Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Slavery And Freedom In Theory And Practice, David Watkins

Political Science Faculty Publications

Slavery has long stood as a mirror image to the conception of a free person in republican theory. This essay contends that slavery deserves this central status in a theory of freedom, but a more thorough examination of slavery in theory and in practice will reveal additional insights about freedom previously unacknowledged by republicans. Slavery combines imperium (state domination) and dominium (private domination) in a way that both destroys freedom today and diminishes opportunities to achieve freedom tomorrow. Dominium and imperium working together are a greater affront to freedom than either working alone. However, an examination of slavery in practice, …

Everyday Racial Interactions For Whites And College Students Of Color, Leslie H. Picca

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

While in the recent past overtly racist comments were tolerated and expected, now social pressures exist to avoid such racist statements (Feagin, 2006). However, subtle measures and tests in psychology and social psychology suggest a nonracist mask is covering an intact racist core, and that whites regularly underestimate the extent of their prejudice (Bonilla-Silva & Forman, 2000; Kawakami, Dunn, Karmali, & Dovidio, 2009). There is much social science literature on modern racism or colorblind racism: negative racial attitudes that haven't disappeared, they've just gone underground (Bonilla-Silva, 2006; Carr, 1997; Dovidio & Gaertner, 1991). Specifically, many argue that racism is hidden, …

The Problem Of State Intervention In Post-Abolition Slavery: A Critique Of Consensus, Anthony Talbott, David Watkins

Political Science Faculty Publications

Slavery is now illegal by all states and under international law. Contrary to the hopes of abolitionists, this state of affairs has transformed rather than eradicated slavery as an institution. Furthermore, responses by states to post-abolition forms of slavery have often been less than ideal. This paper begins by comparing two state responses to slavery in the early 20th century: the federal peonage trials in Montgomery, Alabama from 1903-1905, and the federal response to an alleged epidemic of “white slavery” from 1909-1910, culminating in the passage of the White Slave-Traffic Act. Taken together, these responses engender pessimism about the state …

Sovereign Silence: Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act And Sex Work In Sonagachhi, Simanti Dasgupta

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

Drawing upon ethnographic work with a grassroots sex workers’ organization in Calcutta, Durbar Samanwaya Samiti (Durbar), this article analyzes the relationship between subalternity and silence. I discuss how sex workers, especially new entrants, use silence as a subaltern strategy to resist state and non-state surveillance intended to oppose trafficking. The increased surveillance is a direct result of the global anti-trafficking narrative, led mainly by the United States, in which developing countries, like India, adopt measures to avoid being downgraded in the United States’ Trafficking in Persons Report. I contend that these national and international efforts have led to a quandary …

Review Of 'How We Die Now: Intimacy And The Work Of Dying,' By Karla Erickson, Jennifer Davis-Berman

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

How We Die Now: Intimacy and the Work of Dying takes the reader on an engaging journey through the terrain of aging in America, with an emphasis on how our ideas about aging itself have changed the way we view death in the United States and even the way we actually die. This book has an authenticity to it, as Erickson admits that her own experience with aging and death compelled her to enter this world and study from the perspective of insiders, those who care for older adults and the actual elders themselves. Based on hundreds of hours of …

Yogahome: Emotional, Physical And Social Impacts Of A Yoga Program On Community Homeless Shelter Residents, Jennifer Davis-Berman, Jean Farkas

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

This article reports on a qualitative analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with 12 women and 2 men who participated in a community-based yoga program, run by a certified yoga teacher and a social worker, at a homeless shelter in a medium-sized city in the Midwestern United States. This restorative yoga program was developed in the shelter in response to the severe stress of being homeless and the chaotic nature of shelter life. Based on an analysis of transcribed interviews, the following themes were generated and discussed: Yoga as Relaxation, Stress Relief, Pain Relief, and Future Practice. The challenges and …

Social Work, Yoga, And Gratitude: Partnership In A Homeless Shelter, Jennifer Davis-Berman, Jean Farkas

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

This narrative explores the personal lessons learned about life and practice from YogaHome, a yoga program for homeless adults. The yoga program, taught in partnership by a social worker/professor of social work (Jenny) and a yoga teacher (Jean) with 17 years of experience, exemplifies the merging of social work and yogic practices , but also illustrates the evolution of these two professionals in their chosen fields as many of their traditional views, values, intentions, and expectations unraveled and led to a re-revaluation of their professional practices, transforming their personal perspectives on life. This reflection is based on the YogaHome program, …

Exploiting Borders: The Political Economy Of Local Backlash Against Undocumented Immigrants, Jamie Longazel, Benjamin Fleury-Steiner

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

Four years prior to Arizona's passage of one of the most far-reaching pieces of anti-Latino immigrant legislation signed into law in decades,3 demands to "seal off the border"4 were being made thousands of miles from the U.S.-Mexico divide. In 2006, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, passed equally harsh legislation aimed at keeping undocumented immigrants out of their community. During this time, commentators described the local backlash in Hazleton and other small cities across the United States as akin to "the opening of a deep and profound fissure in the American landscape" 5 wherein "all immigration politics is local." 6 Yet, as the so-called …

The Great Condom Adventure: Analyzing College Students’ Narratives Of Buying Condoms, Leslie H. Picca, Kristin E. Joos

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

This project analyzes college students’ narratives buying condoms. Research suggests young persons do not consistently use condoms, and this study will provide an in-depth analysis to students affect toward condoms. We analyzed narratives written by 115 undergraduate students of their condom buying experiences. The vast majority of the students’ narratives about their condom buying experience fit a common framework, with elements including: preplanning, walking in the store, looking inconspicuous while wandering, finding the “hidden” condom location, making their selection, carrying and hiding the condoms, selecting a cashier and rushing through checkout, anticipating ridicule, and walking out of the store. Research …

Urban Sprawl, Patrick G. Donnelly

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

In the early 21st century, urban sprawl continues to be a source of considerable controversy and political debate, yet many Americans quietly accept sprawl. They express their acceptance by moving farther away from central cities into housing and business developments on land that was formerly rural and undeveloped. While a significant number of suburban communities have existed in the United States since the late 19th century, the greatest growth in suburbs occurred after World War II.

At the dawn of the 20th century, the suburban population represented less than 12 percent of the total U.S. population. By 1950, that figure …

Two-Faced Racism: Whites In The Backstage And Frontstage, Leslie H. Picca, Joe R. Feagin

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

Racial events that reveal the larger forces of racism in society are common and obvious in the sociospatial realm we term the backstage, especially in situations where whites interact with white friends and relatives. Backstage settings, where interactions typically take place among whites only, involve an array of complex interactions and performances. There we observe all dimensions of racial events-- indications of who is allowed and not allowed in the backstage, what racialized performances are tolerated or expected there, the sociospatial character of contexts, the impact of conventional racial framing, and the pervasive influence of the larger society. Here we …

Spots On A Gnat’S Ass, Good Soldiers, And Sociology Departments: Stan Saxton’S Pragmatist Approach To Sociology, Dan E. Miller, Fred P. Pestello, Patrick G. Donnelly

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

Most academics build their careers and establish reputations in the traditional manner, through research and publications. Certainly, this is not the only way to secure a place in the lore of academia. Some are great teachers who gather a large following of students. Still others get involved in professional organizations. While Stan Saxton had a respectable record of publications, was a masterful teacher, and a marvelous critic, his notable contributions to sociology came through his organizational work as a chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Dayton. After his tenure as chair, Stan continued to …

Review: 'High Risk And High Stakes: Health Professionals, Politics And Policy', Patrick G. Donnelly

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

Many studies of the law and policy creation process examine the efforts of particular interest groups and coalitions to influence the views and votes of legislators. Wysong focuses on the role of professional associations, specifically associations of health care professionals, in the legislative debate over the High Risk Occupational Disease Notification and Prevention Act, an example of what is most commonly known as "right-to-know" legislation.

The ethical codes and service-oriented goals of professions suggest that associations of professionals might act differently than interest groups. Wysong shows that the core groups in debates over health and safety legislation recognize that their …

Predictors Of Success In A Co-Correctional Halfway House: A Discriminant Analysis, Patrick G. Donnelly, Brian E. Forschner

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

Considerable research and debate have focused on the effectiveness of community correctional programs. Much of the research does not address the issue of the effectiveness of programs for persons with different types of problems or criminal histories. This article utilizes discriminant analysis to determine the characteristics of persons most likely to succeed in one halfway house. The results indicate that strong socializing and integrating ties in the community and few previous contacts with the criminal justice system are major predictors of success in a halfway house program. The seven discriminators for females are used to accurately predict 87 percent of …

Neighborhood Criminals And Outsiders In Two Communities: Indications That Criminal Localism Varies, Daniel Baker, Patrick G. Donnelly

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

Most research on the mobility of criminal offenders examines distance travelled. This paper examines instead whether neighborhood boundaries are crossed. Comparisons of two neighborhoods in Dayton, Ohio, indicate community variations in criminal mobility. Juveniles from poorer, more transient neighborhoods are surprisingly less likely to stay in the neighborhood to commit their offenses than were adults.

Client Success Or Failure In A Halfway House, Patrick G. Donnelly, Brian E. Forschner

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

Halfway houses today are diverse entities. Seiter, et al. (1977) found that almost 60 percent of the houses in the United States are private nonprofit organizations. One-third were state operations with the remainder being federal, local or private profit organizations. The programs in the houses varied from those providing supervision and custody to those providing a full range of intensive in-house treatments for particular client needs. Some halfway houses handle only particular types of offenders (e.g., drug addicts) while others handle a wide range of offenders.

Latessa and Allen (1982) suggest that the sociodemographic and criminal history backgrounds of clients …

Using Wiseman Documentaries For Social Problems Courses, Patrick G. Donnelly

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

This report describes the use of seven films produced by Frederick Wiseman in a lower course in Modern Social Problems. The goals of the project were: to increase the student awareness and understanding of the day-to-day operations of several basic institutions in American society; to offer a creative and interesting undergraduate course; and to enliven cIass discussion. Since this was a course in social problems, faculty and students focused on the problematic features of the institutions portrayed in the films and on the social problems these institutions are designed to handle.

The Origins Of The Occupational Safety And Health Act Of 1970, Patrick G. Donnelly

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

This paper analyzes the emergence of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and finds previous explanations of its origin inadequate. I trace the roots of this law to the protests of rank-and-file workers across the United States at a time when the support of these workers was particularly important to the two main political parties. The protest was directed not only at those employers who operated unsafe and unhealthy workplaces, but also at union officials who paid little or no attention to safety and health issues in negotiating new contracts.