Farming Patterns,Rural Restructuring,and Poverty: A Comparative Regional Analysis1

Abstract This study examines the contentions of two recent perspectives on rural economic organization and their implications for poverty. Building from (1) agrarian political economy and (2) the rural restructuring literatures, we present a comparative regional analysis of how farming patterns and other aspects of economic organization differentially affect poverty in rural areas. Data are based on 2,349 nonmetropolitan U.S. counties for the 1970–1980 period. Nonhired labor-dependent, family-operated farming (smaller and larger family farming) has relatively similar cross-regional effects on rural poverty. The effects of industrialized farming are more spatially variant, suggesting that this type of farming is integrated into regional political economies in different ways than are simple commodity units. However, farming patterns have only a small effect on rural poverty relative to other factors, such as the local employment structure, characteristics of the population, and geographic location. The results of this study highlight the need to move beyond the farm sector to understand both the dynamics of this sector and the socioeconomic consequences of rural restructuring. More broadly, the study underscores the importance of testing general sociological relationships under different spatial (e.g., regional) contexts.     

Ethnic preferences and perceptions among Asian and White British middle school children

Asian and White middle school children were shown photographs of unknown Afro-Caribbean, Asian, and White individuals of approximately the same age as themselves, and asked which one wax most like them, which one they would prefer to be, which ones they would prefer to engage in various activities with, and finally, to allocate positive and negative traits to the three groups or to nobody. A similar majority of both Asian and While children selected an own-race photograph as being most like them, but only about a half selected the own-race photograph as the one they would most like to he. For sharing activities, children showed a strong own-tender preference, followed by an own-race preference. White children stated a greater preference for sharing activities with White children, then with Afro-Caribbean children, and least with Asian children. Asian children preferred Asian and White children the most, Afro-Caribbean the least. On a stereotypes test, similar trends were obtained; White children evaluated While children highest and Asian lowest; Asian children tended to evaluate Asian children highest but to a nonsignificant extent. The relative proportion of Asian/White children in school appeared to have little systematic influence on the results, thus arguing against the contact hypothesis of prejudice reduction in its simple form.     

Socioeconomic Status and Early Adolescent Self-Esteem*

This study is a replication of a recent assessment of the relationship between social class and self-esteem, and the variables that intervene on this relationship. The purpose is to replicate the methods used to explore further this relationship by attempting to replicate the findings reported by Demo and Savin-Williams (1983) in another population. Only one of the four hypotheses tested received support thereby indirectly supporting the null relationship theory of no relationship between socioeconomic status and self-esteem. Implications of the findings also are addressed.     

TESTAMENTARY BEHAVIOR:

Content analysis and qualitative analysis of all 319 last wills that were filed in Providence Probate Court, 1985, revealed that about ten percent of the testators used testamentary material, disinheritance or altruism to express their individuality. About 42 percent of the wills were personalized directly in other ways. Forty-eight percent displayed indirect influences of family, friends and community. Less that ten percent displayed primary influences of attorneys, banks, nursing homes, governments, religions or other organizations. In the light of these findings, while none of the three major theoretical positions on testamentary behavior prevails, the individualist position is manifested more often than is the family-community position. Both of these positions are manifested much more often than is the legalist position.
These findings are related to the work of Emile Durkheim and to contemporary sociological theories of the family, community and law.     

Recurrent pain in college students.

The authors investigated the prevalence of recurrent pain in a college student sample. Of the 1,564 students surveyed, 467 (29%) indicated that they had experienced recurrent pain at an intensity that was mostly in the mild-to-moderate range. Students who reported having recurrent pain were significantly older and more depressed than students who did not indicate they suffered from recurrent pain. Pain intensity was positively correlated (r = .14) with depression among the students who reported having recurrent pain. Implications of the findings for future research, treatment, and health promotion efforts are discussed.     

Gender-specific changes in students' sexual behaviors and attitudes at a southeastern university between 1973 and 1988.

This study investigated the gender-specific, self-reported sexual behaviors and attitudes of never-married college students attending a southeastern university in 1973 and 1988. Data were collected by means of a mailed questionnaire that remained essentially unchanged for both years. The authors found that both men and women reported an increase in heterosexual relationships that included sexual intercourse and a decrease in nonsexual relationships with the other gender. The majority of the students perceived themselves as adequately informed about sexuality and satisfied with their relationships, although the proportion of men who reported being satisfied with their relationships declined over the 15 years. The students indicated that sexuality education should focus primarily on information about AIDS and on preparation for marriage.     

中国林史学科的奠基人——纪念张钧成先生逝世一周年

张钧成先生是我国著名的林业历史学家.该文从林业史学科建设、林业史研究概况、中国古代林业通史、中国古代林业思想和传统文化、林业科技史和经济史、近现代林业史等研究领域,概述了张先生的学术成就,并回顾了张先生高尚的人生哲学和宝贵的治学经验.张先生的研究成果和治学经验,为我国林史学科的发展奠定了基础.     

The Decline of Barriers to Immigrant Economic and Political Rights in the American States: 1977–20011

State governments exercise significant powers to regulate the economic and social activities of resident aliens. We review the laws of the six leading states of immigrant settlement regulating access of noncitizens to 23 occupations, updating existing studies from 1946–77. Citizenship requirements for these occupations have plummeted, a change we attribute to federal court decisions, advisory opinions of state attorneys general, and state legislative and administrative action. There are numerous additional citizenship requirements in the statutes of the six states, although these appear to be poorly enforced. The authority of states to regulate their political communities is the most important remaining constitutionally valid basis of citizenship requirements. States define their political community broadly, leading to questionable exclusions of noncitizens from important activities.