Social Sciences

Chloe deBeus

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Natalie Delia Deckard

In neighborhoods that are changing because of gentrification, there are different types of displacement. A form of displacement rarely studied is indirect displacement in the form of cultural displacement and political displacement. The outskirts of West Charlotte are beginning to experience gentrification at a very fast pace. But West Charlotte holds a deep history at its core, and they remain predominately African American communities. New people moving in do not resemble the long-time residents and their wishes for the community. I identify how gentrification indirectly impacts long time residents of the neighborhoods. I gathered data through a collection of interviews with neighborhood association presidents and other political members of the area. The data reflects that neighborhoods do experiences indirect displacement. Residents who continue to live in the neighborhood as new people move in face political and cultural displacement. Signs of cultural displacement within the neighborhoods include changes to social dynamics, alienation from new class divisions, and other cultural differences. Signs of political displacement in these specific neighborhoods are a higher socioeconomic class making different economic demands and achieving better responses to those demands. In conclusion, residents who remain in their neighborhoods as they are gentrifying face indirect displacement which can lead to isolation, alienation, and a lack of connection to the changing neighborhood.

Caroline Amelia Roddey

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Melody Crowder-Meyer

Sarah Mayer

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Natalie Delia Deckard

My research examines how the dissemination and circulation of mugshots impact women from accessing crucial resources like housing, childcare, and employment. I investigate this topic through the lens of sociological theory by engaging contemporary social theory and theorists like Foucault. My data was found through a survey that was published on several social media platforms.

Jared Lindo, Emily Morgan, Cole Cheek

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Chris Marsicano

How have NCAA institutions handled controversial traditions?

Claire Brantley

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Natalie Delia Deckard

Levels of development vary among post-genocide states. The European Union is relatively advanced in comparison to the rest of nations, so one might hypothesize that the post-genocide nation states that are members of the European Union may be more advanced than non-EU member states that have experienced genocide. Additionally, I hypothesized that post-Shoah states would be more advanced than EU member states that did not experience the Holocaust. Through statistical analysis, Germany (as perpetrator of the Holocaust) is proven to be the most developed state among the share of post-genocide states.

Noah Constantine

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Shyam Gouri-Suresh

In 1996, Roland Benabou published a paper evaluating the impact of spillover effects on human capital accumulation. Within Benabou’s theoretical framework, human capital accumulation is a function of three things: parent’s human capital, school quality, and spillover effects. Of particular interest to Benabou was the effect of segregation (economic, racial…) on human capital accumulation, as well as mechanisms through which the convergence of outcomes could be achieved. I attempt to use computational tools to simulate Benabou’s theoretical work.
Utilizing Matlab, I developed a series of agent-based models, to evaluate how human capital accumulation proceeds in unique circumstances. I develop simulations with unique utility functions, tax conditions, and school funding mechanisms. The results suggest that when segregation persists, there gap between communities widens, resulting in the perpetuation of inequality. Attempts to encourage integration or achieve equity of outcomes yield surprising results.

Alisha Kendrick-Pradhan

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Natalie Delia Deckard

Out-migration, both national and international, has become the new normal for rural communities in Nepal, greatly impacting the demographics of many rural communities as young men are increasingly absent and villages are occupied by women, children, and the elderly who are left behind. The existing literature demonstrates that gendered migration in Nepal particularly impacts the women left behind. In Nepal specifically, migration shapes not only the positions of women in rural communities, but the ritual and practical roles of women in Nepalese culture. These changes are, above all, characterized by an increase in the burden of agricultural labor – born entirely by the women left to tend homes, children and field while men are both pushed and pulled into the global labor market. There is some evidence that male out-migration has resulted in greater roles and decision making for women in the public sphere, but due to the traditional patriarchal social structure women are still subject to male domination in key decision-making and labor market participation despite male out-migration. Research shows that gender inequality in Nepal is affected by gendered streams of migration, but how has removing men worked to change relationships between genders – and with poverty?

Tanya Nair

Faculty Sponsor: Kristi S Multhaup; Greta Munger

Research indicates that retrieval practice is a better study strategy than repeated studying for foreign language learning. However, there is debate around which kind of stimuli is better for foreign language learning, pictures or native language translations of the foreign words. The current study addresses this debate with an experiment that manipulates study materials (word-word, picture-word) and study strategy (retrieval practice, repeated study). All participants (N = 99) were warned about not being overconfident to ensure they are attentive during the study phase. The results of this study were: 1) participants engaging in retrieval practice performed better than participants doing repeated study; 2) higher recall for words learned through picture-word pairs than through word-word pairs.