On January 21, 2017, the United States bore witness to the largest single-day demonstration in history—the Women’s March. This mixed methods study uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative data in an attempt to predict participation in this infamous protest. I divulge the ways in which the 2017 Women’s March...
Far from the decimated state it was during the 1990s, Russia has risen to become a key player in many international events, often in opposition to the West. In particular, President Putin and his allies have invested heavily in increasing both Russia’s soft power, or its attractiveness to other countries,...
Political Polarization in the United States is at a level higher today than at any point in the past few decades. Possible causes of this rise in polarization have been provided from various sources, including explanations such as mass media and income inequality. Through historical analysis and a wide literature...
The Scab Sheet is a student activist publication at OSU. Originally published in 1969-1970, a group of students revived it in 2017 after a near 50-year gap. The fact that students deliberately resurrected this important and storied student publication suggests that students still believe this particular name and outlet have...
For over two years, an exceptionally contagious new disease known as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread around the globe and killed millions. Organizations such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations have suggested that universal healthcare could have helped countries currently lacking such mitigate the severity of...
My study of universal healthcare was motivated by the juxtaposition of social welfare and self-interest in the United States. Unlike most other industrialized countries—whom have adopted either a multi-payer or single-payer system of universal healthcare—the United States is situated uniquely, from both a philosophical and political standpoint. Among others, it...
This thesis examines whether and how interest groups concerned with capital punishment change how they frame the issue when advocating before the Supreme Court via amicus curiae briefs over time. I measured the frequency of frames used throughout amicus briefs submitted in cases pertaining to how the death penalty could...
Interruptions and asking questions play a vital role in social communication and can exhibit status and power differences in regular conversation. Studies in gender communication describe the way men and women utilize their own linguistic register through the development of social subcultures. The different ways men and women report and...
This study examines healthcare policy preferences of Oregon State University students through the lens of Political Culture Theory, as pioneered by Mary Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky in the 1980’s. The primary goal of this study is to examine the impact of cultural traits as described by Political Culture Theory on...
Not many people in Russia have been able to successfully create an opposition movement under the presidency of Vladimir Putin. Opposition is already hard in any country, but things are especially difficult in Russia. Putin has made protest regulations, stifled the independent media, and excessively utilized selective rule by law....