RSS 1.0Electronic Dissertations and Theses - Sociology
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This collection contains theses and dissertations by students in the Department of Sociology at Washington State University.
Recent Submissions
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THE BOUNDARIES OF WASTE, WANT, AND REUSE: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THRIFT STORE SHOPPING AND DUMPSTER DIVING IN WASHINGTON STATE
(2019)Being a consumer in the contemporary United States is a complicated endeavor. As consumption choices have been linked with issues from declining stocks of natural resources to grievous harm to workers and resource-based ... -
STRUCTURES AND MEANINGS IN SUBSISTENCE FOOD PRODUCTION: A PLURALISTIC, HORIZONTAL, POST-CAPITALIST SOCIAL MOVEMENT IN THE GLOBAL NORTH
(2018)Set in three distinct geographic field sites – urban, suburban and rural – in and around the larger Chicago metropolitan area, this dissertation explores how environmental sociology can be used to understand populations ... -
VULNERABILITY TO POWER OUTAGE EVENTS BY RACE, ETHNICITY, POVERTY, AND ENVIRONMENT
(2018)This dissertation investigates power outage frequency patterns for relationships with race, ethnicity, poverty, and factors in the natural and built environments. While engineers have previously studied the impact of ... -
The Pursuit of Smart Grid: New Tools of the Trade
(2018)This study examines the perspectives of electricity industry experts regarding the electricity industry’s pursuit of Smart Grid—a term used to signify the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in grid ... -
PARENTAL SUPPORT OF MILLENNIALS AND THE POST-GRADUATE JOB SEARCH
(2018)Many parents of millennials (born between 1981 and 1998) who have fostered a close and supportive parent-child relationship through intensive parenting practices have watched their children graduate from college and enter ... -
MEXICAN MIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES: FACTORS INFLUENCING EARNINGS, REMITTANCES, AND RETURNING TO THE MOTHERLAND
(2017)This dissertation includes three journal-length articles with introductory and conclusory chapters. These articles examine the effect U.S. immigration policy periods, particularly the Immigration Reform and Control Act ... -
Understanding Social Factors Associated with the Geographic Distribution of Non-Violent Sex Crimes in a Southern California County
(2017)Macro-criminologists often try to understand the relationship between community characteristics and violent crimes or property crimes, but less attention has been given to explaining sex crimes, especially non-violent sex ... -
Proud of the Cloud: Social Factors that Influence Perceptions of the Hanford Nuclear Complex
(2017)Clean-up at the Hanford Nuclear Complex is incredibly complicated and presents some of the greatest technological challenges of any contaminated site. The relationship between Hanford, the Tri-Cities (where Hanford is ... -
ENVIRONMENTAL SENTENCING DISPARITIES IN THE U.S. PACIFIC NORTHWEST 2007-2011: A STORY OF EQUALITY?
(2015)Previous research has determined that both street crime and environmental hazards are more likely to occur in poor and minority communities that lack the ability to create and draw upon systems of social control. In an ... -
Probability of arrest based on sex: A longitudinal analysis of simple assault, aggravated assault, and robbery from 1996-2010
(2015)It is clear that statistics show vast differences in arrest rates between males and females for criminal behavior, with the most drastic differences found among violent offenses. However, the extent to which sex impacts ... -
WORLD-WIDE COMPARISONS ON THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN
(2015)This dissertation includes four journal-length articles with an introductory chapter. Two articles have been published in referred journals, Perspectives on Global Development and Technology and Journal of Environmental ... -
THE IMPACT OF SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS AND COGNITIVE TRANSFORMATION ON DESISTANCE FROM HIGH RISK BEHAVIORS
(2015)According to social control theorists, high-risk adolescents who find stable jobs and spouses may be less likely to engage in future criminal behaviors. Although there are several socio-demographic variables that are likely ... -
Mexican Origin Parenting in Sunnyside
(2015)Over the last several decades, Mexican origin immigrants have dispersed across the United States (Massey, Durand and Malone 2002). One community that has experienced particular growth in its Mexican origin population is ... -
The Impact of Community Colleges on Rural Economies and Populations
(2015)Economic activity in the United States continues to be spatially compressed into urban and suburban agglomeration economies. As a result of this spatial compression, rural economies across the United States are experiencing ... -
Predicting Race-Specific Drug Arrests: The Underexplored Role of Police Agencies
(2015)This study builds on research that explains why differences in drug arrest rates exist across space and by race, and sheds light on how these differences are produced. By identifying police organizational arrangements and ... -
Measuring Public Perceptions of Water Governance in Nebraska and Washington
(2013)Complex water governance systems are considered more effective when they build trust among their stakeholders. State-wide surveys of the general public can provide important insights into how trust influences stakeholders' ... -
Pills, Patches, and Syrups, Oh My: An Exploratory Study of College Men's and Women's Non-Medical Prescription Drug Use
(2013)National surveys on substance use indicate that the prevalence of non-medical prescription drug use is now greater than the prevalence of illicit drugs other than marijuana (National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2008). ... -
The Growth of the Design Disciplines in the United States, 1984-2010
(2013)Everything we touch, sit on, use and lean against is designed. Design disciplines (e.g. architecture, landscape architecture, city/urban planning, interior design and industrial design) play an extremely significant role ... -
The Queer Criminal: Impacts of Risk and Protective Factors on Sexual Minority Offending
(2013)The experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth and young adults with offending and the criminal justice system have increasingly become a topic of criminological concern. A possible research agenda focused on ... -
GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS, PERSONAL VALUES, PERCEPTIONS OF MORALITY, AND THE EFFECTS OF SELF-CONFRONTATION ON THE STABILITY OF PERSONAL VALUES
(2012)The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of moral perceptions in activating personal values. This study attempted to address three questions: (a) Does perceiving a moral component to biotechnology activate ...