Let States Nominate Immigrants? Reconsidering US Immigrant Entry Policymaking

The American model of immigration policy making with sole central government authority over the entry of immigrants without direct subnational input has not served subnational US interests well. In particular such a model has been inefficient in meeting labour and population needs in the US states. This article considers the problem of sole central government immigrant entry policy making in the US and examines alternative models from Canada and Australia for adoption in the US context.     

Varicella immunization requirements for US colleges: 2014–2015 academic year

ABSTRACT

Objective: To obtain information on varicella prematriculation requirements in US colleges for undergraduate students during the 2014–2015 academic year. Participants: Health care professionals and member schools of the American College Health Association (ACHA). Methods: An electronic survey was sent to ACHA members regarding school characteristics and whether schools had policies in place requiring that students show proof of 2 doses of varicella vaccination for school attendance. Results: Only 27% (101/370) of schools had a varicella prematriculation requirement for undergraduate students. Only 68% of schools always enforced this requirement. Private schools, 4-year schools, northeastern schools, those with <5,000 students, and schools located in a state with a 2-dose varicella vaccine mandate were significantly more likely to have a varicella prematriculation requirement. Conclusions: A small proportion of US colleges have a varicella prematriculation requirement for varicella immunity. College vaccination requirements are an important tool for controlling varicella in these settings.     

The influence of state maternity leave policies on US mothers’ employment

This study examines the influence of variation in state maternity leave policies on mothers’ employment. Data come from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) [U.S. Census Bureau. (2010 U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). America’s families and living arrangements: 2010 [Data file]. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hhfam/cps2010/tabAVG1.xls [Google Scholar]). America’s families and living arrangements: 2010 (Data file). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hhfam/cps2010/tabAVG1.xls] (n ?=?1380) paired with an assessment of state provisions of expanded family leave. Results from a negative binomial regression show that job-protected leave greater than the 12 weeks provided under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a marginally significant predictor of women spending fewer years out of the workforce following childbirth. Results from a logistic regression reveal that mothers in states with expanded access to job-protected leave are less likely to resign from their jobs within 12 weeks of their first childbirth than are mothers in states with non-expanded FMLA eligibility. These findings decrease the uncertainty about the effects of such legislation on mothers’ labour force participation, and support expansion of eligibility in order to better support working families.     

Orientalism and ‘saving’ US state identity after 9/11

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001 (9/11) radically destabilized the US sense of self and thus necessitated a particular reassertion of state identity that pivots violently on gender and race. This identity draws upon hypermasculinity, a religious code of ethics and the constitutive differences between Self/Other necessitating the persistent and forceful coding, interpretation and targeting of particular actors and politics as Islamic fundamentalist. In particular, 9/11's post-traumatic space requires US participation in an orientalist project that institutionalizes gendered and racialized violence through the infantilization, demonization, dehumanization and sexual commodification of the ‘Other’. The US state project to ‘save’ its identity intertwines religion, ideology and conflict so as to permanently etch within the American psyche a fear/loathing/paternalism regarding the ‘Orient’ abroad and within. This article proposes a feminist theoretical framework for empirically understanding and recognizing orientalism's logic in US state identity making.     

Rooted in relative privilege: US ‘expats’ in Granada,Nicaragua

This article investigates how US citizens living in Granada, Nicaragua, negotiate transnational belonging. Best known for a revolution and covert US intervention, Nicaragua, and in particular, the colonial town of Granada, has become a popular site for settlers from the Global North. Similar to other cases of ‘lifestyle migration’, these migrants enjoy spacious homes, maids, and upscale restaurants in a country ranked second poorest in Latin America, and governed by none other than El Comandante Ortega himself. They do not sever ties with their homeland, and form strong attachments in their new land. Fieldwork conducted in 2016 reveals that despite their international mobility, cosmopolitanism does not characterize how these migrants belong in the world. Instead, they practice privileged transnationalism in which their economic, political, and cultural power relative to that of their hosts facilitates both their mobility and their comfortable sense of rootedness in their sites of origin and settlement.     

Challenging transitions? Assessing the occupational mobility patterns of US immigrants by gender

This article uses the New Immigrant Survey to assess the occupational mobility of US immigrants. Estimates from OLS and Heckman selection models show the occupational mobility of immigrants follows a U-shaped pattern: immigrants arriving in the United States see their occupational status decline before it gradually improves. However, even 9 years after coming to the United States, the occupational status of immigrants remains lower than prior to their arrival in the country. Our findings also suggest that immigrant women with higher occupational status tend to move more often to the United States than immigrant men. Conversely, immigrant women are more likely than men to experience career interruptions after migration. Finally, occupational employment growth rates (defined as the growth rate in the number of jobs for an occupation) have a positive impact on both men and women immigrants' ability to recover their occupational status, though the impact appears to be greater for immigrant women.     

Survivor: spectators and gladiators in the US environmental movement, 2000–2010

What motivates people to participate in which forms of environmental activism? To address this question, we revise empirical models examining environmental activism by disaggregating the outcome variable of movement participation and dichotomizing two key motivational factors. Using repeated cross-sectional data from the US General Social Survey of 2000 and 2010, this study conducts logistic regression of four forms of participation on perceived severity and sense of efficacy, while accounting for biographical availability and political engagement. Results from regression analysis show that vocabularies of motive have substantial impacts on an individual’s likelihood of: (1) signing a petition; (2) giving money; (3) joining a group; and (4) joining a protest or demonstration. Their effects are large enough to override the noticeable impacts of liberalism and education. This study also finds that the level of participation in the movement across all forms has decreased between 2000 and 2010. These findings direct our attention to the limited capacity of the public sphere to accommodate the environmental movement during the last decade, as well as to potential changes in environmental activism in the coming decades that may mobilize those previously less likely to participate.     

The Gender Pay Gap in the US: Does Sector Make a Difference?

Analyses of data from the 2000 US Census show that the gender pay gap differs by sector of employment and according to the part of the earnings distribution that is considered. The gender pay differential in the private sector in the US does not display either the glass ceiling or sticky floor effects that have been reported for many other countries. The government sector is, however, characterized by a distinct sticky floor effect in the female–male pay differential. Regardless of the sector of employment, females have lower hourly rates of pay than men across the entire earnings distribution.

“America Will Not Tolerate Slave Traders”: Counter-Trafficking Policies and US Power

The US government has implemented an ambitious set of policies designed to combat human trafficking and sex trafficking in women and girls in particular. This article argues that anti-trafficking discourse and policy can be understood as a project to sustain and strengthen US power. This power has been wielded through the use of foreign aid, which influences the actions of both state and non-state actors overseas. Existing policies reinforce unilateralism and executive-branch dominance. Policymakers have also used gender strategically to moralize their actions and assert global leadership on this issue. Gender is thus deployed to serve US interests.     

Acculturation of Chinese international students in the US: Does sojourner status really matter?

Drawing upon the conceptual framework of ‘the sojourner’ in Siu's (American Journal of Sociology 58, 1952 and 34) work, this study employed semi-structured in-depth interviews with 59 Chinese international students and visiting scholars to investigate how their plans to return to China might shape their acculturation experiences in the United States (US). Those interviewed expressed a range of plans, including an immediate return to China, a postponed return, an undecided return and a clear refusal to return. Except for Chinese visiting scholars who were determined sojourners, a majority of the students interviewed regularly negotiated and adjusted their decisions to return based on their experiences in the US. By further exploring the post-migration experiences of those who expressed some intention to sojourn, this study identifies four types of sojourning mentality, including (1) exploratory, (2) pragmatic, (3) disillusioned and (4) detached. Each type was found to distinctively influence and interplay students' experiences with acculturation and acculturative stress.     

Evaluating homelessness – a comparative analysis of top 10 articles from the US and Europe

Homelessness as a political and social dominion has a number of features that make it particularly difficult to tackle. In addition to being a wicked problem, homelessness offers several analytical avenues. How do these characteristics affect the evaluation of programmes and projects aspiring to combat homelessness? Dissimilar pictures and solutions regarding homelessness in the US and in European countries will likely affect recommendations given as a result of evaluations performed. For this study, the empirical base is a sample of the most cited evaluations of homelessness programmes published in professional journals between 1996 and 2010. Most of these evaluations are from the US. These US evaluations more often use large-scale national programmes and quantitative methods, whereas European evaluations more often have smaller sample sizes and qualitative methods. In both regions, the evaluators seldom use theory from social science when analysing their findings. It is suggested that European evaluation research should be noticed to a larger extent since it is probably better suited for application in a European context.     

Is diversity bad for economic growth?: Evidence from state-level data in the US

The paper examines the macroeconomic effects of social diversity in the United States. Employing a cross-sectional dataset for 48 states, we find mixed empirical evidence for the impact of diversity on Gross State Product (GSP) per capita growth: racial diversity reduces GSP growth, while linguistic diversity raises GSP growth. Our findings suggest that because English is used frequently by non-native speakers barriers to communications based on race are more pronounced and enduring than those based on linguistic differences. The results provide a justification for establishing ‘weak ties’ across diverse racial groups as a means to enhance economic performance.     

Irrationality and Regulation: Constructing Mad Cow Knowledge in the US–South Korea FTA

This article explores the scientific rhetoric by which United States has attempted to promote its preferred Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or ‘mad cow disease’) risk-management policies with several key Asian trading partners. When Korean civil society rejected its government's decision to resume full trade of US beef products following Free Trade Agreement negotiations in 2008, the US government called these expressions ‘irrational’ and refused to address questions about the uncertainty and contested knowledge regarding its beef safety. Rather, the US government dismissed Korean citizens’ concerns over the safety of US beef through the use of scientific and technocratic rhetoric, as a way to obscure the US’ particular political and economic interests. Through investigation of the US' campaign to change international standards on BSE-related trade and the comparative shortcomings of the US' domestic BSE regulatory practices, this article presents the trade conflict as a conflict between competing cultures of risk: the United States used an economically driven risk assessment model while its Asian trading partners favored a more precautionary approach. Thus, the politicized, value-laden nature of the US' claims failed to persuade the Korean public. This paper also considers how the presence of the Free Trade Agreement negotiations and the particular pro-American stance of the Korean president weakened the Korean state's accountability to public protests, in contrast to the continued precautionary approach of China, Taiwan, and Japan.

Este artículo explora la retórica científica por la que los Estados Unidos ha tratado de promover su política de manejo de riesgo de la encefalopatía espongiforme bovina (EEB, o “mal de las vacas locas”) con varios socios comerciales claves del Asia. Cuando la sociedad civil coreana rechazó la decisión de su gobierno de reanudar completamente el comercio de los productos de carne de res siguiendo las negociaciones del Tratado de Libre Comercio en 2008, el gobierno estadounidense llamó a estas expresiones “irracionales” y se rehusó a abordar las preguntas sobre la incertidumbre y la controversia del conocimiento respecto a la seguridad de su carne de res. Por el contrario, el gobierno estadounidense buscó “cientifizar” su posición, difiriendo con reclamos tecnocráticos y científicos y poniendo en duda la legitimidad de los estándares de seguridad internacionales, para opacar sus intereses económicos particulares sobre los riesgos de salud inciertos, percibidos por los ciudadanos coreanos. A través de una investigación de la campaña estadounidense para cambiar los estándares internacionales AQ1 sobre la EEB, relacionada con el comercio y las deficiencias comparativas de las prácticas reguladoras domésticas de la EEB, este artículo presenta el conflicto comercial como un conflicto entre culturas competitivas de riesgo: Estados Unidos usó un modelo de evaluación con una visión de riesgo económico, mientras que los socios comerciales asiáticos favorecieron un enfoque de mayor precaución. De tal manera que los reclamos estadounidenses cargados de valores y de naturaleza politizada, fallaron en persuadir al público coreano. Este artículo también considera cómo la presencia de las negociaciones del Tratado de Libre Comercio y la postura pro-americana de la presidencia de Corea debilitaron la obligación del estado coreano a responder a las protestas públicas, en contraste con el constante enfoque de precaución de la China, Taiwan y Japón.

本文探讨美国一直试图向其亚洲贸易伙伴推销美国喜好的“疯牛病”（Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy（简称BSE） 风险管理政策而使用的科学修辞（scientific rhetoric） 。当韩国的公民社会驳斥他们的政府伴随着2008年的自由贸易谈判而决定恢复美国牛肉产品的全面贸易时,美国政府声称这些驳斥为“非理性”且拒绝回答有关美国牛肉安全的不确定性和检测知识方面的问题。反而,美国政府诉诸“科学化”其立场,怠慢科学和技术的观点以及国际安全标准的正当性,以便在韩国市民感到的不确定的健康风险上隐藏其特殊经济利益。通过对美国的改变AQ1关于疯牛病贸易的国际标准和美国的国内BSE调控惯例的比较缺点的调查,本文认为贸易冲突是竞争中的不同风险文化之间的冲突：美国使用经济驱动的风险评估模式,而其亚洲贸易伙伴则喜欢预警的方式。因此,美国的主张的政治化的、价值倾向的性质难以劝说韩国公众。本文也考虑到自由贸易协定以及特定的亲美的韩国总统的存在如何弱化了韩国国家的对公众抗议的责任,比较起来,中国、台湾和日本则是采取持续的预警方式。

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В статье исследуется научная риторика, с помощью которой Соединенные Штаты попытались продвигать свои предпочтения в политике управления рисками коровьей губчатой ??энцефалопатии (BSE или "коровьего бешенства") во взаимодействии с несколькими ключевыми азиатскими торговыми партнерами. Когда корейское гражданское общество отклонило решение своего правительства возобновить торговлю говядиной из США в полном объеме, после Соглашения о Свободной торговле на переговорах в 2008 году, правительство США, назвав эти проявления "иррациональными", отказалось ответить на вопросы о неопределенном и спорном знании о безопасности своей говядины. Скорее всего, правительство США стремится научно обосновать свою позицию, откладывая научные и технократические претензии и легитимность международных стандартов безопасности для того, чтобы скрыть превалирование своих частных экономических интересов над неопределенными рисками здоровью корейских граждан. Посредством исследования кампании США по изменению международных стандартов торговли AQ1 на коровью губчатую энцефалопатию и при сравнительных недостатках внутренней практики регулирования BSE - методов в США, статья представляет торговый конфликт как конфликт между конкурирующими культурами риска: США использовали модель оценки степени риска ведомую экономически, в то время как ее азиатские торговые партнеры одобрили более осторожный подход. Таким образом политизированный, ценностный характер претензий США не убедил корейскую общественность. Также статья рассматривает, как присутствие Соглашения о Свободной торговле, переговоры и особая проамериканская позиция корейского президента ослабили ответственность корейского государства перед общественными протестами, в отличие от длительного предупредительного подхода Китая, Тайваня и Японии.     

Sketches of identities from the Mexico–US border (or the other way around)

Abstract

For someone interested in studying the cultures and literatures of Mexico's northern border or those of the US Southwest, it is important to take into account that when trying to investigate the subjects or objects of study – human, textual, or visual – one cannot put aside the ever-present tension between national and regional discourses, nor overlook symbolic representations of those discourses. Consequently, this article proposes to sketch and reflect about some identities of Mexico's northern border that have been articulated from different perspectives and inscribed in literary texts and national and international cinemas. It will also reflect on cultural production from and about Ciudad Juárez at the turn of the 21st century and how that cultural production dialogues with different symbolic representations.     

Why the Gap? Determinants of Self-Employment Earnings Differentials for Male and Female Millennials in the US

We investigated gender differences in self-employment earnings for US Millennials, and whether differences could be attributed to individual characteristics, business characteristics, or factors related to household formation, such as marriage and parenthood. Using a nationally representative dataset of US youth, we found significant earnings differences favoring men and suggestive evidence of a “motherhood earnings penalty” (Budig and England 2001, p. 204–225). After controlling for business characteristics, however, the effect of gender itself was not statistically significant and the effect of motherhood only approached statistical significance, suggesting that gendered choices and paths explain earnings differences, not gender or motherhood per se. Future work would benefit from a larger dataset and should explore the role of work location and education in earnings.     

Bridging Cultures Through Unpaid Labor: US Volunteer Teachers’ Experiences in China’s Yunnan Province

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - International volunteering has become a complex field in the context of globalization. Within the discourses of...