SBS Graduation Annotations

Austin Brown
SBS 400 Fall 2016
SBS 402 Spring 2017
 SBS 300
1. Gans, E. (2000). The Sacred and the Social: Defining Durkheim's Anthropological Legacy.
Anthropoetics, 6(1), 1-10. doi:2000 (10 pages)
Eric Gans writes his article, The Sacred and the Social: Defining Durkheims
Anthropological Legacy, with the intention to describe Emile Durkheims legacy in the realm of
the theorizing the social and its relation to religion. He talks about Durkheims application in the
soft and hard sciences today. And then Gans concludes by describing how Ren Girard, and his
theories, act as his successor.
Gans spends the first few pages of his article describing how Durkheims ideas and
theories are being used today in the fields of both soft and hard sciences. In the soft sciences
Gans argues that they are not talking about Durkheim as much as they used to, but his ideas are
heavily influencing more current thinkers. Durkheim is also being used in the hard sciences
when scholars are discussing ideas about evolution. Durkheim had several deeply held beliefs
about language, religion, and evolution. And scientists today are using these deeply held beliefs
to reconsider old ideas, as well as come up with new ideas. Gans overall is just pointing out how
much of an influence Durkheim still is in the world. In the next few pages, Gans shows how
Durkheim does not match up with current in evolutionary psychology. Because he was so
focused on the social, a lot of evolutionary psychologists think that he was missing some key
concepts. And lastly, Gans writes about how Girard is the true successor to Durkheim. He is
heavily influenced by his ideas, but is also able to generate new opinions of his own that are
more applicable to the current world.
In proving that Girard is a successor to Durkheim, Gans introduces some definitions to
prove his point. He describes how Girard defines the sacred and how the sacred is connected to
the origin of language. By drawing the connection to the creation and purpose of language,
Girard is connected to Durkheim. Thus being his successor, according to Gans.
I felt that this article was a great resource as far as furthering my understanding of
Durkheim, particularly in his theories of religion and the sacred. Gans does a good job of
addressing multiple points of view on the issue, as well as drawing current world conclusions.
[Words: 367, Pages: 10]

2. Maclure, R., & Denov, M. (2006). I Didn't Want to Die So I Joined Them: Structuration and
the Process of Becoming Boy Soldiers in Sierra Leone. Terrorism and Political Violence,
18, 119-135. (27 pages)
Richard Maclure and Myriam Denov write an article titled I Didnt Want to Die So I
Joined Them: Structuration and the Process of Becoming Boy Soldiers in Sierra Leone. In
which they chronicle the truth behind boy soldiers in Sierra Leone. They start by showcasing the
facts that the general American public believes to be true. Then they showcase a study and
show the transition from young boy to soldier.
In their article they spend a majority of the time discussing the transition from boy to war
tool. Maclure and Denov talk about the indoctrination that occurs, the poverty that leads them to
search for any form of belonging and wealth, and also the fear that is placed on the young
children. All of these things create a world where the kid does not have any other choice than to
join in on war. The authors also discuss how the structure of the dominant society allows for this
to happen so it is not looked too down upon by the common culture. And finally, they discuss
rehabilitation programs and their success and failures.
As the main form of evidence for their arguments, Maclure and Denov use a study as well
as a lot of personal quotes in their piece. They rely on nothing heavier than a first person quote.
This is a solid choice as it brings first hand encounters to the forefront of their arguments.
I thought this was an interesting article. It was definitely eye opening to see the harsh
realities of boy soldiers. I also was saddened by the fact that rehabilitation programs are not
supported enough or widely known. [Words: 273, Pages: 27]

3. Salerno, R. (2004). Beyond the enlightenment lives and thoughts of social theorists. Westport,
Conn.: Praeger. (256 pages)
Salerno uses his book as a basic introduction to many of the key social theorists in
modern history. He spends each chapter analyzing the theorists basic history. Covering their
upbringing, relevant social facts (i.e. race, socioeconomic status, and religion), and the basics of
their most popular theory or theories.
Salerno writes this book with, what seems to be, the intention to provide an
understandable account of multiple social theorists for new students or people interested in the
social sciences. He uses pretty basic and understandable language, and does not delve too deeply
into any of the theories in order to not lose any readers. By using this method, Salerno is able to
not only maintain the attention of his readers, but he is also able to explain many theories in a
shorter book/period of time. I feel that this strategy works incredibly well, especially when being
used in an intro to theory type course like 300. This is an excellent entrance into the world of
social theory.
As far as examples and research go, Salerno just uses very baseline examples of the
theorists theories and instead chooses to focus more on a biography of each theorist. This gives
the reader a very broad understanding of where the social theorist was coming from in his or her
theory, but does not give the reader too much detail on the theorists actual theory. This is a good
approach for an entry level book, but does not serve too well for deeper research papers or
understandings of specific theories. However, this is easily countered, especially when being
used as a classroom resource. Students will get a better understanding for the theories by paying
attention in class, and thus only need the biographical background to enhance their
understandings. All this being said, the theories are definitely clear in their display in the book.
Its not so much that he is leaving out important pieces, instead it is more like he is just
scratching the surface.
Overall, I found this book to be very interesting and understandable. I feel that it did an
excellent job introducing me to all of the theorist and their theories, and it also inspired a large
interest in me to research further into the theories it brings up. Also, discussing most of the
theories in class helped flesh out the ideas that Salerno summarizes. This book compliments the
course work excellently without making us, the students, feel overwhelmed with academic
vocabulary or complex ideas.
I do feel that there was an under representation in female theorists though. I do not know
if that is simply because they did not exist at the time, or because they were just left out of
Salernos work. Either way this is not too much of a complaint, as there were already plenty of
theorists to learn about, with important theories, regardless of their gender. I would recommend
this book to anyone who is curious about social sciences as it provides an excellent beginning
point. I would also recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick refresher on who had
what theory and why. [Words: 520, Pages: 256]

4. Tagg, J. (2003). The Learning Paradigm College. Anker Publishing Company, Inc., 176
Ballville Road, P.O. Box 249, Bolton, MA 01740-0249 ($39.95). Web site:
http://www.ankerpub.com. (pg. 40 61) (22 pages)
In these two chapters, Tagg analyzes the struggle that is college to most fresh out of high
school students. He discusses how students are not motivated by the right reasons, thus the
transition to college is terribly hard for both the student and the professor. He then continues to
discuss how the way a student learns, feels about themselves, and sets goals is a huge
determining factor in their success in school and, furthermore, their life.
Taggs first main point is all about the freshman view of college. He claims that everyone
comes in with some idea of what to expect from experiences they have had in their lives. He
argues that students who are fresh out of high school are not motivated to do well in college, they
just want the experience. Tagg associates this attitude with the attitude the students have had
during their high school years. They could just skate by and get the diploma at the end and the
goal was accomplished. He talks about how this is bad and why it is so important for us to find
ways to resolve this state of mind. Chapter six is all about the two types of goals students have.
Either performance or learning goals. Performance is about doing well in the moment, while
learning goals are about actually retaining the knowledge. Tagg continues as he talks about two
theories that are involved in making these goals. They are entity and incremental. Entity revolves
around the idea that everything a person is capable of learning or knowing is already inside of
them, they just have to have it brought out of them. Whereas the incremental theory is all about
the person learning through every experience and being much more moldable.
Tagg uses many studies in his work to back up his arguments. But certainly these young
people must have learned something during those 19 years Some of what they have learned,
however, is counterproductive. (40) This excerpt is used by Tagg to show that what students are
learning in high school is not completely useful and good for them. When talking about how
faculty should approach these students, he also makes a good point, We [faculty] need to make
an effort of will to free ourselves from our own perspective and assume the students (46) Tagg
is saying that the faculty needs to begin to understand where the students are coming from, if
they ever wish to resolve the issues and improve the situation. Tagg also has good definitions of
entity and incremental theories. On entity he claims, An entity theorist views intelligence and
ability as fundamentally fixed and unchangeable. (52) As for incremental theorists he describes
them as believing, that intelligence and ability are changeable and contingent. (53)
For me personally the most useful piece of this reading was the idea behind the two
theories. I did not know that those were even theories, let alone instrumental ones in how one
learns and presents themselves in situations. It was very interesting and eye opening to learn
about them and begin to understand them. [Words: 516, Pages: 22]

5. Wallerstein, I. (2003). Anthropology, Sociology, and other Dubious Disciplines. Current

Anthropology, 44(4), 453-465. (12 pages)
In his article, Wallerstein discusses the slow decline of the state of the social sciences as
we know them today. He makes several points regarding their lack of support and their
ineffective methods. He claims that they should be rebranded under one term and one agreed
upon studying method.
Wallerstein starts off by explaining how the originally small group of social sciences has
blown up into many different avenues of study. And it has grown to mean a variety of very
different things depending on who you are talking to. Wallerstein then goes in to describing the
three different camps that he thinks exist within the discipline. He talks about the way that these
three different camps all study their fields using different types of data collection and quality.
And they all have different goals for the depth of their findings and the results they come across.
Next he talks about the people that would fight to uphold the current structure of the social
sciences. He talks about well-established academics and professionals that would feel attacked if
their discipline was destroyed or altered. And finally he moves into discussing his ideas of how
the new historical social sciences would be constructed and how they would interact with each
other.
Wallerstein has a lot of examples of people that would not want the current system
tampered with. He talks about the high up professionals in the disciplines fighting to keep the
system the way it is. He claims, Can you blame them for not wanting to cast all this aside by
abolishing their formal positions and placing themselves in a new unstable boiling pot in which
they will essentially have to fight their way forward again? (456) This is a very interesting
point, especially when he states afterward that these people are the ones who hold all of the
power in their disciplines. It is interesting to think about how hard he, and the people that want
the same thing he wants, would have to work in order accomplish their goals. He then presents
why they will lose by showcasing the general publics overall negative view of social scientists
and their inability to produce accurate data.
Wallersteins article is pretty interesting. I think his ideas to reform the social sciences
could bring about positive change and effects to the overall world of the study. I also think his
points about the publics general distrust and unhappiness with professionals from this science is
an eye opening angle. I would never have thought about the publics ability to force such a major
change in this large world. [Words: 434, Pages: 12]
6. Yosso, T. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community
cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69-91. doi:March 2005 (pages 69
91) (23 pages)
Yosso uses her article to explain what Critical Race Theory (CRT) is, and how it can be
applied to create an understanding of cultural wealth. Yosso discusses how even the poorest of
people, are some of the wealthiest as far as culture and community are concerned.
At first Yosso discusses Critical Race Theory. CRT is a set of ideas and goals that
theorists use while discussing race and how different races interact with society. Every race has
its own CRT branch that is explored by theorists. CRT also focuses five main points. Second,
Yosso uses CRT to attack the idea that the heavily impoverished, in most cases the racial
minority, are poor and almost worth nothing. Yosso accomplishes this by showcasing the cultural
wealth of these groups. She discusses how strong their communities are and how culturally
connected they are. Because they lack financial stability and materialistic items, they rely heavily
on relationships with the people around them as well as the location they live in.
Yosso explains the CRTs five basic principles as, (1) the intercentricity of race and
racism; (2) the challenge to dominant ideology; (3) the commitment to social justice; (4) the
centrality of experiential knowledge; and (5) the utilization of interdisciplinary approaches. (5)
She goes on to explain each one of these five points, and they all point to the universal use of
CRT. No matter what race you are looking at, you can apply CRT and often applying it leads to a
more accepting understanding of the culture.
I found this reading to be very interesting. I very much enjoyed the idea of CRT and its
ability to find the silver lining, if you will, in the situation of the impoverished. I also liked the
general applicability of CRT to any and all cases and races. [Words: 301, Pages: 23]

SBS 328
1. Gaile, G. L., & Willmott, C. J. (2003). Geography in America at the dawn of the 21st century.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. (767 pages)
This book was used as a textbook in SBS 328. It is a comprehensive geography book that
explains many aspects of geography, and it uses about 40 pages worth of scholarly sources to
explain the main points of each section. The book starts out by discussing the very basics of
geography and the language we, as readers, need to understand to learn from the book. Then the
authors go on to describe humanities impact on geography, as well as how humans influence and
work in the world of geography. This section includes information on jobs in the field, and
methods used to collect data. And finally, there is a large section of the book dedicated to
discussing the ethics and morals of geographic work and field study.
The authors make it very clear that it is important to understand the human beings that
live where geographers are studying. It becomes critical for researchers and scientists to
thoroughly investigate and preserve the parts of the Earth they are studying. Also, many
geographers study controversial topics such as gender, sexuality, religion, etc. This adds yet
another layer of depth and importance to their research and requires them to look into their
methods and how they publish their results. It is important to geographers to treat every person
with equal respect and it is sometimes hard to do so when the data they are collecting relates to
sensitive or controversial information. The purpose of this book is not only to educate readers on
the study of geography, but more importantly it is to educate readers on the moral requirements
of becoming a geographer.
This source not only taught me pretty much everything I know about the science of
geography, but it also showed me the morality of the science. This was something that was pretty
new to me to learn in SBS 238. I have learned a lot about sciences over the years, however I have
not learned too much about the morals that are involved in scientific study. This book opened my
eyes to the necessary thoughts that must go through a geographers mind before even starting any
research.
Lastly, the authors of this book talk a lot about the methods used to collect data for
geographic research. Geographers tend to use surveys of the land, taken by hand or with drones
now at days, or of the cultures of the people in the area they are observing. These surveys are
then put together to create a map, or some other representation of data, that can be used to better
understand the physical land or the people on it. Today, most of this data collection and analysis
is done on computers or automated machines. Often, drones are used to take aerial images that
can be put through filters to find different information or look for different depths, lifeforms,
temperatures, etc. This technology has propelled the science of geography and has allowed it to
grow almost exponentially. It has become easier to survey the Earth, even the hard to reach
places. [Words: 508, Pages: 767]

SBS 245
1. Calloway, C. G. (2012). First peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History.
Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, a Macmillan Education imprint. (704 pages)
First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History, a book used to
describe the terrible life of Native Americans in extreme detail, covers a few aspects of the
Native American struggle. The book starts with a short introduction to Native life before the
western expansion of Europeans. It quickly jumps into the fighting between colonists/explorers
and the Native people. Also in this section is a description of the many differences between tribes
and native nations. After showcasing the horror that was colonization, the book moves into
discussing the mission system and the transition into white culture. It poignantly expresses the
pain and torture that all of the tribes were put through in an attempt to Kill the Indian, Save the
Man. They were literally ripped of their culture and forced to either live in the white mans
world or die along with their beliefs and culture. The book then goes on to describe how many of
todays North American societies still do not treat their Native population correctly. Yes, it is
better than it was, but they are still severely marginalized and targeted. And, surprisingly, Canada
was the worst towards them for the longest time.
 The purpose of this book is to inform readers of the struggle that Native Americans went
through. It is to destroy common beliefs such as those that surround heroes like Christopher
Columbus. The author wants to create a more informed nation and world by defeating one
misconception after another. The most interesting part of the book is how the author presents the
information to the readers. He does do a lot of just talking at the reader, but the unique part is
when the author puts documents, artwork, and maps that are from the period he is describing.
These are put at the end of the chapters and provide an excellent resource for more information
and for proof of his earlier arguments. Using these documents as primary sources for essays
would be an excellent resource to take advantage of. These documents can often be cited as
separate sources, and tend to do an excellent job of showing rather than telling the sad history the
book is trying to explore.
The two largest things I took away from this book were the documents included
throughout the text and the information regarding the treatment of Native Americans in the early
years of America. I was not entirely aware of all of the tortures they were put through and this
article made me realize the importance of social and behavioral sciences. Social and behavioral
scientists hold an important and an influential position. One where they are able to uncover new
truths and present them to a world that would otherwise not find or know them. This book helped
me learn more the social sciences and what it can do. It also helped solidify why I chose this
major and to potentially spend my career in this field of study. I owe a lot of my career focus to
what I learned from this book and the documents inside of it. [Words: 513, Pages: 704]

2. Crow Dog, M. B., & Erdoes, R. (1990). Lakota woman. New York, NY: Grove Weidenfeld.
(263 pages)
Lakota Woman is an autobiography chronicling the life of Mary Crow Dog, a Sioux
woman who lived through a contemporary cruel life. She tells her story of growing up as a poor
minority in a divided, broken, and unfair United States. In this book, Crow Dog expertly
describes her struggles in a way that does not grab at or look for pity. Instead, she seems to try to
use her own experience as evidence for the general mistreatment of Native Americans. She is
very clear in her words and paints a picture for the reader. A picture full of corrupt and evil
government agencies and laws that prevented her from escaping the stereotypes thrown onto her.
Crow Dog explains AIM, American Indian Movement, and how she worked to improve the life
and the reputation of Native Americans. She talks about life on the reservation, a life full of
poverty and no opportunities. The Ghost Dance is another topic Crow Dog discusses in her life
story. She tells the tale of how this ritual was outlawed, but the culture pushed through it and
continued to perform the Ghost Dance. Overall, Crow Dog uses her autobiography to provide
countless examples of multiple maltreatments that the Native American population was put
through all over North America.
Crow Dog clearly wrote this book to tell her story and help inform readers of the
misconceptions they might not know they hold. She does a great job educating the reader on the
problems the Native American community faces today and has faced in the past. Crow Dog does
not quote too many people in this book, instead she speaks from her own life history and does
not need much evidence to back up what she lived. This makes this book pretty unique in terms
of usability in a capstone or other research project. She isnt a doctor with a lot of research under
her belt, instead she lived through what she is describing and might have some more valuable
aspects to her story than a researcher may have in his or her research. This fact alone makes what
Crow Dog has to say important for people to read and experience.
This book, and Crow Dogs presentation of her life specifically, taught me a lot about
evidence that social and behavioral scientists use and look for. Because her book is a life history
and can be considered qualitative research, it is a viable, and citable, resource for an SBS student
or researcher. Until this book, I had had an idea in my head of what evidence was. I was
convinced that evidence was only legitimate if it was backed by multiple studies and had some
fancy researcher with a doctorate attached. Crow Dogs book taught me that that is not only
false, but it is far from the truth. In the social and behavioral science world, the words of
someone living in the culture and living through the pain is just as valuable, if not more, than the
research of someone studying that culture or pain. Crow Dog was there for everything she
explains in the book and that brings a unique realness to what she says. [Words: 530, Pages: 263]

SBS 362
1. Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. (2004). Qualitative interviewing the art of hearing data. Los Angeles,
CA: SAGE. (24 pages)
In chapter one and two of Qualitative interviewing the art of hearing data, the authors
focus on interviewing and how to conduct interviews. They begin with a long introduction to the
method and explain how pivotal communication is to culture and people. They then begin to
describe how interviews are unpredictable and different every time that one is conducted.
Chapter two starts to focus on the actual mechanics of interviewing. It talks about the
interviewers willingness to hear what the interviewee has to say. As well as the interviewees
chances to react in unpredictable ways based off of the questions asked.
Rubin and Rubin spend a majority of their time focusing on the unpredictability of
interviewing. They continually bring up culture and how much that affects peoples willingness
to participate and engage in an interview. They also explain how the interviewee may be
triggered by something that the interviewer has said and this could cause a negative turn for the
whole process.
This is a great source for validating the pros and cons of conducting an interview. It is
also useful to read for an introduction to the method. The authors do a great job laying out the
base information of interviewing. I would come back to this source for help proving why my
interview is a valid source and research method for my capstone or other class that I am in.
As far as my opinion on the source, I feel that these two chapters were a little repetitive.
They kept bringing up culture and how much it effects interviews. I feel they could have been a
little shorter if they would have stopped repeating themselves so much. Other than that, though,
this was a very helpful source. [Words: 289, Pages: 24]
 SBS 400
1. Aagaard, J. (2015). Drawn to distraction: A qualitative study of off-task use of educational
technology. Computers & Education, 87, 90 - 97. (8 pages)
Aagaard uses this article to discuss his findings on the distraction capabilities of
technology in the classroom. He produced and conducted his own study on six classrooms in a
business college in Denmark. Aagaard used qualitative interviews to determine how distracting
the technology could be. Multiple students described how they were able to recognize that they
were getting distracted and off topic, but only after at least ten minutes of already being
distracted.
Aagaard found a couple of interesting things in his studies. First off, he discovered how
important technology is to the educational world today. In the six classes he participated in, he
observed that laptops and tablets were drastically taking over the pencil and notebook norm. He
used this observation to help understand how students are getting distracted. Because almost
everyone had at least one piece of tech open and accessible, the students were much more likely
to browse Facebook or other internet sites. Overall, Aagaard was able to make some useful
discoveries in a field that is extremely new and may not be fully understood. [Words: 178, Pages:
8]

2. Alcorn, P. A. (2003). Social issues in technology: a format for investigation. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 1 288 (288 pages)
Alcorns book is written to educate people with little to no knowledge on social issues
involved in technological evolution. This provides a good entry point to discover potential issues
for my capstone to focus on. Also, it gives some information regarding social media, and more
generally, technology as a distraction in everyday life.
In the beginning of the book, Alcorn introduces the concept that human beings are
naturally resistant to change and this helps slow the extremely fast evolution of technology.
Quick change induces anxiety in most people. This anxiety is the best brake system for
economic, societal, and technical evolution. People legitimately cannot handle too much change
too fast because there is a necessary adjustment period. This natural resistance limits the
evolution of technology, and Alcorn argues that this is in fact a good thing. If technology moved
too fast it would overwhelm people and thus the positives would never be discovered or
capitalized on.
He continues to explain this idea by using the economy as an example. Technology can
cause both positive and negative effects on the economy. If it is implemented slowly and smartly,
technology can improve profits of businesses by making production more efficient and services
easier to provide. However, if the technology is ramped up too quickly, it will begin to cost more
than it saves. This would lose companies and, in turn, people money because they arent able to
make as high of profits. This is an important idea to understand, because, in my case, I am
looking at how social media effects students study quality. Everything I am finding, so far,
seems to point to this having a double-sided answer. Social media can be both a distraction and a
benefit depending on the kid using it. This is a similar concept to the economy example used
earlier, and the speed and intelligence needed to determine the outcome of social media use
makes sense against the self-regulation information I have collected thus far.
The later section of Alcorns book describes several methods that can be used to study
technologys effect on society. A systematic approach is the most relevant to my capstone
project. This is because the idea of a systematic method is to identify a problem, then break that
problem down into its main components and thoroughly analyze each component. I feel that this
method is what my capstone will be attempting to do through literature review. I have identified
a problem, and I am trying to find answers and reasons as to why the problems causes are
occurring and how they occur.
This book was a little bit of help to me. It opened my eyes to some arguments for
technology use in the workplace and it justified my research questions by suggesting a method of
study similar to my approach. However, it is a little too vague and general to provide detailed
information on the effects of social media on student study quality. This is okay though, as I
definitely need a few sources that ground my findings in existing methods and norms of the field.
Alcorns piece has definitely provided me with a better understanding of the effects of
technology in general, which will do nothing but help my understanding of a more specific
problem. [Words: 545, Pages: 288]

3. Bethards, M. (2014). Applying social learning theory to the observer role in simulation.
Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 10(2), 65-69. (5 pages)
In this article, Bethards discusses the role of the observer in educational simulations. He
brings up the topic of students role as the observer in the classroom, and how attention plays a
major role in the students learning and understanding. Bethards goal in the article, and the
research he has conducted, is to achieve a process to produce similar learning outcomes for all
forms of classroom participation. Bethards wants to see the observer achieve the same level of
learning as the participants, and vice versa. In order to achieve this, Bethards claims that there
needs to be ample motivation provided to the observer as well as attention applied to and from
the observer.
The most useful thing Bethards does is use Social Learning Thoery to describe and
determine his ideal approach to including the observer. This theory can clearly be applied to
attention and learning, and this could be quite useful in determining the role of social media on
attention span. [Words: 180, Pages: 5]

4. Brooks, S. , & Califf, C. (2016). Social media-induced technostress: Its impact on the job
performance of it professionals and the moderating role of job characteristics. Computer
Networks, 1 -11 (11 pages)
Brooks and Califfs article introduces an idea called technostress. They discuss what it is,
how it is created, and how it can affect people. Technostress is caused excessively when
individuals interact with technology, and social media, at the same time as they are supposed to
be completing a task. This task can be work related or even personal goals. The article looks at
the issue mainly from an employment side. Brooks and Califf discuss the current issue employers
face of walking the fine line between letting employees abusing internet privileges and growing
technostress or hating their job and being eager to get back online.
The biggest revelation that this source was able to uncover was that technostress can be
minimalized or even removed depending on certain variables pertaining to the job. Specifically,
our results suggest that job feedback, task identity, task significance, and task variety can
significantly reduce the impact of social media-induced technostress on job performance. This
implies that social media-induced technostress can be managed. (Brooks, 2016) This is an
important source because it provides evidence to how the distraction of and stress caused by
social media can be managed and reduced. The person just has to be in the right situation and has
to be in the right mindset, but people are able to control their social media use. [Words: 221,
Pages: 11]

5. David, P. , Kim, J. , Brickman, J. , Ran, W. , & Curtis, C. (2015). Mobile phone distraction
while studying., new media & society, 17(10), 1661-1679 (19 pages)
This is a study and an analysis of said study. The study was on mobile phones and to what
degree do they distract the user. They focused on three major factors: music, texting, and social
media. They then compare how these three factors affect individuals during studying and
homework. The researchers created a scale they called the MPIL that they used to determine how
distracting, or interrupting, these factors were. They found that listening to music was little to no
distraction. However, the same cannot be said for texting and social media.
The number of Facebook friends was positively related to MPIL (David, 2015) They
found that as the number of Facebook friends increased, so did the MPIL score. This means that
the more people the user had to interact with on Facebook, the more they were distracted and the
more the mobile phone interfered with their studying. This is very useful to help show that social
media is maybe a legitimate distraction when it comes to studying in college. [Words: 170,
Pages: 19]

6. Fewkes, A. , & McCabe, M. (2012). Facebook: Learning tool or distraction?. Journal of

Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 28(3), 92-98 (7 pages)
Fewkes and McCabe open their article by describing some statistics regarding students
feelings towards Facebook as a study tool. These are important later on, but in the beginning, I
feel that the most shocking part was when they say that schools need to embrace the use of
social media in their classrooms. They conducted a survey of multiple students and school board
members and found some interesting statistics. They found that 77% of students surveyed
believed that Facebook could be used for educational purposes. However, they also found that
only 27% of students reported their teachers implementing Facebook into their lessons.
They then spend the finale of their article discussing the massive disconnect between the
students and the school administration when it comes to social media use. They also discuss how
the students have taken it into their own hands to use Facebook as an educational tool, however
they are getting blamed for it by the administration. This is an issue that definitely needs to be
addressed. [Words: 167, Pages: 7]
7. Goel, L. , Prokopec, S. , & Junglas, I. (2013). Coram populoin the presence of people: The
effect of others in virtual worlds. Journal of ComputerMediated Communication, 18(3),
265-282. (18 pages)
This article begins with defining the world they are attempting to describe and analyze.
They talk about virtual worlds and their exponential rise in importance and relevance in todays
world. The authors then introduce Social Interaction Theory and relate it to the virtual world.
This is where the source comes in very useful to me.
They introduce a specific portion of Social Interaction Theory, distraction-conflict theory.
Distraction-conflict theory analyzes to what extent people distract other people. Normally this is
viewed as an interpersonal theory used to explore real life interactions. However, this does not
always have to be the case. The authors excellently explore how virtual worlds can mimic, often
flawlessly, real life interactions between people.
I can use this to explore how distraction-conflict theory still applies in social media
interactions. People can still distract other people even over a screen. This distraction can cause
latency in study quality and productivity. [Words: 151, Pages: 18]

8. Hollis, R. , & Was, C. (2016). Mind wandering, control failures, and social media distractions
in online learning. Learning and Instruction, 42, 104-112. (9 pages)
This article begins with a definition of mind wandering. Hollis and Was describe it as
thinking about unrelated things while working on completing a task. This can be likened to a
distraction, or something that occurs and takes a persons attention away from the action he or
she was attempting to complete or perform. When subjects were mind wandering, 29.1% of
their off-task thoughts were about using another technology or engaging with social media. In
total, subjects were thinking about technology and social media 12.5% of the time. (Hollis,
2016) This will be an important statistic for me to address in my capstone because it gives me
data on how often students can get distracted by their social media use. This article also provides
me an interesting perspective on the whole distraction concept by introducing mind wandering. I
believe that I can use this article to describe the level of distraction that exists for students
studying and I can use their detailed percentage breakdowns to compare general distraction to
social media related distractions. [Words: 173, Pages: 9]

9. Hong, J. , Hwang, M. , Szeto, E. , Tsai, C. , Kuo, Y. , et al. (2016). Internet cognitive failure
relevant to self-efficacy, learning interest, and satisfaction with social media learning.
Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 214-222. (9 pages)
This article tests the relevance of using social media as a learning tool. This is an
important source for me because it shows a counterexample that is very much the opposite of the
majority of the data I have found. This will be an excellent point of contention that I can bounce
other studies off of and try to find the truth.
 The researchers talk about how using social media as a learning platform allows students
to control their learning pace and modify their curriculum. They argue that teachers should spend
more time developing YouTube content, or finding content, to share with their classes as useful
educational support. If a kid is behind in a class, it is helpful for him or her to be able to
reference something over and over again that teaches him or her the concept that is so difficult to
understand. Also, using video resources to learn, helps to reduce the gap between students who
are naturally good at subjects and those students that tend to fall behind. This could create a
better classroom environment that would even more further the knowledge transfer in the
classroom. [Words: 191, Pages: 9]

10. Richert, R. , Robb, M. , & Smith, E. (2011). Media as social partners: The social nature of
young children's learning from screen media. Child Development, 82(1), 82-95. (14
pages)
This article discusses how todays children are learning a significant amount from the
media they watch on screens. The article focuses this on television screens, however, being
written five years ago, this could definitely apply to tablets, cell phones, and computers. This
idea of learning through screens can also be applied to social media, and works in tandem to the
article by Hong et. all.
They describe not only the visual learning that occurs for young children through
watching TV, they also describe the auditory learning that occurs. These kids are able to
determine different dialects and different languages at a very young age, and television can help
capitalize on this ability and teach them multiple languages very quickly.
This article claims that media can be a marvelous resource for parents to use to teach
their preschoolers, and I would argue that this logic can be applied to social media. It can be an
excellent learning tool that teaches through social interaction and audio-visual stimulation.
Individuals can gain a lot of information by watching others teach, that is how we currently, and
have always, taught school. Now seeing the teacher over a screen at the viewers own pace is not
that much different than having the teacher there in person. [Words: 210, Pages: 14]

11. Templin, P. (2012). Social media: New age marvel or distraction?. Industrial Engineer, 44(2),
28-32. (5 pages)
This is a very simple article. The author, Templin, uses a small amount of words to
describe the negative affects social media has on companies, and more specifically managers.
The interesting piece of this article is Templins ability to explore both sides of the argument in
the beginning, while slowly settling on what seems his opinion on the issue. He starts by saying
that some people think social media encourages creativity and idea sharing. This is a good thing
for companies because it improves productivity in most jobs. However, Templin then begins to
directly conflict with this idea by describing the major distraction that social media can be. He
mentions how employees get lost in the virtual world of their friends and sharing information
back and forth, information that is not relevant to their jobs. On top of this, Templin talks about
the lack of accuracy that occurs when sharing information over the internet. Nothing is checked
for correctness on the internet so anyone can claim anything without a consequence. This is bad
news for most employers that are interested in keeping their work or progress somewhat secret
from the public, or their rivals. [Words: 194, Pages: 5]

12. Weiler, M. , Santanello, C. , Isaacs, D. , Rahman, A. , Odonnell, E. , et al. (2015). Pharmacy

students attitudes about social media use at five schools of pharmacy. Currents in
Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 7(6), 804-810.
This article is a summary of a survey conducted on pharmacy students that looked at their
use of social media as a learning tool vs a distraction. This source can be perfectly applied to the
major dichotomy that I have found in this research. It is all about finding whether social media is
mostly a learning tool or a distraction from learning. The study found that most students do use
social media in class as a distraction. They also found that this is being done because the students
are bored. This creates a new question about whether or not media use in class makes the class
more engaging and, therefore, less boring.
Lastly, Weiler et al. bring up using incentives to guide students attention. They mention
using extra credit as a tool to encourage people to pay attention during class and stay away from
social media and other similar distractions. [Words: 150, Pages: 7]

SBS 402
1. Arnopoulos, P. (1993). Sociophysics: chaos and cosmos in nature and culture. Commack, NY:
Nova Science. 1 349 (349 pages)
In his book, Arnopoulos introduces the term sociophysics. He defines it as the
systematic study of natural-cultural metaphors. The idea is that culture bridges a gap between
human beings reasoning and passion. Without culture, we would be a creature of two extremes,
unable to compromise or reach any sort of middle ground. Through a complex series of
equations and explanation Arnopoulos relates human society and culture to well-known natural
physics facts and terms. For example, he brings up the law of conservation of mass. This classic
physics principle explains that mass is neither created or destroyed, it just changes forms.
Arnopoulos relates this to society by describing a conservation of societal belongings. Cultures,
and societies, are constantly exchanging bits and pieces of each other, however if properly
calculated, the net given and taken would be equal. This means that societal mass is conserved in
a very similar fashion to how physicists explain their own law of conservation of mass.
The author of this book firmly believes that society can be explained with a science that
uses terms, laws, and theories that already exist to explain the natural sciences. He argues that
society resembles an organism because it stores and processes information. Society is made of
people, like atoms, that group up to form different cultures, like molecules, and these cultures
work against or with each other to form the whole of human society, like any organism is made
up of molecules.
Continuing with the organism similarity, another interesting observation made in this
book is that societies occasionally come to an end, like all organisms do. However, societies
evolve much faster than organisms do. This prevents them from dying off. Instead, they change
with the times and are able to maintain their life overtime. They often take aspects from other
societies, especially after the loss of a war or some other massive event, yet they hardly ever
disappear completely. This is a unique aspect of societies, when compared to organisms, but it is
also a very important part of society and social change. It is incredibly difficult to destroy a
culture or society, but it is not too hard to modify the society to achieve new goals or set different
rules.
As far as my capstone is concerned, I believe that I can use this source to help explain
why Zajoncs theory makes sense as a choice to help answer my questions. Zajoncs theory
relates to in person communication, but my capstone talks solely about technological forms of
person to person communication. In Arnopoulos eyes communication is communication. It is a
crucial aspect to human culture development and thus just one of many variables used to derive
society. This variable exists regardless of form. In other words, communication between two
people in the same room is the same as communication between two people across the world, at
least in terms of its immediate effect on the people involved and the culture as a whole. This is
key support for my use of Zajoncs theory. [Words: 503, Pages: 349]

2. Castells, M. (1996). The information age. economy, society and culture: the rise of the
network society. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 1 532 (532 pages)
This book chronicles the beginning of the technological revolution through present day. It
begins by describing the industrial revolution and comparing it to the technological revolution.
The only thing of note in the introductory chapters is the discussion of information becoming the
product and service produced and serviced by major corporations. What used to occur is that
some businesses manufactured steel, or other physical goods, and other businesses serviced those
products, either by building other products with them or performing some type of maintenance.
Today, information is the good produced, in the form of data from big businesses, and other
sources, that is then used to improve business in other areas. And the servicers today are busy
figuring out ways to make the information more user friendly and/or more widely accessible.
Castells continues with this idea as he explains how this phenomenon spread the world and left
many countries in the dust and, often times, economic decline.
Seeing as this book was written more than a decade before the first iPhone launched, let
alone the common social media platforms used today, it may be a quick reaction to assume it was
not useful or applicable to my capstone project. However, that is a very wrong assumption.
Castells book gives an excellent introduction to the effects of technology on a society without
smart phones in their hands. This, or these, effect(s) would only be dramatically increased by the
fact that people today walk around with access to the media discussed in this book in their
pockets. Castells explains that television sets consumed upwards of five hours per day of
peoples attention and that they quickly became influential in the information that people were
receiving.
Castells book also describes how people felt about internet communication before it was
common to the average person. He argues repeatedly in his book that internet communication
does not substitute for other means of communication and it doesnt create any new social
patterns for people. This, written only twenty years ago, has already changed to the point of
being inaccurate. Technology has moved faster than even Castells, a well researched academic,
thought would happen. The technology required for online interactions to rival those in the real
world has been a part of the average Americans life for at least a few years now and it is
becoming clear, from more current studies, that technology is changing how, when, why and to
whom people communicate.
To close, Castells discusses how technology and a connected network of societies is
fundamentally changing the human experience. Using many examples, including military
technology, he demonstrates how advancements in technology are allowing people to live a more
ideal life. For example, because military technology has allowed soldiers to be more precise and
effective, less people die in wars and wars last for a shorter amount of time. These two factors
benefit human life overall. Though it may be a little out of date, Castells has well researched and
explained fundamental points that are still relevant today. And the pieces that are no longer
accurate serve as a good basis for what used to be the belief towards technology and
communication. [Words: 527, Pages: 532]

3. Chayko, M. (2008). Portable communities: the social dynamics of online and mobile
connectedness. Albany: State Univ. of New York Press. 1 289 (289 pages)
Chayko discusses many useful, and frankly eye opening, topics throughout her fairly
short book. The first topic she discusses is the mental space that is necessary to facilitate
communities through technology. She coins a term, sociomental space, to describe the area
where people gather in virtual worlds. By taking an existing definition of cyberspace and
twisting it to describe her sociomental space, Chayko explains that this area is necessary for
human beings to understand the connections they are making online. This is excellent
information as far as my capstone is concerned. Im trying to show that Zajoncs theory about in
person communication can be stretched to apply to the virtual world. And with Chaykos
sociemental space explanation, I have my meeting place that allows students to become
distracted from their work.
She continues to explain how people not only feel that they are in the same room with
people through online connectedness, but they feel that they are constantly surrounded by those
important to them. Also, this closeness created through online societies can even lead to intimate
relationships. If this is not evidence enough that social interactions online are just as powerful as
those in person, Im not sure what is. Chayko agrees with me, even stating herself that
friendships born online can be more engaging than those born in the real world.
Chayko is on the side of social media being good for learning, studying, and work flow.
She argues that online connectedness gives people instant access to the information they need to
succeed in their jobs and assignments. Also, that the creation of message boards and other
discussion based communities allow for people to swap ideas and easily bounce thoughts off of
one another. Often times these message boards can be anonymous, or at least under a random
username, which makes people feel less anxious about looking dumb and improves the speed at
which people get answers to their questions. This is an important distinction from the school of
thought based on social media being a distraction. Chayko sincerely believes that these benefits
outweigh the negatives, almost to a fault. She brings up hardly any negative sides to online
connectedness throughout the entire book.
 This brings us to the last portion of this annotation. Chayko only discusses two potential
down sides, and those are inequalities present in online communities and security risks. Both of
which she quickly circumvents the downsides and shows a couple of solutions. Inequalities exist
everywhere and shouldnt be used as an extreme downside to online communities. Especially
with the ability to contribute anonymously, individuals are actually less likely to be victimized if
others do not know who they are or what they believe or look like. As for security risks, Chayko
basically sums it up with people will get over them because of the ease and convenience that
online marketplaces, communities, etc. provide to everyday life. These are fine answers, however
they do not provide much insight into the problems themselves, and I feel that this is the biggest
downside to this otherwise very useful book. [Words: 512, Pages: 289]

4. McKenzie, R. B. (2003). Digital economics: how information technology has transformed

business thinking. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. 1-318 (318 pages)
McKenzie, a veteran economics professor from UC Irvine, writes this book to educate
people in the early 2000s about the effects of emerging technology on businesses economy.
Interestingly enough, he managed to accurately predict some problems faced by businesses
today, about 16 years after he wrote the book. Yes, this does mean that the information may be
outdated, but he still has an interesting way at looking at technology, especially when compared
to my other capstone research documents.
To start, McKenzie discusses the productivity costs of moving to, or just using in general,
a largely electronic system. Not only does it distract the workers, but it costs money to initially
build. It costs money to keep all of the software up to date, and it costs money and time to
troubleshoot issues that pop up daily. Also, businesses have to take into account how much
money they pay monthly or yearly for software subscriptions or upgrades to the hardware.
Technology advances and changes so quickly, and this is normally viewed as an excellent aspect
of the devices. The tech we are used to today is able to get better and more advanced at
extremely fast rates. However, this creates an immense cost for businesses as they constantly
have to upgrade a different piece of their system at least yearly if not more frequently.
Oftentimes, companies get behind and then their employees are working with slow equipment
and that costs the company money too. Every aspect of technology is an expense for companies.
That being said, it obviously does improve efficiency and thus brings in more money to the
company. If this was not true, then it would not be the norm for everyone to do some percentage
of their work on a computer or information processing device.
The other interesting point McKenzie spends a lot of the book talking about is the
distraction piece of technology. At the time of this books writing there was not social media like
we have it today, but he was already seeing changes in employee productivity due to shopping
online or sending emails for personal reasons. However, McKenzie is not shocked by this, in fact
he isnt even fazed by it. He points out that people getting distracted at work and using paid time
to perform personal tasks is no new phenomenon. Before computers, employees were often
found using company telephones to make personal calls or purchase items from other companies.
In fact, McKenzie claims that computers allow employees to perform these off-topic tasks faster
and thus return to their jobs quicker. Overall, the distraction of emails and online shopping exist,
but these types of distractions have always existed, and employers are used to having their
employees spend some portion of their days off topic.
 This book provides unique insight into my capstone project. No book or article I have
found, up until now, has pointed out that distractions during work hours is not a new concept.
And McKenzie argues that not only is it not a new concept it isnt at its worst with computers.
He did not have the pleasure of being accustomed to social media when he wrote this book, so
maybe his arguments would be different today. Either way, it is still an interesting way to look at
the central problem in my analysis. [Words: 554, Pages: 318]

SOC 333
1. Black, D. (2003). Crime as a Social Control. In M. Silberman (Ed.), Violence and Society: a
reader. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 108 118 (11 pages)
Black argues that crime is a ramification of other crime. He says that people kill others,
rob others, etc. because some crime was committed or affected them. Therefore, they need to be
enticed to commit a crime.
Black relies on the idea of Marxist Criminology when reaching his understandings.
Marxist Criminology argues that laws are created by the ruling social class in order to control
and influence the lower classes and also it is used to maintain their seat as the ruling class. Black
adds on to this idea by saying that committing crimes, and the punishments associated with them,
are created by the ruling class in order to force the lower classes to maintain their spot as the
lower classes.
Lastly, Black discusses the importance of self-help crimes. These are similar to justifiable
murders where a normal citizen is put in a bad situation and ends up taking a life. There was no
time to wait for legal help to arrive (police) and the individual had to take a step for their own or
others safety. [Words: 177, Pages: 11]

2. Caputi, J. (2003). The Sexual Politics of Murder. In M. Silberman (Ed.), Violence and Society:
a reader. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 65 77 (13 pages)
Caputi writes about women being a group that is constantly targeted by men in hate
crimes. She discusses how often men murder women and how sexuality often leads to excessive
violence and murder. Caputi also brings in pornography, and describes how men who watch porn
are acclimating themselves to violence towards women and become more okay with actually
hurting women.
The best part of this article, in my opinion, was the in-class discussion that followed it. If
porn was such a cause of violence against women, then wouldnt more women be murdered
today than ever before? There is an excessive amount of free and accessible pornography on the
internet that is not only available for todays men, but being constantly watched by them. Yet, the
number of women being murdered hasnt skyrocketed. These two variables, violence against
women and porn, are not related in increase, so are they related in general? I do not believe so.
[Words: 156, Pages: 13]
3. Currie, E. (2003). Understanding Crime: Inequality and Community. In M. Silberman (Ed.),
Violence and Society: a reader. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 57 64 (8 pages)
Currie discusses the importance of culture and community strength when it comes to
fighting criminality in communities. She talks about how higher-status individuals are more
likely to learn from paying for one offense. While, lower-status individuals are more likely to
reoffend multiple times.
Curries main point is that traditional institutions are a key component to stabilizing
criminality within groups. If a communitys culture, institutions, and common goals are strong
enough then they can overcome the economic problems and lack of development that cause
criminal problems in the society. This is a very interesting idea that people can overcome the
economic problems in ways that do not involve or require violence.
This idea goes the other way too. If the goal is to reduce violence, we cannot just throw
money at the problem. It is even more important to raise the institutions and reform existing ones
to grow the troubled community and defy their current criminality. [Words: 155, Pages: 8]

4. Friedman, L. (1993). Crime and Punishment in American History. New York: BasicBooks. 1-
553 (553 pages)
Friedman, a professor of law at Stanford University, writes a long and detailed account of
the ways the United States has viewed crime, and the punishments the country has inflicted on
those who commit said crimes. The first few chapters are used to introduce how founding
Americans carried over the English view of crime. People were on their own to prosecute
criminals and collect from them. There was hardly a government detailed legal system, and
people were pretty much held accountable by God. Because religion was such a huge deal back
then, if a crime was committed it was a sin. And committing a sin was way worse to the society
than committing a crime. To this effect, criminals were often shunned by society because they
were no longer pure in the eyes of God. This concept goes hand in hand with the ideas of
shaming covered in class. When someone is shamed, they feel their honor is stripped from them
and two things happen. First, they are disconnected from their society, and second, they will do
anything to get back their honor. For early Americans, this worked to their advantage. Someone
would do something against the Lords will, they would lose honor from society, and work to
regain what they lost.
The book also discusses the use of crime to control those that the leading class wanted
controlled. This is clearly reflected during the time of slavery in America, and even somewhat
reflected today. The powerful class in the country, white males, created the laws. And they would
create laws and write crimes that were specifically targeting African Americans and other
minority groups. This suppressed the minorities rising to power and maintained, as Friedman
puts it, the status quo. We have also covered this concept in class when looking at films like 13th.
Still today minorities are targeted by laws, and even individual police officers, which constantly
remind them who is in power and it maintains that power. As Friedman explains, and should be
painfully obvious, this is not a fair, just, nor effective method of keeping the peace in America.
In fact, it isnt until the 1950s and 60s that people begin to do something about this
unfairness. Friedman explains it as a change to constitutional law, where the United States
Constitution is observed by the Supreme Court, and other courts for that matter, when judging
court cases and finalizing punishments and findings. This is a step backwards from the founding
fathers fear of heavy government involvement, but that fear was no longer relevant, and
protecting the people became a bigger issue. It was still government by the people for the people,
because the people were the ones demanding a shift in the balance of law.
Friedman closes out his book by focusing on the modern-day justice system. He talks
about sexual violence, violence toward the self, and other crimes present in todays world.
Interestingly enough, Friedman completely backs up almost every point made throughout the
duration of this class. He explains how most crimes are committed by aggravated young males
and he discusses how aggravation can come from sources and in many forms. This is an
excellent reminder that individuals between the ages of 14-24 are the most likely to commit
crimes, and that males are by far the most likely sex to commit a crime. Overall, Friedmans
piece provides a lot of insight and detail into issues we have covered during this course. While
class allows us only a short time to discuss each topic, this book is an excellent resource that
could be used on the city crime profile or the theory paper assignments. [Words: 609, Pages:
553]

5. Gershoff, E.T., Sexton, H.R., Lansford, J.E., Davis-Kean, P., Sameroff, A.J. (2012).
Longitudinal Links Between Spanking and Childrens Externalizing Behaviors in a
National Sample of White, Black, Hispanic and Asian American Families. Child
Development 83(3) pp. 838-843. (6 pages)
This study examined whether the longitudinal links between the use of spanking and
childrens externalizing behaviors are predicted by family race and ethnicity as it should be
according to cultural normativeness theory. Researchers took an ethnically diverse survey of
some 5-8 year olds, and surprisingly found that there was no difference in externalization. It was
found that spanking a child early leads to more externalized behavior. And, in turn, this
externalized behavior leads to more spanking. Parents hit their kids, the kids react in
unacceptable ways, and parents spank them more to punish them. Even more, this pattern was
found across all ethnicities in the United States. It is clear that spanking is still a very widely
used form of punishment in America by all people.
While the pattern is found across the board in terms of ethnicities, there are some
variations. Black mothers are more likely to hit their kids between kindergarten and third grade.
Hispanic mothers spanked more than White and Asian moms in kindergarten specifically too.
Early spanking was associated with increases in childrens externalizing problem behaviors, and
externalizing was associated with increases in spanking across all race and ethnic groups.
Overall, the article argues that spanking children is not an effective method of discipline. Instead,
it is a vicious cycle. One where a kid is spanked for being bad, acts out negatively because of
being spanked, and then gets spanked again for acting out. Kids never learn to behave any better
because they were spanked. [Words: 249, Pages: 6]

6. Kunzel, R. (2008). Criminal Intimacy : Prison and the Uneven History of Modern American
Sexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1 354 (354 pages)
 Kunzel is very interested in why individuals who are placed in confined areas with
nothing but the same sex, tend to have homosexual tendencies. She, a professor of history and
gender at the University of Minnesota, analyzes different studies into why and how this
phenomenon occurs. This relates excellently to class as we have talked, during the sexual
violence portion of the class, about this exact phenomenon and what it means for sexually violent
crimes.
Just like in class, Kunzel talks about how the army, prisons, church settings, brothels, etc.
all create an environment where homosexual actions are significantly more common than they
are in the normal world. To clarify, Kunzel is not afraid or worried about too much homosexual
behavior, instead she is curious as to why there is such an increase in this behavior when
individuals are isolated with the same sex. She explains that getting answers to her questions are
harder than they should be.
To start with, up until recently homosexual actions were frowned upon by pretty much
everyone in society. This made it difficult for people to study the effects of sex isolation because
no one would admit to sexual relations with a person of the same sex. Also, researchers found
that there was too much negative stigma related to the term homosexual and so they had to
invent new ways of describing what was happening. Kunzel sites a scholar named Ellis, and his
term sexual inversion. Ellis just created a term to describe the phenomenon without using the
word homosexual. This fear of homosexuality continued in the prison system. People explained
sex between men in prison as rape or a form of brutality. Often scholars would look at the
differences in race between those being the man in the relationship and those being the one
dominated, and they would find some correlation that led them to believe sex was used as a
dominance maneuver and not out of actual love or passion. Findings like these met a huge
obstacle, however, when faced with inmate testimonials that they love their prison lover and they
will move away with them when they get out.
Scholars forcing sexuality into a dichotomy of straight and gay is not only wrong, but has
also greatly held back the study of sexuality in prison, and other isolated same sex scenarios.
Because scientists were unwilling to accept that homosexual behavior is natural and normal,
especially in these confined situations, many prisoners were ridiculed, if not tortured, for their
feelings. It is most important to note from this reading that often times, relationships formed in
prison continue outside of prison. Individuals who have been jailed, regardless of their sexuality,
need and desire love and affection. No matter how tough the man or woman might be, they still
have a natural and innate desire for affection. And prisoners will become more and more open to
receiving this affection from whoever they can as their sentence continues on.
This book is an important and enlightening read for this class. It gives an in depth look at
something that is covered briefly in the class. Also, it shows the history of the issue, and relates it
to current day struggles in the field. [Words: 538, Pages: 354]
7. Lane, R. (2003). Murder in America: 1865-1917. In M. Silberman (Ed.), Violence and Society:
a reader. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 45 56 (12 pages)
Roger Lane uses his chapter in Violence and Society to explore racial tendencies and
violence in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He looks at how the end of slavery was not the end of
Black segregation and suppression. In his piece, he brings up two very important ideas when it
comes to this argument. He discusses the War of National Liberation and the Geography of
Lynching.
The War of National Liberation was the result of the abolishment of slavery. The
economically destroyed South was in a lot of pain after the Civil War and the loss of their
workforce. This led them to finding new ways to regain their honor. They would find ways to
criminalize Black activity and they would ignore White on Black crime.
The Geography of Lynching describes a couple of hot areas where lynching was
especially a problem. The Black Belt is used to discuss the South that had recently lost the
Civil War. And then there were areas of heavy immigration that were diversifying at an
incredible rate.
Overall, Lane uses his time to discuss the atrocities that were committed against the
African American people of the deep south and all over the nation. [Words: 200, Pages: 12]

8. Scheff, T. J., & Retzinger, S. M. (2003). Hitler's Appeal: Alienation, Shame-Rage, and
Revenge. In Violence and Society (pp. 30-45). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 30
44 (15 pages)
Hitler was able to come into power because of Germanys collective feeling of shame and
humiliation. They were forced into a vicious cycle of being shamed and humiliated, and not
being able to speak up for or defend themselves. Hitler was able to offer community and pride to
the German people in a time when the world did not necessarily want the Germans to feel pride
and unification. Hitler also had an almost super human resolve when it came to traveling around
Germany and spreading his word. Katz found that people who committed many crimes felt
humiliated and committed the crime as an act of revenge. There is a story about a woman
shaming then building her husband back up, just to shame him again. This shows that the woman
was aware of her actions and was intentionally destroying her husband. Hitler barley disguises
his hate for Jews in his book. Saying a day of reckoning will come to them. Both sides of WWI
underestimated the length of the war and thus led to many misjudgments in terms of reparations.
[Words: 180, Pages: 15]

9. Stearns, C. Z., & Stearns, P. N. (2003). A New Approach to Anger Control. In Violence and
Society (pp. 15-27). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 15 30 (16 pages)
This chapter talks all about anger in children. It opens by describing how children will
always and have always gotten angry. The Stearns write about how the early method to treat this
was for the parents to get angry at the kids getting angry and that did not prove to show much
change or improvement in the child. People began arguing over whether it was better to ignore
angry children or to punish them. The authors then go on to describe channeling the childs anger
into more productive situations. Activities like sports for boys or hitting their children for girls.
The studies have found that people are not as willing to ignore their kids tantrums as much as
they are advised to do so. This creates a problem for both parents and kids where neither group is
able to learn or help the other one learn. In schools, teachers are afraid to try new ways of
disciplining kids who have tantrums. [Words: 161, Pages: 16]

10. Tavris, C. (2003). Uncivil Rites - the Cultural Rules of Anger. In Violence and Society. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 1 14 (14 pages)
Tavris begins her piece by explaining three different cultural views around sharing a wife.
Then she explains that anger is a policing emotion. Tribes have to find ways to resolve their
issues without alienating the losing side of the group. Siriono men go hunting in order to relieve
anger either by excitement or exhaustion. Tavris describes Harvey Milks assassination by White,
a person who opposed Milks ideas and efforts. Violence is used by Hispanic culture to start the
groundwork for negotiation and resolution. This is quite contrary to the Anglo norm when
violence means that negotiations have completely failed and fighting is the only way to resolve
the argument. People of Tahiti learn that they have very limited to no control over mother nature.
They also learn that mother nature can destroy them in the event that they try to mess with her
too much. This is drawn as an opposite to Ancient Hebrew culture where they believed God
granted them dominion over all land and sea. This chapter basically just keeps drawing
comparisons to different societies over time and their beliefs on anger. [Words: 184, Pages: 14]

11. Tittle, C. R. (2000). Theoretical Developments in Criminology. The Nature of Crime:

Continuity and Change, 1, 51-101. (51 pages)
Tittle uses his article to provide plenty of statistical evidence on many topics. One of the
first topics is that individuals are most likely to commit a crime between the ages of 14 and 24.
This is a constant among all races and ethnicities. The younger generation of people have less
stability and are therefore more likely to commit a crime.
Other than this finding, there are six major themes Tittle covers. Personal defects,
Learning, Strain/deprivation, Identity, Rational choice, and Control/integration. These six themes
are all common reasons why an individual might commit a crime. Personal defects means that
the individual has some type of life problem that they feel can only be solved through crime.
Learning theory explains that people are taught, through their environment, that crime is a valid
solution to their problems. Strain theory shows how people feel stressed out, often because of
economics, and this leads them to commit a crime in order to avoid this stress. Identity theory
explains that people get or feel labeled as a criminal and therefore live up to this label. If people
feel that they are criminals, then they might as well be. Rational choice plays off of the idea that
people try to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain. Because of this people will
commit a crime because it appears to be the only option that results in their happiness. And
finally, Control/integration explains crime by arguing that people feel the need to control people
for many different reasons. Regardless of the reason, crime is an effective way to control people.
[Words: 263, Pages: 51]