Sociology Commons^™

Urban Violence Among African American Males: Integrating Family, Neighborhood, And Peer Perspectives, M. Daniel Bennett Jr., Mark W. Fraser

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Even though rates have declined in recent years, violence is a serious problem in many American cities. This paper reviews recent perspectives on violence among young, urban African American males. Special attention is afforded the "father absent" hypothesis, the effect of poverty, the character of neighborhoods, the roots of self-efficacy, and peer influence, particularly the influence of street codes. The latter are argued both to regulate some situational behavior and to promote the use of violence in disputes over social status, drugs, and money. The authors discuss implications for policy and community development.

The Potential Impact Of Gender Role Socialization On Welfare Policy Formation, Magalene Harris Taylor

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper addresses a five year welfare reform pilot project conducted at the state level. The outcome of research findings for this project indicate that factors other than the obvious are barriers to women choosing work over welfare. Gender role socialization may play an active and very significant role in this process. The reality of which may inhibit welfare reform efforts at the state and national levels.

Grandma's Babies: The Problem Of Welfare Eligibility For Children Raised By Relatives, Rebecca L. Hegar, Maria Scannapieco

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article provides a brief history of children raised by relatives and examines the welfare eligibility of these families, emphasizing changes under the Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Act of 1996 (PR&WOA). The revolution in public welfare places many care-giving relatives atfinancial risk. Depending on their states' plans for implementing the PR& WOA, children and their relative caregivers may lose state support. The article presents the social welfare policy responses of a number of states to the problems of kinship care-giving, formal kinship foster care, the PR&WOA, and other social welfare provisions. Unintended consequences of welfare reform are highlighted.

Review Of World's Apart: Why Poverty Persists In Rural America. Cynthia Duncan. Reviewed By William Rainford, University Of California, Berkely., William Rainford

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Cynthia Duncan, World's Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. $27.50 hardcover.

The Strengths Of African American Families: 25 Years Later. Robert B. Hill.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Robert B. Hill, The Strengths of African American Families: 25 Years Later. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1999. $49.00 hardcover, $19.50 papercover.

Lives On The Line: American Families And The Struggle To Make Ends Meet. Martha Shirk, Neil G. Bennett And J. Lawrence Aber.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Martha Shirk, Neil G. Bennett and J. Lawrence Aber, Lives on the Line: American Families and the Struggle to Make Ends Meet, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999. $24.00 hardcover.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 27, No. 3 (September 2000)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• SECOND-GENERATION PARENTHOOD: A PANEL STUDY OF GRANDMOTHER AND GRANDCHILD CORESIDENCY AMONG LOW-INCOME FAMILIES, 1967-1992 - Richard K. Caputo
• MAKING A DIFFERENCE: HUMAN SERVICE INTEREST GROUP INFLUENCE ON SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAM REGULATIONS - Richard Hoefer
• THE DISCOURSE OF DENIGRATION AND THE CREATION OF OTHER - Joshua Miller & Gerald Schamess
• PATHWAYS TO PRISON: LIFE HISTORIES OF FORMER CLIENTS OF THE CHILD WELFARE AND JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEMS - Stephen A. Kapp
• RACE, CLASS, AND SUPPORT FOR EGALITARIAN STATISM AMONG THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS - George Wilson
• URBAN VIOLENCE AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES: INTEGRATING FAMILY, NEIGHBORHOOD, AND PEER PERSPECTIVES …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 27, No. 2 (June 2000)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• DO INNER-CITY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN MALES EXHIBIT "BAD ATTITUDES" TOWARD WORK? - Jill Littrell & Elizabeth Beck
• EXPLOITATION-THE INVISIBLE HAND GUIDED BY A BLIND EYE: CONFRONTING A FLAW IN ECONOMIC THEORY - Phillip Dybicz
• WORK AND ECONOMIC OUTCOMES AFTER WELFARE - Thomas P. Vartanian & Justine M. McNamara
• THE SPATIAL SHIFT IN THE GROWTH OF POVERTY AMONG FAMILIES HEADED BY EMPLOYED FEMALES, 1979-89 - W. Richard Goe & Anisa Rhea
• CONFLICTING BUREAUCRACIES, CONFLICTED WORK: DILEMMAS IN CASE MANAGEMENT FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS - Linda E. Francis
• RACIAL AND GENDER VARIATIONS IN THE PROCESS SHAPING EARNINGS' POTENTIAL: THE …

Work And Economic Outcomes After Welfare, Thomas P. Vartanian, Justine M. Mcnamara

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Using data from the 1969 to 1993 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this article examines a number of models to determine the characteristics of AFDC recipients who fare well economically after they initially leave the welfare system. The study includes analyses of income levels, time spent employed and not employed, and time spent below the poverty line. Hypotheses regarding state welfare payments, area economic conditions, human capital and time spent receiving welfare are examined. The findings indicate that area employment conditions and the ability to quickly find work greatly affect the likelihood of faring well economically after welfare. We found …

The Spatial Shift In The Growth Of Poverty Among Families Headed By Employed Females, 1979-89, W. Richard Goe, Anisa Rhea

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The number of working poor families in the United States increased substantially during the 1979-89 period. This increase was found to disproportionately consist of families headed by employed females. The growth in poverty among families headed by employed females during this period was found to be nonstructural in nature and inequitably distributed across labor markets in the U.S. It was found that at the onset of the 1980s, high rates of poverty among families headed by employed females were predominantly concentrated in labor market areas in the South. Over the 1980s, the highest increases in poverty rates among such families …

Racial And Gender Variations In The Process Shaping Earnings' Potential: The Consequences Of Poverty In Early Adulthood, C. Andri Mizell

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This research investigates the effects of poverty in early adulthood on future earnings. While social scientists are beginning to amass a considerable literature on the effects of poverty on outcomes for children, few have investigated the damage that impoverishment may do in early adulthood when individuals are in the midst of completing education and planning careers. The findings in this study indicate that poverty does dampen earnings' potential. However, individual characteristics (e.g., aspirations, esteem and ability) and structural location (e.g., educational attainment, occupational status and job tenure) may assuage the otherwise negative effects of poverty. Other findings reveal that the …

The Impact Of Education And Family Attributes On Attitudes And Responses To Unemployment Among Men And Women, Liat Kulik

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The study deals with differences between jobless Israeli women (n = 361) and men (n = 253) in relation to the following aspects of unemployment: Reasons for rejecting potential jobs, job search intensity, and responses to unemployment. The women mentioned more reasons for rejecting potential jobs, and their health-related responses to unemployment were more extreme than those of the men. However, the men tended to seekemployment more intensively than did the women.

Married respondents of both sexes showed the greatest tendency to reject potential employment due to conflict with family responsibilities. Married women were also more likely than their male …

Do Inner-City, African-American Males Exhibit "Bad Attitudes" Toward Work?, Jill Littrell, Elizabeth Beck

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Many potential employers of inner-city African-American men believe that African-American men have poor work attitudes. The investigations reported here attempted to evaluate the veridicality of this assumption. The responses of African-American men who utilize a soup-kitchen were compared with college men on a variety of attitude measures, as well as on their reactions to a scenario about a man who worked for an unfair boss and quit in response. Generally, little support for the view that innercity, African-Americans men have a predilection to presume prejudice or unfairness, or to render a favorable evaluation of quitting under unfair conditions, was found.

The Changing American Mosaic: An Introduction, Wilma Peebles-Wilkins

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article, in addition to introducing the special journal issue on the changing American mosaic, provides a synthesis of issues associated with changing demographic trends as the number of people of color increase between 2000-2050. Welfare reform, structural inequality, and the convergence of race, class and gender issues are discussed in a civil rights context. A brief summary of the other journal articles by Glen Loury; Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn; Ruth Sidel; Mary Krist, Douglas Gurak, Likwang Chen; Doris Wilkinson and Margaret Gibelman is also provided.

Affirmative Action At The Crossroads: A Social Justice Perspective, Margaret Gibelman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article reviews the basis for the policy of affirmative action within the context of changing social values. Both the aims and unanticipated consequences of affirmative action are explored, the latter of which have resulted in substantial backlash and the real possibility of policy overturn. Within this context, the position of the social welfare community toward and involvement in affirmative action is traced. An agenda for social work in current and future debates about affirmative action is offered which takes into account the original social problem-discrimination-within redefined societal values and political realities. Alternative remedies to affirmative action, it is argued, …

The Enemy Within: The Demonization Of Poor Women, Ruth Sidel

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The denigration and demonization of poor women was central to the effort to repeal Aid to Families with Dependent Children by the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The utilization of negative stereotypes involving race, class and gender effectively marginalized impoverished women and their children, who were blamed for virtually all of the social problems of the United States during the 1990s. Despite the massive concentration of wealth and income in the hands of the wealthiest Americans and the ever-widening gap between rich and poor, the United States continues to ignore the need for …

Twenty-Five Years Of Black America: Two Steps Forward And One Step Back?, Glenn C. Loury

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The nature of social and economic inequality as it exists now between Blacks and Whites in the United States is explored in this paper. Summary statistics on education, earnings, employment, family structure, incarceration and life expectancy are presented by age, sex and race. It is suggested that, while progress has been made in narrowing the racial gap in social standing, there remains a significant disparity that warrants continuing concern.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 27, No. 1 (March 2000)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS - SPECIAL ISSUE ON THE CHANGING AMERICAN MOSAIC - Guest Editor - Wilma Peebles-Wilkins

• THE CHANGING AMERICAN MOSAIC: AN INTRODUCTION - Wilma Peebles- Wilkins
• TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF BLACK AMERICA: TWO STEPS FORWARD AND ONE STEP BACK? - Glenn C. Loury
• THE MISSING SAFETY NET AND FAMILIES: A PROGRESSIVE CRITIQUE OF THE NEW WELFARE LEGISLATION - D. Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn
• THE ENEMY WITHIN: THE DEMONIZATION OF POOR WOMEN - Ruth Sidel
• ELDERLY IMMIGRANTS: THEIR COMPOSITION AND LIVING ARRANGEMENTS - Mary M. Kritz, Douglas T. Gurak and Likwang Chen
• RETHINKING THE CONCEPT OF "MINORITY": A TASK …

Elderly Immigrants: Their Composition And Living Arrangements, Mary M. Kritz, Douglas T. Gurak, Likwang Chen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper describes how the composition of elderly immigrants is changing and how elderly immigrants differ from natives in terms of living arrangement and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The determinants of living alone are investigated for 11 ethnic origin categories and natives. The analysis utilizes data from two samples of the 1990 U.S. Census: the PUMS-A 5% sample and an independent 3% sample of households containing at least one member 60 or more years of age. Between 1970 and 1990 immigrants from Asia and Latin America moved from forming a minor component of the elderly to being a significant and …

Rethinking The Concept Of "Minority": A Task For Social Scientists And Practitioners, Doris Wilkinson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Although sociologists have articulated the components and scope of the "minority" concept, many of the characteristics are no longer germane. Originally those placed in the category were viewed as subordinate and as possessing cultural or physical qualities not approved or preferred by the larger population. There has been no systematic questioning of ingrained seductive words and value-based constructions like "minority". This brief critique offers an evaluation of the "minority" conception that is so pervasive in the social and behavioral sciences, the print and broadcast media, politics, and the entire language system.

Revisioning Gender. Myra Marx Ferree, Judith Lorber And Beth B. Hess (Eds.).

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Myra Marx Ferree, Judith Lorber and Beth B. Hess (Eds.), Revisioning Gender. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1999. $72.00 hardcover, $34.95 papercover.

Who Cares About Racial Inequality?, Glenn C. Loury

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The issue of Affirmative Action is discussed, identifying some difficulties with the way that this policy has been pursued in the past: Racial preferences can be a poorly targeted method of closing the gap in social status between Blacks and Whites, and can have negative unintended consequences for incentives and for the reputations of its beneficiaries. Nevertheless, it is argued that some form of affirmative action continues to be needed. The concept of "developmental affirmative action" is introduced. This form of racially targeted policy focuses primarily on the enhancement of competitive skills. In so doing, it avoids many of the …

Second-Generation Parenthood: A Panel Study Of Grandmother And Grandchild Coresidency Among Low-Income Families, 1967-1992, Richard K. Caputo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper reports findings of a national study of low-income coresident grandmothers and grandchildren between 1967 and 1992. A small increasing minority of women was found to reside with their grandchildren in low-income families over the study period, although the proportion of those who did declined as they reached retirement age. More than half of ever coresident low-income grandmothers (N = 776) were second-generation parents for three or more years. The majority (64 percent) was Black.

Among ever coresident low-income grandmothers in 1992 (N = 521), being Black and being single increased the likelihood of being a secondgeneration parent. Previous …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 26, No. 4 (December 1999)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• THE URBAN ECOLOGY OF HOSPITAL FAILURE: HOSPITAL CLOSURES IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO, 1970-1991 - Gunnar Alm gren & Miquel Ferguson
• THE SOCIAL PROCESS OF "PASSING" TO MANAGE STIGMA: ACTS OF INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION OR ACTS OF RESISTANCE? - Valli Kalei Kanuha
• CONTRIBUTIONS OF FOREIGN-BASED AUTHORS TO SELECTED SOCIAL WORK JOURNALS IN THE UNITED STATES - Muammer Cetingok
• USING PROFESSIONALLY TRAINED ACTORS IN SOCIAL WORK ROLE-PLAY SIMULATIONS - Helen E. Petracchi
• THE INCREASE IN INTERGENERATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILIES HEADED BY GRANDMOTHERS - Dorothy S. Ruiz & Iris Carlton-LaNey
• MELTING MULTICULTURALISM? LEGACIES OF ASSIMILATION PRESSURES IN HUMAN SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS …

Melting Multiculturalism? Legacies Of Assimilation Pressures In Human Service Organizations, Darlene L. Piña, Laura Canty-Swapp

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines non-profit human service agency workers' discussions of their work with diverse clients. These conversations are understood within the competing social agendas of multiculturalism and assimilation, and they suggest how service providers may resist or perpetuate the social control of people of color. Findings revealed that people of color were often excluded from providers' notions of American identity. It was common for providers, both whites and people of color, to both wittingly and unwittingly describe pressures to assimilate their clients. Providers disagreed on the merits and consequences of these assimilation pressures, with some seeing harm done to themselves …

The Increase In Intergenerational African American Families Headed By Grandmothers, Dorothy S. Ruiz, Iris Carlton-Laney

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article analyzes census data on grandparent heads of household. Information on African American grandparents, grandmothers in particular, is the focus of this analysis. The data include a profile of African American grandparent householders, reasons for the increase in households headed by grandparents, challenges and problems, living arrangements/household characteristics, and implications for practice. African American children are more likely to live in the home of their grandparents than are White or Hispanic children. In 1993, 12 percent of African American children lived in the home of their grandparent in comparison to 4 percent for Whites and 6 percent for Hispanics. …

Review Of Cultural Awareness In The Human Services: A Multi-Cultural Approach. James Green. Reviewed By Yuhwa Eva Lu, New York University., Yuhwa Eva Lu

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of J. W. Green. (1999). Cultural Awareness in the Human Services: A Multi-Cultural Approach (3rd ed). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. $33.95 papercover.

Review Of Shifting The Color Line: Race And The American Welfare State. Robert C. Lieberman. Reviewed By Jill Quadagno, Florida State University, Jill Quadagno

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Shifting the Color Line: Race and the American Welfare State. Robert C. Lieberman. Reviewed by Jill Quadagno, Florida State University

The Social Process Of "Passing" To Manage Stigma: Acts Of Internalized Oppression Or Acts Of Resistance?, Valli Kalei Kanuha

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In order to manage social stigma, some individuals construct and enact a social interaction strategy known as passing, which is "a performance in which one presents himself as what one is not" (Rohy, 1996). Based on interviews with lesbians and gay men of color, this article suggests that the process of passing is not based upon a rejection of stigmatized identity, but situationally employed to resist social oppression.

Perceiving Oppression: Relationships With Resilience, Self-Esteem, Depressive Symptoms, And Reliance On God In African-American Homeless Men, Jill Littrell, Elizabeth Beck

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Empowerment has been proffered as a desirable goal for many disadvantaged populations. The process of empowerment can include encouraging disadvantaged individuals to recognize the structural factors in society (e.g., discrimination, oppression, injustice) which contribute to disadvantaged status. Two studies sought to determine the impact that recognition of oppression has on a disadvantaged individual's (1) self-esteem; (2) level of depressive symptoms; (3) resilience which includes a sense of master y and optimism; (4) anger; and (5) reliance on God. These issues were investiga ted in a sample of African-American men seeking services at a soup-kitchen ministry. Perceptions of racial discrimination were …