Department of Sociology Graduate Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item App and Platform Surveillance: Perceptions and Experiences of Young Adults in Turkey(2024-09-13) Girgin, Ozge; Sociology; Lyon, DavidThis dissertation analyzes how young adults in Turkey understand, experience, assess and engage with commercial surveillance of apps and platforms through their smartphones. Through qualitative one-to-one and focus group interviews, the dissertation reveals the disjuncture between the data that young adults consider important and the data in which corporations are interested. Interviewees express concerns about social surveillance, cyber security threats, fraudsters, the direct sale of their personally identifiable information, and unsolicited marketing – issues they associate with immediate financial and social harm. These concerns shape interviewees’ priorities in their relationship with apps and platforms, with most considering content and personally identifiable information, rather than other data types like metadata. Many interviewees view apps from global or national corporations, such as Facebook Inc. or Google, as more trustworthy and legally accountable in relation to retaining their data. While interviewees’ awareness of apps’ data practices and approach to their data is contextual and varies on a spectrum, most users are unaware of the extent and consequences of platform surveillance. Interviewees’ references to Cambridge Analytica scandal highlight the importance of sensational events and news in raising awareness about the significance of data collection. However, the interviewees interpret global news about surveillance based on the priorities in the Turkish context. The media's focus on the USA in discussing the Cambridge Analytica scandal distances some interviewees from the event, leading them to overlook its implications for a person in Turkey. Local surveillance practices, such as social, governmental, or administrative surveillance, further shape interviewees' priorities, surveillance imaginaries and perceptions of risk. The dissertation argues that interviewees conceptualize surveillance by global platforms as a service. They recognize that personalized suggestions are based on their previous activities and find these recommendations desirable and necessary, viewing them as evidence of platforms performing well. Interviewees learn to interact with platforms through engagement with personalized recommendations. They develop tactics to use personalization systems to their advantage, to overcome misrecognition or to avoid issues they find problematic. The use of these tactics indicates that interviewees care about platform surveillance, albeit differently from how they view surveillance by other institutions.Item Online Proctoring and Discrimination: A Critical Examination of Online Proctoring Technologies(2024-08-30) Pilgrim, Christina Lynn; Sociology; Möllers , NormaThis exploratory research project investigates students’ negative experiences with online proctor- ing (OP) educational software (having a human proctor monitor a student in real time through their computer’s webcam or being recording with the software's artificial intelligence (AI) sys- tem), and if and how undergraduate university students in Ontario face discrimination by data driven educational OP technologies. Although online proctoring technologies like Examity and Proctortrack have been widely discussed publicly for their consequences for educational equity – for example, students have reported that OP were not able to detect dark skin tones, erroneously flag neurodivergent students with accommodations, and more – there is very little empirical re- search which systematically documents the actual diversity of discriminatory effects students have experienced during the pandemic. This project used a cross-sectional design approach which I have conducted in three parts: (1) 46 anonymous surveys which were distributed to cur- rently registered students and recent alumni with graduation taking place between 2020 and 2024 at Queen’s University, Western University and Toronto Metropolitan University; (2) three in- depth qualitative interviews with a selection of survey respondents. Students widely reported in- vasive experiences and increased work burdens that intersected with pre-existing burdens due to structural inequities; (3) an analysis of 68 TikToks with the following hashtags: #onlineproctor, #onlineproctoring, #Examity, #Proctortrack, #onlineexam, #onlineexams, #digitalproctoring. Students widely reported invasive experiences and increased work burdens that intersected with pre-existing burdens due to structural inequities. Negative student experiences with OP technol- ogy fell into three categories: OP software as techno-solutionist endeavor, students’ concerns about surveillance and monitoring, and students facing discrimination from data driven educa- tional technologies. The impacts of university administrators using OP technology to replace in- person exams during remote learning include students having to expend additional labour and time when having to set up the exam space. OP software also led to students being discriminated or punished for facing class inequality, racism, sexism, ableism; or for mundane factors unrelated to academic integrity. By providing qualitative research, I hope to enhance understanding for the impact of OP technology on undergraduate university students in Ontario as well as deepen the understanding of the relationship between ed tech and inequality in Canadian education. Ulti- mately, this research also speaks to broader, growing concerns about the relationship between technology, justice and power due to COVID-19 "quick-fix" responses through how an individ- ual experience similar technologies differently depending on their positionality (Taylor et al. 2020: 12). Altogether, this will contribute to more comprehensive and equitable solutions to re- mote learning strategies in universities, while potentially improving access to education within the existence of ed-tech.Item Drug Impaired Driving in North America: An Examination of Enacted Policy in Comparison to Accompanying Crash Data(2024-08-12) Valentine, Devon; Sociology; Sytsma, VictoriaThis dissertation investigates whether the implementation of per se limits—specific concentration measurements of a substance in the blood specified in legal code—for delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in Canada, and North America as a whole, has had unintended social consequences that are counter to the stated goals of legalization and democratic society. Additionally, this dissertation investigates whether the application of an alcohol ignition interlock—a device meant to prevent the starting of a vehicle when a driver has alcohol in their system—to convicted drug impaired drivers is effective at enhancing road safety. This project outlines the scientific research pertaining to per se limits for THC, and associated gaps, as well as the legal and regulatory mechanisms used to enact per se limits. Several sequential evaluations of programs from North American jurisdictions were conducted to determine if there is a statistically significant relationship between applying the interlock, as well as enacting per se laws for THC, and a decline in the odds of an injury sustained due to an impaired driving crash. Results indicate these interventions are not consistently associated with a decline in the odds of injury, therefore it is unclear if they are effective at enhancing road safety. Road safety initiatives are framed as a manifestation of Habermas’ thesis of internal colonization. Namely, in attempting to legalize cannabis consumption and reduce fatalities, Canadian lawmakers may have created a framework which further criminalizes cannabis users. This could erect significant social and legal barriers under the guise of justice. The theoretical analysis in this dissertation posits that the processes under which these sanctions/policies were implemented are indicative of a ‘fifth wave’ of juridification—one which colonizes through the implementation of a system of risk management.Item Suspected Endometriosis: A Critical Scoping Review of Medical Literature(2024-07-15) Cameron, Elizabeth S.; Sociology; Burfoot, AnnetteEndometriosis is a chronic, progressive, inflammatory pain disease that affects at least 10 percent of women and unknown numbers of gender-diverse people globally. Presently, those with endometriosis symptoms wait an average of four to twelve years to receive a surgical diagnosis, as currently, this is the only way to confirm the disease’s presence. Clinical endometriosis diagnosis – when a physician suspects someone has the disease based on non-surgical evaluations – is increasingly encouraged in Western capitalist medical systems in order to reduce diagnostic delay, and circumvent problems arising from the reliance on a surgical diagnostic method, which is invasive and can be sterilizing. However, people with suspected endometriosis – those who have not had this diagnosis confirmed through surgery – are yet to be considered as a population with unique care needs, experiences, or desires. This is the first academic contribution in the social sciences to consider suspected endometriosis in particular. First, I conduct a scoping review of suspected endometriosis within medical literature. I then reframe this medical literature through a critical intersectional body studies perspective, finding that a lack of biomedical knowledge and care concerning those with suspected endometriosis produces racialized, gendered diagnostic outcomes which serve white supremacist and patriarchal projects of ableism and cisheteronormativity. Next, I consider the future ‘gold standard’ of endometriosis treatment, identifying a clinical turn presently underway within the endometriosis paradigm which places increasing reliance on clinical, rather than surgical, diagnostic methods and treatments. Ultimately, this research disidentifies suspected endometriosis with its biomedical construction, and argues expanded critical intersectional research is urgently needed in order to develop more relevant, accessible, and effective care for those affected with suspected endometriosis.Item IMPACTS OF USE IN A COVID-19 PANDEMIC: The Experiences of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their Use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication Devices in the Classroom, From a Teacher’s Perspective(2024-05-07) Frid, Ally; Sociology; Abrams, ThomasMany children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices to communicate with other students, and teachers, in a classroom setting. However, less is known about the lived experiences of children with ASD who use these devices, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project explored the meaningful use of AAC devices for children with ASD in both an in-person and virtual setting, from the perspective of their instructors. I conducted 8 in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews with (special education) teachers that taught children with ASD who used AAC devices, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews were conducted over Zoom and ran for approximately one hour. Each interview was transcribed and coded inductively using NVivo, in accordance with Braun and Clarke's (2022) thematic analysis. Three thematic categories emerged through the data, including the impacts of use in a virtual setting, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the available resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, with suggestions for future interventions. This research was grounded in experiential learning theory, by analyzing the complexity of the learning experience through assistive technology and disability. A social relational model of disability was used to reveal the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the communication of children with ASD, who used AAC devices in a virtual setting. I conclude with policy recommendations and suggestions for future avenues of change to aid with communication for children with ASD who use AAC devices, virtually and in-person.