Sociology Electronic Theses and Dissertations (UMKC)
https://hdl.handle.net/10355/9905
The items in this collection are the scholarly output of UMKC graduate students.2024-03-29T06:56:47ZAdding Insult to Injury: How Neoliberal Ideology Convinces the Disadvantaged to Blame Themselves for Poor Health
https://hdl.handle.net/10355/70889
Adding Insult to Injury: How Neoliberal Ideology Convinces the Disadvantaged to Blame Themselves for Poor Health
Robertson, Elise
Health outcomes are strongly tied to social class. Childhood environment, level of education, income, and even neighborhood characteristics are strongly correlated with negative health outcomes such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, stress, and others. Despite extensive research chronicling these structural factors, federal, state, and community initiatives to combat these issues target individuals as actors responsible for enacting change through their personal choices, ignoring the systemic barriers that many people face to make healthy decisions. Tying Bourdieu’s theory of class distinction, system justification, and neoliberal theory, I conducted and analyzed 11 qualitative, semi-structured interviews with Americans of varied class backgrounds. These were analyzed to understand whether individuals perceive health outcomes as the result of neoliberal choice or of structural conditions of socioeconomic positioning, which for the purposes of this study is measured primarily as a combination of income and education. The results suggest that individuals with lower income and education characterize obstacles to health as a result of their personal choices, reflecting a subscription to neoliberal ideology which mandates rational choice and personal responsibility. Individuals with lower socioeconomic status were also more likely to state positive attitudes of doctors and medical professionals despite negative experiences with them, reflecting the structural limitations of low capital. In contrast, those with higher income and education tend to characterize obstacles to health as a result of deficiencies in the health care system, class advantages, and the economic cost of a healthy lifestyle, as well as hold more negative views of doctors, reflecting the high capital that allows them mitigate poor medical care. This study did not find race, gender, or age to have a meaningful systemic effect on either individuals’ subscription to neoliberal ideology or their trust in doctors, but these variables may have effects that could be observed in a larger sample.
Title from PDF of title page viewed January 9, 2020; Thesis advisor: Michelle Smirnova; Vita; Includes bibliographical references (page 59-71); Thesis (M.A.)--Department of Sociology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2019
2019-01-01T00:00:00ZAspiration Differences in Female High School
Students Based on Parents' Education Level
https://hdl.handle.net/10355/45627
Aspiration Differences in Female High School
Students Based on Parents' Education Level
Orr, Asia Smith
This study uses data from 61 in-depth interviews with high school junior and
senior girls to examine differences in educational aspirations by parental education level.
By examining how young adults’ aspirations are shaped by the norms and values held by
others in their social network, including their families and friends, the current study
identifies and illustrates some of the obstacles disadvantaged young female students may
face, and how they view their opportunities in higher education. Data for this study was
collected in two schools in Southwest Ohio in the fall of 2008. Both schools possessed a
similar make up in urbanicity and racial composition, and were economically disparate.
With parental education level being the distinguishing factor, students were placed into
one of two categories; potential first-generation students and potential continuousgeneration
students. Analysis reveals differences in their primary focus after high school
graduation, how they view the idea of college, and their overall understanding of the
college structure. In addition, this study illustrates some of the means by which these
influences take place, such as the home environment, parental involvement, social and
cultural capital, and available resources.
Title from PDF of title page, viewed on June 17, 2015; Thesis advisor: Jessica Hardie; Vita; Includes bibliographic references (pages 62-69); Thesis (M.A.)--Department of Sociology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2014
2015-05-26T00:00:00ZBarriers to Social Change: Neoliberalism and the Justification of the Status-Quo among Low-Income African Americans
https://hdl.handle.net/10355/49784
Barriers to Social Change: Neoliberalism and the Justification of the Status-Quo among Low-Income African Americans
Douglas, Kevin R.
Neoliberalism has been the dominant political-economic model in the United States
since Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980 (Harvey, 2005). Few studies have shown how the
political-economic model of neoliberalism influences behavior at the individual level
(Brown, 2003; Esposito and Finley, 2014; Gershon, 2011; Klein, 2012; Leve, 2011; Martin,
2000). This study uses qualitative methods in order to understand how individuals
internalize, rationalize, and explain a hierarchical social order and inequities in society.
Further, it seeks to understand the connections between system justification theory and the
influence of neoliberalism on individual-level behavior. In-depth interviews of 8 low-income
African Americans living in the Kansas City metro area were analyzed in this study.
Interview questions assessed how individuals perceive social inequities in society as being
systemic or as problems of the individual. The results indicate that individualistic
explanations for social problems are often paired with myths, stereotypes, and system
justifying ideologies, but these are more likely to be absent in more systemic level responses.
Further, respondents tended to mainly blame the individual or themselves for their economic
circumstances, expressed individualistic solutions for systemic-level problems, and a form of
neoliberal agency was displayed by the respondents.
Title from PDF of title page, viewed on July 25, 2016; Thesis advisor: Marc Garcelon; Vita; Includes bibliographical references (pages 82-91); Thesis (M.A.)--Department of Sociology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2016
2016-01-01T00:00:00ZConsumer holiday structure: an analysis of Christian holiday patterns and consumer ritual practice in America
https://hdl.handle.net/10355/9589
Consumer holiday structure: an analysis of Christian holiday patterns and consumer ritual practice in America
Cassell, Basil Rogers
This thesis explores the rituals that reinforce American capitalist consumerism, specifically focusing on the Christian holiday calendar structure. Major Christian holidays are viewed as complex sets and repeated patterns, involving inversions and binary oppositions. A structuralist analysis is applied to explore the role of Black Friday as a new consumer holiday in a larger symbol set--one that reveals the reinforcement of underlying values and practices of consumerism. The structural comparison of the meaning of Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday as the inauguration of Lent as a season of non-consumption is compared to Thanksgiving and Black Friday as the inauguration of a season of consumption and shopping during Advent. Seen from a structural viewpoint, new consumer holidays take prominence in practice, re-defining seasons in relation to consumption, that previously had been defined by civil religious structure and meaning. The re-definition of civil religion as consumer civil religion, and implications for related social theories are discussed.
Title from PDF of title page, viewed on January 20, 2011.; Thesis advisor: Jeffrey S. Bennett.; Vita.; Includes bibliographic references (pages 71-78).; Thesis (M.A.)--Dept. of Sociology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2010.
2011-01-20T00:00:00Z