Inequality and Stratification Commons^™

The Costs Of Class: Private Schooling, Parental Choice, And Class Aspirations Among Kathmandu’S Working Poor, Andrew Chen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over the last two decades, the ‘de facto’ privatization of educational services has emerged as a significant policy trend in Nepal’s educational sector; however, unlike earlier decades when private schools catered exclusively to the privileged classes, the expansion of low-cost ‘budget’ private institutions have begun to serve lower socioeconomic and marginalized classes of the population. This project examines parental perceptions and decisional contexts surrounding the choice of private school for children f the working poor in Kathmandu. Specifically, the study uses the lens of class to explore the rationale, anxieties, and aspirations of working poor parents as they navigate the …

Drug Sentencing Policy Discourse Of Fortaleza, Nick Sundback

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Drug sentencing is a pressing issue in Brazil. With the context of high and increasing rates of crime and drug use, overcrowded prisons, and high rates of recidivism both in terms of prison and drug addiction, attitudes of individuals towards drug sentencing policy are worthy of observation and examination.

The objective of this monograph is to examine discourse by informants, five individuals who interact with sections of society most affected by drug sentencing, namely drug users. This monograph will consider pluralistic observations on, and evaluations of, drug sentencing practices, implementation of drug sentencing, an overview of the broader debate over …

The Arab Spring And Migration In Egypt, One Year On: Impacts, Perceptions And Attitudes, Hend Hafez

Faculty Journal Articles

In reviewing migration flows in and out of Egypt after the Arab ‘Spring” and the events leading to the Egyptian Revolution in January 25th, 2011, the initial suspicion and resistance to any information dissemination was noted by the researcher as a definite change in attitude in the country after the revolution. This may be attributed to recent raids on U.S. funded pro-democracy NGO’s among others and accusations of foreign interference in domestic affairs. Along with the volatile political situation in the aftermath of the revolution, distrust runs rampant, as well as a low prioritization with regards to migration issues in …

Two Can Live As Cheaply As One...But Three’S A Crowd, Christopher Bollinger, Cheti Nicoletti, Stephen Pudney

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

To measure poverty, incomes must be equivalized across households with different structures. In this paper, we use a very flexible ordered response model to analyze the relationship between income, demographic structure and subjective assessments of financial wellbeing drawn from the 1991-2008 British Household Panel Survey. Our results suggest the existence of large scale economies within marital/cohabiting couples, but substantial diseconomies from the addition of children or further adults. This pattern contrasts sharply with commonly-used equivalence scales, and is consistent with explanations in terms of the capital requirements associated with additions to the core couple.

Was There A ‘Race To The Bottom’ After Welfare Reform?, Sarah K. Burns

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

Leading up to the passage of the 1996 welfare reform, there was much speculation and debate over the possibility that states would "race to the bottom" in setting welfare generosity if given more control over their individual programs. In the fifteen years after welfare reform, did such a race to the bottom ensue? Using a spatial dynamic econometric approach I investigate welfare competition across multiple policy instruments and across three distinct welfare periods - the AFDC regime, the experimental waiver period leading up to the reform, and the TANF era. Results suggest strategic policy setting occurs over multiple dimensions of …

Health Disparities Experienced By People With Disabilities In The Us: A Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Study, Jennifer Renee Pharr, Timothy J. Bungum

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

The Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990; since then research has shown that people with disabilities continue to experience barriers to health care. The purpose of this study was to compare utilization of preventive services, chronic disease rates, and engagement in health risk behaviors of participants with differing severities of disabilities to those without disabilities. This study was a secondary analysis of 2010 data collected in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System national survey in the United States. Rao Chi square test and logistic regression were employed. Participants with disabilities had significantly higher adjusted odds ratios for all …

Research Brief: "Risk Factors For Homelessness Among Women Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the characteristics of female veterans who are affected by homelessness. In policy and practice, gender-specific care and treatment should be given to homeless female veterans since veteran women experience more homelessness than non-veteran women; policymakers should increase female-only homeless veteran programs and broaden transitional housing programs for female veterans who have experienced trauma. Suggestions for future research include analyzing non-institutionalized female veterans by having control groups in the study, expanding the sample to be more geographically representative, collecting data over a period of time, and finding job training, housing, and military sexual trauma treatment for homeless …

Remittances To Transit Countries: The Impact On Sudanese Refugee Livelihoods In Cairo, Karen Jacobson, Maysa Ayoub, Alice Johnson

Faculty Journal Articles

Transit countries are way stations or stopping points in the journey of migrants and refugees from their countries of origin to their intended destination countries. Many migrants and refugees become ‘stuck’, often for years, unable to either move onward or to return to their home countries. They may be blocked by the inability to gather the funds needed for travel, or by hazardous travel conditions or by immigration policy shifts (such as resettlement policy). This study sought to fill gaps in our knowledge about the livelihoods of refugees in the urban centers of transit countries. ‘Stuck’ migrants engage in a …

Remittances To Transit Countries: The Impact On Sudanese Refugee Livelihoods In Cairo, Karen Jacobsen, Maysa Ayoub, Alice Johnson

Faculty Journal Articles

Transit countries are way stations or stopping points in the journey of migrants and refugees from their countries of origin to their intended destination countries. Many migrants and refugees become ‘stuck’, often for years, unable to either move onward or to return to their home countries. They may be blocked by the inability to gather the funds needed for travel, or by hazardous travel conditions or by immigration policy shifts (such as resettlement policy). This study sought to fill gaps in our knowledge about the livelihoods of refugees in the urban centers of transit countries. ‘Stuck’ migrants engage in a …

Torch (September/October 2012), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Is Earnings Nonresponse Ignorable?, Christopher R. Bollinger, Barry T. Hirsch

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

Earnings nonresponse in the Current Population Survey is roughly 30% in the monthly surveys and 20% in the March survey. If nonresponse is ignorable, unbiased estimates can be achieved by omitting nonrespondents. Little is known about whether CPS nonresponse is ignorable. Using sample frame measures to identify selection, we find clear-cut evidence among men but limited evidence among women for negative selection into response. Wage equation slope coefficients are affected little by selection but because of intercept shifts, wages for men and to a lesser extent women are understated, as are gender gaps. Selection is least severe among household heads.

The Engagement Of Highly Skilled Egyptian Migrants In Oecd Countries, Iman Dawood

Faculty Journal Articles

Within the Middle East and North Africa region, Egypt can certainly be considered the number one emigration country in terms of total number of emigrants. But even within a larger pool of countries, the developing countries for instance, Egypt still occupies a position within the list of top ten-emigration countries according to the World Bank . Egypt is also amongst the top remittance-receiving countries with only thirteen other countries worldwide receiving a higher level of remittances in the year 20103 . While accounts of the actual number of Egyptian migrants vary greatly due to the unavailability of accurate and comprehensive …

The Engagement Of Highly Skilled Egyptian Migrants In Oecd Countries, Iman Dawood

Faculty Journal Articles

Within the Middle East and North Africa region, Egypt can certainly be considered the number one emigration country in terms of total number of emigrants1 . But even within a larger pool of countries, the developing countries for instance, Egypt still occupies a position within the list of top ten-emigration countries according to the World Bank2 . Egypt is also amongst the top remittance-receiving countries with only thirteen other countries worldwide receiving a higher level of remittances in the year 20103 . While accounts of the actual number of Egyptian migrants vary greatly due to the unavailability of accurate and …

Health-Related Quality Of Life In The Working Uninsured: Conditional Indirect Effects Of Perceived Stigma Via Vitality And Interpersonal Needs, Preston Lee Visser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stigmatization involves the application of labels to individuals in social contexts, leading to impaired access to social, economic, and political power. Although actual stigmatizing beliefs that society holds about particular groups are important, the extent to which individuals themselves perceive stigma from others and internalize stigmatizing beliefs is being increasingly recognized as a cause of psychological and physical distress. Little research has been done on explanatory mechanisms of the relations between perceived stigma and health outcomes, particularly in the area of stigma related to finances. Two important dimensions of overall health include depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life. According …

The Child And Adult Care Food Program And Food Insecurity, Colleen Heflin, Irma Arteaga, Sara Gable

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

High rates of food insecurity are a significant problem in the United States. It is currently estimated that more than 48.8 million people live in food insecure households, meaning that at some time during the previous year, they were unable to acquire or were uncertain of having enough food to meet basic needs due to inadequate household resources (Coleman-Jensen, Nord, Andrews, & Carlson, 2011). Rates of food insecurity are substantially higher among those in households with incomes below the poverty line (40.2%) and in households with children headed by a single woman (35.1%). Levels of food insecurity increased across U.S. …

Returning To Post-Katrina New Orleans: Exploring The Processes, Barriers, And Decision-Making Of African Americans, Kim Mosby

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study explores the post-Katrina experiences of African Americans in Houston and in New Orleans. When the levees failed, residents from New Orleans were scattered across the country. Houston housed the largest population of displaced low-income African Americans from New Orleans. As the rebuilding process began, housing, employment, education, and healthcare policies in New Orleans changed. These institutional changes employed urban revitalization and poverty removal strategies adapted to disaster recovery. This study differs from previous research by examining these changes with an intersectional approach. It explores how African Americans frame obstacles as they attempt to return to a …

Childhood Income Volatility And Adult Outcomes, Bradley Hardy

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

Using data linked across generations in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I estimate the relationship between exposure to volatile income during childhood and a set of socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood. The empirical framework is an augmented intergenerational income mobility model that includes controls for income volatility. I measure income volatility at the family level in two ways. First, instability as measured by squared deviations around a family-specific mean, and then as percent changes of 25 percent or more. Volatility enters the model both separately and interacted with income level. I find that family income instability during childhood has a …

Decomposing Trends In Income Volatility: The ‘Wild Ride’ At The Top And Bottom, Bradley Hardy, James P. Ziliak

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

We provide a detailed accounting of the trend increase in family income volatility in recent decades by quantifying the contributions of household head earnings, spouse earnings, non-transfer non-labor income, transfer income, and tax payments (inclusive of the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit), along with covariances among the income components. Using twoyear matched panels in the Current Population Survey from 1980 to 2009, we find that the volatility of family income, as measured by the variance of the arc percent change, doubled over the past three decades. The increase in volatility was most pronounced among the top 1% of the income …

The Self-Conscious Gentrifier: The Paradox Of Authenticity And Impact Among "First-Wave Neo-Bohemians" In 2 Changing Neighborhoods, Naomi Bartz, Gordon Douglas

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

Gentrification has been a major factor reshaping North American cities for at least four decades, as well as a vital concern of sociological research. In recent years, there appears to be an increasing awareness of the process among contemporary gentrifiers themselves. This self-conscoiusness is significant on two levels: (1) it is unanticipated by or at least unaccounted for in much of the canonical literature on gentrification, having only recently gained acknowledgement (most notably work by Brown-Saracino that explores aspects of a particular type of self-aware gentrifiier); (2) it is complicating the way many gentrifiers or would-be gentrifiers frame and actively …

Refugees Of The Arab Spring: The Syrian Refugees In Lebanon April 2011-April 2012, Sam Van Vliet, Guita Hourani

Faculty Journal Articles

This review of one year influx of Syrian refugees into Lebanon is meant to reveal the political, communitarian and humanitarian factors that shape the State of Lebanon's policy towards it. The Lebanese government has lately adopted a ‘disassociation’ policy regarding the Syrian conflict with the objective of preventing the spill-over of the conflict and the destabilization of the country. Regional and international powers well understand the reasons for this policy, given Lebanon's geopolitical situation, its history and its 'special ties' with Syria. However, while Lebanon might be able to disassociate itself from the political entanglement of the Syrian crisis, it …

Stratifikasi Sosial Warga Binaan Wanita Di Rutan Pondok Bambu, Reni Kartikawati

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

Basically, social stratification does not occur in a total institution like detention. If it does, it only occurs between the officers and the convicts. However, social stratification apparently occurs among female convicts in Rutan Pondok Bambu. Based on that fact, this research tried to discover the real image of social stratification in Rutan Pondok Bambu; the factors that form the social stratification, and the people who form that social stratification. By using qualitative approach, this research showed that social stratification does occur among convicts in Rutan Pondok Bambu, which, at some level, is the same with the stratification found in …

Homicide By Neighborhood: Mapping New York City’S Violent Crime Drop, Preeti Chauhan, Lauren Kois

Publications and Research

Researchers, scholars, and policymakers interested in the falling rate of violent crime in New York City (NYC) have attempted to pinpoint causes of the welcome trend. Discovering the causes of the city’s crime drop may lead to important lessons for the city itself and may influence policy and practice throughout the state, nation, and perhaps other countries. Researchers have suggested a host of mechanisms that may explain the dramatic decline in violence, but two factors—misdemeanor policing and the transformation of drug markets—continue to receive the most attention. This report focuses on these factors in relation to gun-related homicide rates. It …

Food Fight: A Case Study Of The Community Food Security Coalition’S Campaign For A Fair Farm Bill, Marni Salmon

Capstone Collection

The farm bill is an all-encompassing piece of legislation that is reauthorized approximately every five years and establishes federal policy for everything from farm subsidies and crop insurance to energy, conservation, food stamps and school lunches. The current law expires at the end of September 2012. Reauthorization of the farm bill represents the single largest opportunity to reform the policies that shape food systems in the United States. The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) is campaigning to improve access to healthy food by increasing links with family farmers and to strengthen local and regional food systems. This case study traces …

Land Is Life: A Policy Advocacy Case Study Of The Northern Thailand Land Reform Movement, Jason Lubanski

Capstone Collection

This case study provides an in-depth examination of the work of the Thailand Northern Land Reform Movement using the framework of Jeff Unsicker's "Policy Advocacy Circles". Due to increasing population pressures, the liberalization of land markets, and agribusiness pressures, Thailand has experienced an increase in land ownership inequality and a growing number of landless and nearly landless small-scale farmers. In order to address this situation, agricultural communities have joined together at local and national levels to fight for the legislation of land reform policies, including Community Land Titles, progressive land taxes, and a National Land Bank to assist with land …

Effects Of Leadership And Trauma On Grassroots Community Development In Post-Conflict/Genocide Societies: A Rwandan Case Study, Bryna C. Ramsey

Capstone Collection

This research paper is an analysis of a grassroots, agricultural project carried out from 2010 to 2011 in Gitarama Cell, a rural community in Rwanda, East Africa, during my United States Peace Corps Volunteer service (2009-2011). The project began as the Twizere Agriculture Club at Gitarama Primary School. The goal of the club was to increase food security among community members through rabbit and chicken husbandry, and the study of such agriculture techniques as composting, double digging, and the establishment of microgardens.

Despite the acknowledged need for this club, the Twizere Agriculture Club project met multiple constraints that affected its …

Water Security And Management In Burkina Faso: How Socio-Political And Cultural Complexities Affect Development, Megan M. Godfrey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Burkina Faso is currently ranked as the 175^th poorest country out of 177. In addition to over 50% of the population living in poverty, Burkina Faso is challenged with droughts and lack of adequate water system infrastructure. The agricultural nation is dependent on water to grow and harvest crops, as almost 80% of the farming done in the nation is for sustenance. This paper will address the role culture plays in water systems; how gender relations, and cultural practices influence water management and sanitation systems. In addition, this paper will examine how current systems in place are changing and …

Refugee Resettlement In America: The Iraqi Refugee Experience In Upstate, New York, Christine M. Fandrich

Faculty Journal Articles

This study will document the experiences of Iraqi refugees resettled in a small Upstate, N.Y. city in order to examine resettlement and integration outcomes regarding this population. Research regarding Iraqi refugees and their resettlement before and after the 2003 US-led invasion are few, and therefore this case study will contribute to the literature on Iraqi refugees after resettlement. This study will find that previous theories of integration are inadequate to fully explain the integration of Iraqi refugees as these theories do not take into account: 1) pre-arrival/home related factors; 2) post-arrival/ host related factors; and 3) individual motives and intentions …

Refugee Resettlement In America: The Iraqi Refugee Experience In Upstate, New York, Christine M. Fandrich

Faculty Journal Articles

This study will document the experiences of Iraqi refugees resettled in a small Upstate, N.Y. city in order to examine resettlement and integration outcomes regarding this population. Research regarding Iraqi refugees and their resettlement before and after the 2003 US-led invasion are few, and therefore this case study will contribute to the literature on Iraqi refugees after resettlement. This study will find that previous theories of integration are inadequate to fully explain the integration of Iraqi refugees as these theories do not take into account: 1) pre-arrival/home related factors; 2) post-arrival/host related factors; and 3) individual motives and intentions of …

Pioneers Of Youth Justice Reform: Achieving System Change Using Resolution, Reinvestment, And Realignment Strategies, Douglas N. Evans

Publications and Research

In the past three decades, state and local governments implemented various reform strategies to reduce the youth justice system’s reliance on confinement facilities and serve as many youths as possible in their own homes or at least in their own communities when removal from the home is warranted. The various reform strategies may be conceptualized as relying on three distinct but interrelated mechanisms: resolution, reinvestment, and realignment (Butts and Evans 2011). Resolution refers to the use of managerial authority and administrative directives to influence system change; reinvestment entails using financial incentives to encourage system change, and realignment employs organizational and …

The Convergence Of Science And Culture: Developing A Framework For Diabetes Education In Tribal Communities, Michelle Chino Dr, Carolee Dodge Francis, Lemyra Debruyn, Lynn Short, Dawn Satterfield

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

In an unprecedented effort to address the epidemic of diabetes in tribal communities, the Diabetes Education in Tribal Schools project brought together a group of individuals from eight tribal colleges and three federal agencies to develop a diabetes prevention curriculum for American Indian and Alaska Native school children. The curriculum incorporates Western and Native science with culturally responsive teaching techniques. Both the project and its evaluation process have reached beyond conventional bounds to acknowledge fundamental issues of tribal culture, history and health and the integration of science, culture, and community. This article will discuss the challenges and rewards of the …