Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Above And Below The Water: Social/Ecological Transformation In Northwest Newfoundland, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Richard L. Haedrich, Cynthia M. Duncan

Sociology

Marine fisheries and fishing societies develop around the resources provided by a particular ecosystem. As they exploit these resources, fisheries transform the ecosystem, which pushes fishery and society to adapt in turn. This process is illustrated by fisheries, ecological and social data tracking dramatic changes on Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula and its adjacent marine ecosystem, the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. There a longstanding fishery for cod and other groundfish collapsed in the 1990s, and was replaced by fisheries targeting invertebrates. The new invertebrate fisheries have different socioeconomic characteristics than the former groundfish fisheries. The shift in target species reflects deep …

Warming Winters And New Hampshire’S Lost Ski Areas: An Integrated Case Study, Lawrence C. Hamilton, David E. Rohall, Gregg F. Hayward, Barry D. Keim

Sociology

New Hampshire’s mountains and winter climate support a ski industry that contributes substantially to the state economy. Through more than 70 years of history, this industry has adapted and changed with its host society. The climate itself has changed during this period too, in ways that influenced the ski industry’s development. During the 20th century, New Hampshire’s mean winter temperature warmed about 2.1° C (3.8° F). Much of that change occurred since 1970. The mult‐decadal variations in New Hampshire winters follow global temperature trends. Snowfall exhibits a downward trend, strongest in southern New Hampshire, and also correlates with the North …

West Greenland's Cod-To-Shrimp Transition: Local Dimensions Of Climatic Change, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Benjamin C. Brown, Rasmos Ole Rasmussen

Sociology

Abstract

West Greenland's transition from a cod-fishing to a shrimp-fishing economy, ca. 1960-90, provides a case study in the human dimensions of climatic change. Physical, biological, and social systems interacted in complex ways to affect coastal communities. For this integrated case study, we examine linkages between atmospheric conditions (including the North Atlantic Oscillation), ocean circulation, ecosystem conditions, fishery activities, and the livelihoods and population changes of two West Greenland towns: Sisimiut, south of Disko Bay, and Paamiut, on the southwest coast. Sisimiut prospered as a fishing center through the cod-to-shrimp transition. Paamiut, more specialized in cod fishing, declined. Their stories …

Arctic–Champ: A Program To Study Arctic Hydrology And Its Role In Global Change, Charles J. Vorosmarty, Larry Hinzman, Bruce Peterson, David Bromwhich, Lawrence C. Hamilton, James Morison, Vladimir Romanovsky, Matthew Sturm, Robert Webb

Sociology

The Arctic constitutes a unique and important environment that is central to the dynamics and evolution of the Earth system. The Arctic water cycle, which controls countless physical, chemical, and biotic processes, is also unique and important. These processes, in turn, regulate the climate, habitat, and natural resources that are of great importance to both native and industrial societies. Comprehensive understanding of water cycling across the Arctic and its linkage to global biogeophysical dynamics is a scientific as well as strategic policy imperative.

The Changing Face Of Chicago: Demographic Trends In The 1990s, Kenneth M. Johnson

Sociology

The population of the Chicago metropolitan area grew by 869,000 (11.6%) between 1990 and 2000, the largest decade of growth in 30 years. The gain of 112,000 in the City of Chicago was the first in more than 50 years. Overall, gains were greatest in the outer suburbs and smallest in the city. Much of this growth was fueled by immigration and natural increase, with Hispanics contributing disproportionately to both.

Nonmetro Recreation Counties: Their Identification And Rapid Growth, Kenneth M. Johnson, Calvin L. Beale

Sociology

More than 80 percent of the Nation’s 285 million people now reside in metropolitan areas. Many in this vast city and suburban population are attracted to the recreational opportunities and attractions of rural areas, such as beautiful scenery, lakes, mountains, forests, and resorts. For rural communities struggling to offset job losses from farming, mining, and manufacturing, capitalizing on the recreational appeal of an area fosters economic development, attracts new residents, and retains existing population. This article outlines a method to identify nonmetro counties with high recreation development. It then examines the linkage between such development and population change, and considers …

Spankers And Nonspankers: Where They Get Information On Spanking, Wendy A. Walsh

Sociology

Because spanking is common, puts children at risk for harmful side effects, and is ineffective as a positive behavior management tool, it is important to identify the kind of advice families receive about the appropriateness of spanking. Using the health belief model, I examined spankers and nonspankers on the spanking messages they received from eight sources of discipline information and how important they perceived these messages to be. Data from telephone interviews with 998 mothers with children aged 2 to 14 years showed that 33% of mothers rated advice from workshops, pediatricians, newspapers and magazines, and books as ‘‘very important.’’ …

Outport Adaptations: Social Indicators Through Newfoundland's Cod Crisis, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Melissa J. Butler

Sociology

The 1992 moratorium on fishing for Northern Cod marked a symbolic end to the way of life that had sustained Newfoundland's out ports for hundreds of years. It also marked the completion of an ecological regime shift, from an ocean ecosystem dominated by cod and other predatory ground fish, to one in which such fish are comparatively scarce, and lower-trophic-level invertebrates more common. We examine patterns of change seen in large-scale social indicators, which reflect the smaller-scale adaptations of individuals and communities during this ecological shift. Trends in population, migration, age, unemployment and dependency suggest declining conditions in rural Newfoundland …

The Development Of Fisheries In Greenland, With Focus On Paamiut/Frederikshåb And Sisimiut/Holsteinsborg, Rasmus Ole Rasmussen, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Sociology

Situated along a mountainous coastline between cold seas and continental ice, Greenland’s human populations face severe environmental constraints. Both individual and cultural survival have always depended upon flexible use of the available resources and, when these fail, relocation. The 20th century saw great transitions, notably from Danish colonial to Greenlandic Home Rule government; an almost fivefold increase in population (from 12,000 to 56,000); and from a seal-hunting subsistence economy to commercial fisheries in a new global marketplace. But throughout these transitions, the economy remained tied to renewable resources, and therefore could not transcend the underlying environmental constraints. Greenland’s 20th century …

Social Change, Ecology And Climate In 20th-Century Greenland, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Per Lyster, Oddmund Otterstad

Sociology

Two great transitions, from seal hunting to cod fishing, then from cod fishing to shrimp, affected population centers of southwest Greenland during the20th century. These economic transitions reflected large-scale shifts in the underlying marine ecosystems, driven by interactions between climate and human resource use. The combination of climatic variation and fishing pressure, for example, proved fatal to west Greenland's cod fishery. We examine the history of these transitions, using data down to the level of individual municipalities. At this level,the uneven social consequences of environmental change show clearly: some places gained, while others lost. Developments in 20th-century Greenland resemble patterns …

Effect Of Auto Plant Openings On Net Migration In The Auto Corridor, 1980-1997, Kenneth M. Johnson, Thomas H. Klier

Sociology

In linking demographic trends of the last two decades to the geographic dispersion of the auto industry, this article finds that the addition of a large plant significantly influences the migration experience of the host county as well as counties adjacent to it.

The Rural Rebound, Kenneth M. Johnson

Sociology

No abstract provided.

Ecological And Population Changes In Fishing Communities Of The North Atlantic Arc, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Richard L. Haedrich

Sociology

In the decades since World War II, large-scale ecological changes have affected fishing communities across the northern Atlantic. Substantial declines hit their historically important resources, most notably the Atlantic cod. Such declines were often accompanied by increases in other, previously less exploited, species. Interactions between fishing pressure and environmental variation have driven ecological change. Ecological changes in turn reshaped the fisheries, contributing to altered demographic profiles of fisheries-dependent communities. Many places lost population, especially through out-migration of young adults. Broad social forces also contributed to these trends, but the timing and geographical details of population changes often correspond to specific …

Demographic Change And Fisheries Dependence In The Northern Atlantic, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Oddmund Otterstad

Sociology

Northern Atlantic fisheries have experienced a series of environmental shifts in recent decades, involving collapse or large fluctuations of the dominant fish assemblages. Over roughly the same period, many fisheries-dependent human communities have lost population, while their countries as a whole were growing. Population loss tends to increase with the degree of fisheries dependence, among communities and sub-national regions of Newfoundland, Iceland and Norway. A close look at Norway, where municipality-level data are most extensive, suggests that population declines reflect not only outmigration, but also changes in fishing-community birth rates. Multiple regression using 1990 and 1980 census data for 454 …

Ethnic Identity And Aspirations Among Rural Alaska Youth, Carole L. Seyfrit, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Cynthia M. Duncan, Jody Grimes

Sociology

The villages of rural Alaska comprise one of the most exceptional, yet least visible, sociocultural environments in the United States They are geographically remote, and set off from the mainstream also by their unique Eskimo, Indian or Aleut cultures. At the same time many economic, legal and cultural connections pull these villages toward the dominant U.S. society, impelling continual and rapid social change. Our research focuses on adolescents growing up in this culturally complex and changing environment. We employ survey data from adolescents in 19 rural schools to explore relationships between ethnic identity and students' expectations about moving away or …

Outside Evaluation Of Conecticut's Family Resource Centers : Final Report, Barbara Wauchope, Susan Frankel, Cynthia Harvell

Sociology

In 193, the Connecticut State Department of Education received federal support for the activities of nine existing Family Resource Centers (FRC) and for funding new FRCs. The FRCs were based on the premise that many childhood and adolescent problems can be prevented by strengthening effective family management practices and establishing a continuum of child care and support services linked to public schools or located in public school buildings. This report details the evaluation of the 18 school-based/linked FRCs, describing their structure and contexts, examining evidence of service use, and presenting information on the effects of the FRCs on families and …

Environment And Sex Ratios Among Alaska Natives: An Historical Perspective, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Carole L. Seyfrit, Christina Bellinger

Sociology

Human-environment interactions can affect the sex ratios of resource-dependent societies in a variety of ways. Historical and contemporary data on Alaska Native populations illustrate such effects. Some eighteenth and early nineteenth century observers noted an excess of females, which they attributed to high mortality among hunters. Population counts in the later nineteenth century and well into the twentieth found instead an excess of men in many communities. Female infanticide was credited as the explanation: since family survival depended upon hunting success, males were more valued. Although infanticide explanations for the excess of males have been widely believed, available demographic data …

Rural Illinois In The 1990s: On The Rebound?, Kenneth M. Johnson, Norman Walzer

Sociology

Rural areas of Illinois experienced a widespread population rebound between 1990 and 1995.2 These recent population gains in Illinois are consistent with a broader rural population growth revival nationwide. Rural Illinois gain nearly 24,000 residents between 1990 and 1995, according to recently released estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.3 The population grew in 47 of the 74 nonmetropolitan counties in Illinois during the period. Migration to rural areas accounted for most of this population gain. Most urban areas in Illinois also gained population during the first half of the 1990s. The recent population gains in rural Illinois are modest, but …

Recent Nonmetropolitan Demographic Trends In The Midwest, Kenneth M. Johnson

Sociology

This research1 examines demographic trends in nonmetropolitan areas of the United States and the Midwest2 since the 1990 census using the federal-state series of county population estimates. Review of such timely information is important because nonmetropolitan demographic trends have been extremely fluid during the past 30 years (Long and DeAre, 1988). Historically, nonmetropolitan demographic change, both in the Midwest and the US,
has been dominated by an excess of births over deaths sufficient to offset the net ...

Town-Village Contrasts In Alaskan Youth Aspirations, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Carole L. Seyfrit

Sociology

ABSTRACT. Recent surveys of high school students in Alaska’s Northwest Arctic and Bristol Bay regions reflect the social changes taking place in rural Native communities. Significant differences exist between the aspirations of young people in small villages and those in the larger towns that constitute regional hubs (Kotzebue and Dillingham). Town students, who attend more complete and varied high schools, express greater confidence in their educations and more interest in attending college. Jobs at Red Dog Mine, recently opened in the Northwest Arctic, appeal particularly to young males with strong ties to village life. This labor pool presents special challenges …

Female Flight? Gender Balance And Outmigration By Native Alaskan Villagers, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Carole L. Seyfrit

Sociology

Surveys in Alaska's predominantly Native, Bristol Bay and Northwest Arctic regions examined attitudes toward education and migration among high school students, as well as outcomes among high school graduates. These surveys encompassed 430 high school students and 144 recent high school graduates in 15 predominantly Native villages. About 63 percent of students said they expected to leave their present region, with girls more likely than boys to expect permanent outmigration. Girls were also significantly more ambitious than boys with regard to higher education. Among the graduates surveyed, women were more likely than men to have attended university, to have a …

Who Will Leave? Oil, Migration, And Scottish Island Youth, Carole L. Seyfrit, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Sociology

Rural communities facing the prospect of rapid energy development consider trade‐offs between economic benefits and “way of life”; as disruption. One of ten‐cited but unproved benefit of development is increased retention of local youth, who otherwise tend to migrate away. Using survey data from high school students of Scotland's Shetland and Orkney Islands (affected by North Sea oil development), we explore relations between intentions to migrate and individual background, aspirations, and attitudes. Attitudes toward oil development do not predict migration intentions. Instead, migration intentions are predicted by essentially the same variables identified in other studies, in areas where energy development …

Explanations Of Pedophilia: Review Of Empirical Research, Sharon Araji, David Finkelhor

Sociology

This article reviews empirical research to discover what support exists for theories that attempt to explain why adults become sexually interested in and involved with immature children. These theories are first organized into four basic categories: emotional congruence-why the adult congruence - why an emotional need to relate to a child; sexual arousl-why the adult could become sexually aroused by a child; blockage - why alternative sources of sexual and emotional gratification are not available; or disinhibition - why the adult is not deterred from such an interest by normal prohibitions. The review shows that the best experimental research has …