Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Jim Crow 2.0?: Why States Consider And Adopt Restrictive Voter Access Policies, Keith Gunnar Bentele, Erin E. O'Brien

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in state legislation likely to reduce access for some voters, including photo identification and proof of citizenship requirements, registration restrictions, absentee ballot voting restrictions, and reductions in early voting. Political operatives often ascribe malicious motives when their opponents either endorse or oppose such legislation. In an effort to bring empirical clarity and epistemological standards to what has been a deeply charged, partisan and frequently anecdotal debate, this paper uses multiple specialized regression approaches to examine factors associated with both the proposal and adoption of restrictive voter access legislation from 2006-11. Our …

Predictors Of Accessing Substance Abuse Services Among Individuals With Mental Disorders Released From Correctional Custody, Stephanie Hartwell, Xiaogang Deng, William Fisher, Julianne Siegfriedt, Kristen Roy-Bujnowski, Craig Johnson, Carl Fulwiler

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

Objective

In the context of an increasing correctional population and corresponding rates of mental illness and substance abuse among this population, this study focuses on describing the predictors of substance abuse service utilization for ex-inmates with dual disorders. Our aim is to assess the likelihood and characteristics of ex-inmates with mental disorders who access substance abuse treatment services within two years of correctional release.

Methods

Using merged administrative data on all ex-inmates with open mental health cases released from Massachusetts Department of Corrections and two County Houses of Corrections from 2007 to 2009 (N=2,280) and substance abuse treatment outcome data …

The Transitional Museum As Urban Parasitism, Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

In a recent talk at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, I presented to the public an initial approach to the concept of the Transitional Museum, one that I have developed over time in collaboration with Mauricio Rodriguez-Anza and Vivianne Falco. This concept grew out of our efforts at defining the main features and goals of the new Anza Falco Museum of Art and Design, and particularly out of our struggle with the word "alternative" as an all-embracing, defining category with the necessary components to project to the world a unique and interdisciplinary style both in its architectural form …

Foucault, Marxism And The Cuban Revolution: Historical And Contemporary Reflections, Sam Binkley, Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

This article relates central themes of Marxist and Foucauldian thought to the intellectual and political legacy of the Cuban Revolution. Against the backdrop of a reading of Foucault’s relationship to the revolutionary left, it is argued that Marxist theoretical discourse on guerrilla struggle (as articulated by Mao, Guevara and others) provide an intriguing case for bio-political struggle. In the case of the Cuban revolution, an ethics of self-transformation appears in which new ways of living and practicing life are cultivated in opposition to sedimentations of state power. Moreover, in addition to this historical case, a discussion is offered of the …

Venezuela In The Times Of Chavez: A Study On Media, Charisma, And Social Polarization, Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

My main objective in this study is to deepen the reader's understanding of Venezuela's ongoing socio-political conflict by focusing on the struggle for control over one of the key agents of mobilization and politicization in the country: the media outlets, and particularly television. My methodology strives to interweave the chronological record of events with analysis of the equally relevant theoretical, institutional, political, economic, and cultural components that helped to create those events. Central to my presentation is its analysis of the decline of Venezuela's two traditional parties and the emergence of a charismatic and populist form of leadership.

Case Management In The Women’S Health Network: A Comprehensive Evaluation, Russell K. Schutt

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

The Women’s Health Network (WHN), a program of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, provides screening examinations to income-eligible women for the early detection of breast and cervical cancer and cardiovascular disease risk. The Women’s Health Network breast and cervical cancer program component is funded in part by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and in part by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, through the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). The Women’s Health Network Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program (HDSPP) is funded by the CDC’s Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation program (WISEWOMAN). …

Mexico As Seen Through American Eyes: The Evolution Of U.S. News Media Coverage, Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

The traditional Mexican view of the U.S. news media's treatment of Mexico and Mexicans is that those media have been mired in prejudice, owing to what Octavia Paz has called "the twin sisters ignorance and arrogance." Mexicans of all social levels have held to this view for many decades, denouncing the obsession of American journalists with drug trafficking, illegal migration, and governmental corruption, and for forming or reinforcing in generations of Americans a vague, exotic, touristy, sometimes downright surreal vision of Mexico.

This view, however, began to shift very markedly during the administration of Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994). Especially …

Homeless Persons' Residential Preferences And Needs: A Pilot Survey, Russell K. Schutt

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

The 2003 Pilot Survey of Residential Preferences and Needs sampled individuals with psychiatric difficulties at three large generic shelters for adult individuals in Boston and one of four transitional shelters funded by the Metro Boston Region of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health.

 The survey measured: homeless persons’ residential preferences; the residential recommendations of shelter-based clinicians for these homeless persons; clinicians’ assessments of these persons’ living skills and safety.

 Respondents at the DMH shelter were somewhat more satisfied with their shelter and with the people who stayed there than were those at the generic shelters. The DMH shelter …