Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Culture Of Aggression: School Culture And The Normalization Of Aggression In Two Elementary Schools, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

Since the late 1990s, increased public and academic attention has been focused on topics related to bullying and peer aggression in schools, yet these behaviors have proven difficult for schools to address. Using data from an ethnographic study of two rural elementary schools in the Midwestern United States, I make both methodological and theoretical contributions to the literature on this topic. Methodologically, I show that examining ‘minor’ aggressive behaviors in schools reveals the way that more serious issues are also normalized. Theoretically, I show that students and adults actively construct shared understandings in these schools regarding the normalization of aggression, …

On The Margins Of Friendship: Aggression In An Elementary School Peer Group, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

This article uses qualitative data from a larger study of two elementary schools in a rural city of about 15,000 people in the Midwestern United States. Here, I focus on a single peer group and those who are on its margins to provide insight into the intersection of friendship, aggression, and masculinity. In doing so, I address the lack of research examining how aggression functions within peer groups and why those who are victimized choose to remain in these groups.

To Tell Or Not To Tell: Student Responses To Negative Behavior In Elementary School, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

In this article I examine the factors that influence fifth grade student decisions regarding whether or not to report negative interactions to adults. Data from observations and interviews with students and adults show that there are many factors influencing the reluctance to tell on others. Among them is a school context in which verbal attacks are downplayed and telling is seen as ineffective and stigmatized. This context prevents bystanders from reporting what they have observed and places those with a lack of social support at a significant disadvantage when dealing with negative behavior.

Finding Friends: Understanding The Role Of Social Media In The Construction Of Offline Social Networks, Alecea Ritter Standlee

Sociology Faculty Publications

This presentation examined the role of social media consumption in the establishment of offline social networks among young adults. The research suggests that perceptions about political and social attitudes of individuals, based on their social media postings, may act as a filter in offline networks, potentially increasing homogeneous social networks.

The Irb As Gatekeeper: Effects On Research With Children And Youth, Brent D. Harger, Melissa Quintela

Sociology Faculty Publications

Gatekeepers play an important role in research conducted with children and youth. Although qualitative researchers frequently discuss institutional and individual gatekeepers, such as schools and parents, little attention has been paid to the role that Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) play in determining who is allowed to research particular populations and the ramifications of these decisions for findings involving children and youth. In order to examine this role, we compare negotiations of two researchers working on separate projects with similar populations with the IRB of a large Midwestern university. In both cases, it is likely that board members used their own …

The Continued Importance Of Research With Children And Youth: The “New” Sociology Of Childhood 40 Years Later, Melissa Swauger, Ingrid E. Castro, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

This chapter presents the broad themes of this special issue by introducing the contributions and connections among the chapters in the volume. Recent theoretical constructions of childhood have positioned children as social actors resulting in a growth of child- and youth-centered empirical research. Yet, there is a continued importance for researchers to discuss ethical issues that arise in research with youth, contend with the competing constructions of children as social agents and in need of protection, and explore innovative methodological strategies used in research with youth.

Gendered Synthetic Love: Real Dolls And The Construction Of Intimacy, Desirée Ciambrone, Voonchin Phua, Erin N. Avery

Sociology Faculty Publications

Real Dolls are life-size, anatomically correct figures. Except for their lifelessness, they are made to look and feel like humans. The availability of Real Dolls allows us to examine the social significance of relationships and gender expectations in a new light. In this paper, we are interested in how the Real Dolls are being offered and accepted as alternative partners. Specifically, we examine the relationship between the commodification of the body and the agency individuals have to create intimacy and connection. We conducted an exploratory content analysis of the customer testimonials on the Real Doll website. Results suggest that the …

You Say Bully, I Say Bullied: School Culture And Definitions Of Bullying In Two Elementary Schools, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

Purpose

This chapter examines the definitions of bullying used by students and adults in elementary schools and the effects that these definitions had within the broader school culture.

Design/methodology/approach

I combine interviews with 53 students and 10 adults and over 430 hours of participant observation with fifth grade students at two rural elementary schools.

Findings

Definitions of bullying held by those in these schools typically differed from those used by researchers. Even when individuals held definitions that were in line with those used by researchers, however, a focus on identifying bullies rather than on behaviors that fit definitions of bullying …

The Dominican Grassroots Movement And The Organized Left, 1978–1986, Emelio Betances

Sociology Faculty Publications

Through their struggles for better services, grassroots movements played a large role in the process of democratization and construction of social citizenship in the Dominican Republic. The modern grassroots movement, especially in relation to the uprising of April 1984, challenged the government's neoliberal policies and opened the way for the emergence of an independent movement that confronted both left-wing parties and organized labor. However, because the gains from expanding social citizenship remained limited in the face of the Dominican state's inability to formulate socio-economic policies, the movements at best posed a worthwhile goal that Dominican society may revisit in the …

Gazing At Haw Par Villa: Cultural Tourism In Singapore, Voonchin Phua, Joseph W. Miller

Sociology Faculty Publications

Tourism is an important and growing industry in Singapore. Studies on Singapore cultural tourism have generally focused on three major sites: Chinatown, Little India and the Malay Village. The Haw Par Villa tourist site has not been examined in recent years. The case study of Haw Par Villa offered here demonstrates how changing times in Singapore have affected the popularity of tourist sites in an island nation. This article discusses the decline and potential rebirth of Singapore’s Haw Par Villa theme park in the context of cultural tourism, placing a special emphasis on Urry’s concept of the ‘tourist gaze’. Multiple …

Experience And Studying The Paranormal, Charles Emmons, Penelope Emmons

Sociology Faculty Publications

There is a great deal of doubt in mainstream science about the appropriateness of scientific research on the ‘paranormal,’ ranging from healthy skepticism to ridicule. Even some (many? most?) scientists who dare to study the paranormal display at least a healthy degree of skepticism themselves. Some of this is no doubt a reaction to the attack from mainstream science. However, keep in mind that scientists in general, no matter how mainstream or anomalous their subject matter, have not only been trained in the methods of science, but have also been socialized mostly in a Western cultural context that privileges science …

Race, Gender, And Research: Implications For Teaching From Depictions Of Professors In Popular Film, 1985-2005, Mari Dagaz, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

When students enter college classrooms for the first time they inevitably have preconceived images of professors. According to research on student evaluations of teaching, these preconceptions have important implications in college classrooms. This study explores one avenue through which these preconceptions are perpetuated – popular film. Using content analysis we examine popular films released between 1985 and 2005 that contain professors in either primary or secondary roles. Our findings show stereotypical depictions beyond glasses, bow ties, and tweed jackets. Specifically, we find stereotypical images of race and gender as well as an emphasis on the importance of research, sometimes at …

Romanian Men's Masculinities In Online Personal Advertisements, Sebastian E. Bartos, Voonchin Phua, Erin N. Avery

Sociology Faculty Publications

The present paper analyses Romanian men's masculinities via a quantitative and qualitative analysis of 380 online personal advertisements posted by men. The case of Romania is particularly interesting for understanding gender relations, since the country has recently experienced the impact of (post-) communisim, democratization, and resurging traditionalism. Romanian men's advertisements often express traditional gender relations: men-seeking-women are interested in attractive, less educated partners, while men-seeking-men emphasize discretion. Some men resist such patriarchal standards: men-seeking-women who are highly educated prefer educated women, and some men-seeking-men give out recognizable photos of themselves. Limitations and further research directions are discussed.

Gossip At Work: Unsanctioned Evaluative Talk In Formal School Meetings, Tim Hallett, Brent D. Harger, Donna Eder

Sociology Faculty Publications

This article uses a form of linguistic ethnography to analyze videotaped recordings of gossip that took place during formal school meetings. By comparing this gossip data against existing models of gossip based on data collected in informal settings, we identify eleven new response classes, including four forms of indirectness that operate to cloak gossip under ambiguity, and seven forms of avoidance that change the trajectory of gossip. In doing so, this article makes three larger contributions. First, it opens a new front in research on organizational politics by providing an empirically grounded, conceptually rich vocabulary for analyzing gossip in formal …

Differences In Romanian Men's Online Personals By Sexualities, Sebastian E. Bartoş, Voonchin Phua, Erin N. Avery

Sociology Faculty Publications

As Internet usage increases, its ability to provide almost instant connections and to pre-screen potential partners has made it a popular source for meeting people. To contribute to current literature, we examine differences in content between 187 men seeking men and 193 men seeking women in a sample of Romanian (Bucharest) personals in 2007. Results show that men seeking women provide more information about themselves than men seeking men. While the results also show that some Romanian men are more open about expressing their sexualities than others, there are still many obstacles affecting how men choose to share and express …

Advertising Health Status In Male Sex Workers' Online Ads, Voonchin Phua, Desiree Ciambrone, Obed Vasquez

Sociology Faculty Publications

This brief report examines whether male sex workers mentioned any health concerns in their online ads. The analysis uses 203 male escorts' online ads collected from America Online chat rooms in 2001/2002. The results indicate that only 25 percent of male escorts explicitly mentioned any health-related words or phrases in their ads. The results also show that whether a male escort mentioned health in their ad is correlated with the type of images they would like to portray and with the type of sex services they offer.

Using 'The Autobiography Of Malcolm X' To Teach Introductory Sociology, Brent D. Harger, Tim Hallett

Sociology Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we make the case for using The Autobiography of Malcolm X to teach introductory sociology classes. While The Autobiography of Malcolm X is an autobiography and not a novel, we summarize the literature on using novels in sociology and compare this literature to our own experiences using autobiographies in the classroom. We then describe how autobiographies are particularly helpful for introducing students to the concept of the ‘‘sociological imagination’’ before highlighting this with an in-class exercise. Finally, we discuss student feedback and some of the drawbacks to using autobiographies and the extent to which these drawbacks can …

The Catholic Church And Political Mediation In The Dominican Republic: A Comparative Perspective, Emelio Betances

Sociology Faculty Publications

This essay looks at the Catholic Church and political mediation in the Dominican Republic during the 1980's and 1990's. It opens with a review of the Latin American context regarding the transition to democracy, the debt crisis, and the church's response to the new political reality. It draws some comparisons from Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, where the church played an important role mediating political conflicts. The core of the article concentrates on three parts: the Dominican transition to democracy, the church mediation in the Tripartite Dialogue of the 1980's and early 1990's, and in the general elections of …

Is Ageism Alive In Date Selection Among Men? Age Requests Among Gay And Straight Men In Internet Personal Ads, Gayle Kaufman, Voonchin Phua

Sociology Faculty Publications

We examine 2,400 personal ads from male advertisers collected from the Internet, focusing on age preference by race and sexual orientation. We look at whether advertisers display any age preference in personal ads and whether the preference varies by race and sexual orientation. We find that gay men are more likely than straight men to state an age preference. Also, the preference for younger partners intensified among the older advertisers regardless of race and sexual orientation. Youth is still a treasured commodity in date selection for men. However, some men, especially gay men, prefer more mature partners. At least 20 …

The Dominican Republic-- After The Caudillos, Emelio Betances, Hobard Spalding

Sociology Faculty Publications

The Dominican Republic played a major role in the early history of NACLA, and it is therefore fitting that the country be re-examined in one of NACLA's thirtieth anniversary issues. It was largely in response to the 1965 U.S. invasion and occupation of the island that a group of academics, clergy and radical activists organized a 1966 conference called the North American Congress on Latin America. The "congress" stayed together beyond the conference, and in February, 1967, began publishing the NACLA Newsletter, which evolved into today's NACLA Report on the Americas.

The Development Of Capitalist Agriculture And State Formation In The Dominican Republic, 1870-1924, Emelio Betances

Sociology Faculty Publications

This article looks at the development of the sugar industry and the traditional export sectors of Dominican agriculture in relationship to state formation. It seeks to show that early on it their development the pioneers of the sugar industry helped lay the basis for the emergence of a local bourgeoisie and that the traditional export sectors failed to raise above small-scale production and its consequences. The integration of the Dominican economy into the international capitalist system inhibited the development of these two sectors in Dominican society, a pattern that was reflected in the formation of a weak state.

In examining …

The Formation Of The Dominican Capitalist State And The United States Military Occupation Of 1916-1924, Emelio Betances

Sociology Faculty Publications

The United States policy towards the Caribbean and Central America during the 1980s repeats an interventionist pattern which occurred early in the twentieth century. Then, the United States set up strong national governments which organized export economies and local political power. Today, social and political developments in the region have outgrown the political scheme created at the beginning of the century. Thus, the recurrent United States intrusion in the region to recreate the old political structures. An historico-sociological analysis becomes necessary to place current events in perspective and shed light in understanding the pattern of regional political development.

This study …

Republica Dominicana: Crisis Del Bipartidismo En Las Elecciones De 1990, Emelio Betances

Sociology Faculty Publications

The Dominican Revolutionary Party's inability to fulfill its historic program of political and economic democracy, coupled with a series of struggles within the party group, have opened the way for the historic contest between Joaquin Balaguer and Juan Bosch. The nature of this ideological war was inevitable because, since the U.S. military intervention in 1965, Balaguer and Bosch had represented in the country mixed views on both the economy and politics. While Balaguer's dictatorial governments from 1966 to 1978 are considered the legacy of the United States military intervention in 1965, Bosch is seen as the main nationalist critical of …