Showing papers in "Contemporary Sociology in 2004"

Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement

Abstract: John Ogbu has studied minority education from a comparative perspective for over 30 years. The study reported in this book--jointly sponsored by the community and the school district in Shaker Heights, Ohio--focuses on the academic performance of Black American students. Not only do these students perform less well than White students at every social class level, but also less well than immigrant minority students, including Black immigrant students. Furthermore, both middle-class Black students in suburban school districts, as well as poor Black students in inner-city schools are not doing well. Ogbu's analysis draws on data from observations, formal and informal interviews, and statistical and other data. He offers strong empirical evidence to support the cross-class existence of the problem.

The Changing Face of Home: The Transnational Lives of the Second Generation:

Abstract: This collection, edited by Peggy Levitt and Mary Waters, contains a wide range of perspectives and, unlike many other edited volumes, presents genuine dialogue about its topic. The contributing authors use a wide range of conceptualizations of transnationalism, from the very narrow to the kinds of loose definitions that provoke much of the criticism of the field. The editors’ Introduction appropriately emphasizes that the book is meant not to provide answers but to suggest a starting point for additional research on “how transnational the children of immigrants actually are and the kinds of activities they engage in” (p. 3). The editors show the significance of the contributions without promising more than the book can deliver. The book is divided into three parts: Historical, Empirical, and Theoretical Perspectives; Questioning Some Underlying Assumptions; and Using a Transnational Lens to Understand the Children of Immigrants. A number of key themes run throughout the collection. Most of the authors agree that only a small minority of members of the second generation in the United States are involved in what is a fairly limited range of transnational practices within the context of a mostly linear assimilation process, but there are reasons to believe that this involvement may have long-term effects worth studying. For example, even a small minority of the second generation is, in absolute terms, a large number of people, and the cumulative effect of their selective and periodic transnational practices may turn out to be substantial and significant. Other continuing themes include variation in second generation transnational behavior across the life course, as well as differences by class, race/ethnicity, and national origin. As Michael Jones-Correa argues:

The American Dream and the Public Schools

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Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society

Abstract: ment differences by race/ethnicity and sex, taken from a number of sources including the Chronicle of Higher Education and the U.S. census. He determines that “the data . . . are consistent with the argument that women and people of color are . . . the true victims” of discrimination (p. 19). The main exception, as expected, is the fact that Asians, aged 25 or “older . . . had the highest level of educational attainment” (p. 9). As the second method, the author conducted interviews with 27 white individuals who had contacted him via a “posting . . . [that he made] on an anti-affirmative action Website . . . [and] Issues Forum” (p. 94). While interesting, I found the study a bit confusing since “the results of these interviews are discussed in Chapters 1 and 7,” with the methods described in more detail in the latter chapter (p. xi). Adding to the confusion is the fact that Pincus uses these data to test a series of hypotheses that he derives from a literature review that is similarly located in Chapter 7. His findings reveal, among other things, that the respondents, who had all selfidentified as reverse discrimination “victims” tended to have “more . . . complaints of race [than sex] discrimination . . . [and a greater number regarding] promotion and firing . . . than . . . hiring and quotas” (pp. 94 and 105). Pincus also conducted two other studies to answer the question that he proposed in Chapter 1 and to test the hypotheses he developed in Chapter 7. The first one, discussed in Chapter 8, examines “unpublished EEOC data for FY 1995–2000,” while the second, which is presented in Chapters 8 and 9, reviews cases adjudicated by U.S. federal appeals courts from “January 1, 1998, to December 31, 2001” (pp. 107 and 108). He finds that the studies “show that affirmative action does not have a large, negative impact on white males” (p. 120). Pincus further contends that “black and female plaintiffs are . . . likely to be unsuccessful in traditional discrimination cases” and adds that “those who argue that the legal system is stacked against white men are simply wrong” (p. 138). The author concludes that “reverse discrimination [is not] one of the serious problems that white men face” (p. 139). While this outcome is not surprising in view of the data analyzed, I worry about the author’s lack of objectivity in this work. Pincus, an associate professor of sociology, explains early that the “book was . . . written from a pro-affirmative action perspective” and describes himself as “an outspoken advocate of affirmative action” (p. ix). Particularly telling is his statement that “it is a testimony to the sad state of race and gender relations that, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is necessary to write a book to prove that discrimination against white men is less common than discrimination against women and people of color” (pp. 19–20). The only other major criticism that I have of this work is that it took Pincus six chapters to get from his question to three of the studies designed to answer that question. I would have suggested fewer but longer introductory chapters with the literature review, located in Chapter 7, placed earlier in the book. In Chapter 6, the book’s strongest chapter, the author cleverly redefines reverse discrimination in terms of white male privilege, which makes a great deal of sense. Even though the book also contains other minor problems, it nonetheless emerges as a good overview of the debate over reverse discrimination and the many complexities involved in that debate. The clear writing and short chapters make the work especially useful to individuals unfamiliar with the topic.

The Source of the River: The Social Origins of Freshmen at America's Selective Colleges and Universities:

Abstract: tion theorists believe that such teacher autonomy reduces the chance for success and competence in transmitting academic knowledge to students. Their evidence in their research for academic failure is low scores on standardized tests: math, reading, and so on. The second theoretical orientation in this debate is an antibureaucracy, anticentralization perspective. This group sees the hierarchy tightly organized, with control completely withheld from the teachers. All control comes from above, imposing all decisions from boards and administration, leaving no autonomy to teachers themselves. This stifling of teachers prevents them from successful teaching of academic knowledge to students. Research provides evidence of this failure in the low test scores students make on standardized tests on math, reading, and so on. These competing views have become politicized and involved in school reform movements. Ingersoll finds them the main explanations for school issues, and a major problem is that both sides of the debate claim victory based on the same data: scores on tests. Ingersoll finds both perspectives to be partially correct and partially incorrect. For theory to be useful as explanation, these two views must be shown in terms of truth and error. Therefore, both perspectives must be researched and modified to eliminate the contradictions and offer an alternative explanation from some combination of both sides of this debate. Ingersoll is especially interested in centralization and decentralization of teachers’ work and the problem of accountability. To research these issues Ingersoll develops definitions that can be utilized in both orientations to avoid biases from assumptions and definitions on either side. One of the most interesting differences between his research and both sides of the debate is the use of scores on academic tests. Both sides of the debate depend on scores to operationalize their dependent variables; and I should expect opposition from both sides in Ingersoll’s development of definitions without using test scores. A second area in which Ingersoll may meet opposition is in his attempt to research teaching as maintenance of education as a social institution rather than simply as transmission of academic knowledge. There is no doubt but that teachers are expected to transmit values of appropriate behavior and societal expectations, but both sides of the debate may well believe test scores to be necessary data for such a study. Finally, one of the most interesting factors in the research of this book is Ingersoll’s attempt to use both quantitative and qualitative techniques to gather data for analysis. The quantitative data is taken from large government surveys, primarily from the Schools and Staffing Survey gathered by the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Education. SASS is collected from a wide range of types of schools, both public and private, from random samples stratified by state, school sector, and school level (p. 255). Ingersoll carefully describes his analytic techniques (Multiple Regression Analysis) both in an appendix and in Chapter 6. In addition, he engaged in interviews and observations in a variety of schools to gather qualitative data for analysis from school personnel. This book is well written and organized to keep the readers’ interest. The data base is well chosen for the analysis offered. Ingersoll offers a significant contribution in theory, and he manages to answer questions about the distribution of power and control in schools in the United States.

The New Geography of Global Income Inequality

Abstract: the authors’ recommendation for the international spread of education designed to debunk the machinations of local gender power arrangements. When I put their pedagogic platitudes alongside their rather naïve view of international law, I realized that I was really reading about the endless cultivation of the self. It would not have been so bad if they had made clear connections between the triumph of the authentic self and the eradication of violence against women and girls, but they do not. Equally disappointing was the overreliance on dated research and the, at times, clumsy writing style. In the final analysis it strikes me as disingenuous to talk of global violence against women and girls as if it is a unitary phenomenon somehow amenable to the intervention of the psycho-cavalry, otherwise known as the logic of liberal education, spirituality, and personal growth. The powers of the United Nations might be helpful in the struggle to overcome violence against women and girls; however, such a global institutional/legal initiative at the very least ought to be coterminous with local cultural mores and social history in such a way as to produce an endless series of uncomfortable and contested negotiations. As we might expect, the book ends in a call to arms. The closing paragraph consists of a directive in the form of, yes, an affirmation. It reads, “Now we must say to ourselves that we can eradicate gender-based violence, and that we will” (p. 179). Amidst this optimistic rhetoric, I still hear the footsteps of Columbus on Hispaniola erecting crosses and gallows, shocking and awing the natives. There are many ways to colonize, sometimes without realizing it.

The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity

Abstract: forced to break with kinship ties and to sell their labor. This development should have meant the end to the cooperative/communal agricultural system. Evidence shows, however, that this system was in place at the time of U.S. annexation in 1846. How could it have survived? Via the Brotherhood. Carroll hypothesizes that the Brotherhood was born in the midst of this kin-based crisis. In fact, its popularity was a response to that crisis: “[Penitente] internal organization and the imagery their rituals evoked were well suited to establishing and stabilizing the male-to-male authority relations” (p. 119). Hence, the movement was able to temper in pre-annexation New Mexico the damaging side-effects of the Bourbon Reforms and permit the continuation of cooperative/communal land use. However, with annexation, everything changed through Hispano dispossession: “By the early 1900s Hispano farmers had lost 80 percent of the land they had controlled at annexation” (p. 180). How could so much be lost and, according to Carroll, with so little resistance? It is here that the author introduces his most radical thesis: The Brotherhood with its emphasis on social disciplining and respect for authority gave rise to a Hispano male personality type that “facilitated the very domination that was depriving them of their land” (p. 188). It did so through a legitimization of and cooperation with Anglo designs. Hence he posits the surprising conclusion of an elective affinity between a Penitente-engendered personality type and U.S. expansionism. The Brotherhood that had stabilized Hispano society in pre-annexation New Mexico, in post-annexation years facilitated its dismantling. In sum, Carroll’s multifaceted recounting of Hispano Catholicism in historic New Mexico is well written and compelling. Indeed, all things were not as “we thought they were.” Sociologist of religion and those interested in Southwestern historiography would benefit from this book’s insights. One methodological limitation is the confidence that the reader must place in the author in order to trust his accounting. For he proposes a “gestalt shift” (p. 88) in the way previous researchers perceived the data, and he adds: “I can only say that the story I am about to tell is at least as consistent with the available historical evidence as the more familiar stories you may already have heard about New Mexico” (p. 4). Hence, in the end, it is a tossup. However, this reader enthusiastically grants Carroll the benefit of the doubt.

Policing ContingenciesPolicing Contingencies, by ManningPeter K.. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2003. 298 pp. $35.00 cloth. ISBN: 0-226-50351-8.

Abstract: changes in public opinion and advocacy around mental illness; and the desire of states to reduce costs of operating mental hospitals. Chapter 5 discusses the second wave of deinstitutionalization, which involved people with mental retardation. Stroman briefly discusses many of the stereotypes about people with mental retardation and then documents the number of people with mental retardation who have been institutionalized in America. The number of people with mental retardation in institutions grew steadily over the last century until 1967, when a total of 194,657 people were institutionalized. Since then, there has been a significant decline, and most recent figures indicate that around 50,000 people with mental retardation remain in institutions today. Again, Stroman identifies six factors behind this process of deinstitutionalization: criticisms of the poor quality of life in institutions; the influence of the advocacy movement; the development of a new ethos of inclusion, normalization, and integration; President Kennedy’s support of deinstitutionalization; increasing costs associated with institutions; and judicial responses to a growing era of reform, protest, and civil rights. In “Multiple Waves of Changes for Persons with Physical Disabilities,” Stroman discusses various historical milestones aimed at addressing the needs of physically disabled people, including Workers Compensation Schemes, assistance for injured military personnel, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The growth of disability protests in the last 30 years is also acknowledged, and the birth of the Independent Living Movement is recognized as a major advance for the rights and freedoms of disabled people. In the final chapter, “The Growing Wave of Self-Determination,” Stroman outlines how self-determination works in practice, through individualized planning and budgeting, the use of service brokers and fiscal intermediaries, and individual choice in service selection. He also explores the conflicts and tensions existing between the needs of disability service providers and disabled people as consumers of services. Overall, this book makes some useful contributions to the study of disability policy and public policy. My main criticisms surround its rather narrow (and largely unarticulated) positivist framework, which limits the scope and breath of analysis. This positivist framework means that there is no attempt to connect disability as an area of social inequality to wider social structures such as classism, racism, and sexism, and there is insufficient attention paid to the connections between disability and identity politics.

Judging School Discipline: The Crisis of Moral Authority

Abstract: cussed by Levinson and Levinson), or whether the obligation is simply to provide a good education for all children (as discussed by Macedo). The collection also addresses a number of concerns shared by educators, policymakers, and parents. Can private schools teach students to become “good Americans” as well as public schools can? O’Keefe provides statistics that show private school students are better at civics and politics than public school students. Will school choice affect the quality of education? Glenn uses cross-national evidence to argue that this will not happen. The essays are certainly a departure from the empirical, policy-oriented articles that have characterized school choice research in the past. However, in some cases, they seem to have moved from too applied to almost too abstract to be a constructive contribution to the debate. For example, in the section on school choice and equality, the very definition of “equality” is left too vague. As Weithman states in his response to the section, equality can mean anything from the equal distribution of test scores across racial categories to the equalization of opportunities for students who are equally able and motivated. It is this latter definition that Weithman argues is the most appropriate but also the most difficult to quantify. My main criticism of the collection is that the essays focus almost entirely on vouchers, particularly vouchers for private, religious schools. The two exceptions are Gutmann, who remarks that vouchers are just a small part of school choice, and Minow, who devotes part of her piece to the issue of charter schools. While charter schools, magnet schools, and choice between public schools may not be as controversial or morally questionable as vouchers, they also deserve some attention and discussion. It is not stated anywhere in the Introduction that the focus of the essays will be vouchers; indeed, the title School Choice: The Moral Debate implies that many facets of choice would be discussed. One of the dangers of writing about current political issues is that they tend to change rather quickly. This is unfortunately the case for two of the essays in the “Law” section (Perry and Salomone), which focus on the constitutionality of providing public funds to private, religious schools. The Supreme Court came to a decision regarding this issue in June 2002, after the two authors had written their essays, but apparently before Wolfe had completed his Introduction, as he mentions the Court’s decision. However, this does not detract from the thoroughness of legal research that is presented in the two pieces. This collection will be thought-provoking to anyone who is interested in issues of school choice specifically, or civic engagement more generally. I would also recommend pairing this book with a collection of empirical studies of school choice in sociology of education classes.

Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution

Abstract: A prime example can be found in the chapter on televideo cybersex. Waskul at one point relates the ways participants negotiate showing or hiding their face in these sessions and how the performance of particular kinds of instantiations of bodies reflects a fascinating identity/relationship schema. Of all the chapters in the book, this one presents the richest empirical material and, by doing so, does a much nicer job of grounding the argument than some of the other chapters. The users seem to be giving clues that there is something other than a clear separation between their corporeal bodies and the experience they engage in online. Unfortunately, there appears to be no follow up, or they are placed on the framework of the symbolic. What exactly does it mean, though, when a user says they are “turned on” by their cam experience (p. 80)? What are both bodies, digital and corporeal, actually doing in these scenarios? These are not voyeuristic questions but key methodological inquiries that move us into the arena outside of what people say to what they do and, in turn, show us how they live in and through these media. Waskul anticipates some of my critique and is very clear that for the purposes of his study he did not intend to explore any offline factors or experiences. This appears to feed into a reluctance to explore in any detail the specificities that gender, race, and sexual orientation might provide. His appendix is a strongly argued consideration of a variety of methodological issues and quite interesting. While I would wholly support this kind of approach in relation to other kinds of questions, I do think it leads him to miss the complicated relationship corporeal and digital bodies have; yet, it is in that connection that we learn something important about both forms. As a result, we are left with a reconstitution of a disembodiment theory, which strikes me as particularly unfortunate given the rich venue this research explored. Despite this critique, the book does represent an important early inquiry into the question of self and embodiment in online spaces. Waskul’s considerations of sex and conversation, or the relationship between the object and subject in online spaces, are fascinating. Most important, Waskul does not discount the production of Internet sexual identities and activities as deviant fringe behavior, but seriously examines what these experiences can tell us about not only net life, but ourselves more generally.

Longitudinal Qualitative Research: Analyzing Change Through Time

Abstract: The heart and soul of Longitudinal Qualitative Research, as outlined by Saldaña in the opening chapter, is to produce a text that is “a supplement to introductory texts in qualitative inquiry or as a handbook for researchers conducting long term research.” Ultimately, he succeeds. One of the interesting issues is that Saldaña’s disciplinary background is theater studies. He states that his aim in qualitative research is a similar one to playwrights who aim to “create a unique, insightful, and engaging text about the human condition.” In my view, we can certainly be more creative in our writings, particularly methodology texts, but whether we do the same sort of writing is debatable. The book is organized into six chapters. After an Introduction in which the author outlines his personal motivation for Longitudinal Qualitative Research (LQR), Chapter 1 outlines his paradigm and methods by discussing three foundational principles for LQR: length of study, time, and change. Chapter 2 deals with the research design implications and Chapter 3 the data analysis models employed in LQR. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 explore framing questions, descriptive questions, and analytic and interpretive questions; although it is sensible to distinguish between different types of questions in research, the differences between them become more blurred in situated fieldwork practice. The chapters are well organized with diagrams and key phrases in italics adding explanatory power. The stylistic mix between discursive analysis and recipe guide, essential to methodology texts, is handled reasonably well. The concluding chapter, “Looking Back at the Journey,” concisely summarizes and concludes the arguments in the book. Running throughout the book, I find a recourse to grounded theory, with references to the later models. The evolutionary aspects of this popular research orientation can clearly be seen to be employed. What is also kept intact is the recourse to good scientific practice. Saldana ends the book stating:

The Blackwell companion to sociology

Abstract: The Blackwell Companion to Sociology is a milestone collection of new essays by renowned sociologists, covering both the traditions and strengths of the field as well as newer developments and directions. Authors from the US, the UK, Europe and elsewhere have contributed to this all-in-one reference work, highlighting the relevance of interdisciplinary and international perspectives, while at the same time representing the scope and quality of sociology in its current form.

Reckoning with Homelessness

Abstract: ple involved in producing riots are vested in the persistence of the riot system and have no interest in displacing riots by another political instrument. Important in his book is the notion of the “institutionalised riot system.” A crucial role in those systems is given to “conversion specialists” who can turn an insignificant incident into large-scale communal violence. In that conversion, it is essential to translate incidents into the discourse of communal antagonism. One would have expected that Brass would pay more attention to the growing importance of that translation by print media and television during recent decades, but despite devoting a chapter to it, his treatment is quite summary and not very illuminating. The way the Hindu right has been able to use the cultural separation between Hindi and English language media to its advantage is not sufficiently taken into account. Brass’ emphasis on the systemic nature of riots makes his analysis too static in the sense that he does not follow the major trends in the transformation of Indian society in the period under study. The rise of television and the growing importance of India’s urban middle class are hardly taken into account. Brass chooses a systemic and functional approach that is typically limited in it understanding of change. This work compares favorably with a recent book that also deals with Aligarh written by Ashutosh Varshney, Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India (2002). Varshney juxtaposes pairs of peaceful and violent cities: Aligarh and Calicut, Hyderabad and Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Surat, and compares them. What he finds is that peaceful cities have a good civic life with civic associations bridging the communal gap between Hindus and Muslims, while violent cities lack this associational life. According to Varshney, it is not the state (i.e., police or politicians) that is behind communal riots, but it is the existence or nonexistence of strong civic links between Hindus and Muslims that makes a city peaceful or riotprone. Brass demonstrates with a wealth of evidence that the opposite is true. Despite the fact that he rejects monocausality, his analysis shows that it is politics, and primarily electoral politics, that is behind the production of riots and the destruction of civic life. In the end, the moral impetus behind Brass’ important contribution to detached social analysis is that the political actors who use riots to their advantage be held accountable for their actions.