This thesis will examine the economic disaffection present in manufacturing states in the US, through the case study of Nebraska. With the 2016 Presidential Election, this discontent is often given...Show moreThis thesis will examine the economic disaffection present in manufacturing states in the US, through the case study of Nebraska. With the 2016 Presidential Election, this discontent is often given as a motive for voting for Donald Trump. A logical link to make when considering economic disaffection is the link with the Great Recession. The Great Recession certainly has had a large influence on the bad shape of the US economy, but this thesis will point out that structural changes to the economy are the main culprit of the dissatisfaction of the American working class. The implementation of supply side economics has caused for the manufacturing sector to decline. The changed tax system, the increased trade deficit, education shifting its focus on technology, and enforced globalization are outcomes of the theory of supply side economics, and all have had a negative impact on the manufacturing sector. Nebraska followed the trend of these four elements, and therefore witnesses the decline of its manufacturing sector. Nebraska’s poverty rate and income inequality are growing, and the job opportunities for low-skilled employees are decreasing. Nebraska serves as an example for other manufacturing states in the US where this economic discontent is present as well, because of the economic hardship the working class in Nebraska is experiencing as a result of the implications of supply side economics to the manufacturing sector.Show less
The role of women in late nineteenth century American literature as a reflection of the position that women in America had leading up to women's suffrage.
College sports is a crucial element of American popular culture, and is often seen as a social institution that has transcended racial issues that are still very prevalent in American society....Show moreCollege sports is a crucial element of American popular culture, and is often seen as a social institution that has transcended racial issues that are still very prevalent in American society. However, contrary to popular belief, the arena of sports still knows much racial prejudice. Stereotypical beliefs about Black Americans are reintroduced in the form of the Black athlete and through the media, these beliefs are further spread among the public. The image of the Black athlete as hyper masculine and athletically superior, while also being intellectually inferior, has its roots in historical stereotypical images of African American men that served to maintain the inferior status of African Americans in the United States. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analysis, the televised commentary of ten collegiate men’s basketball games was analyzed. By comparing the commentary regarding Black and White college athletes, it was found that the televised commentary made by sports announcers resembles many of the historical and stereotypical beliefs about Black men in general. Beliefs such as Black athletic superiority and White intellectual superiority are spread through these televised sporting events and display how racism is still a major issue in American sports.Show less
For decades, poor communities of colour have been the victim of environmental inequalities such as dumped toxic waste, proximity of pollution-producing factories, and polluted drinking water. The...Show moreFor decades, poor communities of colour have been the victim of environmental inequalities such as dumped toxic waste, proximity of pollution-producing factories, and polluted drinking water. The Environmental Justice Movement resulted from these inequalities and gives coloured communities a platform to raise attention for environmental issues. One of these communities is the Latino community. Lack of communication, economic power, and language barriers, make this community one of the biggest subjects of environmental injustice. The Latino community is the fastest growing demographic group in the United States and therefore has a large impact on future national politics. Various studies show that, because of their cultural roots, Latinos perceive environmental issues as highly important. This has a significant impact on Latino voting behaviour. The 2008 presidential election was the first election where Latinos were regarded to have a big influence on the outcome, and hereby they were recognized as a separate and important part of the electorate. In this election, the majority of Latinos voted for the Democratic Party. California had a big influence on this election, as it had the highest number of Latinos, and the majority of these Latinos voted for the Democratic Party. Furthermore, in California, which has the highest number of environmental conflicts in the U.S., Latinos are actively involved in environmental justice organizations and grassroots communities. This thesis analyses whether the Environmental Justice Movement had an impact on Latino voting behaviour in California in the 2008 election. It finds that there is a historical connection between Latinos and the environment on the one hand, and Latinos and the Democratic Party on the other hand. The Democratic Party’s environmental friendly policies and attention to minority groups provide reasons for this. These theoretical findings are substantiated by the analyses of environmental justice organizations and grassroots communities in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The findings indicate that Latino environmental justice organizations were actively operating in California. Moreover, Latinos tended to vote above national average for the Democratic Party in the 2008 election. As a result, this thesis provides indications that the Environmental Justice Movement affected Latino voting behaviour towards the Democratic Party in the 2008 election.Show less
As a religious test of any sort is prohibited by the United States Constitution, it should not matter with which religion a candidate associates when running for president. However, a significant...Show moreAs a religious test of any sort is prohibited by the United States Constitution, it should not matter with which religion a candidate associates when running for president. However, a significant number of Americans states that they would not vote for non-Christian president, and therefore it does seem to matter. Mitt Romney, who participated in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, identifies as a Mormon, and this identification has often been portrayed negatively by both the media and by his opponents. Furthermore, the American public often has a negative connotation with the Mormon Church, and Romney often had to defend his religion. While previous research has focused on the attitude of the general public regarding Romney and his Mormon identity, this research will analyse the opinions of Mormons themselves on the intersection of religion and politics, and on Mitt Romney and his electability by analysing questionnaire results.Show less
Following the 2015 Paris attacks, public opinion on refugees drastically diverged in Canada and the United States. Whereas Canadians became more supportive towards taking in Syrian refugees, US...Show moreFollowing the 2015 Paris attacks, public opinion on refugees drastically diverged in Canada and the United States. Whereas Canadians became more supportive towards taking in Syrian refugees, US-Americans increasingly disapproved the intake of refugees. In the weeks after the attacks, the fact that one of the attackers entered Europe with a Syrian passport through the refugee roads initiated a global discussion on the safety of taking in Syrian refugees. Especially television news were of major importance in pushing this debate. Through critical discourse analysis, this bachelor thesis examined whether the divergent trends in public opinion in the United States and Canada could be explained by differing news discourses. The analysis found that the US discourse extensively focused on refugees as a potential threat to national security. Due to the fact the US had entered the pre-election phase at this point, the discussion on refugees was markedly politicized. Especially Republican presidential candidates were given plenty of airtime to comment on refugees, while refugees themselves were left almost entirely voiceless. In contrast, the Canadian news discourse discussed the crisis more from a humanitarian perspective, extensively covering philanthropist Canadians who were aiding Syrian refugees through different means such as privately-sponsoring, providing medical care or donating money, clothes and housing. This analysis demonstrates that the news discourses in Canada and the US were indeed profoundly different. This supports the theory that different reporting on refugees in the wake of the Paris attacks contributed to the shifts in public opinion in Canada and the US.Show less
Despite the 1970s black feminists’ efforts towards empowerment, black women are nevertheless overshadowed by racism and sexism in political as well as social structures in contemporary United...Show moreDespite the 1970s black feminists’ efforts towards empowerment, black women are nevertheless overshadowed by racism and sexism in political as well as social structures in contemporary United States. Black feminist scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw initiated the social justice movement “#sayhername” in 2015 to address the severity of black women’s maltreatment and their underrepresentation in society. Her conceptualisation of “intersectionality” theory in 1989 allows for academic debate on the “matrix of oppressions” that undermines black women on the grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, capitalism and imperialism. This recent development has raised the necessity to overcome the effacement of black women’s narratives from the past and the present. However, roots of intersectionality theory lie in the establishment of the historical black feminist organisations that separated from the “mainstream” black liberation and women’s liberation groups to challenge the intersecting oppressions. This thesis examines the historical black feminist struggles towards empowerment to argue that the oppressions still need to be overcome in the 21st century United States. It discusses three different black feminist organisations that emerged in the 1970s who laid the groundwork for present-day black feminism and intersectionality theory. First, the National Black Feminist Organisation (NBFO) which was the first group to defend black women’s needs and to raise the black feminist consciousness. Second, the Combahee River Collective (CRC), which developed the pivotal basis for intersectionality theory to discuss matters of sexual orientation and lesbianism to bring minority issues to the public attention. Last, the Third World Women’s Alliance (TWWA) that established a democratic global sisterhood to educate and to empower women of colour who were equally burdened by imperialism. An analysis of these three black feminist groups illustrates how feminist and historical literature neglect black women’s accomplishments for black women’s justice. Additionally, an understanding of the historical struggles of black feminists is essential to challenge the injustices minority groups experience today. As a result, this thesis argues that new social justice movements of consciousness-raising, black women’s empowerment and a gender-inclusive political agenda are necessary to foster gender and race equality.Show less
The War on Terror was initiated by President George W. Bush as a response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The War on Terror was not just a concept, it was a range of strategies,...Show moreThe War on Terror was initiated by President George W. Bush as a response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The War on Terror was not just a concept, it was a range of strategies, ideologies and expectations to justify the American response to the attacks and an expression around which the American public could rally. It shaped the nature and the scope of the American counterterrorism strategy to the terrorist attacks, into a specific form of conflict. This thesis demonstrates what the two different counterterrorism strategies entailed, and the different interpretations President Bush and President Obama gave to the War on Terror. Bush approached the attacks as an ‘act of war’, and rationalized the event through the Just War theory. Whereas Obama framed the conflict as a ‘crime’, of which the perpetrators should be brought to justice, in order to end the conflict as quickly as possible. During his campaign, Obama gave the impression of a foreign policy strategy that radically moved away from Bush. However, Bush had embedded a strong hegemonic discourse regarding the War on Terror in society. This social structure was complex to change, since it was entrenched in rhetoric, media and real-life institutions. Thus, Obama faced great difficulty during his first term, in order to change this hegemonic discourse, and was severely limited in executing his intended foreign policy regarding the Middle East.Show less
This thesis analyzes how the representation of Anton Chigurh in Joel and Ethan Coen’s neo-noir film No Country for Old Men (2007), translates a postmodern obscurity of good and evil and how this...Show moreThis thesis analyzes how the representation of Anton Chigurh in Joel and Ethan Coen’s neo-noir film No Country for Old Men (2007), translates a postmodern obscurity of good and evil and how this phenomenon characterizes a post 9/11 American society. While analyzing various aspects of the film, most importantly its dramatis personae, it becomes evident that representations of serial murder as the portrayal of serial killer Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, alongside Ed Tom Bell and Llewelyn Moss, in addition to the film’s narrative and dialogue, contribute to the ambiguation of the dividing line between good and evil, leaving the serial killer at a borderline state. The confusion surrounding the serial killer is in an era that has been marked by a postmodern ambiance of unpredictability, angst, and perplexity. As such, representations of the serial killer epitomize and challenge the complexities and the growing moral dilemma in contemporary post 9/11 American society.Show less
This paper researched several aspects contributing to the obstruction the United States faces when considering the implementation of international environmental policies. In 1997, the Kyoto...Show moreThis paper researched several aspects contributing to the obstruction the United States faces when considering the implementation of international environmental policies. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was supposed to be a pivotal step in the international fight against climate change. However, the United States made the decision not to ratify this treaty. Since the Kyoto Protocol, the views of the American public on environmental issues have become increasingly polarized. The fossil fuel industry and the conservative movement both undertake actions with the aim to prevent the implementation of climate change legislation. The fossil fuel industry spends millions of dollars annually on obstructive climate lobbying. The goal of this lobbying is to influence the political sphere to oppose environmental regulations. There is a negative relation between the conservative movement and environmentalism, especially among political elites. The conservative movement is often opposed to environmentalism due to the fact that the ideology behind the conservative movement is against government intervention. The actions taken by the conservative movement and the fossil fuel industry are executed in order to weaken the position of the environmental movement. In order to minimize the negative effects of global warming, the threat of climate change needs to be put on the national agenda. Governmental support is needed to prevent the United States from continuing to be one of the largest contributors to the global amount of carbon dioxide emissions. In this thesis, the actions of the fossil fuel industry and the conservative movement are examined in order to understand the role they have in the obstruction of environmental agreements in the United States.Show less
Since the 1960s there has been a rise in the United States in anti-abortion proponents, and adherence to the ‘traditional family values’ movement. Anti-abortion organisations are politically...Show moreSince the 1960s there has been a rise in the United States in anti-abortion proponents, and adherence to the ‘traditional family values’ movement. Anti-abortion organisations are politically organised on gender categories and rely on these categories in order to make their arguments. A look into how these groups present themselves as a political identity, and present women as a political identity is explored in this paper. This paper presents a discourse analysis on the construction of womanhood by three anti-abortion groups: Concerned Women for America (CWA), the Elliot Institute, and Feminists for Life (FFL). The findings of the analysis demonstrate that these groups present a biological reductionist image of women that reifies the existing social categories of women and their relationship with motherhood.Show less
