Sociology Commons^™

Introduction: Continuing The Exploration Of The Darfur And Sudan Crisis, Mawa Mohamed, Ron Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

The Late Father Rev. John Anthony Kaiser: “A Case For Justice”, Mbuthi Gathenji

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

On The 25th Anniversary Of The Political Assassination Of A Human Rights Hero From Minnesota, Fr. John Kaiser, Ron Pagnucco, Peter Kimeu Ngui, Elizabeth M. Brown, Mary Wangari Sebastian

The Journal of Social Encounters

We here at St. John's University (SJU) in Minnesota, a co-publisher of the JSE, share a special connection with Fr. John Kaiser, the subject of these articles in his honor. Fr. Kaiser was born in a parish in the Diocese of St. Cloud in 1934, in which the university is located, and graduated from SJU's preparatory high school and matriculated at SJU for two years before leaving to join the U.S. Army in 1954. He later entered the seminary and in 1964 was ordained a priest in the Mill Hill religious order, which sent him to Kenya. In August 2000, …

Enhancing Peacebuilding For Integral Human Development: Caritas Good Practices And Lessons Learnt, - Caritas Internationalis

The Journal of Social Encounters

Today’s geopolitical context, with big powers choosing bilateralism over multilateralism, is fostering a proliferation of conflicts and violence throughout the globe. The Caritas Confederation has been working actively for peacebuilding for decades, especially since the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Indeed, there is a growing consensus within the Confederation supporting the urgent need to enhance peacebuilding efforts globally. This document explores best practices and lessons learnt, with a strategic focus on the importance of involving women in peacebuilding. Each best practice is illustrated by one or two projects implemented by Caritas Member Organisations.

Dalit And Tribal Women As Ecological Victims, Dhinakaran Savariyar

The Journal of Social Encounters

The essay examines the ecological marginalization of Dalit and tribal women in India, especially by analysing the three points of intersection, namely, caste, patriarchy, and gender. Though it starts with a global outlook on the African water crisis, it substantiates the argument with Indian realities of water inequality and resource depletion. While showing caste as the root cause of water discrimination in the country, it exposes the abetting roles of patriarchy and gender in keeping the Dalit and tribal women at the lowest position in the Indian social fabric. Environmental casteism and exclusion from decision-making processes add to the invisibility …

The Origins Of The Pax Christi International Movement: The Pax Christi In Regno Christi Crusade, François Mabille

The Journal of Social Encounters

The Pax Christi movement was created in 1944 by a French laywoman. Its original name was "crusade of prayers for the conversion of Germany", the term crusade referring to a very specific political and religious imagination, marked in particular by the intransigent Catholicism of the beginning of the 20th century and by a specious analysis of the origins of the Nazism. This article, resulting from a thesis devoted to the history of the movement from 1944 to 1983, reviews the genesis of Pax Christi, and its evolution during the first 5 years of its existence, from a "crusade of prayers" …

Hezbollah's Military Setback: From Strategic Strength To Political Dilemma—A Comprehensive Analysis, Habib Albadawi

The Journal of Social Encounters

This study examines the unprecedented military transformation of Hezbollah from 2024 to 2025, analyzing how technological superiority and strategic constraints have fundamentally altered the effectiveness of irregular warfare organizations. Through extensive analysis of organizational adaptation, technological disruption, and external dependencies, this research investigates the paradox of how advanced military capabilities, when constrained by external dependencies, can become operational liabilities rather than strategic assets. The study employs multiple theoretical frameworks to understand this transformation and its implications for future irregular warfare.

Dalit Poetry On The Eve Of Indian Independence: Gurram Jashuva And The Quest For Critical Consciousness And Collective Remembering, Chris Conway

The Journal of Social Encounters

The Dalit Literary movement irrupted on the scene in the early 1970s in the state of Maharashtra, India. Unblinking in its criticism of casteism and unnerving in its depiction of Dalit oppression, the movement sought to concretize the political aims of B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956) through cultivating a critical Dalit consciousness liberated from caste identity and history. The movement enjoyed success in uniting Dalit groups across the country under this new name. However, fifty years later a new generation of Dalit and Dalit-supporting thinkers have begun to critically examine the implications of Dalit identity focusing particularly on its rootedness in suffering …

Democracy, Rights, Historical Memory, And Interfaith Relations In The Works Of Fatima Mernissi And Asma Uddin, Jon Armajani

The Journal of Social Encounters

The works of Moroccan-born Muslim scholar Fatima Mernissi (1940-2015) and United States-born Muslim scholar Asma T. Uddin (b. 1980) are distinctive contributions in modern conversations about the intersections of Islam, law, human and civil rights as well as historical memory and interfaith relations (AncestryLibrary, n.d.; Fox, 2015; Florida Bar, n.d.; Justia Lawyers, n.d.; Rodoski, 2011; Sadiqi, 2018).[i] Mernissi, who was a professor of sociology at Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco, and Uddin, who is an attorney and scholar based in the United States, are influential and delve into the intricate relationships between Islamic ideas and modern legal frameworks, …

Restorative Nostalgia And Religious Nationalism: Lessons From Srebrenica, Noreen Herzfeld

The Journal of Social Encounters

Svetlana Boym uses the term restorative nostalgia to describe a collective nostalgia, based on an idealization of the past that is used by nationalist groups to motivate their followers. When linked with religion, this type of nostalgia is particularly damaging, frequently leading to sharp ethnic or religious divisions, a demonization of the other, and even war or genocide. The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina presents an example of such nostalgia on the part of the Serbs. An idealization and its resultant rhetoric on the part of Serbian political and religious figures envisioned an imagined future rooted in nostalgia for a …

An Interfaith Paradise Lost? Religion And The Memory Of The Lebanese Civil War In Postwar Novels, Wilbert Van Saane

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay analyzes three Lebanese postwar novels: Nathalie Abi-Ezzi’s A Girl Made of Dust, Jad El Hage’s The Myrtle Tree, and Hoda Barakat’s The Tiller of Waters. I argue that these novels narrate the memory of war with reference to religious imagery and theological structures, especially the idea of a paradise lost as described in John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. The paradise these novels present consists of a harmonious relation between people of different faiths. The root of violence is situated in a distortion and misrepresentation of the narratives of others. The novels also include the theme of a …

Our Bare Life: The Care Manifesto, Homo Sacer, And Hannah Arendt On Memory, Spontaneous Community, And Postwar Authoritarianism, Sam Grayck

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Christianity In Relation To Judaism: Historical Memory And Polemics In Constructing The Story Of Christian Faith, John Merkle

The Journal of Social Encounters

Throughout most of Christian history, Christians have told a replacement story: Christianity has replaced Judaism and is the one valid pathway to God. As both Judaism and Christianity are based on historical events, the story of Christian faith is inevitably told with reference to events in Jewish history, especially events recounted in the Hebrew Bible (or the Christian Old Testament) that contextualize the emergence of Christianity and situate events concerning Jesus of Nazareth within a Jewish context. But over the last seventy years or so, a growing number of Christian scholars and church leaders have acknowledged that traditional Christian ideas …

Introduction To The Special Issue On Historical Memory And Interfaith Relations, Jon Armajani

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Willingness To Pay For A Restored And Protected Watershed: Evidence From The Countryside, Sherrie Ann Cananua-Labid, Julie Ann M. Quilatan, Lovely Rose A. Bolante

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

Climate change and human activity have severely degraded watersheds, jeopardizing their sustainability. The willingness of residents to pay for watershed management is essential for developing sustainable environmental protection efforts. This study determined the respondents' willingness to pay (WTP) for the restoration and protection (RP) of the Ulot Watershed of Samar Island Natural Park using a double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation approach. The researchers used the Kish grid method to draw respondents from 150 households. The study revealed that families with an average annual income of approximately $2746.70 were ready to contribute $0.78 per month, or $9.36 annually, to the watershed …

Mymoney: A Program That Leverages Digital And Artificial Intelligence Tools For Improving The Financial Wellbeing Of Hispanic Families, Luisa Blanco, Kamila Campos, Jessica Gonzalez, Jorge Macias

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Abstract: Our Community-Based Digital Intervention (CBDI) MyMoney was designed to meet the informational needs and promote behavioral change among Hispanic adults. We leverage Digital and Artificial Intelligence (DAI) tools to provide participants access to content that is linguistically and culturally tailored and structured to be delivered in short, accessible modules. MyMoney program provided an introductory experience to financial education with a mobilephone based approach, offering a four-week experience for improving money management skills. We conducted an extensive quantitative and qualitative data analysis of participants’ and stakeholders’ program experience and perspectives, which provides important insights for the design, evaluation, and implementation …

A Note For Helen., Joper Journal Of Prison Education Research

Journal of Prison Education Research

The editorial team of the Journal of Prison Education Research is mourning the loss of our beloved editor, Dr. Helen Farley, who passed away in July. We are publishing a note to remember her legacy and thank her for her commitment to the journal. She will be forever loved.

Budget Tradeoffs Shape Food Insecurity Among U.S. Older Adults, Madonna Harrington Meyer, Colleen M. Heflin

Population Health Research Brief Series

For low-income older adults, it may be difficult to meet basic needs on a fixed monthly income. Stretching resources can be difficult, especially if unexpected expenses arise, leading many older adults to face difficult budget tradeoffs. Based on the book, Food for Thought: Understanding Older Adults Food Insecurity, this brief summarizes how budget tradeoffs between food and other essential expenses—housing, utilities, medical care, transportation, and personal and cleaning supplies—shape food insecurity among older adults.

From The Editor In Chief, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Welcome to the Autumn 2025 issue of Parameters. We open with two In Focus commentaries. The first, “A Case for Military Proportionality: Disabling Nuclear Plants” by Henry Sokolski, offers practical ways in which military planners can disable civilian targets, such as nuclear infrastructure, without undermining operational goals, alliance cohesion, or long-term political objectives. Our second commentary, “The Consequences of Declining Patriotism in the United States” by Neil N. Snyder, presents findings from a national survey showing a decline in patriotism, especially among Generation Z nonveterans. His article highlights a growing civil-military values gap with implications for recruitment and national …

The Consequences Of Declining Patriotism In The United States, Neil N. Snyder

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Patriotism, an important determinant of American civil-military relations, is in decline among many Americans. This article analyzes the results of an extensive national survey fielded to assess Americans’ attitudes and finds that more veterans value patriotism than Generation Z nonveterans, that Americans’ trust in their military is correlated with their value for patriotism, and that members of Generation Z are more likely to consider serving in the US military if they value patriotism. Although patriotism is normally a source of national unity, it may now be a source of division between veterans, nonveterans, and Generation Z.

Russian Arctic Land Forces And Defense Trends Redefined By Nato And Ukraine, Troy J. Bouffard, Lester W. Grau, Charles K. Bartles, Mathieu Boulègue

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues that Russia’s Arctic land forces have been weakened by the Russia-Ukraine War and NATO’s northern expansion, creating a strategic window for Western militaries to bolster their Arctic capabilities. Unlike existing studies that focus on maritime operations and the Northern Sea Route, it integrates technical assessments of ground-based Arctic platforms with analysis of military-district reforms. Using a mixed methodology that incorporates equipment specifications, Russian government documents, media reports, and NATO strategic-response evaluations, this article constructs a comprehensive baseline understanding of Russia’s Arctic land-force potential and readiness. Policy and military practitioners will benefit from actionable insights into Arctic force-design …

Parameters Autumn 2025, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Policy Recommendations To Reduce Old Age Food Insecurity In The United States, Colleen M. Heflin, Madonna Harrington Meyer

Center for Policy Research

In 2023, 7.4 million adults ages 60 and over in the United States were food insecure. As the number of older people at risk of food insecurity in the U.S. continues to rise, effective policy responses are critical. The current policy responses to old age food insecurity are complex, costly, and not nearly effective enough.

Based on the book, Food for Thought: Understanding Older Adults Food Insecurity, this brief summarizes five policy recommendations to improve food insecurity among U.S. older adults. The authors recommend measuring food security in multidimensional ways, treating food insecurity as a health issue, adopting SNAP …

How Is Food Insecurity Measured In The United States And What Share Of Older Adults Are Food Insecure?, Colleen M. Heflin, Madonna Harrington Meyer

Population Health Research Brief Series

The U.S. Department of Agriculture measures food insecurity based on whether households had problems affording food during the last twelve months. Based on the current definition, in 2023 9.2% of households with adults ages 60 and older were food insecure. But there are many problems with the existing definition for accurately capturing food insecurity among older adults.

Based on the book, Food for Thought: Understanding Older Adults Food Insecurity, this brief summarizes those limitations, noting that existing measures do not account for barriers that are common among older adults, such as mobility, physical distance, and transportation barriers.

The Jokowi Effect On The Victory Of Prabowo: Do People Vote For Continuity?, Cakra Yudi Putra, Dyah Ayu Febriani, Andri Tantyo Cahyo Nugroho, Teguh Dartanto

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

The 2024 Indonesian presidential election marked a striking realignment as Prabowo Subianto—a former opposition leader—secured victory with the tacit endorsement of outgoing President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). This study investigates how the enduring popularity and policy achievements of Jokowi shaped voter preferences in favor of Prabowo, effectively positioning the election as a referendum on political continuity. Building on theories of economic voting and retrospective performance evaluation, the analysis explores the impact of district-level economic indicators, social media penetration, ideological orientation, social assistance distribution, and sociocultural characteristics on electoral outcomes. Employing Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression on data from 481 administrative regions, …

A Town Divided: Leadership At Hoxie, Rodney W. Harris

The Ozark Historical Review

Five elected School Board members, a School Superintendent, and local leaders in rural Hoxie, Arkansas, were people of strong beliefs who in 1955 desegregated their school district. In this article, I argue that a combination of moral leadership and pocketbook concerns drove these men to oppose outside forces intervening in Hoxie, Arkansas, and that by doing so these men created a precedence of using the federal courts to uphold integration.

Essays On Operational Issues Of Online Medical Consultation Platforms, Jinxin Zhang

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

The increased demand for Online Medical Consultation (OMC) services has accelerated the development of Online Medical Consultation Platforms (OMCPs). OMCPs are third-party digital platforms on which patients can access medical consultation services with comparatively less effort and lower cost, while physicians can expand their service coverage and benefit financially from the provision of paid OMC services in their spare time. Although OMCPs have attracted a growing interest in academia, the role of various decision-making behaviors of physicians on these platforms on their patients and themselves remains unclear. To fill this research gap, we conduct two empirical studies based on proprietary …

Age & Dementia Friendly Bellingham: Assessment Of Community Needs And Ideas For Action, Caitlin E. Coyle, Katherine Burnes, Ceara Somerville

Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging Publications

In 2022 a steering committee of three Bellingham residents involved in the COA/Senior Center served as a catalyst in helping Bellingham attain the designation of Age and Dementia Friendly. A Task Force including an impressive mix of individuals from town government, schools, local organizations and older residents was formed to help Bellingham set and implement annual goals of activities designed to make Bellingham a good place to grow older for all residents.

This report describes research undertaken by the Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging within the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston on behalf of …

The Normalization Of Sexual Exploitation, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Massachusetts' Latino Population: 2020-2040, Phillip Granberry

Gastón Institute Publications

Latinos have been a vital component of Massachusetts’ population growth since 1990. Their younger age structure has helped to offset the older age structure of the much larger non-Latino White population. As Latinos’ population crosses the 1 million threshold by 2030, their growth (even as it slows) will be faster than the commonwealth’s overall population change.