Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Skill Downgrading Among Refugees And Economic Immigrants In Germany: Evidence From The Syrian Refugee Crisis, Plamen Nikolov, Leila Salarpour, David Titus

Economics Faculty Scholarship

Upon arrival to a new country, many immigrants face job downgrading, a phenomenon describing workers being in jobs below the ones they have based on the skills they possess. Moreover, in the presence of downgrading immigrants receiving lower wage returns to the same skills compared to natives. The level of downgrading could depend on the immigrant type and numerous other factors. This study examines the determinants of skill downgrading among two types of immigrants – refugees and economic immigrants – in the German labor markets between 1984 and 2018. We find that refugees downgrade more than economic immigrants, and this …

Predictors Of Social Distancing And Mask-Wearing Behavior: Panel Survey In Seven U.S. States, Plamen Nikolov, Andreas Pape, Ozlem Tonguc, Charlotte Williams

Economics Faculty Scholarship

This paper presents preliminary summary results from a longitudinal study of participants in seven U.S. states during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to standard socio-economic characteristics, we collect data on various economic preference parameters: time, risk, and social preferences, and risk perception biases. We pay special attention to predictors that are both important drivers of social distancing and are potentially malleable and susceptible to policy levers. We note three important findings: (1) demographic characteristics exert the largest influence on social distancing measures and mask-wearing, (2) we show that individual risk perception and cognitive biases exert a critical role in influencing …

Worker Centers: Labor Policy As A Carrot, Not A Stick, Kati L. Griffith, Leslie Gates

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

Worker centers empower communities of workers that are challenging for labor unions to organize. This includes immigrant workers and other vulnerable workers in high turnover jobs. These centers often organize workers that fall within the definition of “employee” under the Depression-era laws designed to protect some forms of collective worker activity from employer retaliation. Although employees associated with these centers can benefit from labor law’s carrot, worker centers are not “labor organizations” subject to labor law’s vast reporting requirements and restrictions on associational behavior (labor law’s stick). We use an original study of worker centers’ filings to the Internal Revenue …

Sizing Up Worker Center Income (2008-2014): A Study Of Revenue Size, Stability, And Stream, Leslie C. Gates, Kati L. Griffith, Jonathan Kim, Zane Mokhiber, Joseph C. Bazler

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

Since the publication of Janice Fine’s path-breaking book, Worker Centers: Communities at the Edge o f the Dream in 2006, scholars and commentators on the left and the right of the political spectrum have grappled with how to characterize these emergent worker organizations on the US labor relations scene. This chapter deepens our understanding of the nature of worker centers by examining the funding trends that underlay the wide range of experimental organizing and advocacy strategies highlighted in other chapters of this volume. Undoubtedly, to emerge and survive, these organizations need money (Bobo and Pabellon 2016). But how financially stable …

Populism: A Puzzle Without (And For) World-Systems Analysis, Leslie C. Gates

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

This essay shows how world-systems analysis provides a more rigorous explanation for the recent rise of disparate populisms, countering negative stereotypes of mainstream accounts that obscure how formative populist leaders emerged from authentic progressive movements which challenged capitalists. Existing analyses have also failed to specify the varied economic projects of populists, their likely social bases and their relationships to world markets. The essay recommends relational comparisons of populists to unravel populism’s puzzles and advance world-systems analysis.

Shifting Sands: Professional Advice To Mothers In The First Half Of The Twentieth Century, V. Sue Atkinson

Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership Faculty Scholarship

This essay examines print literature targeting American mothers of infants from the turn of the twentieth century through the 1950s, analyzing text excerpts from “baby books” spanning six decades and providing background illuminating those texts and their authors. Books authored by Benjamin Spock, Arnold Gesell, and John B. Watson are reviewed, along with work of less well known but widely read authors Emmett Holt, Herman Bundesen, and others. Changes in recommended feeding and toilet-training practices, sleeping arrangements, and behavioral expectations of babies, as well as the variation in style and tone of the experts’ advice are traced through the period …

Hayat Ağında Kapitalizm: Jason W. Moore Ile Bir Röportaj, Jason W. Moore

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

“Toplum artı doğa” anlayışının yeşil aritmetiğindeki sorun çevre adaleti ve toplumsal adalet, doğada sürdürülebilirlik ve toplumsal sürdürülebilirlik, ekolojik emperyalizm ve normal emperyalizm arasında yaptığımız garip ayrım. Emperyalizmin tarihini bilen herkes bilir ki aslında her şey “Neye değer veriyoruz?” ve “Toplumun hangi kesimine değer veriyoruz?” sorularıyla ilgili.

Anthropocene Or Capitalocene? Nature, History, And The Crisis Of Capitalism, Jason W. Moore

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Rise Of Cheap Nature, Jason W. Moore

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

We live at a crossroads in the history of our species – and of planetary life. What comes next is unknowable with any certainty. But it is not looking good. Environmentalist theory and research tells us, today, just how bad it is. Mass extinction. Climate Change. Ocean acidification. To these planetary shifts, one can add countless regional stories – runaway toxic disasters on land and at sea; cancer clusters; frequent and severe droughts. Our collective sense of " environmental consequences " has never been greater. But consequences of what? Of humanity as a whole? Of population? Of industrial civilization? Of …

Course Syllabus (Sp15) Coli 214 Literature & Society: "Societies Of Discipline And Control", Christopher Southward

Comparative Literature Faculty Scholarship

Course description:

Optics is central to the arts of producing human subjects and governing our spatiotemporal deployment of vital forces. Yet, in the transition of societies from industrial to post-industrial modes of production, there seems to have occurred a parallel shift in governmental focus from merely producing and disciplining subjects at the material level to controlling them at the ideological. In this discussion-driven course, we will turn to works of theory and fiction in order to examine the basic tenets of discipline and control and consider the extent to which these social practices diverge and converge in our present era.

Interest Groups In Venezuela: Lessons From The Failure Of A “Model Democracy” And The Rise Of A Bolivarian Democracy, Leslie C. Gates

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

This article uses the Venezuelan case to shed light on the potential role of interest group systems in discrediting liberal democracies and to identify challenges the region’s democracies are likely to confront in constructing effective and fair interest group systems. It first analyzes the role Venezuela’s interest groups played in discrediting its forty-year two-party democracy. It argues that the discrediting of a system heralded by many as the region’s “model democracy” cannot be understood by merely assessing how the structure of the group system excluded certain groups. The study shows that the inclusion of certain business interests in visible positions …

Course Syllabus (Fa13) Coli 211 Literature & Psychology: "Power, The Subject, And Technological Rationality", Christopher Southward

Comparative Literature Faculty Scholarship

Course Description and Objectives:

In this course, we will examine mechanisms of power and the processes by which these produce categories of subjectivity. Theoretically speaking, we will begin by considering these processes at the level of society and then dwell on their human experience at the level of the psyche. Here, we will aim to discover processes by which the subject reproduces conditions of domination by power at the level of psychic experience. Power-practices assume their condition of possibility by positing, on the one hand, that the category of the subject is a priori existent and, on the other, that …

Binghamton University: Moving Toward A More Community-Engaged Campus, Mengchen Huang

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

Binghamton University has a long standing commitment to community engagement and would like to apply for the 2015 Carnegie community engagement classification. Although the community engagement classification provides national recognition for institutions' commitment to community engagement, the application process is intensive and nearly half of 305 institutions registered withdrew from the application process in 2010. In an effort to increase Binghamton University's success in achieving the 2015 Carnegie classification, the Capstone project examined institutional characteristics that were associated with successful attainment o 2010 Carnegie classification for applicant universities.

Are Men Overcoming Violence? The Development Of A Performance Measurement System, Katherine Elizabeth Larousse

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

The Family and Children's Society is a human services nonprofit organization located in Broome and Tioga Counties. The Men Overcoming Violence Program does not have a formal performance measurement system. To assist the Family and Children's Society as they consider how to best implement a performance measurement system, a survey was distributed to the current clients served to understand their perceptions of the goals of the Men Overcoming Violence Program. In addition, interviews were conducted with nonprofit administrators to explore strategies to develop and implement a performance measurement system. Four main findings emerged from the data. First, nonprofit organizations are …

Impacts, Issues, And Challenges Associated With Using A Performance Measurement System In New York State Counties, Jeremy Pelletier

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

The Broome County Legislature is currently comprised of nineteen legislators representing over 200,000 citizens. The legislatures is trying to find a way to maintain the same quality of services without raising taxes and is exploring the possibility of implementing a performance measurement system in order to achieve this goal. The purpose of this capstone project is to identify the impacts, issues, and challenges other New York State Counties have experienced using performances measurement.

University Downtown Campuses And Community Engagement In Small And Midsized Citites, Richard Albert Francis-Beltran

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

In summer of 2011, as a graduate intern from the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program I conducted a research project under the supervision of the Director of Special Programs for Economic Development. The purpose of the project was to learn about the perceptions of downtown area officials and community members regarding the impact of the Binghamton University Downtown Center (UDC). Findings showed that overall participants were satisfied regarding UDC partnering relationships with public and non-profits agencies. At the same time, the findings also indicated that participants had unmet expectations regarding the UDC participation in various downtown activities. In order …

Schuyler County Resident's Attitudes Towards Growth Management Policies In The Time Of Natural Gas And Other Energy Developments, Sebastian Lippez-De Castro

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

As the Wind farms industry grows in the region and the State of New York decides whether to allow natural gas drilling by using hydrofracking, these energy industries could create challenges in Schuyler County. As a result, local government officials need to know the opinions of their residents in order to propose and adopt regulations that not only enhance their ability to address the challenges created by the aforementioned industries but also reflect the interests of the community.

Agency Relations: Managing The Transition To Community Impact At United Way Of Broome County, Hayley Keys Rein

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

An organization's stakeholders react to major vision changes in various ways. Although some may see the rationale behind changes and potential for improvement, others will be more fearful and anxious. United Way of Broome County has experienced challenges with regard to historic partner agencies' apprehension and entitlement when implementing past vision changes. The research conducted in this study will help elucidate the challenges faced by other United Way organizations when transitioning to Community Impact model as well as the barriers to and factors promoting a successful transition.

Chenango United Way Community Partners' Performance Measurement Data: Utilization, Challenges,And Practices, Rebecca A. Sands

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

The following study focuses on Chenango United Way community partners' utilization of data from performance measurements. It answers two research questions: 1) what the Chenango United Way community partners are doing with the data they collect from their program outcome measurements and 2) how the Chenango United Way can help community partners utilize the data collected from their program outcome measurements to improve programs.

New Marketing Initiatives For Binghamton University's Center For Civic Engagement, Anthony G. Naglieri

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

Students are vital to fulfill the Center for Civic Engagement's mission to strengthen relationships between Binghamton University and the community. As a new office, engaging and fostering support amongst students and instituting effective means of reaching them is an essential component for establishing a viable center.

At the onset of its growing year, CCE;s marketing strategies were ill-equipped to reach a student demographic that is continually evolving and increasingly reliant on the internet and new technologies for its information needs. The ability to understand and effectively adapt to the changing expectations and preferences of students is a vital component to …

Theorizing Business Power In The Semiperiphery: Mexico 1970-2000, Leslie C. Gates

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

This study explains why the power of neoliberal business over the Mexican state increased during the last three decades of the 20th century. It identifies three sources of increased neoliberal business power that occurred in conjunction with neoliberal reforms: (1) active mobilization by neoliberal business, (2) increased access to the state by neoliberal business, and (3) increased economic power of neoliberal business. It thereby contributes additional evidence that counters the view of Mexico’s state neoliberalizers as acting autonomously from business. It further outlines two conditions that were instrumental in bringing about the increased power of neoliberal business: the onset of …

The Strategic Uses Of Gender In Household Negotiations: Women Workers On Mexico’S Northern Border, Leslie C. Gates

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

The study illustrates the potential of the ‘doing gender’ perspective to explain why employment helps women win some negotiations at home but not others. Eighteen in-depth interviews with women maquiladora workers in Mexico suggest that employment may help women gain new rights and extend the limits of respect accorded them by male companions and parents. Women were more successful when they used negotiating strategies that conformed to their gender identity, such as making offers, than when they used negotiating strategies that challenged traditional gender norms, such as withdrawing services or making threats.

A State’S Gendered Response To Political Instability: Gendering Labor Policy In Semi-Authoritarian El Salvador (1944-1972), Leslie C. Gates, Kati L. Griffith

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

Unlike much of the gender and welfare literature, this study examines why a regime that constrains pressure from below would adopt gendered social policies. The Salvadoran case (1944-1972) suggests that political instability rather than societal pressures may prompt semi-authoritarian regimes to adopt gendered labor reforms. We extend the motivations for adopting gendered labor reforms to include co-opting labor by examining gendered labor reforms in the context of El Salvador’s historically contingent labor strategy. This gendered analysis helps explain how a semi-authoritarian regime secured political stability and reveals the special appeal gendered labor reforms may have to semi-authoritarian regimes.