Sara Diamond

Bio: Sara Diamond is an academic researcher from University of Toronto. The author has contributed to research in topics: Visualization & Data visualization. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 45 publications receiving 706 citations. Previous affiliations of Sara Diamond include Banff Centre & Esri (Canada).

Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States

Abstract: This work traces the development of four types of right-wing movement over the last four years - the anticommunist conservative movement, the racist right, the Christian right, and the neoconservatives.

Not by Politics Alone: The Enduring Influence of the Christian Right

Abstract: Preface. Introduction. Staying Tuned. Hearts and Minds. The Long March. All Things to All People. Family Matters. As If It Were Murder. The Antigay Agenda. BY the Book. The End Is Near. Coming to Terms. Conclusion.

Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right

Abstract: Covering such current issues as the rise of the Right, US intervention in Third World politics, feminism and satellite broadcasting, this is an investigative analysis of the power and the aspirations of the Christian Right, from its control of a multibillion dollar braodcasting industry to its counterinsurgent "missionary" work in the developing world. Sara Diamond identifies the propagandists, the fundraisers and the "freedom fighters" who aid and abet the most regressive US government policies. She exposes Christian Right activism in the Republican Party and demonstrates the calculated political operations of the movement - mobilization of anti-feminist women, efforts to delegitimize progressive Christianity and sponsorship of "low intensity conflict" projects in Central America, Southern Africa and the Philippines. The book is based on extensive first-hand research, which involved hundreds of interviews, attendance at Evangelical meetings and more than ten years of monitoring religious broadcasting.

Political conservatism as motivated social cognition.

Abstract: Analyzing political conservatism as motivated social cognition integrates theories of personality (authoritarianism, dogmatism-intolerance of ambiguity), epistemic and existential needs (for closure, regulatory focus, terror management), and ideological rationalization (social dominance, system justification). A meta-analysis (88 samples, 12 countries, 22,818 cases) confirms that several psychological variables predict political conservatism: death anxiety (weighted mean r = .50); system instability (.47); dogmatism-intolerance of ambiguity (.34); openness to experience (-.32); uncertainty tolerance (-.27); needs for order, structure, and closure (.26); integrative complexity (-.20); fear of threat and loss (.18); and self-esteem (-.09). The core ideology of conservatism stresses resistance to change and justification of inequality and is motivated by needs that vary situationally and dispositionally to manage uncertainty and threat.

Commensuration as a social process

Abstract: Although it is evident in routine decision-making and a crucial vehicle of rationalization, commensuration as a general social process has been given little consideration by sociologists. This article defines commensuration as the comparison of different entities according to a common metric, notes commensuration's long history as an instrument of social thought, analyzes commensuration as a mode of power, and discusses the cognitive and political stakes inherent in calling something incommensurable. We provide a framework for future empirical study of commensuration and demonstrate how this analytic focus can inform established fields of sociological inquiry.

Work in Progress Toward a New Paradigm for the Sociological Study of Religion in the United States

Abstract: This article reviews recent literature on U.S. religious institutions and argues that a new paradigm is emerging in that field, the crux of which is that organized religion thrives in the United States in an open market system, an observation anomalous to the older paradigm's monopoly concept. The article has six sections: first, a brief survey of the paradigm crisis; second, a development of the concept of an open market in the historiography and sociology of U.S. religion; third, fourth, and fifth, arguments that U.S. religious institutions are constitutively pluralistic, structurally adaptable, and empowering; sixth, a consideration of recent religious individualism in the light of the new paradigm. A conclusion sketches some research implications.

Interview ラン・ラン

Abstract: Brian Thompson is a Senior Nutrition Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO is an intergovernmental organization, it has 191 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. As a knowledge organization, FAO creates and shares critical information about food, agriculture and natural resources in the form of global public goods. FAO plays a connector role, through identifying and working with different partners with established expertise, and facilitating a dialogue between those who have the knowledge and those who need it. By turning knowledge into action, FAO links the field to national, regional and global initiatives in a mutually reinforcing cycle. Its mandate is to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living. What is the size of the malnutrition problem and what regions are most affected? There are persistently high levels of undernutrition. Nearly 870 million people in the world go to bed hungry (1 in 8 people) according to the recently released report of The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012 (SOFI) and 2 billion have some form of micronutrient malnutrition – this constitutes a crime against humanity and is a responsibility for all of us. Prevalence of undernourishment in developing countries has declined over the past two decades, from 23 to 15 percent. In terms of total numbers in 1990– 92, around 980 million individuals were estimated to be undernourished. The number dropped to 901 million in 1999– 2001, to 885 million in 2006–06 and to 852 million in 2007–09. The financial crisis, economic downturn, persistent food price volatility, drought and other repercussions of climate change since 2006–08 may have prevented any further significant improvements in the number of people who are undernourished in developing countries since then. Africa has by far the highest prevalence, at around 23 percent in 2010–12 but though it is down from what it was in 1990–92 (27 percent) the numbers have risen from 175 million to 239 million with nearly 20 million added in the past four years. In subSaharan Africa, the modest progress achieved in recent years up to 2007 was reversed, with hunger rising 2 percent per year since then. In Asia, both prevalence and numbers dropped over the same period from 24 percent (739 million) to 14 percent (563 million). Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) boasts the lowest rate of undernourishment (8 percent) among developing country regions but the rate of progress has slowed recently. Countries considered as leastdeveloped countries and lowincome economies have the highest prevalence rates of all around 30 percent but down from the 40 percent levels of twenty years ago.