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Critical Consciousness & The Rural-Urban Divide, Kendall O'Rorke

University Honors Theses

This study investigated the relationship between conceptions of Critical Consciousness (CC) and urban vs. rural geographic location type. Participants (N = 31) completed the Short Critical Consciousness Scale (CCS-S, Rapa et al., 2020), and 25 additional questions regarding potential location-based Idealogical differences. No measurable differences were found regarding differences in conceptions of critical consciousness (using CCS-S scores) based on rural-urban location, however, other responses supported some current research regarding political typology. Additional research is needed to fully understand this topic.

Understanding The Economic And Health Benefits Of Agroecology With Leopoldo Rodriguez, Leopoldo Rodriguez

PDXPLORES Podcast

In this episode of PDXPLORES, International and Global Studies professor Leopoldo Rodriguez discusses the sustainable farming practice known as agroecology. Rodriguez is leading a study examining the impact of agroecological practices on environmental, social, and economic sustainability and health outcomes near Buenos Aires, Argentina. To complete this work, Rodriguez has partnered with small-scale farmers, some of whom have adopted agroecology and some who farm using conventional methods.

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Enclosing Water: Privatization, Commodification, And Access, Daniel Jaffee

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This chapter examines the global political economy of access to drinking water, with particular attention to the implications for environmental and social justice. After reviewing theoretical approaches to the privatization and commodification of drinking water, the chapter examines the institutional and ideological drivers, dynamics, and effects of the enclosure of municipal (tap) water supplies, and the substantial countermovements it has generated, drawing on case studies from both the global South and the North. The chapter briefly reviews the present status of municipal water privatization, and then turns to another major modality of water commodification: bottled water. It explores the dramatic …

Emociones, Semillas Nativas Y Cambio Climático: El Movimiento De Soberanía De Las Semillas En Chiapas, México, Carol Hernández Rodríguez, Hugo Perales Rivera, Daniel Jaffee

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

¿Qué papel juegan las emociones en la definición de marcos interpretativos que permiten a las comunidades responder acertadamente a los retos impuestos por cambio climático? Este artículo explora empíricamente esta pregunta desde la perspectiva de pequeñas comunidades campesinas en la región central de Chiapas, México. Este estudio de caso muestra que los significados espirituales, culturales y materiales que las comunidades campesinas asignan a la milpa y sus semillas nativas, especialmente al maíz, convergen en un conjunto de emociones que permiten a sus miembros reconocer los riesgos de degradación ambiental y cambio climático y movilizarse políticamente en torno a la idea …

Preserving Small Farms In Gales Creek, Oregon: An Interview With Gales Creek Residents, Nathan Williams

Metroscape

Nathan Williams conducts interviews with several residents of rural Gales Creek, Oregon, discussing the problems faced by small farmers and challenges for farmland preservation.

Fair Trade, Daniel Jaffee

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Chapter 16.

This lesson begins by discussing the dynamics behind the structural inequity in the global trade in agrifood products. We then take a brief look at fair trade’s history, the basic mechanisms of the fair trade model for food products, and the current state of fair trade. Two case studies of fair trade in action will give a taste of the social benefits that participating in this alternative market can generate for producers, but also the limits to fair trade’s impact and the contradictions that can arise. We will also examine some key controversies that have caused major divisions …

Rural Interprofessional Health Care Education: A Study Of Student Perspectives, Curt Carlton Stilp

Dissertations and Theses

As the cost for health care delivery increases, so does the demand for access to care. However, individuals in a rural community often do not have access to the care they need. Shortages of rural health care professionals are an ever-increasing problem. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 sought to increase health care access by focusing on team-based care delivery. Thus, the need to educate health care students in the fundamentals of team-based practice has led to an increased emphasis on Interprofessional Education (IPE). While past research focused on urban IPE, a literature gap exists for the effects of a …

Who’S The Fairest Of Them All? The Fractured Landscape Of U.S. Fair Trade Certification, Daniel Jaffee, Philip H. Howard

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, consumers in the United States have been confronted by no fewer than four competing fair-trade labels, each grounded in a separate certification system and widely differing standards. This fracturing is partly a response to the recent split by the U.S. certifier Fair Trade USA from the international fair trade system, but also illustrates longstanding divisions within the fair trade movement. This article explores the dynamics of competition among nonstate standards through content analyses of fair trade standards documents from the four U.S. fair-trade certifications for agrifood products (Fair Trade USA, Fairtrade America, Fair for Life, and the …

Region-Urbanicity Differences In Locus Of Control: Social Disadvantage, Structure, Or Cultural Exceptionalism?, Dara Shifrer, April Sutton

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

People with internal rather than external locus of control experience better outcomes in multiple domains. Previous studies on spatial differences in control within America only focused on the South, relied on aggregate level data or historical evidence, or did not account for other confounding regional distinctions (such as variation in urbanicity). Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, we find differences in adolescents' loci of control depending on their region and urbanicity are largely attributable to differences in their social background, and only minimally to structural differences (i.e., differences in the qualities of adolescents' schools). Differences that persist net …

Is There Room For Plantations In Fair Trade?, Daniel Jaffee

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

When the certifier Fair Trade USA (FTUSA) announced in 2011 that it would split from the international fair trade system and create its own certification scheme, the fair trade movement erupted in controversy. Arguing that it was wrong to exclude hired laborers from the benefits of fair trade, FTUSA’s new standards for the first time permit the unlimited certification of all crops from agribusiness plantations, including coffee. However, largely missing from the rhetoric on both sides of this move was a deeper discussion of the significance of agribusiness plantations. The article focuses on the question, is there room within fair …

The Impacts Of Urban Renewal: The Residents' Experiences In Qianmen, Beijing, China, Yongxia Kou

Dissertations and Theses

The study examines the influences of the Qianmen urban renewal project on its original residents, which is one of a few demonstration projects under the new policy orientation of urban renewal practices in Beijing, China, entering the new century. It employs "residential satisfaction" as an evaluative indicator to understand the residents' experiences before and after urban renewal. Seventy-two residents were interviewed. Among them, 25 remained in Qianmen; 20 relocated to Hongshan, a neighborhood in the central city area; 21 moved to Longyue, a neighborhood in one of the suburban areas; and 6 residents relocated to other locations.

The study found …

A More Perfect Commodity: Bottled Water, Global Accumulation, And Local Contestation, Daniel Jaffee, Soren Newman

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bottled water sits at the intersection of debates regarding the social and environmental effects of the commodification of nature and the ways neoliberal globalization alters the provision of public services. Utilizing Polanyi's concept of fictitious commodities and Harvey's work on accumulation by dispossession, this article traces bottled water's transformation from elite niche item to a product consumed by three fourths of U.S. households. Drawing on ethnographic research with participants in two cases of proposed spring water extraction from rural communities by industry leader Nestlé Waters, we make two principal arguments. First, the case of bottled water necessitates a reevaluation of …

A Bottle Half Empty: Bottled Water, Commodification, And Contestation, Daniel Jaffee, Soren Newman

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bottled water has rapidly been transformed from an elite niche market into a ubiquitous consumer object. Yet the literature on drinking water privatization has largely neglected the growth of bottled water and its emergence as a global commodity. This article draws on Harvey’s analytic of accumulation by dispossession to explore how commodification unfolds differently across multiple forms of water. Based on ethnographic interviews with participants in two conflicts over spring water extraction in rural U.S. communities by the industry leader Nestlé, we make three arguments. First, contestation over bottled water commodification is refracted through competing framings regarding control over local …

Technology And Communications Coursework: Facilitating The Progression Of Students With Learning Disabilities Through High School Science And Math Coursework, Dara Shifrer, Rebecca Callahan

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Students identified with learning disabilities experience markedly lower levels of science and mathematics achievement than students who are not identified with a learning disability. Seemingly compounding their disadvantage, students with learning disabilities also complete more credits in non-core coursework—traditionally considered nonacademic coursework—than students who are not identified with a learning disability. The Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, a large national dataset with both regular and special education high school students, is utilized to determine whether credit accumulation in certain types of non-core coursework, such as technology and communications courses, is associated with improved science and math course taking outcomes for …

Disproportionality And Learning Disabilities: Parsing Apart Race, Socioeconomic Status, And Language, Dara Shifrer, Chandra Muller, Rebecca Callahan

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The disproportionate identification of learning disabilities among certain sociodemographic subgroups, typically groups that are already disadvantaged, is perceived as a persistent problem within the education system. The academic and social experiences of students who are misidentified with a learning disability may be severely restricted, whereas students with a learning disability who are never identified are less likely to receive the accommodations and modifications necessary to learn at their maximum potential. The authors use the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 to describe national patterns in learning disability identification. Results indicate that sociodemographic characteristics are predictive of identification with a learning disability. …