There Goes the Neighborhood: How Racial Threat Shapes the Formation of Integrated and Segregated Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods in the United States are highly segregated by race. Black–white segregation is particularly acute. Although racial segregation has been declining in recent years, it remains extremely high—especially in the largest metropolitan areas. The historical pattern has been that as African Americans move into a neighborhood, whites move out and thus the neighborhood (gradually or rapidly) transitions from predominantly white to predominantly black. A seemingly contradictory pattern has recently been observed: integrated neighborhoods are becoming more common. Why do some neighborhoods transition from white to black and others become integrated? We use racial competition theory to answer this question. We examine the characteristics of stable, integrated neighborhoods and contrast them with segregated predominantly white, predominantly black, and rapidly transitioning neighborhoods in six large metropolitan areas. We find that the location of black neighborhoods is a key factor in whether an integrated neighborhood remains integrated. Specifically, we find integrated neighborhoods are spatially distant from majority black neighborhoods while transitioning neighborhoods are adjacent to them. Our findings support the “sense of threat” hypothesis of racial competition theory.     

Rural versus urban residence as an influence on grandparent caregivers’ needs for service

The present study explored the impact of rural (n = 26) versus urban (n = 49) environments on perceived needs for services among grandparent caregivers, wherein persons participated in focus groups targeting their needs and concerns and/or completed a mailed survey. While findings suggested substantial similarity across rural and urban persons in unmet needs, areas of difficulty, and service barriers, rural grandparents who reported their health to be fair or poor reported the greatest unmet needs and experienced the widest array of problem areas, while the opposite was true for urban grandparent caregivers. With few exceptions, sociodemographic factors failed to predict unmet needs, array of problem areas, and barriers. The practice and policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

American Military Government after Two Wars

Researchers have argued for increased collaboration between teachers and museum educators to improve the outcomes of museum education on students; however, significant gaps in understanding between the two remain impediments to effective collaboration. We surveyed fifty-one museum educators, conducted in-depth interviews with ten of these respondents, and analyzed the data with use of an inductive lens. In this article we use a composite dialogue between a museum educator and a teacher to present a series of questions teachers should ask of, and information they should provide to, museum educators. Such questions and information can be used to initiate more effective collaborative relationships that may ultimately improve the quality of museum education for our students. We argue that gaps in museum educators’ understanding about teachers’ needs, objectives, and concerns about museum visits could be bridged if teachers knew what questions to ask and what information to volunteer to museum educators before arranging a museum visit.     

Unemployment and Political Partisanship: Support for the Null Hypothesis

Abstract

Analysis of survey data from faculty at fifteen colleges and universities in a large Midwestern metropolitan area supports earlier speculations that certain attributes unique to academia are predictive of differential participation in several aspects of socio-political life. Scholarly commitments and working in a field that studies socio-political issues per se are associated with liberal attitudes, casting votes for liberal candidates, and overt involvement in radical political activities. Tendencies for these associations were observed in both secular and church-related schools. Contrary to critics of the recent Ladd and Lipset studies, there is a clear tendency for faculty with liberal covert attitudes to translate them into overt participation in liberal and radical political activities.     

State Government Funding of Research on Science and Technology: A Report on Michigan

Abstract

The question of this paper is: what factors explain the decisions of state governments to fund research on science and technology? The theoretical problem underlying the research question is patronage in the classical sense, that is, the support by one person or group for the activities of another person or group. Three models of explanation are proposed: “budget incrementalism,” a “rational” model, and a power model. The models are evaluated with information from a case study of a state government program in Michigan. The rational model best explains the state's selection of some proposals out of all the proposals submitted by each state university for funding. The power model best explains the overall allocation of program funds among Michigan's public universities. The budget incrementalism model helps explain the considerable stability from year to year in funding both for the entire program and for each university's share.     

PARTICIPANT NARRATIVES AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY IN A METAPHYSICAL MOVEMENT

In this article we explore social movement solidarity through an examination of narratives offered by participants in a metaphysical movement. Drawing from contemporary social movement theory, we focus on how members develop a carefully built collective identity that perpetuates movement goals and ideology. Data for this project are drawn from in-depth interviews with local psychics, participant observation in various metaphysical fairs, and document analysis. We find that the movement's collective identity is centered around several narratives that help establish boundaries, identify antagonists, and create a collective consciousness. Together these narratives form a web of belief that binds members to the movement. The data we present in this article have implications for understanding other expressive movements, as well as for social movement theory in general.     

Women,crimes, and judicial dispositions: A comparative examination of the female offender

Utilizing records from the Seattle Police Department, we explored questions of a new “masculinized” female offender and a “chivalrous” criminal justice system. Crime‐specific arrest statistics provided a means to study both questions. Arrest statistics were recoded three separate ways: according to traditional views of the “masculinity” of an offense; legalistic crime categories; and seriousness ratings. These three categories were compared by sex across a four‐year period. Comparisons of final dispositions provided the basis of a final look at the “chivalry” issue. The findings suggest that females are not making great inroads into either traditionally masculine crimes or crime in general, and while there is little in the data to suggest prejudicial treatment based on sex, chivalry is supported by certain arrest and disposition rates.     

Keynote Address

Abstract

Because of the increasing prevalence of eating disorders in college populations, it is increasingly important for student health services to identify affected individuals. Therefore, the authors analyzed the student health forms of member schools of the New York State College Health Association for the presence of items that would identify an eating disorder. Directors of health services that include specific questions about eating disorders on health forms were then surveyed for their opinions about this practice.

Specific items about eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia, vomiting to lose weight, laxative use to lose weight) were included on 5 of 111 forms. Less specific items including dissatisfaction with weight, being on a diet, or binge eating appeared on 10% of forms.

Approximately one-third of the students known by health service staffs to have an eating disorder reported this on their health form, when provided a specific opportunity to do so. Even though underreporting by students is potentially a problem in such circumstances, the health service directors all recommended the inclusion of items relating to eating disorders on student health forms.

“Human Papillomavirus Type 16 and Early Cervical Neoplasia,” CHRISTOPHER P. CRUM, et al. Flat warts (condylomata) of the uterine cervix are sometimes cytologically atypical and have abnormal mitotic figures; they are thought to be possible precursors of cancer of the cervix. Flat warts are caused by any of a number of types of human papillomaviruses (HPVs), one of which (HPV 16) has been previously associated with invasive cancer of the cervix. To determine whether HPV 16 is also associated with flat warts with abnormal mitoses, we analyzed 23 flat warts by DNA-hybridization techniques for the presence of HPV 16 and other HPV types, and correlated the results with the histology. Of 10 lesions with abnormal mitotic figures, 7 contained HPV 16, and 1 contained another type of HPV. Of 13 lesions without abnormal mitotic figures, only 1 contained HPV 16, and 7 contained other types of HPV.

We conclude that the presence of HPV 16 correlates with the presence of abnormal mitotic figures in flat warts of the cervix, and that this type of flat wart is a precursor of invasive cancer of the cervix. (New England Journal of Medicine 1984;310:880–3.)     

Cocaine use among the College Age Group: Biological and Psychological Effects—Clinical and Laboratory Research Findings

Abstract

Though cocaine has been used by man for centuries for both medical and nonmedical reasons, a knowledge of its effect on the human mind and body remains limited and not yet clearly documented. Sources of information consist of myth, street knowledge, animal studies, and clinical and laboratory studies of man. This paper focuses on findings from the latter two sources.

The biological effects of cocaine include the local effects of producing anesthesia and constriction of blood vessels in areas where it is applied topically. Solutions of the drug applied directly to the eye cause the pupils to dilate. Systemic effects include an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. In some individuals, an increase in alertness occurs, and in others a state of drowsiness. The drug also decreases total sleep, REM sleep, and appetite.

The psychological effects of the drug vary with dosage, chronicity, and a host of other variables. Increasing doses over long periods of time appear to cause increasingly severe impairment of affective and cognitive functioning. These effects include a strong psychological craving, making cocaine one of the most powerfully reinforcing of all known substances. In addition, cocaine may induce symptoms ranging from mild euphoria to hyperalertness, hyperactivity, anorexia, insomnia, hypersexuality, and proneness to violence. In others, cocaine may produce sadness, melancholia, apathy, and various symptoms of dysphoria. Depression has been reported to occur in people who stop taking the drug, especially those who have taken the drug intravenously. At high doses taken over a long period of time, cocaine may produce symptoms that mimic acute paranoid psychosis with hallucinations, stereotyped behavior, paranoid delusions, insomnia, and proneness to violence. Finally, cocaine may cause delirium, convulsions, and death from cardiorespiratory failure. With over 30 million individuals in the college age group reported to have taken cocaine, college health personnel must be prepared to diagnose and treat symptoms resulting from cocaine toxicity.