The Problem with Tragic Narratives: Lessons from the Los Angeles Uprising

This article considers the different media narratives about the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, in order to explain how the genre of tragedy became the most powerful representational form for talking about race and civil society during the 1990s. Three narrative mechanisms were used to shift discussions of race and civil society toward the tragic frame: (1) a change in temporality, (2) the rhetorical failures of politicians, and (3) the emplotment of new events into the dominant tragic narratives. Because most crises get their dramatic power from the tension between romance and tragedy, the shift to tragic discourse led to cynicism, skepticism, resignation, and inaction. The article concludes by arguing that the search for genre imbalance is an important tool for those interested in studying culture and ideology during times of crisis.     

Using Photovoice to Empower Youth and Adults to Prevent Crime

Photovoice empowers residents to use photographs to identify neighborhood concerns. Although Photovoice has been used to facilitate dialogue and action among residents to address a variety of issues, including neighborhood crime, it has not been used as part of an intervention to promote collective efficacy. This project integrated Photovoice into a crime-prevention program the goal of which was to facilitate collective efficacy, which. in turn, has been associated with lower levels of neighborhood crime and violence. Twenty-four racially diverse youth and adults participated in a crime-prevention training where Photovoice was used first to identify neighborhood characteristics that participants believed contributed to and alleviated crime, and then to develop a community project. Participants worked together to reuse a highly visible vacant lot to create an inviting neighborhood art and garden space that was open to the whole community. This process facilitated stronger social ties among neighborhood residents, as well as strategies for intervening in neighborhood problems, both of which are important components of collective efficacy.     

Covering the Dawsons: Racial Variation in Newspaper Framing of Urban Crime

This article uses newspaper coverage of a case from Baltimore, Maryland, to explore racial variation in the rhetorical framing of urban crime. In October 2002, seven members of the Dawson family were murdered in a house fire. The murders became an expression of Baltimore’s character and the lives of its residents. After analyzing 206 newspaper articles about the case, we find stark differences in the way the case, its causes, and its consequences are presented to readers. Newspapers with primarily white audiences—both “mainstream” and “alternative” papers—present the case as a horrific, singular instance, placing responsibility on the perpetrator. In contrast, articles in African American newspapers offer a complex web of explanation, calling attention to the structural inequalities and disparate access to state resources. Whereas white newspaper portray the Dawson family as martyrs in the drug war, black newspapers position the family as part of a wider of community of African Americans who are victims of slack policing, racial discrimination, and negligent social policy. We argue that these rhetorical differences are more than cosmetic. Rather, they provide a framework for better understanding the relationship between the press and policy makers. Differences in coverage of the case also contribute to our understanding of why blacks and whites have fundamentally different understandings of race in the United States.     

Crime, policing and social order: on the expressive nature of public confidence in policing

Public confidence in policing is receiving increasing attention from UK social scientists and policy-makers. The criminal justice system relies on legitimacy and consent to an extent unlike other public services: public support is vital if the police and other criminal justice agencies are to function both effectively and in accordance with democratic norms. Yet we know little about the forms of social perception that stand prior to public confidence and police legitimacy. Drawing on data from the 2003/2004 British Crime Survey and the 2006/2007 London Metropolitan Police Safer Neighbourhoods Survey, this paper suggests that people think about their local police in ways less to do with the risk of victimization (instrumental concerns about personal safety) and more to do with judgments of social cohesion and moral consensus (expressive concerns about neighbourhood stability, cohesion and loss of collective authority). Across England and Wales the police may not primarily be seen as providers of a narrow sense of personal security, held responsible for crime and safety. Instead the police may stand as symbolic 'moral guardians' of social stability and order, held responsible for community values and informal social controls. We also present evidence that public confidence in the London Metropolitan Police Service expresses broader social anxieties about long-term social change. We finish our paper with some thoughts on a sociological analysis of the cultural place of policing: confidence (and perhaps ultimately the legitimacy of the police) might just be wrapped up in broader public concerns about social order and moral consensus.     

上海社区建设调查报告

为深入了解上海社区建设现状,进一步提高上海社区建设水平,上海社会调查研究中心上海大学分中心在全市范围内开展了社区建设问卷调研,结果显示,上海社区建设目前总体状况较好,市民认同感较高,但也存在一些突出问题。据此,对于如何进一步加强上海社区建设,提出对策建议。     

Everyday Practices of Race,Class and Gender

Abstract

Those who claim or are identified with a mixed identity often find themselves confronted with negative stereotypes and questions about their defined reality. This paper discusses the social meaning of the mixed identity of bisexuality, its intersection with race and gender, and how it is understood and negotiated. Emerging out of this discussion are broad considerations for social justice and specific considerations for the bisexual community in engaging in non-hegemonic, race conscious, community development efforts. It is important to note that when I speak of women of color I assume a plurality of experience and racial identification. In fact among racial groups, the differences are often equal to or greater than the similarities. As well, I acknowledge many other sites of oppression such as class and disability as important in their intersection with bisexuality but focus here primarily on sexual orientation, race and gender to provide more depth in an area in which there is very little written.     

“It Depends on How You Define Integrated”: Neighborhood Boundaries and Racial Integration in a Baltimore Neighborhood1

There are a significant number of racially integrated neighborhoods in the United States, many of which have been stable over time. However, very little is known about the characteristics of these neighborhoods and of the residents who live in them. With data taken from a larger study of an integrated neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, this article discusses homeowners’ perceptions of their community and racial integration. Fifty semi‐structured interviews were completed with 67 homeowners to investigate their perceptions and experiences of race, class, and change in their community. This study shows that statistical racial integration and perceptions of racial integration are two different factors. Residents define true racial integration as both residential and social. As a result, homeowners reported that their neighborhood is both segregated and integrated—a type of “qualified” integration. Perceptions of racial integration are also affected by inconsistently defined neighborhood boundaries and racial clustering, block by block.     

The Needs of Elders in Public Housing: Policy Considerations in the Era of Mixed-Income Redevelopment

A number of studies have followed the changes in the lives of public housing residents forced to relocate because of redevelopment. From 2002 to 2007, researchers followed the residents of a public housing development from the first year when residents learned of the pending demolition through 4 years of resettlement. Elder residents dispersed throughout the city provide insights into what life is like for low-income seniors leaving their homes and entering as strangers into new neighborhoods. The article concludes with recommendations for rethinking aging in place for poor elders.     

Neighborhood responses to disorder and local attachments: The systemic model of attachment,social disorganization,and neighborhood use value

This paper investigates neighborhood-level connections between ecological structure, responses to disorder, and local attachment and social involvement. We develop predictions integrating the systemic model of community attachment, neighborhood use value, and the social disorganization perspective. The systemic model predicts neighborhood stability will deepen attachment and local involvement; the social disorganization perspective anticipates effects of stability on responses to disorder; and neighborhood use value suggests effects of status, racial composition, and problems such as crime and deterioration on attachment. We further propose, building on earlier work, that attachment may influence responses to disorder, or vice versa. Data include resident surveys, census information, on-site assessments, and crime rates from 66 randomly selected Baltimore, Maryland, neighborhoods. In support, respectively, of the systemic and neighborhood use value models, we find strong impacts of stability and class on neighborhood attachment/involvement. Neighborhood fear and perceived informal social control depend upon emotional investment and social integration. We see no overall impacts of deterioration on responses to disorder, calling into question some key aspects of the incivilities thesis. Earlier investigations of deterioration and responses to disorder that excluded person-place transactions may have been misspecified. Results underscore the strong relationship between person-environment transactions and responses to disorder. Asking how to encourage citizens to resist disorder is questioning, in part, how to increase the bonds residents have with the locale and with one another. Portions of an earlier version of this paper were presented at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, Los Angeles, August 1994.     

Neighborhood Organizations and Resident Assistance to Police1

Police and scholars note that successful crime fighting requires police and residents to “co‐produce” public safety. However, residents are often reluctant to get involved in policing initiatives or even report crimes they witness. One possible means of stimulating resident involvement in crime‐control activities is through neighborhood organizations. This research, conducted on 1,313 residents of 42 neighborhoods in western South Carolina, investigates whether neighborhood organization participation increases the likelihood of assisting police in crime‐control efforts. Results indicate that organization participants are more likely to assist police than are nonparticipants, even after controlling for social cohesion, perceptions of police legitimacy, various policing strategies, fear of crime, and demographic factors.     

‘The good old days’: In-migration,social control and the decline of the ‘imagined’ community in a north Wales market town

Rural communities across Britain are witnessing local level social, political and economic developments within the broader context of a general contemporary restructuring of the countryside. Changes such as in-migration, a loss of young people in search of employment, a declining agricultural economy and the closure of public services act to question long-standing ideas of the countryside that encompass a lifestyle bound up with community and belonging. It seems then that the traditional community is disappearing in the face of modernity. However, this paper argues that the traditional community was held up as an important reference point in a north Wales market town when faced with social change. As a response to the issue of in-migration local people constructed their version of what can be termed an imagined traditional community. What is clear from the research is that even in a symbolic sense, this imaginary dimension of community was still a powerful determinant in shaping perceptions and motivating actions at the local level.     

Same‐Race Friendships and School Attachment: Demonstrating the Interaction Between Personal Network and School Composition1

Previous research has demonstrated that students are strongly attached to school when many same‐race peers are present. This study extends the literature by considering students’ immediate social environment at school—egocentric friendship networks. I hypothesized that same‐race friendships contribute to school attachment by increasing the amount of support that students receive for their racial backgrounds in direct interactions. Further, the association between same‐race friendships and school attachment should be stronger when the school includes many same‐race peers because the organizational condition increases the ability of same‐race friendships to connect students to the major components of school‐wide networks and reduces perceived racial contrast between friends and nonfriend peers. Statistical analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) provided some support for these hypotheses, but white, black, Hispanic, and Asian students showed somewhat different patterns, suggesting group differences in how students develop and view same‐race friendships. The study highlights the importance of individual agency in navigating the multileveled social environment as well as the ability of organizational contexts to shift emotional consequences of personal relationships.     

A Review of the Racial Biases of Social Welfare Policies

Social welfare policies are crucial in advancing the well-being of individuals, yet they recreate the social disadvantage they attempt to ameliorate. Notably, these policies have perpetuated racial inequality in our society by implicitly or explicitly disadvantaging certain groups. This paper presents a review of the biases of social welfare policies. Using components of social construction and critical race theories, this paper highlights the ways the design and implementation of policies are racially bias. Among the policies it examines are mothers' pension, Social Security Act, and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.     

Blee,K. M., Democracy in the Making: How Activist Groups

Summary

The paper presents a brief history, context, and theory for community organizing, and provides discussion of major concepts of culture, community, and power. It concludes with a presentation of an interactive training process to tap into the creativity of participants. It illustrates a leadership development exercise that confirms experience and provides affirmation and inspiration for continued organizing work. The process validates participatory leadership, verbally and visually illustrates strengths of participants, and liberates energy for the work.     

Parenting as Activism: Identity Alignment and Activist Persistence in the White Power Movement

This article addresses the relationship between identity and activism and discusses implications for social movement persistence. We explain how individuals negotiate opportunities as parents to align and extend an activist identity with a movement's collective expectations. Specifically, we focus on how participants in the U.S. white power movement use parenting as a key role to express commitment to the movement, develop correspondence among competing and potentially conflicting identities, and ultimately sustain their activism. We suggest that parenting may provide unique opportunities for activists in many movements to align personal, social, and collective movement identities and simultaneously affirm their identities as parents and persist as social movement activists.     

Dispositions to Act in Favor of the Environment: Fatalism and Readiness to Make Sacrifices in a Cross‐National Perspective1

This article hypothesizes that individuals’ environmental attitudes depend not only on their knowledge, interests, emotions, and values but also on the social context in which they live. We test this hypothesis by analyzing the 2000/01 ISSP‐II Survey on Environmental Attitudes; the data include respondents from 23 countries. Our findings show that individual characteristics influence both “pessimistic environmental orientations” and “the willingness to act in favor of the environment.” As for social context, the level of development and affluence, the degree of political centralization, the presence of green movements and parties, and the degree of objective pollution in a country are all important. However, their influences on fatalism and willingness vary.     

Testing the Vision: Preschool Settings as Places for Meeting,Bonding and Bridging

The OECD (2006 Starting Strong II: Early Childhood Education and Care. OECD Publishing: Paris) envisions early childhood education and care settings as meeting places for diverse social groups; places that build social capital. This vision was assessed in a comparison of three preschools types: full‐fee paying, subsidised‐fee and publicly funded. The social composition within each was examined and the connectedness of the children (n = 472) who attended compared. Publicly funded preschools had more socially diverse populations. The quantity of social connectedness did not differ but children in publicly funded preschools described higher quality social relationships. Not all preschool settings are socially diverse but, where they are, the quality of relationships is highest.