SHIFTING POWER

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (02) ◽  
pp. 417-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianna Remster ◽  
Rory Kramer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Racial Inequalities ◽  
Rural Districts ◽  
Contemporary United States ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Legislative Districts

AbstractWhile prisoners cannot vote, they are counted as residents of the often rural legislative districts where they are incarcerated rather than their home districts. We examine the extent to which incarceration shifts the balance of a representative democracy by considering its impact on legislative apportionment. Drawing on data from the Census, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, and Pennsylvania Redistricting Commission, we develop a counterfactual framework to examine whether removing and returning prisoners to their home districts affects equal representation. Because prisoners are disproportionately African American, we also employ this counterfactual to assess racial differences in the impact of prison gerrymandering. Findings indicate that incarceration shifts political power from urban districts to suburban and rural districts through legislative apportionment. Moreover, non-White communities suffer the most. We conclude by considering how our findings fit a growing literature on the role of mass incarceration in [re]producing racial inequalities in the contemporary United States.

scholarly journals Shifting Power: The Impact of Incarceration on Political Representation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianna Remster ◽  
Rory Kramer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Racial Inequalities ◽  
Rural Districts ◽  
Contemporary United States ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Legislative Districts

While prisoners cannot vote, they are counted as residents of the often rural legislative districts where they are incarcerated rather than their often urban home districts. We examine the extent to which incarceration shifts the balance of a representative democracy by considering its impact on legislative apportionment. Drawing on data from the Census, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, and Pennsylvania Redistricting Commission, we develop a counterfactual framework to examine whether removing and returning prisoners to their home districts affects equal representation. Because prisoners are disproportionately African American, we also employ this counterfactual to assess racial differences in the impact of prison gerrymandering. Findings indicate that incarceration shifts political power from urban districts to suburban and rural districts through legislative apportionment. Moreover, non-white communities suffer the most. We conclude by considering how our findings fit a growing literature on the role of mass incarceration in [re]producing racial inequalities in the contemporary United States.

The link between coronavirus, anxiety, and religious beliefs in the United States and United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Rigoli
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Stressful Event ◽  
Cultural Implications ◽  
The Impact

Research has shown that stress impacts on people’s religious beliefs. However, several aspects of this effect remain poorly understood, for example regarding the role of prior religiosity and stress-induced anxiety. This paper explores these aspects in the context of the recent coronavirus emergency. The latter has impacted dramatically on many people’s well-being; hence it can be considered a highly stressful event. Through online questionnaires administered to UK and USA citizens professing either Christian faith or no religion, this paper examines the impact of the coronavirus crisis upon common people’s religious beliefs. We found that, following the coronavirus emergency, strong believers reported higher confidence in their religious beliefs while non-believers reported increased scepticism towards religion. Moreover, for strong believers, higher anxiety elicited by the coronavirus threat was associated with increased strengthening of religious beliefs. Conversely, for non-believers, higher anxiety elicited by the coronavirus thereat was associated with increased scepticism towards religious beliefs. These observations are consistent with the notion that stress-induced anxiety enhances support for the ideology already embraced before a stressful event occurs. This study sheds light on the psychological and cultural implications of the coronavirus crisis, which represents one of the most serious health emergencies in recent times.

Situational Breakdowns

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Nassauer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Dynamic Processes ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact

This book provides an account of how and why routine interactions break down and how such situational breakdowns lead to protest violence and other types of surprising social outcomes. It takes a close-up look at the dynamic processes of how situations unfold and compares their role to that of motivations, strategies, and other contextual factors. The book discusses factors that can draw us into violent situations and describes how and why we make uncommon individual and collective decisions. Covering different types of surprise outcomes from protest marches and uprisings turning violent to robbers failing to rob a store at gunpoint, it shows how unfolding situations can override our motivations and strategies and how emotions and culture, as well as rational thinking, still play a part in these events. The first chapters study protest violence in Germany and the United States from 1960 until 2010, taking a detailed look at what happens between the start of a protest and the eruption of violence or its peaceful conclusion. They compare the impact of such dynamics to the role of police strategies and culture, protesters’ claims and violent motivations, the black bloc and agents provocateurs. The analysis shows how violence is triggered, what determines its intensity, and which measures can avoid its outbreak. The book explores whether we find similar situational patterns leading to surprising outcomes in other types of small- and large-scale events: uprisings turning violent, such as Ferguson in 2014 and Baltimore in 2015, and failed armed store robberies.

scholarly journals The Magnitude of the Impact of HIV on the Human Beings in the World’s Richest Country, America: The Misery of African Americans

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muse Abdi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Hiv Infection ◽  
Risk Behaviors ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Prevention Programs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Related Risk ◽  
The Impact

Disproportionate rates of HIV infection among African Americans is an increasing concern in the United States. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of HIV prevention programs on African Americans and social determinants fueling HIV-related risk behaviors. Using literature, this study analyzed the incidences of HIV infection among African Americans in the United States and the effectiveness of the prevention programs. African Americans struggle with mass incarceration, drugs, stigma, criminalization, and lack of economic opportunities, which contribute to the HIV-related risk behaviors. The existing traditional prevention programs in place are not working for African Americans. Tailored and culturally relevant programs should be designed and implemented. Further studies are needed to establish the causal relationships and develop preventive measures.

scholarly journals Situational Breakdowns Beyond Protest Violence

2019 ◽  
pp. 129-168
Author(s):  
Anne Nassauer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Context Factors ◽  
Social Events ◽  
Micro Level

Chapter 9 explores whether the books’ findings hold in other contexts by examining other instances of surprising outcomes. First, the chapter discusses the outbreak of violence in uprisings after police shootings of African American citizens in the United States, such as Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 and Baltimore, Maryland, in 2015. The first section takes a detailed look at the role of background and context factors (such as symbolic and systemic racism) and situational patterns in uprisings turning violent. Then the chapter discusses successful and failed armed store robberies. Here the surprising outcome is not violence but armed criminals failing to get the money from an unarmed store clerk. Findings suggest similar patterns of situational breakdowns in these occurrences as in protests and uprisings. Overall, the chapter discusses the crucial importance of the micro-level of social phenomena: if routines of both collective and individual social events are disrupted, surprising outcomes occur.

scholarly journals Governance and decentralized energy transitions: a comparative case study of three medium-sized cities in Sweden, Canada, and the United States.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-106
Author(s):  
Martin Boucher
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Energy System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Energy Transitions ◽  
Contextual Understanding ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
Decentralized Energy ◽  
The Impact

 Aim: This study examines the impact of governance on decentralized energy transitions. Knowledge of how particular jurisdictions and their governance arrangements influence these transitions can help strengthen and contextualize divergent trajectories of decentralized energy transitions and—most importantly—reveal the role of geographical context in policy change. Design: This research gap is addressed in this paper by comparing the uptake of decentralized energy transitions in three cities in three different countries—Luleå (Sweden), Saskatoon (Canada), and Anchorage (United States). The jurisdictions in each city has unique governance contexts pertaining to electric utilities, regulations, public policy, and public acceptance.  By comparing these transitions, this study highlights the governance considerations for decentralized energy transitions and asks how does governance impact decentralized energy transitions in cities? To answer this question, actors within various public, private, and sectoral capacities were interviewed to provide their insights on decentralized energy transitions in each jurisdiction. Conclusion: I present five governance dimensions that impact decentralized energy transitions and explain how these factors can be included to provide a more contextual understanding of patterns of decentralized energy transitions in cities.  Originality: Much of the literature on decentralized energy and cities has focused on project and sectoral level analysis and hasn’t considered the holistic nature of the energy system transition. A particular gap that would help inform a broader understanding is the jurisdictional governance impacts of decentralization energy transitions. Implications of the Research: In practical terms, the results could be used to inform inter-jurisdictional comparisons of decentralization energy projects. Limitations of the Research: Given that there were three case studies, it is not possible to make generalizable claims from the results.  

scholarly journals The Role of Risk Perception in Flu Vaccine Behavior among African-American and White Adults in the United States

Risk Analysis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 2150-2163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki S. Freimuth ◽  
Amelia Jamison ◽  
Gregory Hancock ◽  
Donald Musa ◽  
Karen Hilyard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
Risk Perception ◽  
The United States ◽  
Flu Vaccine ◽  
White Adults

scholarly journals Racial Differences in Disease Presentation and Management of Intracranial Meningioma

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (06) ◽  
pp. 555-561
Author(s):  
C. Lane Anzalone ◽  
Amy E. Glasgow ◽  
Jamie J. Van Gompel ◽  
Matthew L. Carlson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Overall Survival ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Tumor Size ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intracranial Meningioma ◽  
Multivariable Model ◽  
Asian Populations ◽  
Hispanic Patients ◽  
The Impact

Objective/Hypothesis The aim of the study was to determine the impact of race on disease presentation and treatment of intracranial meningioma in the United States. Study Design This study comprised of the analysis of a national population-based tumor registry. Methods Analysis of the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) database was performed, including all patients identified with a diagnosis of intracranial meningioma. Associations between race, disease presentation, treatment strategy, and overall survival were analyzed in a univariate and multivariable model. Results A total of 65,973 patients with intracranial meningiomas were identified. Of these, 45,251 (68.6%) claimed white, 7,796 (12%) black, 7,154 (11%) Hispanic, 4,902 (7%) Asian, and 870 (1%) patients reported “other-unspecified” or “other-unknown.” The median annual incidence of disease was lowest among black (3.43 per 100,000 persons) and highest among white (9.52 per 100,000 persons) populations (p < 0.001). Overall, Hispanic patients were diagnosed at the youngest age and white patients were diagnosed at the oldest age (mean of 59 vs. 66 years, respectively; p < 0.001). Compared with white populations, black, Hispanic, and Asian populations were more likely to present with larger tumors (p < 0.001). After controlling for tumor size, age, and treatment center in a multivariable model, Hispanic patients were more likely to undergo surgery than white, black, and Asian populations. Black populations had the poorest disease specific and overall survival rates at 5 years following surgery compared with other groups. Conclusion Racial differences among patients with intracranial meningioma exist within the United States. Understanding these differences are of vital importance toward identifying potential differences in the biological basis of disease or alternatively inequalities in healthcare delivery or access Further studies are required to determine which factors drive differences in tumor size, age, annual disease incidence, and overall survival between races.

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