Other works – one of my final research papers in college

Like the title suggests, this is either one of the last research papers I wrote in college, if not the last, which happened to coincide with the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency. I spent a month or two planning and executing the research, and then another few months writing the paper itself. I had taken a course about political psychology, and was particularly fascinated about the subjects of authoritarianism, fascism, and other related ideologies. On top of that, I was still wracking my brain about the 2016 election – the how’s and the why’s and whatnot.

So, when the opportunity arose in one of my research methods courses, I chose to write about the subject of political ideologies in women, as I had not found a ton of literature that had tried to isolate this particular population.

This could have been a futile attempt to provide a digestible, catch-all explanation as to why Donald Trump was elected. In fact, I think it almost certainly was. Of course, the more I reflect and discover new things about the Trump administration and history in general, there is no simple explanation for any of this. This right wing movement was influenced by so many different ideologies, motivations, historic moments, and so many people with sociopolitical currency and those without.

I could make a really long list about all the things that fueled (what I view to be) this stain on American history – white supremacy, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, manipulation of vulnerable people, and so on and so forth. I could talk about it until I’m blue in the face, really. But it has already been said by people much more eloquent and intelligent than myself, so I don’t think I will do any of that. It’s just not a constructive use of anyone’s time.

I will simply make this project visible on my platform, a website/blog thingy with little to no real value except for me to channel my creativity. Or scream into the void. Or whatever.

All jokes aside, I was and am very proud of this paper. I hope you enjoy.