Department of Sociology

Permanent URI for this community

https://hdl.handle.net/10217/100508

These digital collections include theses, dissertations, faculty publications, and datasets from the Department of Sociology. Due to departmental name changes, materials from the following historical department are also included here: Sociology and Anthropology.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 117

Open Access
A qualitative case study of community corrections case managers' experiences with TGNC clients
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Ellis, Taylor, author; Opsal, Tara, advisor; Nowacki, Jeffrey, committee member; Jacobi, Tobi, committee member
This thesis seeks to understand how community corrections case managers work with transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) clients within the context of a facility that relies on the gender binary in its physical structure and institutional practices. Using case study and feminist methodologies, as well as semi-structured interview techniques, I interviewed 11 case managers from this facility. Participants identified as having worked with a TGNC client in the past (either directly through case management or indirectly in a managerial or security position), having worked with women in some capacity, or having received gender-responsive training. The results from this thesis present several important findings. Such findings include that because of sex-segregated housing requirements, case managers must rely on programming opportunities for their TGNC clients to receive gender-affirming care, which creates uncertainty as these opportunities vary across clientele. Additionally, while case managers disagree on the fairness of housing TGNC clients with cisgender men, they fear that housing TGNC clients with women would be dangerous; simultaneously, case managers grapple with the fear that their TGNC clients might be sexually assaulted while living on the men's side. Underlying these first two findings, case managers report a pervasive lack of institutional training to help them navigate working with this specialized population, causing them to rely on alternative knowledge sources, such as their own identities, other case managers, and clients themselves. This thesis concludes with recommendations to the facility pertaining to training and institutional practices that could be modified to better serve their TGNC clients.
Open Access
A return to the field: youth development through agricultural projects
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Putnam, Reanna, author; Carolan, Michael, advisor; O'Connor Shelley, Tara, advisor; Coke, Pam, committee member
This case study seeks to document and describe agriculture based youth development programs by examining the AgriCorps program of the Larimer County Conservation Corps (LCCC). This study draws upon community based action research methodology to provide detailed documentation of the AgriCorps program and to assist with future program development. The AgriCorps program is an introductory employment opportunity through which youth, age 14-16, gain work experience, exposure to environmental and social issues in the food system, and complete meaningful conservation work on urban farms and gardens in Larimer County, Colorado. This program provides youth with experience adhering to workplace expectations, opportunities for soft skill development, and resume writing. In addition to personal and professional development, the AgriCorps also gives youth the opportunity to learn more about the social and environmental context of urban agriculture through structured education, informal field talks, and reflection activities. Lastly, the work completed by the AgriCorps crews contributes to meaningful conservation work by providing labor to urban and sustainable agriculture projects in Northern Colorado. The AgriCorps is a unique hybrid several different youth development program types: youth conservation corps; service learning; and garden based education. As such, the AgriCorps program can serve as a model for organizations interested in developing a youth development program that work in partnership with urban agriculture projects. This research also contributes to the limited literature on youth conservation corps and agriculture based youth development programs by highlighting a successful case of youth development through agricultural projects.
Open Access
A STIRPAT model of sectoral CO2 emissions at the county scale
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Sztukowski, John, author; Zahran, Sammy, advisor; Peek, Lori, committee member; Betsill, Michele, committee member
Background: The scientific community agrees that the principal cause of increased surface temperature globally is the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel combustion being most important among GHGs. Objectives: To analyze the spatial correspondences between CO2 emissions and anthropogenic variables of population, affluence, and technology in the United States. Methods: Ordinary least squares regression and spatial analytical techniques are used to analyze variation in CO2 emissions based on a modified version of the STIRPAT model. The unit of analysis is the county, with 3108 counties in the contiguous United States analyzed. The CO2 emissions of multiple sectors are analyzed as a function of total county population, income per capita, and climatic variation. Results: Population has a proportional relationship, the strongest association, with CO2 emissions. Affluence has a positive relationship with CO2 emissions with an attainable Environmental Kuznets Curve for the residential sector and total CO2 emissions. Climate, including average winter and summer season temperature, has a positive relationship with total CO2 emissions, although it has a negative relationship with the residential and commercial sectors of CO2 emissions. Technology acts as the residual in the model, accounting for net-positive and net-negative technology. Conclusion: Population growth, and to a smaller extent economic growth, are the driving forces of CO2 at the local level. These findings are consistent with global STIRPAT models. An increase in winter or summer temperature further exacerbates CO2 emissions. Understanding the relationships between these anthropogenic variables and environmental impacts at the local scale is a crucial step in the process of formulating mitigation strategies aimed at reducing CO2 emissions in the US.
Open Access
A women's support group: addressing gaps in community services
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Linenberger, Katie, author; Cross, Jeni, advisor; Opsal, Tara, committee member; Gerst, Katherine, committee member
Support groups and self-help groups have been studied in the field of psychology to understand the individual effects of these groups but minimally studied in sociology on how support groups create a community and their potential to produce or reproduce norms, values, and ideas. Through analyzing a local women's support group, this research contributes to the sociological understandings of support groups and the community services they provide while also aiding in self-exploration. More importantly, this research adds to limited research on women's only support groups by analyzing the power of having a place dedicated for women to share with one another. The sociological understandings of groups and values was applied to understand how this support group might be shaping the values and norms of its group members. This research demonstrates how support groups build community through providing the space to socialize, be vulnerable with others, and participate in the storytelling process. Further, this support group produced supportive social ties in many of the group members' lives.
Open Access
Agricultural conservation networks in Iowa
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023-09) Luxton, India, author; Ellis, Elizabeth, author; Arnold, Parker, author; Shakya, Prasiddha, author; Lee, Juliet, author; Ravetta, Emilia, author; Toombs, Ted, author; Mook, Anne, author; Cross, Jeni, author
Iowa's farmlands, celebrated for their remarkable agricultural productivity, are facing pressing environmental challenges, including soil erosion, waterway nitrogen pollution, and vulnerability to extreme weather events. These issues imperil the state's agricultural sector's long-term sustainability and economic stability. Despite substantial investments from governmental and non-governmental entities to encourage conservation practice use, adoption rates remain persistently low. In this report, we use quantitative, qualitative, and social network analysis on a sample of 38 farmers to understand how social networks shape their adoption of conservation practices. We analyze data through a systems framework and compare counties with high- and low-adoption of conservation practices to assess influences from the individual farmer level to the broader societal context. We conclude with a discussion of strategic implications to promote conservation adoption.
Open Access
An analysis of ethical consumption participation and motivation
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Long, Michael Andrew, author; Raynolds, Laura T., 1959-, advisor; Berry, Kenneth J., committee member; Littrell, Mary Ann, committee member; Murray, Douglas L., 1947-, committee member
Consumption is part of everyone's lives. Throughout history the act of consumption was used exclusively for material needs satisfaction and, for some, as a mechanism to display wealth. However, in contemporary society, an increasing number of people are using consumption choices to support issues and causes. This growing trend is often referred to as ethical consumption. This study explores who participations in ethical consumption and why they choose to do so. I recommend a new methodological approach for the study of ethical consumption that focuses on ethical behaviors and the motivations for that behavior. I demonstrate that ethical consumption is prevalent in Colorado using a state-wide mail survey and focus groups. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of survey data and focus group discussions show that liberal political affiliation, higher levels of education and holding postmateralist values are significantly related to higher levels of participation in ethical consumption. The findings also highlight the different motivations of individuals for engaging in ethical consumption. I find two major categories of values-based consumers: ethical consumers who use their purchasing decisions to support broad issues and more directed political consumers who strive to create social change with their consumption choices. Finally, I discover that some ethical consumers create a collective identity with other ethical consumers. The results highlight how many individuals use non-economically rational consumption choices to engage with social issues.
Open Access
An assessment of previously unresolved homicide cases in Colorado to investigate patterned outcomes leading to resolution
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Reese, Amber, author; Unnithan, Prabha, advisor; Nowacki, Jeffrey, committee member; Hughes, Shannon, committee member
The purpose of this research is to consider whether specific characteristics of an unresolved homicide impact whether it is likely to be solved and what the implications of the findings mean for the future. First, a review of the literature proposes that urbanization and other factors have resulted in the dramatic decline of homicide cold case clearance rates and examines the factors associated with case clearance, including case-specific as well as departmental responses. To assess relationships across previously unresolved homicide cases, data were collected and coded from a list of solved Colorado cold case homicides from 1970 to 2017. An initial qualitative analysis of the data (N=111) was completed, and exploratory correlative tests were implemented to investigate patterned outcomes moving from the cause of death towards factors that assist in cold case homicide resolution. The analysis suggests, among others, that access to resources, specifically a Cold Case Unit, leads to greater likelihood of case resolution in certain causes of death, not including death by firearm. There is support for findings from prior literature on the topic which argue that level of funding is crucial to cold case investigation. Given the implications of this important topic, more research is needed to better understand the relationship between cold case homicides, factors involved in the solvability of various cause of death, and for the use of specialized Cold Case Units.
Open Access
An investigation of United States federal policy attempts to reduce American Indian and Alaska Native disaster vulnerability
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Carter, Lucy, author; Peek, Lori, advisor; Unnithan, N. Prabha, committee member; Trumbo, Craig, committee member
To view the abstract, please see the full text of the document.
Open Access
Beliefs, ideologies, contexts and climate change: the role of human values and political orientations in western European and transition states
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Smith, E. Keith, author; Hempel, Lynn M., advisor; Lacy, Michael G., committee member; Malin, Stephanie, committee member; Hastings, Orestes P., committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member
Anthropogenic climate change presents a threat on a scale unlike any other faced by human civilizations. Accordingly, extensive research has engaged with questions about which types of characteristics and under which conditions make it more or less likely for a person to be concerned about climate change, engage in actions aimed at fighting climate change, and support climate change relevant policies. Of this prior research, political factors and human values have emerged as key predictors. Values and political factors are deeply related constructs, and do not operate in isolation of each other. But, as of yet, little is known about how these factors interrelate to affect differences in climate change attitudes and behaviors. Further, contextual factors, such as political structures, affluence, and prior histories, have been linked to climate change attitudes and behaviors. Recent findings have noted stark differences between key predictors in Western European and post-communist transition states, such as those between political factors and human values. But, it is unclear in which ways these contextual differences systematically differentiate the patterning of climate change attitudes and behaviors. Accordingly, this dissertation engages theoretically and empirically with the issues of how human values and political factors interrelate to determine climate change attitudes and behaviors, and how these forces diverge based upon the Western European and transition state settings. Overall, when values and politics are in alignment, these forces affect an amplification of climate change attitudes and behaviors, a finding consistent in both settings. But, the role of human values and political factors substantively differs between these state groupings, as well as across different forms of climate change attitudes and behaviors.
Open Access
Belonging: identity, emotion work, and agency of intercountry Korean adoptees
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Kaanta, Tanya Lee, author; Kim, Joon Kium, advisor; Peek, Lori A., committee member; Ahuna-Hamill, Linda, committee member; Lacy, Michael G., committee member
This phenomenological study examines the experiences of adult Intercountry Korean Adoptees who lived in Seoul, Korea and Colorado at the time of the study. The research draws upon data gathered through participant observation and 31 in-depth semistructured interviews. Through an inductive theoretical approach, this study attempts to fill the gaps in the existing literature by providing a conceptual framework to better understand the complexity and the dynamics of intercountry identity formation. Unlike the identity development literature on racial minorities, intercountry adoptees cannot rely on the most basic membership criteria by which non-adoptees may define identity such as family, community, ethnicity, or culture. For intercountry adoptees, none of these taken-for-granted membership criteria is stable enough to claim ownership. In their struggle to anchor the shifting identity markers, intercountry adoptees assume different roles and play the part that is consistent with it. However, their unique status as adoptees fundamentally conflicts with societal norms about belonging, complicated by the socially ascribed master statuses, such as race, class, gender and other constructions of difference, which accentuate their "unbelongingness." Building on the sociology of emotions, this study posits that the intercountry adoptees' struggle for acceptance and a sense of belonging elicits much emotion work. I situate the varied emotional management efforts in the context of culture and structures that mediate rationally-conceived emotional responses tailored appropriately to certain interaction contexts. In the process of managing conflicting emotions between socially-ascribed feeling rules and true emotions, intercountry adoptees undergo transformative experiences that frame their sense of identity. This dissertation analyzes the ways that intercountry adoptees navigate through their identity formation and how this in turn shapes their actions and agency. The goal is to improve social theory regarding the identity formation of intercountry adoptees using adult rather than children’s voices. It also suggests identity is dynamic rather than linear or progressive. Further, the research introduces some contextual issues influencing identity formation.
Open Access
Citizens, experts and the environmental impact statement: procedural structures and participatory boundaries
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Davidson, Casey, author; Carolan, Michael, advisor; Taylor, Pete, committee member; Feige, Mark, committee member
This thesis is a qualitative case-study of environmental management and decision-making as practiced by the Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) in accordance with the environmental impact statement (EIS) process. Because there has been little empirical study of the EIS process despite criticisms that it has generally failed to both meaningfully engage citizens in governance and produce environmental outcomes consistent with the substantive aims of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), this study provides an in-depth and longitudinal analysis of the ways in which EIS procedures impacted the collaborative planning and development of RMNP's elk and vegetation management EIS. To explore how EIS procedures affect environmental planning and management, I use RMNP's archival records to reconstruct the life-cycle of the planning process and the events, processes, actors and considerations that played a role in shaping the trajectory and outcomes of planning. Furthermore, archival data is supplemented with semi-structured interviews to document how the management issue with elk and vegetation was constructed and shaped by the managerial imperatives of the park, the efforts and concerns of interagency collaborators and citizens, and by EIS protocol as it was interpreted by the interagency team and influential upon planning considerations, decisions and outcomes. The findings of this study contribute to an understanding of the EIS as a decision-making procedure and also provide some empirical support for scholarly criticisms of the EIS. However, these findings also suggest that the procedure's affects on environmental governance are more complex than currently theorized and difficult to disentangle from the constraints that divergent interagency orientations, interests and policies, and divisive and impassioned views among citizens pose for environmental governance. Therefore, this study is as much as case-study of interagency collaboration and citizen participation in the context of environmental management in the contemporary U.S. as it is a case-study of the EIS process. For this reason, my discussion of how conflicts and constraints emerged during planning, were addressed by interagency actors, and subsequently impacted public participation and managerial outcomes provides insights useful for scholars of environmental management or governance as well as practitioners who encounter these scenarios both within and outside of the EIS.
Open Access
Collaborative concession in food movement networks: the uneven relations of resource mobilization
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019-05-21) Sbicca, Joshua, author; Luxton, India, author; Hale, James, author; Roeser, Kassandra, author; MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland, publisher
How do food movements prioritize and work to accomplish their varied and often conflicting social change goals at the city scale? Our study investigates the Denver food movement with a mixed methods social network analysis to understand how organizations navigate differences in power and influence vis-à-vis resource exchange. We refer to this uneven process with the analytical concept of "collaborative concession". The strategic resource mobilization of money, land, and labor operates through certain collaborative niches, which constitute the priorities of the movement. Among these are poverty alleviation and local food production, which are facilitated by powerful development, education, and health organizations. Therefore, food movement networks do not offer organizations equal opportunity to carry out their priorities. Concession suggests that organizations need to lose something to gain something. Paradoxically, collaboration can produce a resource gain. Our findings provide new insights into the uneven process by which food movement organizations-and city-wide food movements overall-mobilize.
Open Access
Colorado school safety: an examination of web availability of emergency management information
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Kaiser, Scott, author; Peek, Lori, advisor; Mahoney, S. Patrick, committee member; Williams, Elizabeth Ann, committee member
The Colorado legislature declared their commitment to school safety in 2009. Yet, in the years since, there has been no systematic analysis of how Colorado’s 179 public school districts communicate disaster management procedures through various mediums. In order to begin to fill this void, this thesis reviews and analyzes online safety information published by Colorado school districts. In total, 175 (98%) of Colorado’s 179 public school districts have active websites. These 175 available sites were thus analyzed to understand (1) how many of Colorado’s public school districts include emergency management information as part of their websites, (2) how does this online emergency management information vary by region, setting, student enrollment, and socio-economic status of the students and school districts, (3) how many of Colorado’s public school districts publish emergency management documents online, (4) how do these documents vary by region, setting, student enrollment, and socio-economic status of the students and school districts, and (5) how do Colorado public school districts frame emergency management information published online. To answer these research questions, this thesis uses qualitative document analyses to systematically assess emergency management information and documents found on school district websites.This study found that 31% (55 of 175) of all districts in the state publish emergency management information on their website. These districts enroll 87% of all students in Colorado and tend to be larger than those that do not publish online emergency management information. Furthermore, the Metro Educational Region, North Central Educational Region, and Pikes Peak Educational Region, which all have total student enrollments of over 100,000, are also the only educational regions where 50% or more of their districts publish emergency information online. School districts that did not publish any online emergency management information on their website constitute around 69% (120 out of 175) of school districts. These school districts encompass only 13% of enrolled students in Colorado. Importantly, this analysis revealed a “rural-urban” divide, with approximately 90% of school districts that do not publish online emergency management information located in more rural areas of Colorado. On the other hand, nearly 60% of schools that publish online emergency management information on their website are located within the most populous settings including the Denver Metro, urban-suburban, and outlying city regions. In addition to the analysis of the online information, 48 emergency management documents from 35 school district websites were collected for further analysis. Over 70% of these documents encompassed an all-hazards approach, but exhibited relatively low rates of actionable advice for students (5%), teachers/staff (42%), and parents (53%). This runs counter to a growing body of literature that suggests that in order to increase public preparedness, stakeholder groups must be advised regarding what they should actually do in the face of an emergency. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings and suggestions for interventions based on best practices from the field of emergency management. Ultimately, this thesis reveals the lack in uniformity in published online emergency management information across region, setting, socio-economic status, and student enrollment and suggests new pathways for increasing the dissemination of knowledge via school websites to communicate emergency management information.
Open Access
Connecting to nature via ecotourism as sustainable development
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) McLane, Daniel Newell, author; Carolan, Michael, advisor; Cross, Jeni, committee member; Hogan, Michael, committee member; Cottrell, Stuart, committee member
This dissertation presents a case study of ecotourism as sustainable development focused on the potential of the tourist as agent of sustainable development when she returns to the global North. This possibility is framed in terms of a tourist "connecting to nature" and thus becoming an agent of sustainable development. This potential is investigated via the comparison of a "real" rainforest and its "simulation" and this also investigates the role of the biophysical in shaping this connection. After describing an initial period of data collection the author explains why he adopted the framework of "environmental imaginaries" as a language to describe the multiple and often conflicting natures to which tourists connect. Using this framework two forms of connecting are identified, "recruiting" and "reinforcing". The role of the biophysical is explored for both forms of connecting as well as the implications for both upon the tourist's return home.
Open Access
Correctional personnel attitudes toward crime causation: free will or determinism?
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1998) Rhineberger, Gayle M., author; Turner, Ronny E., committee member
For the past several decades interest in correctional personnel has grown steadily. However, little has been written on their attitudes toward crime causation. This study analyzes the results of a survey given to 271 correctional personnel. Using a free will/determinism dichotomy, correctional personnel attitudes toward crime causation are discussed. An analysis of the effects personal (e.g. age, gender) and occupational (e.g. years of correctional experience) characteristics have on predicting how personnel view crime causation is provided. Perceptions of correctional staff on how other members of the criminal justice system (e.g. police, society, judges, Department of Corrections) view crime causation is also discussed.
Embargo
COVID-19, policymaking, and the production of harm in the meatpacking sector
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Luxton, India M., author; Malin, Stephanie, advisor; Opsal, Tara, committee member; Cross, Jennifer E., committee member; Sbicca, Joshua, committee member; Ipsen, Annabel, committee member; Hausermann, Heidi, committee member
In March 2020, the United States was forced to respond to the impending threat of COVID-19. Businesses, schools, and many of society's institutions shuttered in hopes of preventing mass transmission. And yet, meatpacking plants remained open. By September 2021, over 59,000 meatpacking workers tested positive for COVID-19 and close to 300 workers had died from the virus (Douglas 2021). In this dissertation, I document the socio-political, structural, and institutional roots of high rates of COVID-19 transmission among meatpacking workers—and the impacts of firm decisions and federal, state, and local governance structures on workers. I utilize literature pertaining to industrialized animal agriculture, political economy, green criminology, and racial capitalism to analyze the intersections among policymaking and production of harm within the meatpacking sector. Drawing on 39 in-depth interviews, critical policy ethnography, and content analysis, I explore the impacts of labor and food policies on the safety and wellbeing of meatpacking workers prior to and during COVID-19. Through an extended multiscalar case study of the JBS plant in Greeley, Colorado, I trace the involvement of agribusiness actors in federal, state, and local level policymaking during COVID-19. I examine how legacies of racialized labor exploitation have enabled firms to uphold the treadmill of meat production and perpetrate hazardous working conditions—conditions further upheld through corporate self-regulation, rather than federal intervention. I document how regulatory power of the federal agencies tasked with protecting worker and public health, including the CDC and OSHA, has been greatly diminished in recent years due to declined funding, staff capacity, and a neoliberal political structure that favors corporate self-responsibility over state enforcement. I argue that a system of harm has been codified into the regulatory system; harm that emerges directly from policymaking and the outcomes of a neoliberal capitalist political-economic system. Throughout this dissertation, I analyze how meatpacking workers' vulnerabilities during COVID-19 were amplified by issues of procedural injustice and historical legacies of racial inequality and exploitation. I conclude with a discussion of theoretical and policy implications and offer suggestions for future research
Open Access
Creating a tribal national park: barriers that constrain and mechanisms that promote collaborative and adaptive environmental management
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Lovell, Ashley, author; Pickering, Kathleen, advisor; Carolan, Michael, committee member; Reid, Robin, committee member; Taylor, Peter, committee member
In an era of rapid social and environmental change, frequent public protests and the documented decline of ecosystem health have demonstrated that traditional environmental management approaches are ill equipped to address public concerns and adapt to changing ecosystems. To address these challenges, researchers and communities have combined the concepts of collaboration and adaptation to create adaptive co-management. This approach acknowledges that socio-ecological systems are complex and constantly in flux while emphasizing public participation and collaborative learning as mechanisms to create novel solutions to social and ecological challenges. Adaptive co-management encourages land managers to collaborate with local communities to monitor the health of their relationship and the ecosystems they seek to protect. While in theory, adaptive co-management should allow land managers and communities to learn from previous experiences and explore new alternatives to improve natural resource management, few studies empirically analyze the process and outcomes of this new approach. I collaborated with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the National Park Service to evaluate a case study of adaptive co-management in the South Unit of Badlands National Park. Working closely with the Tribe and the Park Service I conducted a participatory evaluation of this collaborative relationship. Data was collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews and a review of policy documents and local archives. A key academic finding from this study is that while the Tribe possessed fewer resources and less authority than the Park Service, they exercised power in the co-management process because they spoke on behalf of indigenous knowledge and Native American sovereignty. A key applied finding from this study is that while Tribe and the Park Service share the desire to create the nation's first Tribal National Park in the South Unit, their motivations for this goal vary considerably. To encourage the sustainability of this adaptive co-management effort, the Park Service and the Tribe must iteratively evaluate their relationship, recognize the benefits and challenges of diverse perspectives, and build social networks within and between their collaborating organizations. This case study illuminates mechanisms, such as collaborative learning and the combination of tribal consultation with co-management, that can encourage more equitable and adaptive environmental management in the face of social and environmental change.
Open Access
Culture wars? Applying categorical variation measures to the study of sociocultural and political polarization
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Willis, Jamie L., author; Lacy, Michael G., advisor; Hempel, Lynn M., committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey G., committee member
Over the last 20 years, an extensive literature has examined the "culture wars," or increasing socio-cultural and political polarization within the United States. A major focus of the debate has been whether attitude polarization within the public has increased over that time. While the diversity of perspective and methods within this literature makes understanding their conflict difficult, in general, this debate has centered around differences in the definition and measurement of polarization, consensus, and dissensus. Several researchers have attempted to clarify the divide within the literature, but with insufficient attention to the role of methodological differences. Therefore, the first contribution of this paper is to analyze this literature so as to clearly separate out the distinct and interesting aspects of mass polarization. Beyond that conceptual contribution, the empirical focus of the current work is to illustrate the use of three statistical measures designed specifically to study attitude variation or polarization, which have not previously been used within this literature. These measures, the Index of Qualitative Variation, the RQ Index, and the Index of Ordinal Variation, each offer a unique approach to the measurement of dispersion or polarization in a categorical variable, and thus offer new ways to examine whether the United States has experienced increasing socio-cultural and political polarization within the public. Each of these measures are designed to examine variation in categorical data, which has not been treated as such in the literature. Within this paper, these measures are applied to 120 variables drawn from the American National Election Studies and the General Social Survey over the last 40 to 50 years to examine changes in dispersion or polarization over time. These findings are used to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of these measures for capturing increasing social and cultural fragmentation within the public, and to compare the findings of these measures to those of the interval level measures used within this literature.
Open Access
Cumulative disaster exposure and coping capacity of women and their children in southeast Louisiana
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Mohammad, Lubna, author; Peek, Lori, advisor; Mahoney, Patrick, committee member; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel Graham, committee member
Many studies have shown how cumulative disaster exposure and trauma can lead to a multitude of negative outcomes. As the risk of cumulative disaster exposure continues to increase because of climate change and population growth, this area of study is becoming increasingly important. This thesis is part of the Women and Their Children's Health (WaTCH) Study, which involves survey work with women and children affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Specifically, the current study explores the experiences of nine mother-child pairs who reported in the WaTCH study that they had experienced three or more disasters that had a major impact on the child and the household. Open ended, inductive interviews were conducted with these mother-child pairs in order to understand how cumulative disaster exposures impact mothers and their children and what strategies were used to cope with these exposures. This thesis found that disaster experiences alone did not determine disaster coping and recovery, but rather it was how these exposures combined with secondary stressors, some of which were related to demographic variables, that influenced disaster outcomes. Single parent households, African Americans, and low-income families who experienced long, unstable displacement periods, material, social, and instrumental losses, and problems with school adjustment demonstrated how problems can pile up to slow or hinder current and future disaster coping and recovery. Alternatively, the families who had high incomes, fewer displacements, less material loss, and high levels of social support were able to recover more quickly and show some adaptive capacity in the face of disasters, growing more and more resilient with each disaster experience.
Open Access
Cut off in chaos: communication and life-saving action amid rising rural water during the 2013 Colorado Floods
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Pohl, Jason, author; Malin, Stephanie, advisor; Peek, Lori, committee member; Trumbo, Craig, committee member
During a few days in mid-September 2013, more than a foot of rain fell in the mountains of northern Colorado, transforming streams into torrents and spurring a massive emergency response effort. High water demolished homes, ate away chunks of main highways, and stranded people across the state. Glen Haven, located in rural Larimer County, was among the hardest hit communities (AAR 2015). Cut off and eventually without electricity or telephone access, the community's volunteer fire department served as the primary rescue agency during the disaster and for weeks after, from organizing the initial shelter-in-place order by telephone to assisting in the evacuation effort. Firefighters pulled victims from the water, worked with county, state, and federal authorities to facilitate helicopter evacuations, and provided medical treatment and supplies to many who called Glen Haven their part-time or year-round home. By the time murky waters receded, the 2013 Colorado Floods claimed ten lives, forced more than 18,000 people from their homes, destroyed 1,882 structures, and cost taxpayers more than $4 billion, ranking it among the most devastating natural disasters in Colorado history (AAR 2015; FEMA 2015; Aguilar and Bunch 2015). While officials later lauded the multipronged communication and evacuation efforts that likely saved lives, little research has been conducted to determine how people in the most remote areas of the state, such as Glen Haven, actually learned of the emergency's severity and immediacy. By utilizing interviews and focus groups, this thesis builds on analyses of disaster evacuees' decision-making and communicative processes. Specifically, this thesis explores how Glen Haven residents relied on community-based social ties, lived experiences, and other warnings to learn of the need to take life-saving measures to survive the 2013 Colorado Floods. Findings bolster understandings of how residents make decisions to act in times of disaster. Many residents relied on an automated 911 telephone call to first learn about the serious dangers being posed by the flooding, and the Glen Haven Volunteer Fire Department proved to be instrumental in both first communicating the situation's urgency and facilitating a safe evacuation. Meanwhile, media messages about the event went generally unheard in the community, which was left to draw on its own network of social ties, yet news reports remained essential outside the immediately affected area. Building on these findings, I conclude this thesis with a series of suggestions related to the usage of 911 warning systems, the importance of volunteer first responders, and considerations required among media communicators. Results can then be applied to areas prone to floods, wildfires, hurricanes, or other disasters near and far.