963 research outputs found

    Copycat Crime

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    This Honors thesis explores the links between media and copycat crime, and what media factors influence the triggering of copycat crime. Many scientists propose different psychological mechanisms that cause people to copy crimes portrayed in media. Copycat crime occurs on a global scale, and different countries have implemented various government policies to prevent the growth of media generated copycat crime. By examining the policies enforced by different countries, this paper proposes a solution to this growing social problem. Overall, the purpose is to identify why copycat crimes occur, and how they can be prevented for the future. Several case studies where people have deliberately copied crime portrayed through various media sources are discussed. Additionally, many of the articles provide examples where too much information may have been given away in media content. In all, the people mentioned in those articles admit to being inspired by media. Studies have also been conducted on the relationship between media and copycat crime. Several of the studies included in this paper conducted surveys on inmates of all different ages, races, social background, etc. In the studies, participants said they found media as a helpful crime tool. Some studies have even discovered which sources the participants found most useful. In the end, it was difficult to decipher which psychological mechanism was the main cause of media generated copycat crime. Many of the authors cited in the paper emphasize the need for further research. Yet many agree that multiple mechanisms may be to blame. Most believe that media acts as a catalyst for copycat crime. Some argue that crime would still exist without media, but how crime happens may be inspired by media content. It is clear that media generated copycat crime is a prevalent issue in multiple societies. This issue is also discussed Page 3 of 59 throughout numerous disciplines. That is why it is critical that more attention be given to this ever growing social problem

    From Recovery to Discovery: Ethnic American Science Fiction and (Re)Creating the Future

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    My project assesses how science fiction by writers of color challenges the scientific racism embedded in genetics, nuclear development, digital technology, and molecular biology, demonstrating how these fields are deployed disproportionately against people of color. By contextualizing current scientific development with its often overlooked history and exposing the full life cycle of scientific practices and technological changes, ethnic science fiction authors challenge science’s purported objectivity and make room for alternative scientific methods steeped in Indigenous epistemologies. The first chapter argues that genetics is deployed disproportionally against black Americans, from the pseudo-scientific racial classifications of the nineteenth century and earlier through the current obsession with racially tailored medicine and the human genome. I argue that the fiction of Octavia Butler, Tananarive Due, and Andrea Hairston reveals the continuing scientific racialization of black Americans and complicates questions of humanity that still rise from genetic typing and medical testing. Chapter 2 interrogates the nuclear cycle, revealing what has been erased—the mining of uranium on the Navajo Nation, nuclear testing on Paiute and Shoshone land in the United States, similar tests on Indigenous soil in Kazakhstan, and nuclear waste buried in the New Mexico and Texas deserts. I contend Leslie Marmon Silko, William Saunders, and Stephen Graham Jones reveal the destructive influence of the buried nuclear cycle on Indigenous people globally, as they posit an Indigenous scientific method with which to fight through their novels. The third chapter exposes how the Latina/o digital divide in the United States elides a more disturbing multinational divide between those who mine for, assemble, and recycle the products that create the digital era and those with access to those products. From mining for rare earth elements in the Congo to assembling electronics in Mexico’s maquiladoras and “recycling” used electronics across the developing world, the novels of Alejandro Morales, Rosaura Sánchez and Beatrice Pita, and Ernest Hogan reveal the hidden price of the digital world and demand representation—digital, scientific, and historical. Chapter 4 builds on current discussions of Alex Rivera’s film Sleep Dealer to argue that Chicana/o and Indigenous authored science fiction films reveal how the global harvesting of natural resources has expanded to include life itself and organisms’ interiors. Films and other visual productions by Robert Rodriguez, Reagan Gomez, Federico Heller, Jose Nestor Marquez, Rodrigo Hernández Cruz, and Nanobah Becker predict biocolonialism’s expansion as they create worlds reflecting current practices where life forms become no more than patented, mechanized resources for neocolonial capitalist production and consumption

    Digital Loa and Faith You Can Taste: Hoodoo in the American Imagination

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    Utilizing popular culture mediums and artifacts, this dissertation examines the ways in which the American imaginary plasticizes the faith of Hoodoo and continually strips it of its religious, historic, and cultural impacts. Rather than being acknowledged as a religion, Hoodoo is presented in cultural mediums as something inherently consumable, commercial, and capable of endless, identical reproductions. The artifacts produced around this plastic representation are contemporary reproductions of racist, colonial, and paternalistic historic narratives that have damaging effects both on the religion and Black bodies. The dissertation argues that larger American culture perpetually reproduces these representations to profit from covert racism and religious paternalism while simultaneously erasing its history of Black culture and American colonialism

    Influence of social media on antisocial behaviour amongst teenagers at high school in South Africa

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    Social media is a valuable tool that has made communication easy and effective however, it can be dangerous to teenagers if misused. The online sphere has become a platform for teenagers to connect with peers in different locales, thus increasing their exposure to large volumes of information including that which their parents, guardians and school authorities would debar them. Founded on the uses and gratifications theory and social cognitive theory, the study investigates the influence of social media on antisocial behaviour among teenagers. Uses and gratification theory was used in this study to understand how teenagers use social media whereas the social cognitive theory brought an in depth understanding as to how teenagers learn antisocial behaviour from inappropriate social media content. The social cognitive theory argues that children can acquire new behaviour through observation and learning from the environment as well as the media. The study was conducted using the mixed method design which focused on triangulation. Triangulation enables the researcher to combine theories, data sources and methods in a single study; this makes the information obtained in such a study to be verified, thus increasing validity of the study. A case study strategy of Jabavu High school learners as well as teachers was used in the study. Data was collected from Jabavu high school learners and their respective teachers to obtain information from various perspectives. Simple random sampling was used to select 150 grade 11 and 12 learners who participated in the study. Semi structured interviews were used to collect data from Jabavu high school teachers while questionnaires were used to collect data from learners at Jabavu high school located in Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study found that Jabavu High school learners attribute social media to antisocial behaviour. Thus, the study concluded that social media influences teenagers to participate in various forms of antisocial behaviour through observing, learning and imitating what they are exposed to on social media. Since teenagers attributed social media to antisocial behaviour such as pornography, violence and vulgar language they stand a chance of behaving antisocially according to the antisocial media content they are exposed to.Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 201

    Influence of social media on antisocial behaviour amongst teenagers at high school in South Africa

    Get PDF
    Social media is a valuable tool that has made communication easy and effective however, it can be dangerous to teenagers if misused. The online sphere has become a platform for teenagers to connect with peers in different locales, thus increasing their exposure to large volumes of information including that which their parents, guardians and school authorities would debar them. Founded on the uses and gratifications theory and social cognitive theory, the study investigates the influence of social media on antisocial behaviour among teenagers. Uses and gratification theory was used in this study to understand how teenagers use social media whereas the social cognitive theory brought an in depth understanding as to how teenagers learn antisocial behaviour from inappropriate social media content. The social cognitive theory argues that children can acquire new behaviour through observation and learning from the environment as well as the media. The study was conducted using the mixed method design which focused on triangulation. Triangulation enables the researcher to combine theories, data sources and methods in a single study; this makes the information obtained in such a study to be verified, thus increasing validity of the study. A case study strategy of Jabavu High school learners as well as teachers was used in the study. Data was collected from Jabavu high school learners and their respective teachers to obtain information from various perspectives. Simple random sampling was used to select 150 grade 11 and 12 learners who participated in the study. Semi structured interviews were used to collect data from Jabavu high school teachers while questionnaires were used to collect data from learners at Jabavu high school located in Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study found that Jabavu High school learners attribute social media to antisocial behaviour. Thus, the study concluded that social media influences teenagers to participate in various forms of antisocial behaviour through observing, learning and imitating what they are exposed to on social media. Since teenagers attributed social media to antisocial behaviour such as pornography, violence and vulgar language they stand a chance of behaving antisocially according to the antisocial media content they are exposed to.Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 201

    Theatre, Performance and Digital Tools: Modelling New Modes of Political Engagement

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    This dissertation investigates how theatre and performance artists use new media tools to facilitate political engagement. The chapters cover a diverse range of performancesfrom interventions in video games to mobile phone walking tours to theatre productions that use social media. In contrast to the dominant narrative of intermedial theatre and performance studies, when analyzing these examples I consider intermediality as a political rather than solely aesthetic mode. By explicitly connecting intermedial approaches to political performanceand acknowledging how these two concepts are already always conjoinedthis dissertation works to expand how we might think about intermediality as a lens that covers digital practices as both form and content. I also consider the value, challenges and dangers of asking spectators to interact with performers and digital tools in order to model new modes of political engagement, and question how various artistic choices impact the ways that audiences are activated through these new technologies. As the examples range in form, content and location, this dissertation traverses numerous intermedial modes and political topicsa multitude of approaches that challenge any singular or simple understanding of how intermediality functions in contemporary theatre and performance. Although there is wariness about overstating the role of new media in creating concrete political change, examples such as the Occupy movement reveal how political discourse is now intricately linked to the digital. In this dissertation, rather than simply reinforcing cyberutopian or cyberpessismistic views regarding the political impact of digital communication, I investigate socio-political contexts and analyze the motivations and receptions of specific projects. I consider a number of questions, including: How are new media performances influenced by the potentially democratizing nature of digital interactions? How do performances integrate with digital media to investigate the ways we connector fail to connectas publics? How does performance also address exclusions related to the digital? Who is the we in the intersubjective relations produced by intermedial performance

    Making Media Matter

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    This book is an essential resource for media educators working to promote critical thinking, creativity, and civic engagement through their teaching. Connecting theory and research with creative projects and analyses of pop culture, it models an integrated and practical approach to media education. In order to prepare learners to successfully navigate rapid shifts in digital technology and popular culture, media educators in both secondary and university settings need to develop fresh, innovative approaches. Integrating concepts and practices from the fields of media studies, media arts, and media literacy, this book prepares teachers to help their students make connections between their studies, uses of media, creative expression, and political participation. As educators implement the strategies in this book in their curricula and pedagogy, they will be empowered to help their students more thoughtfully engage with media culture and use their intelligence and imagination to address pressing challenges facing our world today. Making Media Matter is an engaging and accessible read for educators and scholars in the areas of media literacy, media and cultural studies, media arts, and communication studies
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