Digital Commons Network^™

Homelessness Count Methodologies Literature Review, Jennifer Lee-Anderson

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This literature review on homeless count methods provides a brief history of homelessness in the U.S., an account of count efforts, and an overview of methods used. It illustrates that no method is capable of providing a comprehensive count of the homeless, and all methods have inherent disadvantages that often rely upon flawed assumptions. The practical impact of these counts on policy is substantial. Therefore, this review should encourage discussion as to what data communities need for policy and program development and implementation, and whether homeless counts actually fulfill this need.

Perceptions About The Asylum-Seeking Process In The United States After 9/11, Keith Nalumango

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Asylum seekers in the U.S. have faced a plethora of impediments leading to some of them abandoning their applications, which may deny them their rights under the United Nations convention on refugees. Despite the abundance of literature on the plight of these persons, no study has examined the lived experiences of asylum seekers in the U.S. from the time they apply for asylum to the time their applications are adjudicated. Using Benet's polarities of democracy as the theoretical framework, the purpose of this single participant narrative study was to explore these experiences in order to provide policy makers with a …

Sexual Healing: How Racialized Black Males Use Sex To Cope With Stress, Loss And Separation, Allen Lipscomb

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

While the behaviors of Black males are widely studied and often pathologized, their internal, subjective experiences are frequently absent from contemporary research. Utilizing a qualitative research methodology, this study explores the lived experiences of Black males, focusing on sexuality as a coping strategy within the context of loss, separation and stress. A non-clinical sample of 33 Black male participants was identified using snowball and purposeful sampling via social media and word-of-mouth. The findings provide considerable insight regarding the needs of Black men navigating the vicissitudes of loss and stress. In addition, the data endorses deconstruction of the Black male masculine …

Multiplicative Advantages Of Hispanic Men Living In Hispanic Enclaves: Intersectionality In Colon Cancer Care, Keren M. Escobar, Mollie Sivaram, Kevin M. Gorey

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

We examined Hispanic enclave paradoxical effects on cancer care among socioeconomically vulnerable people in pre-Obamacare California. We conducted a secondary analysis of a historical cohort of 511 Hispanic and 1,753 non-Hispanic white people with colon cancer. Hispanic enclaves were neighborhoods where 40% or more of the residents were Hispanic, mostly first-generation Mexican American immigrants. An interaction of ethnicity, gender and Hispanic enclave status was observed such that the protective effects of living in a Hispanic enclave were larger for Hispanic men, particularly married Hispanic men, than women. Risks were also exposed among other study groups: the poor, the inadequately insured, …

Unwed Motherhood, Adoption Reunion And Stigmatized Social Identities, Karen R. March

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Abstract

Data gathered from semi-structured interviews with 33 reunited birth mothers show they had been stigmatized for their unwed motherhood and hid this identity to protect self from social censure. The public exposure created by reunion contact with their adult placed children required new ways to manage this stigma trait. The women engaged in a process of identity talk supported by their understanding of altered perceptions of female sexuality and a “no choice” discourse that drew upon historical changes in the social position of unwed mothers. This identity talk increased their self-efficacy by providing stronger control over their presentation of …

Housing Cost Burden And Maternal Stress Among Very Low Income Mothers, Kaycee L. Bills, Stacia Michelle West, Jami Hargrove

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

As the affordable housing shortage proliferates, more American households struggle with high housing cost burdens. Grounded in Belsky’s (1984) parenting stress framework, we use a weighted low-income sample from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study of mothers who rent their homes (N=388) to investigate a relationship between housing cost burden, or paying a substantial portion of income toward housing, and higher rates of reported maternal stress. Findings of the linear regression indicate that younger mothers and those paying 30% or more of their income each month toward rent have higher reported maternal stress scores. These findings are discussed with …

From The Empire State To The North Star State: Voter Engagement In The 2016 Election, Katharine M. Hill, Shannon R. Lane, Jenna Powers, Tanya Rhodes Smith

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Voter engagement has the potential to be a fundamental part of social work practice and key to the professional socialization of social work students. This article describes a classroom-based voter engagement project conducted in two undergraduate social work programs in different U.S. states with significantly different voting laws. We describe the rationale, process of implementing the project, evaluation, and review the results in the context of the 2016 election. We suggest future research that can help develop best practices and methods for implementation of voter engagement in social work practice and education in the future.

Myth Or Reality? Exploring Intergenerational Social Assistance Participation In Ontario, Canada, Tracy A. Smith-Carrier, Amber Gazso, Stephanie Baker Collins, Carrie Smith

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Is there an intergenerational causal link in social assistance (SA) participation? There is a dearth of research addressing this question, yet the discourse of ‘welfare dependency’ is hegemonic. The limited research that does attempt to tease out a causal link in intergenerational SA participation remains equivocal. Qualitative research is largely absent in welfare scholarship; research that might provide a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics underlying SA receipt. We employ an inductive qualitative analysis, using procedures from grounded theory, to understand SA participants’ experiences and perspectives on intergenerational SA usage. We find that the two causal mechanisms underlying intergenerational SA …

Review Of The High Cost Of Good Intentions: A History Of U.S. Federal Entitlement Programs. John F. Cogan, James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

John F. Cogan, The High Cost of Good Intentions: A History of U.S. Federal Entitlement Programs. Stanford University Press (2018), 500 pages, $45.00 (hardcover).

Review Of The Group: Seven Widowed Fathers Reimagine Life. Donald L. Rosentein And Justin M. Yopp, Anao Zhang

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Donald L. Rosenstein and Justin M. Yopp, The Group: Seven Widowed Fathers Reimagine Life. Oxford University Press (2017), 190 pages, $17.95 (hardcover).

Review Of Winners Take All: The Elite Charade Of Changing The World. Anand Giridharadas, Daniel Liechty

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Anand Giridharadas, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World. Knopf (2018), 288 pages, $26.95 (hardcover).

Crime And Mental Health Problems In Norway - A Zero-Sum Game?, Dag Leonardsen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Through a historical overview, the author analyses the Norwegian welfare society and the limits of a social-engineering approach to social problems. While economic growth and welfare benefits expanded for many years, so did registered crime and mental problems. This paradox gives a justification for challenging established ways of thinking about social prevention policies. Since the turn of the century, crime figures have decreased while the state of mental health has worsened. The author argues that if the price of the suppression of crime is the depression of mind, then the gains are indeed pyrrhic.

Understanding Appalachian Microaggression From The Perspective Of Community College Students In Southern West Virginia, Karen T. Cummings-Lilly, Shandra S. Forrest-Bank

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The term "Appalachian" is wrongly understood to represent a single culture of rural White poverty (Keefe, 2005). This conception contains stereotypical images that obscure hardships many rural White Central Appalachians face. Similar to other oppressed minorities in the U.S., what it means to be Appalachian is a social construction based on what differs them from the White hegemony. Recent scholarship on discrimination recognizes the importance of microaggression, small insults and slights experienced frequently by people from minority groups (Sue, et. al., 2007). Microaggression may be an especially insidious mechanism in the oppression of Appalachian people, since the derogatory stereotypes …

Durkheim’S Greatest Blunder, Stephen M. Marson, J. Porter Lillis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In describing fatalism in Suicide, Durkheim executes two blunders. The first can be categorized in errors of commission while the second should be included in errors of omission. In the error of commission area, he hypothesizes two platforms for existence of fatalistic suicide. Without employing theory-embedded data, he contends that infertility is a catalyst for fatalistic suicidal. Later, he asserts that slavery is fertile soil for fatalistic suicide. Although there is suicidal data in these two arenas, a closer inspection demonstrates that these are not characteristics of fatalistic suicide. For errors of omission, he failed to systematically observe …

Review Of Empowerment Of Women For Promoting Global Health And Quality Of Life. Snehendu B. Kar, Abbie Nelson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Snehendu B. Kar, Empowerment of Women for Promoting Global Health and Quality of Life. Oxford University Press (2018), 595 pages, $69.95 (hardcover).

Review Of Serving The Stigmatized: Working Within The Incarcerated Environment. Wesley T. Church Ii And David W. Springer, Carolyn Sutherby

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Wesley T. Church II and David W. Springer (Eds.), Serving the Stigmatized: Working Within the Incarcerated Environment. Oxford University Press (2018), 400 pages, $74.00 (hardcover).

Review Of Emergent Identities: New Sexualities, Genders And Relationships In A Digital Era. Rob Cover, Melinda Mccormick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Rob Cover, Emergent Identities: New Sexualities, Genders and Relationships in a Digital Era. Routledge (2019), 164 pages, $42.95 (paperback).

Social Construction, Knowledge Utilization, And The Politics Of Poverty: A Case Study Of Washington State’S General Assistance Reform, Yu-Ling Chang

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper addresses a gap in welfare reform literature by investigating the social constructions of poor people in state policymaking within the context of diminishing General Assistance (GA) after the Great Recession. Using Social Construction and Policy Design Theoryand thematic content analysis of Washington State’s legislative archives, I found that the negative constructions of GA recipients as deviants with undesired psychological and behavioral problems were associated with the reform direction toward a regulated, punitive model. These constructions, intersecting with the ideologies of personal responsibility and work ethic, contribute to the dismantling of the social safety net for the Washington’s poorest …

Journal Of Sociology And Social Welfare Vol. 46 No. 2

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Gender, Social Networks, And Microenterprise: Differences In Network Effects On Business Performance, Seon Mi Kim

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article aims to find if female micro-entrepreneurs have different social networks that affect their business performance from males. This article uses the longitudinal Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamic (PSED) II data set (2005-2011) in the U.S. The key finding is that even in cases where female micro-entrepreneurs gained the same number of weak ties and resources from their networks as their male counterparts, their weak ties and gained resources did not help them to improve their business performance unlike their male counterparts. Implications for Microenterprise Development Programs and future studies are informed.

Are U.S. Congregations Patching The Social Safety Net? Trends From 1998 To 2012, Emily Warren, Melody Waring, Dan Meyer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

As social services become increasingly privatized amid a federal policy environment that provides a means-tested, temporary social safety net, there is potential for a larger contribution by congregations as social service providers. Using data from a nationally representative sample of religious congregations collected in 1998, 2006, and 2012, we examine whether congregations have increased service activity over time, and whether provision varies by the congregation’s community-level context. We find that post-Great Recession, congregations are more likely to engage in broad social services and in “core” services that address basic economic needs. Congregations in high-poverty neighborhoods were less likely to provide …

Journal Of Sociology And Social Welfare Vol. 46 No. 3

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Women's Education And Child Stunting Reduction In India, Vijayan K. Pillai, Arati Maleku

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Aim: In spite of India's healthy economic growth during the last two decades, about 40 percent of all children in India today are stunted. Though the problem has received widespread attention in the public health literature on stunting in India, very few studies have attempted to explicitly account for the progressive stages of stunting among children. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects women’s education on various levels of stunting among Indian children. The study attempted to assess the effects of women’s characteristics such as age at motherhood on four levels of stunting, no stunting, and mild, …

It’S Like I Have An Advantage In All This: Experiences Of Advocacy By Parents Of Children With Disabilities From Professional Backgrounds, Sarah Taylor, Amy Conley Wright, Holly Pothier, Chellsee Hill, Meredith Rosenberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Supports and services for children with disabilities are not distributed equitably. There are disparities in access to and quality of services for children with disabilities from low-income and ethnic minority groups. There are likely many contributors to these disparities, but one factor may be barriers to access that require parents to advocate to obtain services for their children. This qualitative study explores advocacy experiences of parents of children with disabilities (n=40) who have a high level of education and/or professional achievement. Parents described relying heavily on their professional and educational backgrounds in advocacy, and some commented upon the “advantage” they …

Review Of A Century Of Wealth In America. Edward N. Wolff, John Tropman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Edward N. Wolff, A Century of Wealth in America. Harvard University Press (2017), 865 pages, $39.95 (hardcover).

Putting Accessible Expression To Bed, Jamila A. Odeh

Michigan Law Review

In 2011, the Occupy movement began. Occupiers seized space in dozens of public parks and in the American imagination, providing a compelling illustration of an inclusive format of political expression. In the courtroom, protesters sought injunctive relief on First Amendment grounds to protect the tent encampments where Occupiers slept. In 2017, the last of the Occupy litigation ended; but the ramifications the Occupy cases hold for the First Amendment and expressive conduct remain unexamined.

This Comment takes an in-depth look at the adjudication of Occupiers’ First Amendment interest in sleeping in public parks. It analyzes the adjudication of the Occupy …

Transparenthood, Sonia K. Katyal, Ilona M. Turner

Michigan Law Review

Despite the growing recognition of transgender rights in both law and culture, there is one area of law that has lagged behind: family law’s treatment of transgender parents. We perform an investigation of the way that transgender parents are treated in case law and discover striking results regarding the outcomes for transgender parents within the family court system. Despite significant gains for transgender plaintiffs in employment and other areas of law, the evidence reveals an array of ways in which the family court system has systematically alienated the rights and interests of transgender parents. In many cases involving custody or …

Improving Employer Accountability In A World Of Private Dispute Resolution, Hope Brinn

Michigan Law Review

Private litigation is the primary enforcement mechanism for employment discrimination laws like Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and many related state statutes. But the expansion of extrajudicial dispute resolution—including both arbitration and prelitigation settlement agreements—has compromised this means of enforcement. This Note argues that state-enacted qui tam laws can revitalize the enforcement capacity of private litigation and provides a roadmap for enacting such legislation.

The Procedure Fetish, Nicholas Bagley

Michigan Law Review

The strict procedural rules that characterize modern administrative law are said to be necessary to sustain the fragile legitimacy of a powerful and constitutionally suspect administrative state. We are likewise told that they are essential to public accountability because they prevent factional interests from capturing agencies. Yet the legitimacy-and-accountability narrative at the heart of administrative law is both overdrawn and harmful. Procedural rules have a role to play in preserving legitimacy and discouraging capture, but they advance those goals more obliquely than is commonly assumed and may exacerbate the very problems they aim to fix. This Article aims to draw …

A Post-Spokeo Taxonomy Of Intangible Harms, Jackson Erpenbach

Michigan Law Review

Article III standing is a central requirement in federal litigation. The Supreme Court’s Spokeo decision marked a significant development in the doctrine, dividing the concrete injury-in-fact requirement into two subsets: tangible and intangible harms. While tangible harms are easily cognizable, plaintiffs alleging intangible harms can face a perilous path to court. This raises particular concern for the system of federal consumer protection laws where enforcement relies on consumers vindicating their own rights by filing suit when companies violate federal law. These plaintiffs must often allege intangible harms arising out of their statutorily guaranteed rights. This Note demonstrates that Spokeo’s …