M.A. - Sociology

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/2158

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FROM THE RESTROOM TO THE PRESSROOM: A QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF DIGITAL SEXUAL CRIME IN SOUTH KOREA
(University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2023) Becker, Laura L.; Steinhoff, Patricia G.; Sociology
Digital sexual crime has recently emerged as a moral panic in South Korea. In 2018, a newly formed women’s group organized a series of street rallies, which drew record crowds, in response to digital sexual crime and what some felt were biased investigations. This study is a qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles about digital sexual crime published in 2018 in two ideologically distinct South Korean newspapers, Dong-a Ilbo and Hankyoreh. In addition to showing characteristics of a moral panic, the newspaper coverage shows that the South Korean government shifted its focus from inspecting public restrooms to investigating and controlling online distribution networks. Although the government and the women’s movement framed digital sexual crime differently, they were in consensus that it was a serious issue requiring urgent attention. The media also called upon experts, often university professors, who expressed the seriousness of the problem and offered a variety of solutions beyond inspecting public restrooms. The government was slow to catch up to the recommendations from the women’s movement and other experts, but at the end of 2018 it shifted away from restroom inspections. In keeping with moral panic theory, the system of social control was strengthened by the introduction of new laws, longer sentences, and a reckoning with online storage services known as webhards.
It Runs in the Blood: Towards an Epistemology of Extraction
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2023) Atienza, Jake Atienza; Steger, Manfred B.; Sociology
The lives of mining-affected residents of Naga City in Cebu, Philippines are characterized by stories of violence that have emerged with the onset of mining in their locality. The September 20, 2018 landslide has become emblematic of their contentious experiences with mining. Theirs are stories of dispossession and relocation to evacuation centers, deaths of their spouses, parents, siblings and neighbors, damages to their homes and livestock, and experiences of intimidation and harassment from mining companies and government actors. Yet, when the mining-affected residents brought these experiences to the court, they were faced with a new set of challenges which ultimately denied these experiences. This lawsuit ought to be framed as one that takes place in a country that is among the deadliest in the world for land defenders. Along with agribusiness, the mining sector ranks as the most dangerous and deadly. Scholarship on mining in the Philippines primarily centers three areas of focus; mining as an Indigenous struggle, a leftist struggle centered around land reform, and mining as a neoliberal or policy-centered issue. However, research on the particularities of mining in Cebu tends to be limited to historical accounts of mining during Cebu’s colonial period or the geospatial aspects of the recent 2018 landslide in Naga City. Mining contention in Cebu occurs outside the context of leftist rebellion and Indigenous resistance against the state and corporate actors. The thesis is anchored in Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ epistemicide, which problematizes cognitive injustices that, in broad terms, shape daily life and state-institutions in context of a historical struggle between the Global North and South. Acknowledging Santos’ scholarship on epistemicide, this thesis conceptualizes dimensions of epistemological violence to articulate an epistemology of violence particular to the extraction of natural resources. Focusing on the civil case in Naga City, three dimensions of epistemological violence make apparent how an epistemological framework for scholarship particular to the extraction of natural resources can be conceived. The three types of epistemological violence are; (1) erasing lived experiences, (2) legal categories as fixed boundaries, and (3) manipulating courts. Drawing on ethnographic work conducted in Naga City in 2019 and 2022, including conversations with mining-affected residents and the analysis of legal documents of this civil case, this thesis conceptualizes a framework to study the rule of law as a site where epistemological violence characterizes mining-related contention.
Explicating Women: A Qualitative Study Of Female Participants Who Practice Permaculture In The Twenty-first Century In China
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) Chen, Ying; Zhang, Wei; Sociology
Recently, there has been a growing body of literature on alternative food networks. However, very few studies have been conducted on Chinese female participants. This paper analyzes the experiences of female permaculture practitioners on the Yuansu farm in China between 2105 and 2022. The study draws on feminist political ecology to reveal how women participants apply life writing to resist the mainstream discourse of the dominant femininity ecological movement and agriculture development. Based on close reading of the life writings along with in-depth interviews with female permaculture participants, the paper finds that they rely on more-than-human and multi-species narratives to define their subjectivities. The current paper associates local day-to-day practices in China with global struggles and concerns in ecological and agri-food movements. The findings challenge the existent viewpoint that considers being political as fierce protests or negation movements as organizational efforts. It sheds light on alternative and embodied ways of change.
Cultural Baggage: Filipino-American Ethnic Identity and Postcolonial Experiences in Hawai‘i
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) Fong, Bryanna Baysa; Zhang, Wei; Sociology
Very few studies have investigated the colonial and postcolonial psychological experiences of Asian groups, despite the histories of colonization throughout Asian nations. The Philippines can trace colonialism back to the 1500s when Spanish explorers arrived on the island chain. After about 500 years under Spanish rule, the Treaty of Paris (1898) transferred the Philippines from Spain to the United States, subjecting the Filipino peoples to nearly 50 more years of colonization. Given the long colonial history of the Philippines, this paper aims to examine the effects of postcolonial trauma in contemporary Filipino Americans, with a particular focus on the Filipino-American population in Hawai‘i. Filipino Americans have a long history in Hawai‘i, resulting in some of the largest population numbers on the island. This paper seeks to explore the experiences of Filipino Americans in Hawai‘i specifically because the island chain has very distinct histories and sociopolitical structures compared to the continental United States, as well as the existence of a “local” culture. Thus, this paper also examines the role of ethnic and local identity in Hawai‘i, and the ways in which it may affect Filipino Americans’ postcolonial experiences, taking into consideration sub-demographic differences such as generation and education.
Do Enrollment in Special Education and Having a Learning Disability Influence Symptoms of Depression in Young Adulthood?
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2019) Johnston, Laura; Mossakowski, Krysia; Sociology
Although some research has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of Special Education programs, very little research has been focused on the mental health outcomes of children placed in Special Education in the United States. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), my goal in this study was to examine the relationship between placement in Special Education (Wave I) and symptoms of depression in young adulthood (Wave III). Results indicated that, after controlling for demographic characteristics, parental socioeconomic background variables, educational and employment outcomes, educational expectations, school satisfaction, prior depressive symptoms, and self-esteem, students who had received Special Education services or had a learning disability had higher levels of depressive symptoms in young adulthood (Wave III). Additionally, students who had received Special Education services or had a learning disability were more likely to have expressed depressive symptoms in Wave I. These findings suggest that students with a learning disability and those placed in Special Education are more likely to suffer from symptoms of depression both in school (intermediate and high school) and upon transitioning out of high school and into young adulthood. I hope that the findings of this study inspire others to build upon this research by exploring mental health outcomes of children who receive Special Education services. It is also my hope that this (and future) research will be used to develop targeted curriculum and supports which will facilitate positive mental health outcomes for children enrolled in Special Education and which will help alleviate the mental distress faced by students in Special Education transitioning into young adulthood.
Are Community HeaLth Centers Spaces For Patient-Centered Care? Using Intersectionality To Uncover The Quality Of Physician Care For Hispanic/Latinx Subgroups
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2019) Floyd, Megan Leslie; Zhang, Wei; Sociology
Community health centers are private non-profits, federally designed to provide quality and affordable healthcare for disadvantaged populations in the United States. Many of these community-based clinics have built into their mission statements, calls for patient-centered care: the practice of respecting a patients’ unique lived experiences. As Hispanic/Latinx are one of the largest groups served by this institution, and the largest minority group within the United States, it is vital that academic studies evaluate their quality of care. This paper addresses whether community health centers actively promote patient centered-care for Hispanic/Latinx female and SES subgroups. This paper is built upon a rich tradition of scholarship that has explored the quality of care using theories on patient-centered and paternalistic qualities of care within the United States healthcare system. While most of these works have used single-axis frameworks, more modern studies have incorporated theories of intersectionality. However, avenues of study remain largely unexplored. Only a few studies have been published on the role of community heath centers in promoting patient-centered care. Fewer have utilized data from the 2014 Health Center Survey- a comprehensive report on patient sociodemographic profiles, health outcomes, and quality of care. Despite this rich source, there has yet to be any published study on whether Hispanic/Latinx patients, across a wide spectrum of intersecting statuses, have reported patient-centered care at these clinics. Ordered logistic regression was used to determine the quality of doctor-patient interaction for Hispanic/Latinx groups (n=882) by gender, nativity, language, and socioeconomic statuses. Alpha and factor analysis was employed to aggregate the following measures into a single-12-point doctor-patient interaction scale that is used as the dependent variable: whether the doctor listened carefully to them, showed respect for patient input, provided easy-to-understand information, and spent adequate time with the client. Hispanic/Latinx across all categories reported positive doctor-patient interaction, compared to all other racial groups (n=2,042). The categories of female (p=.435), poor (p=.401), in poverty (p=.401), and unemployed (p=.611) showed no significant correlation. Hispanic/non-English speaking (p=.000**) and Hispanic/foreign-born (p=.000**) subgroups reported better quality of care. While these findings show that being Hispanic/Latinx, as well as the intersecting categories of non-English speaking and foreign-born are associated with positive doctor-patient interaction, future studies should be done to determine the underlying patterns behind these findings. In addition, it is vital that such studies continue to utilize both doctor-patient interaction and intersectionality theories. Further policies aimed at promoting patient-centered care at community health centers must also take into consideration the effects of multiple forms of adversity across all racial/ethnic categories.
Gender And Economic Development: The Case Of The Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) In To’abaita, Solomon Islands
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2019) Saeni, Enly Labuinao; Chai, Sun-Ki; Sociology
Kastom or traditional societies are often portrayed as the root of gender inequalities. It is often argued that in order to create gender equality, there is a need to transform them from traditional to modern societies, a lineal transition that reflects the trajectories of modernization. Here, I argue that kastom and traditional societies are not necessarily the roots of gender inequality. Rather, gender inequality is a product of the process of change, including neoliberal economic development, which creates new and unequal gender expectations and relationships. This is a complex process of intersections between traditional and modern changes that have resulted in changes to mutual gender responsibilities that were characteristic of traditional societies. Here, I use the case of To’abaita society in Malaita in Solomon Islands to show how economic development projects create and perpetuate gender inequalities, and how traditional gender relations influence the processes and outcomes of economic development projects. The study shows that in the To’abaita society, there is no such word in the local dialect that is equivalent with the English word, ‘gender.’ In the To’abaita language, the terms wane-wane ni bona’a and kini-kini ni bona’a are used, which are actually a reference to someone’s sex – male and female – rather than gender. When international organizations used economic development to change relationships between men and women it disrupts society and development is slow. However, when international organizations focus on empowering both men and women in their traditional roles and responsibilities, it gives them more power to pursue with other economic development aspirations to improve their lives. In this study I used kastom and traditional societies referring to the To’abaita society, especially how To’abaitans claimed themselves as being a man and woman in their own views and sensibilities, and in general how Solomon Islanders define their own society as dynamic, changing, functioning and surviving over time.
The Impact of Early Pregnancy and Unfulfilled Educational Expectations on Mental Health during the Transition to Adulthood among African American and White Females
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2016-05) Kohl, Noreen
Research has established that parenthood at a young age is associated with higher levels of psychological distress later in life. Less is known about the long-term mental health impact of early pregnancy and the potential intervening mechanisms that may help to explain why early pregnancy is distressing. In addition, though rates of early pregnancy remain higher among African Americans compared to Whites, research has yet to explore potential race differences in mental health consequences. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this study not only shows that early pregnancy has a long-term negative effect on mental health among Whites but also reveals that unfulfilled educational expectations help explain this negative effect. The study also finds differences in the distressing effect of early pregnancy among African American and White females.
Self-Esteem, Maternal Emotional Support, and Psychological Distress in Adolescence through the Transition to Adulthood: Black-White Differences in the United States
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2016-05) Bird, Omar
Contradictory and paradoxical findings persist when examining racial differences between blacks and whites when examining self-esteem and psychological distress. For example, despite social disadvantage, blacks report higher levels of self-esteem compared to whites across all stages of the life course, but also report higher, lower or similar levels of psychological distress. Though research has found a reciprocal relationship between self-esteem and psychological distress, racial disparities in in these two areas require social researchers to inquire further. Thus, this study aims to fill some gaps in the literature on self-esteem and psychological distress in several areas: (1) the long-term effect of self-esteem in adolescence on psychological distress in young adulthood, (2) racial differences of the effects comparing black and white Americans, and (3) temporal ordering of psychological distress and self- esteem over a 13-15 year period. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this study finds that though self-esteem in adolescence influences psychological distress in young adulthood among both groups, self-esteem explains more of the variation in distress among whites and multiple social factors in young adulthood (e.g., employment, household income and being easily stressed) mediates this relationship among blacks and not whites. Theoretical implications and future research are discussed.
Mainstreaming of the Right and a New Right-Wing Movement in Japan
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015-08) Asahina, Yuki
This thesis is a study of social change in contemporary Japan, which uses the success of a right-wing social movement as a case. My analysis focuses on the “Activist-Conservative” movement that had emerged in the late 2000’s and developed rapidly. Drawing on the analysis of original and secondary interview data with 46 right-wing activists, qualitative content analysis of right-wing magazines, and the review of various existing resources, I explore reasons people are motivated to take part in such activities and the reasons the movement was able to achieve a degree of success in contemporary Japanese society. The thesis argues that Japan’s new rightwing mobilization should be understood as a reaction to Japan’s economic, political, and symbolic power decline in East Asia. It was the macro-level economic and political changes in East Asia that enabled the success of the new right-wing movement.
Reproducing and Subverting the Coming Out Storyline: A Case of the It Gets Better Project
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015-05) Rost-Banik, Margaret
The It Gets Better Project is a website that anyone in the general public can use to upload or view videos about experiences of living as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) individual. Using theories of discursive practice, socio-cultural learning, and cyberspace, I employ qualitative content analysis to examine the videos in the It Gets Better Project associated with colleges and universities to determine the common elements of participants’ coming out stories: adversity, declaring, affirmation, and encouragement. Many of the narrators follow this prototypical storyline, strongly connecting LGBT identity with adversity and emphasizing the possibility of overcoming the adversity. Other participants disrupt the dominant narrative by significantly altering or excluding one or two of the themes. As they tell their coming out stories to support viewers who are struggling with their own experiences of sexual or gender identity, participants both reinforce and subvert dominant discourses of sexuality and gender.
Immigration-Related Stressors, Religious Involvement, and Mental Health Problems among Aisan Americans and Hispanics
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015-05) Liu, Sizhe
Using the 2002-2003 National Latino and Asian American Study, this work examines how religious involvement and immigration-related stressors, such as age at immigration and English proficiency, independently and interactively affect depressive disorders and suicidal behaviors. The findings show U.S. born Asian Americans and Asian American immigrants who immigrated to the U.S. during childhood are at higher risk of lifetime depressive disorders and suicidal behaviors than those who arrived in the U.S. after childhood. Same patterns were found for the association between age at immigration and suicidal behaviors for Hispanics. Limited English proficiency increases the risk of having depressive disorders and planning for suicide for Asian Americans but shows no effect on both depressive disorders and suicidal behaviors for Hispanics. Most importantly, religious involvements buffer the detrimental effect of English barrier and immigration during childhood on suicidal plan for Asian Americans and Hispanics, respectively.
Makua Valley
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2013-05) Ruelas, Ileana Haunani
This case study aims to contribute to scholarship on social movements, and the application of these concepts to Hawaiʻi's political history. Mākua Valley has been occupied by the military since World War II, and has been a widely contested area of land located on the west side of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. I present a case study of a long-term land struggle at Mākua Valley within the context of competing frames between the Army and the proponents of stewardship change. Through this paper, I examine the different stages of the struggle at Mākua over an eight-year period (between September 1998 and December 2006) through media content and personal narratives. Over the course of time, this particular movement demonstrates the role of the media in presenting selective frames, the development of legal strategy as a means to achieve social movement objectives, and the impact of changing political opportunities on processes of change (9-11).
Media, information, and networks: the young adult's overseas aspirations in Taiwan
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2013-12) Cheng, Kuo Sheng
Global travel by the young is a fashionable trend these days. Most of the travel studies are related to the motivation of youth traveling abroad. However, to a much lesser degree, the literature discusses the mechanisms of formatting international images in traveler's minds. This paper examines the factors that are related to high aspiration for overseas living among young adults (aged 18-29) by considering the case of Taiwan. A large number of scholars in interdisciplinary research indicated that a destination image makes a place impression and perception from multiple information sources. This study hypothesizes that the following four mediators build overseas aspiration via destination images: level of media and internet use, media, internet, and network. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the Taiwan Social Chang Survey 2008 dataset. In addition to revealing the effect of some demographics (age, gender, marital status, education, and occupation), the analytical outcomes shed light on the significant association between overseas living aspiration and the four mediators. Furthermore, the influence of the media and internet from the West (Europe/America) is overwhelming. The results serve to verify the power of word-of-mouth interpersonal communication in creating an overseas conceptual construction as previous studies have mentioned. The abroad destination image is not only used for travel, but also to identify the location of a possible career in the future among young adults.
Mass media construction of suicide problems in contemporary Japan: Asahi Shimbun suicide news reports, 1998-2008
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2010-12) Yamazato, Kohei
This thesis examines contemporary Japanese mass media's reporting practices on suicide and the construction of suicide problems over certain suicide categories, particularly in terms of moral panic. By analyzing 2263 suicide news articles of the Japanese national newspaper Asahi Shimbun from 1998 to 2008, this thesis discovers that unusual suicide methods and reasons, suicide by minor age groups by unusual occupations were over-reported. Among these categories, student bully suicide was constructed into a moral panic through the over-reporting practices of the Japanese mass media. The central problem in the moral panic over student bully suicide was not the act of student suicide itself, but the irresponsible or unacceptable conduct by the Japanese school and educational system who tried to conceal the existence of bullying. Finally, there were imitation suicides among students during the moral panic which was also encouraged by the Japanese mass media's over-reporting practices of student bully suicide.
Contesting conceptions of disability in Javanese society after the Suharto regime: the case of Yogyakarta, Indonesia
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-12) Thohari, Slamet
This study explores the contesting concepts of disability Javanese people in Yogyakarta Indonesia. Using Pierre Bourdieu's theory on habitus, field, and capital; it finds that there are four concepts of disability in Javanese society at Yogyakarta, i.e. traditional Javanese conception, Islamic conception, medical model conception, and social model conception. Javanese concept perceives disability as magic, Islamic concept believes disability as an object of charity, medical model looks at disability as an abnormality, and social model conceptualizes disability as a ―social construction‖. Those concepts are contesting each other which could strongly be seen from health and educational policies as well as public facilities. Based on those policies, the study finds that medical model is the dominant concept.
New tools, old voices: text messaging by adult cell phone users
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-12) Sevier, Holly
Text messaging use has exploded in the last decade, both in terms of volume and popularity, but the youth-centric approach of existing research has left adult texting use largely out of the picture. This study seeks to correct that gap by exploring the use of text messaging by adults aged 45 and older, asking why and how they text, and how the use of text messaging affects their social worlds. Relying on a number of individual interviews and small-group focused interviews, results found that study participants adopted texting primarily for the temporal efficiency inherent in the mode, but also that they tended to text asynchronously. Texting conferred a number of positive social functions on study participants such as increasing the frequency of inter-and intragenerational communications, facilitating feelings of community, and effecting greater control over mobile communications since texting enabled study participants to avoid the 'trap' of protracted voice calls.
Pushing paper: analysis of the official minutes of the Japanese Textbook Authorization Research Council
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-05) Nguyen, Charles Phan
The modern Japanese textbook system can be traced back to the post World War II textbook reform by the U.S. government's State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee (SWNCC). Their efforts to "demilitarize" and "denationalize" the textbooks through a textbook authorization and research council set the parameters by which textbooks are approved today. This initial condition of a strong centralized textbook review committee has remained for the last half century. The recent availability of the official minutes of the research council opens an opportunity to better understand how this committee operates. Using the available official minutes from 2000-2009, this paper will focus on review process of the textbooks published by Fusosha and how it was able to pass through a system initially designed to keep such books out of circulation in public education.
Educated wives of international graduate students and their class and occupational identity in the United States
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-05) Neupane, Gita
This study examines experiences of South Asian women spouses of international graduate students in the United States (US) from Hawaii in terms of their perceived social class and occupational mobility, and highlights socio-cultural and institutional factors affecting such mobility influenced by their employment and unemployment conditions affected by their visa status. The participants were accessed through my personal social networks and snowball sampling. In-depth interviews with ten such spouses and an intensive examination of their narratives though grounded theory as a methodological tool revealed five major themes specifically: academic qualifications and occupational mobility, class-based habitus and the feeling of declassing, negotiation of multiple identities, employment rights and restrictions tethered to their American visas, and the symbolic meaning of the US for the participants. These themes are interconnected and sometimes overlap with each other.
Who do you come out to ? Individuals' struggle over coming out in Japan and the role of sexual minority groups
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-05) Motoyama, Kotona
Heteronormative society requires non-heterosexuals to "come out" to be recognized, and coming out is often the most challenging experience for sexual minorities. I will discuss how non-heterosexuals deal with the issue of coming out, and how sexual minority groups play a role in relation to individuals' coming out process in the Japanese context. I conducted interviews with 24 non-heterosexuals, including people who are involved with sexual minority activities and did participant observation at three sexual minority groups. Based on my respondents' experiences, I will propose the four stages of the coming out process that describes how non-heterosexuals in Japan deal with coming out, which is distinct from the Western model of the coming out process. The study also found that "imaginary social homophobia" influences people's decisions about coming out. At the same time, continuous activities by sexual minority groups contribute to increase the awareness of non-heterosexuality in Japan.

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