Need help on Disney-related senior thesis for Political Science!

[Wick]

September is right around the corner and I am trying to gather some ideas for my thesis. I am a political science major and I would somehow like to study the effects of Disney (both the man and the conglomerate): socially, economically etc... This could be viewed in scope of the state level (Florida or Cali) or maybe international with its implications and influences of American culture worldwide.
Either way, I really don't care how I do it- my main goal is to somehow incorporate Disney with a political science thesis. Ideas are appreciated! Especially from other history or poli sci kids- we speak the same language!

 

[wdwprincess03]

I think you could REALLY make a good one about how WDW affects the surrounding area. From jobs, to making Orlando a tourist city, to the effects that Magical Express has made on the job of taxi drivers. There's your thesis even lol!

 

[SoonerKate]

I did mine as a look into the future of Disney's special legislative status as an independent Improvement District. It is the only corporation within the state to have all of the powers of a county except taxation -- there's also been some fuss in the state lege the past few sessions about the implications of this status, mostly kicked up during the Comcast takeover bid. Regardless, the special status (and the status of Improvement/Drainage Districts in general) granted to them is interesting, especially looking into how it came to be. I'd suggest getting ahold of Dr. Richard Foglesong at Rollins College if you're interested in this -- he wrote Married to the Mouse and is a well-respected authority in the field concerning Disney and Central FL in general.

Other things you might want to look at are environmental policies in the area -- Orlando is home to Shingle Creek, headwaters of the Everglades, and Disney has a lot of influence on local policy, environmental and otherwise. How have they influenced state and federal environmental policy? What do their educational programs do, in a larger sense than handing out buttons at DAK? A great source for this would be Dr. Keith Gaddie at Oklahoma; he's written a few books on environmental policy, specifically wetlands protection and regulation, and would probably be able to give you a few good ideas on things you might want to look into.

Maybe something on New Urbanism, local governments, the issues presented when starting a new town, and specifically discussing Celebration; what happens when a town is essentially sponsored by a corporation? How was Celebration an outgrowth of the original plan for Epcot? What happened? What have the effects been on Celebration since Disney ceded control of the town?

There are always the economic effects Disney has on the surrounding counties -- before Disney, Orlando was shaping up to be a technologically-based economy (due largely to the expanding Space program, the relocation of Martin-Marietta and other tech/aero/defense firms to the area). What has becoming a primarily service-sector based economy done to wages in the area? (Hint: it's definitely not raise them!) What has tourism's effect been on cost of living, property taxes, and/or commercial real estate? What has local government done to maximize positive effects while eliminating negative ones? What programs have been put in place, successfully or otherwise?

The development of the local infrastructure -- how have the highway system and other planning issues coped with the influx of Disney, Universal and Sea World, as well as the burgeoning population in the area? How did Orlando cope with it's initial population boom 35-ish years ago? What plans have been in place? Where is population growing now, and where has it grown in the past? How are schools, libraries, and other public facilites keeping up with the growth?

There's so much to dig into there -- what specific subfields of poli sci are you interested in?

 

[kkmauch]

It looks like you've got some great idea here from SoonerKate!

I did my Thesis on the implecations of American Media and the rise of Muslim based governing bodies (and consequently the rise in Muslim affiliated representation at the international level). Outright it doesn't have Disney in the title, but trust me when I tell you I did a lot of work on Disney and it's media stronghold.

You should start to think about what it is you want to know and then you can direct your studies a little more. Right now you are in the vague and broad stage, which can be overwhelming. Just pick one idea and start asking questions, eventually you'll start to narrow down what you want to learn and write about concerning that idea. If you do this with your top three brainstormed ideas, you'll have some more direction and you can take this to your Prof or advisor.

Good luck and let me know if you need any further help, I'd be happy to lend a hand.

 

[barkley]

i think it would be interesting to explore how the entire 'imagineering' concept was impacted by walt disney's adamant anti labor union stance. many of the creative elements in disney parks were developed as a means to prevent union laborers from working on construction elements. an example would be the 'haunted mansion' at disneyland in california. from outward appearances it has alot of brick work (as does the entire 'new orleans' area at disneyland) but walt did'nt want to have to use union brick layers for the construction so he set about having his 'creative staff' develope materials that look identical to brick but are not therefore enabling him to use minimum wage workers. there are other elements in parks that would they be using the acutal materials you assume them to be union or higher cost 'lic./professional' staff would have been involved in their construction (it has also enabled some cost saving measures to use 'look alike materials' that are not subject to certain costly construction permits and the like). along the same line-(in california at least) there have been long standing issues with labor organizing groups who look at the concept of all staff at disney designated as 'cast members' being a means to prevent those in jobs that traditionaly pay higher wages (maintainance, engineering and the like) from organizing. they point to the 'cast member' classification for all employees as disney's way of saying "we don't have 'plumbers' or 'electricians' that can be separated as a group for organizing-we have 'cast members' who are ASSIGNED to plumbing and electical work but they could be reassigned should the need arise to a less skilled position so we try to keep the pay equitable among different 'assignments'".

good luck with whatever you decide to write on!

 

[Ravensdark99]

Well since I am a political science student in Germany, I personally would find it interesting, how Disney expands its products and ideas into the world.

If you take China for example, you got a very different political culture there but still they are able to build up a park down there and people love Disney?

So how is that possible if the society and the political system is very different?

Just a suggestion

 

[SoonerKate]

along the same line-(in california at least) there have been long standing issues with labor organizing groups who look at the concept of all staff at disney designated as 'cast members' being a means to prevent those in jobs that traditionaly pay higher wages (maintainance, engineering and the like) from organizing. they point to the 'cast member' classification for all employees as disney's way of saying "we don't have 'plumbers' or 'electricians' that can be separated as a group for organizing-we have 'cast members' who are ASSIGNED to plumbing and electical work but they could be reassigned should the need arise to a less skilled position so we try to keep the pay equitable among different 'assignments'".

If this is true as stated, it could be very interesting to compare California to Florida, where no less than 17 (and possibly more, I can't remember anymore) different union agreements govern different classifications of Cast Members, and organizing efforts amongst those who aren't unionized are still common -- Office and Technical CMs just barely voted down a union organizing effort in late 2005.

 

[barkley]

Well since I am a political science student in Germany, I personally would find it interesting, how Disney expands its products and ideas into the world.

If you take China for example, you got a very different political culture there but still they are able to build up a park down there and people love Disney?

So how is that possible if the society and the political system is very different?

Just a suggestion

interesting-i remember reading a book about disney and it talked about how some rides had to be totaly redesigned to adapt to cultural differences/perceptions in different countries. they gave the example of 'splash mountain', whereas the traditional seating in the u.s. was the long bench and people sat one in back of the other-for asian clients with different attitudes regarding personal space and appropriate seating with non family the need for a more roller coaster or side by side seating was implemented. the haunted mansions in the u.s. have more european gothic features-but the one in paris (i think? may be the other over seas) is designed with a decidedly american southwest exterior (the thinking was to make it look like something unfamiliar to the areas from which the bulk of customers are from).