Abstracts of
Articles for the Spring/Summer 2015
Issue of
Sociation Today
- Modern Patterns
of Racial Transition: Comparing
Northeast and Southern Metropolitan
Areas
by Richard G. Moye, Jr.
This study
uses census data to examine the
prevalence of neighborhoods which
rapidly transition from majority white
to majority black in three
metropolitan areas from 1990 to
2010. The Philadelphia MSA is
compared to the Charlotte, NC MSA and
the Raleigh, NC MSA. Findings:
transition areas are more prevalent in
Philadelphia, and much less prevalent
in Raleigh. In all three
metropolitan areas transition areas
have below average home value
appreciation. Implications are
discussed, including the relevance to
the black-white wealth
gap.
- An Exploration
of the Effects of Work/Family Roles,
Gender-Role Attitudes and
Demographics on Normative Drinking
Rates
by Susan Bullers
Over the past several
decades a convergence trend has been
shown between men’s and women’s
drinking rates, due largely to
decreases in men’s drinking. Using
the National Survey of Families and
Households data, this study explores
the effects of demographic and
work/family role factors on gender
differences in normative drinking
rates. Results suggests that having
children in the home and number of
housework hours were negatively
associated with drinking status but
more so for women than for men. For
men and women, college experience,
employment and non-traditional
gender role attitudes were
positively associated with drinking
status. Age, southern
residence and religion were
negatively associated with drinking
status. Marriage, traditional gender
role attitudes and surprisingly,
past college experience, were
negatively associated with drinking
quantity for men. Having children at
home was negatively associated with
drinking quantity for women.
Findings are discussed with respect
to changing family roles,
demographics and emerging drinking
patterns.
- Helping
Displaced Workers: A Case
Study of Human Capital and
Community Factors
by Samuel
J. Grubbs, Sabrina L. Speights and Beth
A. Rubin
In 2003,
about 4,800 employees were laid
off when Pillowtex/Cannon Mills
ceased operations in Kannapolis,
NC. About 1/3 of the former
workers took advantage of
government support through the
Trade Adjustment Assistance
program and attended
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College
to retrain for new employment
opportunities. Traditional human
capital theory proposes that
additional education would lead to
higher salaries. Our research is a
case study to assess the
applicability of human capital
theory when examining
post-displacement educational
opportunities. The researchers
interviewed 42 former employees 10
years after the plant closed to
consider the role of education
post-displacement in their
employment. The results indicate
that although education does
support post-displacement work,
the effect varies based on other
factors including the person’s
age, background, and connections
with the community. An implication
of our research is that policy
efforts that do not account
sufficiently for community
characteristics are less likely to
be effective in addressing the
re-employment efforts of displaced
workers.
- Perceptions of
Music Majors and Music Performance
Students on the Use of Music as
Torture in the War on Terror
by John Paul and Stephanie
K. Decker
This study is a
replication and extension of earlier
research by Cusick (2006) and
examines attitudes of American music
majors and music performance
students regarding the use of music
as a tool in the "war on terror."
While the American military's use of
music and sound as a technique of
interrogation on prisoners in the
“global war on terror” has been well
documented by journalists, little
knowledge of these practices is held
by students of music. With this in
mind, this paper reveals information
from focus group interviews
conducted with music majors. Here,
we find that the majority of
students generally trivialize the
idea of music as a form of torture.
However, when we asked them how they
would feel if music they had created
was used to inflict pain on another
person, attitudes changed
dramatically. With the thought of
their music being used in ways alien
to them and without their permission
many spoke in descriptors citing
anger, sadness, and sickness.
This article is all about teaching
sociology and provides an example
which other professors may find of
interest.
- Funding the Tea
Parties
by Thomas J. Keil and
Jacqueline M. Keil
Using
a graphic presentation, the authors
explore how 32 foundations and one
corporation have supplied funds to the
5 organizations involved in actively
mobilizing tea party activists, a case
of following the money. Most of
the foundations have a website, and
key information for each is supplied
in the article. Finally, the
authors use what is commonly called
critical sociology to present the
opposite case of what is outlined as
the goal of many of the
foundations. The authors
conclude by noting that there has been
a loss of critical intelligence both
in bourgeois liberalism and in the
workers' movement, as thought has come
to be reduced to the cash nexus, with
all that implies.
- In Memory of
Sociologist Robert K. Miller,
Jr. 1949-2015
by Stephen McNamee and Cecil
Willis
©
2015 by Sociation Today
A Member of the EBSCO
Publishing Group
Abstracted in
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The Editorial Board of Sociation Today
Editorial Board:
Editor:
George H. Conklin,
North Carolina
Central University
Emeritus
Robert Wortham,
Associate Editor,
North Carolina
Central University
Board:
Rebecca Adams,
UNC-Greensboro
Bob Davis,
North Carolina
Agricultural and
Technical State
University
Catherine Harris,
Wake Forest
University
Ella Keller,
Fayetteville
State University
Ken Land,
Duke University
Steve McNamee,
UNC-Wilmington
Miles Simpson,
North Carolina
Central University
William Smith,
N.C. State University
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