NEIGHBORHOOD DISADVANTAGE AMONG RACIAL AND ETHNIC GROUPS:

We compare the neighborhood characteristics of native- and foreign-born blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asians in 1970 and 1980. We broaden the locational attainment literature by emphasizing three contrasts: between black and nonblack groups, between native black and nonblack immigrant groups, and among black groups. Consistent with previous evidence, we find a clear spatial disadvantage for black groups relative to nonblack groups, and for native blacks compared to nonblack immigrant groups, in both years. However, our study reveals a slight advantage for foreign nonHispanic blacks (e.g., Afro-Caribbean immigrants) among the black groups throughout the time period. Our results break new ground by extending the analysis of racial and ethnic variation in residential attainment back to 1970, providing an earlier benchmark against which current patterns of residential attainment can be compared.     

CAPITAL GAINS AND SOCIAL INCOME

The seminal work on concepts of income implicitly assumed given expectations, thereby excluding all capital revaluations (gains and losses) from consideration. This became codified in national accounting systems and rationalized by arbitrary conventions. In a changing economy this exclusion is shown to warp the income stream, resulting in a theoretically inconsistent concept that arbitrarily mixes current and past relative prices (and hence expectations). A theoretically grounded concept is proposed that includes current accrued real capital gains and losses. It is also shown that replacement cost (or market value) depreciation is valid only if capital revaluations have been included in income.     

NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT AND THE GENDER GAP IN ADOLESCENT VIOLENT CRIME

Although researchers consistently demonstrate that females engage in less criminal behavior than males across the life course, research on the variability of the gender gap across contexts is sparse. To address this issue, we examine the gender gap in self-reported violent crime among adolescents across neighborhoods. Multilevel models using data from the Project of Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) indicate that the gender gap in violent crime decreases as levels of neighborhood disadvantage increase. Further, the narrowing of the gender gap is explained by gender differences in peer influence on violent offending. Neighborhood disadvantage increases exposure to peer violence for both sexes, but peer violence has a stronger impact on violent offending for females than for males, producing the reduction in the gender gap at higher levels of disadvantage. We also find that the gender difference in the relationship between peer violence and offending is explained, in part, by (1) the tendency for females to have more intimate friendships than males, and (2) the moderating effect of peer intimacy on the relationship between peer violence and self-reported violent behavior.     

GENDER, CLASS, AND THE ART AND CRAFT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL

Social capital is generally recognized as the positive outcome of sociability and social connection and, more specifically, as the capacity to realize economic benefits through social connections. Limited attention has been paid to understanding the potential of social capital at the intersection of socioeconomic disadvantage. The first part of the article examines assumptions of class and gender in the theoretical literature on social capital. The second part explores the influence of class and gender contexts on social networks among women living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Victoria, Australia. The analysis reveals the ways in which social network assets are conditional on socioeconomic and gender circumstances.     

THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF RELIGIOUS INTEGRATION AND SUICIDE:

Recent research suggests that Durkheimian ideas on the impact of religious affiliation on suicide need to be updated and tailored to the modern cultural landscape of the United States. Following up on the importance of how historical context has shifted the integrative power of denominational networks, this article pursues the potential utility of a networks, perspective by suggesting that a significant contextual element has been neglected to date: Geographical context, both regional and rural-urban dimensions, also delimits the differential ability of religions to form a "community' of social support capable of integrating individuals. If the network approach provides a useful direction, the effects of religious affiliation across geographical areas should vary in a manner consistent with notions of how social structural opportunity and tradition (of lack thereof) affect religious network strength. Analyses of detailed suicide, religion, and sociodemographic data by region and population density in U.S. county groups do, in fact, indicate that for many major religious groups the effects of religious affiliation on suicide vary across geographical areas, consistent with network theory. For example, while Judaism's protective effect is small overall, it is large in the Northeast and reversed in the South. The protective strength also is reversed for Catholicism in the South and many Evangelical Protestant groups in the Northeast. Overall, the results suggest that region exerts a greater impact on religious affiliation effects than does population density, though the latter does impact on Catholic and Jewish effects.     

SOCIAL CAPITAL AND DEMOCRACY IN A NEW DEMOCRACY

Taiwan made the transition from political authoritarianism to democracy in the late 1980s. Data from representative samples of the Taiwan population in 1992 and 1997 show how, in the early phase of democratization, citizens varied in the extent of their democratic political behavior and attitudes. I attempt to explain these variations on the basis of variables drawn from social capital theory (participation in voluntary organizations and trust), controlling for the individual's position in the social structure (sex, age, ethnicity, marital status, socioeconomic status, and social class). The findings of the multivariate analysis support only one of the social capital hypotheses: The more organizations one participates in, the more one engages in various forms of democratic political behavior . However, organizational participation has no effect on democratic political attitudes . There is no positive reciprocal relationship between the two key social capital variables of organizational participation and trust. Trust, instead of having a positive effect, either has no net effect (on some forms of democratic political behavior) or a significant negative effect (on democratic political attitudes and petitioning a government agency). The political context of Taiwan may explain why people who distrusted Taiwan's political system were more democratic and more tolerant in their attitudes than those who had more political trust.     

POLITICS IN MULTIPARTY CONTEXT: MULTIPLICATIVE SPECIFICATIONS, SOCIAL INFLUENCE, AND ELECTORAL CHOICE

Explanations of electoral choice most frequently focus on theisolated characteristics of voters and examine those characteristicsusing linear, additive formulations. We explore two alternatives.We first argue that in a multiparty electoral context, the structuringinfluence of ideology on the vote often will be best representedwith a multiplicative specification. Second, we contend thatthe impact of individual-level traits such as ideology willbe moderated by the political climate of the voter's socialcontext. We test these alternative formulations using data concerningthe 1989 elections in Honduras, where two major parties andtwo minor parties vied for support. Multinomial logistic regressionresults demonstrate that a multiplicative and contextual specificationsubstantially outperforms a more conventional modeling strategy.     

EFFECTS OF RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION AND NEIGHBORHOOD OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF BLACK AND WHITE YOUTH

The object of this article is to consider the impact of local labor market opportunities on the employment of youth, and to evaluate the extent to which residential segregation is detrimental to the employment of young blacks. In the study, labor force statistics for white and black youth are related to job availability estimates derived from Dun and Bradstreet business data for 74 neighborhood communities in the city of Chicago. The findings underscore the unique role of local labor markets, especially for youth enrolled in school. Job availability has a strong impact on the employment ratio of blacks, but affects the employment of white youth only slightly. It appears, however, that when job availability is controlled, blacks benefit somewhat from segregation. The implications for job redistribution and its possible effect on the racial employment gap are discussed.     

THE SOCIAL CAPITAL RESOURCES OF GENDER AND CLASS GROUPS

ABSTRACT

Social capital resources affect careers. Yet, insufficient attention has been given to how access to social capital resources differs for social groups and, therefore, differentially affects careers. This study consists of in-depth interviews with 246 white interviewees from three parts of the U.S.: New Jersey, Tennessee, and Ohio. The interviews provide extensive details about how social capital resources affected the respondents' educational and employment endeavors. We found that men had greater access to social capital resources than women. Thus, career advantages accumulated for men, while career disadvantages accumulated for women. There were few class differences in access to social capital resources, but the middle/upper middle class had better career returns than the working class. Unlike many other studies of social capital resources and careers, our study examines the processes by which the resources were derived, how they were used, and how they affected careers. As such, we detail a primary mechanism of career disparities and, ultimately, socioeconomic inequalities.     

INNOCENT VIOLENCE: SOCIAL EXCLUSION,IDENTITY, AND THE PRESS IN AN AFRICAN DEMOCRACY

The violent attacks on African immigrants and refugees in marginal settlements surrounding South Africa's largest cities in May 2008 occasioned a rush of mostly well-intentioned attempts by journalists, public intellectuals, and government officials to discover the causes and find the cures for the outbreak. This article interrogates the glosses of “xenophobia” and “social deprivation” that were all too quickly applied to explain the attacks in public representations of this sorry episode in South Africa's post-apartheid history. The account of the focal events is based on a thorough sifting of press reports; victims', perpetrators', and police testimonies; government and civil society spokespersons' interventions; and field research. Rather than providing a monovocal, hierarchical argument for one or another analysis emerging from the reportage, this article juxtaposes complex and conflicting local accounts, justifications, forces, and circumstances to provide an intriguing if ultimately at this early stage irresolvable image of these tragic events. The implications for South African social identities, institutions, and democratic order, however, are at the end all too clearly illuminated.     

DETERMINANTS OF INDIVIDUAL NEIGHBORHOOD TIES AND SOCIAL RESOURCES IN POOR URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS

Studies on life in poor urban neighborhoods suggest the importance of kin and non-kin ties for support. Research also notes the dearth of certain ties that are important to locate economic and social resources. This research evaluates the determinants of certain types of social resources for residents in poor urban neighborhoods. Specifically, I consider the relationship between five types of neighborhood ties for residents--religious, kin, friendship, neighbor, and informal jobs--as well as race/ethnicity, and neighborhood poverty and social resources. Using the Urban Poverty & Family Life Survey and OLS and logistic regression analyses, results show religious and friendship ties are important predictors of individual social resources and support. Also, neighborhood poverty is insignificant in most of the analyses and when it is important, residents in more impoverished areas are more likely to seek out social resources than their counterparts in non-poor and moderately poor areas. These findings support variants of Compression and Composition theories as possibleexemplars for explaining ways in which residents secure social resources in poor urban neighborhoods.     

PSYCHOTHERAPY WITH LESBIAN COUPLES: INDIVIDUAL ISSUES,FEMALE SOCIALIZATION,AND THE SOCIAL CONTEXT*

Relationship patterns in lesbian couples vary systematically from relationship patterns in heterosexual couples in ways that are related to the exclusively female composition of these couples, their stigmatizable identity, and the lack of social recognition and acceptance for such family units. These patterned differences are addressed from a systemic perspective in five arenas: distance regulation and boundary maintenance, sexual expression, financial arrangements, breaking up, and stage differences in coming out and acceptance of lesbian identity.     

YOUTH,REVOLUTION, AND REPRESSION

We develop a simple model to study the effect of age structure on the interactions between the state and dissidents. Younger populations are more prone to protest. As the population grows younger, states that can discriminately target repression to different groups, but cannot concede discriminately, decrease repression. In contrast, states that can target concession, but not repression, increase repression. We test these results in nonmilitary single‐party regimes and military regimes without political parties. Moreover, we study state response to dissent in East European communist regimes in the late 1980s, showing that state response was more repressive in countries with younger populations. (JEL D74)     

VIOLENCE,MORALITY, AND TELEVISION COMMERCIALS

It is popularly believed that television violence and declining morality are important causes of crime. Nearly all of the research in this area, however, has centered attention on programs, both news and entertainment. Commercials have generally been neglected. The present study sought to remedy this oversight . Findings from a content analysis of 1,699 commercials show that only a very small percentage of commercials contain violence. The findings also indicate that a low number of commercials exhibit behavior or attitudes that run contrary to conventional moral standards. It is theorized that although advertisers sponsor programs that feature violence or morally controversial themes, they do not wish to closely associate such content with the products or services they seek to sell.     

LIFETIME UNCERTAINTY, HUMAN CAPITAL AND PHYSICAL CAPITAL

This paper demonstrates that the non-inheritability of human capital makes investment in it fundamentally different from investment in physical capital when lifetime is uncertain. A simple two-period model is used to highlight the effect of lifetime uncertainty on the optimal investment in human capital with and without markets for life insurance.     

RESIDENTIAL STABILITY, NEIGHBORHOOD RACIAL COMPOSITION, AND THE SUBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT OF NEIGHBORHOOD PROBLEMS AMONG OLDER ADULTS

This study investigates the effects of neighborhood racial composition and residential stability—as measured by the percentage of individuals who have lived in the same location for the past five years—on perceived neighborhood problems. Among a sample of older black and white adults, findings indicate that the patterns are contingent upon residents' race. For whites who reside in neighborhoods with a low percentage of black residents, greater residential stability is associated with fewer perceived neighborhood problems net of individual- and neighborhood-level disadvantage. For blacks, greater residential stability is associated with fewer neighborhood problems, but the percentage of black residents is associated with more neighborhood problems. In both cases, individual- and neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantages contribute to those patterns. These findings have implications for theories about the personal and social effects of residential stability and neighborhood racial composition, as well as race differences in the links between neighborhood context and the subjective assessment of neighborhood problems.     

MINORITY CONCENTRATION, DISADVANTAGE, AND INEQUALITY IN THE NONMETROPOLITAN UNITED STATES

The implications of the residential concentration of minority populations are issues of vital concern in the United States. Much of the previous minority concentration literature has focused on African-American residents of metropolitan communities. This article expands on this literature by exploring a variety of minority groups in nonmetropolitan communities. It was found that the minority residents of communities with large minority populations were in worse socioeconomic conditions than the minority residents of predominately white communities. Further, for most socioeconomic variables, it was found that as minority concentration increased, white residents tended to do better. In addition, the extent of racial inequality between minority and white residents was greater in communities with larger minority populations. Implications of the above findings are discussed.     

SOCIAL SECURITY AND AGGREGATE CAPITAL ACCUMULATION REVISITED: DYNAMIC SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATES IN A WEALTH-GENERATION MODEL

This paper re-examines Feldstein's(1974, 1982)results of the effect of social security on private capital accumulation in the context of a simultaneous-equation model of capital accumulation. The model incorporates dynamic feedback effects in capital accumulation and is estimated by FIML to incorporate theoretical restrictions that are tested against the data. It is then simulated as a full dynamic model to analyze the long-run effect of SSW on private capital accumulation. The simulated effects are in the same direction as found by Feldstein, but are considerably weaker.     

NOT SO FAST,MY FRIEND: SOCIAL CAPITAL AND THE RACE DISPARITY IN PROMOTIONS AMONG COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES

To better understand persistent racial inequality in occupational mobility, we examine the influence of race and social capital on the promotions of 320 assistant college football coaches. The results from quantitative analyses demonstrate that social capital matters a great deal for promotions, but its impact is contingent on the race of the respondent. Specifically, network connections to heterogeneous contacts (racially heterophilous ties, weak ties, and high-status ties) appear to be more effective for black coaches than for white coaches. The findings underscore the importance and complexity of the relationships between race, social capital, and occupational mobility.