Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Sociology
First Advisor
Aaron Roussell
Term of Graduation
Spring 2025
Date of Publication
5-20-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.) in Sociology
Department
Sociology
Language
English
Subjects
Fatal Encounters Database, Media Representation, Police, State Violence
Physical Description
1 online resource (vii, 92 pages)
Abstract
This study utilizes case information from an online database called Fatal Encounters, which has over 30,000 incident reports of civilian deaths involving a police officer. From this larger population, a sample of 415 cases is used to run an additional mixed method research design, which integrates quantitative data analysis and qualitative content analyses. The quantitative analysis sample includes all 415 cases, and the qualitative content analysis uses a subsample of 34 cases. Using demographic data provided by Fatal Encounters, this study expands case information to create new data sets. Both quantitative and qualitative data are collected, developed, and then analyzed. The quantitative section works to determine how measures of social advocacy affect rates of state accountability, while accounting for alternative explanations and moderating for race. The qualitative content analysis works to demonstrate the role of media as an apparatus of state violence by operationalizing neutralization theory as a technique to thematically code patterns of anti-social and harmful behaviors demonstrated by state players. All proponents of this study work together to understand if media representation works as a tool of justice for fatal encounter victims and/or if it works as an apparatus of state violence and avoidance of accountability.
Rights
© 2025 Nahal Rastegarpour
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43891
Recommended Citation
Rastegarpour, Nahal, ""This Revolution Been Televised": Media as a Tool of Justice and an Apparatus of State Violence" (2025). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 6823.