Matching Items (57)
Description
Something Like Human explores corporate social responsibility through a triple lens, providing a content analysis using previous literature and history as the standards for evaluation. Section I reviews the history of corporate social responsibility and how it is currently understood and employed today. Section II turns its focus to a specific socially conscious corporation, Lush Cosmetics, examining its practices considering the concepts provided in Section I and performing a close analysis of its promotional materials. Section III consists of a mock marketing campaign designed for Lush in light of their social commitments. By the end of this thesis, the goal for the reader is to ask: Can major corporations be something like human?
ContributorsDalgleish, Alayna Rose (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Thornton, Leslie-Jean (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Comm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Since the inception of what is now known as the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1970s, criminal profiling has become an increasingly prevalent entity in both forensic science and the popular imagination. The fundamental idea of which profiling is premised – behavior as a reflection of personality – has been the subject of a great deal of misunderstanding, with professionals and nonprofessionals alike questioning whether profiling represents an art or a science and what its function in forensic science should be. To provide a more thorough understanding of criminal profiling’s capabilities and its efficacy as a law enforcement tool, this thesis will examine the application of criminal profiling to investigations, various court rulings concerning profiling’s admissibility, and the role that popular media plays in the perception and function of the practice. It will also discuss how future research and regulatory advancements may strengthen criminal profiling’s scientific merit and legitimacy.
ContributorsGeraghty, Bridget Elizabeth (Author) / Kobojek, Kimberly (Thesis director) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
The &ldquoMormon; Colonies” in Chihuahua, northern Mexico, boast a sizable population of women originally from the United States who have immigrated to these small Mexican towns. This ethnographic study of the immigrant women in the area focuses on questions of citizenship and belonging, and bolsters the scholarship on U.S. American immigrants in Mexico. Using data from 15 unstructured interviews, the women&rsquos; experiences of migration provide a portrait of U.S. American immigrants in a Mexican religious community. Analysis of this data using grounded theory has revealed that these U.S. American women have created a third social space for themselves, to a large degree retaining their original culture, language, and political loyalty. Their stories contribute to the literature on transnational migration, providing an account of the way migrants of privilege interact with their society of settlement.
ContributorsNielsen, Vanessa (Author) / Mean, Lindsey (Thesis advisor) / Téllez, Michelle (Committee member) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The economic crisis in 2008 triggered a global financial shockwave that left many wondering about the origins of the crisis. Similarly, in the early twentieth century, Wall Street faced catastrophic losses that set the stage for the Great Depression, which resulted in a decade of economic depression, leaving millions of people out of work. Using discourse analysis to understand how economic crisis is framed through the mainstream press, this research project analyzed the stock market crash of 1929-1932 and the mortgage-backed financial crisis of 2007-2009 through the lens of two mainstream publications, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Comparative analysis focused on explanations for the causes of the crises, attributions of blame, culprits, and proposed solutions emerging in news coverage of the 1929 panic and the 2007-2009 financial crises. Mainstream media accounts of the 2007-2009 crisis are then compared with `alternative media' accounts of crisis causes, culprits, and solutions. These comparative analyses are contextualized historically within economic paradigms of thought, beginning with the classical economists led by Adam Smith and transitioning to the Chicago School.
ContributorsPrice, Eun (Author) / Nadesan, Majia (Thesis advisor) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / Ramsey, Ramsey E (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Research literature and popular press articles were reviewed to uncover the influences and viewer pleasures received from watching reality television. A close semiotic analysis of the reality television program, Teen Mom, was conducted. The semiotic analysis looked at the characters, the structure of the show, and the show's use of graphics and audio to understand the show's influences on viewers. An analysis of the Teen Mom website and online forum was also conducted. Seventy-one viewer posts and 403 viewer responses were analyzed to uncover viewer reactions to the show. The results were significant in three ways. First, the producers of the show claim the show is meant to educate viewers on the effects of teen pregnancy. The analysis found that while the show sends educational messages, it also contradicts itself by glamorizing teen pregnancy. Second, the analysis of the online forum revealed the formation of close online communities among Teen Mom viewers. Third, the website analysis provided evidence of viewer pleasure resulting from voyeuristic and social comparison tendencies. It is plausible that Teen Mom viewers engage with the show for the opportunity to observe parts of other people's lives they would not normally be permitted to see. At the same time, viewers evaluate themselves in comparison to the Teen Mom cast members.
ContributorsPadelford, Sarah (Author) / Ramsey, Ramsey E (Thesis advisor) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / Wise, Greg (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Heroism is a phenomenon central to the development of Western Society. It is present at the core of understanding history, it is the basis for all literature, and exists in many forms in contemporary society, including the celebrity. As a result of its pervasiveness, the philosophy by which heroism ought to be understood has been left out of its contemporary iterations. Through an investigation of a provocative real person, rather than a literary character, the being of the hero in the everydayness of life can be more readily understood. The character in question is Leila Khaled, provocative because she is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and participated in two airplane hijackings. The general public understands her to be a terrorist; however, she is a hero among her own people and as a hero has much to teach. Through an inspection of her story, the hero presents itself as acting with courage and being motivated by love toward a greater good. Thus, an investigation of these phenomena - courage, love, and the greater good - will result in a better understanding of the hero that works toward the philosophic discussion about heroism that has been largely ignored over the last several hundred years.
ContributorsMorris, Christopher (Author) / Ramsey, Ramsey (Thesis advisor) / Jordan, Elaine (Committee member) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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 Hunger Games: What a Dystopic World Reveals about Modern Society" is an interdisciplinary thesis that examines the impossibility of revolutionary stories or concepts in popular culture by specifically analyzing the Hunger Games project. First, an analysis of what young adult fiction is and how it is written is provided. The formulaic way in which modern adolescent literature is written provides the basic structure for Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. The second chapter examines the main character of the Hunger Games series, Katniss Everdeen. The way in which this young female heroine relinquishes her independence and courage due to being consistently undermined by the men and political leaders in her life is traced by following the development of the story throughout the three novels. The third chapter of the thesis delves into how the entire Hunger Games project of novels and films fits into current popular culture. An analysis of the mass production of the novels, and then turning the books into films, merchandise, and further commercialization of the story is discussed in detail throughout the chapter. Finally, the thesis discusses the responsibility authors of young adult literature should assume when addressing a young impressionable audience and how Collins took advantage of the position she had in telling the story of Katniss Everdeen.
ContributorsHeath, Elisabeth Rose (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Bixby, Patrick (Committee member) / Roy, Sohinee (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Multiracial individuals are the fastest growing demographic group in the United States. In order to explore and gain insight into how mixed-race individuals understand and negotiate their identity, this project includes a documentary of compiled interviews with multiracial individuals. These interviews seek to address both positive and problematic notions associated with identifying as mixed race/multi-ethnic, including issues that these individuals encounter if, and when, the dominant culture rejects their blended racial heritage. The video format allows individuals to convey the complicated nature of belonging to different groups of people that are hierarchically divided in the United States.
ContributorsCavazos, Amanda Catherine (Author) / Elenes, C. Alejandra (Thesis director) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
Perhaps by some ingrained sense of human preparedness, phobias are an outlier in the world of conditioning. Again and again, they are highlighted as the only thing which avoidance makes worse, rather than alleviates. My own fear of insects had reached its most severe level just as I began learning about phobias, and avoidance, in my undergraduate psychology courses. There, I learned that avoidance of the phobic stimulus \u2014 in my case, insects \u2014 seemed to be a fundamental element of maintaining a phobia, and I was more than guilty of it. Following this realization, I endeavored into what I would later come to call Stimulus Confrontation: A self-designed therapeutic course of action to overcome my fear. This thesis, then, is the record of this project. It weaves together my scholarly research on phobias with my own personal narrative concerning the employment of Stimulus Confrontation, beginning with the etymology and proposed etiologies of phobias, followed by an overview of contemporary treatment options available and a recounting of Stimulus Confrontation as applied to my own phobia. Told from her own perspective, English writer and journalist Jenny Diski's book, What I Don't Know About Animals, tells of her own arachnophobia, and includes an honest account of the fear and anxiety it caused for her, as well as her own journey to overcome it. Like my own, Diski's phobia \u2014 arachnophobia \u2014 had come to affect her everyday life. Prior to seeking treatment for her fear at the age of 58, Diski too had learned to avoid the thing which she so feared. Inspired by What I Don't Know About Animals, the personal anecdotes I have included throughout this thesis serve to elaborate upon my personal experience with my own insectophobia, and the cessation of avoidance that led to substantial progress in overcoming my fears. Throughout this thesis, I refer to this cessation of avoidance as Stimulus Confrontation, with the intention that following the same process I did may benefit others in overcoming their own specific phobias.
ContributorsKavanaugh, Ashley Marie (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Lewis, Stephen (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12