摘要:

Americans are rapidly becoming an ethnically plural people. Not only are there many different peoples in the U.S., but a sharply increasing number of individuals are coming to have and to recognize multiple ethnic strains within themselves. The current literature on ethnicity is inadequate, for it assumes that people have only single ethnic identities when, in fact, many people, like Pacific Islander Americans, have long held multiethnic identities. Drawing on survey data and interviews as well as literary sources, this article analyzes the features of Pacific Islander American multiethnic identity: it is situational; individuals commonly simplify their ethnicity in practical living; and people with multiple ancestries are admitted to group membership on much the same basis as people with single ancestries. The bases of Pacific Islander American ethnicity include ancestry, family, practice, and place.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/73.4.1365

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1995

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This project uses 1990 General Social Survey data to address an issue that is central to current public policy debates: How is the racial perspective of whites affected by firsthand exposure to race-targeted remedies, such as workplace affirmative action? Theories giving a central role to self-interest generate predictions that race-targeted intervention will evoke white backlash. Contrary predictions are suggested by evidence that school, employment, and housing desegregation brought attitude shifts toward congruence with institutional policy.Comparing reports from white workers whose employers do and do not practice affirmative action, we find no indication that proximity to this form of race targeting creates white resentment and polarizes the groups involved. Instead, the fait accompli dynamic seems to operate: Whites from affirmative-action firms are more supportive of certain race-targeted remedies and more likely to hold beliefs that serve as rationales for intervention on behalf of minorities.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/73.4.1385

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1995

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This study explores contemporary regional variations in African American religious life. Building on a rich tradition of historical and ethnographic research on the Black church, we contrast the religious environments that have traditionally prevailed in the Black communities of the rural South and urban non-South. We emphasize regional variations in (1) the social role of religious institutions, (2) the availability of alternative lifestyles and secular opportunities for status and resources, and (3) the social norms and community expectations regarding church involvement A series of hypotheses regarding patterns and correlates of church participation are then tested, using data from the National Survey of Black Americans. Findings indicate that historical regional variations in African American religious life persist in the contemporary period. Moreover, our results suggest that the rural southern Black church retains its traditional “semi-involuntary” character, and we discuss the broader theoretical implications of this issue for future research in the sociology of religion.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/73.4.1415

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1995

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This article analyzes the organizational correlates of fraud in the savings and loan industry. We test the hypothesis that during the 1980s institutions that departed from the traditional activities of thrifts to embark on high-growth, high-risk strategies were more likely to be vehicles for fraud than were institutions that retained a more traditional focus. The results of an analysis of data from a sample of 686 insolvent savings and loan institutions support the hypothesis; stock-owned thrifts, those with a relatively low proportion of home mortgage loans, those with a high proportion of their assets in direct investments, and those that experienced high asset growth were the vehicles for the most costly and frequent incidents of suspected crime. These findings are related to theoretical issues regarding the role of organizations in white-collar crime.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/73.4.1439

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1995

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

In this study, we address the relationship between an often overlooked dimension of family structure — the spacing between children's births — and the degree to which parents bestow economic capital on their children. Our focus is on parental economic transfers to children at the point when such investments are not viewed as obligatory — that is, when their children approach young adulthood. Analysis of data from High School and Beyond documents a strong negative effect of close spacing on three indicators of parental economic investments. The use of alternative measures of spacing produces strikingly similar patterns. These results underscore the importance of examining spacing as it relates to parental investments and the utility of studying sheer economic exchanges, not just social ones, across generations.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/73.4.1465

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1995

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Research on the socioeconomic correlates of mental health has tended to focus either on aggregate-level indicators of status, such as the economic deprivation of a neighborhood, or on individual-level indicators, such as income. In this article, we combine the two approaches by estimating models to evaluate the independent and joint contributions of family poverty and residential characteristics to children's mental health. The data are from the 1988 Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data set. Family poverty and residential characteristics independently predict children's mental health. Family poverty also interacts with some residential characteristics when predicting mental health, although the interactions vary substantially by race/ethnicity. For example, poor Hispanic children living with same-race peers are in better mental health than poor Hispanic children who are culturally isolated but the same interaction is not observed in other groups. In general, the effects of poverty and residential characteristics are stronger for Hispanics and American Indians than they are for blacks and whites.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/73.4.1487

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1995

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This study draws on a life course perspective and event history methods to analyze the factors affecting the rate of women's school reentry following marriage and motherhood. We use a panel data archive of women born between 1905 and 1933 who were married and had children at the time of their first interviews in 1956 and draw on life histories collected during a second interview in 1986. Key variables related to an increase in the rate of school reentry include higher levels of prior education, holding nontraditional gender-role orientations, and life course experiences such as divorce and part-time employment. Further, more recent cohorts of women are more likely to return to school than those born earlier in the century.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/73.4.1517

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1995

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This study examines haw class, gender, socialization, and member selectivity relate to the importance members of a higher-status women's organization attach to community problems. Most members come from the traditional, business-oriented middle class and politically moderate upper class. They see child welfare and health, education, substance abuse, adolescent issues, economic well-being and environment as the most important issues, but adopt establishment-oriented approaches to solving them. Lowest ratings go to issues associated with confrontational activism or the liberal agenda — citizen involvement, urban revitalization, and race relations — and cultural enrichment. Class standing, personal characteristics, and length of membership are little related to importance ratings, nor do newer members have more diverse views. The organization evidently achieves consensus by attracting members with similar views rather than by socialization.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/73.4.1553

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1995

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Previous research has suggested that individuals benefit from having associates who are similar to themselves on a variety of dimensions. This article develops a theoretical basis for predicting which types of similarity are most important in determining whether associates will be sources of social support or interpersonal stress. Drawing upon theories of homophily and reference groups, we suggest that experiential similarity (e.g., having experienced a similar status transition) is more important than structural similarity (e.g., similarity of age, gender, marital status) in determining sources of emotional support and stress following life events. The theoretical arguments are supported by data from two separate longitudinal studies of social networks following status transitions; specifically, returning to school and becoming the primary caregiver to an elderly parent.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/73.4.1573

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1995

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

The view that homeownership leads to conservative social and political attitudes is widely held by contemporary social theorists across a wide political spectrum. Oddly, little empirical research has been conducted to assess the overall impact of homeownership on political attitudes. Confirmatory factor analysis which broke down political attitudes into six dimensions measuring civil liberties, women's rights, sexual tolerance, domestic spending, inner-city problems, and socialism along with two additional variables measuring voting behavior showed no direct statistically significant impact on six of the eight dependent variables. A strong positive relationship was found between owning a home and voting. Given these results, the traditional theoretical proposition of a relationship between homeownership and a conservative political ideology needs to be reexamined.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/73.4.1589

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1995

数据来源: OUP