IST 494: Integrative Studies Capstone

by Lauren Wagner

I would like to explore homosexuality, what it is, the negative context, the history, controversy and hatred.  I specifically would like to answer some questions such as: is one’s sexuality based on nature, nurture, or both?  Why there is such a negative context towards the gay community.

                 I will make an argument for gay marriage and the unfair treatment towards the gay community. As well as the argument for equal rights and equal treatment for everyone; therefore those in the lesbian, gay, transgendered, bisexual and queer community deserve the same respect as everyone.  In particularly the fact that former Vice President Dick Cheney, who took his own daughters gay rights away.  I will be giving specific examples of hate crimes.  I will defend my argument by discussing the reasons why everyone has the same rights and specifically discuss those in the gay community that also live in the public eye i.e. Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O’donnell, Harvey Milk, Neil Patrick Harris, Elton John, Adam Lambert, and Lance Bass, to name a few. 

While I believe homosexuality is a result of both nature and nurture, I will argue that nature has a bigger role in ones sexual orientation and whether or not they are out of the closet, so to speak.   There are also other reasons to believe that homosexuality is nature’s choice, not a personal choice; there are many cases of children feeling like prisoners in their own bodies.   

I hope this topic will be interesting to others, and if anything people can become more educated on this subject before making critical judgments.  I am particularly interested in sharing this topic with others because I have come to find that many people are uneducated on LGTBQ Studies.  Many either don’t take the time to educate themselves on the subject because it is intimidating or they are completely against it.  While I have learned a great deal about homosexuality, I hope to answer some of the questions that have not been covered in class.  This topic is not only extremely diverse, but multi faceted.   

 I plan to apply the knowledge I have learned from both my Women’s Studies and Communication classes; specifically the role of powerful women who are publically out of the closet.  From the communication stand point how the difference one’s social class or race makes in being accepted by other’s in the community.   How advances in technology greatly affect the communication and knowledge of the gay community.  While there is so much progress to be made, people more than ever, are opening up about their sexuality; gay or straight.  The dialogues are more open, allowing more room for personal opinion. 

                This semester, I am taking a women studies Intro to Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual, and Queer Studies class that I find profoundly compelling.   I am particularly interested in exploring homosexuality and the nature versus nurture aspect of homosexuality.  I am close to several people in the gay community and want to become an active participant in the acceptance of the gay community.  Those that aren’t affected by this are probably unaware of the struggles many face from conflicts with family, friends, religious beliefs, career, and stereotypes people place upon them.  I will use the knowledge I have acquired from my college career and my personal experiences in order to develop my thoughts. 

I want to know if my topic is specific enough.

by Jamie Toebbe

This paper is going to talk about the social inequalities that exist between business management and lower level workers, sometimes referred to as blue collar workers. I will be looking at research that reviews the type of people, including their class and socioeconomic status, which hold managerial positions as compared to those who work for managers as low level employees. The paper will hold the argument that middle and high class Americans are more likely to be employed as managers as compared to lower class Americans and explore why that is. I will explore the suggested personality types, as well as the values and morals that have been found to be common among different classes by researchers, which may have an effect on job placement. Another aspect of research that I feel will be important to review is the history of parent’s educational and occupational attainment. I will also be looking at the educational and occupational attainment of different contemporary classes to determine if this has an effect upon the class gap seen in many companies by managers and blue collar workers.

I think that this topic will be of interest to readers because it is important to understand different demographic opportunities and disadvantages, and how to enhance those opportunities or diminish disadvantages. The paper should educate blue collar and lower class workers on the reasons they may be stuck in a certain position or job and haven’t been able to move up from there. Also, I think it will be of interest to management who may not realize that there is a glass ceiling for many lower class blue collar workers, that gives the false impression of upward mobility in the work place when in most cases this is untrue.  For myself, by writing this paper I hope to learn more about class systems in business and in American culture in general, as well as ways in which to diminish the present inequalities. I would also hope to learn more about the inner working of mobility in companies and ways in which people get “stuck” in positions or are able to move upward into managerial positions.

I plan to engage the disciplines of sociology and business management into my research by drawing on articles and books from both sociological and management scholarly journals and books. By integrating these two disciplines I hope to be able to look at my topic from multiple viewpoints not only sociologically but also from a business point of view. Integrating the sociological concept of class in American culture with occupational management as compared to low level employees in particular allows me to research a wide range of information that can assist in my inquiry.

The first discipline I have chosen to use in my line of inquiry was sociology. Throughout the semester this class has focused upon the class system present in America, and we have read and blogged about differing ideas on class and its determinants. I felt that sociology was the perfect concentration to use in which I would be able to delve deeper into the idea of class and how it affects particular aspects of society, culture and the economy. The other discipline that I chose to use was business management. The reason I chose business management is because I felt occupational stratification was undoubtedly an important issue in business and in management whether it be important to those who are managers and will be continuing to hire, or those who are striving to become members of management themselves.

I came up with my topic when I was at work one day. I work in the main office of a large bank and we have many managers and top executives coming and going each day. As I looked around at the different managers and compared them to my coworkers (I am a low level employee) an obvious difference in class was evident to me. Managers and executives were clearly part of the upper middle and above classes, while most low level employees were members of the lower middle or working class. For those low level employees who were in the middle or middle upper class they were definitely seen as the up and coming employees who were going to move their way through the company. This perplexed me because my coworkers are very hard working, they thoroughly understand the business and most have been with the bank for many years, therefore the reasons why they were stuck in the same low paying position for so many years were hard for me to come up with. At that point I decided it would be interesting to research and analyze the occupational stratification I noticed in the workplace and develop reasons why a gap was present and ways to destroy it.

Using the skills I have acquired throughout my coursework will help me in my line of inquiry because I have learned to critically analyze readings, personal opinions (blogs), and articles in order to form my own educated opinion on important issues. The course has broadened my understanding of class in America, which will be immensely helpful in understanding the research that I will be taking on.

Issues and concerns that I have with the paper that I would like to address are ways in which to come up with solutions for the research. I am concerned that although I may be able to discuss the topic and get detailed information about occupational stratification in the workplace, I am unsure of how much I will be able to find in the way of solutions. Is this something that is going to be important in the paper? Also, I have never done any research concerning business articles or scholarly journals; therefore, I do not have a great starting place when it comes to finding important research information for the business point of view I want to incorporate. If anyone has a good suggestion for business scholarly journals or articles that would be helpful.

by April Griffith

The two of concentration that I am choosing to do research on are Marketing and Psychology.  My idea is to research consumer behavior and how it affects a business’s marketing strategy. I hope to explore in this paper the psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products). How the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media), behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions. How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer. There are four applications of consumer behavior:

·         Marketing strategy - By understanding that new products are initially adopted by a few consumers and only spread later to the rest of the population. We learn that (1) companies that introduce new products must be well financed so that they can stay afloat until their products become a commercial success and (2) it is important to please initial customers, since they will in turn influence many subsequent customers’ brand choices.

·         Regulatory policy - or public policy as it is commonly known.

·         Social marketing - Basically, involves getting ideas across to consumers rather than selling something.

·         Informed individuals - This should make us better consumers for ourselves.

 How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer. What I would like to know is if there is a difference when marketing to different groups of people, for instance different cultures, ages or genders.  Knowing the different strategies to market to different consumers will be helpful for future businesspersons. I think that this topic will interest others because any one in the marketing business should be interested in how to market their product to everyone, even if it means they have use different strategies.

I know that there are courses out there that cover the subject of consumer psychology directly, but I do not believe that others think about this unless they are psychology majors and actually choose to take the course.  Marketing has helped see how businesses actually market to these consumers. Putting the two together, I can see how consumers think and react to products and then include the marketing strategy to will work best.  This is also a way to let consumers understand how and why businesses market their products they way that they do.  I have always been interested in psychology and in marketing since my ultimate goal is to own my own business. I am not sure what business I want to get involved in, my fiancé works for a contracting company and has talked about starting his own business, my father has hinted that I help him with his masonry company he runs himself, or I could start up my own bar which has been an idea of mine for several years.  Whichever way I decide to go, knowing how to market any business to consumer will come in handy and knowing how consumers think and react to marketing strategies will be helpful as well.

I came up with this topic because I was originally majoring in marketing, but switched to integrated studies, but I still wanted to keep with the business theme.  Therefore, I made marketing and psychology two of my areas of concentration, and found classes in psychology like personality and consumer psychology, that I felt had a business feel and could help me in the business world.  Since I firmly believe that in order to market anything you need to have an understanding of whom you are going to market too. I will use the skills that I have acquired from these two areas to explain how understanding a consumer can help in knowing how to market to different consumers.

After choosing this topic, I feel like I might be getting into more than I intended to. I am little fuzzy on the exact direction on which I want to take this paper in and any comments or thought about where I should go with this paper would greatly be appreciated. Should I list the different ways or strategies used to market products or ideas or should I use on the most commonly used strategies? There are many different strategies but I feel that if I get into naming them all I might lose sight of what the paper is about and turn it into a marketing paper on marketing strategies.   

by Leah Kelly

My topic for the final project will be pertaining to business wear. I want to research the apparel known for the work place. When doing this, I intend to develop my paper into how business apparel effects job outcome. Also I want to determine whether business apparel helps to mask a person’s class status. Questions that will arise during my research will be:

o   What is appropriate for business employees to wear to work?

o   Can you tell class status by their work outfit?

o   How can you be formal in a business setting?

o   Are there prejudices associated with how you dress for work?

o   What dress codes are enforced at the work place?

o   Does your etiquette play a role in work behavior and appearance?

These are some of the questions I hope to answer, while establishing new ones during my research. I want to try and develop people’s views on the way a person dresses and how it relates to their working behavior and advances on-the-job performance. Many people believe that since laws are in place to deter managers from hiring based on opinion that it will be easier to pick an appropriate candidate for a position, however I believe that not all managers can be unbiased. Business wear plays a key role in people’s opinions of others. If you are not wearing the right outfit that classifies you as knowledgeable and trustworthy, your advancement in the company will be deemed futile.

This topic should be of interest to all readers because sooner or later everyone will be applying for jobs and it is important to put your best foot forward while being interviewed and working at a company. It is also important to know how the business world functions before being put into the situation, Since we are all close to graduation this topic should help in determining the functions of the business world pertaining to apparel. With this topic, I am hoping to learn more about how business apparel and etiquette relate to class status and how it affects their job outcome.

The two different disciplines I wish to engage during my research are management and sociology. Management helps to distinguish different qualities of a good candidate for a position. Sociology helps to determine the class status, as well as interactions among people. This is important to touch on because interaction is an every day occurrence. With every interaction people are judged and classified, the business world is no different. When taking business courses, you are taught to be distinguished and respected. Many people deem appearance to determine these characteristics while in an interview. With this knowledge it will better equip me to finding research to back up my claims.

I came up with this topic because it is an interesting idea to research. Many people like to think that the way you dress and how you appear in person does not affect your chances of getting a job position. I intend to reject that argument. I will look at both sides of the position but ultimately I intend to show that the way you dress in a business setting effects every aspect of your job. This course will help me to decipher between the class systems and their appearance each group is known for. Fussell’s book will help to determine the appearance of the classes and what they normally wear. Lubrano’s book will get me started on my research on the business aspect of life and how lower classes are viewed while on the job. Even the videos we have watched thus far show how class status affects your life. This course offers a lot of insight to the class structure of society in America. I will be able to pull an abundant amount of information from the videos and texts we have viewed and read.

My biggest concern for this paper is being able to meet the length requirement. I am hoping that someone can offer me some advice that can help me to meet this. I am planning on outlining my information and basing how much each section should take up for the paper, but I am still worried about it. Right now I am certain that I can find information on this topic but if anyone has any sources they can think off the top of their heads that would be beneficial to my research feel free to post them!  I am willing to hear anything. Something so obvious to you might be something I have not even thought of so anything you can think of will be appreciated!

By Daryl Back

The two disciplines that I will be using for my research paper are history and political science. The topic I wish to engage in is social class and its influence on political parties. Political parties have long dominated politics in America and social classes have historically had a great influence on these parties. I wish to examine with this paper the effect political parties have had on the social structure in America pertaining to race, class, and gender. Some of the questions I will address with this paper include: How different political parties came to power in America?  What has political parties influence been upon the various levels upon Americas social structure? How have different political parties changed their base over time? How different social classes have had an effect on politics in America? How have political parties adjusted over time to accommodate the changing class system in America? Some arguments I will examine with this paper include: America will always have a class structure and political parties and they will continue to influence each other. Progress in race and gender movements have forever changed politics and the social structure in America. Why political parties are forever adapting to America’s changing social demographics. I believe this topic will be of interest to readers because America is shaped by politics, which affects all of us. Yet it is the American people, who come from all different types of backgrounds, who influence the political parties that run our country. After writing this paper I hope to have a better understanding of the social structure of America’s influence on American parties. Society has undergone many changes since the birth of this country and the political parties reflect these changes.

            I am going to be using history and political science for my paper as earlier stated. I believe these to disciplines go hand-in-hand with this topic. The political science part shall examine the state of political parties in America as well as how it is shaped by the changing American social structure. It will also allow me to see how political parties are influenced by the changing class system in America. The history aspect allows me to examine how changes made over the course of American history have affected political parties’ rises and falls. Also, how changes affecting race, class, and gender in America over time have helped shape the political structure in America today. There are specific historical events I can draw from in writing this paper that affected politics in America such as when women and minorities were given the right to vote. Other historical changes I wish to include would be the growth of the middle class in America. For this subject, I should be able to combine many historical changes that have shaped American politics today.

            I actually had trouble deciding what disciplines I would use to write this paper. I have always been fascinated by politics and thought that this could make for an interesting subject. Although not everyone cares for politics, we are all influenced by it in some way or another. Political parties shape the lives of all Americans, yet these same parties are supposed to be the voice of their people. Since the focus of the class was on social class in America, I decided to write about how social class, and maybe the whole social structure of America, influences political parties. For me to do this paper successfully I would have to have added the history behind political parties in America. That is how I came to combine the two disciplines. Of the four disciplines in my major, history and political science go together the best. Before this class, I had given little thought to class structure in America. This class has allowed me to examine class in America and its influence on many aspects of our lives. This paper will allow me to research and examine how class has historically changed as well as influenced political parties and the American political structure as a whole. I am interested in how American society is always changing, and our political structure represents these changes.

            This could potentially be a very broad topic, so I am sure there are questions or arguments that I have not listed above. I listed questions that I felt were most relevant to the topic pertaining to how changes in the American social structure have influenced political parties. I do fear however that my topic may be too broad. I wonder if I should perhaps focus on maybe the 20^th century alone due to all the changes that took place during this period as well as the information available from this period. If there are questions that you think might be relevant to the subject that I have missed, please let me know. This would be greatly appreciated.     

by Melody Davis

The two areas of concentration I want to use for my research paper are Art and Psychology.  I want to explore the art of creativity specifically looking at the psychology behind a person’s creative process. I will explore questions like, “When are people the most creative?”, “What theories exist dealing with the brain and creativity?”, “What role does a person’s dreams play in their artistic expressions?”.  This topic interests me because I consider myself an artist and I also like Psychology so I thought it would be cool to learn about the theories that exist connecting the two. Hopefully it will interest other readers. I believe that everyone has a creative side. Everyone dreams, thinks and creates some form of art so this paper should be informative to just about anyone. From this research I hope to learn more about the psychology of creativity.    

Choosing Art and Psychology was easy for me because I have always been a creative person. Printmaking specifically is something I recent fell in love with in my area of concentration in Fine Art. Etchings are my favorite. They are done on zinc plates that are coated with a ground and dipped into acid to create lines. The process is somewhat complex because there is so much you can do with a single plate. Currently I am finishing up a print series of different African American women with natural hair. I am very proud of these prints because I recently began wearing my natural hair and am rediscovering/appreciating the natural beauty of all African American women including myself.

Along with Printmaking I have always been passionate about other forms of art. I love to paint, scrapbook, and draw. I enjoy music, beauty, poems, museums, color, photography etc. Another one of my big passions is styling hair. When I was younger I would always do my little sister’s hair and I grew to really love the art of hair. Eventually I would love to attend Cosmetology School to become an expert at sculpting hair! I want to learn all there is to know about hair.

Psychology is the second area of concentration I chose to use. Although Psychology has never been my favorite subject, I thought it went well with art because I think a lot of the creative process begins in the brain. This has been a subject that interested me since my freshman year in college. My first Psychology class was very enlightening. I like learning why people do the things they do. I want to know what’s happening behind the scenes when I m being creative since that’s one of my true passions. Many theories are out there about thought process and the different parts of the brain that are responsible for creativity. I am excited to dig into the two areas and find the connections.

I plan on using the information I’ve already learned in other classes in this paper. For example I took a Personality Psychology class and I learned about the big 5 personality traits. I am sure that a person’s personality plays a role in their creativity. In my Printmaking classes we have biweekly critiques where everyone displays their artwork and the class gives construction criticism and encouragement. I plan to use information I’ve gathered from the class in this paper.

I came up with the topic because it seemed to fit the two areas of concentrations and because I have always been a big thinker and dreamer. I think I have a big imagination that plays a big role in the way I see and create things.  I want to see what roles these dreams and thoughts play in my ability to create. Also I’m interested to learn about ways or environments that will possibly help me increase my creativity and stretch my mind. I do believe that in life everyone is on a quest to be creative, to discover their true passion and desires. I think researching the psychology behind it will be exciting and interesting.

I plan on using various books, video clips and Internet sources to research this topic. So far I’ve seen lots of textbooks dealing with the two concentrations that I plan on renting from the library. I am honestly not sure how I will incorporate information from the class into this paper. I’m sure once I actually begin it, more ideas will come to mind on what to incorporate.

My questions to everyone would be how to incorporate the class materials into this paper. What books or sources used already in class would be helpful to use when looking at the psychology behind creativity in different people? Also is this topic too broad? Should I find something more specific to research?

by Dominque Johnson

The topic that I would like to explore is how race, class, and gender affect people in the American workplace. I believe that in the work place people face many hardships because of the where they come from or what the color of their skin may be. Some of the questions I will ask will be: Why does race still inhibit people from meeting certain qualifications in a workplace? Does where you come from ultimately determine, why some people receive certain treatment in the workplace, Why are men still inferior to men in the workplace, and Why are there such disturbing stereotypes that make people act the way they do in the workplace? The argument I will make is even though people come from different classes, are different sexes, and are different races this does not make them incapable of performing certain tasks in the workplace. What I mean is that people should be judged by the work they can perform and how well they can handle their job. None of these qualities of a person should matter if they are a hard-worker then this is how they should be treated. I do think this topic will be of interest to the readers because this is a subject that can affect everyone at some point. I hope to learn why people let factors such as race, class, and gender govern people’s position in a particular workplace or even in everyday life.

            I plan to engage two of my disciplines, which are Diversity Studies and Psychology. These areas are kind of related. Diversity Studies is a mixture of things that deal with race, class, and gender as a whole. I plan on integrating it with Psychology because some aspects of psychology deal with social classes and different stereotypes that do occur when people of different ethnicities interact. I will use information about social psychology in particular. This will allow me to explore why people engage in such behaviors in the first place. Using the Diversity Studies will enable me to see why people of different races are discriminated against, and why stereotypes are still present. The answer will probably be that some racism still exists, it is just in some cases “invisible”. I will then touch on the topic of gender roles and what effect they have in the workplace. Lastly, I will present information on people of different classes and how this can sometimes create controversy in the workplace.

            I came up with this topic by just looking at something that is a problem in our society, but does not receive much attention. This topic interests me because I do not like when anyone is treated badly because of the color of their skin or where they come from. We all should be treated as individuals, after all aren’t we all equal. If a person from the lower class works hard and eventually lands a job in a big corporation, he should not be looked down on or treated differently because of his background. Instead, he should be commended on his prior achievements and success. He also should be treated like the hard worker that does his job very well. In some cases this is not how this scenario works, instead some people in the workplace are judged negatively. I have done many papers on racism and stereotypes that occur in the Unites States, and I believe those paper led me to this line of research.

            Do you think this is a good topic to do? Do you believe that this is a problem in the United States? Would you be interested in reading this paper to learn more of the particular topic?

by Kellie Barnes

I am having a little trouble with my areas of concentrations they are History, Criminal Justice, English, and Elementary Education.  The two areas that seem to go together that I think I would be the most successful with writing a paper would be History and Criminal Justice.

Part I: My topic would be Class and Race in our Criminal Justice system throughout History.  Some questions would be is it as fair as it should be?  Does being a different race impact the outcome of punishment in our criminal justice system? Does being poor or from a lower class impact the image of how a court would see you? If all of these things are true is this cruel and unusual punishment? Is their equality?  How was it changed throughout the years? This topic would be interesting to readers because it could open their minds and eyes to what is still not equality in our criminal justice system.  This topic is very controversial so there is not a certain side to be on however, it could be a very tricky subject to do. 

Part II:  I plan to engage these two different disciplines by using real life cases of some things that could answer some of the questions mentioned above.  There is also a book I read called “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest Gaines about a poor black man sentenced to death for something he did not do.  It interests me that there are still recent cases that seem to be unfair in our criminal justice system and how history has changed but not as much as we think it has.  The cases that will be used will be some from the past and more current ones to show the comparison or contrast between history. 

Part III: I came up with this topic by reading the book “A Lesson Before Dying” in my contemporary novel class.  It fascinated me that something like this was still going on even after the Civil Rights Movement and equality was present.  Criminal Justice is a topic that is also very interesting because so much happens in it.  There are a ton of cases that could be used in this research that deal with class and race.  I will look over some of these cases throughout history and choose the ones that will be most fitting for this research. 

Part IV:  Does this seem like a good topic?  Do you think I should stick to one side or go on both?  Is it too controversial?  Is there something that I should stay away from in this paper? 

by Danielle Rodas

The topic that I have chosen is Social Class and Career Motivation.  This will essentially be an exploration into the demographics of social science and business education pathways.  As we all presumably choose our major in college, it should be interesting to explore the reasoning behind these choices.  I also want to explore what kind of perspectives result from exclusively social science based influence versus business oriented teachings.  I argue that the business disciplines of study promote a profit motive mind set, which is more appealing to people from families of higher socio-economic status (middle to upper-middle class) and especially low socio-economic status (working class).  On the other side of the spectrum, I expect to find students who are of lower-middle class families attracted to the social sciences.  I have my ideas as to the reasoning behind this spread of socio-economic status in business and social science disciplines, but the research should be interesting.  As we have all seen, our lives are shaped by our community just as we help to shape our community.  Studying the motivation behind career/education paths, as well as the consequence of that path on individual worldly perspectives should reveal a lot to me and my peers within this integrative studies program.

My concentrations within this program are visual arts, English literature, sociology, and entrepreneurship.  At my previous college, I was a visual art major with a minor in business management.  Having experience in what I perceive to be opposite ends of the spectrum that a liberal arts education provides, I feel that I have a broad perspective on how this sort of education shapes people.  My work in entrepreneurship and in sociology should be particularly helpful and insightful for furthering research on this topic.  Entrepreneurship does encourage more creativity than pure business management, but it is still motivated by profit or material success.  Students within the social sciences are often encouraged to reject this path, as it is perceived as one of greed and selfishness.  I plan to explore the mission plans of both departments at NKU and across the nation, along with statistics on students’ participation.  Review of work published by faculty members may also be insightful.

This topic has been of interest to me nearly since I changed my major to IST, or maybe earlier.  As mentioned before, I am primarily a conflict theorist.  I view the world as one of struggle, and as such I want to explore and understand that struggle.  This has been my goal since mid high school.  Regardless, I have always wanted to use my talents and education to help others.  I have combined sociology and business in my career path so that I may better understand the capitalistic world around me and the business smarts to operate within it to make substantial change.  What I have found is that many of my business-related peers are not so inclined to do this.  A few are activists and look forward to careers in the non-profit sector, but many are out there to make a quick buck, retire, and let someone else take over their extremely successful venture.  This is what is encouraged by many of the professors as well.  Entrepreneurship is considered an addictive rush.  We encounter serial entrepreneurs who start up ventures, build them, sell them for more than I can imagine, and move on to their next big idea, where the process begins again.

I don’t want this.  I want to run a non-profit animal shelter that works within communities to help not only the animals within them, but the children and adults who seek our services. The bond between humans and animals can be an uplifting one that reshapes the focus in our lives.  This is where sociology has played a large part for me.  While I have had little assistance in understanding non-profit work from my business peers and mentors, sociology has nourished and helped to develop the vision that I now have.  The educational path I chose I consider to be one of passion and focus.  What I have found is that my passion and focus are different from those around me.  I am concerned with the state of the world, as are my social science peers, but I am really striving to attain the skills that will prepare me most fully to make change, through entrepreneurship.  I want to be successful financially, as I must fund my work directly if I am to survive in this world, and this I have in common with ENTP peers.

For this research project, my concerns are many and large.  I am not sure where I can find reliable data on socio-economic status compared to educational major choices.  I have made observations, but they are minimal and biased by my untrained eye.  I also fear that my topic could be either too broad or too specific, depending on how I go about my research and planning for the final piece.  New ideas about this topic are coming and going the more I think of it, but I could use some more focus through discussion with everyone here.

by Victoria Vlasis

The topic I have chosen has to do with the evolution of the concept of beauty. Through some quick research done to pick a topic, I have expanded my topic to include that different classes view women differently. I hope to explore why classes see women differently and what it is that each class finds attractive about a women. I also want to explore what people have considered beautiful in the past, and why this concept has changed over time. Questions that will guide my research include: Why did the concept of beauty changed over time? Why do different classes view the female body differently? And how do the different classes view the female body? An argument that I will advance is that the upper, middle, and lower classes all have different concepts of beauty, and this concept of beauty has changed over time. This topic will interest readers because it is an appealing topic. This is a way of thinking about class that involves them as a social group viewing something else, rather than as how others view each class as a group. This still ties into social class, but it is a break from how we have been studying class throughout the semester. I hope to learn why people look at the female body differently, and why this view has changed.

The three disciplines I have chosen to assist me in delving into my topic are psychology, history, and literature. Using psychology as a discipline in this topic will allow me to find out why people view women differently. Psychology is all about how the brain works and why people act the way they do. This will be important to my research, because learning why the different classes think the way they do about females will enhance my study. Also, psychology will help me find out why the concept of beauty changed over time, instead of just knowing that it did change. Asking ‘why’ allows a student to go a step further than simply figuring something out. History is another discipline I am using, which I will use to find out what the concept of beauty used to be, and how it changed over time. I will look at historical documents and artwork to see what people used to consider as ideal beauty. History can be used to help determine what different classes viewed women as. Literature ties into the history discipline in looking at this topic. Pieces of art will help me determine how people used to look at women. I will also use classic novels such as The Scarlet Letter or The Awakening as a primary text to see how women used to be viewed and what was considered beautiful. I will find studies and polls of beauty to establish what people consider as beauty now, and this will be another primary source.

I think coming up with a topic was the hardest part of this assignment. With so little to go on, almost any topic is possible. I knew I wanted to do something that tied into social class, because we have already done so much reading and discussing on the topic. I also wanted to find something that captured my interest, and would be interesting to my readers. I had a couple different topics in mind, and did some preliminary research to see what kind of information I could find on each topic. I found a lot of interesting information of the concept of beauty and beauty and classes through JSTOR, classic books, and searches on Google, so I decided on this topic. It interests me because I have always thought all people were created equal and that everyone thought the same people were attractive (celebrities?). After doing some quick research, I have discovered that the latter part of this is not true. It’s up to each individual to decide if we are all ‘created equal’ but everyone doesn’t necessarily see beauty in the same way. Different classes see women differently, and I find that idea intriguing. I want to find out why this occurs, and why this concept has changed. Picking a topic that had to do with social class allows me to use skills from the course so far (reading, commenting, etc.) to tie ideas from the texts/movies we have read/seen into my topic. In Fussell’s book, he describes almost every aspect of each class. I can use his research of physical appearance into my paper. Also, the powerpoints assigned for each week have made me think on a deeper level, and to be sure to integrate each discipline and research on a deep level.

Some questions that I have are: how could I narrow down my topic even more? Do you have any suggestions for literature that could be used on my topic, how different classes view the female body differently and how this view has changed over time? An area of concern is my areas for research. Do I need a primary source from each, or can I use literature as my primary source and history and psychology to back it up?