Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2014, Communication Studies (Communication)

Based on a recent line of research, results suggest that organizations can be intolerant of dissent and that employees, in general, are reluctant to speak up about organizational problems (Morrison & Milliken, 2000; Sprague & Ruud, 1988; Vakola, & Bouradas, 2005). I argue that dissent in organizations is not always a feasible option, and members of cultures with higher power distance are typically reluctant to express irritations, complaints, and contradictory opinions. In order to understand when and why employees express dissent, it is crucial to examine not only how and why dissent occurs, but also to detect how and why it does not occur (muted dissent). Thus, defining, measuring, and modeling muted dissent was the aim of this study. In phase 1, constant comparative analysis revealed four general dimensions of muted dissent: disengaged, supportive, defiant, and protective. The protective construct was defined by three sub-themes (relational, instrumental, and face threat). Phase 2 consisted of study 1, study 2, and study 3 aimed at developing and validating a Muted Dissent Scale. In study 1, measures of muted dissent were developed, and a pilot study was conducted to test the performance of items. In study 2, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was employed to examine factor structure and reduce the number of items. The EFA suggested a six-factor structure of muted dissent: disengaged, supportive, defiant, protective, relational, instrumental, and face threat. This finding provided a multifaceted structure for the Muted Dissent Model. Study 3 sought to test whether these factors were distinct and a second-order factor structure exists for a more parsimonious model. CFA results suggested that protective was a second-order factor defined by relational, instrumental, and face threat. Muted dissent measures showed strong support for construct reliability and construct validity. The latter was examined using rigorous tests of construct validity. The findings rev (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Claudia Hale PhD (Committee Chair); Anita James PhD (Committee Member); Amy Chadwick PhD (Committee Member); Gordon Brooks PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior

Master of Arts in History, Youngstown State University, 2024, Department of Humanities

Peace activism has had a constant presence within the broader landscape of social movements in American history. From the pre-revolutionary era to the present, there have always been Americans animated by the idea of peace and eager to agitate for it. Diverse perspectives abound, from strict religious pacifism to softer, secular, and politically motivated non-violence. The Vietnam war, combined with the cultural transformations of the long-1960s, thrust the undercurrent of peace advocacy into the spotlight, bringing what was once a niche movement to much greater prominence. This thesis concentrates on the rhetoric, politics, and tactical debates of the Vietnam-era antiwar movement from 1963-1971. The rise and fall of the movement's influence is analyzed as part of a greater trend in social activism, beginning in 1900. The peace movement of the Vietnam era was novel in its demographic makeup and ideological tapestry, but it did not come to life in a vacuum, and the activists responsible for its ascendance made conscious efforts to connect their movements with those that preceded them. To that end, this work makes use wherever possible of the writings of activists and leaders of the antiwar movement. Much of this material was retrieved from the Swarthmore Peace Collection, specifically the papers of Vietnam Summer, National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, New Mobilization Committee, Daniel and Philip Berrigan, and the papers of Cora Weiss. Additional primary material was retrieved digitally, in the cases of Students for a Democratic Society, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the War Resister's League. Utilizing these documents, this thesis demonstrates the commonalities of otherwise discrete antiwar organizations. Though the myriad antiwar groups of the Vietnam-era differed greatly in their makeup and ideologies, they retained a constant connection to the shared history of civil rights and peace activism of the twentieth century.

Committee: David Simonelli PhD (Advisor); Amy Fluker PhD (Committee Member); Martha Pallante PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Peace Studies; Political Science; Religious History

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2005, Journalism (Communication)

If a magazine's achievements can be measured in part by whom and how many it infuriated in the shortest amount of time, then surely Scanlan's Monthly deserves to be honored. The brainchild of former Ramparts editor Warren Hinckle and former New York Times law reporter Sidney Zion, Scanlan's printed only eight issues in 1970 and 1971. But during its short lifetime the magazine drew the attention and often the ire of business, labor, law enforcement, and government leaders including Vice President Spiro Agnew and President Richard Nixon. In the midst of such special attention, Scanlan's managed to print some of the most provocative muckraking journalism of its time. Scanlan's published the first examples of Hunter S. Thompson's now-celebrated Gonzo journalism; and two years before anyone outside of Washington, D.C., had heard of Watergate, Scanlan's called for President Nixon's impeachment. Scanlan's' 2019; eighth issue, dedicated to the subject of guerilla violence in the U.S., was subjected to a nationwide boycott by printing unions, and was then seized by Montreal police after it was printed in Quebec. The issue, which turned out to be Scanlan's' last, finally appeared in January 1971 after a three-month delay. Scanlan's' insistence on taking on and not backing down from power doomed it to an early death, and its brushes with the U.S. government demonstrate the extent of the Nixon administration's war on the dissident press. Scanlan's is a sobering lesson on how government power can be wielded to harass, and in some cases silence, the press.

Committee: Patrick Washburn (Committee Chair) Subjects: History; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2019, Psychology, General

I examined how group members evaluated a leader following an intergroup relations task. Specifically, how a leader's decision to conform to or dissent from the group's voted preference and the resulting payout affected group member evaluation of their group leaders following a Prisoner's Dilemma Game between two groups. False feedback created a cooperative group decision and then group members were informed of the leader's decision to agree with or dissent from the group's decision. This decision was paired with a high payout or low payout for the group. Group members then evaluated the leader to assess how the decision and its payout influenced the evaluation. Although the results were not significant, means trended in such a way that leaders who countered their group's preference, resulting in a high payout, were more supported. Leaders who dissented, regardless of payout, were viewed as marginally more stereotypical leaders. These means were not in the directions predicted by norm of group interest (NGI), social identity theory (SIT), or realistic group conflict theory (RGCT). Rather, these trending means may demonstrate, in line with role congruity theory, that these leaders were viewed by group members to be more agentic and "leader-like."

Committee: R. Matthew Montoya (Advisor); Erin O'Mara-Kunz (Committee Member); Jack Bauer (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Social Psychology

BA, Oberlin College, 2019, History

This thesis is an intellectual history of dialecticism and its use in the works of the Frankfurt School members, Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse. Famously, these two men had a ferocious and polemical debate in the pages of Dissent Magazine in 1955-56. The Fromm-Marcuse Debate has since become almost the sole lens in which the intellectual differences and similarities between these men are analyzed. Through a comparative and historical analysis of their individual work, largely removed from the Dissent Debate, I offer a new interpretation of their conflict, their personal relationship, and a new perspective on critical theory and its relationship to political action. I argue that Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse's intellectual ideas are better juxtaposed through their interpretation of dialectics, rather than psychoanalysis, and that through this, they present us with starkly different prescriptions for individual and collective political engagement. Thus, both Fromm and Marcuse are outliers within the field of critical theory, and certainly within the Frankfurt School, even as their ideas remain in firm conflict with one another.

Committee: Annemarie Sammartino (Advisor) Subjects: American History; American Studies; European History; History; Modern History; Philosophy; Political Science

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2019, Communication Studies (Communication)

The increasing use of social media as a venue for political discussion creates an opportunity for rhetorical scholars to (re)evaluate the rhetorical nature of such discourse. Understood colloquially as “social media activism,” or “digital activism,” one unique tool utilized to convey political messages has been the implantation of “hashtag campaigns.” Specific to this project is the usage of hashtag campaigns to convey messages of dissent. Termed digital dissent, this project examines the implications of hashtags illustrating racial inequality. This project explores a rhetorical grounding of contemporary digital activism and argues the proliferation of digital dissent influences a reconceptualization of democracy. Embracing dissent as fundamental democratic discourse, this project also argues that social media can serve as a venue for robust democratic political action. This work evaluates social media as a mechanism for enacting a rhetorical robust democratic public in an effort to identify and initiate social change.

Committee: Michael Butterworth (Advisor); Raymie McKerrow (Committee Member); Roger Aden (Committee Member); JW Smith (Committee Member); Judith Grant (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Rhetoric

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2017, English

In this collection of essays, Sonya Bilocerkowycz explores the cyclical nature of government-sanctioned violence in the post-Soviet world and her family's dissident legacy in order to ask: Can we ever truly be at home in a political state?

Committee: Lina M. Ferreira (Advisor); Angus Fletcher (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature; Political Science; Slavic Literature; Slavic Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2016, Educational Leadership

This research project explores two very different constructs, self-efficacy and organizational dissent. Self-efficacy is the belief that one has in one's ability to control or influence the events that occur in one's life (Bandura, 1997). Dissent is communication of disagreement with the majority opinion or a specific individual who has more power than the individual communicating dissent (Stitzlein, 2014). Specifically, this project sought to answer three research questions: (1) what is the correlation between an individual's level of self-efficacy and an individual's experiences in offering an opinion that is contrary (i.e. dissent) to a person in authority or the majority sentiment? Assuming that there is a correlation between self-efficacy and organizational dissent; (2) does the correlation between self-efficacy and organizational dissent differ based upon which role (president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, etc.) a participant holds in their student organization?; and (3) does experience with dissenting in one space correspond with one's expression of dissent in a variety of different contexts? Two previously vetted and validated instruments were used to determine the relationship between self-efficacy and organizational dissent. The Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE), developed by Schwarzer and Jerusalem in 1995 was used to measure generalized self-efficacy. The Organizational Dissent Scale (ODS), developed by Kassing in 1998 was used to measure the expression of organizational dissent. Kassing identified that people may express dissent in three different ways: (1) articulated, to someone in the organization who holds more authority; (2) antagonistic, to someone in the organization who holds the same amount of authority; and (3) displaced, to someone outside of the organization. Through the use of both quantitative and qualitative research methods, it was determined that there is a negative correlation between self-efficacy and organizational (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kathleen Knight Abowitz Ph.D. (Advisor); Amity Noltemeyer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Andrew Saultz Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mahauganee Shaw Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Education; Higher Education; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2014, English

`The Roof is On Fire' is a poem in two parts, each attempting to deal with environmental disaster and political disempowerment. The first half of the text is chaotic and wide-reaching in its reference, considering issues such as the rhetoric of hope and normalcy bias, the on-going disaster at Fukushima, the demonization of dissent, etc. The second half attempts to process and possess powerlessness by invoking a Halberstamian embrace of failure and a catalogue of now-ness. The work exercises a number of typographical and formal conventions as rhetorical import of anxiety, choral modalities and contemplative wandering.

Committee: cris cheek (Committee Chair); cathy wagner (Committee Member); jason palmeri (Committee Member) Subjects: Climate Change; Fine Arts; Language Arts

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2014, Arts and Sciences: Sociology

Abstract In regards to contemporary, American political movements, the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movement have both generated quite a bit of news coverage. In this thesis I examine what type of coverage each movement receive, determine how coverage differs across the two movements, and propose an explanation for the differences. There is an extensive sociological literature on news media, both in terms of institutional practices and media products. For the purpose of this project, the literature on media framing of protest movements is especially important. Drawing on a framework which employs McLeod and Hertog's protest paradigm, Boykoff's frames of dissent, and Iyengar's distinction between episodic and thematic framing, this study uses a content analysis to discern if frames used by The New York Times and USA Today -when covering the Tea Party and Occupy movement- differ, and if so, how. The findings show that, overall, the Occupy movement receive less favorable coverage in that Occupy protesters are more likely to be represented as deviant in some way, whereas Tea Party activists are more likely to be represented as having credible political demands. These differences, I argue, are due to the Tea Party's less threatening concerns to the capitalist system. These findings are helpful in understanding how media outlets which claim neutrality and objectivity still end up reinforcing the status quo by marginalizing movements that challenges the foundation upon which modern capitalist democracies are built.

Committee: Annulla Linders Ph.D. (Committee Chair); David Maume Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2013, English

This dissertation argues that 9/11 Pakistani novels and films privilege cosmopolitan encounters by Muslim, and occasionally non-Muslim, characters that are in conflict with power and simultaneously reject those interactions that are complicit with it. I define cosmopolitan actions as those that do not merely celebrate but critically engage with foreign cultures and peoples at home and abroad. For the purpose of this project, I confine my analysis of power to the influence wielded by religious fundamentalists and political empires. To make my argument, I examine six Pakistani texts in which 9/11 is not merely a temporal marker but central to their ideological contexts and narrative strategies. These include Nadeem Aslam' s novel The Wasted Vigil (2008), Shoaib Mansoor' s film Khuda Kay Liye (2007), Kamila Shamsie' s novel Burnt Shadows (2009), Mohsin Hamid' s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), H. M. Naqvi' s novel Home Boy (2009), and Joseph Castelo' s film (co-authored by Ayad Akhtar and Tom Glynn) The War Within (2005). Pakistani novelists and filmmakers have acquired global visibility in the last decade, but their contribution to our understanding of 9/11 has not been sufficiently acknowledged. This project particularizes the recent turn in cosmopolitan theory to accord greater significance to religion in understanding global and local networks. I demonstrate how Pakistani writers and filmmakers represent a gamut of Muslim encounters with foreignness and thereby contest the dominant post-9/11 narrative that Muslims are inherently parochial. The turn towards religion in theories of cosmopolitanism is consistent with a new direction in which postcolonial studies is headed. In his 2012 article "Postcolonial Remains," published in New Literary History, Robert Young notes that postcolonial studies has not paid adequate attention to resistance couched in a religious idiom. In this project, I take Young' s suggestion forward by examining the multiple (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Pranav Jani Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Literature

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2006, Religion

This thesis addresses the book of Habakkuk in the Hebrew Bible as a work of dissent literature. In literature of dissent, one is forced to put aside expected conventions, roll up one's sleeves, and bravely confront God. Habakkuk deals with the problem of pain that pervades human society. To bring such a complaint against God was one of the most daring actions that one could take. Habakkuk's lament serves as an ultimate attestation of faith in God. In his struggle to deal with pain that he believes to be unjust, Habakkuk steps up and cries out in complaint against God. When evil persists, he continues to insist in his belief that Yahweh is a just god, and he cries out once more, forcing Yahweh to listen and answer. Habakkuk's lament is an attempt to deal with pain and a challenge to the ancient views of the divine-human relationship.

Committee: Barbara Kaiser (Advisor) Subjects: Religion, Biblical Studies

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2009, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Art History

In this thesis, I examine the oeuvre of Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861), a prolific woodblock print artist, in terms of its socio-political content. Primarily, I explore the ideological nuances of various subjects within his art, such as tattooed figures, comic images, and namazu-e (catfish pictures), to reveal the divergent histories of the upper and lower classes in Edo society. This body of work contains connotations that often indicate Kuniyoshi's dissent toward the Tokugawa government, and various other oppressive social institutions within his environment. Also, I detail particular historical events which loomed in the collective consciousness of Edo period Japanese townspeople. The Ansei Earthquake (1855) and the Tempo Reforms (1841-1843) both provided interesting stimuli to ukiyo-e artists like Kuniyoshi. This thesis emphasizes Kuninyoshi's interest in the plight of the townspeople, who were his main audience and at times the subjects of his art. By engaging Kuniyoshi's work with sociological, art-historical and anthropological data, I avoid the distortions that may arise from by a purely biographical approach to the artist's life.

Committee: Mikiko Hirayama PhD (Committee Chair); Kimberly Paice PhD (Committee Member); Teresa Pac PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Sociology

Since September the 11th, 2001, terrorism has received renewed attention and study from the media, publics and scholars alike. While voluminous journalistic writings and some empirical research exists on the causes and structures of terrorism, comparatively little research has thoroughly explored the political and social impacts of terrorism and the responses societies and states have to terrorism. Conventional wisdom suggests that terrorism is born of political and economic grievance in poor, quasi-authoritarian states. Indeed, a large number of terrorist attacks are within developing nations. However, the relationship between structural conditions and terror may be more complicated. What if terrorism contributes to political and social disruption, which in turn leads to even more grievances that inspire further campaigns of political violence? In other words, does terrorism breed the very conditions that encourage insurgency in the first place, leading to a downward spiral of conflict and grievance thereby worsening the plight developing nations find themselves in? This dissertation project argues that a major period of terrorism within the developing world stimulates a series of important political and social crises that under certain specific conditions spawn broader and more intense forms of political conflict. I explore the relationships between terrorism and specific political outcomes for a large sample of developing nations over a thirty-five year period. I find evidence that non-state, civil-based terrorism plays an important role in altering political systems within several developing societies. For instance, on average terrorism tends to increase state repression over accommodative policies creating an atmosphere of state terrorism. Terrorism also raises the chances for irregular transfers of power (e.g., coup d'etats) and transforms into full-scale civil war under certain specific conditions. By focusing on the consequences of terrorism across a broad s (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Edward Crenshaw (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2009, History (Arts and Sciences)

My dissertation will explore the complexities of the role human rights played in U.S.-Soviet relations from 1975 to 1989 through the prism of globalization. It will describe how Western private citizens, Soviet dissenters, and members of Congress exploited the language of Final Act (Helsinki Accords) to forge a transnational network committed to globalizing the issue of Soviet human rights violations. This development challenged bureaucratic discretion in ways that gave the Carter and Reagan administrations little choice but to challenge Soviet internal behavior in forthright fashion. Instead of viewing transnational activities as a threat to their expertise, many officials in each administration made working with and supporting non-governmental groups an integral element of their approach to undermining the international and internal legitimacy of the USSR. Utilizing Soviet internal documents available in English, this dissertation will also explain why many Soviet policymakers feared the human rights critiques of dissenters and Western private citizens just as much, if not more, than the statements of U.S. politicians. Without losing sight of the pivotal role private citizens and Congress played in tarnishing the international reputation of the Soviet Union, this work will also offer an in-depth comparison of the Carter and Reagan administrations' efforts to promote human rights in USSR. It will argue that a transnational perspective calls into question many of the standard interpretations of each administration's efforts to promote human rights in the Soviet Union. In the case of the USSR, a transnational framework complicates arguments that focus on the inherent weaknesses of Soviet dissent during the early to mid 1980s. After exploring these topics, this work will outline the limitations of “constructivist” accounts of how international human rights “norms” shaped Soviet reform efforts after Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary.

Committee: Chester J., Jr. Pach PhD (Committee Chair); Steven Miner PhD (Committee Member); Alonzo Hamby PhD (Committee Member); Patricia Weitsman PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; European History; History; Political Science; Russian History

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2003, History (Arts and Sciences)

This thesis discusses Michael Walzer's role as a public critic of American foreign policy from the mid-1950s to the present. The purpose of this discussion is two-fold. First, it seeks to trace out a voice on the American liberal left that does not fit the common stereotype of a negativist, ideologically rigid leftist critic. Walzer's alternative liberal vision as articulated in the course of the past four decades demonstrates the ways in which it is possible for intellectuals on the left to remain true to liberal values and put forward a highly nuanced and constructive critique of official foreign policy without succumbing to negativism or ideological dogmatism. Second, this discussion is based on the premise that Walzer's ideas can best be understood not just by analyzing them philosophically but also by considering Walzer's main intellectual influences, his personal background, and the historical context in which he is writing. Although a lot has been written on Walzer's political thought per se, there has so far been no attempt to place the public writings of this important political philosopher in the context of his times. This thesis proceeds chronologically and is divided into five chapters. Chapters I and II discuss Walzer's personal background, education, and early political writings for Dissent magazine in the 1950s. Chapters III and IV deal with Walzer's political activism in the 1960s and discuss how his opposition to the Vietnam War led him to think about the moral aspects of warfare in more systematic terms, culminating in the publication of his most significant philosophical work on foreign policy, Just and Unjust Wars, in 1977. Chapters V and VI look at Walzer's contributions to the public foreign policy debate during the presidencies of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton, and also deal with Walzer's response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The thesis concludes with an epilogue outlining today's liberal foreign policy dilem (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kevin Mattson (Advisor) Subjects: History, United States

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2008, Communication Studies

Anti-war protest music has re-emerged onto the American songscape since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the resulting military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. This study works to explicate the ways in which protest music functions in the resultant culture of war. Protest music, as it reflects and creates culture, represents one possible site of productive change. Chapter 1 examines Ani DiFranco's song “Self Evident” which was written as an immediate reaction to 9/11. Throughout this chapter I argue that protest music has the potential to work as a vehicle for consciousness raising. In Chapter 2 I consider the constitutive elements in the Bright Eyes song “When the President Talks to God.” Performed on The Tonight Show in May 2005, this song represents one of the first performances of dissent on national television after 9/11. This chapter also examines the limitations of Charland's conception of the constituted public as it pertains to diverse and heterogeneous audiences. Ultimately, I argue that consciousness raising through music has the potential to bring listeners into the constituted subject position of those who dissent against war.

Committee: Michael Butterworth PhD (Committee Chair); Lara Martin Lengel PhD (Committee Member); Ellen Gorsevski PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2010, Leadership and Change

On December 14, 1957, after winning the Nobel Prize for literature, Albert Camus challenged artists attending a lecture at the University of Uppsala in Sweden to create dangerously. Even though Camus never defined what he meant by his charge, throughout history, artists involved in movements of protest, resistance, and liberation have answered Camus' call. Quite often, the consequences were costly, resulting in imprisonment, censorship, torture, and death. This dissertation examines the question of what it means to create dangerously by using Camus' challenge to artists as a starting point. The study then turns its attention to two artists, Augusto Boal and Ngugi wa Thiong'o, who were detained, tortured, and imprisoned because they boldly defied the dominant power structure. Lastly, the research focuses on a group of front-line artists, the Mississippi Caravan of Music, involved in the contemporary struggle for civil rights in the United States. The individual artists and the artist group represented in the dissertation are from different parts of the globe and were involved in acts of rebellion, resistance, revolt, or revolution at varying points in history. Portraiture, a form of narrative inquiry, is the research method employed in the dissertation. The qualitative approach pioneered by Harvard scholar Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot “combines systematic, empirical description with aesthetic expression, blending art and science,humanistic sensibilities and scientific rigor” (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997, p. 3). The dissertation extrapolates concepts from the traditional literature and expands the boundaries to make room for a more integrated understanding of social change, art, and transformational leadership from the bottom up. Artists and artist groups who create dangerously is an area often overlooked in the field. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd

Committee: Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Chair); Laurien Alexandre PhD (Committee Member); Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Member); Stewart Burns PhD (Other) Subjects: Adult Education; African Americans; African History; African Literature; American History; American Studies; Black History; History; Latin American History; Literacy; Music; Sociology; Theater