Sociology Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2804
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Item WARRIORS, GUARDIANS, WOLVES, AND SHEEP: OFFICER PERCEPTIONS OF POLICE-CIVILIAN IDENTITIES AND THE PERSISTENCE OF ORGANIZED INEQUITY(2024) Powelson, Connor Reed; Ray, Rashawn; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Despite nearly a decade of community engagement and police reform efforts guided by the Warrior/Guardian paradigm, there remains little evidence of police culture change and rates of racially disproportionate police misconduct remain a social problem. In this work, I bring officers into this conversation and leverage the Warrior/Guardian paradigm as a starting point for an exploration of how identity structures constitute police organizational culture and practice, its consequences, and its potential for change. The present work contributes to the public and scholarly discourse on police culture and the role of identity processes in the reproduction of organizational practices. I characterize police culture as a set of identity schemas that connect people, practices, and social resources. I chart three domains of symbolic interaction that characterize the intersection of police structure, police culture, and public culture and account for police organizational rules and practices that distribute law enforcement outcomes and pattern organized inequity.Item Re-Inscribing Subculture: Commodification and Boundary Work in American Traditional Tattooing(2018) Strohecker, David Paul; Moghadam, Linda; Falk, William; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This auto-ethnographic research explores the debate surrounding the analytical utility of the concept of subculture. Utilizing interview data collected from 58 tattoo artists and collectors, I address fundamental concerns regarding the concept, examine its historical development, and defend a refined notion of subculture as coined by Hodkinson (2002) in his study of Goth. Utilizing the four characteristics of subcultural “substance”, I showcase how American traditional tattooing is the premier example of this concept. In exploring this debate, I examine the role of the subcultural commodification process in the construction of new, field-dependent identities such as the tribal entrepreneur Goulding and Saren (2007) outline in their study of Goth. Using a general theory of subcultural commodification, I propose a new figure emergent from this process, that of the “traditionalist”, an inward-looking role adopted by many who resist the commodification process. The traditionalist seeks to defend their field-dependent identities as subculturalists at the core of these groupings. Utilizing the notion of tradition, these individuals construct new forms of subcultural capital (Thornton 1996) that position themselves outside of and away from the mainstream. In a nod to Durkheim (1912), I discuss how the sacred and the profane are used to label insiders and outsiders through the use of aesthetic judgments. This role positioning process is essential for the preservation of subculture at the level of lived experience. My research shows how traditionalists employ boundary work (Lamont and Molnar 2002) in their defense of their subcultural identities. They strategically deploy the symbolic boundaries of the sacred and the profane in order to police the social boundaries of this community.Item Coming Home as "Wounded Warriors": Identity, Stigma, and Status among Post-9/11 Wounded Veterans(2018) Montgomery, Sidra; Kleykamp, Meredith; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Increased public attention on wounded and injured veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has popularized the term "wounded warrior.” This defining phrase is used as both a colloquial term and an official status. This dissertation traces the symbolic meaning of “wounded warrior” in the lives of post-9/11 wounded veterans. Specifically, I examine how this socially constructed status is defined, its impact on the community of wounded veterans, and how it has come to shape the everyday experiences of post-9/11 wounded veterans. I rely on two forms of qualitative data, content analysis and in-depth interviews, to capture public discourse and personal experiences of being a “wounded warrior.” In the content analysis I use news media coverage from 2001 to 2013 to analyze the broader construction of wounded veterans as “wounded warriors.” Secondly, I conducted in-depth interviews with 39 wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to examine how veterans see themselves and their injuries and how they craft their personal and social identity within the “wounded warrior” framework. In both sets of data I attend to the role of visibility, whether a veteran’s injuries are readily seen, as a significant factor affecting both the portrayal and experience of veteran’s status as a “wounded warrior.” Post-9/11 wounded veterans are a socially valued group, benefiting from civilians who want to “support the troops” after the hostile homecoming of Vietnam veterans. “Wounded warrior” is a status connected to material benefits, social esteem, and symbolic capital, but the definition of who qualifies shifts and changes depending on the context. Combat wounded veterans use social and symbolic boundaries to establish themselves as the real “wounded warriors.” Wounded veterans employ social closure, a strategy of social stratification, for distinction using expectations and community norms to position themselves as the most worthy “wounded warriors”, protecting the meaning of their service and sacrifice. The visibility of a veteran’s injuries conditions their experience as a “wounded warrior”, impacting their relationship to the wounded veteran community, the experience of stigma, and their own identity. Overall, I find that post-9/11 wounded veterans actively shape and are shaped by their status as “wounded warriors.”Item FROM MANY IDENTITIES TO ONE VOICE?: ARAB AMERICAN ACTIVISM FORGED FROM THE POLITICS OF ISOLATION(2010) Skuratowicz, Katarzyna Zofia; Kestnbaum, Meyer; Dance, Lory J; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation answers key questions about the reasons behind the mobilization and consolidation of Arab American collective identities expressed in political activism. Summarized into one overarching question, these key questions examine what encourages and challenges the mobilization of a consolidated political voice of Arab Americans in the American political arena. The ultimate goal of this project is to understand the reasons behind the existing political weakness of Arab American voices in the American socio-political arena. More specifically stated, the key questions are: "What, in the history of immigration of Arab American, impacted the current weakness of the collective, Arab American political voice?;" "What impact did political events and policies have on the mobilization of the consolidated Arab American identity?;" "What are the challenges and motivations for consolidation of the Arab American political voice related to the heterogeneity of Arab American communities?;" and finally "What role does counter-mobilization, namely pro-Israeli lobbies, play in affecting the intensity of Arab American voices in American politics?" The general answer, which was acquired through tracing the process of formation of this mobilization and consolidation of the Arab American identity, demonstrates that political isolation is the predominant mobilizing factor for identity-based activism and consolidation of Arab American identities. This study concludes that Arab Americans face political isolation due to several factors such as the relatively short presence of Arab immigrants in the United States, their brief political engagement in the American political arena, the heterogeneity of Arab American communities preventing a development of strong leadership uniting the communities, and the presence of counter-mobilized communities such as well established pro-Israeli lobbies which are often in opposition to Arab American political efforts. Historical events such as the 1967 War or the attacks of September 11 make Arab American activists aware of their political isolation. Thus, unlike many ethnic minorities motivated by cultural and economic factors, Arab American motivation is predominantly politically driven. In regard to methodological approaches, this research draws on interviews, life histories of members of self-labeling Arab American organizations in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area and document analyses to learn about their organizations and motivations behind identity-based political activism. In regard to pre-existing scholarship, this study engages the literature about panethnic mobilization and the incorporation of immigrants into a host society. A recurrent theme in this literature is how panethnic mobilization is driven by economic or cultural factors. However, economic and cultural factors are not key catalysts driving panethnic Arab American identities. At the collective level Arab Americans enjoy all elements of citizenship: legal status, rights and a sense of belonging yet their path to full participation in U.S. political arenas remains a challenge. The consolidated identity-based activism of Arab Americans focuses on gaining a political voice and creating an influential political constituency. As this study reveals, Arab American panethnic organizations strive to disrupt the monolithic and negative discourse about Arabs and Arab Americans in the popular and political culture of the United States by taking ownership over the "Arab American" label. Thus, the use of the monolithic label of Arabness is ultimately a strategic move towards gaining political voice(s). The complexities and nuances of this political isolation and corresponding political mobilization unfold in the chapters below.Item CONSTRUCTING A DISABLED IDENTITY: THE INFLUENCE OF IMPAIRMENT, SOCIAL FACTORS AND REFLECTED APPRAISALS(2010) Ridolfo, Heather; Milkie, Melissa; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The claiming of an identity as disabled has important implications for impaired individuals' interpersonal interactions and well-being, however not all impaired individuals claim a disabled identity. In this dissertation I build upon social and medical models of disability by extending the work in two key ways using multi-methods. First, using a symbolic interactionist frame, I examine how individuals' experiences are mediated through self processes in shaping their identity claims. Second, I assess how the identification process is influenced by individuals' social statuses. Data used in this study is from the 1994-1995 National Health Interview Survey on Disability, a large nationally representative sample of individuals with impairments. In addition, I supplement this analysis with data from 30 qualitative interviews. Results underscore prior research showing that not all individuals who experience impairment identify as disabled. The qualitative interviews illuminated a third group not obvious in the quantitative analysis - those in the process of negotiating a disabled identity. Experiences of socially constructed barriers have important implications for claiming an identity as disabled; however experiences of impairment also have strong effects on identity claims. In depth interviews also showed social barriers, but not environmental barriers, and impairment affect impaired persons' identity claims as disabled. Self-processes perform an important role in helping impaired individuals understand their positioning in society and verify their identity claims. Reflected appraisals of being disabled increased the likelihood of claiming a disabled identity and these appraisals mediated the relationship between the experiences of socially constructed barriers, impairment and the self. In the qualitative analyses, social comparisons and self presentations were also found to be an agentic tool used by individuals to assert their identities as disabled/not disabled and in shaping others' views of them. Finally, social statuses have important implications for the construction or rejection an identity as disabled. Those with higher social statuses were MORE likely to claim disabled identity, all things equal. In the qualitative analyses, women's disabled identity claims were often disregarded, perhaps underscoring their more difficult experience verifying their identity claims. Consistent with this, interactions between social statuses and the social and medical models were identified.Item Differential Effects of Institutional Socialization on Value Orientations in Naval Academy Midshipmen(2004-07-21) Trainor, Stephen C.; Segal, David R.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Organizations are thought to influence the values, attitudes, and behaviors of members through processes of indoctrination and socialization. Military organizations also are believed to influence members by essentially "transforming" individuals from civilian life into part of an effective fighting machine. However, the process by which that occurs and the relative outcomes have not been fully understood. This problem is important because of the role the military plays as a professional, work, and social context for millions of people. The problem is addressed by analyzing the professional socialization to military service of midshipmen attending the United States Naval Academy. This research occurs at the nexus of organizational and professional socialization, the effects of college, identity theory, and the occupational or work orientations of youth. A model of organizational socialization and value congruence predicted the orientations of incoming midshipmen and compared them to groups of civilian high school seniors as well as to groups of midshipmen with greater time in the organization. Significant differences in the orientations of incoming midshipmen and civilian peers were observed, indicative of the self-selection and anticipatory socialization effects associated with organizational entry. In addition, incoming midshipmen differed significantly from midshipmen with greater tenure in the organization, highlighting a trend from newcomer idealism toward more realistic occupational orientations in seniors about to graduate and begin military work. The findings are important because greater congruence or "fit" in organizational and indivdidual orientations produced the most positive outcomes, including the most certain military career plans. Longitudinal evidence of greater congruence or "fit" occurred in midshipmen who possessed a strong personal identity associated with work and military service. The most significant predictors of this identity or "professional military career orientation" were strong work beliefs, high officer role identity, and the belief that military service is important. Midshpmen with better organizational "fit" expressed the most positive attitudes about the military, were more likely to see themselves working in the military at age 30, expected greater satisfaction with military work, and expressed greater certainty in their plans for a military career. Recommendations to foster a "professional military career orientation" in midshipmen are provided.