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Straight Hate: The Tar Heel State’s Symbolic Steps

Despite queer identities gaining increased visibility and acceptance in mainstream media and law, North Carolina still isn’t quite sure love is love. Calvita contends that fiscal insecurity and the rise of balanced-budget conservatism misdirects mass hostility toward immigrants as they are perceived as financial burdens on the state. She argues Californians passed Proposition 187 as…

Beware of Hazing

Immigrants start at the bottom of the totem pole, as do pledges. Pledges and immigrants are seen as the ones with the least status, and their duties are assigned accordingly. Pledges are responsible for party clean ups, driving drunk teens to and fro parties, and remain constantly on-call for the other undesired tasks. Immigrants are…

Footloose

The film that focuses on a town where dancing has been made illegal is a prime example of a “moral panic.” How did the moral panic start? A car accident that provoked an “explosion of fear and concern at a particular time and place about a specific perceived threat.” (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 150) The threat…

Debate or Distraction? Donald’s Interest Group Interpretations

Yet again, last night brought a range of questions about this year’s presidential election: Is this actually a reality show? Are we all being Punk’d? Who the heck is Ken Bone? Will I vote in the next primaries? Despite the second debate evoking a plethora of moral panics from increases in gun violence to Russian…

No need to Panic

When an issue is giving a prominent place in the public debate and becomes the subject of concern of an important portion of the population, the first reaction would be to think that this issue is really problematic and really represents a danger or potential danger. This way of thinking would be designated as naïve…

The Moral Panic of Muggleborns

Moral Panics have the ability to shape a society due to the power they hold. Within the Wizarding World, Voldemort harnessed the power of a moral panic in order to wreak havoc over the society. According to Goode and Ben-Yehuda in Moral Panics: Culture, Politics, and Social Construction, a moral panic is created through “intense…

The Societal Eye Of Gender Stereotypes and Expectations

With Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as presidential candidates, I do start to wonder how much gender plays a role when trying to determine who will be the next president of the United States. In connection with the article, Gender Stereotypes, Information Search, and Voting Behavior in Political Campaigns, I have taken a sociological…

Pick Your Bias

Politicians are a ruthless bunch. They will do whatever they can, and pander to whomever they must, to win elections and keep their positions. Much of this pandering, unbeknownst to the majority of voters, lies in appealing to implicit biases or widespread stereotypes. Needless to say, the most salient stereotypes in play are derived from…

The Workings of Seattle Grace Hospital

Christina Yang, one of the most influential and powerful female characters on T.V is a surgeon at Seattle Grace Hospital. However, her rise to power in the hospital did not come easy. She faced judgement from her peers, from her employers, and from her employees. People continued to question her ability to lead time and…

We Are Our Own Gatekeepers

Within the first debate of the 2016 Presidential race, one of the questions asked to the candidates regarded Donald Trump’s statement of Hillary Clinton not having a ‘presidential look’. Considering that I am the politically involved feminist that I am, this statement (and following question) lit a fire within me. My initial thought to the…