http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75721 Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:26:58 GMT 2026-06-08T12:26:58Z http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75781 Title: Sunset Years: A Comparative Analysis of Older Adult Lives in China and America Authors: Qiao, May Abstract: Many East Asian cultures emphasize respecting older adults, due to the influence of Confucian values. But does this really mean that the lives of older adults are better there? This article attempts to answer that question by contrasting the lives of older adults in China, a Confucian gerontophilic society, with the lives of older adults in America, a non-Confucian gerontophobic one. I use two approaches: examining federal policies centered around older adults such as Medicare and social security, and examining the cultural relationships older adults have with others they interact with. I evaluate how both impact older adults’ life satisfaction, using previous scholarship as well as oral history interviews. With a specific focus on issues of geriatric health, older adult caretaking, and intergenerational relationships, I offer a holistic picture of the nuances surrounding living as an older adult in both cultural contexts. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75781 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75780 Title: Migration Should Be a Choice, Not a Necessity: An Analysis of the Impact of NAFTA on Mexican Migration to the U.S. Authors: Prado, Liz Abstract: It is debated between scholars whether the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of 1994 between Mexico, the United States and Canada was successful. Supporters of NAFTA will say that it brought economic prosperity to Mexico’s manufacturing industry and created millions of jobs. However, opponents of NAFTA will say that the successes of NAFTA came at the cost of the lower-working-class and the once protected agricultural industry. This article argues that the negative effects of NAFTA on the lower-working class consequently led to an increase in Mexico-US migration, since it has traditionally been of lower-working class character. Moreover, this article addresses specifically how NAFTA impacted migration patterns from Mexico to the United States, and how it ultimately affected the undocumented migration patterns we see today. I conclude that it is through a combination of factors that NAFTA is partially responsible for the increase of migration, as well as for the end of undocumented migration. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75780 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75777 Title: Learning Social Conduct: An Application of Behavioral Psychology and Nonverbal Communication to Business Advertising and Geopolitical Diplomacy Authors: Kanlic, Teodora Abstract: This article investigates how we subconsciously learn and mimic social conduct from a young age from the people around us, and how this observational learning can be adapted to adult learning. It explores how people often make the wrong first impressions when faced with new cultures or new experiences by providing an analysis for how we learn social conduct with a focus on behavioral psychology, cultural context, nonverbal communication, and body language. It also examines unspoken communication strategies with application to business advertising and politics, in particular rude luxury brand salespeople and the first televised presidential debate in the United States. This article concludes with recommendations for how people can improve nonverbal communication and body language as adults, shifting from subconscious to active learning in an ever-evolving global environment. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75777 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75778 Title: Police Power: Antebellum Antecedents in the Modern Immigration Conflict Authors: Miller, Zachary Abstract: This article examines the modern U.S. immigration conflict through the lens of nineteenth-century state-level immigration policy to show how Texas Governor Greg Abbott is reviving Antebellum concepts of state sovereignty to upend federal supremacy on immigration. Incorporating historical texts, case law, and newspaper articles, this article argues that Texas’s new policies are a legal revival of police power—the ability to regulate the internal affairs of a state for the sake of general welfare—as it existed in the nineteenth century, when immigration could be legislated at the state level. With his busing program, increased criminalization, and citing an invasion, Governor Abbott is attempting to expand state police power to include immigration once again, just as it did in the Antebellum era. While the constitutionality of Texas S.B. 4—the bill which Texas’s power expansion depends on—has yet to be ruled on at the time of writing this article, its passing would represent a complete overturning of the state-federal balance, in place since the end of the Civil War, when it comes to immigration. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75778 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z