CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES: EXAMINING THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS TRADITION AND PARTICIPATION

Typically the relationship between civic engagement and religion has been investigated using only basic measures of religious attendance or denomination. We utilize more detailed indicators of various types of religious participation and a more valid concept of religious traditions to examine the influence on civic engagement, finding that typical measures of religious attendance or denomination camouflage much of religion's influence. We show that while several religious traditions are positively related to civic engagement, being an Evangelical Protestant or Black Protestant is negatively related. The results also indicate that religious attendance reduces overall civic engagement, while other types of religious participation increase civic engagement. At the specific levels of civic engagement such as belong, contribute, volunteer, and lead, we find similar variations in religious traditions and types of religious participation. Our findings suggest that scholars often overlooked the importance of religious participation beyond religious attendance and reached conclusions regarding civic engagement that do not accurately describe religion's effects. Thus, we contend that attendance and religious tradition, while they may be important and should be included in analysis, should not be the sole, or even primary, focus.     

PARTICIPATION OF MEXICAN AMERICAN FEMALE ADOLESCENTS IN A LONGITUDINAL PANEL SURVEY

The sources of systematic sample attrition are examined fora community-based panel survey of 1,023 Mexican American andnon-Hispanic white female adolescents, 874 (85.4%) of whom werereinterviewed after two years. There were few differences betweenMexican Americans born in the United States and non-Hispanicwhites, but Mexican Americans born in Mexico were distinctivelydifferent. The characteristics of the original interview shapethe respondent's concurrent attitude toward repeating the experiencebut do not affect directly subsequent behavior. The resultsdemonstrate that the validity of panel data may be problematiceven when indicators of the survey content do not appear tobe associated directly with loss to follow-up. Attrition exerteda greater impact upon the external than internal validity ofthe panel data.     

ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT BETWEEN VIETNAMESE AND CAMBODIAN CHILDREN: Cultural and Structural Explanations

Many Vietnamese and Cambodians fied war and communist takeover and entered the United States as part of the largest refugee resettlement program in the country's history. Both of the refugee groups traveled a great cultural distance and face similar barriers in adjusting to the United States. Despite these similarities in settlement, the two groups are adapting differently; this is made evident in their children's academic achievement. While the children of Vietnamese refugees seem to be successfully catching up to the children of other more established Asian immigrants, Cambodian children are trailing. Using the 1992 and 1996 data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, I combine cultural and structural explanations of educational achievement and immigrant adaptation to explain differences in academic achievement between Vietnamese and Cambodian children.     

RACIAL/ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN THE POLITICAL BEHAVIOR OF AMERICAN RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS

In this study we present evidence which supports the use of retrospective research designs to study the transition from delinquency to adult deviance. Delinquency rates based on adolescents’ responses to the Richmond Youth Study in 1965 are compared to the rates based on retrospective accounts of delinquency provided by adults to the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study in 1981–82. These comparisons were enhanced by controlling for race, sex, birth cohort and the greater period at risk of delinquency experienced by the adult respondents. The item specific pattern of adolescent behavior recalled by adult respondents in 1981–82 is very similar to that reported by adolescents in 1965.     

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF KIN AND ETHNIC FAVORITISM

Ethnic and kinship ties have long been viewed as potential catalysts for favoritism, and hence corruption. In experiments conducted in three countries, we recruit siblings, coethnics and strangers and vary the relationship(s) between the players of a game to observe how kin and ethnic ties influence the willingness of two players to benefit one another at the expense of a third party. We see universal sibling favoritism, but ethnic favoritism, and favoritism toward other in-group members (friends) varies. We argue this may be driven in part by kinship institutions, since favoritism is more common in societies with denser kin networks. ( JEL D9, C9, D73, J12)     

FAMILY ASSESSMENT DEVICE: REPORTS FROM MOTHERS, FATHERS, AND ADOLESCENTS IN COMMUNITY AND CLINIC FAMILIES

This study compared responses on the 60-item version of the Family Assessment Device (FAD) obtained from mothers, fathers, and adolescents in two groups of families. The clinic group consisted of 94 families in which the adolescent had been referred to a mental health service in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. The community group consisted of 94 families, also containing an adolescent, living in the Adelaide community. Members of the clinic families consistently rated their families as less healthy than did families in the community. Importantly however, adolescents in both groups of families rated their families as significantly less healthy than their parents. Thus, while the results of the study provide support for the discriminative validity of the FAD, they also emphasize the need to consider separately self-reports on family functioning obtained from different members of the same family.     

ETHNIC IDENTITIES AND CULTURAL CAPITAL: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF CHINESE OPERA IN SINGAPORE

This article weaves the trajectory of Chinese opera in Singapore with the country's political development. Starting in 1965, the year of Singapore's independence, it attempts to debunk the myth that national culture is resistant to global culture by describing the state's systematic erosion of local culture. From the late 1970s onward, with economic progress, state fears of “Westernisation” led to a centring of Chinese culture in national culture; this was followed by a mini-revival of Chinese opera that coincided with the emergence of Confucian ethics as national discourse and as a culturalist explanation for the “Asian miracle” of the 1980s. This article shows that globalisation's effect on local cultures is not a straightforward process. Instead, it is a complex relationship where the flourishing of a local culture depends on the changing recognition and valuation of cultural identities, ethnicity, and language as cultural capital. This in turn implicates the structural features of national policies and globalisation processes that determine the recognition and valuation of this cultural capital. The use of “cultural capital” as a conceptual tool to isolate the cultural and social components of Chinese opera demonstrates that a local culture flourishes or withers according to the effects of globalisation and national policies on such cultural and social factors.     

ETHNIC IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONALLY ADOPTED CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR FAMILY THERAPISTS

The life story of the internationally adopted child tends to be an emotional one. How the story is tole and retold in the family can have lasting consequences for the child's adjustment and well-being. In telling the story, parents are faced with a qunique challenge: To what extent is it desirable to encourage their children, who adready struggle with identity issue related to adoption, to identify with their cultures of origin? Therapists working on these issues with multiethnic adoptive families can find little guidance in the family systems literature. To fill this gap, the present article reviews the literature on racial/ethnic identity development and the available research on ethnic identification, self-esteem, and the psychological adjustment of cross-ethnically adopted children and adolescents. Implications for practice include developmental considerations, identifying chldren and families at risk, and recommendations for those in need of intervention.     

STRATEGIC RITUALIZATION AND ETHNICITY: ATYPOLOGY AND ANALYSIS OF RITUAL ENACTMENTS IN AN ITALIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY

This investigation utilizes a theoretical framework that focuses on ritual enactments to examine the ways members of an Italian American community in southeastern Oklahoma use social rituals to achieve different outcomes. Several methodological strategies (especially interviews and historical analysis) are utilized to document how individuals within this ethnic community have, for over the last century, employed numerous rituals to, among other things, express their ethnicity, create community ties, enhance personal gain, and survive. Building upon the theory of structural ritualization, the concept of strategic ritualization is employed and expanded upon to examine this issue. A typology of three types of strategic ritualization is presented and defined: ritual legitimators, ritual entrepreneurs, and ritual sponsors. This conceptualization represents the first elaboration of structural ritualization theory addressing this topic. In focusing on this little studied ethnic community, the importance of ritualized practices and their strategicuse throughout society are emphasized. The relation of this research to broader concerns dealing with the social constructionist approach to ethnicity and the intersection of decision-making, culture, and structure are briefly highlighted and directions for future theory development and research are indicated.     

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN THE SOUTH: AN ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN SUPERFUND

The intent of the present research is twofold. First, this study explores racial and class equity in the remediation of Superfund sites in the South (EPA Region IV) over three time periods related to reform in Superfund. Second, this research expands our conceptualization of procedural equity by assessing the impact of community involvement on site remediation and by exploring factors that predict community involvement. This research explores whether active communities realize greater rewards in terms of more desirable cleanup outcomes and a quicker pace of cleanup and examines who participates in remediation. Findings indicate that higher levels of community involvement can lengthen the remediation process as well as result in some less desirable forms of cleanup. Results also show that sites with a greater percentage of racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to participate in remediation, but the opposite is true for lower income communities. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

THE SUPERVISORY RELATIONSHIP: AN IDENTIFICATION OF THE PRIMARY ELEMENTS IN THE RELATIONSHIP AND AN APPLICATION OF TWO THEORIES OF ETHICAL RELATIONSHIPS

Many authors on the subject of marriage and family therapy supervision point to the fact that the quality of relationship between supervisor and supervisee is crucial to the process. However, little has been written about the nature of this relationship. This article identifies key elements in the relationship and introduces a theoretical framework for understanding those elements based on the principles of ethical relationships proposed by Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy and Nell Noddings.     

ETHNIC PLACES, POSTMODERNISM, AND URBAN CHANGE IN HOUSTON

City managers and urban sociologists traditionally viewed ethnic places as undesirable areas of overcrowding and social pathology. Regarded as either transitional districts or obstacles to modernization, ethnic places were subject to slum clearance during the modernist phase of urban development. Ethnic places have acquired a new historical and sentimental salience in the "postmodern" developmental era. Preservationist activists and minority "place entrepreneurs" project ethnic culture and symbolic representations in defensive or proactive ways to stimulate neighborhood revitalization. These trends are evident in the recent urban developmental history of Houston, Texas.     

ISOLATION, INTEGRATION, AND ETHNIC BOUNDARIES IN RURAL GUATEMALA

We investigate two perspectives about the effects of reduced discrimination and greater social and economic opportunities on ethnic identity in rural areas of contemporary Guatemala. Our analysis contrasts the effects of new opportunities in Indigenous communities on language use and dress, using data from the 1995 Encuesta Guatemalteca de Salud Familiar (EGSF). While the use of both dress and language has changed substantially in recent years, language use has changed considerably more than dress. We conclude that, in this context, economic opportunities have not necessarily diminished ethnic solidarity, but may have instead reshaped it.     

RELIGIOUS REFERENCE GROUPS AND THE PERSISTENCE OF NORMATIVE BEHAVIOR: AN EMPIRICAL TEST

Reference groups and significant others are vitally important in both the formation and the persistence or change of normative as well as deviant behavior patterns. Thus one's initial religious beliefs and behavior (or lack thereof) reflect the socializing influence of the family. However, the situation may change when young people leave home for education or work, as demonstrated by research that shows decreases in religious beliefs or church attendance when young people leave home to attend college. In contrast to the pattern whereby religiosity declines in a college or university environment, we maintain that students who develop close ties with others who are religious, especially in a highly religious community, will maintain the same patterns of high commitment developed in their families. Specifically, we hypothesize that religious beliefs and participation will be positively related to (1) parents' religious beliefs and practices and (2) current friends' religious beliefs and participation. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of college students living on campus (n = 339). The data support the argument that students' current religious beliefs and behavior are related to both their parents' religiosity and the reinforcing effects of the religiosity of their current friends.     

INDIVIDUAL AND CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES OF WAR ON ETHNIC PREJUDICE IN CROATIA

This article examines what the determinants of ethnic prejudice in Croatia were in the aftermath of the 1991–1995 war. The analysis is based on a nationwide survey (N = 2,202) conducted in March and April 1996, less than a year after the cessation of war activities in Croatia. The main focus of our analysis is on how war influences the ethnic prejudice of individuals. The influences of individual war‐related experiences and the effects of regional differences in the level of war activities are analyzed simultaneously by conducting a multilevel analysis. The main findings are that individual war‐related experiences have little impact on prejudice, but that the contextual influence of war is somewhat stronger. Variables that are not directly related to the conflict—such as education, religiosity and size of the place of residence—have the strongest effect on prejudice. Insofar as our results can be generalized to other large‐scale ethnic conflicts, they indicate that a recent history of conflict is not in itself a major hindrance to the process of ethnic reconciliation.     

DIFFERENCES IN SENSE OF CONTROL AMONG FRENCH- AND ENGLISH-CANADIAN ADOLESCENTS*

Cet article examine I'hypothèse que les Francophones sentent moins que les Anglophones qu'ils maitrisent les événements de leur vie. Les résultats d'une étude canadienne de Iycéens faite en 1965–66 montrent que les répondants français sentent un peu moins qu'ils maitrisent leur vie, mais que I'influence directe de l'affiliation à un groupe linguistique est négligeable quand on considère la position socioéconomique et l'implication de l'enfant dans les décisions familiales. Les implications des données pour la question de la stratification ethnique au Canada sont étudiées brièvement. In this paper, the hypothesis that French-speaking Canadians have a lower sense of control over life events than their English-speaking counterparts is examined using a national survey of high school students conducted in 1965–66. The results show that French respondents are somewhat lower in sense of control, but that the direct effect of language group affiliation is negligible when socioeconomic status and child's involvement in family decisions are taken into account. Implications of the findings for ethnic and class stratification in Canada are briefly explored.     

MUSIC,SONG, AND THE CREATION OF COMMUNITY AND COMMUNITY SPIRIT BY A GAY SUBCULTURE

This study looks at the formation of community and the social construction of bridges between communities and the resulting networks. This is accomplished by using a phenomenological approach looking at individual experiences and comparing those against the backdrop of a classical theoretical approach to community. Specifically the study looks at the characteristics of an urban gay choir and its interactions with other communities within their city. The analysis looks towards a better understanding of community bridges and community interaction for a greater cohesion of the public at large and social solidarity development from the standpoint of a marginalized community.     

COMMUNITY AND CARE WORK IN A WORLD OF CHANGING IDEOLOGIES

Seymour B. Sarason, one of the founders of community psychology, has stated the need for developing barometers of community changes. The authors present a methodology for identifying societal ideologies, ideological shifts and power relations as reflected by the language of public discourse. As a case study, systematic analyses of changes in the Norwegian language over the last two decades are presented. It is demonstrated how Norwegian society has been gradually transformed from a traditional Scandinavian welfare society towards the values and ideals of neo-liberalist market ideology: for instance, language reflects and supports competitive practices increasingly being applied to public service provision. Another example is that the public discourse of individual rights has gradually been overshadowing the discourse of community duties and obligations. On the other hand, the analyses also reveal counter-ideologies, reflected, for example, in the launching of new words and expressions critical to neo-liberalist ideology.