Though most senior theses are quickly forgotten, Katherine Adam, BC '07, followed a different path. With the help of Charles Derber, professor in the sociology deparment, what started as research for a typical senior endeavor evolved during her senior year and last summer into something much more. The resulting book, The New Feminized Majority: How Democrats Can Change America with Women's Values, is already on bookstore shelves across the country.
When Adam came to him in the fall of 2007, Derber said she was in the very early stages of her honors sociology thesis. At this point, Adam said she had only a vague idea of how she wanted to approach the work, but she knew that she wanted to write something different than the run-of-the-mill undergraduate honors thesis.
She said that she approached Derber one day after class and asked him if he would be interested in advising her. "He is known among students as being an advocate," Adam said. "I knew that before I knew him."
Last spring, Derber and Adam worked on crafting her final thesis. At this time, there was no speculation that the project might result in a book. For Adam, the subject matter itself was a strong motivator. "Write about what you know," Adam said about her choice of topic. At Boston College, Adam was involved in the BC Democrats and interned for Senator John Kerry as a sophomore.
Adam said that her activities on campus contributed to her thesis from its inception. "I wanted to examine gender and politics and how they play out in the progressive party," Adam said.
Derber shared this enthusiasm for the project. "I think people would be interested to see that there is a way of looking at values that isn't just religiously based, but also looks at gender and class," he said. "The discussion about values has been distorted by the view of Christian voters as the values voters."
Derber is a noted social critic. He has published 12 of his own books, and his articles appear frequently in various periodicals. He said that he writes his books with the average reader in mind, but not at the expense of scholarship. "I think of myself as a public intellectual," he said.
Spring Break
