Past Senior Theses
The Department has established an award for the Best Senior Thesis in sociology. Recipients are determined by the Departmental Honors committee, and are announced each spring quarter (usually end of May).
*Thesis with Distinction
**Honorable Mention for Best Senior Thesis in Sociology
***Best Senior Thesis in Sociology Award
Sociology 2026 Senior Theses
Julia Marie Alvarez*
Building or Breaking Trust: The Effectiveness of Chicago Community Policing Programs on Building LGBTQ+ Trust
Arden Noel Anderson*
Coalition, Contradiction, and Simultaneity: Boundary-Making in Chicago’s Liberation Movement Press
Kalaiya Corbin
Investigating Narratives of the Civil Rights Movement in United States High School History Textbooks
Julia Douglas***
Clean Conscience: Exploring College Students’ Enactment of Environmental Beliefs Through Domestic Labor
Henry Li*
Before the Vote: The Temporal Structure and Workforce Composition of Political Information Supply on Wikipedia on U.S. House Candidate Pages, 2008–2024
Megan Lin
The Hip-Cosmopolitan: Post-Industrial Urban Aesthetics in Seongsu, Seoul
Virginia Lorenzo Errazquin*
Hierarchies of Visibility: Europe, Race, and the Making of Civic Legitimacy in Uruguay’s Press
Zuzu Maltarich*
Vaccines and Mistrust: Resource Activation as a Reaction to Untrustworthy Medical Care
Carter Sampson***
“Do What Works for You:” The Performance of Hair Growth Expertise on YouTube
Quinn Smith*
Discursive Production of Agbogbloshie and Informal Labor in American and Ghanaian Online News Media
Sociology 2025 Senior Theses
Olivia Carter***
Signs of the Culture: Black Deafness, American Sign Language, and Cultures of Interpretation
Quinn Correa*
Making a Brazilian: The Impact of jus sanguinis Citizenship on Conceptions of ‘Brasilidade’ During the Creation of the 1988 Brazilian Constitution
Lourdes Gerlado Espinal*
The Concept of Crossover Youth in Legislation: A Historical Analysis of Crossover Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974
Maddie Kerr*
Evidence, Expertise, and Exploration: Politics of Knowledge in Gender Therapy
Filip Maninski***
Constructing difference: Urban dynamics and ethnic boundary-making among Chicago Poles
Varshi Narayanan*
Shifting Gears: Mobility, Safety, and Contested Authority in Urban Space
Sophia Scott*
The Self-Identification Processes and Mental Well-Being of Students with Chronic Health Conditions and Disabilities at Chicago Universities
Elizabeth Wilkerson**
Inferring Features and Imagining Futures: How Donor Sperm Recipients Use Race, Ethnicity, and Ancestry Information When Selecting a Donor
Sociology 2024 Senior Theses
Evan Carman*
Rabbis and Rabble-Rousers: A Comparative Analysis of Mid-to-Late 20th Century Jewish Activism in the US and South Africa
Sean Dukes Jr*
Motivations for Becoming Mothers or Remaining Childless: A Comparative Study of Black Mothers and Non-Mothers in Chicago
Farnaz Islam
Decoding Trends: What Drives Change in Women's Fashion? The Resurgenc of the 90s & Y2K Style
Shanti Gallivan*
Following or Blocked: College Students' Perspectives and Utilization of Sexual Health Information Present on Social Media
Austin Segal***
"These Things Exist, Back to Talking About Hetero Relationships": The Content, Style, and Organization of Gender and Sexual Identity in High-Schoool Health Education