scholarly journals Social Distances of Whites to Racial or Ethnic Minorities

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Michalikova ◽  
Philip Q. Yang

Prior research on social distance between racial or ethnic groups in the United States has focused mainly on attitudes of white Americans toward African Americans. Extending previous research, this study analyzes social distances of whites to racial or ethnic minority groups by investigating how whites feel about blacks, Asians, and Hispanics. The main hypothesis is that whites feel coolest toward blacks, warmest toward Asians, and somewhat in between toward Hispanics. The 2002 General Social Survey and ordinary least squares regression are used to test the hypothesis. The results indicate that contrary to our hypothesis, whites feel coolest toward Asians, warmest toward Hispanics, and somewhat in between toward blacks. Nativity, religious similarity/dissimilarity, racial hierarchy and tension, proximity of the country of origin, and group diversity may offer plausible explanations for the unexpected result. This study also examines which types of whites are more likely to maintain a greater or smaller social distance with the three minority groups. Implications of the findings for race and ethnic relations today are addressed.

Author(s):  
Richard Lloyd

How can a sociological approach improve our understanding of country music? This chapter answers this question by focusing on the intersections between country music history and the core sociological theme of modernity. Challenging standard interpretations of country music as folk culture, it shows how the emergence of the popular commercial genre corresponds to the increasing modernization of the American South. The genre’s subsequent growth and evolution tracks central objects of sociological study including industrialization, geographic mobility, race and ethnic relations, the changing social class structure, political realignment in the United States, and (paradoxically) urbanization. Country music is comparatively understudied in the sociology of music despite its rich history and massive popularity; this chapter shows that the genre and the discipline nevertheless mutually illuminate one another in robust and often surprising ways.


Author(s):  
Jorge Ruiz-Menjivar ◽  
Tracy Johns ◽  
Tara Counts ◽  
Yong Liu ◽  
Jennifer Amanda Jones

This study examines public employees’ donations to a workplace giving campaign at a large public university in the south-east of the United States. First, we employed logistic regression to predict the likelihood of donating through workplace giving programmes using a sample of employees at a large public university (N = 11,726). Second, we estimated an ordinary least squares regression to identify the significant predictors of donation value with a subsample of employee donors (n=1,832). Third, we developed donor profiles (for example, clusters) of employee benefactors using K-medoids clustering. Factors such as sex, age, education and salary were significant predictors of both being a donor and the donation amount. Additionally, employment duration was significantly related to being a donor and the donation amount, while job classification only predicted being a donor. Employee donors fell into five distinct clusters. These findings contribute to our knowledge of workplace giving campaigns and can be used to develop strategic marketing campaigns.


Author(s):  
Raleigh McCoy ◽  
Joseph A. Poirier ◽  
Karen Chapple

Transportation agencies at the local, state, and federal levels in the United States (U.S.) have shown a growing interest in expanding bicycle infrastructure, given its link to mode shift and safety goals. These projects, however, are far from universally accepted. Business owners have been particularly vocal opponents, claiming that bicycle infrastructure will diminish sales or fundamentally change the character of their neighborhoods. Using the case of San Francisco, this research explores the relationship between bicycle infrastructure and business performance in two ways: change in sales over time, and a comparison of sales for new and existing businesses. An ordinary least squares regression is used to model the change in sales over time, isolating the effect of location on bicycle infrastructure while controlling for characteristics of the business, corridor, and surrounding neighborhood. Through a series of t-tests, average sales for businesses that pre-date bicycle infrastructure and for those that opened after the installation of such projects are compared. Ultimately, the research suggests that location on bicycle infrastructure and changes in on-street parking supply generally did not have a significant effect on the change in sales, with a few exceptions. Businesses that sell goods for the home or auto-related goods and services saw a significant decline in sales when located on corridors with bike lanes. New and existing businesses generally had similar sales, though not across the board. New restaurants and grocery stores had significantly higher sales than their existing counterparts, suggesting bicycle infrastructure may attract more upmarket businesses in those industries.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Burke ◽  
Jessica M. Doucet

Although child abuse is a social problem in the United States, many cases go unreported because there is not a consensus as to what disciplinary actions are deemed abusive. Thus, it is paramount to understand the demarcation between physical punishment and physical abuse among parents and their use of certain forms of discipline. This study examines how discipline experienced by adolescent respondents affects their choice of discipline practices in adulthood. A random sample of residents was selected from three South Carolina counties using the 2016 state voter registration list. Respondents were mailed a survey asking questions pertaining to their disciplinary practices and experiences. Analyses were conducted using the ordinary least squares regression. Those who experienced abusive discipline as a child were significantly less likely to report that they use the same discipline techniques as their parents. However, adding parenting traits into the model revealed a mediation effect. Abusive discipline no longer plays a significant role in how respondents discipline their own children once the perceived demeanor of their parent is taken into consideration. These findings suggest that disciplinary techniques are less important than a parent’s attitude when correcting their children’s behavior. Implications for the current research, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (06) ◽  
pp. 1136-1156 ◽  
Author(s):  
FELICIA V. WHEATON ◽  
EILEEN M. CRIMMINS

ABSTRACTThe objectives were to determine whether women always fare more poorly in terms of physical function and disability across countries that vary widely in terms of their level of development, epidemiologic context and level of gender equality. Sex differences in self-reported and objective measures of disability and physical function were compared among older adults aged 55–85 in the United States of America, Taiwan, Korea, Mexico, China, Indonesia and among the Tsimane of Bolivia using population-based studies collected between 2001 and 2011. Data were analysed using logistic and ordinary least-squares regression. Confidence intervals were examined to see whether the effect of being female differed significantly between countries. In all countries, women had consistently worse physical functioning (both self-reported and objectively measured). Women also tended to report more difficulty with activities of daily living (ADL), although differences were not always significant. In general, sex differences across measures were less pronounced in China. In Korea, women had significantly lower grip strength, but sex differences in ADL difficulty were non-significant or even reversed. Education and marital status helped explain sex differences. Overall, there was striking similarity in the magnitude and direction of sex differences across countries despite considerable differences in context, although modest variations in the effect of sex were observed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 302-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Marcus ◽  
C.A. Maida ◽  
Y. Wang ◽  
D. Xiong ◽  
R.D. Hays ◽  
...  

Objective: To examine child and parent reports about the child’s oral health and assess the associations of these reports with clinical assessments of oral health status by dental examiners. Methods: Surveys with 139 items for children and 133 items for parents were administered by Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview Software. In addition, the Children’s Oral Health Status Index (COHSI) was computed from a dental examination. Results: A total of 334 families with children ages 8 to 17 y participated at 12 dental practices in Los Angeles County. Ordinary least squares regression models were estimated separately for child and parent surveys to identify items uniquely associated with the COHSI. Ten of 139 items the children reported regarding their oral health were associated with the COHSI. The strongest associations were found for child’s age, aesthetic factors (straight teeth and pleased with teeth), and cognitive factors related to perception of dental appearance (pleased/happy with the look of the child’s mouth, teeth, and jaws). Nine of 133 parent items about the child’s oral health were associated with the COHSI in the parent model, notably being a single parent, parent’s gender, parent born in the United States, pleased or happy with the look of their child’s teeth, and accessing the Internet. Conclusion: These child and parent survey items have potential to be used to assess oral health status for groups of children in programs and practices in lieu of dental screenings. Knowledge Translation Statement: The paper’s results inform the development of a toolkit that can be used by schools, public health agencies, and dental programs to identify children with low oral health status based on parents’ and children’s responses to survey items across demographic, physical, mental, and social domains. These survey items can be used to inform parents of the desirability of proactively addressing inadequacies in their child’s oral health status, enabling them to more rationally address dental needs.


Author(s):  
Margaret M. Willis ◽  
Juliet B. Schor

As the prevalence of “conscious” consumption has grown, questions have arisen about its relationship to political action. An influential argument holds that political consumption individualizes responsibility for environmental degradation and “crowds out” genuine forms of activism. While European and Canadian empirical research contradicts this perspective, finding that conscious consumption and political engagement are positively connected, no studies of this relationship have been conducted for the United States. This article presents ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models for two datasets, the 2004 General Social Survey and a detailed survey of approximately 2,200 conscious consumers conducted by the authors, to assess the nature of the relationship between conscious consumption and political activism. The authors find that measures of conscious consumption are significantly and positively related to political action, even when controlling for political involvement in the past. The results suggest that greater levels of political consumption are positively related to a range of political actions.


ILR Review ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack W. Skeels

This paper examines the question of whether economic factors played an important role in determining strike activity in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. A review of recent research shows one author, David Snyder, concluding that economic factors mattered little during that period and that union organization and political variables explained much more; and another, P. K. Edwards, concluding the opposite. A retest of these authors' analyses, employing ordinary least squares regression and a variety of measures, suggests that Snyder's position is more sound. This author argues, however, that Edwards was correct in claiming that economic factors are major determinants of the extent of unionism as well as of strike activity, and thus one needs to apply a two-stage least squares test of the Snyder hypothesis. When that is done, the results show that economic variables are highly significant determinants of strike activity throughout the pre-1949 period, but for the subperiod 1921–29 noneconomic factors also play a role.


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