Although the graying of the American society has been well documented, the question as to whether the elderly populace will indeed become a political factor has yet to be determined. Some studies indicate that the elderly will soon develop the consensus needed for political action; other studies counter that the elderly will never be a viable political factor. Among the determinants listed as influencing the political participation equation are standard socioeconomic variables (e.g., race, social status, education, and income). These factors have been studied extensively (Campbell 1960; Key 1950; Milbrath 1965; Nagel 1987; Rose 1965). Trela recently added an item that could possibly influence the political activism of the elderly: membership in age-graded associations. This study addresses the questions raised by Trela (1971), namely, whether age-graded associations influence the political activity of senior citizens, and if so, in what direction elderly participation is swayed. Unlike previous reports, the preliminary data gathered for this study suggest that the age-graded associations of the elderly cannot accurately predict their political activism.

ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the enduring leadership of community activists Dorothy Bolden, Ella Mae Wade Brayboy, and Pearlie Dove from 1964 until 2015. Brayboy was one of the first African-American Deputy Voter Registrars in the state of Georgia, Bolden founded the National Domestic Workers Union and Dove was the first woman to head the department of education at Clark College. This dissertation inserts Dorothy Bolden, Ella Mae Wade Brayboy, and Pearlie Dove into the classic Civil Rights Movement narrative by framing their community advocacy as equal to the efforts of Atlanta’s more well-known African-American leaders. This dissertation presents Bolden, Brayboy, and Dove as career-oriented professional women who were also politically savvy community activists. These three women acquired a power base that allowed them to found organizations, create programming, and develop projects dedicated to empowering Atlanta’s black community. These women achieved a level of influence typically associated with the wealthy or the political prominent. Because the three women were grassroots organizers, this study contends that the implications of their activism have been obscured because of gender, race, and class. This study seeks to foreground Bolden, Brayboy, and Dove’s efforts in Atlanta’s Movement narrative. In this dissertation, assessments of Bolden, Brayboy, and Dove’s professional contributions as acts of protest on behalf of the black community are used to undergird a critical intervention; first, their work refutes previous ideology centering the efficacy of Movement leadership (as a social movement) as grounded in mass mobilization. Secondly, their leadership was oppositional to the standard portraiture of Movement leadership as male, ministerial, and middle-class. Finally, the women’s professional and activist emphases on economic uplift, education, and enfranchisement illustrate evidence of how sustained acts of protest, led by local leadership, impacted the community. Because there is considerably less literature focused on the historical significance of black women acquiring political power outside of elected office, this study seeks to establish the women as politically significant local leadership.

Background: In 2017, brands have started to use their advertisements to take stance in political issues. However, since this trend has emerged in 2017, research in the field is limited. The research that is available is focused on how attitudes toward advertisements in general affect consumer attitudes toward the brand, which calls for deeper knowledge on how the political activism trend affect consumers’ attitudes. Purpose: To explore how political activism in advertisements affect consumers’ attitudes toward the brand behind the advertisement. Research Question: How does political activism in advertisements affect consumers’ attitudes toward the brand? Methodology: This study is of qualitative nature and took an explorative approach. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews based on a convenience sample of 11 respondents. Conclusion: The main findings from this study was that political activism in advertisement had an enhancing affect on respondents’ attitudes toward the brand behind the advertisement. Respondents that had positive attitudes toward the brand before were more positive toward the brand after the political advertisement, while the ones who were negative became more negative after the political advertisement.  Keywords Political activism, attitudes toward advertisements (Aad), attitudes toward brands (Ab), incongruity and involvement.

This thesis is a history of social and political activism in Charlottesville during the 1960s focusing on new left student organizing at the University of Virginia. It is a work of social history that establishes a community that has been generally ignored in traditional histories of the new left as one of the most influential centers of new left activism in the South and asserts that this prominence was due to years of activism by local liberals, civil rights advocates, and students during the city's unique experiences on the front lines of the southern desegregation, civil rights, and anti-war struggles. It traces the evolution of social activism in the city and the university from the late 1950s through the early 1970s and demonstrates how local activists and issues interacted with regional, national, and global events during one of the most socially tumultuous decades in American history.

Por que uma instituição se estabelece com maior facilidade em um local do que em outro? Essa questão motiva o presente trabalho, que investiga em perspectiva comparada a criação da Defensoria Pública instituição concebida para prestar assistência jurídica nos Estados brasileiros a partir de um marco comum: a Constituição de 1988. A abordagem institucionalista deste estudo sustenta que, para explicar a questão enfrentada, é preciso direcionar o foco da investigação para a estrutura institucional e para os atores que compõem o sistema de justiça. Dessa maneira, a hipótese formulada e avaliada nesta pesquisa demonstra que arranjos institucionais implantados em certos Estados, antes de 1988, para desempenhar a assistência judiciária fixaram atores interessados na sua permanência, e isso dificultou a criação da Defensoria local. Esses arranjos institucionais conferiam a setores da Procuradoria-Geral do Estado e/ou a advogados particulares a função de atender juridicamente as pessoas pobres. Arranjos diferentes de assistência judiciária, presentes em outros Estados, produziram o efeito contrário, ou seja, estimularam certos atores a buscarem o desenvolvimento do modelo proposto pela Constituição. Em outras palavras, a implementação da Defensoria não ocorreu em terreno vazio, mas, ao contrário, teve que disputar o espaço já ocupado por outras instituições e atores no interior do sistema de justiça. Sua criação enfrentou constrangimentos maiores em alguns Estados por causa do tipo de arranjo institucional de assistência judiciária previamente existente. Veremos que essa abordagem, além de destacar o potencial do institucionalismo histórico para analisar mudanças institucionais do sistema de justiça, coloca em evidência o ativismo político de atores estatais como elemento central da explicação. Esse ativismo é essencial para compreender o desenvolvimento da Defensoria Pública no Brasil. / Why does an institution take root more easily in one place than in other? This issue motivates the present study, which investigates in a comparative perspective the creation of Public Defenders Office an institution designed to provide legal aid in the Brazilian States, considering the existence of a common legal base: the Federal Constitution from 1988. The studys institutionalist approach argues that, to explain the question addressed, it is necessary to direct the researchs spotlight to the structure and actors, which composes the justice system. Thus, the developed and evaluated hypothesis shows that institutional arrangements embedded before 1988 in certain States to promote legal aid have set some actors interests in the status quo maintenance, and that hampered the creation of Public Defenders Office in such States. These institutional arrangements ascribed legal aid to State Attorney Generals departments and/or to private lawyers. There were different frameworks of legal aid in other States, which engendered the opposite effect, that is, they prompted some actors to seek to develop the model proposed by the Constitution. In other words, the Public Defenders Office was not implemented in emptiness; instead it had to contend for space within justice system that was already occupied by other actors and institutions. Its creation faced major constraints in some States because of the kind of earlier existing institutional arrangements for legal aid. We will see that this approach, besides highlighting the historical institutionalisms potential to analyze changes in Brazilian justice system, emphasizes the political activism of state actors as a key factor for the explanation. This kind of activism is essential to understand the development of Public Defenders Office in Brazil.

A passagem do século XVIII para o XIX foi um período marcado pela crise do absolutismo, pela independência das colônias americanas e pela formação de estados nacionais. Nessa quadra, houve importantes mudanças para a população egressa do cativeiro e seus descendentes, com as aberturas para concessão de direitos em variadas porções do mundo atlântico. No que tange ao Brasil, algumas prerrogativas do âmbito civil eram acatadas costumeiramente pelas autoridades locais desde a época colonial; mas as da esfera política eram concebidas pelo soberano como privilégios, em resposta às missivas de vassalos pardos e forros inseridos em milícias e irmandades leigas. Após 1824, com a vigência da Carta Constitucional, os direitos civis e parte dos políticos foram legitimados para os libertos nascidos em território nacional e seus filhos. O presente trabalho analisa esse processo de transformação a partir do Termo de Mariana, por meio do estudo das demandas judiciais iniciadas por ex-escravos, e que podem ser lidas como reivindicações que geraram ações cíveis. Esses documentos permitem conhecer os comportamentos assumidos por esses sujeitos na tentativa de legitimarem as conquistas advindas com a alforria no período anterior e posterior à aprovação da Constituição de 1824. Os comportamentos políticos dos grupos sociais dos ex-escravos são analisados entre os anos de 1780 e 1840, período que compreende da preparação da sedição de 1789 ao término da experiência regencial. / The passage of the Eighteenth to the Nineteenth Century was marked by the crisis of absolutism, the independence of the American colonies, and the formation of national states. During that time period, the population released from of slavery and their descendants experienced important changes as possibilities opened for the concession of rights in several parts of the Atlantic world. In relation to Brazil, some prerogatives of the civil area had been normally followed by local authorities since colonial days, but those of the political sphere were seen by the sovereign as privileges, in response to the requests made by mulattoes inserted in militias and lay brotherhoods. After the 1824 Constitution, civil rights and part of political rights became legal for free people born within national territory as well as for their offspring. The present work analyses this process of transformation in the Jurisdiction of Mariana, through the study of judicial demands issued by former slaves, which could be considered as requests that have generated civil actions. These documents allow us to see the behaviour patterns followed by these subjects in an attempt to legitimise the conquests resulting from manumission in the period before and also after the approval and enactment of the 1824 Constitution. The political behaviour patterns shown by the social groups consisting of former slaves are analysed between the years of 1780 and 1840, a period which runs from the preparation of the sedition of 1789 to the end of the Regency.

Essa tese se insere no emergente campo dos estudos sobre a juventude no Brasil. Seu problema de investigação está orientado para a busca de compreensão sobre a experiência de jovens militantes de partidos políticos. Encontram-se em transformação as formas e modos de agir político; novos grupos e demandas políticas engendram maneiras alternativas de mobilização em relação ao que ocorre em espaços tradicionais de engajamento, tais como partidos, sindicatos, etc. Contudo, os partidos continuam arregimentando jovens para seus quadros. Em linhas gerais, investigou-se as experiências militantes, os caminhos percorridos até o engajamento em um partido, as práticas dos jovens nos partidos e sua relação com o tempo. Buscou-se compreender, ainda, a maneira como as experiências partidárias incidem sobre os demais aspectos da vida desses jovens. O estudo foi desenvolvido adotando a perspectiva de investigação qualitativa baseada na realização de entrevistas individuais com jovens universitários que revelaram, através de um questionário inicial, seu engajamento em partidos políticos. Foram realizadas entrevistas com 21 jovens, sendo 10 deles entrevistados em uma segunda etapa, cerca de um ano depois da realização da primeira entrevista. Os jovens estavam engajados em 5 diferentes partidos, todos do espectro político de esquerda: PT, PSOL, PSTU, PCdoB e PDT. A escolha por jovens universitários se deu pela necessidade de realização de recorte que permitisse a entrada em um campo que tivesse alguma delimitação espacial e temporal. Além disso, a militância partidária juvenil é tradicionalmente iniciada no âmbito da escola. A elaboração de critérios de seleção dos jovens a serem entrevistados, que considerou o grau de seletividade dos cursos universitários cursados pelos jovens, permitiu reunir um grupo bastante diverso sob o ponto de vista das origens sociais; jovens de elites intelectuais, de camadas médias e populares estão presentes entre os 21 militantes entrevistados. Os jovens militantes se inserem em diferentes espaços de militância Movimento estudantil, movimentos populares, organizações sociais, espaços internos do partido, etc; e as experiências incidem de maneiras variadas sobre amizades, relacionamentos afetivos, família, escolhas profissionais e inserção no mercado de trabalho. O tempo de engajamento, as variações de investimento militante e os trânsitos por diferentes espaços de militância partidária compõe um mosaico de experiências que, em alguns casos, permite uma análise do engajamento sob a perspectiva de carreiras militantes. / Part of the emerging field of youth studies in Brazil, this thesis explores and analysizes the experience of young political party activists. These activists are changing how we understand political action. They are creating new groups and political demands engendering alternative ways of mobilizing political activism and transforming what occurs in traditional politically engaged civic practices, such as political parties, trade unions, etc. Interestingly however, the parties continue to rally the support of these young people. This research focuses on the experience of the young activists, the paths they took in joining the political parties, their actual experience in the parties, the time invested and how the party experiences relate to other aspects of their lives. The study was developed by adopting the perspective of qualitative research based on individual interviews with university students that revealed, through an initial questionnaire, their engagement in political parties. Interviews were conducted with 21 young people, 10 of which were interviewed a second time about a year after the completion of the first interview. The young people were engaged in five different parties, all left of center: PT, PSOL, PSTU, PCdoB e PDT. The choice of university students was based on the necessity to limit the field of research, given spatial and temporal boundaries. Moreover, most youth political party activism is traditionally engaged in during university years. A range of selection criteria was developed that enabled bringing together a very diverse group drawing from all social backgrounds; young people of the intellectual elite, the middle and lower classes were among the 21 activists interviewed. The young militants fall into different categories of activism Student Movement, grassroots organizations, social organizations, internal workings of the party, etc. They also relate their experiences: friendships, romantic relationships, family, career choices and labor market. The thesis tracks the political engagement of these young activists, changes in their investment and mobility through various aspects of party activism composing a mosaic of experiences that, in some cases, allows an analysis of political engagement from the perspective of an activist career.

Essa tese se insere no emergente campo dos estudos sobre a juventude no Brasil. Seu problema de investigação está orientado para a busca de compreensão sobre a experiência de jovens militantes de partidos políticos. Encontram-se em transformação as formas e modos de agir político; novos grupos e demandas políticas engendram maneiras alternativas de mobilização em relação ao que ocorre em espaços tradicionais de engajamento, tais como partidos, sindicatos, etc. Contudo, os partidos continuam arregimentando jovens para seus quadros. Em linhas gerais, investigou-se as experiências militantes, os caminhos percorridos até o engajamento em um partido, as práticas dos jovens nos partidos e sua relação com o tempo. Buscou-se compreender, ainda, a maneira como as experiências partidárias incidem sobre os demais aspectos da vida desses jovens. O estudo foi desenvolvido adotando a perspectiva de investigação qualitativa baseada na realização de entrevistas individuais com jovens universitários que revelaram, através de um questionário inicial, seu engajamento em partidos políticos. Foram realizadas entrevistas com 21 jovens, sendo 10 deles entrevistados em uma segunda etapa, cerca de um ano depois da realização da primeira entrevista. Os jovens estavam engajados em 5 diferentes partidos, todos do espectro político de esquerda: PT, PSOL, PSTU, PCdoB e PDT. A escolha por jovens universitários se deu pela necessidade de realização de recorte que permitisse a entrada em um campo que tivesse alguma delimitação espacial e temporal. Além disso, a militância partidária juvenil é tradicionalmente iniciada no âmbito da escola. A elaboração de critérios de seleção dos jovens a serem entrevistados, que considerou o grau de seletividade dos cursos universitários cursados pelos jovens, permitiu reunir um grupo bastante diverso sob o ponto de vista das origens sociais; jovens de elites intelectuais, de camadas médias e populares estão presentes entre os 21 militantes entrevistados. Os jovens militantes se inserem em diferentes espaços de militância Movimento estudantil, movimentos populares, organizações sociais, espaços internos do partido, etc; e as experiências incidem de maneiras variadas sobre amizades, relacionamentos afetivos, família, escolhas profissionais e inserção no mercado de trabalho. O tempo de engajamento, as variações de investimento militante e os trânsitos por diferentes espaços de militância partidária compõe um mosaico de experiências que, em alguns casos, permite uma análise do engajamento sob a perspectiva de carreiras militantes. / Part of the emerging field of youth studies in Brazil, this thesis explores and analysizes the experience of young political party activists. These activists are changing how we understand political action. They are creating new groups and political demands engendering alternative ways of mobilizing political activism and transforming what occurs in traditional politically engaged civic practices, such as political parties, trade unions, etc. Interestingly however, the parties continue to rally the support of these young people. This research focuses on the experience of the young activists, the paths they took in joining the political parties, their actual experience in the parties, the time invested and how the party experiences relate to other aspects of their lives. The study was developed by adopting the perspective of qualitative research based on individual interviews with university students that revealed, through an initial questionnaire, their engagement in political parties. Interviews were conducted with 21 young people, 10 of which were interviewed a second time about a year after the completion of the first interview. The young people were engaged in five different parties, all left of center: PT, PSOL, PSTU, PCdoB e PDT. The choice of university students was based on the necessity to limit the field of research, given spatial and temporal boundaries. Moreover, most youth political party activism is traditionally engaged in during university years. A range of selection criteria was developed that enabled bringing together a very diverse group drawing from all social backgrounds; young people of the intellectual elite, the middle and lower classes were among the 21 activists interviewed. The young militants fall into different categories of activism Student Movement, grassroots organizations, social organizations, internal workings of the party, etc. They also relate their experiences: friendships, romantic relationships, family, career choices and labor market. The thesis tracks the political engagement of these young activists, changes in their investment and mobility through various aspects of party activism composing a mosaic of experiences that, in some cases, allows an analysis of political engagement from the perspective of an activist career.

Tupac Amaru Shakur was a successful African American musician, poet, and actor most renowned for tackling controversial subject matters in his music as well as using it as a platform to highlight his political opinions and social activism. Tupac used African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in his music. AAVE is a form of English, with its own unique vocabulary, typically spoken in urban communities and historically rooted in the American South. The aim of this study is to analyse how Tupac uses language to represent the voiceless America. This research essay focuses on answering two sub-questions. First, what topics/discourses does Tupac rap about in the song Changes and second, how is language used to represent these topic/discourses? Changes, one of Tupac's most prominent song, is studied in a qualitative discourse analysis where AAVE (African American Vernacular English) is in the focus. Also, a minor study is presented in three different tables to compare AAVE words with Standard American (SAE). The results of this study indicate that AAVE in Tupac's music is purposeful, plays a strong role in his persona, presentation, and can be linked to his political activism. In conclusion, through analyzing Changes, this essay illustrates several examples on how Tupac uses linguistic features to explore several themes and highlight the African American struggle in his society.

Por que uma instituição se estabelece com maior facilidade em um local do que em outro? Essa questão motiva o presente trabalho, que investiga em perspectiva comparada a criação da Defensoria Pública instituição concebida para prestar assistência jurídica nos Estados brasileiros a partir de um marco comum: a Constituição de 1988. A abordagem institucionalista deste estudo sustenta que, para explicar a questão enfrentada, é preciso direcionar o foco da investigação para a estrutura institucional e para os atores que compõem o sistema de justiça. Dessa maneira, a hipótese formulada e avaliada nesta pesquisa demonstra que arranjos institucionais implantados em certos Estados, antes de 1988, para desempenhar a assistência judiciária fixaram atores interessados na sua permanência, e isso dificultou a criação da Defensoria local. Esses arranjos institucionais conferiam a setores da Procuradoria-Geral do Estado e/ou a advogados particulares a função de atender juridicamente as pessoas pobres. Arranjos diferentes de assistência judiciária, presentes em outros Estados, produziram o efeito contrário, ou seja, estimularam certos atores a buscarem o desenvolvimento do modelo proposto pela Constituição. Em outras palavras, a implementação da Defensoria não ocorreu em terreno vazio, mas, ao contrário, teve que disputar o espaço já ocupado por outras instituições e atores no interior do sistema de justiça. Sua criação enfrentou constrangimentos maiores em alguns Estados por causa do tipo de arranjo institucional de assistência judiciária previamente existente. Veremos que essa abordagem, além de destacar o potencial do institucionalismo histórico para analisar mudanças institucionais do sistema de justiça, coloca em evidência o ativismo político de atores estatais como elemento central da explicação. Esse ativismo é essencial para compreender o desenvolvimento da Defensoria Pública no Brasil. / Why does an institution take root more easily in one place than in other? This issue motivates the present study, which investigates in a comparative perspective the creation of Public Defenders Office an institution designed to provide legal aid in the Brazilian States, considering the existence of a common legal base: the Federal Constitution from 1988. The studys institutionalist approach argues that, to explain the question addressed, it is necessary to direct the researchs spotlight to the structure and actors, which composes the justice system. Thus, the developed and evaluated hypothesis shows that institutional arrangements embedded before 1988 in certain States to promote legal aid have set some actors interests in the status quo maintenance, and that hampered the creation of Public Defenders Office in such States. These institutional arrangements ascribed legal aid to State Attorney Generals departments and/or to private lawyers. There were different frameworks of legal aid in other States, which engendered the opposite effect, that is, they prompted some actors to seek to develop the model proposed by the Constitution. In other words, the Public Defenders Office was not implemented in emptiness; instead it had to contend for space within justice system that was already occupied by other actors and institutions. Its creation faced major constraints in some States because of the kind of earlier existing institutional arrangements for legal aid. We will see that this approach, besides highlighting the historical institutionalisms potential to analyze changes in Brazilian justice system, emphasizes the political activism of state actors as a key factor for the explanation. This kind of activism is essential to understand the development of Public Defenders Office in Brazil.