Browsing by Author "Mao, KuoRay, committee member"
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Item Open Access A cross-generational study of video gaming: players' cultural models, felt stigma, and subjective well-being(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Smarr-Foster, Cheryl, author; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, advisor; Kent, Suzanne, committee member; Mao, KuoRay, committee memberVideo game players are oftentimes stigmatized as being lazy, unhealthy, immature, addicts, and other negative stereotypes. In this thesis, I question how conflicting cultural understandings might influence such stigmatization, thereby impacting the subjective well-being of video game players from different generational/age groups. I examine how cognitive anthropological theories and methods can inform sociological ideas about how stigma and labeling might emerge from generational differences in cultural norms and values. I investigate this idea using cognitive anthropological notions of shared and socially transmitted models of reality held in individual minds, i.e., cultural models (D'Andrade, 1995). I also looked at cultural consensus (Weller, 2007) to understand culturally accepted thoughts and behaviors, and cultural consonance (Dressler W, 2005) to explore how low cultural consensus might manifest through social stigmatization and impact video game players' sense of well-being. From this point of view, video game players, who don't behave per culturally consensual notions about what constitutes good and proper behavior by playing video games can be low in "cultural consonance" and stigmatized as deviant. I explain how cultural models around video gaming are influenced by popular media and misunderstandings about video game players in general. I provide examples to show how these misunderstandings might inform inappropriate medical diagnoses of so-called "addiction" (Kardefelt-Winther, 2017). Furthermore, I show how not being "consonant" with mainstream understandings or "models" of the good life might lead to what are interpreted as characteristic signs of addiction: e.g., withdrawal from family and friends (stigmatizing social-networks) and concealing the behavior (stigma management). This thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to video game play and offers my own perspective to elucidate my interest, expertise, and unintentional, yet probable, biases. Chapter one includes an overview of the problem, theory, and methods. Chapter two provides a brief history of video games in the USA, video game genres, video game stigma, demographics of video game players, and descriptions of interviewees. Chapter three is a discussion of the cognitive anthropological approach, and a briefing on how cultural models (D'Andrade, 1995), cultural consensus (Weller, 2007), and cultural consonance (Dressler, 2005) can impact subjective well-being (Diener, 1985). This chapter also includes a discussion on sociological theories of stigma, labeling, and moral panic (Cohen, 1972/1980), and stigma management (Herek, 1996). I also discuss generations and age groups, explaining my reason for grouping players into three age categories; Late Millennials (18-27), Early Millennials (28-37) GenX and Boomers (38 +), as well as the importance of including age variables in video game studies. Chapters four explains my three-phase iterative research methods of data collection and analysis (participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and field surveys). Chapter five includes results and discussion, and chapter six concludes and summarizes this study.Item Restricted Betterment(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Thomas, Michelle, author; Altschul, Andrew, advisor; Levy, EJ, committee member; Mao, KuoRay, committee memberBetterment explores a possible near future in the Southeastern Michigan town of Harwood, fifteen years into recovery from a pandemic caused by the virus H1X1. In Harwood, neglected infrastructure of pipes and waste management led to the spread of contaminant poison which laid the groundwork for a medical crisis. Although the town was able to recover, the pandemic intensified racial segregation and severely restricted the mobility of minority communities (primarily African American) in terms of housing, healthcare, and employment. Corinne Matlock, sister to the first minority to die in relation to H1X1, tries to navigate the grief of her brother's death, protect her younger brother from meeting the same fate, and avoid stepping outside of the new rules of society, the punishment for which is being sent off to a quarantine center, possibly indefinitely. This dystopian novel looks at the story of an individual as well as her community, as they struggle to survive in a world where the laws were written to erase them.Item Open Access Cheerleaders, jocks, nerds and "the man": popular representations of schooling in modern television(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Solem, Allison, author; O'Donnell-Allen, Cindy, advisor; Sloane, Sarah, committee member; Mao, KuoRay, committee memberIn recent years, the availability of media has increased and adolescents are engaged with some type of media for most of the day. However, television remains one of the most popular mediums in America, despite increases in time spent on other forms of electronic media. Scholars have studied movies and their potential as "equipment for living," a central theme in Burke's Philosophy of Literary Form that asserts that fictional works inform our values, experiences, and expectations. This study aims to prove that television is also equipment for living for adolescents, and that they learn school-specific lessons from programs depicting a schooling environment. By analyzing three popular and current television programs and looking for school-specific character archetypes within those narratives, this study aims to determine what lessons secondary students learn about the purpose of school and the schooling experience. The results show that current television programs reflect broad cultural views about education and include fears about bullying and school shootings, as well as assumptions that secondary schools do not meet the needs of all of their students. The study also revealed cultural perceptions on school staff as uninterested in serving student needs. However, some programs challenge stereotypes and present more realistic representations of students, teachers, and administration in secondary schools.Item Open Access Dangerous politics? An analysis of the relationship between political affiliation and assaults on police officers in American counties(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Tuttle, Robert, author; Unnithan, Prabha, advisor; Mao, KuoRay, committee member; Berg, Marni, committee memberThe "War on Cops", a term that denotes a combination of anti-police rhetoric, thinking and politics, has been suggested as resulting in increased violence toward police officers nationwide (Mac Donald 2016). This allegedly began after a racially charged police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. Using data from the 2012 Presidential election and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (2013) report, this study examines the relationship between rates of assault on police officers and political affiliation as determined by the 2012 Presidential election using a stratified random sample of American counties. Findings indicate no statistically significant relationship exists between how a county voted in the 2012 Presidential election and its assault rate on police officers. However, findings do show that the type of weapons used to assault police officers vary significantly by geographic region, as does the average number, and average rate of assaults on police officers in county agencies in 2012.Item Open Access Dramaturgy and gender performance in fitness spaces(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Macartney, Remo, author; Hempel, Lynn, advisor; Mao, KuoRay, committee member; Daum, Courtenay, committee memberThis study uses theories from symbolic interactionism and feminist theory to understand performance in fitness spaces. Dramaturgical Theory and the theory of Doing Gender are used to address this topic. The first theory is used to examine the way that actors perform their gender within a gym. This includes space, appearance, and props from Dramaturgical Theory. The second concept incorporates ethnomethodology to examine how the actor fashions an intelligible body and uses their modified body to complete certain performances. Along the way the actor builds competency with certain props. This allows them to complete new performances. This research is important in understanding how power is distributed across fitness spaces. Additionally this study provides insights into participant behavior and can be used to understand how actors use and arrange space.Item Open Access Hong Kong's Umbrella and Hard Hat revolutions: toward a theory of the ideology of protest strategies(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Gilmore, Andrew, author; Dickinson, Greg, advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Diffrient, David Scott, committee member; Mao, KuoRay, committee memberIn this study, I analyzed Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Revolution and 2019 Hard Hat Revolution to answer two research questions: (1) What ideologies characterize the protest strategies of Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution and Hard Hat Revolution? and (2) What protest mechanisms communicate the ideologies of the protest strategies of Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution and Hard Hat Revolution? Using participant interviews, mass media, social media, and my own embodied experiences, I analyzed three major protest mechanisms of the two revolutions—metaphors of the home, the use of public transportation infrastructure, and the portrayal of political leaders. My analysis led me to uncover two distinct theoretical protest ideologies that characterize the Umbrella and Hard Hat Revolutions—One World, One Dream (Umbrella Revolution) and Our World, Our Dream (Hard Hat Revolution)—and the tenets that undergird these two ideologies. My development of the two ideologies revealed that the two major differences in ideological approaches and their communication mechanisms derived from different audiences—the target audience for the Umbrella Revolution was potential external allies, while the target audience for the Hard Hat Revolution was the Hong Kong police force and the Hong Kong and Beijing governments.Item Open Access Mississippi prisons as sites of environmental injustice: extreme heat, social death, and the state(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Luzbetak, Austin, author; Opsal, Tara, advisor; Mao, KuoRay, committee member; Malin, Stephanie, committee member; Jacobi, Tobi, committee memberExpanding on existing literature which understands incarcerated people as victims of environmental injustice and states as complicit actors in the production or allowance of environmental harm, I explore how incarcerated people in Mississippi experience extreme heat and how the state of Mississippi manages heat in state carceral facilities. I answer these questions by drawing on data from letter correspondence with people in three state prisons in Mississippi, as well as conducting critical policy analysis on relevant Mississippi laws, policy documents, and Department of Corrections reports. My findings from correspondence show that extreme heat amplifies the experience of "social death" already endemic to incarceration. More specifically, extreme heat intensifies incarcerated peoples' experiences of social disconnection and isolation, humiliation, and loss of sense of self, all of which produce social death. Moreover, state law and Mississippi Department of Corrections policy do not adequately protect incarcerated people from extreme heat, which I characterize as a state-green crime of omission. Instead, my findings from critical policy analysis demonstrate how the state of Mississippi is centrally focused on turning people in prison into laborers to maintain the state's carceral arm and provide benefits to counties, municipalities, and state agencies. I argue that these data have profound implications not only for environmental justice researchers and green criminologists, but more broadly for all who are interested in the project of prison abolition.Item Open Access Multiscalar power, conflict and procedural justice in regulating Colorado's unconventional oil and gas development(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Ryder, Stacia, author; Malin, Stephanie, advisor; Betsill, Michele, committee member; Mao, KuoRay, committee member; Peek, Lori, committee memberTo view the abstract, please see the full text of the document.Item Open Access Rise of social network based seafood industrial cluster and rural community transformation in Zhoushan Islands of China(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Xu, Yue, author; Raynolds, Laura T., advisor; Mao, KuoRay, committee member; Kwiatkowski, Lynn, committee memberThis thesis reviews the historical, political, and cultural foundations for establishing seafood industrial clusters at Zhoushan Islands, explaining the organizational level management, operation, and regulatory strategies utilized by seafood factory owners to achieve their success. This thesis explores the general labor pattern, the surveillance and hierarchies in seafood factories at Zhoushan Islands, inequalities and social stratification in the nearby local rural community, and the invisible consequences of state-led industrialization and rural transformation policies in the Zhoushan industrial cluster. A theme running through this discussion is how factory owners utilize available political, social, and economic capital from the elite social networks to build their pathway to succeed in operating seafood business, countering barriers, and handling potential risks.