Editorial Board:
Editor:
George H. Conklin,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Board:
Bob Davis,
 North Carolina
 Agricultural and
 Technical State
 University

Richard Dixon,
 UNC-Wilmington

Ken Land,
 Duke University

Miles Simpson,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Ron Wimberley,
 N.C. State University

Robert Wortham,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Editorial Assistants

Rob Tolliver,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Shannon O'Connor,
 North Carolina
 Central University

John W.M. Russell,
 Technical
 Consultant

® 
Volume 5, Number 1

Spring 2007

Outline of Articles

1. Race, Immigration and Economic Restructuring in New Urbanism:  New Orleans as a Case Study
   by Olivia Hetzler, Veronica E. Medina, and David Overfelt 
   Scholars tend to discuss gentrification in a colorblind fashion which suggests that gentrification is solely a classed process.  It is not.  In this article, we move our attention away from a discussion on the colorblind features of New Urbanism to focus on how the shift from an industrial economy to a post-industrial service economy in New Urban "World Cities" creates a push that drives local minorities away from the city and a pull that draws new stakeholders into the city. 
2. Facilitating Sociological Inquiry into Spatial Displacement with GIS 
   by Christopher A. Badurek
   Spatial displacement is recognized in the social sciences as being exceptionally difficult to analyze due to its complex nature and interlinked spatiotemporal relationships.  This paper describes how geographic information systems (GIS) can be used to facilitate analysis of spatial displacement and the sociological use of GIS to enhance research and teaching in sociology. 
3. Exploring Health Disparities Affected by Stressful Life Events: Are Older African Americans at Greater Risk?
   by Jeffrey D. Brooks, Eva Kahana, Andre Nauta and Boaz Kahana 
   We tested the double jeopardy hypothesis that predicts health disparities for minorities in later life.  The research design allowed an investigation of race differences in mental health and stress for a group of comparably compensated retirees. We found virtually no support for the hypothesis that blacks would experience more stress or be more vulnerable to it. 
4. The Changing Status of Islamic Women: A Sociological Analysis of Zeenat Marches in the President's Funeral
   by Dana M. Greene and James R. Peacock 
   Using a literary approach, it is possible to understand the changing role of women in an Islamic culture.  Explored are the relationships between husbands and wives and the growth of governmental influence in the life of an ordinary woman as socio-economic development takes place and a society moves into a more industrialized mode of economic production. 
5. Fertility and Family Planning Among Immigrant Afghan Women in an Iranian City: A Research Note
   by Ali Asghar Moghadas, Sajede Vaezzade, and Akbar Aghajanian 
   Recent estimates of fertility level of women in Afghanistan suggest that Afghan women have a very high fertility level as they marry young and continue to have children through the end of reproductive period.  However, when Afghan women move to Iran as immigrants, they quickly adopt the fertility patterns of Iran.  On the average the Afghan immigrant women  in Iran has three children fewer than the average number of children ever born to women in Afghanistan. 
6. The Value of Children to Iranian Parents
   by Mohammad Taghi Iman and Maryam Soroush 
   What do parents feel the value of children might be?  Using rational choice theory, the effect of having children was measured by their aggregate social, economic and emotional value.  The results show that age, gender, occupation and the experience of having raised a child did not correlate with the value of children.  However, marital status, family size, family income and especially religiosity all play a meaningful part in determining the value of children. 
7. Alfred Hitchcock and Sociological Theory: Parsons Goes to the Movies
   by Mathieu Deflem
   The teaching of sociological theory aims for students to gain an adequate comprehension of theoretical developments in the discipline as well as understand and practice the value of theory in the empirical analysis of society.  To show the pragmatic qualities of theory in a useful and enjoyable way, films can be used as reservoirs of empirical data that theories can analyze in various  ways.  The article describes a graduate seminar in which an analysis of movies by Alfred Hitchcock shows the Parsonian perspective on the role of family in society. 
8. On-Line Resources for Teaching an Introductory Social Justice Course 
   by Jacqueline Keil 
   It is often difficult to interest students in a course in social justice using just textbooks.  It is now possible to use free, on-line resources that positively affect student interest, comprehension, and participation in a course.  Such a course is described.  Links to suggested materials are provided.
9. Comparing On-Line to In-Person Course Delivery: An Empirical Study 
   by Jammie Price and Leslie Hossfeld
   Web-based technologies have been used in the classroom for over 15 years, including websites, email, listserves, library reserves, and text books. Among these options, social scientists range widely in their web usage – from simply posting syllabi on-line to delivering a course fully on-line in asynchronous learning networks.  Use of web-based technology for instructional purposes is increasing, as is enrollment in distance education courses and on-line course offerings.  Many administrators and faculty promote on-line instruction as the solution to managing increased college enrollments, particularly among non-traditional students.   However, are the academic outcomes of on-line instruction similar to traditional in-person instruction?  Few empirical studies have been done.   This is unfortunate.  The results of an experiment to evaluate the relative effectiveness of on-line verses an in-person course on sociological research are presented.  Unfortunately the on-line participants did much worse than the in-person course. 

©2007 by the North Carolina Sociological Association