Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2010, Sociology (Arts and Sciences)

This study examines dynamics and patterns of online collective action in China regarding large-scale grievances of landless farmers whose land was illegally expropriated by the local government for industrial development and construction. Such illegal land expropriation resulted in various conflicts between local officials and farmers due to the farmers' common fear of losing their sole survival source and the local government's inadequate compensation for their land loss. The two representative cases of such grievances and conflicts– which I call the Wang Shuai Incident in He Nan Province and the Wu Baoquan Incident in Nei Menggu Autonomous Region – were initiated and mobilized by organizers, netizens, and news media through the Internet. Qualitative content analysis is used for this study to examine available media outlets and public forum discussions from the seven selected Chinese websites that were extensively involved in the two cases. By applying framing theory to online ollective action, this research compares different framing tactics of the two initiators and the media, resulting in contrasting Outcomes. This study demonstrates that concise framing and continuous media attention in conjunction with the unprecedented accessibility of the Internet are central to mobilizing public support for online collective action. These techniques and technologies are part of a new trend signifying a critical evolution in the realm of grassroots activism in China.

Committee: Stephen J. Scanlan (Committee Chair); Larry Burmeister (Committee Member); Jieli Li (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2012, Management

In today's networked environment, online forums emerge as a popular form of social structures that have greater opportunities for learning in various organizational contexts. A plethora of studies have investigated the phenomenon to identify antecedent of its success, such as individual characteristics and organizational structure. However, how such antecedents get involved in collaborative learning processes and influence their outcomes has been largely understudied. Furthermore, the learning process in online forums has been simply presumed as a kind of general organizational learning, despite its unique situation of learning from strangers. This dissertation study focuses on online forums' highly motivated for problem-based learning and explores a dynamic process of such learning, namely Open Collective Inquiry (OCI). Presuming that dialogue embodies open collective inquiry processes, this study investigated characteristics of OCI dialogues that influence distinct types of inquiry outcomes using a grounded theory method. In particular, the current study highlights what participants do for OCI and how they do it through their dialogue. Based on distinct purposes for dialogic actions, six action domains were identified that constitute OCI processes: action domains to initiate inquiry, to maintain commitment, to guide inquiry process, to frame a problem, to negotiate solutions, and to confirm workability. These action domains were interrelated to shape OCI processes. Varying extent to which participants performed purposes of these action domains was found to influence distinct types of outcomes, such as full closure, partial closure, non-closure, and degraded closure. To derive a more systemic account of how participants of OCI perform such purposes, three dimensions of dialogic action were proposed: action performed, content of action, and argumentative components. These dimensions were used for characterizing essential dialogic actions in each action domain for su (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Boland Jr. (Advisor); Kalle Lyytinen (Committee Member); Richard Buchanan (Committee Member); John Paul Stephens (Committee Member); Youngjin Yoo (Committee Member) Subjects: Information Systems

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Psychology

Systemic racism – the institutional and structural exclusion of and bias against people of color – negatively affects people of color. The present research seeks to address how beliefs about the permanence of systemic racism impacts people of color. Across three studies we find that Black Americans who perceive systemic racism to be permanent show decreased intentions to engage in collective action aimed at reforming current systems. Results indicate that this may not be the case for collective action aimed at dismantling or replacing current systems; Black Americans' intentions to support more revolutionary social justice is not diminished by beliefs in a permanent system. Furthermore, in Study 4 we demonstrate that this relationship may operate through efficacy. Participants who believe systemic racism is permanent are more likely to perceive action to be less effective and therefore indicate lesser intentions to participate.

Committee: Steven Spencer (Advisor); Lisa Libby (Committee Member); Kentaro Fujita (Committee Member) Subjects: Social Psychology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2022, Psychology

Research regarding prejudice and racism has largely focused on instances of overt individual racism, lending to the belief that racism is the product of a few “bad apples” and has largely ignored the existence of systemic racism, until recently. Previous research has established that beliefs about systemic racism has implications for Black people's goal efficacy. It remains unclear, however, how these beliefs are affected by current events and the relationship they hold with collective action. Across three studies we examined whether attention to current events during the Chauvin trial would impact beliefs about the persistence of systemic racism and collective action intentions. The results consistently indicate that when Black people pay attention to current events, they are more willing to participate in collective action, though this is not always enough to change perceptions about the persistence of systemic racism. Additionally, Study 2 shows that when Black people pay attention to current events, they are more likely to engage in collective action, less likely to perceive systemic racism as persistent, and report greater goal efficacy. The evidence is consistent with two distinct models: 1) attention to current events affects perceptions of systemic racism which affects collective action intentions, and 2) attention to current events predicts collective action intentions which affects beliefs about systemic racism and in turn predicts goal efficacy. Future studies that could begin to establish the causality of these variables are discussed.

Committee: Steven Spencer (Advisor); Lisa Libby (Committee Member); Richard Petty (Committee Member) Subjects: Social Psychology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2021, Psychology

The intersectionality of race and gender has been studied in terms of how people are viewed and treated. Less research has been conducted on how people at the intersection of race and gender view themselves and engage with their environments. Previous research has established a stereotypical link between Black and male. However, it remains unclear whether Black women would hold this same association. Across three studies we examined whether Black women engage in greater collective action than those with only one stigmatized identity and whether Black women demonstrate a strong link between their two stigmatized identities. The results consistently indicate that Black women associate Black with female, whereas White women and Black men associate Black with male. Additionally, studies 1 and 2 show that Black women engage in more collective action for their race and gender groups than Black men or White women. No consistent relationship was found between the race/gender association and collective action. The evidence suggests two distinct paths; intersectional identity impacts one's association of identities and one's intentions to engage in social justice action.

Committee: Steven Spencer (Advisor); Lisa Libby (Committee Member); Russell Fazio (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Social Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2017, Individual Interdisciplinary Program

Engaging with sensory ethnography at the Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes, I bring forward ways of knowing about food and social relationships that are complex and interdisciplinary, abstract, and at the same time, intensely felt and personal. Conducting research in the Green Mountains of Vermont in 2016, during the 44th annual gathering, I explore the social spaces of the counterculture gathering where food is produced, distributed, prepared, consumed, and disposed of, as being deeply performative. These sites enable expressions of difference, and stand as incarnations of the personal as political—embodied and dynamic. Food spaces are potent affective environments, where Love, variously expressed and interpreted, directs intention. Through active participation, select interviews, historical research, and reflection, I encounter and consider how food and affect interanimate to define identities, influence relationships between ecologies, modulate environments, and shape economies. Chaosmos, the constant interplay between order (the cosmos) and disorder (chaos) provides the stage for considering the experience of self-organized food systems in affective, cooperative, and horizontal environments. This interdisciplinary study privileges embodied experiences and intuitive ways of knowing as they concern multisensorial scholarship. Hybrid creative/academic elements introduce chaosmos into the dissertation-as-artifact. In the end, through the transmission of affect, the performance of food, and the praxis of self-organizing and complex reciprocity, a social ecology of food emerges at the Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes as order from disorder. The implications of this research speak to the complex nature of food environments as social structures of empowerment and resistance.

Committee: Stephen Scanlan PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Devika Chawla PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Smoki Musaraj PhD (Committee Member); Larry Burmeister PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Communication; Cultural Anthropology; Economic Theory; Experiments; Peace Studies; Personal Relationships; Social Research; Social Structure; Sociology; Spirituality; Sustainability

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2017, Communication Studies (Communication)

People with disabilities have long been under-represented and misrepresented in mainstream media, and have sought strategies to contest discourses of difference that frame disability as a pitiable tragedy, a burden, or a source of inspiration used to make non-disabled people feel better about their own lives. With the advent of the internet and the increasingly participatory character of the media landscape, people with disabilities are now more able to generate and circulate a counter-narrative--one which draws on the social model of disability to highlight the ways in which stigmatizing and oppressive responses to different bodies create and perpetuate marginalization. However, the disability community is far from monolithic. In addition, the line between "chronic illness" and "disability" remains blurry. Thus, as individuals engage in self-advocacy and collective/connective action by publicizing their stories, they draw from varied discourses of difference that preserve or resist medicalization. Similarly, advocates organize to pursue potentially conflicting goals. The resulting tensions of representation and organization are particularly apparent in the case of The Mighty, a for-profit media company that publishes stories submitted by people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and mental health conditions. This site has become an increasingly popular resource for some members of the disability community. At the same time, it has also become a site of contention and has received criticism from disability activists who protested its publishing practices via the hashtag initiative, #crippingthemighty. For this dissertation project, The Mighty served as a context to explore how public performances of self-advocacy in digital spaces link to connective/collective action. Taking a constructivist approach to grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006), I analyzed interviews with Mighty staff members (14 participants), Mighty contributors (29 participants), and #crippingt (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Austin Babrow PhD (Advisor); Brittany Peterson PhD (Committee Member); JW Smith PhD (Committee Member); Stephanie Tikkanen PhD (Committee Member); Risa Whitson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2017, Management

This research project focuses on how Employee Owned Companies, more commonly known as ESOPs, can accomplish both productive and successful acquisitions. A productive and successful acquisition is defined as one that fulfills or exceeds the acquiring company's expectations. Most successful ESOPs generally implement various types of progressive management strategies including open book management and open door communication. These practices propel active employee engagement and participation and have been demonstrated to enhance productivity and profitability because the employees are both personally and financially empowered to improve organizational performance. Somewhat of a mystery is the question of why there are not more ESOP participants. If their numbers are to increase, it can only occur through two methods: 1) employees purchase the company from an owner and 2) other non-employee owned (Non-ESOP) target companies are acquired by an existing acquiring ESOP company. Most previous studies focus on the first option as well as on specific case studies involving ESOP acquisitions. This study focuses on the second option by examining ESOP organizations in general in diverse industries located throughout the U.S. and researching how these organizations can accomplish productive and successful acquisitions and what, if any, organizational behavior patterns may propel this process. The first study utilizes a qualitative approach by interviewing ESOP executives from both the acquiring and target companies, who have experienced both successful and unsuccessful acquisitions. The second study utilizes academically validated and self-designed scales for a quantitative survey also administered to ESOP executives with acquisition experience. The third study involves another qualitative approach by interviewing consultants with both ESOP and Non-ESOP acquisition experience to obtain a third-party viewpoint. The distinctive findings from all three studies of this proje (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Simon Peck Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Management; Organizational Behavior

BA, Oberlin College, 2016, Psychology

Group relative deprivation occurs when an individual believes that a group with which they identify has fewer resources than another group. The experience of group relative deprivation often includes feelings of injustice, anger, and resentment. Group relative deprivation may result in inter-group attitude changes, such as increased prejudice, and a willingness to engage in collective action to change the distribution of resources. Despite findings that relative deprivation is a subjective perception of resource distribution, few, if any, studies have investigated if the perceived essentialism of the groups involved in the perceived inequality impact the intensity of group relative deprivation. When groups are perceived as more essentialized, individuals believe that members of different groups have deep, unchanging differences. To test if perceived essentialism impacts group relative deprivation, participants were told that a group with which they identify has a lower average GPA than another group. Conditions varied on perceived essentialism of groups involved in the grade disparity – gender as the more-essentialized condition, and academic major division as the less-essentialized condition. Analysis revealed that females in the gender condition reported more intense relative deprivation experiences than females in the major condition, while the opposite was true for males. Though the role of essentialism remains unclear, social perception seems to play a role in the experience and outcomes of relative deprivation. These findings may have implications for resolving real-world conflicts that arise from a perceived unequal distribution of resources between groups.

Committee: Cynthia McPherson Frantz (Advisor); Paul H. Thibodeau (Committee Member); F. Stephan Mayer (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Social Psychology

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2015, Leadership and Change

Transformation of health care systems will be grounded in new professional relations and collective, cross-disciplinary actions to impact care delivery. Organizing such relations and actions involves practical inquiry rather than applying professional knowledge. This dissertation presents an exploratory, performative study of the initial organizing of the Health Systems Innovation and Research (HSIR) Program in Health Sciences at the University of Utah. The HSIR program was conceived principally to catalyze cross-disciplinary innovation and health services research and enhance care delivery changes by documenting care improvements and publishing research. This study includes a composite narrative of the organizing and practical inquiry work of HSIR organizers, which highlights many questions, issues, possibilities, and priority shifts that would likely face those who would seek to transform care delivery and the cultures of academic medicine. The study identifies improvement, integration, and transformative strategies as pathways to effect change in health systems. The study includes a narrative-based analysis of cultural, dynamic, and narrative resources to enhance understanding of the HSIR story and the implications of cultural and dynamic influences for the Program's future and health systems transformation. This analysis emphasizes the cultural and dynamic influences of academic and clinical departments and other sources of dynamic influence that were operating to hinder or facilitate the larger objectives of HSIR organizers. The study also explores the significance of collective practical inquiry, exploratory inquiry, and culture change to the practice and theory of leadership and change. The HSIR study was conducted using a practice study methodology developed from practice and narrative theories, with contributions from complexity, process, learning, organizing, social construction, and relational theories and empirical studies of professionals undergoing cha (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alan Guskin Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Laura Roberts Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jon Wergin Ph.D. (Committee Member); William Plater Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Health Care Management; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior; Social Research

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2012, East Asian Languages and Literatures

China's sociological world is somewhat lacking of research that explores the collective consciousness during collective rights defense of the manufacturing industry's internal migrant workers. This is even truer of research that looks at the collective consciousness of Qingdao's internal migrant workers. Additionally, Chinese civil society organizations are in their infancy, and there are few organizations that aid internal migrant workers in their rights defense, especially in China's northeast region. There is even less research that attempts to understand the effectiveness of these organizations in aiding workers' right defense. Using Political Process Theory as its analytical framework, this study has two main aspects: 1) survey methodology that explores the collective consciousness in rights defense of internal migrant workers in Qingdao's manufacturing sector and 2) case analysis methodology that seeks to understand effects of Qingdao's LMN Organization on Internal migrant workers' rights defense. This study has found that the regional consciousness of Qingdao's internal migrant workers possesses a dualistic quality, they have a strong rights defense consciousness, and their collective action has shown a trend toward cross-factory cooperation. LMN Organization, the subject of the case analysis, has not only played a large role in the success of internal migrant workers' right defense, but it has also played a role in mobilizing workers for rights defense. However, LMN Organization exists in an exploitable crack in the surrounding political environment, and because of this, its future development is uncertain.

Committee: Galal Walker (Committee Chair); Xiaobin Jian (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2010, Sociology

Why are women less like to be union members, yet more likely to desire union representation? Most available explanations for this emphasize the supply side, especially the resources and job characteristics of female workers. This study examines a more structural explanation: That female dominated workplaces are less like to become unionized, and more likely to have weaker unions, because of gender stratification. The Williams/Acker theory of gendered organizations suggests that this is at least partly due to gender bias embedded at the organizational level. This reflects the devaluing of “women's work” which targets workplaces as well as occupations in which women constitute a major share of the workers. Drawing on the Workplace Ethnography dataset, we analyze the effects of workgroup gender composition on unionization and union strength along with a range of standard controls for the resources and job characteristics of workers. The percentage of female workers is shown to significantly reduce the likelihood of unionization, as well as decreasing the likelihood of forming a stronger union. These show net of controls for the average level of worker seniority and education, local unemployment levels, paternalistic management, as well as size of the workplace, occupational skills of the workers, and locally owned companies. These findings indicate that gender is operating independent of the individual actors to present further obstacles to female union membership. So, while women are attitudinally more supportive of unionization, the larger system of gender stratification hinders women's access to the benefits that unionization can provide.

Committee: J. Craig Jenkins Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Edward Crenshaw Ph.D. (Committee Member); Andrew Martin Ph.D. (Committee Member); Randy Hodson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Political Science

In the past 15 years, the post-communist countries have attempted to rebuild state society relations. Central to this process has been the formation of business associations. Existing literature often treats business associations as marginal players. This dissertation demonstrates that they are important organizations that have a profound effect on the political and economic life of post-communist countries. Moreover, while scholars have examined the behavior and influence of interest groups, the actual causes of group formation remain underdeveloped. This dissertation examines the creation of business associations and their subsequent development across countries and economic sectors. Based on a cross-national survey of firms in 25 countries as well as a comparative analysis of business interest representation in Russia, Ukraine, Croatia, and Kazakhstan, it finds that low-level bureaucratic corruption and excessive state regulations facilitate the formation of business associations. It argues that increasing bureaucratic pressure on businesses stimulates collective action to combat corruption. Another empirical finding is that firms in different sectors of the economy are unequally represented by business associations. Contrary to prevailing theoretical arguments, firms in the service sector are most likely to join business associations, while firms in mining and heavy industry are least likely to join. This is consistent with the previous argument because firms in service sectors are more vulnerable to invasive regulations. Analysis suggests that the nature of state regulatory institutions affects business association formation. When corruption and regulations by bureaucrats are rampant, businesses have greater incentives to join associations providing legitimate means to counter bureaucratic pressure. Thus, business associations arise as a defensive mechanism to protect business against corruption and extensive regulation. This contributes to the debates about th (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Timothy Frye (Advisor) Subjects: Political Science, General

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, Art Education

Stage actors have long been an integral element of the cultural community in the United States. From vaudeville to the Broadway stage, actors have carved a niche for themselves in the theatrical landscape of the United States. Yet, little has specifically been written on the functionality of the primary theatrical actors' association and union, Actors' Equity Association. This dissertation examines the formation of the theatrical industry and the simultaneous development of Actors' Equity Association as an institution within that industry. In doing so, the work makes connections between development of the industry and the role of Actors' Equity Association on the field's development. This interpretive historical inquiry sets the stage for the contemporary understanding of theatrical actors. The research is focused on unionism, the evolution of labor in the United States, the development of the theatrical industry, and the reactive and proactive behavior of Actors' Equity Association. This case study investigates the development of a creative sector union and its role within an industry through three lenses: resource dependence, institutional isomorphism, and collective action. Each of the theories offers a different perspective for understanding Actors' Equity Association and the theatrical industry in which it operates. It is argued the development of the theatrical industry is significantly linked to the collective action behavior of Actors' Equity Association. Concurrently, resource dependence has helped shape Actors' Equity as well as the larger theatrical field. Additionally, resource dependence and collective action have caused isomorphic change within the theatrical industry.

Committee: Margaret Wyszomirski (Advisor) Subjects: Theater

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2006, Sociology

The problem of collective action is the problem of free riders. Current theory argues that free riders are detrimental to group solidarity, and predict that free riders will be punished into compliance with cooperative group norms. Observational evidence from a variety of disciplines does not coincide with those predictions, however. Recent studies show that in many cases, 20%-40% of individuals will free ride regardless of the frequency and severity of punishment. This treatise seeksto explain the persistence of free riders by arguing that free riders perform latent functions in groups that actually maintain or increase group cohesion in naturally forming, long term groups. Analyzing theoretical work on the collective action problem from three disciplines – economics, evolutionary biology, and sociology – I show how drastically different approaches to the collective action problem converge on similar predictions about the nature and causes of free riding. I then show that these theoretical paradigms share a common origin from rational action models. I discuss why the current logic of rational action models are insufficient to offer a viable solution to the free rider problem. I then move beyond the traditional rational action approach by proposing an alternative kind of rationalisty which free riders pursue. Using game theory, I demonstrate the existence and utility of this new approach, and show how this alternative rationality contributes to a solution to the free rider problem by linking it to equilibrium theory. Equilibrium theory offers a means by which rational action models and functionalist models may be tied together in order to approach a solution to the free rider problem. I argue that free riders may perform functions in a group that serve to increase or maintain the solidarity of the group by tending the group toward a state of allostatic equilibrium. I argue that free riders validate or increase the status of productive group members; reduce the proba (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Donald McQuarie (Advisor) Subjects: Sociology, Theory and Methods

Doctor of Education, University of Akron, 2011, Secondary Education

Self-regulated learning refers to students taking responsibility for what and how they learn in the classroom, and how it affects their thoughts and actions in their academic requirements. This action research case study sought to investigate the use of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies and beliefs of secondary high school juniors enrolled in the International Baccalaureate English A1 curriculum at an urban secondary school. The focus of this study was students' behavior and beliefs through LASSI testing, phenomenological interviews, student journaling, classroom observations, and artifacts in an authentic classroom setting in the final semester of their junior year. The self-regulated learning strategies of Zimmerman and Pons (1986) were the foundation for this study in an attempt to align the SRL strategies and student beliefs with the International Baccalaureate student profile. Data were gathered through LASSI testing, triadic interviews, student journaling, external observations, and artifacts (an assigned research paper), and the results triangulated with the International Baccalaureate student profile and mission of "learning to learn." Emerging themes became apparent and were explored as the interview process continued at 3-week intervals. The emerging self-efficacy beliefs and strategy use elicited future questions as the results were analyzed and new interview questions were formulated. LASSI testing results were compared with students' interviews and journaling, as well as their reflection letters concerning their research projects. The SRL strategy of collective efficacy, or social assistance from peers, is considered to be the key factor in achieving academic success by all the subjects. The successful students employed forethought and goal-setting, and strategic planning, and found particular intrinsic value in their academic tasks. They valued student engagement, social assistance, and self-control processes. Their volition, or will to succe (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Harold Foster Dr. (Advisor); Catharine Knight Dr. (Committee Member); M. Kay Alderman Dr. (Committee Member); Susan Colville-Hall Dr. (Committee Member); Huey Li-Li Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Curriculum Development

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2013, Latin American Studies

The study of “new” social movements in Latin America has inspired the work of many scholars from numerous disciplines over the past two decades. In particular, Peru is known among scholars of Latin American indigenous peoples as an exception in the Andes, due to the country's historical lack of large-scale indigenous movements. It is strange that Peru, the heart of the Inca Empire and a country with similar demographics and ethnic composition as Bolivia and Ecuador, does not exhibit any examples of national-scale indigenous social mobilization. Scholars put forth three frequent arguments to explain this absence: 1) Peruvian ethnic fluidity and fragmentation, 2) historical consequences of the violence associated with Sendero Luminoso, and 3) internal and external organizational dynamics of social movements in Peru. I argue that inter-organizational governance structures and the relationship between local and regional level participatory schemes account for why Peru's indigenous movements have not ascended to the national scale. The ascendance of participation from the local to regional levels of government is more difficult in Peru due to the peculiar ways in which governmental consolidation was implemented historically. This thesis makes an important contribution to the burgeoning literature on indigenous social mobilization in the Andes by looking specifically at the links between local and regional levels of political institutions, and the way these processes inhibit movements from ascending from the local level to higher level participatory spaces. Academic literature is most valuable when it can be interpreted by scholars and practitioners alike.

Committee: Abril Trigo Dr. (Advisor); Kendra McSweeney Dr. (Committee Member); Jos Raadschelders Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Comparative; Latin American History; Latin American Studies; Native Americans; Native Studies; Public Administration