turnout has focused almost exclusively on the traditional, public elections at the local, state, and federal level. However, very little research has been done on voter turnout among college students for student government elections within universities. The purpose of this study is to evaluate voter turnout in undergraduate student governments as a function of social capital and information dissemination. Based on a survey of an organization at Arizona State University, there is no evidence a reminder of a civic obligation to vote increased a student's propensity to vote in a USG election or that social capital facilitates the treatment. Attitudes toward USGs and the internal nature of social capital relevant to the student body could explain the opposite intended effect.
ContributorsSonksen, Connor Levis (Author) / Ramirez, Mark (Thesis director) / Wright, Thorin (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
A social phenomenon in the United States characterizes French language and culture by aristocracy and prestige, sometimes even going so far as to align francophones with pretentiousness or false sophistication. By means of etymological analysis of the registers of American politics, economics, higher education, fashion, and art, I present the remarkable consistency (if not disproportionality) of French-derived vocabulary within the lexicons of these upper class cultural territories. Final conclusion is reached using the analytic lenses of linguist Norman Fairclough and sociologist Thorstein Veblen in their respective works Language and Power and Theory of the Leisure Class, which together supply a sociolinguistic understanding of the French-elite nexus. Using such information, I seek to explain the phenomenon as an American ideological concept. As French expressions are substantially and conspicuously employed within the lexicons and customs of the aforementioned cultural territories of the American upper class, French lexicality and culture become entangled with high society (sociolexical entanglement) and popular aesthetics (vogue lexicality). This intermixture subsequently engenders a French-elite nexus that manifests through either lexical emulation or lexical disaffection. To illustrate this occurrence, I offer evidence of America's persuasion of its upper class's association with French by presenting relevant expressions in the class-pervasive medium of American cinema. I argue that, in entirety, these sociolexical components frame the development of a larger French-elite ideology.
ContributorsSeby, Charles Michael (Author) / Bahtchevanova, Mariana (Thesis director) / Poteet, Lesley (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05