Sociology Commons^™

The State Of The Region: Hampton Roads 2009, James V. Koch, Vinod Agarwal, John R. Broderick, Grace Chen, Chris Colburn, Vicky Curtis, Steve Daniel, Larry "Chip" Filer, Adrian Gheorghe, Susan Hughes, Elizabeth Janik, Yingxue Li, Feng Lian, Sharon Lomax, Linda Mcgreevy, Janet Molinaro, Jason Phenicie, Ken Plum, Gilbert Yochum

Economics Faculty Books

This is Old Dominion University's 10th annual State of the Region report. While it represents the work of many people connected in various ways to the university, the report does not constitute an official viewpoint of Old Dominion or it's president, John R. Broderick. The report maintains the goal of stimulating thought and discussion that ultimately will make Hampton Roads an even better place to live. We are proud of our region's many successes, but realize that it is possible to improve our performance. In order to do so, we must have accurate information about "where we are" and a …

An African-American Resources And Needs Assessment Of The West Bloomington Area, Phase 1, Karishma Amatya, Nicholas Beaty, Jamie Boban, Joanna Bossi, Tyler Curtis, Casandra Fritzsche, Andrew Griffin, David Johnson, Sasha Miranda, Dana Overman, Emily Putnam, Jared Ulschmid, Tessa Zevallos

Community Project Design and Management Reports - Sociology

Over the course of the Fall 2009 semester, students in the Community Project Design and Management class worked with members of West Bloomington to recognize the growing needs within the community. Along with the African-American Focus Workgroup (AAFW) and the West Bloomington Revitalization Partnership (WBRP), the students completed Phase 1 of an African-American resources and needs assessment resulting in this report. This document reflects needs, wants, and hopes of the West Bloomington community and the AAFW. Comprehensively, this document is meant to serve as a bridge between community members and AAFW members.

As Bloomington as a whole continues to grow …

Trials And Triumphs: Piloting A Web Conference System To Deliver Blended Learning Across Multiple Sites, Marty Laubach, Laura J. Little

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Research

Barriers to classroom-based education such as high gas prices, inclement weather, and job and family requirements often make travel to campus more difficult for people who want to continue their educations (Fletcher, 2008). The promise of synchronous tools such as Wimba LiveClassroom can provide a cost-effective alternative to a real-time classroom experience by allowing students to attend a class wherever they are, thus allowing a classroom experience despite geographic barriers. Indeed, other reports have also indicated that hybrid learning can result in increased student outcomes when compared to traditional classroom learning (Brunner, 2006; McFarlin, 2008). To attempt to overcome these …

New Hampshire Civic Health Index, Michele Dillon, Shannon H. Rogers

Carsey Publications

The Carsey Institute is participating in a study to examine America's civic health. Led by the Conference on Citizenship (NCoC), America's Civic Health Index is an annual study that measures a wide variety of civic indicators, such as community involvement and helping others. New Hampshire is one of six states partnering with NCoC to produce a state-specific report that examines the civic health in the Granite State.

The Salt Shaker (Vol. 6, Issue 1), Valparaiso University

SALT Shaker

No abstract provided.

Creating And Responding To The Gen(D)Eralized Other: Women Miners’ Community-Constructed Identities, Kristen Lucas, Sarah J. Steimel

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

An analysis of interviews with mining families reveals that gender identity construction is a collaborative process that draws upon broader community discourses. Male miners and non-mining women created a generalized other for women as "unfit to mine" (i.e., women are physically too weak to mine, are easy prey, and are ladies who do not belong in the mines). Female miners responded with gendered discourses that distanced themselves from and linked themselves to the generalized other.

A Means-End Approach To Understanding Adventure Race Participation, Brandii Brinkley

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

This multiple purpose qualitative research initiative sought to (a) provide research on the relationship between attributes and values associated with adventure race participation, (b) discover motivations for adventure racing, (c) provide support for prior means-end research, and (d) research a new, emerging recreational activity. An adventure race was held on the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. After the conclusion of the race, race participants were asked to complete a self-administered survey which offered attributes and values which potentially serve as motivations for adventure race participation. Means-end theory provided the framework for how the data obtained in the …

The Rattler (Volume 97, Issue 2, Edition 1), St. Mary's University

The Rattler (Previous issues)

Founded in 1919, The Rattler is the student voice of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. The newspaper documents campus life, academic and social issues, student opinion, and local and national events as they relate to the University community. Content typically includes news articles, editorial commentary, arts and culture coverage, sports reporting, and advertisements.

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands – Phase Ii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering July 1, 2009 To September 30, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• The number of records in the volunteer database increased by 494, a 6% increase over last quarter. The database currently contains 6,720 records.
• Website activity increased, recording an average of 108,627 hits per month, an increase of 32% from last quarter, with an average of 12,415 pages viewed per month.
• Two corporations (Whole Foods and The Mirage) were contacted as part of the corporate mobile open house.
• National Public Lands Day was advertised through a daily memo to all 3000+ staff members of The Mirage.
• Preparations for the volunteer recognition banquet continued.

Southern Nevada Agency Partnership Cultural Site Stewardship Program – Program Expansion And Steward Retention: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending September 30, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Cultural Site Stewardship Program

• A total of 452 site stewards are trained and registered on the CSSP database.
• One training class was held this quarter adding 24 new volunteers.
• The stewardship program had an annual growth of 13.8% during the fiscal year 2009.
• Site Stewards reported 76 significant site impacts in 2008 compared with 83 during the same period last year.

Regional Young Child Poverty In 2008: Rural Midwest Sees Increased Poverty, While Urban Northeast Rates Decrease, Marybeth J. Mattingly

Carsey Publications

In 2008, America's recession affected poverty rates for children under age 6 unevenly, with rates in the rural Midwest rising significantly, while rates in northeastern central cities fell slightly. And in the rural South, where more than 30 percent of young children are poor, poverty rates for young children persisted at a very high rate. This is an analysis of American Community Survey data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Entering Into A "Community" Of Experience And Meaning: A Review Of Interviewing For Education And Social Science Research: The Gateway Approach By Carolyn Lunsford Mears, Robin Cooper

The Qualitative Report

In Interviewing for Education and Social Science Research: The Gateway Approach, Carolyn Lunsford Mears outlines an approach to in-depth interviewing in qualitative research that draws upon educational criticism, oral history, and poetic display. Mears describes this narrator centered approach as including the development of an insider’s perspective and the use of excerpted narratives. She also provides useful guides and examples in the appendices to the book, making the text especially helpful to the novice qualitative researcher

Western Sahara Refugees: Building The Nation-Stateon “Borrowed” Desert Territory, Randa Farah

Migration and Ethnic Relations Colloquium Series

No abstract provided.

The Du Ponts In Kentucky: Louisville’S Central Park, The Southern Exposition, And An Entrepreneurial Spirit*, Timothy J. Mullin

SCL Faculty and Staff Publications

* The du Pont family is large, and recurring names and nicknames often make it difficult to follow who’s who. The Lammot family is woven together with the du Pont family in a complicated thread, especially since Margaretta was a favorite name. Adding the Coleman/Moxham family only makes the complicated spider’s web of family relationships that much more difficult. For this purpose selected family trees are included as appendices.

Insider Experiences Of The Qualitative Report’S Reviewing Process, Pamela Felder, Tom Strong, Jennifer Ronald

The Qualitative Report

We (Pamela, Tom, and Jenn) wanted to give you our insiders’ experiences of the manuscript submission and reviewing process at The Qualitative Report (TQR). Respectively, we are a researcher-author, an instructor-reviewer, and a student-reviewer who were involved in the reviewing process that resulted in the publication of Pamela’s TQR article: On Doctoral Student Development: Exploring Faculty Mentoring in the Shaping of African American Doctoral Student Success (Felder, in press). In this brief article, we will adopt a somewhat conversational approach to relating our individual and collective experiences. How we came to work together, what that work entailed, and our experiences …

Surviving Your First Library Job Search, Or, An Explanation Of What I Had To Learn The Hard Way, Re-Produced Here, For You, So That You Are Not Driven To Drink As Well, Steven Hoover

Library Faculty Research

Searching for a library job can be a life-changing ordeal, but try not to let that bother you. The scars that it will leave on your psyche are likely to heal in time. When I was starting the job search process, I found that the professional literature had a lot to say about writing good cover letters and developing solid interview skills but not a lot of information about what searching for a job was really like on a daily basis. Hopefully, after reading this article, you have a little better sense of what to expect during your search, pick …

Home Care Workers: Keeping Granite Staters In Their Homes As They Age, Kristin Smith

Carsey Publications

Using data from the New Hampshire Direct Care Workforce Survey, this brief shows that New Hampshire's demand for home-based care workers outpaces supply because its population is aging at a faster rate than the average. These workers play a critical role and face many challenges, including low pay, little or no paid time off, and lack of access to health insurance.

Seeing The Forest Through The Trees: A Review Of Gibson And Brown’S Working With Qualitative Data, Jacquelyn Browne

The Qualitative Report

In their 2008 book, Working with Qualitative Data, Gibson and Brown introduce their readers to the notion that qualitative data analysis is more of an on-going process integral to the overall qualitative research process than a set of techniques or tools. In making this assertion, the authors help their audience connect analysis with theory, design, and final qualitative research report

Institutions And Savings In Low-Income Households, Jami Curley, Fred Ssewamala, Michael Sherraden

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines the influence of structured savings program arrangements on the saving performance of low-income households in individual development accounts (IDAs). Data are drawn from the American Dream Demonstration (1997-2004), which looked at the saving performance of low-income households in matched savings accounts across the United States. Hierarchical multivariate regression is used to identify which specific structural program arrangements are important in influencing the saving performance of low-income families. Findings suggest that overall, structured program arrangements, including financial education, peer mentoring groups and saving targets are important in influencing people's saving performance-including low-income families.

A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Social Capital Of Liberian Refugee Women In Ghana, Alice Boateng

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article reports on a mixed methods study of Liberian refugee women at the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana. The study examined the role and impact of social capital on the women's well-being. Three types of social capital - bonding, bridging, and linking - were examined. The study's findings revealed that although the women had some bonding social capital, they possessed very little bridging social capital, and linking social capital was non-existent. These findings suggest that the refugee women may benefit from national and internationalp olicies andp rograms that seek to both strengthen existing and create new sources of social …

Rescuing Children And Punishing Poor Families: Housing Related Decisions, Corey Shdaimah

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Child welfare policy is not self implementing; an understanding of child welfare policy must therefore include the decision making practices by those whom Michael Lipsky (1980) has called "streetlevel bureaucrats." This article reports data from a qualitative study exploring perceptions of child welfare professionals about housing-related child welfare decisions. Interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 18 child welfare lawyers, judges, and masters level social workers from a large city in the mid-Atlantic U.S. All agreed that there is insufficient affordable adequate housing. They held conflicting views, however, on: 1) the standard for adequate housing in the absence of …

The Limits Of Paternalism: A Case Study Of Welfare Reform In Wisconsin, Thomas S. Moore, Swarnjit S. Arora

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper uses a pooled sample constructed from the Food Stamp Quality Control data for the fiscal years 1993 to 2006 to assess the effects of welfare reform upon the employment, earnings, income, and poverty trends among poor, single-mother families, both in Wisconsin and nationwide. It finds that the employment and earnings gains of the Wisconsin families exceed those of comparable families nationwide. However, there has been no significant change in the average income of the Wisconsin families, and the number of extremely poor families has increased more rapidly in Wisconsin than in the country as a whole. These findings …

Pregnant And Poor In The Suburb: The Experiences Of Economically Disadvantaged Women Of Color With Prenatal Services In A Wealthy Suburban County, Linda E. Francis, Candyce S. Berger, Marianne Giardini, Carolyn Steinman, Karina Kim

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study explores the perinatal care experiences of disadvantaged women of color in a wealthy U.S. suburb. The women were asked to discuss the availability of health and social services during pregnancy, continuity of provider and/or treatment, communication issues with their providers, and the amount and type ofsupport and resources available. Many of the questions covered in literature on urban poverty emerged as well in this suburban sample, including economic and psychosocial barriers, and continuity and communication issues between low-income/minority women and providers of health and social services. Additional barriers in the suburbs were also discussed, including problems of access …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 36, No. 3 (September 2009)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• INSTITUTIONS AND SAVINGS IN LOW INCOME HOUSEHOLDS - Jami Curley, Fred Ssewamala and Michael Sherraden
• RESCUING CHILDREN AND PUNISHING POOR FAMILIES: HOUSING-RELATED DECISIONS - Corey Shdaimah
• A MIXED METHODS ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL OF LIBERIAN REFUGEE WOMEN IN GHANA - Alice Boateng
• ETHICS WITH CHARACTER: VIRTUES AND THE ETHICAL SOCIAL WORKER - Paul Adams
• THE LIMITS OF PATERNALISM: A CASE STUDY OF WELFARE REFORM IN WISCONSIN - Thomas S. Moore and Swarnjit S. Arora
• PREGNANT AND POOR IN THE SUBURB: THE EXPERIENCES OF ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED WOMEN OF COLOR WITH PRENATAL SERVICES IN A WEALTHY SUBURBAN COUNTY - …

The Development Of An Unequal Social Safety Net: A Case Study Of The Employer-Based Health Insurance (Non) System, H. Luke Shaefer, Elizabeth D. Sammons

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The U.S. social safety net exacerbates labor market inequalities rather than ameliorating them. This paper traces this theme within an important historical case study: the emergence of the employer-based health insurance system. Employers became the dominant and tax-preferred provider of health insurance in the United States without any federal legislative action. Understanding how this happened may inform current reform efforts. This case study highlights two important factors. The first is path dependency, discussed by Skocpol (1992) and Pierson (2000). They argue that the ambiguous divisions of power and a pluralistic governance framework favor incremental processes of social policy formation in …

Family-Friendly Policies For Rural Working Mothers, Rebecca K. Glauber

Carsey Publications

For working parents, family friendly work policies like paid sick days, flexible time, or medical insurance can reduce work-family conflict and lead to less absenteeism and higher productivity. Working parents in rural America, however, have less access to these policies than their urban counterparts.

The Malawi Religion Project: Data Collection And Selected Analyses, Jimi Adams, Jenny Trinitapoli

Faculty Publications

Scholars have recently become increasingly interested in the role religion plays in the responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we present the Malawi Religion Project (MRP), which provides data to examine the relationship between religion and HIV/AIDS through surveys and in-depth interviews with denominational leaders, congregational leaders, and congregation members in three districts of rural Malawi. In the paper, we outline existing perspectives on the religionHIV/AIDS link, describe the MRP's design, implementation, and subsequent data; provide initial evidence for a series of general research hypotheses; and describe how these data can be used both to extend explorations …

The State Of Working New Hampshire 2009, Allison Churilla

Carsey Publications

The issue brief finds that while New Hampshire workers have fared well compared with other New England states, wages have stagnated and full-time workers now form a smaller share of the labor force.

Taking Stock Of Arctic Sea Ice And Climate, Mary-Louise Timmermans, Jennifer Francis, Audrey Proshutinsky, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Sociology

Abstract

The relationship among the cause-and-effect of the Arctic atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean is discussed. The increased vulnerability of the Arctic system to anomalous atmospheric forcing can be argued from the perspective that recent ice loss is the result of a long-term preconditioning to thinner ice. Such consequences demonstrate the difficulties inherent in ascertaining how the atmospheric circulation responds to Arctic, and global, climate change. Later-forming sea ice also leads to less protection from the waves of fall storms, affecting coastal communities such as Kivalina and Shishmaref. The coming decades will provide new insights into the complexities of the …

The Prevention Of Childhood Sexual Abuse., David Finkelhor

Sociology

Abstract

David Finkelhor examines initiatives to prevent child sexual abuse, which have focused on two primary strategies-offender management and school-based educational programs. Recent major offender managment initiatives have included registering sex offenders, notifying communities about their presence, conducting background employment checks, controlling where offenders can live, and imposing longer prison sentences. Although these initiatives win approval from both the public and policy makers, little evidence exists that they are effective in preventing sexual abuse. Moreover, these initiatives, cautions Finkelhor, are based on an overly stereotyped characterization of sexual abusers as pedophiles, guileful strangers who prey on children in public and …