Precursors to Political Engagement

2020 ◽  
pp. 71-95
Author(s):  
Taylor N. Carlson ◽  
Marisa Abrajano ◽  
Lisa García Bedolla

In this chapter, we investigate the extent to which discussion network characteristics are associated with feelings of political efficacy and trust, which are essential precursors to political participation. We explore these factors by of ethnorace, nativity, and gender. We compare levels of trust and efficacy across these groups descriptively, then use ordinary least squares reg ression models to examine how network characteristics are associated with efficacy and trust. We supplement these empirical findings with evidence from our qualitative interviews. We find that network characteristics do not influence political trust and political efficacy among the foreign born as much as they do among the U.S. born. We observe limited differences in these relationships between men and women. We also find substantial variation among ethnoracial groups; for example, we find that partisan homogeneity is positively associated with political trust for Blacks and Latinos, but not for Whites or Asian Americans.

2020 ◽  
pp. 96-116
Author(s):  
Taylor N. Carlson ◽  
Marisa Abrajano ◽  
Lisa García Bedolla

Chapter 5 examines the relationship among network characteristics, political knowledge, and policy attitudes by ethnorace, nativity, and gender. While we are unable to distinguish between selection and social influence, we uncover some interesting patterns. Network size is positively associated with political knowledge for both men and women, but we observe variation by ethnorace and nativity. Network size is not associated with political knowledge among Latinos, and discussion frequency is not associated with political knowledge among Blacks, Latinos, or Whites. Discussion frequency is positively associated with political knowledge among both the U.S. and foreign born, but network size is only associated with political knowledge among the U.S. born. For policy attitudes, we explored two issues that are important for marginalized ethnoracial group members: environmental policy and social justice policy. We find substantial variation in the relationship between network characteristics and policy preferences among the ethnoracial groups in the sample.


2018 ◽  
Vol 677 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Lee ◽  
Karthick Ramakrishnan ◽  
Janelle Wong

Asian Americans are the fastest-growing group in the United States, increasing from 0.7 percent in 1970 to nearly 6 percent in 2016. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that by 2065, Asian Americans will constitute 14 percent of the U.S. population. Immigration is fueling this growth: China and India have passed Mexico as the top countries sending immigrants to the United States since 2013. Today, two of three Asian Americans are foreign born—a figure that increases to nearly four of five among Asian American adults. The rise in numbers is accompanied by a rise in diversity: Asian Americans are the most diverse U.S. racial group, comprising twenty-four detailed origins with vastly different migration histories and socioeconomic profiles. In this article, we explain how the unique characteristics of Asian Americans affect their patterns of ethnic and racial self-identification, which, in turn, present challenges for accurately counting this population. We conclude by discussing policy ramifications of our findings, and explain why data disaggregation is a civil rights issue.


2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Walton ◽  
David T. Takeuchi

This article examines how facets of family structure and processes are linked to self-rated health and psychological distress in a national sample of Asian Americans. The authors find little support for well-established theories predicting the effects of family structure. Marital status does not affect self-rated health and has limited effects on psychological distress. The only effects of family composition are evident among men and the U.S.-born, where the presence of extended family in the home is related to lower levels of psychological distress. The authors find important gender and nativity differences in the effects of family cohesion, which protect the physical and psychological well-being of women and the U.S.-born but not men or foreign-born individuals. Findings suggest that the effects of family structure and processes on well-being are not universal. Family studies among Asian Americans that do not account for gender and nativity differences may be overlooking underlying complexity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hee-Soon Juon ◽  
Frederic Kim ◽  
Carol Strong ◽  
Eunmi Park ◽  
Lei Zheng ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Elena Gapova

The purpose of this article is to analyze “after the shift,” which occurred in the second half of the 20th century, from a goods-producing society to an information or knowledge society, as information technology (IT) began to be seen as a most important asset of contemporary nations. Bell argued in 1973 that in the new social order, knowledge and information would replace industrial production, and would become the “axial principle” of social organization (Bell, 1973). By the end of the 20th century, IT has also become a truly global phenomenon, involved with the reconfiguration of the labor market and human and material resources from all over the world. Gary Becker, the 1992 Nobel laureate in economics, pointed out that the United States’ (U.S.) Silicon Valley currently employs 1 million people, of whom 40% have at least a bachelor’s degree and more than one-third are foreign-born. In the new information economy, special importance is assigned to IT researchers and developers, who belong to the global group of “knowledge workers.” In the post-industrial era, IT workers have skills that allow them to compete in the global labor market, as IT jobs, by their very nature, are not tied to any particular culture and “can work” anywhere. At the same time, IT production is labor-intensive, and many first-world nations (Britain, Germany, France, Ireland, the U.S.), which have undergone a reduction in birthrates, feel that their own human resources are not sufficient for its development. In 2000, the American Institute for Electric and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) recognized that “With declining numbers from national engineering graduate programs, the U.S. has no option but to satisfy the growing need for the engineering professionals from abroad” (Institute, 1999). To bring professionals into the country, the U.S., the biggest IT developer, introduced an employer-based H1-B visa program for specialty occupations (e.g., computer professionals, programmers or engineers).


2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110567
Author(s):  
Justin E. Lerner ◽  
Jane J. Lee

Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) Asian Americans in the U.S. have multiple stigmatized identities, yet their experiences of violence and discrimination are not well understood. We utilized the 2015 United States Trans Survey, the largest survey to date with U.S. TGD people, to study the experiences of TGD Asian Americans. Our study included 699 TGD Asian Americans who experienced violence and discrimination in the form of unequal treatment, verbal harassment, and physical attack. We assessed how experiences differed by sociodemographic characteristics, including birthplace, income, age, education, disability, gender identity, and region. We also explored how family support was associated with experiences of violence in the sample. Bivariate analyses and multivariable regressions were used to understand how sociodemographic variables and family support are linked to experiences of violence and discrimination. Results indicated that income, age, disability, gender identity, and family support are significantly associated with violence and discrimination. As TGD Asian Americans currently experience high levels of violence and discrimination due to transphobia and a rapidly rising anti-Asian bias stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts to better understand factors that may increase vulnerability and identify how family support can mitigate those experiences are imperative.


Author(s):  
Nancy D. Erbe

It has been a few years since the editors published their first book together on nonviolence. Arguably, violence has gotten worse. Certainly, divisive nationalist hate mongering leaders have risen to power in three of the world's purported democracies: Brazil, India, and the U.S. Human inability to adapt to change and receive and respond to the objective truths of their lives seems to be leading this disturbing trend in the wrong direction. The editors can no longer just contribute a chapter on micro changes. Instead, they are moved to address and confront entrenched systemic root causes of violence in the U.S. and between men and women around the world.


1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Avalos

One of the most significant features of the U.S. economy in the 20th Century is the persistent earnings gap between men and women. The gap in earnings between Anglo men and women of color has also been an enduring featue of the U.S. labor market. Since 1949, the earnings gap between Latino women and Anglo men has remained virtually the same (53%–55%), even though Latinos have steadily increased their labor force participation at a faster rate than any other female group. While this form of gender inequality has received considerable attention, only a few studies have focused on the earnings of Latino women. This exploratory study tests the ability of a human capital model to explain earnings inequalities between Latino women (Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban) and Anglo men. Using regression decomposition analyses, we also examine how the factors of race/ethnicity and gender affect the earnings differences between men and women. Our findings indicate that the human capital model accounts for less than 25% of the earnings difference between our male and female groups. When we control for the net effect of ethnicity holding gender constant, we find that the human capital model accounts for 83% of the earnings difference between Anglo women and racial/ethnic women, suggesting that gender is an important predictor in explaining the earnings gap. Given these results, we offer other possible explanations (e.g., economic restructuring) for the persistence of the inequality of earnings between Latino women and Anglo men. We conclude with some policy suggestions for alleviating this labor market problem.


2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Sykes ◽  
Deborah McPhail

In this article we examine how fat-phobic discourses in physical education both constitute, and are continually negotiated by, “fat” and “overweight” students. This claim is based on qualitative interviews about memories of physical education with 15 adults in Canada and the U.S. who identified as fat or overweight at some time during their lives. The research draws from feminist poststructuralism, queer theory, and feminist fat theory to examine how students negotiate fat subjectivities in fat-phobic educational contexts. The interviews reveal how fat phobia in physical education is oppressive and makes it extremely difficult for most students to develop positive fat subjectivities in physical education; how weighing and measuring practices work to humiliate and discipline fat bodies; and how fat phobia reinforces normalizing constructions of sex and gender. The interviews also illustrate how some students resisted fat phobia in physical education by avoiding, and sometimes excelling in, particular physical activities. Finally, interviewees talk about the importance of having access to fat-positive fitness spaces as adults and suggest ways to improve the teaching of physical education.


Author(s):  
Rathika Krishnasamy

Background: The rate of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) colonisation in dialysis populations has increased over time. This study aimed to assess the effect of contact precautions and isolation on quality of life and mood for haemodialysis (HD) patients colonised with MDRO. Methods: Patients undergoing facility HD completed the Kidney Disease Quality of Life (KDQOL–SFTM), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Personal Wellbeing-Index Adult (PWI-A). Patients colonised with MDRO were case-matched by age and gender with patients not colonised. Results: A total of 16 MDRO-colonised patients were matched with 16 controls. Groups were well matched for demographics and co-morbidities, other than a trend for older dialysis vintage in the MDRO group [7.2 years (interquartile range 4.6–10.0) compared to 3.2 (1.4–7.6) years, p=0.05]. Comparing MDRO-positive with negative patients, physical (30.5±10.7 vs. 34.6±7.3; p=0.2) and mental (46.5±11.2 vs. 48.5±12.5; p = 0.6) composite scores were not different between groups. The MDRO group reported poorer sleep quality (p=0.01) and sleep patterns (p=0.05), and lower social function (p=0.02). BDI scores were similar (MDRO-positive 10(3.5–21.0) vs. MDRO-negative 12(6.5–16.0), p=0.6). PWI-A scores were also similar in both groups; however, MDRO patients reported lower scores for “feeling safe”, p=0.03. Conclusion: While overall scores of quality of life and depression were similar between groups, the MDRO group reported poorer outcomes in sleep and social function. A larger cohort and qualitative interviews may give more detail of the impact of contact precautions and isolation on HD patients. The necessity for contact precautions for different MDRO needs consideration.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document