Sociology - Student Works
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Item The abortion debate: a qualitative content analysis of public reactions to a TikTok video on the overturning of Roe v. Wade(2023) Bukhari, AlizaThis qualitative analysis investigated public reactions in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. This consisted of a content analysis of 50 of the most recent comments from an NBC news video posted to the TikTok account for the Today Show. The analysis identified four findings, with an emphasis on the last finding. The results demonstrated that individuals felt strongly about the overturning: 1) reactions were either for or against the decision, 2) forty-two of the comments were reactions against the overturning while 8 were for, 3) general themes found among the 8 comments were happiness, celebration, unsympathetic and dismissive, and 4) the most apparent themes among the 42 comments were freedom of choice, individual rights, injustice, medical and societal implications, emotional and betrayal.Item Advocating for worker's rights(2022) Abdullahi, Hala; Benko, Gertrude; Odegarden, Abby; Roberts, Adele; Robinson, Natasha; Milne, EmilyThis report displays important key concepts relevant to the understanding of workers rights and the inequalities minorities face. Discrimination can be found in various forms that are not always easily detectable, especially in the workplace. People of colour face blatant discrimination in the form of stereotyping, prejudice, and other biases that affect their access to resources and opportunities. The purpose of this project is to highlight resources that are specifically geared towards minority groups within the Greater Sudbury and Northeastern Ontario regions. By making resources more well-known through the use of resource maps and community reports, it is our hope that it will ease one of the many burdens people of colour face.Item Advocating for worker's rights(2022) Abdullahi, Hala; Benko, Gertrude; Odegarden, Abby; Roberts, Adele; Robinson, Natasha; Milne, EmilyThis report displays important key concepts relevant to the understanding of workers rights and the inequalities minorities face. Discrimination can be found in various forms that are not always easily detectable, especially in the workplace. People of colour face blatant discrimination in the form of stereotyping, prejudice, and other biases that affect their access to resources and opportunities. The purpose of this project is to highlight resources that are specifically geared towards minority groups within the Greater Sudbury and Northeastern Ontario regions. By making resources more well-known through the use of resource maps and community reports, it is our hope that it will ease one of the many burdens people of colour face.Item After supports for cancer-bereaved children: An analysis of resources for children(2017) Molzahn, Brenan; Symbaluk, DianeThis study identified 34 psychological resources (26 in Edmonton and 8 in Calgary) of benefit to children and family members who have lost a parent to cancer. Of these resources, 18 were specifically designed for cancer-bereaved children and families while 16 of the resources were more general in scope, targeting bereaved children and families, irrespective of the parent’s cause of death. Only 10 resources for cancer-bereaved children were located in Edmonton, stemming from 2 major organizations. These findings indicate that not many organizations, particularly in Edmonton, have resources specifically designed to help children persevere through the intense manifestation of psychological distresses that may develop from the loss of a parent to cancer.Item Alcohol use among marginalized youth(2018) Johnson, Kaitlin; Bereska, TamiWithin the Western world, alcohol permeates many aspects of youth culture. Even though there is legislation prescribing a minimum age for purchasing alcohol, alcohol use among youth is, to a large degree, normalized both within youth culture and in society more broadly. For youth, alcohol use is intimately intertwined with the cultural meanings of alcohol, personal and social identity, and broader structures and processes of power. Consequently, the precise nature of the relationship between alcohol and youth culture varies, to some extent, across social groups. This project examines alcohol use among marginalized youth in particular, within the larger context of the normalization of alcohol in youth culture.Item Been, being, becoming: an auto-ethnographical analysis of black youth in Canada(2020) Odera, James; Minaker, JoanneBlack youth often contend with negative external social constructions, labels, and categories, defining who they are as individuals and as racialized others. Regardless of the degree to which Black youth identify with these narratives of deviance, the expectations and assumptions within this discourse have consequences. This research project analyzed Black youth identity and racialization through the lens of my racialized experience of growing up Black in Canada. Thus, this study attempted to answer the following question: How have I as a Black youth made sense of the “narrative of deviance” as I created my identity during adolescence? The method used for this research was an auto-ethnographical approach, which allowed me to analyze my own life experiences and explore the themes in relation to academic literature on Black youth and adolescent experiences. As the primary researcher I coded the selected life experiences using MAXQDA coding software, analyzed them for major themes, and drew on the major connections that existed between the data and the existing literature. The existing literature represented Black youth identity as frequently being fraught with internal identity tension, varying levels of performative tendencies, and denial of individual recognition. My research found that throughout my life, I contended with social process that constructed Blackness, through creation, performance, and judgment, making my Blackness an object that was meant to represent a stereotypical image of a Black male.Item “Being without restriction”: contemporary sociological theory and the gender anti-binary(2023) Richards, Ezra; Pope, AnnalieseCanada and the US have seen recent increases in transphobic attitudes and policies, under the guise of “parental rights” or adherence to tradition. Trans people are often painted as predators attempting to indoctrinate children into “gender ideology,” and any deviance from the cisgender, male-female binary are seen as inherently dangerous or inappropriate, misconstruing and preventing trans liberation. Using sociological theories from Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the Frankfurt School, and Judith Butler, I propose a path beyond this transphobic discourse: redefine gender devoid of any and all labels and categories. This anti-binary attitude puts the emphasis on embodied experience, such that gender is centred around personal joy and self-awareness rather than external, societal criteria. With this anti-binary in place, gender liberation will extend not only to trans individuals, but to all individuals facing pressure from the gender culture industry.Item “Being without restriction”: contemporary sociological theory and the gender anti-binary(2024) Richards, Ezra; Pope, AnnalieseCanada and the US have seen recent increases in transphobic attitudes and policies, under the guise of “parental rights” or adherence to tradition. Trans people are often painted as predators attempting to indoctrinate children into “gender ideology,” and any deviance from the cisgender, male-female binary are seen as inherently dangerous or inappropriate, misconstruing and preventing trans liberation. Using sociological theories from Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the Frankfurt School, and Judith Butler, I propose a path beyond this transphobic discourse: redefine gender devoid of any and all labels and categories. This anti-binary attitude puts the emphasis on embodied experience, such that gender is centred around personal joy and self-awareness rather than external, societal criteria. With this anti-binary in place, gender liberation will extend not only to trans individuals, but to all individuals facing pressure from the gender culture industry.Item Best practices for maintaining housing with intellectually disabled John Howard clients(2017) Quinlan, Laura; Gulayets, MichaelIntellectually disabled offenders are a heterogenous group with varying needs and abilities. Therefore, further study is required to meet the needs of this diverse population that is overrepresented in the criminal justice system. The objective of this research is to create a sense of understanding in regards to housing and support services needed for criminalized or high needs individuals with intellectual disabilities who are housed at Independence Apartments, a federal halfway house run by the Edmonton John Howard Society. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders of the Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) program at Independence Apartments. These stakeholders included professionals, PDD clients, and non PDD clients also housed at Independence Apartments. This presentation examines the effectiveness of having both PDD and non PDD programs running under one roof and explores the support service needs of the PDD clients housed at Independence Apartments. Preliminary results show that moving the PDD program to a separate facility would be beneficial for the PDD client group because the PDD clients tend to have difficulty following house rules and are often taken advantage of by the clients in the halfway house program.Item Blasé attitude, hyperreality, and social media(2020) Le, HannahThough there is much to gain through technological development, it is also necessary to critique the ubiquitous presence of devices in social life and the overstimulation they bring. The increasing mediation of reality through applications such as Instagram could blur the division between the ‘real’ world of everyday life and a ‘hyperreality’ fostered by such applications. Using concepts from theorists Jean Baudrillard and Georg Simmel, this paper presents a critique of the overstimulation of information through social media. With continuous and repetitive material being recycled online, it is discussed how a blasé attitude is used to protect oneself from being informationally overwhelmed.Item Body image and social media sharing: a content analysis of public reactions to a body positive post on TikTok(2023) Strach, ShannanThis study explored the public reactions of society to a post on TikTok created by Nessa May. In this video, Nessa May confidently shows her body, which does not fit the stereotypical beauty standards of society. She explains to viewers that it is okay not to fit beauty standards and to have a body type similar to her own. A content analysis of the 100 most recent comments reacting to Nessa May’s video identified five main themes including: love, thankfulness, emotions (happiness), beauty, and insecurities. The predominant theme seen was that of love towards Nessa May herself, as well as self-love and increased confidence in the commenters themselves (this made up 35% of all comments). Overall findings showed both support for the body-positive post, as well as an emphasis on the effect normative beauty standards have on women.Item Boys versus girls: gendered presentations of newborns via Instagram photograph uploads(2016) Garcia, JasonThe present study examined the prevalence of gender stereotypes displayed in photograph uploads of newborns in the mobile social media application, Instagram. A quantitative content analysis was performed on a sample of 120 of the most recent photograph uploads with the hashtag streams “#newbornbabyboy” and “#newbornbabygirl”. 60 of these images consisting of each newborn females and males, collected between the 26th and 27th of March, 2014. Results showed that newborn baby boys were only portrayed in a gender-stereotypical manner where the most predominant clothing colour worn was blue. For girls, the results also revealed a gender-stereotypical pattern as pink was the most displayed clothing colour. There was no significant difference found between male and female newborns in how often they were accessorized. The primary source of the photograph uploads were most often the babies’ mothers.Item Challenges and support for LGBTQ+ at-risk youth(2019) Reynolds, Dorothy L.; Gulayets, Michael; Bereska, TamiThe number of people who identify as LGBTQ+ has been increasing, especially amongst young people. The LGBTQ+ community faces many challenges. This paper examines responses to at-risk youth who identify as LGBTQ+ in Edmonton, Canada and L’viv, Ukraine from a family structure level, social support structure level, and governmental programs or policies. It also explores how different reactions - such as feminism or patriarchy – have specific implications for these youth. Finally, it looks at how support, activism, advocacy and acceptance, or fear and anger, can create a change within society.Item Civic engagement in Canada: a critical analysis of social media, care for others, and gender on volunteering and donating(2019) Friesen, Kelsey; Kurjata, Andie; Boulianne, ShelleyCanadians continually donate their time and money to charitable and non-profit organizations. Donating and volunteering are forms of civic engagement which many choose to engage in to improve the lives of others. Existing literature regarding civic engagement lacks focus on general volunteering and donating as opposed to event-specific volunteering and donating. We used Alberta survey data (n=1208) gathered by the University of Alberta\xe2\x80\x99s Population Research Laboratory to explore relationships between social media, care for others, and gender on civic engagement.Item Colourblind racism discourses presented in YouTube review videos of "Just Mercy"(2021) Nguyen, Laura; Thurairajah, KalyaniIn the current age of the COVID-19 pandemic with issues about race and discrimination becoming more apparent, many individuals turn towards media to learn more about race and racism in the world. Therefore, this research project aims to explore how white audiences are discussing films that depict race-based issues. Just Mercy, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, depicts the true story of civil rights defence attorney Bryan Stevenson as they work to free wrongly convicted African Americans on death row. Using critical discourse analysis, this study explores whether colourblind racism discourses are present in how white audiences discuss the film Just Mercy. To do so, this project will be using Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s four frames of colourblind racism and Jayakumar and Adamian’s fifth frame of colourblind racism to analyze movie review videos published by white YouTubers. Through the analysis of these videos, the findings indicate that Jayakumar and Adamian’s fifth frame of colourblind racism is used more commonly by white individuals in racially conscious contexts than Bonilla-Silva’s initial four frames.Item Committing public sociology: blogging bodies, marginalization and violence(2017) Garcia, Jason; Sosa Machin, Nadia; Overend, AlissaBy exploring the sociology of the body in an independent study, we delved further into intersectional feminist and postcolonial theories to question whose bodies matter and why. We engaged in sociological blogging in order to extend our learning experience with the public, thereby making sociological knowledge more accessible to the general public.. The blogs, Embody Sociology and Simply Sociology Blog were created and hosted on Wordpress.com with content published anonymously. As bloggers, we connected relevant course topics such as the relationships between race & place or the discourse of disposable bodies to events in the news, case studies, personal experiences, government law or policy or some combination of the latter to inform our audience of relevant contemporary issues that could relate to them, be it that they feel a sense of marginalization or not. As authors in a critical sociological field, we felt the need to ensure our voices were not speaking on behalf of the marginalized identities with experiences unlike our own, meanwhile emphasizing that our own experiences were not the sole experience in the long run. We were able to find the value in shifting the tones of our writing to a more informal one in the public eye, and found ourselves better able to engage more people into a sociological dialogue. By engaging nearly 400 visitors at our blogs collectively at the end of the semester, this project had undoubtedly left a wider impact in numbers exceeding one that often remains between a student and their instructor.Item Confidence in the government: a content analysis of reactions to a Reddit post on COVID-19 and public opinions towards the government(2020) Sandhu, KaranThis study examined public reactions to a Reddit post about a news article that showed a decreasing level of confidence from the public in response to the government’s actions during COVID-19. A content analysis on the 50 best comments from the Reddit post identified four common themes among user comments: a) sarcastic comments, b) explicit comments, c) personal comments, d) past comments. The most prevalent theme was sarcastic comments, which made up 50% of the sample. While the study mainly focused on low confidence levels in the government due to COVID-19, the study also emphasized ways in which political beliefs can have an impact on one’s attitude towards the government.Item Continuation of the Pocahontas paradox: stereotypes of Aboriginal women presented in Halloween costumes(2016) O'Dell, Keestin; Symbaluk, DianeThe present study examined adult women’s Halloween costumes to see how Aboriginal women are presented through these costumes. Three types of Aboriginal women were identified in these costumes: the sexual native, the noble native and the rebellious native. Implications of these findings are discussed herein.Item The control and coercion of disabled individuals: the injustice of legal violence of medical and pharmaceutical interventions(2023) De Vera, PatriciaSince early asylums, people with disabilities and psychiatric disorders were disproportionately institutionalized and coerced to harmful treatment. Today, the same people are disproportionately incarcerated, sharing similar values once held by asylums. Ableist and disablist practices must be accounted for to address the injustice faced by disabled people and people with psychiatric disorders. Using criminological frameworks, this paper studies the surveillance and loss of autonomy disabled people and people with psychiatric disorders face in favour of government power and control.Item Covid-19 and its impact on hospitals: a content analysis of the effects on emergency department wait times due to Covid-19(2023) Dhunna, RiyaThis qualitative study explored the extent to which the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted Canadian hospitals and emergency department (ED) wait times. A purposive sampling procedure was used for this study to conduct a content analysis on a sample of 50 of the most recent and relevant comments that included reactions, personal experiences, and possible solutions towards ED wait times from a CBC News article. A coding procedure examined any frequent themes and subcategories in the comments. Results showed six consistently present categorical themes: Wait Times, Shortage of Workers, Underfunded Healthcare System, Unrelated Covid-19 Symptoms, Avoidance, and Solutions. Furthermore, additional subcategories were determined from the themes. This study analyzes the intense backlogs of surgical cases and waiting rooms, resulting in adverse patient outcomes. Additionally, this study explores the underfunded and understaffed healthcare system, the stresses healthcare workers face daily, and possible solutions to mend this broken healthcare system.