by ryan on
May 01, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Article: Hagan, Jacqueline, Karl Eschbach, and Nestor Rodriguez. 2008. “U.S. Deportation Policy, Family Separation, and Circular Migration.” International Migration Review 42(1): 64-88.
Summary:
Stringent immigration laws and increasing deportation of non-citizens may have many more social consequences than Americans realize—just ask the deportees.
Over the past two decades the U.S. has passed a series of immigration reforms that make it easier and quicker to deport noncitizens, increasing the number of deportees from 40,000 a year in the early 1990s to 208,000 in 2005. To understand the effect of increasing deportation, Hagan, Eschbach, and Rodriguez (International Migration Review 2008) draw on a random sample of 300 Salvadoran deportees in their home communities. They find current U.S. immigration policy pose dire social costs for deportees and their families.
Other than the obvious psychological costs of leaving long-established family and work ties, many deportees also noted the financial burden placed on their families. On the one hand, deportees are likely to have families and dependents in the U.S. Since 95% of deportees are male, this takes away the main breadwinner from the family and may lead to a greater reliance on the state. On the other hand, 72% of deportees remit to extended family (especially parents) in El Salvador. Remittances in the small isthmus nation surpass national exports as a source of foreign exchange and many families rely on the cash flow for survival. When noncitizens are deported, they put both families in jeopardy.
While contention over immigration will not be solved anytime soon, it would serve us well to remember Emma Lazarus’ words inscribed on the statue of liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor…”
by ryan on
May 01, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Article: Keister, Lisa A. 2008. “Conservative Protestants and Wealth: How Religion Perpetuates Asset Poverty.” American Journal of Sociology 113(5): 1237-1271.
Summary:
Praying may have been found to have positive psychological benefits, but it may not necessarily bring you wealth—especially if you are a conservative Protestant (CP).
According to Lisa Keister (American Journal of Sociology 2008), conservative protestant maintain specific cultural values that limit asset accumulation over the life course. Lower educational achievement expectations, early fertility, large family size, and limited labor force participation are partially responsible for curbing wealth.
Religious beliefs also lower accumulation among conservative Protestants. Because adherents believe that money belongs to God, they seek divine guidance in managing their wealth and avoid amassing more than they need. Doing so reduces accumulation over time as CPs don’t reap the benefits of compounding interest and reduces the wealth inherited by the next generation.
Along with beliefs, Keister found that the longer a person was a member of the church [church membership duration], the more likely they were to have lower assets. Conservative Protestants raised and maintained their faith had the lowest wealth; those who were raised as CP and subsequently left the church had the second lowest wealth; and those who only joined the faith as an adult were least disadvantaged. More exposure to this value set left member’s with less resources.
Known for its high levels of inequality and religiosity, the U.S. offers an important case study in understanding how religion may inadvertently cause poverty.
by ryan on
Apr 23, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Article: Social Inequalities in Happiness in the United States, 1972-2004: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis. American Sociological Review, 2008 (73: 2)
Summary:
As Americans age, are they happier in their golden years? In short, Yang Yang (ASR April 2008) argues that, for most, with age comes happiness, but in varying amounts depending who you are.
Following a very shallow upside-down “U” curve, American find they happier as they age, peaking in their late fifties and finally declining in their late seventies. However, specific cohorts were found to be less likely to enjoy the the benefits of maturity. Notably, “baby boomers” experienced less happiness, which may be caused by the formative experience of growing up during a high population era. Increased competition in school and the labor market may have had a lasting impact on this group.
Other than cohort, privilege was also found to be important in determining happiness. While privilege in the forms of wealth, education, gender, and race, give some people a heads up throughout much of the life course, as people grow older, these benefits equalize. The economic advantage is washed away as previous social welfare benefits such as health care are the same for everyone. Elders must also negotiate similar life events such as the death of loved ones and a breaking down of social support, ironing out any significant differences.
Yang’s findings give us something to think about as our hair grays and our pace slows — carpe diem.
by ryan on
Apr 21, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Article: “The Story of My Life”: AIDS and ‘Autobiographical Occasions’. Qualitative Sociology, 2008 31: 37-56
Summary:
Stories are an ubiquitous part of everyday communication. People use stories (narratives) to give color and context to changes in their lives or in the world, especially when it is a life changing event. In this article Leonard and Ellen recognize that the narratives given by women who are HIV positive and poor are often similar to the narratives told by institutions. They argue these narratives shape the women tell their story, even though the institutional stories may not fit the storylines of these women.
by ryan on
Jan 17, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Article: Negotiating Borders with Valores del Rancho. Latin American Perspectives, January 2008
Summary: Based on an ethnographic study of second generation Mexican immigrants in the U.S. and who have returned to Mexico, Mary A. Petron argues the immigration experience forces the participants to negotiate class status. Interviewees who returned to Mexico found they did not fit in with the lower class or the middle class. As children of the lower class, immigrants felt that they had learned the culture or values of that class such as hard work, saving money, and a commitment to family. Once they moved back to Mexico, with a middle-class lifestyle and speaking English, they felt disconnected from their poorer compatriots financially as well as disconnected from the middle class in terms of values. They therefore found a “third space” from which to mediate their new status.
by ryan on
Jan 17, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Article: Schwartzman, Luisa Farah. “Does Money Whiten?” American Sociological Review. , December 2007.
Summary: So does money whiten in Brazil? In a word, Schwartzman argues yes. This is for two reasons. First, more educated nonwhite parents are more likely to marry white and less likely to marry nonwhites. Second, more-educated interracial couples label their children white more often than do less-educated interracial couples.
The most interesting aspect of this article in my opinion is the structural buffer the upper-class, and especially the white upper-class, has erected. As the author notes, “By maintaining rigid class boundaries with poor nonwhites (by both marrying within their social class and imposing restraints on upward mobility of nonwhites…), the white elite isolates itself from nonwhites and imposes its standards (and incorporates into its families) the few nonwhites who share their elite status. For the same reason, nonwhites who move up are not able to break the system of racial hierarchy in the long run, because their children are often incorporated into the white group.” 958-9
***It is important to note that, in Brazil, educational attainment is a proxy for socio-economic status as we understand it in the U.S. Therefore, the dependent variable used by Schwartzman is parent education.
by ryan on
Jan 17, 2008 at 11:58 am
Article: Structural Influences on Energy Production in South and East Asia, 1971-2002. Sociological Forum, December 2007
Summary:
A number of competing theories on the environmental consequences of globalization and modernization and environmental degradation have been proposed over the last several decades.
These debates include:
- Neoliberal theories [“economic production is not necessarily as connected to natural resource exploitation as many believe” 534];
- Economic theories i.e. environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis [negative environmental impacts follow an inverted U curve during the modernization process];
- Ecological modernization [less negative environmental impact as modernization ideas are diffused through the institutions of developing countries];
- Neo-Marxist and [modernization drives environmental degradation];
- world-systems theory [wealthy core dominate global economy and utilize a disproportionate share of the world’s natural resources];
- Metabolic rift thesis [urbanization will consistently lead to the expansion of energy production and environmental degradation].
To assess these theories, York utilizes fourteen economies in Asia over twenty years as data in a magical multivariate cross-sectional time-series analysis. He concludes: 1. population growth is a key force driving the expansin of energy production; 2. modernization generally leads to an escalation in energy production; 3. In terms of globalization, the data supports world-systems theories as export intensity and debt service payments lead to higher rates of energy production.; and 4.“Modernization and globalization are key forces driving natural resource exploitation and the environmental problems stemming from them” 551.
by ryan on
Jan 17, 2008 at 11:25 am
Article: Spillover or Spillout? The Global Justice Movement in the United States After 9/11. Mobilization, December 2007
Summary: Global Justice activism declined in the U.S. after 9/11 not because activism was down but because: 1. there was a more repressive atmosphere in the U.S.; 2. a politically inspired linkage between global terrorism and transnational activism of all kinds; and 3. social movement spillout.
Spillout is defined as “the hollowing-out of a social movement when its activists shift their activities to a cognate, but differently structured, movement.” 360.
The authors argue “the shift of activism from global justice to the antiwar movement, which we term ‘social movement spillout,’ is the most important reason for the decline of the former movement.” 371 In fact, “many of the groups who participated in global justice protests eventually reappeared in peace demonstrations, and many others turned their attention into electoral politics.” 371
The idea of spillout is a positive theoretical contribution mapping the shifts of activist energy between movements.