Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Toward A Rural Critical Criminology, Joseph F. Donnermeyer, Walter Dekeseredy

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

A review of the extant literature reveals a recent growth in critical criminological analyses of rural crime and societal reactions to it. Nevertheless, rural critical criminology is still in a state of infancy and requires much more development. Thus, heavily influenced by Taylor, Walton, and Young’s(1973) path-breaking book The New Criminology and by research on woman abuse in rural communities, the main objective of this article, then, is twofold: (1) to describe the key reasons for a more fully developed rural critical criminology and (2) to outline some of its key elements. Also included in this article is a brief …

Illegal Dumping: Large And Small Scale Littering In Rural Kentucky, Kenneth D. Tunnell

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Illegal dumping, a social problem greatly affecting some rural states, occurs at both the large and small scale as open dump sites and roadside trash. Focusing on Kentucky, a rural state without mandatory trash pickup and a per capita income below and a poverty rate above the national average, this photo essay describes the dumping and littering problem. As is shown, legislative and executive initiatives have made some inroads in large-scale clean up. Some local governments, however, appear apathetic about addressing illegal dumping in their own communities. Kentucky’s litter problem is showing few signs of improvement and roadside littering seemingly …

Making Methamphetamine, Ralph Weisheit

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

In many parts of the U.S. methamphetamine production remains a serious problem despite efforts to restrict access to precursor chemicals. Methamphetamine laboratories are a particular issue in rural areas, where many essential chemicals are available and where a lower population density means that noxious fumes are less likely to be noticed. This paper shows how the problem emerged and changed over time and includes: Early production in the U.S., the spread of meth production, the process of making meth, precursor control efforts, superlabs versus small local operations, health risks, contaminated lab sites, and children found in methamphetamine lab sites.

Violent And Criminal Behaviors In Rural And Non-Rural African American Youth: A Risk-Protective Factor Approach, Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo, Alexander T. Vazsonyi, Dusty D. Jenkins

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Once believed to be a poor inner city neighborhood characteristic, youth violence and crime are now recognized as problems in rural areas as well (Osgood and Chambers 2000). Studies on their etiology remain scarce, particularly with a focus on minority youth. Given the importance of individual characteristics and a positive future orientation (educational aspirations) during adolescence, the current study tested a riskprotective factor approach with measures of risk proneness, self-esteem, educational commitment, and educational expectations to predict both direct and “indirect” measures of violence and criminal behaviors (assault, encounters with law enforcement, and court appearances) in samples of rural (n=687) …

Special Issue Editors' Notes, Daniel W. Phillips Iii, Steven F. Hundersmarck

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Special Issue Editors' Notes

The Game Of Wardens And Poachers, Craig J. Forsyth

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This paper is a descriptive analysis of the main aspect of the job of game wardens, the apprehension of poachers. Based on data from interviews with 62 game wardens the author describes the actions of game wardens in attempting to enforce wildlife conservation laws. Extensive quotations from interviews with game wardens are presented. The analysis is focused around their responses to guiding questions regarding the probability of apprehension of poachers. These include: (1) poaching alone, (2) very experienced at poaching, (3) nevertalks about their poaching activities, (4) the use of informants, (5) remaining mobile, (6) being familiar with the geographic …

Commercial And Farm Vehicle Theft In Urban And Rural Australia, Hedyeh Hedayati

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

The aim of this research was to identify the extent of commercial and farm vehicle theft in Australia and to explore the theft profile of these vehicles in urban and rural areas. The research was conducted using data from the National ComprehensiveAuto-theft Research System (CARS) database. The database holds police data on all motor vehicle thefts and vehicle registration data from all Australian states and territories. While passenger vehicle and light commercial vehicle (PLC) theft in Australia has decreased significantly since 2001, theft of commercial and farm vehicles has remained constant. Nonetheless, theft of commercial and farm vehicles in rural …

Theoretical Predictors Of Delinquency In And Out Of School Among A Sample Of Rural Public School Youth, Preston Elrod, Irina R. Soderstrom, David C. May

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This paper compares predictors of in-school and out-of-school delinquency and is based on data collected from 2,011 subjects at two elementary, one middle, and one high school in a rural school district. Predictors were derived from a variety of theoretical perspectives including social organization and social control; interactionist theory; differential association and social learning; strain, culture conflict, and critical theory. In addition, several demographic variables were included in the analysis. Regression results revealed that negative peer influence, victimization experience, attachment to school, gender, general strain, alienation, and the student’s self-reported response to a weapon at school were significant predictors of …

Constructing Children And Children Constructing: A Review Of Researching Children’S Experiences, Ronald J. Chenail

The Qualitative Report

Melissa Freeman and Sandra Mathison’s (2009) new book, Researching Children’s Experiences, provides readers with a theoretically-rich presentation regarding researching children. Steeped in social constructivist informed methodology the authors explore a wide variety of methods and perspectives for not only studying children, but also enlisting children as co-researchers too. The depth and passion with which the authors embrace the social constructivist metaphor helps to make this book both novel and highly practical.

Indigenous And Emergent Methodologies: A Review Of Qualitative Urban Analysis: An International Perspective, Ronald J. Chenail

The Qualitative Report

Paul Maginn, Susan Thompson, and Matthew Tonts’ (2008) new edited work entitled Qualitative Urban Analysis: An International Perspective introduces its readers to emergent qualitative research and evaluation methodologies indigenous to urban policy studies. These local lessons can prove quite valuable for all qualitative researchers regardless their fields or discipline.

A Review Of Lorraine Daston And Peter Galison’S Objectivity, Tom Strong

The Qualitative Report

Lorraine Daston’s and Peter Galison’s Objectivity (2007) traces historical and cultural developments as the word "objective" acquired different meanings and associated scientific practices. Similarly, Daston and Galison consider the changing relationship of the word "objective" as it relates to the subjectivity of the researcher. Objectivity will interest any reader interested in how the conceptions and practices of science change historically and culturally.

Cultural Commentary: Race And The Race, William C. Levin

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Establishing A Basis For Multi-System Collaboration: Systemic Team Development, Rosalyn M. Bertram

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Reports of child sexual abuse require police, child protective services, forensic and medical evaluators, prosecutors, family court and treatment providers to negotiate complementary, overlapping roles with children and families. Administrators from these agencies in Kansas City, Missouri clarified this multi-system response by applying a theory-based model for team development previously studied in direct practice with families. This article presents that model and an exploratory case study of this effort. Findings suggest the model's efficacy for resolving inter-agency conflict and may contribute to constructing logic models in multi-system collaboration

African American Grandmothers Providing Extensive Care To Their Grandchildren: Socio-Demographic And Health Determinants Of Life Satisfaction, Dorothy Smith-Ruiz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The article explores the relationships between grandmothers' socioeconomic and health characteristics in relation to life satisfaction. Reasons for caregiving, assumption of the caregiver role, and grandmothers'attitudes and experiences in custodial caregiving were discussed qualitatively from data gathered in detailed interviews of a convenience sample of 99 custodial African American grandmothers caringf or one or more grandchildreny ounger than 18 in North Carolina. Most grandmothers in this sample reported mixed feelings toward custodial caregiving, both as a burden as well as a blessing. They also reported a weak support system and relied on their faith more than family and friends to …

Racial/Ethnic Differences In Religious Congregation-Based Social Service Delivery Efforts, R. Khari Brown

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The current study utilizes Swidler's (1986) cultural toolkit theory to explain racial/ethnic differences in American religious congregations' provision of social service programs. This study suggests that black Americans' reliance upon structural tools to assess poverty contributes to their congregations being more heavily involved than majority white congregations in the provision of social services that attempt to make a longer-term impact on community life (i.e. academic tutoring and job training). In contrast, white Americans' greater reliance upon individualistic tools to understand poverty arguably contributes to their congregations being more heavily involved in the provision of programs that have a shorter- term …

A Boiling Pot Of Animosity Or An Alliance Of Kindred Spirits? Exploring Connections Between Native Americans And African Americans, Hilary N. Weaver

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The relationship between indigenous people and people of African heritage in the United States is a long and complex one. An examination of historical and contemporary connections between indigenous persons and African Americans not only clarifies complex and frequently overlooked parts of American history but sets the stage for examining future possibilities. It is useful for helping professionals to understand these relationships since this history may serve as the basis for positive connections or animosities between clients and professionals. This article begins with a discussion of selected historical intersections between these populations that highlight the complex and varied nature of …

Idéal Romantique Et Projet Social Dans C’Est Vole Que Je Vole De Nicole Cage-Florentiny, Hanétha Vété-Congolo

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

In this novel, first published in 1998 and then in 2006, martinican female writer Nicole Cage-Florentiny portrays a young woman, Malaïka, who seeks refuge in madness to escape the turmoil of her life. She is under the yoke of harsh living conditions including societal conformism which, according to Fanon, provokes the « existential deviation » (1953 : 31) of the individual. Despite all, Malaïka advocates a society that would integrate all its members and promote equality. C’est vole que je vole aims at brushing Martinique’s ability to display a sound socialization. The author aims at offering a criticism of her …

Les Stéréotypes, Vecteurs De La Constriction Identitaire Chez Biyaoula, Françoise Cévaër

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

From the 1980s, writers in the francophone diaspora have examined the post-colonial African identity and its portrayal, according a special place to stereotyping. Thus, they denounce not only its tyrannical hold, but also the devastating effect of stereotyping on individuals and societies. Paradoxically, they show how stereotyping can offer to the post-colonial subject a means of manipulating identity features, therefore, of avoiding predetermination. In its study of, mainly, Biyaoula’s L’impasse, this article also proposes to show how the stereotypes, going beyond the limits of theory, is reborn within he body, becoming a veritable enclosure for forgery of identity.

Review Of Saving Children From A Life Of Crime: Early Risk Factors And Effective Interventions. David P. Farrington And Brandon C. Welsh. Reviewed By Stephanie Cosner Berzin., Stephanie Cosner Berzin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

David P. Farrington and Brandon C. Welsh, Saving Children from a Life of Crime: Early Risk Factors and Effective Interventions. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. $29.95 hardcover, $21.95 papercover.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 35, No. 4 (December 2008)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ESTABLISHING A BASIS FOR MULTI-SYSTEM COLLABORATION: SYSTEMIC TEAM DEVELOPMENT - Rosalyn M. Bertram
• AFRICAN AMERICAN GRANDMOTHERS PROVIDING EXTENSIVE CARE TO THEIR GRANDCHILDREN: SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH DETERMINANTS OF LIFE SATISFACTION - Dorothy Smith-Ruiz
• POLICY MANDATED COLLABORATION - Jan Ivery
• RETHINKING SOCIAL WORK'S ROLE IN PUBLIC ASSISTANCE - Julie Cooper Altman and Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg
• RACIAL/ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN RELIGIOUS CONGREGATION-BASED SOCIAL SERVICE DELIVERY EFFORTS - R. Khari Brown
• A BOILING POT OF ANIMOSITY OR AN ALLIANCE OF KINDRED SPIRITS? EXPLORING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN NATIVE AMERICANS AND AFRICAN AMERICANS - Hilary N. Weaver
• "I'M GLAD YOU ASKED": HOMELESS CLIENTS WITH SEVERE …

No Margin For Error: A Study Of Two Women Balancing Motherhood And Ph.D. Studies, Robin S. Grenier, Morag C. Burke

The Qualitative Report

This cogenerative ethnography explored the lived experiences of two graduate students balancing Ph.D. studies and motherhood through McClusky’s (1963) Theory of Margi n. Specifically, we asked ourselves: What impact does pregnancy have on personal and academic selves and how are multiple roles and responsibilities managed? Through an analysis of dialogues, artifacts, conceptual maps, and narratives, examples of internal and external lo ad revealed the dynamic nature of the female experiences in graduate school. Excerpts from the data showed how roles, relationships, and experiences are characterized and how similar or different those example s were, given individual context. Implications of this …

Sensory Isolation In Flotation Tanks: Altered States Of Consciousness And Effects On Well-Being, Anette Kjellgren, Fransica Lyden, Torsten Norlander

The Qualitative Report

A qualitative analysis (The Empirical Phenomenological Psychological method) of interviews involving eight patients (depression, burn-out syndrome, and chronic pain) was carried out in order to obtain knowledge regarding the effects of flotation tank therapy. This knowledge might be helpful for both professionals and potential floaters. The analysis resulted in 21 categories, which were summarized as four themes: (a) experiences during flotation, (b) perceived effects afterwards, (c) technical details, and finally (d) the participants ́ background, motivation, and expectations. Floating was perceived as pleasant. An altered state of consciousness was induced, varying from a milder state including profound relaxation and altered …

The Constant Cycle: Day To Day Critical Action Of The Quipped Project, Jennifer M. Medves, Sarita Verma, Teresa Broers

The Qualitative Report

Action research in the critical paradigm involves a process of continual refection in and on action including the research process itself. In the second in a series of several papers we report on the day-to-day management of the QUIPPED project. The aim was to facilitate patient centered care through inter-professional collaboration with health care learners at a Canadian university. Reflections of the continuum from early conceptualization of the project in 2004 through to lessons learned in 2008 are described. Key components include the importance of team development, overall coordination, and attention to logistical and structural issues are explored. The importance …

Qualitative Case Study Methodology: Study Design And Implementation For Novice Researchers, Pamela Baxter, Susan Jack

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative case study methodology provides tools for researchers to study complex phenomena within their contexts. When the approach is applied correctly, it becomes a valuable method for health science research to develop theory, evaluate programs, and develop interventions. The purpose of this paper is to guide the novice researcher in identifying the key elements for designing and implementing qualitative case study research projects. An overview of the types of case study designs is provided along with general recommendations for writing the research questions, developing propositions, determining the “case” under study, binding the case and a discussion of data sources and …

Making A Connection Between Student Achievement, Teacher Accountability, And Quality Classroom Instruction, Kelli Ballard, Alan Bates

The Qualitative Report

The importance of standardized test results is becoming more prevalent in the structure of classroom instruction and the operation of schools throughout the nation due to pressure on educators and students from various levels of authority. This study looks at the relationship between classroom instruction and standardized test content and the effects this has on students, parents, and teachers. Seventeen fourth grade students, fourteen parents of fourth graders, and fifteen elementary teachers completed surveys. The study describes several positive and negative aspects to standardized tests, along with ideas of who is responsible for test performance. Standardized tests provide comparisons and …

Dimensions Of Genocide: The Circumplex Model Meets Violentization Theory, Mark A. Winton

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this study is to examine the use of Olson’s (1995, 2000) family therapy based circumplex model and Athens’ (1992, 1997, 2003) violentization theory in explaining genocide. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 is used as a case study. Published texts, including interviews with perpetrators, research reports, human rights reports, and court transcripts were analyzed. The use of both theories was consistent with the data and resulted in a greater understanding of the genocide. Rwanda moved to a rigidly enmeshed society during the genocide with the perpetrators going through the violentization process. Suggestions for further research are provided.

Giving The Spoon Back: Higher Teacher Expectations Of Achievement For Students Who Are Deaf, David H. Smith

The Qualitative Report

This single case study examined a Deaf teacher’s behaviors and beliefs that reflect her expectations of her deaf students. Primary modes of communication used were American Sign Language and written English. Data were collected via videotaped observations and interviews. Analysis was done by coding utterances of the participants using a deductive framework and using an inductive approach to find patterns among the coded utterances. Teacher behavior and student reactions revealed high expectations for student achievement. The overarching factor that reflected teacher expectations was the positive classroom climate established by the teacher. Recommendations for further research to examine teacher expectations with …

Keeping And Using Reflective Journals In The Qualitative Research Process, Michelle Ortlipp

The Qualitative Report

The problem of bias in qualitative research particularly is still debated in methodology texts and there is a lack of agreement on how much researcher influence is acceptable, whether or not it needs to be “controlled,” and how it might be accounted for. Denzin (1994) refers to this as “the interpretive crisis” (p. 501). I chose to make my experiences, opinions, thoughts, and feelings visible and an acknowledged part of the research process through keeping reflective journals and using them in writing up the research. The aim of this paper is to show how reflective journals were used in engaging …

A Qualitative Study Of The Achievement Goals Of Recreational Exercise Participants, Helen Rogers, Tony Morris, Melissa Moore

The Qualitative Report

Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for many of today’s leading causes of ill health. In-order to increase physical activity (PA) participation and information about why people engage in PA is needed. We interviewed 11 recreational exercise participants to examine their goals for participating in recreation al exercise. Our results revealed 13 first-order themes, which we reduced to seven second-order themes (personal comparison, extrinsic rewards, social, physical condition, psychological condition, mastery, and enjoyment), and two general dimensions (intrinsic and extrinsic goals). We argue that self- determination theory (SDT) of motivation provides a strong foundation for understanding the goals and …

No-Drama Obama: Personal Memoirs, Bestsellers, And Qualitative Research: A Review, Maureen Duffy

The Qualitative Report

Personal memoirs and life histories are forms of qualitative research that from time to time appear on bestsellers lists. These forms of research detail the authors’ experiences of living and reflecting upon their everyday lives—lives that may be unique in some sense or lives made unique by the richness of the interplay of living, reflecting, and writing. In this review, I make the case for viewing moments in all lives as worthy of the development of personal memoir or life history and for using memoir as a way of generating takeaways or lessons learned. I review Elyn Saks’ (2007) memoir …