Regime change: gender, class, and the invention of dieting in post-bellum America

"Regime Change" argues against commonly held interpretations that see dieting as a practice established in the 1920s to control women at a time when they gained suffrage and greater economic independence. This article offers an alternative reading, arguing that diet advice literature arrived in the US in the 1860s and originally targeted a male, white, middle-class audience. While the hegemonic beauty ideal for the female body was at its heftiest, men started to build muscle and reduce weight. The ideal of the slender male body was associated with white superiority, social mobility and the national ambition for an American empire. When white middle-class women eventually started dieting in greater numbers in the 1890s, it was because they claimed the same mastery over their bodies as men—and demanded the same privileges as their male peers over immigrants, African Americans and working-class people, who were increasingly imagined as overweight. Revising the history of dieting to show its origins as a masculine practice appropriated by women to stake a claim to class and race privilege invites a rethinking of power and resistance in the disciplining of the female body.     

阶层背景对本科毕业生职业地位获得的影响:市场转型与分割的阶层再生产

本研究利用2007年“阶层背景和本科毕业生职业地位”的抽样调查数据，通过分析阶层背景对本科毕业生职业地位获得的影响，探讨了市场转型期间的阶层相对关系模式，发现在市场转型过程中，政治与市场的同进化过程同样是新旧利益群体竞争性的分化与共享，以及对体力劳动者阶层子代本科毕业生排斥的过程，政治与市场的汇流使得优势阶层被垄断性继承，从而使代际继承呈现二元分割性。     

“We are not weak,we just experience domestic violence”—Immigrant women's experiences of encounters with service providers as a result of domestic violence

Domestic violence continues to be a serious social problem and represents a challenge for those who are exposed to it and those in public services. In Norway, a variety of services are provided to help victims of domestic violence and improve knowledge among professionals who meet with adults and children exposed to domestic violence. Studies in Norway show that families with immigrant backgrounds are overrepresented among social service users as a result of domestic violence. However, contextualized knowledge to provide background information about this overrepresentation is limited. This paper explores women's need for support and their experience with service providers when faced with difficult and unpredictable situations, namely, escaping from violence and leaving home with no financial resources or limited supportive network and turning to service providers for support. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 women who were staying in or were in touch with shelters with their children or alone. Five central themes emerged in the analysis of these interviews: (a) help becoming a burden; (b) timely economic measures; (c) economic support and domestic violence; (d) displaced focus; and (e) flexibility and the victim's background.     

Parental job loss and children's educational attainment in black and white middle-class families

Objectives. We aim to understand why blacks are significantly less likely than whites to perpetuate their middle-class status across generations. To do so, we focus on the potentially different associations between parental job loss and youth's educational attainment in black and white middle-class families.Methods. We use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), following those children “born” into the survey between 1968 and 1979 and followed through age 21. We conduct multivariate regression analyses to test the association between parental job loss during childhood and youth's educational attainment by age 21.Results. We find that parental job loss is associated with a lesser likelihood of obtaining any postsecondary education for all offspring, but that the association for blacks is almost three times as strong. A substantial share of the differential impact of job loss on black and white middle-class youth is explained by race differences in household wealth, long-run measures of family income, and, especially, parental experience of long-term unemployment.Conclusions. These findings highlight the fragile economic foundation of the black middle class and suggest that intergenerational persistence of class status in this population may be highly dependent on the avoidance of common economic shocks.     

家庭背景与教育：婚姻中地位交换的性别与时期差异

本文利用2018年“中国家庭追踪调查”（CFPS）数据,使用对数线性模型,分析了1978～2018年家庭背景与自身教育在择偶过程中地位交换的性别与时期差异。研究发现,在跨越出身阶层与自身教育地位的异质婚中,夫妻一方会利用自身的相对教育地位优势交换另一方的相对出身阶层优势,这支持了地位交换论。1978～1991年结婚的夫妻中,女性更多通过相对教育优势交换男性的相对出身优势。随着时间的推移,出身阶层与教育在择偶过程中的地位交换强度不断增强,但更多体现在男性通过自身相对教育优势交换女性相对出身优势的婚配模式上,而女性的这一婚配模式呈先降后升趋势。可见,随着时代变迁,家庭背景在女性的向上婚姻流动中扮演着越来越重要的角色。     

The Long-Term Effects of Parental Divorce in Childhood on Adult Adjustment

Relationships between experiencing a parental divorce or separation prior to age 16 and a variety of measures of adult adjustment and psychological functioning are examined using data from two national cross-sectional surveys conducted nearly 20 years apart. Although few differences between adults from parentally-divorced and intact family backgrounds persist when controls for contemporary life circumstances and other social background factors were included, two modest trends are still evident. First, although associations between psychological distress and early experience with parental divorce have weakened somewhat over the past two decades, coming from a non-intact family of origin still has some significance for adult psychological well-being. Second, men and women from non-intact families of origin display different patterns of adjustment to and valuation of the major life roles of spouse and parent. Nevertheless, because such relationships are not very powerful, it is concluded that contrary to much of the literature and popular thought, these early experiences have, at most, a modest effect on adult adjustment.     

Preferentially rejected children and their development in permanent family placements

Several studies of family placements have indicated poorer outcomes for children who are placed singly in new families. In an effort to understand why this may be so, this paper explores differential outcome among a group of children who were placed singly with adoptive or long‐term foster families during middle childhood. A small number of these children were ‘only children’ at the time of placement but most had siblings living elsewhere. Particular attention is paid to preferential rejection by birth parents in the children's backgrounds. Preferential rejection indicates that one child has been rejected while siblings are accepted. This was found to be associated with poorer progress in placement. The methodological and statistical detail of the analyses are to be found in another paper. We focus here on describing the patterns which emerged and the ways in which the findings may assist practitioners in making and supporting permanent placements.     

Property,gender and the life course: Inheritance and family welfare provision in early nineteenth-century England

Drawing upon detailed research of inheritance practices in early nineteenth-century Stockport, this article examines how married men attempted to provide for their families after their death. It is argued that inheritance acted as an informal family welfare mechanism through which specific gender relations associated with middle-class households were reproduced. The evidence presented suggests that married male testators often used inheritance to try and 'fix' their wives into widowhood. Widows were frequently required to act as custodians of family property and maintain the domestic order. Access to property was carefully controlled and various legal devices were used to give authority to the process and ensure that the estate was used by widows to care and provide for children in certain, carefully stipulated ways. In making these claims, the article argues that recent revisionist studies that have attempted to highlight the proprietorial autonomy of middle-class women in industrializing communities ignore the forces at work which constrained the free use of property by women at certain stages in the life course. The findings of the study are also used to highlight the ways in which middle-class men's uses of property were materially and ideologically 'constrained'.     

The politics of marital name change

Each year, millions of women face the decision whether or not to change their names after marriage. One study found that region, gender role traditionalism, career orientation, and educational attainment predicted name changes (Johnson and Scheuble, 1995). Another line of research discovered that women who changed their names were perceived as less ambitious and less competent, but more caring than women who did not change their name (Noordewier et al., 2010). Despite the prevalence and importance of this decision, we know very little about marital name change among political leaders. In this study, we take a preliminary look at marital name change in the political arena by focusing on name changing among women serving in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. We find that half of female legislators keep their name after marriage, and that Democrats, racial minorities, legislators who come from political families, legislators who were married later in life, and legislators who were first elected to office at a younger age are more likely to keep their names.     

家庭背景、教育期望与大学教育获得：基于上海市调查数据的实证研究

家庭背景通过子女教育实现优势地位的代际传递,以往国内研究认为,这种代际传递主要通过教育分流和文化资本、社会资本机制得以实现。本文根据威斯康星教育获得模型的研究成果,引入大学教育期望作为家庭背景影响子女大学教育获得的中间机制。研究采用2010年“上海居民家庭生活状况调查”数据。分析发现,在少年时具有大学教育期望的人,最终获得大学教育的机会明显增加,而个人大学教育期望的产生又主要同家庭背景和父母期望有关。具有优势地位的父母（尤其是接受过高等教育的父母）对子女上大学的期望较高,并激发了子女上大学的期望。同时,具有优势地位的父母能更多地参与到子女的教育过程中,为子女创造更多的支持条件,这些都有助于子女维持和实现自己的教育期望。因而,整个代际传递的逻辑可以表述为：家庭社会经济地位越高的子女,其上大学的期望也越高,这种期望最终会转化为大学教育获得的优势。     

Attitudes Toward the Poor and Attributions for Poverty

Prior psychological research on attitudes toward the poor has focused almost exclusively on the attributions people make to explain why individuals are poor (e.g., Smith & Stone, 1989; Zucker & Weiner, 1993). The goal of the current study was to investigate the relationships among feelings about the poor and poverty, stereotypes of the poor, attributions for poverty, and sociopolitical ideologies (as assessed by the Protestant Ethic, Belief in a Just World, and Right Wing Authoritarianism Scales). In our Midwestern college sample (n = 209), attitudes toward the poor were found to be significantly more negative than attitudes toward the middle class. In addition, participants were most likely to blame poor people them-selves for their poverty. However, attitudes toward the poor and attributions for the causes of poverty were found to vary among individuals from different sociodemographic backgrounds and by degree of endorsement of Protestant ethic, just world, and authoritarianism beliefs. Few gender differences were obtained.     

Sex roles and sexual attitudes of young Iranian women: implications for cross-cultural counseling

Previous studies have found that young Iranian women in the US feel conflicted between their cultural traditions and adoption of American values. The present study investigated the hypothesis that the educational level of young Iranian women is strongly related to their attitudes regarding sex roles and intimate relationships. Study subjects included 81 Iranian women (mean age, 23 years) residing in Los Angeles, California, who had been away from Iran for an average of 8 years. The mean summed scores on questionnaire items measuring attitudes about these issues were 233.57, 264.79, 290.58, and 295.57 (with higher scores indicating more liberal views) for women attending or with a high school education, attending college, with a college degree, and in graduate programs or with a graduate degree, respectively, confirming the hypothesis. Also noted were a significant negative relationship between the women's age when they left Iran and test scores and a significant positive relationship between the number of years the women had been away from Iran and test scores. A similar liberalization in sex role-related attitudes following exposure to less traditional US norms has been observed among young Puerto Rican immigrants to the US. Counselors who work with young Iranian women in the US should be alerted to potential conflicts regarding the adoption or rejection of the American way of life.     

The Limits of Demographic Categories and the Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election

This study looked at responses to the Iraq War in a nationwide sample of college students. The study focused mainly on the role of sex, religiosity, and the location of the school in a "red" or "blue" state. It also looked at a number of other psychological variables, including some related to cognitive competence. Support for the war was measured by an instrument comprising two independent factors—"patriotic militancy" and "internationalism." As expected, support for the war in Iraq was significantly higher among students who considered themselves religiously involved than among students who rated themselves as more secular. Predicted sex differences in attitudes about the war were not found. However, several measures of cognitive competence including grade point average were significantly associated with less favorable attitudes toward the war. As expected from the election results later that year, students from "red" states were more supportive of the war than students from "blue" states. However, these effects appear to be due to a confound between religious affiliation and religiosity. The results are explained in terms of political rhetoric that focused on religious values as well as on the reduced importance of feminism as an ideological stance. They are discussed in terms of the need for a more social psychological analysis of political attitudes and behaviors that takes into account contextual factors and the transformation of demographic categories into meaningful psychological variables.     

Family Life and School Experience: Factors in the Racial Identity Development of Black Youth in White Communities

Eighteen middle-class Black college students were interviewed in-depth about their experiences growing up in predominantly White communities. Using Cross's model of racial identity development as a theoretical framework for analysis, case studies of three women and two men are presented to highlight the impact of varied parental socialization practices and school experiences on racial identity development. For all, positive same-race peer relationships, information about African-American achievements, the availability of role models, and the encouragement of significant adults were important for academic success and the beginning resolution of identity conflicts. The implications of these findings for understanding aspects of school integration and for developing relevant school-based interventions are considered.     

The differential gender effect of internalized racism on abdominal obesity in KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

This research examined the effect of a psychosocial variable, internalized racism, on abdominal obesity, as measured by waist circumference. Results show that the effect of internalized racism on waist circumference persists net of other controls among women, but not among men. Also, among women who had high levels of internalized racism and high educational levels, a positive relationship to abdominal obesity is evident despite the tendency of education to be protective of abdominal obesity. This study supports other research findings that internalized racism is related to waist circumference among adult women but not among men in Western Hemisphere blacks. It also supports past research findings of a gendered reaction to psychosocial stress. It also illustrates that this relationship occurs on the continent of Africa, an area where research on this phenomenon is scarce.     

‘Work for others but none for us’: the economic and environmental inequalities of New Deal relief

This article calls for increased dialogue between social and environmental historians through an examination of the unintended inequalities caused by New Deal relief efforts in the United States during the Great Depression era. It does so not by exploring those directly involved in New Deal relief programmes, but rather by analysing the impact of such programmes on residents of local communities situated near New Deal work project sites. In particular, it traces how a dozen Civilian Conservation Corps camps in a state park thirty miles from New York City transformed the local environment, and in turn influenced the economies and political relationships of nearby local communities. The article argues that while working-class residents were unable to benefit financially from nearby New Deal relief work, middle- and upper-class business owners proved more successful. As a result of such economic inequalities, while working-class locals became increasingly critical of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, middle- and upper-class residents became grudgingly supportive. The article concludes by urging both social and environmental historians to undertake ‘histories from the ground up’ that pay as much attention to nature as they do to race, class, ethnicity and gender.     

社会融合视角下聋人大学生身份认同及其影响因素研究

认同被视为个人对外在环境和自身状况的综合反映,相当程度上能够表现出个人心理层面社会融合的状态。本文以N学院在校全部聋人大学生为研究对象,通过304份问卷调查,对他们身份认同进行研究,结果表明：聋人大学生身份认同呈现四个倾向分化并处于一定困境之中;听力损失年龄在四个认同倾向上影响并不显著,性别、听力损失程度、家庭背景、家庭教育、学校受教育方式、学业成绩以及社会交往等因素对身份认同影响比较显著。政府、学校及家庭等相关人员要关注聋人大学生身份认同困境并寻找对策以促进他们融入社会。     

Marginalized Mothers: Parenting Without a Home

The authors of this study used participatory and interpretive methods to capture the lived experience, strengths, and needs of homeless mothers. The interview data obtained challenge unfounded stereotypes and provide information about women's coping behaviors and resilience. The findings were developed in collaboration with shelter guests and staff and have important implications for public and university policy and shelter programs. For example, researchers need to become more aware of the limitations of current psychological theories and assessment tools designed to measure "effective coping" in disenfranchised individuals. To accomplish this goal, increased collaboration among researchers, activists, policy makers, and homeless families is recommended (e.g., by instituting roundtable discussions as a standard part of shelter programs). It is also suggested that professional staff who work with women living in poverty avoid using deficit-oriented, victim-based models of intervention, and that staff provide women with opportunities to participate in the development of the curriculum for parenting classes.     

中国当代的高等教育、精英形成与社会分层——来自“首都大学生成长追踪调查”的初步发现

在现代社会中,高等教育在促进社会流动方面的重要性已毋庸置疑。以往的研究往往集中关注那些受过大学教育和没有受过大学教育人群之间的比较,将前者视为一个高度同质的群体,将大学求学过程当作一个"黑箱"。本文基于对"首都大学生成长跟踪调查"研究设计的介绍和首期数据的分析,揭示了中国高等教育内部的社会分层,即进入三种不同层次高校(清华大学、北京大学和中国人民大学等精英高校,"211大学"和其他非"211大学")的决定因素,特别关注家庭背景、招生制度、重点中学制度等中间机制的共同作用。研究发现,家庭社会经济地位和居住地对于进入不同层次的高校仍然有直接的影响,但是否重点高中,以及是否获得高考特殊政策的照顾,对进入什么层次的大学作用更加明显。重点中学主要影响学生高考分数,而招生的各种优惠政策明显有利于家庭社会经济条件好的学生。进入精英大学的学生更有可能入党,尽管他们的入党意愿低于其他类型高校的学生。这些发现对理解中国当代高等教育在精英形成过程和社会分层中的作用具有重要的启示意义。     

The Long-Term Effects of Adolescent Childrearing

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women are used to explore the effect of adolescent childrearing on the hourly wages of women in the labor force. Women who were adolescent mothers earn less than other married or previously married women because of a persistent inability to achieve comparable educational levels. Adolescent mothers from more favorable socioeconomic backgrounds do better than other adolescent mothers in terms of education and income but, relative to women from the same background who postponed childrearing, their losses are substantial. Adolescent mothers are also more likely than other women to be or to have been single heads of households, with the economic disadvantages of that status. Public policy approaches to the prohlems of teenage parenthood must consider rhe provision of income resources and child care supports to enable young mothers to complete high school in order to further their chances for eventual self-support.