Sociology Commons^™

Digital Divide In Computer Access And Use Between Poor And Non-Poor Youth, Mary Keegan Eamon

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The main objectives of this study were to examine the "digital divide" in home computer ownership and to evaluate differences in academic and non-academic computer use between poor and non-poor youth. Data from a national sample of 1,029, 10- through 14-year-old young adolescents were analyzed. Results show that poor youth were .36 times as likely to own a home computer, but equally as likely to use their home computer for academic purposes as were non-poor youth. Poor youth did not differ from non-poor youth in how often they used any computer for academic purposes, but were less likely to use …

Private Food Assistance In The Deep South: Assessing Agency Directors' Knowledge Of Charitable Choice, Suzie T. Cashwell, John P. Bartkowski, Patricia Duffy, Vanessa Casanova, Joseph Molnar, Marina Irima-Vladu

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In recent years,food banking has emerged as an important tool in America's fight against hunger and malnutrition. At the same time, the charitable choice provision of 1996 welfare reform law has significantly expanded the opportunity for public-private partnerships in the provision of social services. Given the new opportunities ushered in by this legislation, this study examines the knowledge that food pantry directors in Alabama and Mississippi possess about charitable choice. Our study reveals that food pantry directors are generally lacking in knowledge about key charitable choice provisions, thereby limiting the potential for this initiative to be utilized fully in this …

An Evaluation Of City Hall Departmental Complaints In Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1993 And 1994, Monique R. Moore

Masters Theses

My research will evaluate the citizen complaints made to various departments in the Kalamazoo, Michigan's City Hall for the years of 1993 and 1994. The complaints were compiled on a monthly basis by the Citizen Action Center for the various departments. The number and types of complaints received and significant differences in the frequency and content of complaints or patterns of change from one year to the other were analyzed.

There was a consistent pattern in the content or types of complaints concerning the Public Works department from 1993 to 1994, but no consistent pattern for any of the other …

Aiding At-Risk Students, Jeremy Baldwin

Honors Theses

Kalamazoo's Loy Norrix High School was the location of a study in conjunction with the institution's school-wide achievement process to aid at-risk students. Characterized by poor attendance, behavioral problems and/or failing two or more subjects, at-risk students are monitored more closely through school-wide efforts. According to the Michigan Department of Education, the effort to hep struggling students implicates the use of supplemental services before or after school to help students in the core subjects: math, science, social studies, and English. Norrix has successfully begun its own efforts to improve the overall academic success of the student body by employing the …

The Effect Of Female Server's Attractiveness On Restaurant Tipping, Anne M. Wisneski

Honors Theses

This paper presents the results of a field experiment designed to test the hypothesis that restaurant patrons (particularly men) would leave larger tips for an attractive versus unattractive female server. The author manipulated server attractiveness by varying her appearance before shirts as a food server at a popular restaurant. Contrary to the hypothesis, patrons (both men and women) left comparable sized tips in the attractive and unattractive server conditions. Explanations for this null effect are discussed in the contest of research on the effect of server attractiveness on tipping and perceived tipping norms.

Mom Or Manager?: How Social Factors And Personal Choice Affect The Work/Family Balance In The United States, Japan And Germany, Christine E. Mueller

Honors Theses

This report investigates the work/family balance based on two factors: social influence and personal choice. The first factor is significant because society dictates and enforces the prescribed roles for women. The degree of career progression a woman can achieve is partly bound by restrictions of society. The other factor, personal choice, is the factor that only each woman can determine for herself. A woman can only progress as far as her personal goals determine. In addition to the relationship between society and personal choice, this report examines the barriers to pursuit of a management career inherent in these factors.

Academic Performance, Persistence, And Cultural Congruence Of African American Males Attending Predominantly White Colleges And Universities, Darrell Johnson

Dissertations

The continued lack of success for African American males attending predominantly White colleges and universities is alarming and unsettling. Other racial minority groups are making positive gains relative to their post-secondary educational experiences. However, the African American male lags behind in virtually every index of success in higher education. This trend could produce serious social, economic and cultural implications for the African American community and the entire country.

For African Americans, a strong sense of culture is important to their ability to achieve high levels of mental and psychological functioning, particularly in environments they perceive to be hostile or unwelcoming. …

The International Criminal Court: A Sociological History, Dawn Rothe

Masters Theses

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been touted as a new international response to the worst atrocities of mankind: crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. Indeed, the implementation of a permanent international court is a historical tum. However, the course to which an international criminal court transpired dates back to the late 1800's. One hundred years of political, economic, and social contradictions have aided and abated the process of what is now the International Criminal Court. However, the dialectics between actors and institutions has been neglected in historical and legal analysis. The purpose of this thesis is …

Working Together To Stop Domestic Violence: State-Community Partnerships And The Changing Meaning Of Public And Private, Kristin A. Kelly

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The increasing reliance in the United States on state-community partner- ships to address social problems represents both new opportunities and new dangers. This article presents examples of both possibilities through a consideration of contemporary collaborations between state and nonstate actors in the development of a public response to domestic violence. This discussion provides the basis for an elaboration of a conceptual approach to public/private relationships that replaces the traditional dichotomy with a triangular relationship, of state, family and community. By improving on our ability to think through the complex relationships between these three spheres, it is argued that this model …

Sharing Power With The People: Family Group Conferencing As A Democratic Experiment, Lisa Merkel-Holguin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Can family group conferencing be leveraged to promote the democratic ideals of voice, freedom, justice, fairness, equality, and respect, and provide the citizenry with the opportunity to build a more just and civil society? This article reviews family group conferencing, and various model adaptations, from a democratic context and through the lens of responsive regulation.

Restorative Justice, Responsive Regulation And Social Work, Gale Burford, Paul Adams

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Two of the dichotomies or tensions at the heart of this profession are especially important for the themes of this special issue on restorative justice and responsive regulation. These are the relation between formal and informal helping and between care and control, or empowerment and coercion. In this article, we make a case for the importance of Braithwaite's work, especially his (2002) book, Restorative Justice and Responsive Regulation, for conceptualizing the nature of social work in relation to these dualities. Since Braithwaite's writings do not have social work or social welfare scholars and professionals as their primary audience and are …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 31, No. 1 (March 2004)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Special Issue on Restorative Justice and Responsive Regulation

• RESTORATIVE JUSTICE RESPONSIVE REGULATION, AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE: INTRODUCTION - Paul Adams, guest editor
• RESTORATIVE JUSTICE, RESPONSIVE REGULATION, AND SOCIAL WORK - Gale Burford & Paul Adams
• WORKING TOGETHER TO STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: STATE-COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS AND THE CHANGING MEANING OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE - Kristin A. Kelly
• MOVING BEYOND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE PARADIGM: A RADICAL RESTORATIVE JUSTICE APPROACH TO INTIMATE ABUSE - Peggy Grauwiler & Linda G. Mills
• MANAGING SOCIAL CONFLICT-THE EVOLUTION OF A PRACTICAL THEORY - David B. Moore
• RESPONSIVE REGULATION IN CHILD WELFARE: SYSTEMIC CHALLENGES TO MAIN STREAMING …

Families And The Republic, John Braithwaite

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Restorative and responsive justice can be a strategy of social work practice that builds democracy bottom-up by seeing families as building blocks of democracy and fonts of democratic sentiment. At the same time, because families are sites of the worst kinds of tyranny and the worst kinds of neglect, a rule of law is needed that imposes public human rights obligations on families. The republican ideal is that this rule of law that constrains people in families should come from the people. Restorative and responsive justice has a strategy for the justice of the people to bubble up into the …

Review Of Family Health Social Work Practice: A Macro Level Approach. John T. Pardeck (Ed.) Reviewed By Marsha Blachman, Marsha Blachman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of John T. Pardeck (Ed.), Family Health Social Work Practice: A Macro Level Approach. Westport, CT: Auburn House, 2002. $ 67.95 hardcover.

Moving Beyond The Criminal Justice Paradigm: A Radical Restorative Justice Approach To Intimate Abuse, Peggy Grauwiler, Linda G. Mills

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article traces the history of the development of the treatment of domestic violence as a crime in the United States and the conceptual and practical limitations of this approach in addressing this important social issue. An extensive body of research on restorative justice practice suggests that restorative approaches may contribute to reducing and preventing family violence. Drawing on restorative justice principles, an alternative or supplement to criminal justice approaches is outlined for working with all parties involved in abusive relationships.

Abject Economics: The Effects Of Battering And Violence On Women’S Work And Employability, Angela M. Moe, Myrtle P. Bell

Sociology Faculty Publications

Research on the effects of battering on women’s lives has focused on poverty, homelessness, and welfare receipt, often centering on women who are uneducated or undereducated. The authors analyze how battering impacts the work and employability of women from various employment levels and backgrounds. Data were obtained through qualitative interviews with 19 residents of a domestic violence shelter, some of whom had obtained substantial education and built solid and lucrative careers prior to being abused. The women described instances in which battering had obstructed their ability to find work, maintain employment, and use their wages to establish greater economic independence …

Social Disorganization, Disorder, Social Cohesion, Informal Controls, And Crime: A Reformulation And Test Of Systemic Social Disorganization Theory, Gayle M. Rhineberger

Dissertations

The primary purpose of this dissertation is to modify and test the systemic social disorganization models of crime proposed by Bursik and Grasmick (1993) and Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls (1997), and offer an empirical test of my hypothesized model. Specifically, the model includes traditional indicators of social disorganization (racial/ethnic heterogeneity, socioeconomic status, family disruption, residential stability) as exogenous variables; social and physical disorder, social cohesion, and three levels of informal social control (private, parochial, and public) as intervening mechanisms; and official crime counts and crime victimization as dependent variables.

The data used in this study come from the Project on …

Culture And The Effectiveness Of Supplier Diversity Programs: A Test Of Predictors, Gwendolyn Whitfield

Dissertations

Increased globalization and diversity has brought with it unique interdependencies. As we experience demographical shifts unlike any other in U.S. history, the growth rate of minority-owned businesses may represent unprecedented opportunity for corporate buyers to partner with minority suppliers. According to the Minority Business Development Agency, the minority population will represent 37.4 percent of the total U.S. population by the year 2020, and will yield purchasing power of $3 trillion. Moreover, it is estimated that between the years 2000 and 2050 the majority of new business starts will originate in the minority business community (U.S. Small Business Administration 1994). Minority-owned …

Organizational Factors Contributing To Worker Frustration: The Precursor To Burnout, Cathleen A. Lewandowski

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examined the organizationalf actors that contribute to workers' frustration with their work situation. The sample included 141 service professionals who attended workshops on burnout in 2001. The purpose of the workshops was to increase awareness regarding the organizational factors that could contribute to burnout. Findings indicate that factors most directly affecting clients were predictive of frustration, rather than factors that may indirectly support service quality or factors impacting workers' professional autonomy. A sense of powerlessness and isolation was also predictive of frustration, suggesting that participants viewed workplace problems as a private rather than an organizational concern. To address …

Shift Work And Negative Work-To-Family Spillover, Blanche Grosswald

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A representative sample of the U.S. workforce from 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce data (Families & Work Institute, 1999) was examined to study the relationship between shift work and negative workto- family spillover. Negative spillover was measured by Likert-scale frequency responses to questions concerning mood, energy, and time for family as functions of one's job. Statistical analyses comprised t-tests, ANOVAs, and multiple regressions. Among wage earners with families (n = 2,429), shift work showed a significant, strong, positive relationship to high negative work-to-family spillover when controlling for standard demographic characteristics as well as education and occupation. Distinctions among …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Sex And Race Inequities In Unemployment Insurance Benefits, Melissa Latimer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This research makes a unique contribution to the growing body of literature on the welfare system by examining the relationship between sex, race, and social insurance benefits in a rural state. Using data from the West Virginia Unemployment Compensation Program, this research investigates sex and race differences in (1) monetary disqualifications for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and (2) separation issue and nonseparation issue disqualifications of UI benefits. The analyses indicate that unemployed women, people of color, younger, and low income workers are the most likely to fail the monetary qualifications for UI benefits and to lose qualified weeks of UI …

American Poverty As A Structural Failing: Evidence And Arguments, Mark R. Rank, Hong-Sik Yoon, Thomas A. Hirschl

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Empirical research on American poverty has largely focused on individual characteristicst o explain the occurrence and patternso f poverty. The argument in this article is that such an emphasis is misplaced. By focusing upon individual attributes as the cause of poverty, social scientists have largely missed the underlying dynamic of American impoverishment. Poverty researchers have in effect focused on who loses out at the economic game, rather than addressing the fact that the game produces losers in the first place. We provide three lines of evidence to suggest that U.S. poverty is ultimately the result of structural failings at the …

Finding And Keeping Affordable Housing: Analyzing The Experiences Of Single-Mother Families In North Philadelphia, Susan Clampet-Lundquist

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The location, availability, and quality of housing shapes one's social networks, affects access to jobs, and impacts on social relations within the housing unit. However, access to affordable housing is limited for a significant portion of the population in the urban United States. In this study, I interviewed eighteen African-American and Puerto Rican single mothers in two low-income neighborhoods of Philadelphia about how they create and maintain their housing arrangements. Within the constraints of an affordable housing shortage, women told me how they struggle to share housing with others, rehab abandoned properties, live in substandard housing, and remain in unsafe …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 30, No. 4 (December 2003)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• AMERICAN POVERTY AS A STRUCTURAL FAILING: EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENTS - Mark R. Rank, Hong-Sik Yoon, & Thomas A. Hirschl
• SHIFT WORK AND NEGATIVE WORK-TO-FAMILY SPILLOVER - Blanche Grosswald
• BECAUSE A BETTER WORLD IS POSSIBLE: WOMEN CASINO WORKERS, UNION ACTIVISM AND THE CREATION OF A JUST WORKPLACE - Susan Chandler & Jill Jones
• RESILIENCY FACTORS RELATED TO SUBSTANCE USE/RESISTANCE: PERCEPTIONS OF NATIVE ADOLESCENTS OF THE SOUTHWEST - Margaret A. Waller, Scott K. Okamoto, Bart Miles, & Donna E. Hurdle
• A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF SEX AND RACE INEQUITIES IN UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS - Melissa Latimer
• FINDING AND KEEPING AFFORDABLE …

Generational Equity, Generational Interdependence, And The Framing Of The Debate Over Social Security Reform, John B. Williamson, Tay K. Mcnamara, Stephanie A. Howling

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article analyzes the differences between the generational equity and generational interdependence conceptual packages used to frame arguments in the debate over policies such as Social Security reform. It begins with a history of the generational equity debate. This is followed by an analysis of the assumptions, values, and beliefs that inform each of these two ideological frames. It presents an analysis of why the generational equity frame has dominated the debate and highlights some of the limitations of this perspective.

The Culture Of Race, Class, And Poverty: The Emergence Of A Cultural Discourse In Early Cold War Social Work (1946-1963), Laura Curran

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Through a primary source historical analysis, this article discusses the emergence of a cultural discourse in the early cold war (1946-1963) social work literature. It traces the evolution of social work's cultural narrative in relation to social scientific perspectives, changing race relations, and increasing welfare caseloads. Social work scholars originally employed their cultural discourse to account for racial and ethnic difference and eventually came to examine class and poverty from this viewpoint as well. This cultural framework wrestled with internal contradictions. It simultaneously celebrated and problematized cultural difference and foreshadowed both latter twentieth century multiculturalism as well as neo-conservative thought.

Indicators For Safe Family Reunification: How Professionals Differ, Brad R. Karoll, John Poertner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Many professionals who work with substance-affected families consider the time limits prescribed by the Adoption and Safe Families Act (1997) to be unrealistically short. The high prevalence of substance use in child welfare cases requires professionals to quickly determine when it is safe to reunify children placed because of abuse or neglect in concert with this serious family problem. This exploratory study identified similarities and differences on different indicators of safe reunification between judges who hear juvenile cases, private agency child welfare caseworkers, and substance abuse counselors. The study examined these professionals' rating of the importance of each indicator. Judges, …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 30, No. 3 (September 2003)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• GENERATIONAL EQUITY, GENERATIONAL INTERDEPENDENCE, AND THE FRAMING OF
• THE DEBATE OVER SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM - John B. Williamson, Tay K. McNamara, & Stephanie A. Howling
• THE CULTURE OF RACE, CLASS, AND POVERTY: THE EMERGENCE OF A CULTURAL DISCOURSE IN EARLY COLD WAR SOCIAL WORK (1946-1963) - Laura Curran
• THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF WELFARE REFORM IN DRUG-USING WELFARE-NEEDY HOUSEHOLDS IN INNER-CITY NEW YORK - Eloise Dunlap, Andrew Golub, & Bruce D. Johnson
• SERVING THE "HARD-TO-SERVE": THE USE OF CLINICAL KNOWLEDGE IN WELFARE REFORM - Rufina Lee & Laura Curran
• PREVALENCE OF CHILD WELFARE SERVICES INVOLVEMENT AMONG HOMELESS AND …

Prevalence Of Child Welfare Services Involvement Among Homeless And Low-Income Mothers: A Five-Year Birth Cohort Study, Jennifer F. Culhane, David Webb, Susan Grim, Stephen Metraux, Dennis Culhane

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper investigates the five-year prevalence of child welfare services involvement and foster care placement among a population-based cohort of births in a large US city, by housing status of the mothers (mothers who have been homeless at least once, other low-income neighborhood residents, and all others), and by number of children. Children of mothers with at least one homeless episode have the greatest rate of involvement with child welfare services (37%),followed by other low-income residents (9.2%), and all others (4.0%). Involvement rates increase with number of children for all housing categories, with rates highest among women with four or …

Spousal Abuse: Vietnamese Children's Reports Of Parental Violence, Yoko Baba, Susan B. Murray

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This exploratory study used mailed questionnaires completed by 131 Vietnamese students to examine domestic violence patterns in parents' marital relationships. Research objectives included: (1) gaining an understanding of spousal abuse among Vietnamese couples; and (2) assessing which variables (demographic characteristics, decision-making power, and cultural adaptation, beliefs in traditional gender roles, and conflicts in the family) are correlated with spousal abuse. Findings suggest that although both parents used reasoning, mental abuse and physical abuse in their marital relationships, Vietnamese fathers were more likely to be physically abusive than mothers. Additional variables associated with family conflicts are also examined. Research implications and …