Power in Dayton: A Replication of the Bonjean Technique in a Medium Size City

Abstract

In recent years, the relationship between personal bankruptcy and stigma has generated much discussion and speculation. However, virtually no research has examined the experiences of bankrupt debtors themselves. In this paper, we provide an analysis of bankruptcy stigma based on thirty-seven in-depth interviews with 19 married couples who filed for personal bankruptcy in 1999. The data demonstrate that stigma is a pervasive feature of contemporary personal bankruptcy and that bankrupt debtors rely upon a wide range of stigma management techniques employed by other stigmatized groups. We conclude by considering the implications of our findings for continued research on personal bankruptcy in the U.S. and for understanding, more broadly, the strategies and struggles for social agency among stressed and marginalized populations.     

Replication as a Verification Technique in Survey Research: A Paradigm

Replication is one of several methodological techniques that contributes to the verification of survey research data. A critique of the literature on replication reveals that limited systematic attention has been given to its various functions in the process of verification. A replication paradigm is formulated to clarify terminology and functions. The paradigm consists of four major replication types: retest, internal, independent, and theoretical. These are analyzed and illustrated by published replication studies. An argument is offered in favor of the increased use of replication in survey research.     

Facilitating Online Learning Communities: A Comparison of Two Discussion Facilitation Techniques

ABSTRACT

The advent of the twenty-first century has brought a proliferation of web-based courses in higher education. While prior studies have examined the comparability of online and traditional courses, a better understanding of effective pedagogical strategies to enhance online learning is needed. This study compared two distinct approaches to facilitating discussions in relation to participation rates, interaction patterns, depth of cognitive processing, and learning outcomes in two sections of an online course. Significant differences were found between sections (N = 41) in the frequency and types of interaction among students as well as in learning outcomes.     

The role of marriage in linguistic contact and variation: Two Hmong dialects in Texas1

The role of marriage in linguistic contact and variation has been under‐represented in sociolinguistic research. In any practice‐based analysis, individual interactions and relationships are crucial. Therefore, marriage relationships – small but intense communities of practice – deserve variationist attention for their role in dialect construction and identity. This investigation of cross‐dialectal marriages explores how dialect practices and choices are negotiated between partners. The results show the importance of viewing this linguistic behavior in terms of community ideology, culture, and individual choice, rather than primarily as a matter of the amount and intensity of contact. Likewise, the study shows how less commonly studied minority communities can bring new insights to the study of dialect acquisition and linguistic contact. Specifically, this investigation focuses on marriages between speakers of two different dialects of Hmong, a Hmong‐Mien language of Southeast Asia. On the basis of home visits to ten Hmong immigrant households in Texas, the study analyzes lexical and phonetic contrasts and ethnographic interviews. Results suggest that macro‐level shifts in Hmong social organization and gender roles are being reflected and constructed by gendered, marriage‐level dialect practices. The linguistic behavior in these marriages is best viewed as a matter of community ideology in tension with individual choice: individual wives are choosing to challenge the traditional Hmong ideology regarding language behavior in cross‐dialect marriages.     

Visible,Symbolic, and Concealed Leaders in a Kentucky County: A Replication and Comparisons With Other Communities*

The main leaders of a large rural county were identified and classed into visible, symbolic, and concealed leader-types by Bonjean's technique. The composition of each type was summarized. The leadership pattern in this county was found to be distinctly different from the leadership pattern of places previously studied. Leaders were more visible and had stronger anchorage to public offices. Little variation existed in the locations of the leader-types in the generalized social structure of the community. The typology was, nonetheless, useful. It served as a good index for the factional and clique memberships of the leaders, which were recognized as crucial in the decision-making structure of the county.     

ETHNIC ENCLOSURE OR ETHNIC COMPETITION: Ethnic Identification Among Hispanics in Texas

Recent theoretical debates have focused on the utility of two alternative perspectives on ethnic identification. However, empirical support for either is neither consistent nor conclusive and previous analyses seldom conceptually or empirically examine the aggregate macrostructural determinants of ethnic identification. This study reevaluates the relative merits of the ethnic enclosure and ethnic competition perspectives among Texan Hispanics using aggregate 1980 Census of Population data for 139 Texas cities with large Hispanic populations. The rejection of the ethnic enclosure thesis in some recent research is unwarranted, as the empirical evidence provides it substantial support and little for the ethnic competition perspective. Further analyses of structural factors in ethnic identification are merited.     

Beyond the Farmgate: Factors Related to Agricultural Performance in Two Dairy Communities1

Abstract This study compares the logic of agricultural production across two dairy farming communities in the Northeast using a measure of agricultural performance as the dependent variable. Both communities have similar farm structural and environmental characteristics, but significantly different levels of agricultural performance. Our analysis indicates that dairy farmers in both communities are following the same basic path toward the optimization of milk production, but achieving quite different results. A comparison of structural factors shows that the high-production community is in a more advantageous position than the low-production community in terms of opportunities for formal education, access to markets, and proximity to an urban center. Acknowledgment of structural differences across agricultural communities is crucial to the development of adequate sociological theory, agricultural policy, and extension programming.     

Pushing the Boundaries: Responses to Ethnic Conformity Pressure in Two Turkish Communities in Belgium

Previous research has demonstrated that ethnic communities try to maintain ethnic boundaries through group pressure to conform to premigration cultural patterns, which mainly happens indirectly through social control. So far however, little attention has been given to how group members respond to this indirect ethnic conformity pressure, as well as to the factors that shape these responses. Drawing on in-depth interviews with second- and third-generation Turkish Belgians, we examine and explain different responses to ethnic conformity pressure and link these to ethno-cultural change and boundary change. We distinguish three negotiation strategies, namely conformity, creativity and disregard, and find that the choice for a particular strategy is first and foremost shaped by the agent’s gender, their embeddedness in the Turkish community, and the availability of an alternative support network, both of which are shaped by exclusion in the larger society. In addition, also the severity of the norm violation, the social structure of the community and parental expectations play a role. Findings are interpreted in terms of ethnic boundary dynamics, and implications for ethno-cultural change are discussed.     

Exploring the Ebbs and Flows of Community Engagement: The Pyramid of Engagement and Water Activism in Two Canadian Communities

In this article, we share results from a comparative study exploring the dynamics of community engagement surrounding local water advocacy organizations in two Canadian communities. Although emergent local issues and the perception of crisis triggered some short-term community engagement, social factors such as collective identity, a sense of community, and sense of efficacy appear to be more important for sustaining and deepening engagement. Drawing on the results, we show how the pyramid of engagement, by depicting activist engagement as a multilevel, developmental process, can serve as a useful tool for community engagement scholars and practitioners alike.     

Questioning the Notion of Feminine Leadership: A Critical Perspective on the Gender Labelling of Leadership

Traditionally, leadership has been equated with masculinity. Managerial jobs, at least in business and on senior levels, have been defined as a matter of instrumentality, autonomy, result‐orientation, etc. something which is not particularly much in line with what is broadly assumed to be typical for females. Today, however, there seems to be a broad interest in leadership being more participatory, non‐hierarchical, flexible and group‐oriented. These new ideas on leadership are often seen by students of gender as indicating a feminine orientation. This article argues that it is necessary to critically discuss the whole idea of gender labelling leadership as masculine or feminine and suggests that we should be very careful and potentially aware of the unfortunate consequences when we use gender labels. Constructing leadership as feminine may be of some value as a contrast to conventional ideas on leadership and management but may also create a misleading impression of women's orientation to leadership as well as reproducing stereotypes and the traditional gender division of labour.     

Inscribing Gender in Rural Development: Industrial Homework in Two Midwestern Communities1

Abstract A resurgence of informal economic work, such as home-working, occurred in some rural areas during the 1970s and the 1980s. In two midwestern communities, an employer of industrial homeworkers was recruited in an effort to boost the local economy with new jobs. In these communities, ideas about women's roles in households and the labor market are crucial to the states' ability to couple industrial homeworking with rural community development. Industrial homeworking as development in the United States shows how development goals support and maintain the sexual division of labor in households and in the local labor market. Personal interviews and archival documents form the basis of the case study data. These data are content-analyzed for themes about the process of development and the relationship of the local states and industrial firms.     

The Replication Problem in Sociology: A Report and a Suggestion*

The deleterious effects of joint bias in favor of statistical inference and against replication are becoming well known. The acceptance of numerous Type I errors into the literature is by far the most serious of these. Data on the contents of three major journals support the contention that a joint bias for statistical significance tests, for rejections, and against replication exists in modern sociology. This finding replicates that of Sterling (1959) for psychology. A speculative analysis of the dynamics of publication decisions suggests that a compact format for reporting replications might make their publication more attractive to editors, and thus increase their frequency in the literature. A possible format for briefly reporting replication studies is suggested.     

The Experience of Learning EFT in Spanish-speaking Countries: A Multi-National Replication Study

This study is a multi-national follow-up to the original (Sandberg and Knestel (2011) Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 37, 393–410) article on the process of learning Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT). A total of 102 clinicians from nine Spanish-speaking countries (Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, and El Salvador) participated in the study. A comparison of results across the two studies revealed more similarities than differences. However, a few notable differences emerged from responses to qualitative questions, namely a heightened sense of appreciation for and resonance with the focus on core emotion in EFT and less frequent reports of difficulty learning and adapting to the model among Spanish-speaking therapists. These differences were consistent with common cultural values and forms of expression in Latin America and Spain. Results are discussed in terms of training, supervision, and future research as well.     

Before Crisis: Gender and Economic Outcomes of the Two Largest Immigrant Communities in Spain1

In this study, we compare labor force outcomes of the two largest immigrant communities in Spain (Moroccans and Romanians) before the economic crisis hit. We are interested in understanding if and how gender influences the labor force outcomes (wage per hour, labor force participation, and unemployment rate) of these two immigrant groups. Our analyses show that, overall, gender is an important variable on Spanish labor market, but it affects differently the two groups. There is a male job market and a female job market for both Romanian and Moroccan immigrants, with men earning significantly higher wages than women. However, while for Moroccans, working women differ significantly from men in terms of demographic characteristics, Romanian women and men have similar demographic characteristics and comparable levels of labor force participation, but differ in terms of wage levels.     

Connecting Two Sides: A Qualitative Study on Social Innovation Ventures and Poor Communities in an Emerging Economy

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - The relationship between social innovation venture and poor communities has received little attention from studies in the...     

Communities in criminal networks: A case study

Criminal organizations tend to be clustered to reduce risks of detection and information leaks. Yet, the literature exploring the relevance of subgroups for their internal structure is so far very limited. The paper applies methods of community analysis to explore the structure of a criminal network representing the individuals’ co-participation in meetings. It draws from a case study on a large law enforcement operation (“Operazione Infinito”) tackling the ‘Ndrangheta, a mafia organization from Calabria, a southern Italian region. The results show that the network is indeed clustered and that communities are associated, in a non-trivial way, with the internal organization of the ‘Ndrangheta into different “locali” (similar to mafia families). Furthermore, the results of community analysis can improve the prediction of the “locale” membership of the criminals (up to two thirds of any random sample of nodes) and the leadership roles (above 90% precision in classifying nodes as either bosses or non-bosses). The implications of these findings on the interpretation of the structure and functioning of the criminal network are discussed.