College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/1920/2918

This collection contains ETD documents from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 1557

Socio-Cultural Significance of Stuffed Animals in Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area
(2001-05) Needham, Cat L.; Scimecca, Joseph
This thesis describes the significance of stuffed animals as derived from relevant areas of the socio-cultural landscape from three studies conducted in Fairfax, Virginia—one participant observational study, one non-participant-observational study and one qualitative/interview study. The three studies' results are to compare them to those derived from an examination of the "larger" picture (mass media, advertising, etc.) and determine what, if any, similarities and/or differences exist between them. A conclusion follows which summarizes and decisively identifies what significance stuffed animals have within the socio-cultural landscape of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area.
Mentors' Impact on the Development of Adaptability Skills via Experiential Learning
(2007-12-12T19:18:30Z) Kemp, Cary; Kemp, Cary
This research investigated the process of protégé development, focusing on the development of adaptability skills via experiential learning. Mentors facilitated skill development by challenging protégés during the conceptualization stage of learning. This finding highlights the importance of framebreaking and re-framing activities, and the role that mentors can play in promoting the development of new mental models. Mentors also facilitated development by frequently instructing protégés to intuitively grasp new concepts and to experiment with new skills. All mentoring functions except friendship were positively related to mentors' instruction to use experiential learning activities, suggesting that mentoring functions serve as platforms for learning activities. Career development facilitation and friendship were the only two functions directly related to skill development. Skill development was related to performance improvement and protégé satisfaction. Implications for mentor training and future research are discussed.
Authentic Leadership: Do We Really Need Another Leadership Theory?
(2007-12-12T19:24:16Z) Wood, Gabrielle; Wood, Gabrielle
The purpose of this study was to test the incremental validity of authentic leadership above and beyond existing leadership styles. Prior leadership research has focused primarily on transformational leadership. Recently, many researchers have observed that there are leaders who are effective and who do not conform to this style. Authentic leadership theory was advanced as an approach that may explain additional variance in leadership effectiveness. Participants included upper-year Cadets from the United States Military Academy (USMA) who served in leadership positions over lower-ranking Cadets. Cadet leadership styles were matched with personal attribute and performance scores to test a nomological network model of authentic leadership. Findings indicated some support for the notion that authentic leadership adds incremental validity over existing leadership styles, including transformational leadership. This study advances our understanding of authentic leadership theory and leadership effectiveness in challenging environments. Recommendations for future research in this area are provided.
Redefining the Digital Dialectic: The Dialectics of User-Generated Media
(2007-12-18T18:53:41Z) Youmans, Kristin; Youmans, Kristin
This thesis redefines a dialectical model that is appropriate for today's contemporary technological context, specifically based on the introduction of user-generated technologies. In the chapter titled "Dialectic Through History" I describe the history of dialectic up to and including its most recent use in the 1999 essay collection The Digital Dialectic: New Essays on New Media. The following chapter describes the shift from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, as illustrated through the transition from Web 1.0 technologies to Web 2.0, and then illustrates a dialectical model that is based on its historical foundational principles described in Chapter 2 combined with today's emerging technological, social, and economic contexts. The next chapter lists current day examples of today's dialectical oppositions between the social and economic principles founded in the Industrial Age versus those emerging during the Information Age. I then conclude by discussing the possibilities for the future of dialectic as related to Web 3.0.
The Role of "Too Big To Fail" Status in Bank Merger Activity
(2007-12-19T15:09:58Z) Normann, Parker; Normann, Parker
This dissertation examines a linchpin of federal banking policy, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The main function of the FDIC is to provide absolute guarantees on insured deposits up to a set limit. This amounts to a federal subsidy for banks, and the greater risks banks assume, the greater the amount of the subsidy. Attempts by policy makers to undue the undesirable aspects of the subsidy have succeeded in limiting the extent of coverage to small banks but have codified into law that the largest banking institutions are considered "too big to fail" (TBTF). This special status granted to TBTF banks confers upon them a funding advantage not available to their smaller competitors. This imbalance creates an incentive for banks to merge in order to create a bank considered TBTF, or for existing TBTF banks to purchase smaller banks; in either event the purpose is to capture the gains from the too big to fail status. This potential cause of bank mergers has only recently begun to enter the banking literature and has yet to be formerly tested. The purpose of this dissertation is to both layout the economic theory and to test empirically the role of too big to fail status in bank merger activity.
Asset Specificity and Network Control of Television Programs
(2007-12-19T20:54:55Z) Lin, Daniel; Lin, Daniel
This dissertation uses transaction-cost theories to explain the shift from advertiser control to network control of programs in the 1950s television industry. In the late 1940s, ratings data revealed that the audience for one program tended to flow into neighboring programs. This paper proposes that the threat of ex-post opportunism discouraged advertisers from making the necessary ex-ante investments to exploit audience flow. The networks were better positioned to constrain the opportunism by consolidating the control rights to production and scheduling, increasing the contract duration with key production personnel, and placing more contractual
Individual Differences and Second Language Acquisition among Low-Income Preschoolers
(2007-12-20T14:42:46Z) Richard, Erin; Richard, Erin
Second language acquisition has become a highly relevant, hotly debated topic in the United States. Of particular importance to early childhood researchers is how to most effectively educate young English language learners. Thus, a goal is to develop an understanding of the young language learner's school-related strengths and weaknesses. Existing literature has demonstrated associations between motivation, creativity, problem solving, language aptitude and bilingualism; however, the role of social-emotional skills in second language acquisition, particularly in young children, has been understudied. The study was an exploration of (1) an analysis of demographics and the role individual differences in cognitive/language skills and social-emotional skills play in English language acquisition and (2) the effects of first language proficiency on social-emotional development. Using a sample (n = 1,501) of diverse low-income preschoolers participating in the Miami School Readiness project, the present study aimed to illuminate the cognitive/language and social-emotional factors associated with successful second language acquisition during early childhood. Children were assessed in the areas of social-emotional skills and cognitive/language skills at the beginning of their preschool year and then social-emotional skills were assessed again at the end of the year. Finally, English proficiency was assessed a year later at the beginning of their kindergarten year. Multivariate analyses of variance were utilized to explicate the role of individual differences in social-emotional and cognitive/language skills among monolingual English, monolingual Spanish, and bilingual preschoolers. Findings demonstrated that Spanish-speaking preschoolers with higher levels of social-emotional and cognitive/language skills were more successful in obtaining English proficiency by kindergarten. Results indicated that demographic differences, cognitive and language skills, and social-emotional skills are all significantly related to success in second language acquisition. Further, after controlling for the effects of cognitive and language abilities and demographic differences, social-emotional skills maintained a significant association with the attainment of English-language proficiency. First language proficiency did not predict children's gains in social-emotional development. Findings suggest that social-emotional skills are a valuable resource for English language learners, specifically in this population of low-income, minority preschoolers.
Neighborhood Quality, Childcare Quality, and Children's Early Developmental Outcomes
(2007-12-20T15:09:09Z) Bor, Elif; Bor, Elif
There has been mounting interest in the social sciences about the importance of multiple ecological contexts such as family, child-care settings, and neighborhoods that influence developmental outcomes in children. While the influence of the immediate family environment on early development has been investigated in detail, the effects of distal contexts beyond the family have only recently received attention. As a result of the changing trends in parental employment (e.g., growth in maternal employment) during the past half century, young children have begun to spend substantial hours in various child-care settings and to experience direct contact with neighborhoods through several neighborhood settings such as parks, churches, libraries, and children’s programs. The purpose of this current study is to explore the ways in which the interrelations between two important ecological systems -- neighborhood and childcare -- are associated with young children’s cognitive, social-emotional, language, and behavioral outcomes. As a part of a larger project, The Miami School Readiness Project, participants included 7,563 four-year-old preschool children receiving subsidies to attend community-based childcare, Title 1 public school pre-k programs, and children attending fee supported public-school pre-k programs in Miami-Dade County, Miami, Florida. Hypotheses were tested using statistical analyses including correlations, multiple regressions, and ANOVA. The results revealed small but significant relations between neighborhood characteristics and child outcomes. First of all, neighborhood risk negatively predicted children’s social-emotional and language outcomes after controlling for the family-level characteristics of parent income, parent education, and parent ethnicity. Among the neighborhood dimensions, socio-economic status was found to be the most influential characteristic of neighborhoods on child outcomes. Second, the quality of childcare services was lower in high-risk neighborhoods. Unexpectedly, high-socio economic status of the neighborhoods predicted only the facilities and building attractiveness of childcare, but did not predict the quality of services, activities, and interactions provided by childcare centers. Third, the relationship between the neighborhood quality and children’s outcomes was found to be stronger for children attending public school pre-kindergarten programs than for children receiving subsidies to attend community-based childcare centers. Fourth, family density/the presence of young children was negatively associated with childcare quality indicating that high quality childcare services are not found in the neighborhoods where they are needed the most. Finally, childcare quality did not buffer against the influence of neighborhood risk on development.
Gabrielle Roy et le Nord: Des Exploits personnels dans un Nord imaginé
(2007-12-20T17:05:22Z) Mays, Catherine; Mays, Catherine
Cette étude essaie de répondre à la question : est-ce que Gabrielle Roy, en écrivant sur le Nord, est restée dans les bornes d'une tradition littéraire bien établie, ou at- elle dépassé ces limites ? La première partie essaie d'établir le contexte des écrits sur le Nord. Et puisque, au Canada, le traitement du Nord dans les littératures anglophone et francophone est très différent, il faut d'abord examiner le contexte en étudiant ces deux traditions. En plus, à cause de l'importance des personnages féminins dans l'oeuvre royenne, on va aussi examiner le traitement des femmes dans la littérature du Nord. À la fin de cette première partie sur le contexte, on discutera le clash entre le Nord réel et le Nord inventé et raconté dans la littérature traditionnelle. La deuxième partie fera une comparaison entre l'oeuvre royenne et ces traditions littéraires en examinant de près ses trois oeuvres du Nord : La Petite Poule d'Eau ; La Montagne secrète ; et La Rivières sans repos (comprenant le roman et les trois nouvelles que le précèdent). La discussion essaie de montrer que Gabrielle Roy a brisé certaines conventions dans son traitement du Nord, mais qu'elle n'était pas beaucoup plus au courant de la réalité du Nord que les traitements traditionnels. Elle, comme beaucoup d'autres écrivains non-autochtones, a employé le Nord comme une table rase où elle pouvait projeter et examiner les thèmes qui la préoccupaient, souvent des thèmes universels.
Recognition of Facial Affect in Adults with Attention Problems
(2008-01-28T18:40:38Z) Fields, Alicia; Fields, Alicia
Numerous researchers have found that individuals with ADHD tend to have more interpersonal difficulties than those without the disorder. However, it is unclear why. A study by Rapport et al. (2002) may have provided a clue by discovering that adults with ADHD were less accurate when interpreting facial emotional expressions. The present study sought to corroborate the findings by Rapport et al. (2002) with a non-clinical sample and to extend those findings by examining the relationship between facial affect recognition, reported relationship satisfaction, and communication competence. A convenience sample of 128 undergraduates at George Mason University was separated into two groups, one with relatively elevated scores on the Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scale, Self-Report Screening Version (CAARS-S:SV; T-scores of 60 or greater) and a group with relatively lower scores on the CAARS-S:SV (T-scores ≤59). No group differences were found in the performance accuracy or the reaction times on a facial affect recognition task and a face labeling control task. The first group reported more depression, anxiety and less life satisfaction than the second or comparison group. Secondary analyses performed with a subset of participants from the ADHD group who had clinically significant CAARS-S:SV T scores (n = 25; T-score ≥ 65) indicated that when they were compared to the comparison group and the participants with subclinical symptoms of ADHD, these participants demonstrated deficits in affect recognition for the emotions happy and sad. In addition, the Clinical group had statistically significantly higher depression and anxiety scores, and reported lower life satisfaction and interpersonal communication competence when compared with participants who reported subclinical symptoms.
Effective Mathematics Placement Testing Strategies: A Study of Mathematics Placement Test Retake Policy at a Two-Year Public Community College in Florida
(2008-01-28T19:58:37Z) Geraci, Sanford; Geraci, Sanford
Placement testing in college is important partly because initial placement recommendations may be followed by further placement recommendations based on retakes of the placement test. This study examines a particular mathematics retake policy at a community college in Florida which allows students to retest on the mathematics placement test every 90 days. As a result, students may be placed into a particular course and then retake the placement test before the semester ends. It is an increasingly known practice among students that if their retake placement scores place them in a higher course, students sometimes withdraw from their current course and take the higher level course the following semester – without finishing the course into which they were originally placed. Analysis of the data collected reveals that students who retake the placement exam and test into a subsequent developmental course do worse in the subsequent course than those students who initially placed into that higher level course. Although a relatively small number of students retake the placement test, the study further shows that most of those students do not perform better as a result of the placement retake, and the number that performs better is insignificant. These findings are based on analysis of the sample proportions. Recommendations include changing the college's retake policies. The most significant recommendation permits retakes only before initial enrollment, suggests placing students based on the average of their pre-enrollment placement and retake(s) scores, and defines a stricter time limit on how long placement scores are accepted. The recommendations can serve as an example for other colleges nationwide.
Evolutionary Impulses in Law
(2008-01-30T16:57:59Z) Bose, Feler; Bose, Feler
This dissertation is composed of three different essays. Each essay discusses how laws change over time. The first essay focuses on marriage in the United States. It starts with the Beckerian model and then develops the relational contract model to analyze the role religion plays in marriage. The second essay focuses on abortion law and how it had changed over the centuries in the United States. A model of social entrepreneurship is developed and incorporated with other theories from Public Choice. From this, one can understand social movements from the left and the right and how they work differently. The final essay is on the Indian constitution and how it has evolved in the area of civil and economic rights. Two Public Choice models (Congleton Model and
A Functional Imaging Study of Working for Self and Other
(2008-01-30T19:02:42Z) Saletta, Stephen; Saletta, Stephen
Altruistic behaviors can be defined as those actions which are costly to self, beneficial to another, and do not convey a benefit from reputation or reciprocity on the part of the recipient. Behaviors which meet these criteria are widely observed in behavioral experiments utilizing the dictator game. It has been suggested altruists may receive direct utility in the form of "warm glow" which offsets the cost of their behavior. Alternatively, it has been suggested that social norms exist which supporting reciprocity and reputation, the salient features of those norms are reproduced in the experimental setting, and altruism will decrease over time as subjects gain experience in the experimental environment. We explore other-regarding behavior while subjects undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging in the context of a modified dictator game where money cost is either replaced or augmented with effort cost. We find behaviorally that subjects are willing to exert effort to benefit their counterpart, but will not expend money, even when the cost to the subject is trivial compared to the gains available to the counterpart. Neurologically, we find evidence that superior-temporal regions and temporo-parietal junction is active when subjects observe reward accruing to the counterpart but not to self. These regions are frequently implicated in theory of mind tasks where subjects must imagine the mental state of another individual, and in social contextual knowledge tasks, where subjects must access and utilize norms proscribing appropriate conduct in social settings. Our results suggest that regions of the brain associated with social knowledge and interaction are required to interpret those outcomes associated with other-regarding behavior, even in the context of a one-player game where social interaction is absent. This activation pattern is more consistent with a theory that other-regarding behavior is modulated by social norms than the "warm glow" of utility directly experienced from increased payments to the counterpart.
Essays in Institutions, Economic Policy and Development
(2008-05-07T15:03:34Z) Dochia, Silviu; Dochia, Silviu
This thesis consists of three essays examining the relationship between institutions and economic development. Essay one focuses on private participation in infrastructure. Over the past decade private involvement in the provision of infrastructure services has grown increasingly common in a large number of countries around the world. Increased activity brought along a good deal of controversy, most frequently relating to the cancellation of high profile projects. This paper analyzes this phenomenon empirically, using project level panel data from the 1990-2005 period. My first finding is that, contrary to popular belief, infrastructure project cancellations are rare. Second, contract cancellations are not randomly distributed, but seem correlated with a number of factors. I find that cancellation rates are higher for water sector projects, countries with a poor track record of protecting property rights and those with more effective local bureaucracies. Neither the level of GDP per capita nor its growth rate seem to be important factors, but larger current account deficits are correlated with more cancellations. Essay two examines the economic rationale for industrial policies aimed at supporting small firms with the intention of improving the rate of innovation and economic growth. I argue that such policies, while very common in the last few decades, frequently ignore two fundamental facts. First, a firms' size is largely determined by the economic environment surrounding it, and in particular by the uncertainty it must face. Attempts to actively micromanage the mix of small to large firms while ignoring the environment they operate within is more likely to be harmful than helpful. The second often overlooked observation is that small and large firms often play complementary roles in the process of innovation. Instead of attempting to actively pick winners with certain characteristics, policymakers' efforts are better spent on building a framework which is conducive to all innovation, wherever it may originate. In the third paper I analyze the real world impact of direct financing programs for small and medium enterprises. I base my analysis on two specific SME financing schemes implemented in Romania between 1998 and 2004, but my findings are broadly applicable. I argue that direct funding programs can suffer from two major flaws: a failure to address the financial system's binding constraints, and a difficulty in dealing with imperfect information. I find that both problems were acutely relevant in Romania, where they created programs that appeared successful at the firm level but in fact had very limited impact.
Temporalité et spatialité dans le discours onirique nervalien Une analyse de Sylvie
(2008-05-08T13:08:42Z) Ochiana, Adina; Ochiana, Adina
Cette étude essaie de répondre à la question: comment le temps et l’espace sont utilisés dans le cadre du discours onirique nervalien ? Ma démarche a suivi de près le fonctionnement, les caractéristiques et l’évolution de ces deux composantes du récit. La première partie vise l’aspect temporel qui assure l’instabilité et l’obscurité du discours onirique, les techniques temporelles employées et un parallélisme avec le temps perdu de Marcel Proust. La deuxième partie établit une typologie des espaces favorables de l’oniricisme et des symboles associés, et identifie des éléments de géométrie de l’espace et leurs significations. La troisième partie est une collection des composantes essentielles du discours nervalien qui mélange le temps, l’espace et l’onirique : la femme, le doublement, la mise-en-abîme et la circularité. Ces ingrédients constituent la structure qui permet la transposition sur papier de la quintessence des pensées nervaliennes.
Globalization and Inequality: Subnational Differentials within Nation States
(2008-05-08T13:50:09Z) Keating, Michael D.; Keating, Michael D.
In this thesis I examine the nation state’s place in the formulation and understanding of global income inequality. The literature is very conflicted on the directional relationship between neoliberal economic globalization and income inequality. I theorize that current measurements of inequality, which use countries as “units” of measurement, are insufficient. A subnational analysis of inequality shows varied rises and falls in inequality across a national space. The varied directional impacts of neoliberal economic globalization on income inequality in this paper helps to shed light on why there is so much conflict in the literature. I further argue that future analyses of income inequality should move beyond the state as a unit of analysis so that the true impacts of decentralized economic policies, government programs, and the overall effects of globalization can be understood by states, policy makers, and nongovernmental organizations.
Fear Conditioning as a Measuring Tool for Cognitive Deficits Related to Amyloid Burden Coupled with Iron, Zinc, and Copper in the Transgenic Tg2576 Mouse Model for Alzheimer’s Disease
(2008-05-08T15:13:29Z) Burns, Andrew J.; Burns, Andrew J.
This study utilized the transgenic Tg2576 mouse model of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) that expresses the human amyloid precursor protein (APP). Iron, zinc, and copper in the brain are thought to interact with amyloid proteins, specifically Aβ, to facilitate the cognitive decline associated with AD. Transgenic (Tg) and Wildtype (Wt) control mice were given different doses of metal in their water supply beginning at approximately 3 months of age and were tested for memory impairment with a fear conditioning (FC) test at 14 months of age. The FC test was 6 minutes in duration, with the shock administered on the last 3 minutes of the Training Day (Day 1). The water groups were lab (no added metal), iron [Fe(NO3)2 at 10ppm], zinc [Zn(CO3) at 10ppm], and zinc + copper [Zn(CO3) at 10ppm and CuCl2 at .25ppm respectively]. There was an unexpected difference between the genotypes on the Training Day. The Tg mice displayed abnormally low freezing behaviors when compared to the Wt mice and it is unclear whether this was caused by plaque associated brain damage, or a differential response to the fear stimulus due to hyperactivity. Due to this difference between the genotypes an individual growth curve (IGC) analysis was conducted and indicated that there was a significant difference between genotypes, but not between water groups. In the contextual environment, the Tg mice exhibited significantly lower freezing behavior than the Wt mice. Conversely, in the cued environment the Tg mice exhibited significantly more freezing behavior than the Wt mice. This result in the cued environment was unexpected, but when the contextual freezing behavior of the Tg mice was subtracted from their cued freezing behavior, there was no significant difference between the two genotypes. This suggests that there was impaired contextual conditioning in the Tg mice and the inability to distinguish between the contextual and cued environments resulted in an additive effect on the freezing behavior of the Tg group in the cued environment. The mice were sacrificed at 18 months of age and the plaque load of the Tg lab and iron water groups was analyzed. Linear regression analyses were conducted on these water groups and a significant negative correlation was found between plaque burden and freezing behavior for minutes 456 of the Training Day (Day 1) and minutes 456 of Day 2 (the first trial in the contextual environment). Higher plaque burden was associated with a lower freezing behavior. Also the lab water group had a higher plaque burden than the iron water group in the basal ganglia and exhibited significantly less freezing on minutes 456 of Day 2 in the contextual environment. This supports the theory that a higher plaque burden is disrupting the hippocampus and possibly the basal ganglia, which results in a change in motor behavior (hyperactivity and reduced freezing), and that the intake of metals (such as iron) could affect the deposition of plaques in specific brain areas. The overall conclusion is that when looking at the effects of water type on freezing behavior, the strong differences found between the genotypes could have overshadowed weaker differences between water types that may have been present.
Child Soldiers in the Lord’s Resistance Army: Factors in the Rehabilitation and Reintegration Process
(2008-05-08T16:47:01Z) Muth, Rachel L.; Muth, Rachel L.
This thesis describes the rehabilitation and reintegration process for children who served as child soldiers in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda. It examines the rehabilitation and reintegration process, arguing that a more clearly gendered approach should be in place because the current process does not adequately deal with the range of psychological effects or the particular kinds of traumas that the girls experience. Even though rehabilitation programs describe their programs as individualistic where girls’ needs are addressed, there are many reasons why different rehabilitation and reintegration protocols should be in place for handling the differences for girls. This thesis examines the background of the conflict, modes of abduction and coercion into the LRA, the roles of the children in the LRA, and the ways they leave the rebel forces. This thesis serves as a reference and resource for individuals interested in the conflict in Northern Uganda and the complex rehabilitation and reintegration processes that follow.
Development of a Nomological Net Surrounding Leader Self-Development
(2008-05-08T18:18:33Z) Langkamer, Krista L.; Langkamer, Krista L.
The purpose of this study was to examine both antecedents and consequences of high quality leader self-development activities. Specifically, Study 1 sought to delineate factors that impact the quality attributes of leader self-development activities and the effect of those attributes on performance outcomes. Study 2 investigated the impact of a training program to understand if leaders can be trained to make more effective decisions regarding the attributes in their self-development activities. Leaders from a multilevel marketing company completed two surveys over a period of three months with a training intervention in between the surveys. Data from the first survey administration (Study 1) demonstrated that engagement in high quality leader self-development activities is important to growing two types of performance. Specifically, experiential variety and the level of learner control in leader self-development activities positively impacted adaptive performance. Experiential variety was also a significant predictor of the performance of one’s team, indicating that engaging in a greater variety of leader self-development activities helps to foster leader effectiveness. Further, Study 1 results showed additive and multiplicative effects of motivational variables (leader self-identity and modeling behaviors from the leaders’ own leaders) and individual skill variables (self-appraisal and self-regulation skills) in the prediction of quality attributes. Study 2 examined the impact of training and demonstrated that leaders can be trained to impact choices regarding their self-development activities. Results showed that individuals who received training on the processes associated with effective leader self-development were not only more likely to engage in leader self-development activities, but those subsequent activities were more challenging and allowed for more learner control and learner engagement.
Creating Social Action through Facebook
(2008-05-12T20:10:46Z) Vandersluis, Kelly S.; Vandersluis, Kelly S.
Facebook, as a popular representative of the social network site genre, has changed the way that social network site users manage their on- and offline social lives and communication, and creates a new rhetorical situation in which users create and perform their identity roles to an unknown audience. This new rhetorical situation requires connectivity, integration, and an understanding of both self as a performer of identity and as a member of a greater audience of other performers. Facebook creates Facebook-specific social action. This social action can be seen in how users manage their social information, communicate, and gather and share information. This thesis is framed by Lloyd F. Bitzer’s theory on elements of rhetorical situation (exigence, constraints, audience, and author) and is inspired by Carolyn Miller and Dawn Shepherd’s genre study of blogs, “Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog.” Bitzer’s theory and Miller and Shepherd’s method assist in demonstrating that social network sites, and Facebook specifically, are functioning rhetorically and are a fitting rhetorical response to American social exigences.

Browse

Browsing College of Humanities and Social Sciences by Issue Date

Results Per Page

Sort Options