Master of Arts / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Gerad Middendorf / Despite ideals of justice and equality, certain segments of the U.S. population are denied the rights and privileges available to the more affluent. This thesis examines the relationships between 1) neighborhood race and class composition and 2) food availability. We explore the extent to which physical and social isolation affects healthy food availability to groups marginalized by race and class. Specifically, we examine the relationship between residential racial and income composition and the availability of healthy foods. We use census tract data from the 2010 U.S. census and 5-year estimates from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey for Topeka, Kansas. For data on food stores we use InfoUSA, a professionally maintained database that provides detailed information on a variety of businesses. We verify this data with various “on the ground” techniques. We conclude with a discussion of the relevance of this work to the knowledge base regarding food environments in the United States.

Master of Arts / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Nadia Shapkina / In the current climate of proliferating nonprofit organizations and demanding social service needs, volunteers play a crucial role. This study looks at career volunteers, who, unlike other types of volunteers, identify with their work as if it were a paying occupation. It examines personal narratives and experiences through interviews in two Kansas communities and in-depth participant observation in one Kansas homeless shelter to find unique identity formation in the way that career volunteers make sense of who they are and what they do. These volunteers show a tendency to reject modern frames around the concepts of work, home, and volunteerism. Instead, they integrate life categories, lending an often counter-cultural conception of identity and meaning to their lives’ work.

Master of Arts / Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Social Work / Robert Schaeffer / This thesis examines Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A), one of the oldest organizations of the Chicano movement. History shows that M.E.Ch.A has been able to reflect on itself and change accordingly; thus, it has been able to stay alive due to internal debates from the 1960s to the 1990s. In the 1960s, male, heterosexual Mexicans dominated the Chicano movement. In the 1980s, Xicanas challenged them to look past their privileges into more intersectional, inclusive identities. My research question is: in 2013, how do Californian MEChistAs view themselves, their political consciousness, and their social justice work? MEChistAs view themselves as an inclusive, diverse, and progressive organization. Chican@/Xican@ is a political identity and ideology that includes women, queers, and non-Mexicans. Women and queers took leadership of the organization, which shows that the revised historical documents made a difference. However, M.E.Ch.A continues a Mexican-centric organization that isolates Central Americans, South Americans, and Afro-Latin@s. M.E.Ch.A has changed since the 1960s in many ways, but the work continues. M.E.Ch.A still needs to address several internal debates as an organization, such as: Aztlán’s meanings, community versus campus organizing, generational gaps, and working with social organizations. Despite these debates, M.E.Ch.A has survived. Using 22 in-depth interviews with contemporary MEChistAs in California from 10 different universities, I examined the identities and politics of M.E.Ch.A activists. I enact Dorothy Smith and Patricia Hill Collin’s standpoint theory to guide the research and apply third world feminism and ideology/utopia theories to analyze the ideas and concepts of the MEChistAs.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Rick J. Scheidt / In 2011, about 13 percent of the U.S. population, approximately 40 million people, were foreign born in the United States. Many of them participate in transnational caregiving, either as children supporting their parents in their country of origin or parents moving to the U.S. to help their children. This report examines research on transnational caregiving between immigrant adult children and their parents. Following the caregiving definitions of Finch (1989), the articles were reviewed and categorized as economic support, accommodation, personal care, practical support and childcare, and emotional and moral support. Changes in family norms and roles, and the caregiving responsibilities after immigration, are also presented. Keywords: transnational, caregiving, immigrant, elderly, economic support, accommodation, personal care, practical support and childcare, and emotional and moral support, living arrangement.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Robert Schaeffer / The sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was once referred to as a No Holds Barred (NHB) fighting contest, but is now known as cage, extreme, or ultimate fighting. Showcasing athletes from a variety of martial arts backgrounds, a referee stoppage, knockout, or submission is the only way to win. Pushing their minds and bodies to the limits, fighters often engage in hand-to-hand combat inside of a ring or cage in front of a crowd, for anywhere from three to twenty-five minutes. How does one become an MMA fighter? Through a rigorous and complex process of socialization that will be referred to in this work as the ‘spartanization’ process. A mixed methodological approach, primarily qualitative in nature, was used to reveal the rigorous and complex nature of this process. This study’s data collection began with six site visits taking place over the course of six months. Utilizing a convenience sampling method, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 male and 14 female fighters. The interview schedule addressed fighters’ involvement in the spartanization process, their experiences in the gym as well as the cage, and their perceptions as fighters. Male and female participants described the spartanization process and ascribed meaning to it in similar ways. Their motivations for becoming MMA fighters are explained using theories of identity and alienation. Findings demonstrate that the sport of MMA and process of becoming a fighter are both highly gendered. One was neither found to be more nor less gendered than the other, but according to this study’s findings women are more likely to feel the effects of gender at the organizational level than they are a the level of training. Not sure what MMA is? Never heard of the UFC before? Do not worry, the histories of both are provided. By reading this work you will also learn more about the athletes participating in this sport, and discover whether or not you have what it takes to be the next ‘ultimate fighter.’

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Robert K. Schaeffer / In deliberative democracy, attempts to reconcile questions of gender and civil society are deadlocked over fundamental assumptions concerning the role of deliberation and the possibility that exclusion and inequality are inherent in democracy. Normative theories of deliberation - encouraging free, equal and impartial participation by citizens are fueled by the power of reason. Reason giving is associated with dominant groups – namely white, middle-class men; passionate, emotive and particularized speech is associated with politically disadvantaged groups such as women, minorities and poor. Limited empirical findings indicate rational models of deliberation do not affirm theorized inequalities. In this case, female participants neither experience unequal access or treatment within deliberation. This dissertation seeks to provide a framework for resolving the debate posed by difference democrats over whether deliberative democracy remedies the problem of inequality by examining fourteen National Issues Forums public deliberations. One set of deliberations feature an equal mix of male and female participants, another set with more male than female and a third with more female than male participants. I examine the types of talk women and men use in deliberations and whether affective claims negatively affect deliberation. Ultimately, I find that inequality based on gender exists in most of the deliberative forums I surveyed. I argue that the type of inequality plaguing deliberative democracy exists a priori – before participants enter the forums – and then manifests itself inside the forum as well. The normative structure of deliberation that is supposed to screen or bracket out inequality and the strong influences of the economic and political elites just does not happen to the degree deliberative democracy needs in order to continue the claim that it is net beneficial over the status quo.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Farrell J. Webb / Farrell J. Webb / The purpose of this thesis was to examine how financial stressors influence family well-being. The specific thrust of this thesis was to examine if and how family well-being is influenced by financial stressors caused by the current economic crisis through an adaptation of Hills ABC-X Mosel (1949) known as the ABCE-WB Model. The ABC-X Model was adapted first by White (2007) who substituted the X—crisis element with the WB- well-being item. I added a new element to this model known as E—family expenditures. The data used in this thesis were gleaned from research conducted by Knowledge Networks on behalf of the National Center for Family and Marriage Research. The study was titled: Familial Responses to Financial Instability, How the Family Responds to Economic Pressure: A Comparative Study, 2009. In consisted of nationally representative a (multivariate) address the central hypotheses of this weighted a sample of 1,169 respondents. Analyses included simple correlations (bivariate) and hierarchical analyses investigation that explored what was the relation shop between the resources, perceptions, and expenditures a family had available to them in the current economic crisis and their well-being. The results indicate that approximately 22.4% of the variance in well-being could be explained by the elements in the ABCE-WB Model. In addition, there were several important relationships that were revealed between the predictors and the outcome measures individually. Overall, the efficacy and utility of the ABCE-WB Model was upheld by the results. Based on these findings future use of the ABCE-WB Model holds promise.

Master of Arts / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Robert K. Schaeffer / Informal markets are prevalent all over the globe. The work done in such markets is often for the purposes of supplementary or subsistence income and it is done by men, women, and children. The purpose of my research was to understand how micro-informal markets are created by informal workers in Manhattan, Kansas. This was done through examining how informal workers used their social networks to find customers and how customers used their social networks to find informal goods and services produced by such workers, or more specifically, how micro-informal markets were created. This builds on the economic theory of embeddedness, which states social relations are an important part of the exchange process even in today's capitalistic market economy. In addition, my research also looked at why customers consumed from informal workers, why informal workers decided to go into business for themselves, how the city of Manhattan, Kansas viewed informal workers and whether city officials and affiliates encouraged informal businesses or not.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Robert K. Schaeffer / In a 2005 op-ed piece, Wall St. Journal columnist Peggy Noonan queried, "What does it mean that your first act on entering a country is breaking its laws?" Unauthorized noncitizen populations have increased rapidly, from 3 million in 1990 to over 11 million in 2009. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the Minuteman Project and the Tea Party generated renewed interest in restrictionist social movements (RSMs). Sociological social movement theories focused primarily on oppressed populations rather than privileged groups, leaving significant gaps in our understanding of right-wing movements. This dissertation‘s main question is: how did contemporary restrictionists frame their anti-immigrant principles, practices, and policies in the post-9/11 period? In turn, what comprise the social and political consequences of such strategies? This study argues that the "new" restrictionists successfully framed issues relating to unauthorized noncitizens concerning the cultural, economic, and security risks they posed to the United States. Fifty members from a diverse set of voluntary organizations were interviewed, including the Minuteman Project, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and the American GI Forum (AGIF). Grounded theory methodology was used to create initial codes, which were then connected with themes derived from the literature. This study finds that grassroots, right-wing RSMs brought attention to contentious noncitizen issues that spurred debate and action within both Democratic and Republicans parties, public discourse, and social policy from after 9/11 to 2012. The success of the 2005 Minuteman Project border patrol demonstrated that the federal government lacked the political will to control the U.S.–Mexico border. This dissertation adds to the social movement literature demonstrating that both classical and solidarity theories of social movements help explain how restrictionists framed unauthorized noncitizen issues. Ultimately, this study finds RSMs represent a right-wing mobilization (rather than conservative) because of their singling out of Mexican unauthorized noncitizens, extra-institutional action on the border, the use of inflammatory rhetoric, and anti-Catholic sentiment, which contributed in pushing the Republican Party further to the right.

Previous research have theorized that causes of the psychological distress faced by lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs) are stigma and discrimination they face in the society. Perceptions of discrimination, whether it actually occurs or not, also affect behaviours. This project investigated whether non-heterosexuals (LGBs) perceive more discrimination than do heterosexuals in the same given situations. In Study 1, LGBs’ levels of perceived discrimination in non-discriminatory situations (those where no actual discrimination took place) were compared with the responses of heterosexuals. In addition, Study 1 also examined which psychological well-being related variables (internalized heterosexism (homophobia), marginalization, isolation, alienation, self-esteem, and satisfaction with life) contributed most to perceptions of discrimination. Five hundred and sixty adults (355 Korean, 205 Australian) participated in the study through an online survey. Major findings were: only the Australian LGBs but not the Korean LGBs showed significantly higher levels of perceived discrimination than did heterosexual counterparts. Using a priming stimulus did not increase the perception of discrimination; heterosexuals were more aware of others knowing their sexual orientation than LGBs. Alienation was the variable that most related to perceived discrimination. Study 1 had used only situations where no actual discrimination was included or intended. This study also showed that there were a number of differences between the Australian and Korean samples: Korean LGBs had significantly lower psychological well-being; and most of the Korean LGBs were in Stage 4 (acceptance) whereas the majority of Australian LGBs were in Stage 6 (synthesis). Further cross-cultural studies are needed. Study 2 examined the responses of perceived discrimination using an actual discriminatory scenario and a non-discriminatory scenario. It also examined the relationships between outness and perceived discrimination; and between previous experience of discrimination and perceived discrimination. Sixty six Australian university students (44 females, 21 males, and one gender unidentified) participated in this second study. Major findings were: significant differences were found in perceived discrimination between the nondiscriminatory and discriminatory scenario situations for all participants, between heterosexuals and LGBs, between lesbians and heterosexual women, but not between lesbian women and gay men. No correlation was found between outness and perceived discrimination in either the discriminatory or the non-discriminatory situations. However, previous experience of discrimination was correlated sharply with perceptions of discrimination in both scenarios.