bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Challenge of Cultural Elites: Celebrities and Social Movements*
Authors: Meyer David S.
Published: January 2007

Although celebrities have become a regular fixture in modern social movements, there is little explicit theory on why, or on how they may affect the movements in which they participate. We begin by discussing the resources celebrities can bring to bear on social protest movements, as well as the risks that celebrity participation entails both for the movement and for the celebrity. We suggest a notion of political standing, which sets limits on the sorts of causes in which celebrities will generally participate. In constructing their legitimacy to speak for a movement, celebrities frequently alter the claims of that movement to more consensual kinds of politics. We examine the entry, action, and influence of celebrities in particular movements by looking at two recent controversies in which celebrities are deeply involved: The ongoing efforts to preserve the woods around Walden Pond, and the recent passage, and subsequent political fallout, of an antigay referendum in Colorado. In the first case, celebrity participation led to a redefining of movement claims into a nonconflictual inclusive politics that skirted important questions. In the second case, the larger claims of gay rights and liberation were eclipsed by the entry of celebrities into the conflict who universalized the opposition to discrimination. We conclude by discussing the systematic biases that movement use of celebrities may create, and the need to consider the impact of celebrities’peculiar relationships to audiences as they affect political movements and public life.
Class Structure and Social Change: The Contradictions of Class Relations in Advanced Capitalist Society*
Authors: Spector Alan J.
Published: January 2007

Recently some mainstream sociologists have renewed their efforts to discard the traditional Marxist concepts of class structure, class contradictions, and class struggle as outmoded and unimportant components of social analysis. In contrast, this article argues in favor of the continuing relevance of these concepts and of Marxist class analysis in general in line with economic decline and increasing class polarization in the United States. Applying Marxist class analysis to the study of the advanced capitalist class structure and its contradictions, this article emphasizes the pivotal role of the Marxist approach in sociology in analyzing the dynamics of contemporary capitalist society.
Finance Capital and the State: An Analysis of Ownership and Control of Large Corporations in an East Asian Newly Industrializing Country*
Authors: Fox Julia D.
Published: January 2007

This article examines the nature of ownership and control of the top South Korean corporations. It addresses the strategic question of the separation of ownership from control, family, and institutional forms of stock ownership, and whether the capitalist class has gained control of finance capital. These issues are examined within a Marxist theoretical framework so as to understand the transformation of the class structure of South Korea, including changes in the structure of the capitalist class and the role of the state in this process. The article provides an assessment of the nature and degree of control of the state by finance capital and identifies the linkages between the largest corporations and banks through the application of network analysis in the South Korean context.
Global Capital and Labor Internationalism in Comparative Historical Perspective: A Marxist Analysis
Authors: Howard Andrew
Published: January 2007

Labor internationalism has historically developed in response to the increasing globalization of capital, but economic factors in themselves do not provide a sufficient explanation for the relative success of international solidarity in specific geographical and historical contexts. In the past, movements of international solidarity have tended to coalesce where inclusive class‐based mobilizations in individual countries have polarized local class conflicts in ways that suggest a convergence of working‐class interests on the international plane. As an emergent strategy of economistic labor organizations in various sectors of the capitalist world economy, however, internationalism may in fact promote the politicization of economic trade union struggles and thus catalyze broader levels of class solidarity and unity on the national and local planes.
Preadolescent Clique Stratification and the Hierarchy of Identity*
Authors: Adler Patricia A. , Adler Peter
Published: January 2007

This article focuses on one of the most critical features of elementary school students' social lives: their peer friendship groups. Within each grade, and separated by gender, a hierarchy of friendship groups is stratified according to the dimension of status and popularity. This ranges from the popular clique at the top, to the wannabes who hang around the popular people's periphery seeking access, to the individuals forming smaller middle‐level friendship circles, to the social isolates at the bottom. Membership at each of these ranks carries with it a distinct experience in terms of power and domination, intra‐group stratification, type of leadership, and friendship relations, leading to a further stratification by group into a hierarchy of identity. We conclude by examining the basis for preadolescents' identity formation, augmenting previous models of identity and social position that rely exclusively on status with the addition of interactional and relational factors. This structural‐relational model bridges the structural and processual symbolic interactionist models of identity, linking them at a Simmelian level of analysis.
Beyond the Binaries: Depolarizing the Categories of Sex, Sexuality, and Gender*
Authors: Lorber Judith
Published: January 2007

Most sociological research designs assume that each person has one sex. one sexuality, and one gender, congruent with each other and fixed for life. Postmodern feminists and queer theorists have been interrogating bodies, desires, and genders, but sociology has not. Deconstructing sex, sexuality, and gender reveals many possible categories embedded in social experiences and social practices. As researchers, as theorists, and as activists, sociologists have to go beyond paying lip service to the diversity of bodies, sexualities, genders. The sociologist's task should be to deconstruct the conventional categories of sex, sexuality, and gender and build new complex, cross‐cutting constructs into research designs. There are revolutionary possibilities inherent in rethinking the categories of gender, sexuality, and physiological sex. Sociological data that challenge conventional knowledge by reframing the questions could provide legitimacy for new ways of thinking. Data that undermine the supposed natural dichotomies on which the social orders of most modern societies are still based could radically alter political discourses that valorize biological causes, essential heterosexuality, and traditional gender roles in families and workplaces.
Racial Prejudice and Fear of Criminal Victimization by Strangers in Public Settings*
Authors: John Craig St. , Heald‐Moore Tamara
Published: January 2007

In this article we examine the extent to which racial (antiblack) prejudice conditions the effect of the race of strangers encountered in public settings on whites' fear of being crime victims in those settings. We hypothesize that encountering black strangers. as opposed to white strangers, evokes greater fear of being a crime victim in prejudiced whites than in whites who are not prejudiced. Data collected using the factorial survey method support this hypothesis. These results indicate that research dealing with whites' fear of being crime victims in public settings needs to consider both the race of potential criminals and the racial attitudes of potential victims.
Cultural Analysis of Religious Change and Movements*
Authors: Thomas George M.
Published: January 2007

In this article I review a cultural perspective on religion and suggest that cultural analysis resolves current debates over the nature of religion as either collectivist or individualist. I use one type of cultural analysis, institutionalism, to present an interpretive overview of religious change and movements in historical contexts of global instrumental rationality, in particular the expansion of state authority. The usefulness of this approach is revealed in interpreting Protestantism in the United States, Islamic fundamentalism, and movements and trends in global Roman Catholicism.

While not reflecting precisely the views of the authors of this collection, this article introduces the studies of the recent restructuring of religion in the United States (Robert Wuthnow), Islamic fundamentalisms in Iran and Syria (Mansoor Moaddel). and global Roman Catholicism (Jose Casanova).
Towards a Communication Dialectic: Embedded Technology and the Enhancement of Place*
Authors: Purcell Kristen
Published: January 2007

Communication literature traditionally divides interaction into two forms: mass media and interpersonal communication. These ideal types are unquestionably useful heuristic tools. Yet their conceptual utility is often undermined when researchers place them at opposite ends of a linear, historical transformation in which mass media technology is believed to supplant interpersonal communication and the locations in which it occurs. This article abandons the polar, historical relationship in favor of a communication dialectic that recognizes the synthesis of ideal types into composite forms of interaction. Embedded technology demonstrates the dialectic by exploring how electronic media fixed within a physical location can combine with the interpersonal communication taking place there to enhance group interaction. The resulting hybrid defies the assumption that mass media simply displace interpersonal interaction, pointing instead to a dialectic relationship in which ideal types continually challenge and transform one another.
Random Drug Testing and Religion*
Authors: Blackwell Brenda Sims , Grasmick Harold G.
Published: January 2007

Research recently has begun to examine the link between religion and social control. It has been noted that religion, in particular Protestant conservatism, does play a role in shaping public opinion, and as a result, public policy on crime, crime control, and justice. The present research examines the issue of public support for random drug testing by focusing on the role of religion, specifically religious affiliation, in shaping public opinion. Analysis of survey data from a city in the Southwest identifies two separate dimensions of public support for random drug testing–a utilitarian dimension that is grounded in safety concerns, along with a normative dimension that reflects conservative moral beliefs, including a concern with the “evil” of drugs. Evidence from the data also indicates that conservative Protestants, compared to liberal‐moderate Protestants, Catholics, and those with no affiliation, display higher levels of normative‐based support for random drug testing. Researchers are encouraged to further explore the role of religion in shaping public support for the development of drug policies and other more general social control policies.
Medical and Social Dynamics of College Women's Interactions with Their Gynecologists
Authors: Griffith Pamela J.
Published: January 2007

Using data collected from twenty in‐depth interviews with female college students from SUNY Geneseo, a small selective public college in western New York, this paper examines the nature of college women's clinical interactions with their gynecologists. The author focuses on the female patient's role as a passive participant. The general finding was that, although some women do take an active role in the clinical interaction, most readily accept the doctor's authority and their own vulnerability without question. A majority of the interviewees reported that they did not have any questions for their gynecologist and stressed their own focus on “just getting it [the exam] over with,” while those who did report asking questions characterized themselves as exceptionally strong women. The author offers possible explanations for the women's disinterest and discusses the implications for the women's health movement.
Re‐Creational Television: The Paradox of Change and Continuity within Stereotypical Iconography
Authors: Hudson Shawna V.
Published: January 2007

Speculation abounds regarding the cumulative effect of stereotypical images in the media, especially those effects directed toward ethnic/gender identity. Using images of Black women in the United States as a case study, this paper explores the ways in which three historical stereotypes—Mammy, Jezebel, and Sapphire—are re‐created in current‐day television broadcasts. I argue that these recreations influence modern depictions of Black women in important ways. But my analysis differs from other sociological works on stereotypes, as it critically examines three underexplored components of the stereotyping process: (1) the symbolic properties of stereotypical images; (2) the separation of time and space achieved on television; and (3) the use of rigid interpretive frames as means of sustaining stereotypes in this media age.

[b]lack women, still least powerful economically, socially and politically in American society … have been refracted through a prism that tends to project them in one of three extremes: larger than life as matriarchs or sex objects, diminished to insignificance as mammies or maids, or faded into invisibility as irrelevant. (Edwards 1993, p. 217)
Fear of Crime and Collective Action: An Analysis of Coping Strategies
Authors: Reid Lesley Williams , Roberts J. Timmons , Hilliard Heather Monro
Published: January 2007

Recent research addressing fear of crime largely concerns the causes of that fear; this article expands our understanding of fear of crime by examining whether people cope with their fear individually or collectively. Our guiding questions were two: Do coping strategies differ by those individual‐level characteristics established in the fear‐of‐crime literature? And do strategies differ based upon conceptually distinct types of fear? This research, based on a 1995 telephone survey of a random sample of New Orleans residents, suggests that the answer to both questions is yes. Commodified, individual‐level precautionary techniques are explained primarily by characteristics that reflect differential abilities to pay for such precautions. Conversely, collective‐level coping strategies are predicted primarily by degree of affective fear based on emotional reactions, regardless of actual levels of victimization.
Strangers to Their Own Class?
Authors: Stepan‐Norris Judith
Published: January 2007

The central question addressed is whether constitutional democracy, institutionalized opposition, and radical leadership tend to narrow the vertical social distance between the officers and members of industrial unions. The empirical analysis utilizes data on the Congress of Industrial Organizations unions during the late 1940s. The argument is that both union democracy and radicalism tend to sustain a close identification between workers and their leaders, to enhance their class solidarity, and to minimize the split between them. The analysis shows that officers' salaries and the income differential between their salaries and the workers' wages were far smaller in the democratic unions and in those in the Communist camp than in the oligarchical unions and those in the anti‐Communist camp.
Community without Propinquity Revisited: Communications Technology and the Transformation of the Urban Public Sphere
Authors: Calhoun Craig
Published: January 2007

Recent discussions of the Internet have touted “virtual community” and a capacity to enhance citizen power in democracies. The present essay (a) calls for a more rigorous understanding of community; (b) suggests that relationships forged with the aid of electronic technology may do more to foster “categorical identities” than they do dense, multiplex, and systematic networks of relationships; and (c) argues that an emphasis on community needs to be complemented by more direct attention to the social bases of discursive publics that engage people across lines of basic difference in collective identities. Previous protest movements have shown that communications media have an ambiguous mix of effects. They do facilitate popular mobilization, but they also make it easy for relatively ephemeral protest activity to outstrip organizational roots. They also encourage governments to avoid concentrating their power in specific spatial locations and thus make revolution in some ways more difficult.
Coming Together: New Taxonomies for the Analysis of Social Relations
Authors: Cerulo Karen A. , Ruane Janet M.
Published: January 2007

In previous work, we have noted a certain rigidity in sociology's approach to the topic of social relations (Cerulo 1997; Cerulo and Ruane 1997; Cerulo, Ruane, and Chayko 1992). With few exceptions, literature on the subject dichotomizes social relations with reference to the scope of the interaction (small group versus large group) and the mode by which social actors connect (direct connections versus mediated connections). Further, many researchers implicitly rank the social value of each relational form. Sociologists typically identify a society's primary and most valuable relations as the result of direct, physically copresent exchange, exchange involving relatively few interactants. In contrast, secondary relations often are characterized as faceless, impersonal, ingenuous, and fleeting–the result of large‐group exchange established via mediated or mechanized connections. Cerulo (1997) suggested the need to reformulate any definition of social relations built upon the small group/large group or the direct/mediated dichotomies. She presented several critical elements upon which new definitions could be built. In this piece, we configure those elements, building six new analytic taxonomies–tools we hope will provoke a richer discussion of connecting, interacting, and resulting forms of social relations.
Knowledge, Consequences, and Experience: The Social Construction of Environmental Problems
Authors: Williams Jerry
Published: January 2007

Perhaps one of the most obvious yet difficult questions confronting sociologists concerned with large‐scale environmental problems is an epistemological one: How do we know what we know about the state of the environment? This paper explores the realist and constructionist approaches to environmental‐social problems and finds both inadequate as currently formulated. A case is made for a phenomenological constructionism that moves beyond relativism and simple definitional constructionism by exploring how we actually experience the world. This approach recognizes the existence of a natural world independent of our constructions, yet suggests that our knowledge of it is always mediated, indirect, and pragmatically motivated.
Shame, Embarrassment, and Formal Sanction Threats: Extending the Deterrence/Rational Choice Model to Academic Dishonesty
Authors: Cochran John K. , Chamlin Mitchell B. , Wood Peter B. , Sellers Christine S.
Published: January 2007

Following the lead of Grasmick and Bursik (1990), we propose that significant others and conscience both function as agents of social control to deter illicit behavior in a manner similar to that provided by the law and more formal, bureaucratic organizations. All three–conscience, significant others, and formal organizations–entail potential threats and costs (i.e., shame, embarrassment, and formal sanctions). Actors consider these potential threats and costs, and assess the certainty and severity of them, in deciding whether or not to engage in criminal or deviant behavior. In the research reported here, data from a sample of undergraduate students are employed to examine the effects of perceived certainty and severity of shame, embarrassment, and formal sanction threats of the self‐reported prevalence of involvement in a variety of forms of academic dishonesty. The results suggest rather limited support for the deterrence/rational choice model, nearly all of which is due to the influence of conscience (shame).
Life History and the Critique of American Sociological Practice
Authors: Luken Paul C. , Vaughan Suzanne
Published: January 2007

This paper is a contribution to the uses of life histories and the dialogue regarding the “standards” for their use. Through a meta‐analysis of life histories in the United States since the publication of the Polish Peasant, we develop a typology to critically evaluate their methodological/theoretical practices in sociology. We find a broad range of uses of life histories in the areas of substantive focus, analysis, relationship of oral history and the subject, relationship of oral/life history to other materials, purpose of the research, and relationship of oral/life history to other phenomena. We conclude that life history methods have not had the transformative effect on sociology that they have had in other disciplines. By and large, the actual production of life histories continues to be a historical, to be characterized by abstract empiricism, to extinguish subjects, and to ignore the link between biography and history.
Dimensions of Family Conflict and Their Influence on Child and Adolescent Adjustment
Authors: Acock Alan C. , Demo David H.
Published: January 2007

Using the first (1987‐1988) and second (1992‐1994) waves of the National Survey of Families and Households, this study examines the concurrent and longitudinal influences of interparental conflict and parent‐child conflict on child and adolescent adjustment. Analyses focus on 542 intact families, each with a randomly selected focal child aged 5 to 11 at time 1 and aged 10 to 17 at time 2. Results indicate that both parent‐child and parent‐adolescent conflict are critical predictors of children's and adolescents’socioemotional adjustment. Interparental conflict, by contrast, is less important for adjustment in middle and late childhood as well as in adolescence. The findings extend previous research by suggesting that the salience and threat of interparental conflict subside as children make the transition into adolescence.
The Social Dimensions of Interpersonal Dispute Resolution: A Test of a General Theoretical Framework with Survey Data
Authors: Lee Matthew R.
Published: January 2007

Studies of social control most often focus on the deterrent effects of informal or formal social control mechanisms. In this study I draw on theory designed to explain variation in the form of social control itself. Arguing that most social control is exercised in the context of interpersonal disputes, I attempt to explain variation in the form of social control used to resolve disputes. The theoretical model posits that both the social reality of the conflict and the social location of the aggrieved party will condition the social control response. I test propositions drawn from this model with individual‐level survey data on a sample of respondents from a metropolitan parish in the south central United States. The results for the empirical test of the theoretical model are mixed. I conclude with suggestions for future research.
Staking a Claim: The Decoupling of Liberal Arts Mission Statements from Baccalaureate Degrees Awarded in Higher Education
Authors: Delucchi Michael
Published: January 2007

This study uses data from synopses of academic mission statements at 303 U.S. colleges to examine the relationship between liberal arts claims and major field of baccalaureate degrees. Hypotheses are developed from an institutionalist perspective that focus, first, on the extent to which academic mission statements are decoupled (inconsistent) from major field of baccalaureate degrees awarded at “liberal arts” colleges and, second, on the relationship between several organizational characteristics of colleges and the likelihood of decoupling. Descriptive statistics reveal that 70 percent of colleges making liberal arts claims award degrees primarily in professional disciplines. Logit analysis is used to test institutionalist hypotheses concerning the effects of denominational affiliation, selectivity, residentiality, and endowment on the probability of decoupling. Results support the institutionalist model.
Job Satisfaction in Higher Education: Examining Gender in Professional Work Settings
Authors: Fraser James , Hodge Michael
Published: January 2007

The concept of job satisfaction has been central to the study of occupations. However, the impact of gender on job satisfaction in professional settings is still under‐represented as an area of inquiry. We use the notion of job satisfaction to introduce our organizational heterogenesis approach to understanding workplace satisfaction. Central to this approach is a concern with constructs of organizational interaction which combine the individualistic and structuralist approaches to understanding organizational life. Our analysis of 180 faculty at a large, urban university shows that gender affects the features of the workplace that affect job satisfaction. Our organizational heterogenesis approach frames these findings as an example of how dispositions are “made” important in the organization rather than locating dispositions as individual characteristics alone. We conclude by discussing the organizational heterogenesis approach as a viable theory that combines individualistic and structuralist approaches to organizational life.
“This is a White Country”1: The Racial Ideology of the Western Nations of the World‐System
Authors: Bonilla‐Silva Eduardo
Published: January 2007

In this paper I argue that the racial ideology of the Western nations of the world‐system has converged over the past twenty years. This new ideology or, as many analysts call it, the “new racism,” includes: (1) the notion of cultural rather than biological difference, (2) the abstract and decontextualized use of the discourse of liberalism and individualism to rationalize racial inequality, and (3) a celebration of nationalism that at times acquires an ethnonational character. I contend that this ideological convergence reflects the histories of racial imperialism of all these countries, the fact that they have all developed real–although different–racial structures that award systemic rewards to their “White” citizens, and the significant presence of the “Other” (Black, Arab, Turk, aboriginal people, etc.) in their midst. I use the cases of Germany, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand to illustrate my point.
Austerity and Neighborhood Politics in Guadalajara, Mexico
Authors: Shefner Jon
Published: January 2007

The literature on the politics of the urban poor in Latin America is largely bifurcated into two opposing schools. One of these interprets the political behavior of the poor as clientelist, and the other finds the poor engaging in insurgent political participation. In this paper I argue that examining the political economy of place offers us a way to understand these political behaviors on a continuum, rather than recreating a false dichotomy. I examine the impact of political economy and urbanization on home ownership as a survival strategy of the poor in Guadalajara, Mexico, as well as addressing the impact of both these factors on political behavior. In so doing, I show why a neighborhood on the outskirts of Guadalajara grew increasingly supportive of opposition politics. I further suggest that examining political economy effects on urban politics offers a way to understand the politics of the urban poor in Latin America in a more nuanced fashion.
Deindustrialization, Female‐Headed Families, and Black and White Juvenile Homicide Rates, 1970‐1990
Authors: Ousey Graham C.
Published: January 2007

Recent research in urban sociology posits that the proliferation of female‐headed families in American cities is a result of declining economic prospects due to profound changes in the structure of the urban economy. Meanwhile, macro‐level theory and research in criminology suggest that an association exists between family structure and rates of lethal violence among juveniles. Given these two streams of sociological thought, there is good reason to expect that increases in juvenile homicide rates since 1970 may be due, in part, to changes in the structure of the economy and the family during the 1970 to 1990 period. However, the nexus between deindustrialization, female‐headed families, and juvenile homicide has received little attention in extant research. The objective of the current study is to remedy this gap in the literature by bringing together ideas about deindustrialization and female headship in an attempt to explain city‐level changes in Black and White juvenile homicide rates between 1970 and 1990. In particular, the research investigates the hypothesis that a decline in the manufacturing base of cities increased rates of female headship and thereby indirectly raised homicide rates. Race differences in the hypothesized structural relationships also are examined.
“Sex” versus “Gender”: A Renewed Plea
Authors: Laner Mary Riege
Published: January 2007

Evidence from scholarly journals, texts, and other sources indicates that the terms “sex” and “gender” continue to be used incorrectly, despite earlier pleas to remedy this and related errors (e.g., the terms sex role, gender role, male/female). I advance the plea again, in the hope of reducing confusion and thereby improving scholarly communication with our students and one another.
The Scholarship of Difference: A Scholarship of Liberation?
Authors: Mann Susan Archer
Published: January 2007

Recent decades have witnessed an explosion of new scholarship depicting the diverse experiences of men and women from different classes, races, and ethnicities. This article examines the implications of this new scholarship by comparing and contrasting its core assumptions with those of both Marxism and postmodernism. Particular attention is paid to its potential as a scholarship of liberation.

Within this new scholarship of difference, two types of identity politics are critically examined: those that privilege the knowledge of the oppressed and those that focus on multiple realities and polyvocality. Shortcomings of this scholarship are discussed, including the naive pluralism of idealist multiple realities approaches, the underdevelopment of analyses of social class, and the problems that arise from rejecting scientific realism and from ignoring the importance of theory for analyzing structural relations of oppression. Of this new scholarship I ask: Whither social structure? Whither truth? And whither social class?
Post‐Marxist Project: An Assessment and Critique of Ernesto Laclau
Authors: Veltmeyer Henry
Published: January 2007

The writings of Ernesto Laclau are an important contribution to various efforts over the last decade and a half to move beyond or resolve a theoretical impasse in Marxist thought and analysis. In Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, co‐authored with Chantelle Mouffe and published in 1985, Laclau seeks to establish a post‐Marxist form of analysis that takes a theoretical position “within Marxism.” It is argued that post‐Marxism as formulated by Laclau is an abandonment, not a renewal, of Marxist thought and that as such it is part of a long tradition of idealist anti‐Marxist criticism that should be rejected for its theoretical flaws and misplaced criticism.
Rationalists, Fatalists, and the Modern Superstitious: Test‐Taking in Introductory Sociology
Authors: Gallagher Timothy J. , Lewis Jerry M.
Published: January 2007

As sociologists we are guided by a rational approach to understanding the social world. This rational approach is also evident in the way we test students. But do students approach tests from the same orientation that we take in creating them, or are they influenced by such nonrational orientations as superstitions? To explore this question the authors created and administered the Luck and Superstition Questionnaire to 426 students taking Introduction to Sociology. We found that nearly 70 percent of students indicate some level of test‐related superstitious practice. However, we also found that superstitious practice was largely unrelated to religious belief and practice, gender and race, educational performance and grade expectations, and end‐of‐semester pressures. These results are entirely consistent with Colin Campbell's theory of modern superstition. Superstitious practice in modern society is self‐sustaining–not integrated into social institutions or systems of belief–and only “half‐believed” by the very practitioners of modern superstition.
Sex Ratio and Family Structure in the Nonmetropolitan United States
Authors: Albrecht Carol Mulford
Published: January 2007

The sex ratio hypothesis maintains that the ratio of marriageable men to marriageable women can have major implications for family formation and structure. Despite extensive research attention, the sex ratio hypothesis has yet to be tested on general nonmetropolitan populations. This study of nonmetropolitan counties in the United States found strong support for the sex ratio hypothesis. Counties with low sex ratios (shortage of men) had lower proportions of married couple households and a corresponding higher proportion of female‐headed households. These low sex ratio counties also had fewer adults married, and a lower proportion of their children living in married couple households with a higher proportion of children living in female‐headed households.
Are Religious People Nice People? Religiosity, Race, Interview Dynamics, and Perceived Cooperativeness
Authors: Brennan Kathleen M. , London Andrew S.
Published: January 2007

Prior research has shown consistently that religiosity, as indexed by self‐reported frequency of prayer, is associated positively with “niceness,” measured by interviewers’ratings of respondents’cooperativeness. We used data pooled from the 1983, 1988, and 1993 General Social Surveys to further examine the association between religiosity and niceness, and to raise questions about the adequacy of this currently preferred operationalization of niceness. We used three different measures of religiosity and directly examined racial differences in perceived cooperativeness. Our results indicate that each self‐reported indicator of religiosity was associated positively with perceived cooperativeness (in separate models), while race was associated negatively. We found no evidence of mediating or moderating relationships. Overall, our results provide additional evidence that persons who are more religious are perceived by others to be more cooperative and that this effect operates net of more readily observable characteristics that might influence interview dynamics and interviewers’evaluations of respondents’cooperativeness. However, our results also suggest that new, more specific measures of niceness are needed to improve our ability to fully measure this sociologically important concept and to refine our understanding of the relationship between religiosity and niceness.
An Exploration of the Independent Contributions of Genetics, Shared Environment, Specific Environment, and Adult Roles and Statuses on Perceived Control
Authors: Bullers Susan , Prescott Carol A.
Published: January 2007

Perceived‐control ‘describes individuals’generalized beliefs about their abilities to influence their life courses and circumstances. Most research concerning this construct has viewed perceived control as a developmentally acquired, stable personality characteristic. Others argue that perceived control is determined by current social status, with more privileged social positions contributing to increased control over life circumstances.

This study analyzes data from the Virginia Twin Registry to determine the independent contributions of genetics, shared environment, and nonshared environment, including adult roles and statuses, on women's perceived control. Findings from latent variable twin models suggest that there are modest but significant effects of shared environment and genetics on perceived control but that the majority of individual variation in perceived control is due to nonshared environmental factors on perceived control among adult women. Analyses of measured individual‐level variables indicate significant effects from education, income, earnings, marital quality, age, and single‐parent status.
Intermediate Sanctions: A Comparative Analysis of the Probability and Severity of Recidivism
Authors: Ulmer Jeffery T.
Published: January 2007

Social scientists have a longstanding concern with the relationship between criminal sanctions and offenders’future behavior. This paper uses data from a sample of 528 adult felony offenders to compare the relative probability of rearrest, the severity of rearrest, and the likelihood of probation revocation for offenders with a sentence of incarceration, work release, house arrest, and traditional probation—or a combination of these sentences. Consistent with previous research, prior record, gender, offense type, and education were significantly related to the probability and severity of rearrest. Furthermore, no matter which other sanction it was paired with, house arrest was associated with reduced chances of rearrest and lower rearrest severity. The influence of one of these sanction combinations was gender‐specific: incarceration followed by house arrest was associated with reduced odds of rearrest for women but not for men. However, house arrest was associated with the considerably increased likelihood of probation revocation. In addition, these effects remain after controlling for potential selection bias stemming from the sentencing decision. This paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and correctional implications of these findings and directions for future research.
The Batterer's View of the Self and Others in Domestic Violence
Authors: Goodrum Sarah , Umberson Debra , Anderson Kristin L.
Published: January 2007

Researchers estimate that 3‐4 million women are abused by intimate partners each year, and the United States Surgeon General reports physical abuse as the leading cause of injury to women in the U.S. Although numerous studies have examined survivors’perceptions of domestic violence, few have examined battery from the perpetrator's perspective. We use a symbolic interactionist perspective to examine in‐depth interviews with thirty‐three male batterers and a demographically matched comparison group of twenty‐five nonviolent male subjects. Our findings indicate that batterers minimize others’negative views of themselves, and they dissociate themselves from their partners’physical and emotional injuries. The comparison subjects, on the other hand, consider others’negative views of themselves, and they describe a deeper understanding of their intimate others’problems. We argue that an understanding of the batterer's perception of himself and others in domestic violence will help counselors develop techniques to stop male violence against women.
A Structural Analysis of the R. Kahane Code of Informality: Elements toward a Theory of Informal Education
Authors: Cohen Erik H.
Published: January 2007

Reuven Kahane's code of informality, which identifies and defines eight “internal structural components,” provides one of the few theoretical guides in the field of informal education. As a contribution to the development of a theoretical basis for empirical studies in this field, we wanted to uncover the underlying structural organization of these internal structural components. In a multidimensional analysis of Kahane's data, we found this structure of Kahane's eight components of informality along two axes. The first represents objects to which the structural components are applied: group, content, and activities. The second axis illustrates the components’expected impact–a process beginning with identification, moving through experimentation, and culminating in commitment. The process of experimentation represents a major contribution to the field on Kahane's part and is especially relevant to an understanding of education in a “postmodern” era. However, we found two gaps in the structure, possibly indicating missing components. Further analysis suggests that three of the components (modularity, pragmatic symbolism, and voluntarism) form a foundation of this structure and may be the minimal requirements for an understanding of informal activities and organizations.
Environmental Hazards and Veterans’Framing of Gulf War Illness
Authors: Shriver Thomas E.
Published: January 2007

Military personnel and other civilians were exposed to numerous environmental hazards during their service in the Persian Gulf Crisis. Nearly a decade later well over 100,000 veterans, spouses, and other civilians are claiming illnesses related to these exposures. The U.S. government denies a connection and refuses to sanction these claims of environmental illness. Analyzing data from in‐depth interviews and various documents, the author examines the veterans’framing of Gulf War Illness and the government's response to this environmental illness frame.
Institutional Change and the Social Sources of American Economic Empire: Beyond Stylised Facts
Authors: Seabrooke Leonard
Published: January 2007

The three volumes commented on here present some of the very best political economy and economic sociology scholarship on change within the US economy, as well as US-led changes in the international political economy. This review article seeks to identify the key contributions made by these works and how they improve our understanding of institutional change within the US economy. At a time when international relations and political science is populated by critiques of US empire, this article submits that understanding the ‘economic taproot’ of US power is essential in exposing its enduring character and weaknesses.
Children at Risk: The Association Between Perceived Weight Status and Suicidal Thoughts and Attempts in Middle School Youth*
Authors: Whetstone Lauren M. , Morrissey Susan L. , Cummings Doyle M.
Published: January 2007

Background:  Suicide is one of the most common causes of death among young people. A report from the US Surgeon General called for strategies to prevent suicide, including increasing public awareness of suicide and risks factors, and enhancing research to understand risk and protective factors. Weight perception has been linked to depression and poor self‐esteem in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived weight status and suicidal thoughts and actions by gender in middle school youth.

Methods:  All public middle school students in 4 eastern North Carolina counties presented, and with parental permission (n = 5174), completed the Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Middle School Questionnaire. The 3 dependent variables were self‐reported thinking, planning, and attempting suicide. Bivariate analyses describe suicidal thoughts and actions; multiple logistic regression models examined the relationship between weight description and suicidal thoughts and actions controlling for age, race, household composition, grades on report cards, and parents’ education.

Results:  Significantly more females than males reported thinking (26% vs 19%), planning (12% vs 9%), and attempting (11% vs 8%) suicide. For females, those who perceived themselves as overweight were significantly more likely to report suicidal thoughts and actions; while for males, perceptions of overweight and underweight were significantly associated with suicidal thoughts and actions.

Conclusions:  Controlling for personal and family characteristics, perceived weight status was significantly associated with suicidal thoughts and actions in middle school boys and girls.
HABITAT SELECTION BY MANATEES IN SARASOTA BAY, FLORIDA
Authors: Gannon Janet G. , Scolardi Kerri M. , Reynolds John E. , Koelsch Jessica K. , Kessenich Teresa J.
Published: January 2007

Abstract

Habitat selection by Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) is influenced by, among other things, availability of food, thermal, and freshwater resources. However, habitat selection by females with dependent calves may differ from that of other demographic groups with regard to the relative importance of these factors. Additional factors that may influence habitat selection for females with dependent calves include ambient noise, strong currents, or increased foraging requirements. We examined distributional data for manatees from aerial surveys of the coastal waters near Sarasota, Florida, between 1994 and 2004 to determine whether habitat selection by groups of manatees that included calves differed from that of other groups. We characterized groups according to their location within seven habitat types. Enclosed bays not traversed by the Intracoastal Waterway had the highest proportions of groups with calves. Groups with calves used a No Entry refuge (from which almost all human use is barred) to a greater extent than did other groups. Overall, groups with calves exhibited significantly different habitat selection from groups without calves (P < 0.001, χ2= 43.0, df = 6), but this was not consistent across seasons. During the winter and spring, thermal requirements influenced manatees to such an extent that all demographic groups selected habitat similarly.
China's New Rural Income Support Policy: Impacts on Grain Production and Rural Income Inequality
Authors: Heerink Nico , Kuiper Marijke , Shi Xiaoping
Published: January 2007

This paper analyses the impact of agricultural tax abolition and direct income payments to grain farmers on grain production and rural inequality in China. To separate the impact of the income support measures from recent price trends for grains and inputs, and to account for differences in household responses, we use a village‐level general equilibrium model that we calibrate for two villages with different degrees of market access in Jiangxi province. The results show that the income support policy does not reach its goal of promoting grain production. The increased incomes allow farm households to buy more inputs for livestock production and involve other activities that are more profitable than grain farming. Selling of rice outside the villages declines more than rice production, because households in the villages consume more rice when incomes rise. We further find that the income support measures tend to reduce income within a village, but that tax abolition tends to widen income inequality between villages.

(Edited by Zhinan Zhang)
Cooperate or Antagonize: The EU's Dilemma on Anti‐dumping and Safeguard Measures against China
Authors: Hou Xingzheng , Ren Rongming
Published: January 2007

After a 15‐year accession path, China became a full member of the WTO in December 2001. Since then, China has become one of the most important trade partners of the EU countries. However, the increasingly strengthening trade relationship and China's official entrance into the WTO unexpectedly leads to many more trade disputes between China and the EU in the era of globalization and free trade. This paper thus investigates the motive and outcome of the EU government's frequent resort to trade protectionism against products made in China.

(Edited by Xiaoming Feng)