Regional Sociology Commons^™

Midwest Or Lesbian? Gender, Rurality, And Sexuality, Emily Kazyak

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Research suggests a gendered dimension to the geography of sexual minorities, as gay couples are more likely to live in cities than are lesbian couples. Using data from 60 interviews with rural gays and lesbians, this article employs an intersectional analysis of the mutually constitutive relationships among place, gender, and sexuality in order to assess how acceptance of gays and lesbians in small towns is gendered. Findings indicate that femininity aligns with gay sexuality but not rurality. In contrast, masculinity underpins both the categories “rural” and “lesbian.” Furthermore, both lesbian women and gay men gain acceptance in rural areas by …

The National Elder Economic Security Standard Index, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) is a new tool for use by policy makers, older adults, family caregivers, service providers, aging advocates, and the public at large. Developed by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), the Elder Index is a measure of income that older adults require to maintain their independence in the community and meet their daily costs of living, including affordable and appropriate housing and health care. The development and use of the Elder Index promotes a measure of income that respects the autonomy goals of …

Standing In The Footprints Of The Contemporary Urban Child: Constructing A Sense Of Place Along The Everyday Urban Routes Children Walk Through Public Space., Jackie Bourke

Doctoral

This study investigates children’s perspectives on how they experience their everyday walks through a city neighbourhood in Dublin, Ireland. Of particular interest in this research are the children’s views on the urban public realm which they traverse daily on their walks to school and various other destinations. Having once been considered the domain of children (Karsten 2005) public space is now socially constructed as adult space (Aitken 2001) and there is a concern that children are disappearing from the city (Ward 1990; Valentine 2004). The focus of this research is the children who still access the public realm regularly, and …

Transcending Boundaries: Moroccan Political Thought As A Transnational Platform, And Communities In The Realm Of Activism, Leah Siegel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My research concerns how individual protestors of the February 20th Movement relate to the rest of the Arab Spring and their own society. I conducted several interviews during November 2012 with participants of the movement currently living in Rabat, each one lasting between 30 minutes to two hours. I initially intended this study to focus on the movement’s relations to the rest of the Arab Spring, but found in my interviews that this question is much more tangential than the question of how participants of the movement relate to their own society. What I discovered was that while the events …

Evaluating The Role Of Latinidad And The Latino Threat In The State Of Missouri, Joel Jennings, J.S. Onésimo Sandoval

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Growing Latino populations in midwestern cities of the United States are leading to the creation of contested ethnic spaces and urban landscapes. In this article we examine the historical, demographic, and social contexts associated with a growing sense of Latinidad and the countervailing Latino threat narrative in Kansas City and St. Louis, the two largest metropolitan areas in Missouri. Latinidad, or a notion of belonging based on ethnic identity in Missouri, is being challenged by nativist discourses that frame the growing Latino population as a threat. We highlight the different historical trajectories and geographical characteristics that have created distinct demographic …

Poverty, Work And Social Networks: The Role Of Social Capital For Aboriginal People In Urban Australian Locales, Julie Lahn

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

In this article, I present the key findings from a project entitled “The Social Context of Indigenous Poverty”. The research involved a series of interviews with Aboriginal people in urban SE Australia on issues of poverty, social capital and social exclusion. In the article I draw together Aboriginal perspectives on the meaning of poverty to reflect on the relevance of social capital concepts for understanding Aboriginal economic disadvantage and hence, the merits of policy framed in these terms.

Perceived Stigma And Stigma Management Of Midwest Seculars, Christopher R. H. Garneau

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Prior work demonstrates that atheists and other secular individuals experience especially low trust among the American public. This line of research suggests that those with no religious belief encounter societal stigma related to their non-belief. Yet it is unknown how non-believers perceive and manage stigma. I explore perceived stigma and stigma management strategies employed by atheists, agnostics, and other secular individuals in the Midwest using a mixed methods approach. Results from survey data from more than 2,200 secular individuals as well as 24 in-depth interviews with seculars living in the Midwest show that prejudice and discrimination are common experiences for …

Generational Differences: A Look At Dialectic Formation In Cranston, Rhode Island, Michaela Delgallo

Honors Projects

In most dialects, the pronunciation of the words bear and beer is different. However, dialects found in Charleston, SC and New Zealand merge the vowel sounds found in these words. In both locations, it appears that there is a sound change in progress, resulting in different pronunciations among generations. Cranston, RI may also have this merger and may be undergoing a sound change as well.
To explore this possibility, acoustic recordings and analyses have been made of 18 participants from Cranston. Each participant produced different pairs of words that contained the vowels heard in beer and bear. Three different …

Securing Access To Lower-Cost Talent Globally: The Dynamics Of Active Embedding And Field Structuration, Stephan Manning, Joerg Sydow, Arnold Windeler

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This article examines how multinational corporations (MNCs) shape institutional conditions in emerging economies to secure access to high-skilled, yet lower-cost science and engineering talent. Based on two in-depth case studies of engineering offshoring projects of German automotive suppliers in Romania and China we analyze how MNCs engage in ‘active embedding’ by aligning local institutional conditions with global offshoring strategies and operational needs. MNCs thereby contribute to the structuration of field relations and practices of sourcing knowledge-intensive work from globally dispersed locations.Our findings stress the importance of institutional processes across geographic boundaries that regulate and get shaped by MNC activities.

Newspapers Coverage Of Spain And The United States: A Comparative Analysis, Antonio V. Menéndez Alarcón

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

This article assesses the content of foreign news coverage in the United States and Spain. It draws on content analysis of two US and two Spanish newspapers over a 28-month period, during 2005-2007 and in 2009. The results show that the content of these newspapers tends to be more negative when covering politics. However, there was a major change in the type of coverage in the Spanish newspapers from the period 2005-2007 to 2009. Coverage of US politics in 2009 was much more positive than in the previous period studied. These findings suggest that newspapers contribute to an overall unfavorable …

Life In Hampton Roads Report: 2012 Tables, Social Science Research Center, Old Dominion University

Life in Hampton Roads Survey Report

No abstract provided.

Cross-Year Comparison Of Life In Hampton Roads Survey Results, Social Science Research Center, Old Dominion University

Life in Hampton Roads Survey Report

The Social Science Research Center (SSRC) at Old Dominion University recently completed data collection for the third annual Life in Hampton Roads telephone survey. The purpose of the survey was to gain insight into residents’ perceptions of the quality of life in Hampton Roads. The survey also attempted to determine the attitudes and perceptions of citizens regarding topics of local interest such as transportation and traffic, local and state government, crime, and other issues. Funding for the 2012 survey was provided by the ODU Office of Research and the Dean of the College of Arts and Letters. Questions were generated …

"Gone But Not Forgotten": A Study Of Gravestone Imagery And Iconography In Southwest Virginian Cemeteries, Amanda Marcus

Undergraduate Research Awards

"Cemeteries hold a strong relationship to our society and appear to mimic trends overtime; they memorialize not only the dead, but also important, broad social theories. Drawing on the work of Francaviglia (1971) and others, I chose to study these multilateral trends in memorialization. For this, I visited five cemeteries in southwest Virginia. Photographing and analyzing 250 stones, I found and examined their relative and cultural shifts over time and how they related to the different eras that coincided with them. Additionally, I note important developments after 1970, the last period studied by Francoviglia."--Author's abstract. Note: the PDF includes the …

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (Nasis) 2011-2012 Methodology Report, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

CONTENTS

Introduction 3

Mode Selection 3

Design & Item Selection 3

Sampling Design 4

Experimental Design Treatment 4

Data Collection Process 4

Response Rate 5

Data-Entry Training, Supervision, and Quality Control 5

Processing of Completed Surveys 5

Data Cleaning 5

Representativeness of the Survey 6

NASIS Sample Weights 6

Figures 8

Tables 9

Appendix A: Cover Letter 11

Appendix B: Formatted Mail Survey 13

Appendix C: Future Interest Research Form 45

Appendix D: Reminder Postcard 46

Appendix E: County Codes 47

Appendix F: Variables and Descriptions 48

Nasis 2012: Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey Questionnaire, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

We need your help to learn about how Nebraskans think, feel, and live. Researchers from the University of Nebraska and across the state are counting on your help to learn about a variety of issues. Your responses will help shape program and policy development in Nebraska now and into the future.

105 questions; 16 pages