Angela T. Ragusa

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Verified

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• BA, MA, MS, PhD
• Sociologist at Charles Sturt University

Poor water quality drives bottled-water consumption (BWC) in developing countries if affordable, while plastic-bottle disposal exacerbates global environmental problems. This article presents data on drinking-water attitudes, norms and behaviours of 380 residents randomly surveyed in Herat, Afghanistan. Structural equation modelling found attitudes...

This research investigates the intersection of paramedicine and environmental sustainability (ES) by using mixed methods (surveys and policy analysis) to analyze organizational policy and professional beliefs. It advocates integrating ES into paramedic training and operations to reflect broader environmental values, and challenges, of a sector prov...

This article presents in-depth qualitative data from telephone interviews with >100 Australian undergraduates to sociologically consider why learners used technologically-mediated learning activities (TMLA). Student engagement with TMLA varied with personal preference, technical aptitude, prior experience, and activities' perceived relevance to ass...

This article aims to use organisational theory to socially research workplace perceptions and practices of paramedics and paramedic organisations as evidenced from environmental sustainability paramedic surveys and organisational strategies and policies. By comparing systemic conditions with individual beliefs and actions, it aims to commence evide...

Climate and anthropogenic change, particularly agricultural runoff, increase blue-green algae/cyanobacteria blooms. This article researches cyanobacteria alert-level identification, management, and risk communication in Lake Hume, Australia. Two methods, document and content analysis, evidence contamination events and risk communication, reflect wa...

Whilst developing and developed nations work to prioritize pro-environmental action, Australia ranked 130 in a global sustainability index in 2020, well behind economically comparable nations. This exists alongside national surveys showing high public support for pro-environmental behavior. As employees increasingly utilize 'green' credentials to m...

Although Australia currently enjoys a high level of food security, increasing climate change pressure on the planet’s driest landmass which is governed by little climate change mitigating legislation, makes future food security tenuous in globalised, industrial food production systems. This article presents primary data exploring the salience of fo...

Understanding what prompts ‘community-fit’ (subjective feeling of alignment with one’s residential community) is vital for retaining city-leavers voluntarily choosing to live outside major cities and for community well-being/prosperity. In Australia, city-exit is supported by decentralisation policy and media using imagery of gentrified rurality, w...

Climate and land use change pose global challenges to water policy and management. This article furthers calls for integrated research conceptualizing water management as a holistic, interdependent system that may benefit from sociological research. To better understand how socioenvironmental change affects lifestyle expectations and experiences, i...

Contextualised in public health and environmental literacy frameworks, this interdisciplinary research applies the epidemiological concept ‘infoveillance’ to show how major pollution events can be mitigated by better use of information communication technologies (ICTs). Findings from statistical analysis of Google Trends™ data during a major Austra...

Mixed-methods analysis of >400 online social surveys conducted at an Australian organisation is presented to identify individuals most likely to consider the environmental impact of packaging when making purchase decisions, including bottled water, and/or take their own shopping bags/coffee cups to minimise plastic consumption. Findings are compare...

Despite strong consensus about the benefits of vaccines among global health authorities, opposition to vaccination persists and may be growing. Recent research into anti-vaccination attitudes indicates they are complicated and socially embedded, not simply the result of failure to understand vaccine science. That position is supported by theories f...

Clean air remains an elusive and inequitable human right. Air pollution unnecessarily increases morbidity, mortality rates, and environmental degradation globally. This paper presents results from a content analysis of all (n = 133) submissions to the 2019 New South Wales Government call for public feedback to its ‘Clean Air’ issues and action prio...

This paper contributes findings from a social survey conducted to examine individual awareness of coal’s non-renewability, environmental issues, and home energy behaviours. The sample exhibited high (86%) awareness of coal’s non-renewability and 74% self-identified energy issues as key environmental problems affecting their lives. Government presum...

Economic and social norms/behaviours challenge ‘greener’ transportation alternatives in rural Australia’s car-dependent society. Surveys ( n = 412) and interviews ( n = 44) conducted at a rural Australian organization reveal experiences with, and perceptions about, carpooling, public transportation, greener cars and walking/cycling campaigns. Infra...

Workplace bullying is recognised as a social problem associated with significant financial and social costs for employers, individual workers and the broader community. While workplace bullying has enjoyed widespread academic attention, research has largely overlooked intersections among workplace bullying, law and society. In presenting key findin...

Background: The success of public health campaigns to engender healthy behavior depends on effective communication of desired messages that inspire action utilizing health information that must be successfully understood. Research, however, illustrates that health guidelines are differentially interpreted, with health literacy and proclivities vary...

This chapter presents key findings from a sociological qualitative content analysis (QCA) examining all advertising news articles containing the keywords bisexual, gay, intersex, lesbian, queer, transsexual, or transgender published between September 2014 and September 2015 in the New York Times (henceforth, Times). Drawing upon feminism and social...

Online learning increasingly embodies distance education as a flexible delivery mode in higher education in Australia and beyond. Attractive to adult learners, among others, its market advantages are well-documented, as are its challenges which vary by degree and technological delivery style. Nevertheless, for geographical reasons, notably rurality...

Although sociology of animals is a contemporary specialisation examining human-animal interactions, little research explores rural animals. Content analysis of non-companion animals’ news visibility in a rural Australian newspaper in 2016-2017 found 311 articles represented 3 categories of news-reporting. Findings evidence human lexicon, not animal...

Abstract While technology enables a wider section of society to access higher education, accessing, as a process, fundamentally differs from acquiring the individual and systemic skills required for online learning. This study presents primary data about perceptions of, and experiences with, online learning in an Australian university from a survey...

Environmental campaign awareness is a precursor to partaking in environmentally sustainable actions promoted by formal organizations. Although it is presumed relevant media visibility will lead to greater awareness, little research has investigated how media presence relates to individuals’ awareness of, or participation in, the national and intern...

How ‘places’ are constructed, experienced, shaped and perceived is strongly affected by socio-cultural histories and identities. This paper explores human relationships, specifically Australian Aboriginal peoples’ relationships, with ‘land’, or ‘Country’, by conceptualising the role social identity plays in the dynamism between human and non-human...

Despite the centrality of health to collective well-being, many people fail to heed, or critically question, human or environmental health advice. Our research explores individual knowledge of key issues targeted by government health campaigns and policy guidelines for risks faced daily through food and water consumption and documents information s...

Animal exploitation for human benefit has received much media publicity, and industry response, to outcries to end ‘un-necessary’ practices. Examples of recent changes include banning animal use for cosmetic testing in America and Australia, greyhound racing in parts of Australia and using animals for military medical training in most NATO countrie...

A seemingly inherent bias of much public health policy lies in the presupposition of personal interest/knowledge of health which can be effectively applied for disease prevention. While prior research notes the relevance of age and education to health, gaps exist between health knowledge/‘literacy’, individual behaviours, and scientific recommendat...

Animal exploitation for human benefit has received much media publicity, and industry response, to outcries to end ‘un-necessary’ practices. Examples of recent changes include banning animal use for cosmetic testing in America and Australia, greyhound racing in parts of Australia and using animals for military medical training in most NATO countrie...

A key factor for increasing help-seeking behavior among women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) lies in better understanding how social environment affects decisions about when and why individuals take action to end IPV. This article presents original data from 36 in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with women IPV survivors living...

In the midst of popular and scientific debates about its desirability, safety and environmental sustainability, bottled water is forecast to become the most consumed packaged beverage globally (Feliciano 2014) and fastest growth sector in Australia (Johnson 2007). Manufacturers attribute increasing sales to convenience and health benefits rather th...

In an era of shifting social and communication norms, where 76% of Americans surveyed reported they reached for tablets to check online communication before saying “good morning” to partners (Kensington.com, 2014), online education's increased popularity as a “lifestyle” choice is unsurprising (Ragusa, 2007). Qualitative thematic analysis of 289 su...

Consumers in most developed countries, including Australia and New Zealand, presume their drinking water is safe. How social perceptions about drinking water are formed, however, remains inadequately explored in the research literature. This research contributes exploratory insights by examining factors that affect consumer perceptions and behavior...

This empirical qualitative study explores male Goths’ lived experiences in rural Australia. Offline, participants felt rural communities’ ‘conservatism’ and hegemonic masculinity norms restricted their Goth identity expression and subcultural participation. Further, their commonly perceived homosexuality, irrespective of self-identified sexuality,...

Contemporary sociological research indicates rural men face increasing pressure to comply with hegemonic masculine gender norms. Adopting Butler’s poststructural theory of gender performativity, this study presents findings from qualitative interviews with twenty-five self-identified male Goths living in rural Australia, revealing how participants...

Public education is commonly perceived as a social good endowed with the capacity to equalise western citizens’ chance of ‘success’. In 2008 Australia introduced standardised testing and reporting procedures to improve educational quality and equity through two policy tools (NAPLAN/MySchool). Ensuing public debate culminated in two Senate Inquiries...

During the last decade ‘prostitution’ has been characterised as a ‘social problem’ throughout rural and regional New South Wales. As we show here, the urban-centric nature of popular and official discourses of prostitution have inadvertently allowed for the development of regulatory positions which have negatively impacted sex workers in rural and...

Technological advances have permitted wide-scale adoption of audio lectures in higher education as auxiliary learning resources for promoting connection, particularly in distance education. Although, pedagogically, audio lectures have been associated with increased time-on-task and positive learning outcomes, they remain commonly rebuked as suitabl...

Technological advances have permitted wide-scale adoption of audio lectures in higher education as auxiliary learning resources for promoting connection, particularly in distance education. Although, pedagogically, audio lectures have been associated with increased time-on-task and positive learning outcomes, they remain commonly rebuked as suitabl...

This paper explores the effects of mental policy changes and the curtailment of mental health nursing education on the realities of working as a mental health nurse in rural and remote locations in New South Wales, Australia. Using the twin lenses of mental health nursing and the sociology of work and social change, the experiences of mental health...

Agricultural runoff into surface water is a problem in Australia, as it is in arguably all agriculturally active countries. While farm practices and resource management measures are employed to reduce downstream effects, they are often either technically insufficient or practically unsustainable. Therefore, consumers may still be exposed to agriche...

Growing consensus in popular and academic commentary suggests the lived reality of Western childhood differs considerably from its dominant cultural construction as an innocent period free from adult responsibilities. Sociologically, this disjuncture is conceptualised as adultification. Adopting a critical theoretical lens, we question if Australia...

This chapter uses findings from an online survey of international onshore undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in an Australian university in 2009 to critically examine and compare their expectations, experiences, and levels of satisfaction. This research yielded a plethora of unique and vital concerns that were further affected by vari...

Examining submissions to the 2010 Senate Inquiry regarding the administration and reporting of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), this research considers the way parenting perceptions and practices towards standardized testing in Australian schools reflects the heightened insecurity and uncertainty pervading modern so...

At least since the Industrial Revolution, ‘progress’ in Western societies has frequently been equated with speed. Examples abound in advanced industrial and post-industrial societies, with capitalists and consumers developing a taste for fast food and desiring increasingly faster machines. In an historical nanosecond, computers made typewriters obs...

Mental health nursing in New South Wales, Australia has experienced considerable change as a profession over the past 20 years. In a climate of reduced funding and heightened service need, rural and remote geographies continue to affect workplace environments and experiences. This article presents qualitative focus group data to identify what workp...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread, ongoing, and complex global social problem, whose victims continue to be largely women. Women often prefer to rely on friends and family for IPV help, yet when informal support is unavailable they remain hesitant to contact formal services, particularly legal support for many reasons. This study appl...

Educational technology implementation often owes more to the technical proficiency of the teaching staff and/or the capacity of the institution than to a student outcome-centred design process. Creation of online resources takes considerable time and involves significant cost to both the institution, for devices and platforms, and to students for d...

Epistemic and technical shifts in how individuals relate to one another have, however, raised some concerns in the higher education sector, including how the mechanism for social interaction and communication affects learning outcomes. Questions regarding the effects such changes have on the educational experience of students are but one example of...

Workplace gender inequality is an ongoing and systemic social problem. Despite women " s entry into professional occupations, the " glass ceiling " effect persists. With Australia " s legal profession traditionally exhibiting a masculine workplace culture, championing meritocratic values, Women Senior Counsels (SC) represent an elite social group w...

The general trend towards freely circulating capital, goods and services, coupled with changes in the openness of labour markets, has translated into growing demands for an international dimension of education and training. Indeed, as world economies become increasingly inter-connected, international skills have grown in importance for operating on...

In 2008, changes in Australian federal legislation commenced the removal of workplace policies that historically discriminated against non-heterosexual employees. Academic research, however, reveals that much workplace discrimination is covert. To examine perceptions of covert workplace discrimination, experiences of gay men employed in the public...

Mental health nursing as a distinct speciality has been in decline in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, for two decades. Arguably, this decline has worsened both consumer outcomes and the workplace experiences of mental health nurses. This article reports on a study designed to ascertain the nature of contemporary mental health nursing practice in...

Tree-changers, those who move from the city to inland country areas principally for ‘lifestyle reasons’, are a newly identified social group in contemporary and popular Australian culture whom are affecting demographic change in Australia’s country towns. This chapter presents images of tree-changers found in Australian news media and findings from...

The development of successful interactions utilizing e-mail, as an asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) technology to conduct qualitative social research, relies upon a host of social norms, symbols and meaning systems well articulated by the micro-sociological theory Symbolic Interactionism. This chapter examines some benefits and co...

Epistemology is the concept used to describe ways of knowing. In other words, how you know what you know. Sociologists have been interested in how knowledge is produced since the discipline was founded in the 19th Century. How we come to know our world and make sense of it are influenced by social institutions, individual attitudes and behaviors, a...

Forensic science students must not only learn disciplinary-specific subject content, but also need to acquire the interpersonal and communication skills crucial for successful careers in policing and biotechnology. Utilizing various Web 2.0 computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies, asynchronous and synchronous communication, including cha...

Access to clean drinking water is taken for granted in most developed nations where many think water quality is a third-world issue. However, for residents of rural Australia water quality is an emerging issue. Our research of drinking water quality, harvesting and management practices of rural NSW residents found that a substantial number of these...

Changes in the availability and quality of communicationtechnology have revolutionized, and fundamentally altered, learning environments. As citizens of the “Information Age,”the breadth and impact of global communication are triggering unprecedented transformation of social structures and institutions. This chapter explores theimpact of commodific...

This chapter explores how Internet-based asynchronous communication forums utilized in teaching undergraduate courses affect social interactions and student satisfaction. Drawing from an analysis of qualitative data, such as student and teachers’ perceptions, this case study reveals four key factors that affect learner satisfaction: (1) trust of pe...

New communication technologies are bringing about social, as well as technical, changes in learning environments. This study explores the impact one new communication technology, podcasting, has had on students’ educational experiences at a rural Australian university. Contextualized in a broader social environment, where it is critically theorized...

IntroductIon Sociology is well-known for analyzing institutions and social change (Holmes, Hughes, & Julian, 2007). Yet, a dearth of sociological research explores technology and distance education (DE) despite imperatives to include cultural issues (Jorgensen, 2002; Lum, 2006). Meta-analysis shows social studies scholars fail to prioritize technol...

In Australia, there is a continuing trend among the institutions of higher learning not only to move components of courses to electronic delivery but even more so for distance learning to become the dominant method of education. This chapter explores how Internet-based asynchronous communication forums utilised in teaching undergraduate courses in...

Drinking water is one of the most vital elements to the well-being of all species on earth, yet is something many humans in developed nations take for granted. Drawing from face-to-face interviews with 169 Australian residents in four capital cities (Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney) and rural locations (Wagga Wagga and other localities), we pre...

his research uses critical qualitative research methodology to analyse the cultural images and stereotypes in Australian news media in conjunction with " urban " issues and " tree changers " (TCers), an increasingly cited new social group. The aim of this media analysis is to identify components of the newly emerging, socio-historical and culturall...

First-year microbiology practical classes can be chaotic environments with more than 30 inexperienced laboratory users in close proximity to microbial cultures and flames from bunsen burners. Whilst Charles Sturt University (CSU) prides itself on giving first year students extensive hands-on experience, time constraints and class size can make it d...

This interdisciplinary study draws upon science, science and cultural studies and media studies to conduct a qualitative sociological analysis of science news. Comparative analysis of 81 national and state news articles on parasites and drinking water in Australia and New Zealand reveals the 1998 Sydney water crisis is the most newsworthy event in...

Demographic and social change in Australian society is being stimulated by popular interest in the migration patterns of the "Baby Boomer" generation, which constitutes 25% of Australia's population, as they begin to enter retirement. This research presents a qualitative, critical sociological analysis of Australian newspapers depiction of baby boo...

Changes in the availability and quality of communication technology have revolutionized, and fundamentally altered, learning environments. As citizens of the " Information Age, " the breadth and impact of global communication are triggering unprecedented transformation of social structures and institutions. This chapter explores the impact of commo...

Recognised as a long-standing symbol of environmentally sustainable land management practices, the organisation Landcare receives considerable publicity in mainstream Australian newspapers and features prominently among programs funded by the Howard Government’s new environmental budget. Contextualised within a socio-political context, this researc...

Changes in the availability and quality of communication technology have revolutionized, and fundamentally altered, learning environments. As citizens of the “Information Age,” the breadth and impact of global communication are triggering unprecedented transformation of social structures and institutions. This chapter explores the impact of commodi...

Changes in the availability and quality of communication technology have revolutionized, and fundamentally altered, learning environments. As citizens of the “Information Age,” the breadth and impact of global communication are triggering unprecedented transformation of social structures and institutions. This chapter explores the impact of commodi...

Landcare and Greenpeace are two organisations synonymous with the environmental movement, although each holds different ideological and strategic positions regarding politics, tactical approaches and organisational structure. Despite their nuances, Landcare and Greenpeace hold comparable membership numbers in Australia, with close to 130,000 member...

The global marketplace for e-learning products and services varies widely among countries, courses offered and technologies (Bowles, 2004). Consequently, the use of virtual communication environments by distance education providers also differs by and within institutions internationally due to policy, infrastructure, workload management, and, often...

Drawing upon sociology of work, feminist theory and past sex worker research, we present the first study to explore the sex work industry in rural Australia. Using qualitative data from interviews conducted December 2004 -February 2005 with 20 sex industry workers in New South Wales, we question existing assumptions and generalizations surrounding...

American materialism is a concept put forth globally as a widely known "social fact"/stereotype (Roberts, 2004; Fox, 2001). However, little sociological research operationalizes materialism, or explores whether social-psychological attitudes of " self " affect materialistic values in the construction of a consumerist identity. Classical sociologica...

Analysis of a random sample of New York Times’ advertising business news articles reveals change in the perception and pursuit of sexual minorities - gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans-persons (GLBTs) - as consumers of mainstream products between 1980 and 2000. Critical analysis identified three trends: corporate shunning; corporate curiosity and...

In this paper, we develop and use a model of social justice, based upon the feminist works of Iris Young and Nancy Fraser, to analyse and discuss information gained from a large-scale study of opinions of mathematics educators and international contacts in eight countries (Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Korea, Mexico, The Philippines, and Vietnam). D...

The exponential growth of contacts and networks among educators around the world in an increasingly globalised market exists in a context of local and global inequality and stratification. Conflicting interests and agendas emerging from international collaborations have? spurred the need for a theoretical model that can critically explore and refle...