Despite a century of scholarly critique, William Fielding Ogburn’s cultural lag hypothesis (CLH) endures. The inclusion of Ogburn’s hypothesis in introductory sociology textbooks, reference books, and histories of technology lends an unwarranted authority to its scientific credibility. I critically assess Ogburn’s CLH and find that it is neither scientifically nor theoretically sound. Specifically, I discover presumptions of cultural integration and normative progressivism, the fallacy of ambiguity, problems of causal explanation, operationalization, and selective bias, which renders the CLH unmeasurable, unfalsifiable, and non-replicable. Finally, I briefly discuss the implications and make suggestions for future research.

This study focused on the relationship of five variables: rape myth acceptance, attitudes toward rape victims, sex roles, authoritarianism, and Christian fundamentalism. Also, differences between men and women were compared. The study was conducted at East Tennessee State University, and 100 people participated. Contrary to past research, Christian fundamentalism was not a significant predictor of rape myth acceptance or attitudes towards rape victims, but there were significant relationships between all of the other variables. Men were found to be more accepting of rape myths and had a more negative view of rape victims than did women. Implications of these findings, future research ideas, and possible rape-awareness educational programs are discussed.

Over the last several decades there has been a debate among social scientists on whether the United States has become, or is in the process of being, politically polarized. These conversations started with discussion of the “culture wars,” moved to the discussion of selective exposure and media outrage, and currently involve concerns about online radicalization and the spread of online misinformation. Throughout these themes one characteristic has remained constant: a lack of systematic evidence despite anecdotes and feelings of animosity between the two parties. Today researchers are beginning to shift from operationalizing political polarization as growing divides in attitudes towards policy issues towards a focus on political animosity. Scholars attempting to understand the origins of affective polarization have looked at the effect of political identity, out-group perceptions, and the diffusion of moral and emotional content in social media networks. In the current study I build on this literature using a panel of longitudinal data Twitter users to examine whether there is an association between following prominent partisan Twitter accounts and the expression of emotional valence through Tweeting or Retweeting. I take a relational approach to analysis by examining how this relationship varies between networks of Twitter users and under different historical circumstances. I argue that this relational approach is necessary for understanding how political polarization is unfolding in the country and that the lack of a relational approach may explain why political polarization has been downplayed in systematic studies. This study finds that the amount of political polarization on Twitter is dependent both on cultural and historical context. It makes contributions to the literature on political polarization in the United States, research methodology, and has implications for reducing radicalization in online spaces.

<p>While there are numerous studies of the police, few have addressed the changes in policing that have occurred since the turn of century. Prior studies address issues such as police effectiveness, social control, the military model of police organization, police socialization, and the relationship between crime rates and the size of police forces. Although these studies have provided insight into different aspects of policing, they have not established a comprehensive understanding of the police as an institution. In other words, we have little understanding of what has caused the police to change. Further, we know little about the substance and consequences of change.</p> <p>My goal is to conduct an exploratory study of changes in policing by examining the main trends in the Hamilton, Ontario, Police Department between 1900 and 1973. Trends in economics, organization and work are considered. The study provides significant findings, which can be understood in relation to the existing literature, and can provide new questions to serve as the basis for future research.</p> <p>I explain trends in policing in relation to larger social and historical factors including population growth, the changing distribution of crime, and the role of the automobile. Change was pluralistic; different factors contributed to major changes in policing. Often, change was the result of external circumstances -the larger social context provided both the motivation for change and the possible range of alternatives that could be implemented. In Hamilton, the twentieth century was a period of considerable population growth. At the same time, the city was being transformed by the automobile, a revolution that redefined urban space, patterns of social interaction and the mobility of citizens. Over the course of the century, there was a substantial shift in the distribution of criminal offenses. It is within this context that significant changes to policing occurred.</p> <p>The police responded to the changing times by changing themselves. The growth of the Department paralleled that of the city. The police adopted cars and motorcycles for patrols to cope with traffic problems and to provide a quick response to citizens in need. The Department was completely reorganized and became more professional. At the same time, the costs of policing were rising. Police chiefs continually struggled to find ways to cope with rising wages and declining work weeks. Citizens would be hired, technology employed, patrol strategies changed to cope with declining productivity.</p> <p>The findings of my research suggest that changes to the Hamilton Police can be understood in terms of diffusion theory. The larger social milieu provided not only the motivation for change: it limited the range of possible solutions at any given point in time. I argue that changes to the Police Department were a direct result of their ability to adopt innovations. Ultimately, to understand the police we must view them as social and historical products.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>Fathers' rights groups have been highly visible in Ontario in trying to maintain fatherhood identity after divorce through the exercise of their lobby for joint custody. . The fathers' right movement is attempting to influence conceptions of fatherhood as they relate to child custody. This dissertation examine the functions of the fathers' rights movement at two levels --the subjective and the social. At the subjective level the movement provides its members with a rhetoric that helps them to maintain or reconstruct their fatherhood identity postdivorce. At the social level, the movement provides both a way to translate personal troubles into a social issues --the biased and gendered nature of child custody and child support laws and practical assistance to men going through the process of divorce. The focus of the these then is on the threats to men's identity as fathers that accompany marital breakdown and divorce, and on the reactions of fathers' rightists to these identity threats. This dissertation based on: eighteen month of participant observation; interviews with twenty-eight fathers, and four women from four fathers' rights groups about their reasons for joining the group, their conceptualization of fatherhood and their opinions on joint custody. The concept of "role fragmentation" was developed to describe this particular type of identity transformation process. What can be drawn from this data is that the fathers' rights members are attempting to maintain their pre-divorce fatherhood identity. In addition, an interesting and important result of this work was the emergent description of fatherhood.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Subaltern persons continue to be most negatively impacted by the hegemonic practices of institutions. Subaltern populations are the furthest removed from political agency, not only by the insecurities of their lived experiences, but also by academic and agency discourses that recreate the subaltern political citizen-subject in modes representing the “Other” through lenses of elite scholarship and high theory. The subaltern agent is not present in her own political making. The considerations of social justice require both the underpinnings of a global ethics of caring and a commitment to center the subaltern citizen subject’s account of herself as corresponding privileged record. This paper explores the marginalizing outcomes in the historiography of subaltern studies and defends both ethical cosmopolitanism and participatory democracy as modes that better respect diverse worldviews outside of neoliberal constructions. Advocacy on behalf of subaltern groups must include Community-Based Participatory Research and eco-cultural analysis that give priority to positive near stakeholder goals and outcomes for their communities. Subaltern self-representation is the needed checks and balances for 21st century policy making

The commodification of culture, space, and resources is incentivized by neoliberal urbanism. In response, we have seen an attempt to develop collectively organized, oppositional spaces within urban places. The tensions that arise when considering the production of commons in the development of the neoliberal city are the central focus of this paper. As I will observe, these spaces are subjected to commodification as they become increasingly de-politicized through neoliberal ideologies. In order to theorize about these contradictory elements, I observe a makerspace in Richmond, Virginia called HackRVA. Specifically, I consider HackRVA as an urban commons. Through in-depth interviews and participant observation, I consider how HackRVA engages with the neoliberal city of Richmond and how the organization and maintenance of their space and their community reflects commoning as social reproduction. I find that HackRVA’s relationship to the city is complicated as the community within the space both contests and assimilates to the creative economy.

American families moving abroad are often informed of the initial difficulties they will encounter as residents in a new culture; however, they may not recognize the possible subsequent effects on their children, when returning home to their native cultures during the repatriation process. The children who experience the effect of living in a new culture and eventually repatriating are known as Third Culture Kids (TCK). As globalization and expatriate populations increase, it is important that society becomes aware of the Third Culture community. This qualitative research study focused on analyzing the repatriation transition process of four Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCK) and explored the relationship between their emotional intelligence and their third culture and repatriating experiences. This dissertation provides a profile for what type of citizen a TCK may become upon repatriation. Framed within a narrative inquiry approach this study utilized the Listening Guide method of analysis in order to capture the participants’ final narrative portraits. Storied themes emerged from the final narratives providing evidence for this research study’s five main conclusions: (a) home is not defined by one physical location, (b) assimilation and repatriation do not equate, (c) emotional intelligence may be a factor in repatriation success, (d) Third Culture experiences influence civic engagement, and (e) there is one incident that is perceived as signifying the completion of repatriation. These findings offer a new perspective of the repatriating experience and provide insight for families entering the expatriate culture and returning home.

Many Social Networking Sites have come and gone over the past decade, but Facebook continues to grow in popularity. Facebook is designed to connect people to one another through virtual networks of “friends” where members participate in the presentation of self virtually- through profile creation, maintenance, and exchanges of content. Social Networking Sites create a location for identity formation and projection that is similar, yet distinct, from face-to-face interactions. Facebook offers a unique avenue for people to control their presentation of self, while maintaining reflexive features. This study this study explores the notion of a particular “Facebook role” while specifically addressing front stage projections in relation to backstage information and the resulting differences in identity. In effect, people are “themselves” on Facebook, just a consistently “good” version of themselves.

The purpose of this research is to analyze the dynamic processes of collective identity by examining the relationship between New Orleans and its professional football team, the Saints, after Hurricane Katrina. Much of the discourse written on American professional sports focuses on economic transactions between player and franchise or franchise and city. This study explores sports from a cultural perspective to understand the perceived social values provided to the host community. This case study spans the years from 2006 to 2013 and discusses several major events, including the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the reopening of the Superdome, the Saints winning a league championship and subsequent cheating scandal, and the city’s hosting of Super Bowl XLVII. Using a mixed-method approach of content analysis, in-person interviews, and participant observation, this research demonstrates how post-Hurricane Katrina events altered the collective identity in New Orleans. Additionally, it explores how the interaction of sports, identity, and ritual served to create a civic religion in New Orleans. Finally, the research examines the impact of this religious devotion on New Orleans’ tourist economy.