Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Tattooing has been thought of as the primitive markings of savages, the mark of a criminal, gang member, or prisoner, the subversive statement of a rebellious and often despised lower class, to an increasingly respected artistic skill and symbol of personal freedom. Despite the commercial growth tattooing has experienced, it continues to be a source of mixed social evaluation, especially along the lines of gender. The present study aims to add to the knowledge on this topic by analyzing the portrayal of tattooed persons in the various ‘educational’ programs on body art and modification produced by media like The Learning Channel, The History Channel, and The National Geographic Channel. Utilizing a form of qualitative media analysis, six programs were examined to determine (1) if there were any noticeable biases in the portrayal of tattooed women and men (2) what subjects or themes were related to discussions of women and gender – and where was there silence (3) and additional analyses from academic literature and inside information. Emerging themes include: what tattoos mean, reasons for getting tattooed, reasons for getting tattoos removed, the pain involved with getting or removing a tattoo, the body, and meanings of beauty.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In the last twenty-five years, U.S. universities have become increasingly entangled with the marketplace. I argue that this development emerged from the adoption of a new institutional logic emphasizing the role played by the university in stimulating the economy. This logic took hold in the late 1970s as a way out of a crisis that arose when the post-World-War-II consensus around the value of the university began to dissolve. I test this argument through a content analysis of the testimony of Association of American Universities presidents to Congress from 1970 to 1980. During this period, university presidents moved from justifying their requests for funding based on reasons internal to science and the university (i.e., give us money because we need money), to reasons external to science and the university (i.e., give us money because it will help society in some way). They also began to use more justifications for funding that were explicitly based on the economic role of the university in the last years of the decade. I discuss the implications of these results for my argument and use them to refine it.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The social context in which youth “come of age” has changed significantly in the last few decades. Youth of today experience longer periods of economic dependence, increased educational requirements, more family disruption, and a more extensive array of socialization agents (e.g. cable TV, the Internet). However, it is unclear how these social changes may have affected adolescents and their effort to navigate through important identity and intimacy challenges. There is very little, if any, in-depth longitudinal data which speak to these issues. However, teen movies provide a unique window into the adolescent experience and how it may have changed over time. The present study offers a qualitative analysis of the portrayal of adolescents in teen movies (twenty-four movies) over the last thirty years. Four key issue areas are examined: adolescent/parent relationships, peer relationships, sex and romantic love, and identity development (maturity and coming of age). Results reveal that the portrayal of peer and romantic relationships has seen little change in the last three decades. However, there were dramatic differences in the portrayal of teen/parent relationships and in the development of identity and pursuit of adult status. These changes simultaneously present a portrait of adolescents as having more freedom and autonomy (more adult-like status) but more confused as to their identities and more hesitant to define themselves as adults

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Terrorism has long been a popular theme in theatrical films. Movie trailers, which have grown increasingly ubiquitous due to technologies such as the World Wide Web and portable digital media players, reach a far greater audience (some viewing intentionally, some unintentionally) than do the films themselves. This paper reports a content analysis examining the demographics and portrayal of terrorists in major-release film trailers, as well as the trailers’ prevalence of violence. Action movie trailers tended to portray terrorists more negatively and feature more violence (both committed by terrorists and in general) compared to other genres. More interesting (and disconcerting) was the finding that terrorists in trailers for films released after September 11, 2001, were found to be more often non-White and more negatively portrayed than were their counterparts in trailers for films released before. Implications for cultivation effects are discussed and recommendations are made for future research.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: A major question explored by research on relationship between media and society is whether media are agents of social change or reinforcers of the status quo. This study used media portrayal of women as an index to explore the relationship between media and society within the Chinese context. Through a content analysis of 352 cover pictures of Women of China, China’s official English women magazine for foreign publicity, we investigated whether and how the media portrayal of Chinese women relates to the social changes in China under an authoritative communication and political system. Our findings show that the image of Chinese women presented by the covers of Women of China was to a large extent influenced by the socio-economic and political-ideological changes in China. Rather than a literal portrayal of the “reality”, it is a symbolic representation of the Chinese women created through the interaction of party ideology, editorial policy and readers’ taste as well as the changing reality of Chinese women’s life and work