Department of Sociology

Permanent link for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14078/13

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 129

2021 Canadian federal election, election report: Facebook use by political parties
(2022) Boulianne, Shelley; Stevens, Leanne; Mullin, Samantha; Rondeau, Caroline; El-hakim, Yaseen; Johal, Sunpreet; Mamo, Natalie
We coded Facebook posts from a four-week period beginning August 23, 2021 and ending September 20, 2021. A team of six coders were trained using a codebook that includes more than 300 variables. This report covers a handful of the variables. Coders were given a Facebook link, which they opened in one window. Then in another window, they went through an online questionnaire hosted by SoSciSurvey.
Adolescent sexuality and the changing romance novel market
(1994) Bereska, Tami
After initial success, the adolescent series romance genre rapidly declined in the literary market during the 1980s. This research explores that decline through a comparative content analysis with other romance genres. Results suggest a key factor to be the relative lack of sexuality in the content of the adolescent series romances. Given the changing socio-sexual environment of adolescent girls in the 1980s, the adolescent series romances became increasingly remote from girls' own life experiences. Implications warranting further analysis include the salience and acceptability of sexuality in their daily lives, as well as their resistance to its denial.
Age differences in online news consumption and political expression in the United States, United Kingdom, and France
(2021) Boulianne, Shelley; Shehata, Adam
Younger and older generations are differently motivated in relation to news consumption and online political expression. In this paper, we suggest that different modes of citizenship characterize younger and older generations. To test the differential role of political interest in news consumption and online political expression, we use a survey of 3,210 people from the United States, 3,043 from the United Kingdom, and 3,031 from France. Our findings suggest that young citizens are more frequent users of online news overall and that the rank order of different news activities replicates cross-nationally. The frequency of online political expression is negatively related to age, with older people less likely to post online. Age moderates the relationship between political interest and news consumption as well as news consumption and online political expression. The correlations of these sets of variables are stronger for younger respondents compared to older respondents. These findings hold across the three countries under study. We explain these patterns in terms of changing citizenship norms and discuss the implications for democracy.
“Alignment-Plus”: alignment with schooling requirements and cultural-bridging among indigenous middle-class parents
(2019) Milne, Emily; Wotherspoon, Terry
Education research demonstrates that positive and trusting family/school relationships support academic achievement but for many Indigenous parents in Canada legacies of residential schooling have made it difficult to develop strong bonds with schools and teachers. Drawing on interviews with 69 Indigenous parents and eight non-Indigenous parents of children who identify as Indigenous from two Canadian provinces, this study explores the intersection between family/school relationships and social class, and highlights distinct ways that middle-class Indigenous parents are involved in schooling. Shifting from a “deficit” approach to a “strength based” approach highlights existing resources and capacities among those who are comfortable and familiar with navigating the education system while also creating prospects to build on that capacity to empower others who are less familiar/comfortable.
The appropriation of sex education by conservative populism
(2020) Bialystok, Lauren; Wright, JJ (Jessica); Berzins, Taylor; Guy, Caileigh; Osborne, Em
Curriculum change involves struggles among political actors and interest groups, and those efforts related to sex education have been noted for their particularly vexatious character. When Doug Ford was elected Premier of Ontario, Canada in 2018, he immediately repealed the comprehensive health curriculum of 2015 and attempted to muzzle teachers during the 2018–2019 school year, only to unveil a strikingly similar “new” curriculum for 2019–2020.This article analyses Ford’s treatment of sex education as part of a conservative populist agenda. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, we divide the government’s approach into six components that illustrate how anti-elitism and fact-bending drove curriculum policy. Our analysis contributes to discussions in curriculum studies and educational politics by connecting the recently ascendant political ideologies in the West with the already contentious area of sex education.
Assessing the impacts and outcomes of youth driven mental health promotion: a mixed-methods assessment of the Social Networking Action for Resilience study
(2018) Jenkins, E. K.; Bungay, V.; Patterson, Andrew; Saewyc, E. M.; Johnson, J. L.
Mental health challenges are the leading health issue facing youth globally. To better respond to this health challenge, experts advocate for a population health approach inclusive of mental health promotion; yet this area remains underdeveloped. Further, while there is growing emphasis on youth-engaged research and intervention design, evidence of the outcomes and impacts are lacking. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to addressing these gaps, presenting findings from the Social Networking Action for Resilience (SONAR) study, an exploration of youth-driven mental health promotion in a rural community in British Columbia, Canada. Mixed methods including pre- and post-intervention surveys (n = 175) and qualitative interviews (n = 10) captured the outcomes and impacts of the intervention on indicators of mental health, the relationship between level of engagement and benefit, and community perceptions of impact. Findings demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of youth engaged research and intervention at an individual and community-level.
Assessment of sex offenders using standardized slide stimuli and procedures: A multisite study
(1995) Laws, D. R.; Gulayets, Michael; Frenzel, R. R.
Thirty sex offenders were assessed for age and gender preference with a set of standardized erotic slides and an assessment protocol which specified each step in the procedure. This procedure was intended to be a normative study to be carried out at multiple sites in the United States and Canada. It was hypothesized that (1) the procedure would discriminate child molesters as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual, (2) the procedure would differentiate child molesters from normal subjects, and (3) both of these hypotheses would be confirmed at all sites. Data are reported here for 20 of the 30 subjects tested in groups labeled heterosexual pedophilia, homosexual pedophilia, heterosexual incest, and rape. Although the groups were quite small and measured response levels were low, good discriminations were obtained between groups and stimulus categories. It was concluded that the obtained data confirmed Hypothesis 1 and partially confirmed Hypothesis 2. Although the assessment protocol had to be altered to suit local conditions, it proved adequate and could serve as a guide in future standardization studies. Of particular interest was the finding that a 30-sec slide exposure was effective in producing discriminations in the critical categories related to the tested hypotheses.
Attachment to community and civic and political engagement: a case study of students
(2014) Boulianne, Shelley; Brailey, Michelle
Youth’s low level of civic and political engagement may detrimentally affect the health of communities and the democratic system. This paper examines the role of community attachment in explaining youth’s levels of civic and political engagement. This examination requires an evaluation of existing measures of community attachment and their relevance for understanding youth’s experiences. The paper uses a student sample, highlighting a group of youth who have a degree of variation in their experiences of community attachment. We find that subjective measures of community attachment are related to volunteering and voting, but the objective measure of community attachment, i.e., years of residence, affects voting and not volunteering. Different mechanisms explain civic engagement versus political engagement. As such, different strategies are required to combat low levels of civic versus political engagement.
Building faith in democracy: deliberative events, political trust and efficacy
(2018) Boulianne, Shelley
Governments have turned to public deliberation as a way to engage citizens in governance with the goal of rebuilding faith in government institutions and authority as well as to provide quality inputs into governance. This paper offers a systematic analysis of the literature on the effects of deliberative events on participants’ political efficacy and trust. The systematic review contextualizes the results from a six-day deliberative event. This case study is distinctive in highlighting the long-term impacts on participants’ political trust and efficacy as key outcomes of the deliberative process unfold, i.e., City Council receives then responds to the participants’ recommendations report. Using four-wave panel data spanning two and a half years and three public opinion polls (control groups), the study demonstrates that participants in deliberative events are more efficacious and trusting prior to and after the deliberative event. Despite the case study’s evidence and the systematic review of existing literature, questions remain about whether enhanced opportunities for citizen engagement in governance can ameliorate low levels of political trust and efficacy observed in western democracies.
Campaigns and conflict on social media: a literature snapshot
(2016) Boulianne, Shelley
This volume addresses whether social media use is more common among liberal or conservative citizens, candidates, and organizations; the level of negativity in social media discourse and the impact on attitudes; the existence of echo chambers of like-minded individuals and groups; the extent and nature of interactivity in social media; and whether social media will reinforce participation inequalities. In sum, the studies suggest that negativity and interactivity on social media are limited and mixed support for echo chambers. While social media mobilizes citizens, these citizens are those who already pre-disposed to engage in civic and political life.
Candida, food discipline and the dietary taming of uncertainty
(2012) Overend, Alissa
Discourses of nutritional health are strongly associated with illness, and have recently been linked to the prevalence and management of chronic undefined disorders. Using the case of Candida—a yeast-related disorder of vague symptomatology—I explore the role of food in the narratives of twenty-four people living with Candida. As Candida remains a speculative illness within the boundaries of biomedical science, it is relevant to critically explore the often-focal role of food in the management of this condition, and to consider the range of personal, social and cultural motivations at work in its dietary regulation. Taking up Foucault's theory of docility, I trace the ways in which dietary practices can be understood as normalizing the Candidad-body by helping to create a sense of certainty and control in the persistent face of illness ambiguity. In drawing on Foucault's later work, I move beyond illness dieting as solely a disciplinary regime and explore the ways in which dietary regime can also be conceptualized as a practice in the care of the self, fostering a heightened, often-changing sense of self. While Candida dieting practices will never fully operate separate from the pervasive discourses of nutritional science, they can offer productive possibilities in the regulation and maintenance of an illness not fully recognized by biomedical science.
The changing boys' world in the 20th century: reality and “fiction”
(2003) Bereska, Tami
In university and college classrooms today gender is a hot topic and the issue that raises the most discussion is that of how much gender roles have changed or remained the same. This issue has been studied among both adults and adolescents over the last several decades in a variety of ways including analyses of popular cultural representations. However, more research has been done on representations of femininity than on masculinity in adolescent popular cultural products, and the area of young adult literature has been relatively ignored by social scientists. This paper presents the results of a study exploring the structure of masculinity in young adult novels for boys from the 1940s through the 1990s. Over this 50-year period, the components that make up the structure of masculinity remain static, indicating that at least a portion of the discourse on masculinity has remained unchanged for more than 50 years. This has implications not only for the lives of boys and men today, but also for the maintenance of patriarchy itself. In trying to create equity in society, we appear to have focused all of our attention on the girls' world, but left the boys' world virtually untouched.
Character strengths of teaching and research award-winning professors
(2018) Symbaluk, Diane; Howell, Andrew J.
This study examined online student feedback to determine the extent to which students identify strengths of character in their perceptions of professors and whether student-identified character strengths could distinguish between teaching-award winners (n = 120) and research-award winners (n = 119). A content analysis of posted comments on RateMyProfessors.com revealed the most commonly identified character traits to be perspective, kindness, leadership, humor, creativity, vitality, and fairness. Teaching-award recipients averaged a greater number of traits compared to research-award winners. Future research is needed to determine how character strengths among teaching faculty can best be applied to teaching practices, faculty development strategies, and institutional priorities for optimal faculty and student outcomes.
Citizen panels and opinion polls: convergence and divergence in policy preferences
(2018) Boulianne, Shelley; Loptson, Kristjana; Kahane, David
Citizen panels offer an alternative venue for gathering input into the policy-making process. These deliberative exercises are intended to produce more thoughtful and informed inputs into the policymaking process, compared to public opinion polls. This paper highlights a six day deliberative event about energy and climate issues, tracking opinion changes before and after the deliberation, as well as six months after the deliberation. In two of the five policy domains, opinions change as a result of the deliberation and these changes endure six months after the deliberation. The tracking of opinions across the three points in time reveals a pattern of convergence between panelists’ views and poll results for three of the five policy domains. Panelists were overly optimistic about many of the policy options prior to deliberation, but became more critical of these policies post-deliberation, moving their opinions closer to those of poll respondents.
Climate change in the 2019 Canadian federal election
(2021) Boulianne, Shelley; Belland, Stephanie; Sleptcov, Nikita; Larsson, Anders Olof
In the weeks before the 2019 federal election, climate change strikes occurred in Canada and across the globe, which may have increased the salience of this policy issue. We use two data sources to examine the role of climate change in the 2019 federal election: a representative survey of 1500 Canadians and 2109 Facebook posts from the five major party leaders. After accounting for political ideology and region, we find that concern about climate change was a strong positive predictor of liberal support. We triangulate these findings by analyzing Facebook posts. We find that left-wing politicians were more likely to post about climate change and that posts about climate change received more likes, comments, and shares than other posts. This higher level of user engagement did not differ depending on which political party posted the climate change message. The combination of sources offers news insights into citizen-elite interactions and electoral outcomes. Climate change was important in the election, whether this importance was measured through survey data or user engagement with leaders’ climate change posts.
Climate denial in Canada and the United States
(2022) Boulianne, Shelley; Belland, Stephanie
One type of climate change denial is the belief that climate change is naturally occurring instead of human caused; this form of denial is known as attribution skepticism or soft denial. While considerable research has addressed outright climate change denial, little research has focused specifically on soft denial and its complex and politicized relationship with science. We examine this form of denial using original survey data collected in 2017 in the United States (n = 1510) and in 2019 in Canada (n = 1545). Contrary to expectations about the United States being more divided by political ideology on the topic of climate change, we find that – after accounting for trust in political leaders – Canadians’ views are driven more by ideological position than those of Americans. In the United States, climate denial is related to trust in President Trump as a source of information about climate change. The study of soft denial is important as it undermines the rationale for climate change solutions.
Comment signaler la désinformation sur les plateformes de médias sociaux
(2021) Friesen, Kelsey; Boulianne, Shelley; Belland, Stephanie
Ces infographies offrent des instructions étape par étape sur la façon de signaler des informations erronées sur Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, Reddit, Snapchat, YouTube et TikTok. Cette infographie met également en évidence les principales conclusions d'une enquête dans quatre pays (États-Unis, Royaume-Uni, France, Canada) en février 2021.
Complicating the resilience model: a four-country study about misinformation
(2022) Boulianne, Shelley; Tenove, Chris; Buffie, Jordan
The resilience model to disinformation (Humprecht et al., 2020, 2021) suggests that countries will differ in exposure and reactions to disinformation due to their distinct media, economic, and political environments. In this model, higher media trust and the use of public service broadcasters are expected to build resilience to disinformation, while social media use and political polarization undermine resilience. To further test and develop the resilience model, we draw on a four-country (the US, Canada, the UK, and France) survey conducted in February 2021. We focus on three individual-level indicators of a lack of resilience: awareness of, exposure to, and sharing of misinformation. We find that social media use is associated with higher levels of all three measures, which is consistent with the resilience model. Social media use decreases resilience to misinformation. Contrary to the expectations of the resilience model, trust in national news media does not build resilience. Finally, we consider the use of public broadcasting media (BBC, France Télévisions, and CBC). The use of these sources does not build resilience in the short term. Moving forward, we suggest that awareness of, exposure to, and reactions to misinformation are best understood in terms of social media use and left–right ideology. Furthermore, instead of focusing on the US as the exceptional case of low resilience, we should consider the UK as the exceptional case of high resilience to misinformation. Finally, we identify potential avenues to further develop frameworks to understand and measure resilience to misinformation.
Complicating the resilience model: a four‐country study about misinformation
(2022) Boulianne, Shelley; Tenove, Chris; Buffie, Jordan
The resilience model to disinformation (Humprecht et al., 2020, 2021) suggests that countries will differ in exposure and reactions to disinformation due to their distinct media, economic, and political environments. In this model, higher media trust and the use of public service broadcasters are expected to build resilience to disinformation, while social media use and political polarization undermine resilience. To further test and develop the resilience model, we draw on a four-country (the US, Canada, the UK, and France) survey conducted in February 2021. We focus on three individual-level indicators of a lack of resilience: awareness of, exposure to, and sharing of misinformation. We find that social media use is associated with higher levels of all three measures, which is consistent with the resilience model. Social media use decreases resilience to misinformation. Contrary to the expectations of the resilience model, trust in national news media does not build resilience. Finally, we consider the use of public broadcasting media (BBC, France Télévisions, and CBC). The use of these sources does not build resilience in the short term. Moving forward, we suggest that awareness of, exposure to, and reactions to misinformation are best understood in terms of social media use and left–right ideology. Furthermore, instead of focusing on the US as the exceptional case of low resilience, we should consider the UK as the exceptional case of high resilience to misinformation. Finally, we identify potential avenues to further develop frameworks to understand and measure resilience to misinformation.
Conspiracy beliefs, misinformation, social media platforms, and protest participation
(2022) Boulianne, Shelley; Lee, Sangwon
Protest has long been associated with left-wing actors and left-wing causes. However, right-wing actors also engage in protest. Are right-wing actors mobilized by the same factors as those actors on the left? This article uses cross-national survey data (i.e., US, UK, France, and Canada) gathered in February 2021 to assess the role of misinformation, conspiracy beliefs, and the use of different social media platforms in explaining participation in marches or demonstrations. We find that those who use Twitch or TikTok are twice as likely to participate in marches or demonstrations, compared to non-users, but the uses of these platforms are more highly related to participation in right-wing protests than left-wing protests. Exposure to misinformation on social media and beliefs in conspiracy theories also increase the likelihood of participating in protests. Our research makes several important contributions. First, we separate right-wing protest participation from left-wing protest participation, whereas existing scholarship tends to lump these together. Second, we offer new insights into the effects of conspiracy beliefs and misinformation on participation using cross-national data. Third, we examine the roles of emerging social media platforms such as Twitch and TikTok (as well as legacy platforms such as YouTube and Facebook) to better understand the differential roles that social media platforms play in protest participation.

Browse

Browsing Department of Sociology by Title

Results Per Page

Sort Options