June 2006, Volume 84, Number 4

Matthew C. Mahutga, University of California, Irvine

This article reports results from a network analysis of international trade from 1965 through 2000. It addresses the impact of changes associated with globalization and the "new international division of labor" (NIDL) on structural inequality in the world economy. To assess this impact, I ask three specific questions. (1) Do patterns of international trade conform to a core/periphery structure through time? (2) Does the structure exhibit inequality with regard to industrial sophistication? (3) Have globalization and the NIDL encouraged upward mobility for historically poor countries, or have they reproduced a stable set of structural positions? The findings support the view that the NIDL and globalization have benefited a few exceptional countries while at the same time producing structural inequality.

 
U.S. Diasporas and Their Contributions to Homeland Development in the Global South: A Study of Transnationalism

Rubin Patterson, Department of Sociology & Anthropology; University of Toledo

Based on detected correlations between the strategic collaboration of U.S.-based diasporas and their respective ancestral homelands on the one hand and the socioeconomic and technological development of those homelands on the other, this paper, which provides a conceptual foundation of the correlation, attempts to ignite a new area of research on transnationalism and development in the global South. The conceptual foundation suggesting such an important correlation is ensconced in the theoretical contexts of world systems and racial formation theories. The hierarchically ranked status of a nation in some ways reflects the hierarchically ranked status of its diaspora in the United States. Strategic collaboration and brain circulation between the diaspora and the homeland can favorably affect the status of transnational communities, both within the United States and within the wider global system.

 
When All Else Fails: International Adjudication of Human Rights Abuse Claims, 1976-1999

Wade M. Cole, Stanford University

Although interest in the consolidation and expansion of the international human rights regime has grown in recent years, little attention is accorded to the formal procedures that allow individuals aggrieved by states to appeal directly to an international audience. Using data for 82 countries between 1976 and 1999, this article examines the political and cultural factors that produce cross-national variation in the propensity of individuals to file allegations of human rights abuse with the Human Rights Committee. Negative binomial and event history analyses indicate that the number and rate of human rights abuse claims (1) increase as a country's human rights practices worsen; (2) decline as domestic "opportunity structures" become available; and (3) increase with the cultural empowerment of individuals.

Determinants of Linguistic Human Rights Movements: An Analysis of Multiple Causation of LHRs Movements Using a Boolean Approach

Atsushi Ishida, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Miya Yonetani, Hyogo Shinkin Bank
Kenji Kosaka, Kwansei Gakuin University

This paper applies a Boolean approach to examine the social background of movements for linguistic human rights. Predictive determinants to explain the occurrence of LHRs movements in this study included linguistic diversity within a country, literacy rate, population size, national income as an index of affluence, and the existence of a constitution supporting those rights. Data for 159 countries were collected and analyzed using a Boolean analysis. The result of the analysis shows that there are four combinations of economic and linguistic conditions that cause LHRs movements in a country. A further analysis with varying cutoff values reveals that the combination GD (higher gross income AND linguistic diversity) is the "strongest" condition for LHRs movements in the four combinations.

Special Section:  Social Scientific Analyses of Terrorism
Edited by Charles Kurzman

Neil Englehart, Bowling Green State University
Charles Kurzman, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Suicide Bombing as Strategy and Interaction: The Case of the Second Intifada

Robert J. Brym and Bader Araj, University of Toronto

Social scientists have explained the rise of suicide bombing since the early 1980s by focusing on the characteristics of suicide bombers, the cultural matrix in which they operate, and the strategic calculations they make to maximize their gains. We offer an alternative approach that emphasizes the interaction between Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli government actions, analyzing the motivations, organizational rationales and precipitants for the 138 suicide bombings that took place in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza between October 2000 and July 2005. Using several sources, including Arabic newspapers, we find that much of the impetus for Palestinian suicide bombing can be explained by the desire to retaliate against Israeli killings of Palestinians; and that much of the impetus for Israeli killings of Palestinians can be explained by the desire to retaliate for suicide bombings.

 
The Changing Nature of Suicide Attacks – A Social Network Perspective

Ami Pedahzur, The University of Texas at Austin
Arie Perliger, University of Haifa

To comprehend the developments underlying the suicide attacks of recent years, we suggest that the organizational approach, which until recently was used to explain this phenomenon, should be complemented with a social network perspective. By employing a social network analysis of Palestinian suicide networks, we have found that, in contrast to prevailing perceptions which view suicide attacks as a product of strategic decisions made within organizational frameworks, decisions have actually been made, to a great extent, by local activists, and struggles between local and family groups have proved to be the best predictor of their actions in this context. We also found that the peripheral nature of suicide bombers has been a characteristic common to most networks. Finally, we have found that the existence of cohesive subgroups, as well as the number of hubs in a network, has an influence on the network's effectiveness. We conclude the paper by showing that the method of network analysis can also be of considerable assistance from the standpoint of dealing with suicide attacks. On the one hand, this is possible by identifying the network's central figures who are essential for its continued existence, and on the other, we identify the grassroots factors responsible for the emergence of these networks.

 
Ideologies of Violence: The Social Origins of Islamic and Leftist Transnational Terrorism

Kristopher K. Robison, Edward M. Crenshaw, J. Craig Jenkins, Ohio State University

We evaluate the argument that Islamist terrorist attacks represent a distinctive "4^th wave" of transnational terrorism that has supplanted Leftist terrorism. Drawing on ITERATE data for 1968-2003, the annual count of Leftist attacks has declined since the end of the Cold War while Islamist attacks have persisted and spiked upward in 2002-03. Pooled cross-sectional time-series regression demonstrates that the generation of Islamist terrorism is more deeply rooted in the social strains created by modernization, the competition between Islam and other religions, and the growth of secular government. Leftist terrorism was uniquely stimulated by Cold War rivalry (and subsequently declined thereafter). Both forms of transnational terrorism display a kindred nature, however, in that both are encouraged by the social strains of transitional development and the political opportunities created by increasing political rights. Moreover, foreign direct investment is associated with reduced transnational terrorism over time, calling into question theories that stress global order and anti-systemic violence against international capitalism.

 
A Theory of Categorical Terrorism

Jeff Goodwin, New York University

When revolutionaries or insurgents, broadly defined, indiscriminately attack civilians, they generally attack "complicitous civilians," i.e., those categories of noncombatants which the revolutionaries see as benefiting from, supporting and/or having a substantial capacity to influence the states that the revolutionaries are attempting to displace or overthrow. Such "categorical" terrorism will be most extensive when revolutionaries view these states (or complicitous civilians themselves) as perpetrators of extensive, indiscriminate violence against the revolutionaries and their constituents. However, if significant numbers of complicitous civilians are seen by rebel groups as potential supporters (or as capable of being influenced by nonviolent appeals or protests), then they will not be indiscriminately attacked. Whether specific categories of civilians will be perceived as potential allies by revolutionaries depends mainly on the prior history of political interaction and cooperation between these civilians and the revolutionaries. Categorical terrorism is most likely where there has been little such interaction or cooperation, resulting in weak political alliances between the revolutionaries and complicitous civilians – for example, where the revolutionaries and complicitous civilians speak different languages, practice different religions, claim the same land, and/or are territorially segregated.

Theodore P. Gerber University of Wisconsin-Madison
Olga Mayorova University of Arizona

We examine how the shift from state socialism affects gender inequality in the labor market using multivariate models of employment exit, employment entry, job mobility and new job quality for 3,580 Russian adults from 1991 through 1997. Gender differences changed in a complex fashion. Relative to men, women gained greater access to employment, but female disadvantage in the quality of new jobs widened. Although these two trends appear to be opposite, they are closely related. Both are connected to the introduction of market institutions, not gender differences in human capital or structural location in the labor market.

Refining the Measurement of Women's Autonomy

Rina Agarwala

Women's autonomy has long been a central concern for researchers examining the social position of women in developing countries. However, little emphasis has been placed on the measurement of autonomy, despite its importance for assessing the validity of comparative research. In this research, we use confirmatory factor analyses to determine (1) whether items thought to measure autonomy in fact form a reliable measure of autonomy, (2) whether the relationship between multiple dimensions of autonomy are strong enough to justify a discussion of autonomy as a single underlying construct, and (3) whether comparative research on autonomy is possible between two countries (India and Pakistan). We find that our indicators capture four distinct dimensions of autonomy that are moderately related, and that, while the model structures replicate fairly well across the two countries we study, there are measurement differences that make comparative research challenging.

It Cuts Both Ways: Workers, Management and the Construction of a “Community of Fate” on the Shop-Floor in a Mexican Garment Factory

Nancy Plankey Videla, Texas A&M University

Most studies of lean production are based on surveys of managers. This article examines the labor process under lean production at a high-end garment factory in Central Mexico through ethnographic research, consisting of nine months of work at the factory, and in-depth interviews with 25 managers and 26 workers. I found that implementation of lean production is a complex organizational and social phenomenon. I argue that besides a focus on quality, just-in-time production and flattened hierarchies, lean production is based on a management-sponsored "community of fate" ideology. In this case study, the "community of fate" ideology constructed by managers – with its discourse of loyalty and sacrifice and its buttressing corporate welfare programs – convinced workers to extend their physical, intellectual and emotional labor to the firm. What managers failed to fully understand was that in workers' eyes, the "community of fate" belief also tied the firm to the workers. When management reneged on this social pact, workers not only resisted management's efforts to regain control over the shop floor, but also actively used the team system to thwart the firm's economic viability. In the end, instead of controlling workers, lean production facilitated worker radicalization and mobilization.

 
Education and the Inequalities of Place

Vincent J. Roscigno, The Ohio State University
Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, University of Massachusetts – Amherst
Martha Crowley, The Ohio State University

Students living in inner city and rural areas of the United States exhibit lower educational achievement and a higher likelihood of dropping out of high school than do their suburban counterparts. Educational research and policy has tended to neglect these inequalities or, at best, focus on one type but not the other. In this article, we integrate literatures on spatial stratification and educational outcomes, and offer a framework in which resources influential for achievement/attainment are viewed as embedded within, and varying across, inner city, rural and suburban places. We draw from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey and the Common Core of Data, and employ hierarchical linear and hierarchical logistic modeling techniques to test our arguments. Results reveal inner city and rural disadvantages in both family and school resources. These resource inequalities translate into important educational investments at both family and school levels, and help explain deficits in attainment and standardized achievement. We conclude by discussing the implications of our approach and findings for analyses of educational stratification specifically and spatial patterning of inequality more generally.

 
Social Movement Tactics, Organizational Change, and the Spread of African-American Studies

Fabio Rojas, Indiana University at Bloomington

Social movement research suggests that protest is effective because it de-legitimizes existing policies and imposes costs on power holders. I test this hypothesis with data on African-American student protest and the creation of departments of African-American Studies. I find that non-disruptive protest, such as rallies and demonstrations, has a positive effect on the probability that a university will create a Department of African-American Studies. Disruptive protest, such as sit-ins and vandalism, has no significant effect. I argue that non-disruptive protests are successful because they allow sympathetic administrators to act on behalf of political challengers, while disruptive protests deprive administrators of the legitimacy needed to enact change. I also find limited evidence of intra-university mimicry as a factor in the creation of African-American Studies programs.

Homophobia and HIV/AIDS:  Attitude Change in the Face of an Epidemic

Erin Ruel, Georgia State University
Richard T. Campbell, University of Illinois at Chicago

We investigate how the distribution of AIDS cases in the United States increased homophobia over time. Using pooled GSS surveys, 1973-1998, with state-reported AIDS cases, we estimate models for variation in homophobic attitudes as a function of the time-specific proportion of AIDS cases in a given state. AIDS incidence had a negative impact on civil rights attitudes during the period 1981-1998, but demonstrated an impact only on morality attitudes from 1986 to 1991.

 
The Ties That Bind and Those That Don’t:  Toward Reconciling Group Threat and Contact Theories of Prejudice

Jeffrey C. Dixon, Indiana University

Does interracial/interethnic propinquity breed hostility or harmony? Group threat and contact theories generally answer hostility and harmony, respectively. I propose that a historically and culturally rooted racial/ethnic hierarchy differentially shapes whites' present-day threat of, contact with, and ultimately, prejudice towards blacks, Hispanics and Asians. Because Hispanics and Asians have ascended in this hierarchy, they arouse less threat and have more comfortable interactions with whites. Results from multilevel models of 2000 General Social Survey and Census data indicate that the real presence of blacks – not Hispanics or Asians – living near whites heightens whites' prejudice. Moreover, whites who know Hispanics and Asians are less prejudiced towards them, but whites need to both know and feel close to blacks to experience reduced prejudice. Implications are discussed.

 
Accounting for Spatial Variation in Tolerance:  The Effects of Education and Religion

Laura M. Moore, Hood College
Seth Ovadia, Towson University

Prior research has shown that individuals living in the South express significantly less tolerant attitudes than the rest of the nation, while individuals residing in urban areas express significantly more tolerant attitudes than their rural peers. We seek to explain these generally unspecified Southern and urban effects by identifying demographic contextual factors that affect individuals' tolerance levels. Using 1976-2000 General Social Survey and 1990 U.S. Census data, we find that net of individual factors, residing in an area with a larger proportion of college graduates significantly increases individual levels of tolerance, while residing in an area with a larger proportion of evangelical Protestants significantly decreases tolerance. We also find that the Southern and urban effects on tolerance become non-significant after contextual-level controls are added.

 
Intersections on the Road to Self-Employment: Gender, Family, and Occupational Class

Michelle J. Budig, University of Massachusetts

Are gender differences in the effects of family structure on self-employment participation robust across different forms of self-employment? Using event history analyses of competing risks and data spanning 20 years, I find that women enter non-professional and non-managerial self-employment to balance work and family demands. In contrast, family factors do little to explain women's entrance into professional and managerial self-employment; these women are more similar to their male peers and appear to follow a careerist model of self-employment.

 
The Configuration of Local Economic Power and Civic Participation in the Global Economy

Troy Blanchard, Mississippi State University
Todd L. Matthews, Mississippi State University

In this paper we test the hypothesis that local economic concentration is associated with decreased levels of civic participation. We define economic concentration as a social context in which a small number of corporate establishments or industries dominate a local economy. We argue that economic concentration leads to a monolithic power structure and generates civic apathy because the needs of the corporation override those of the local population. To test this hypothesis, we employ combined data from the 2000 Social Capital Benchmark Survey and the County Business Patterns. Our findings indicate that local economic concentration is negatively associated with traditional electoral participation and protest activities. We conclude by discussing implications for current theoretical work on civic community, embedded within the empirical decline in U.S. civic engagement over the past three decades.

 
Where’s the Faith in Faith-Based Organizations?  Measures and Correlates of Religiosity in Faith-Based Social Coalitions

Helen Rose Ebaugh, University of Houston
Janet S. Chafetz, University of Houston
Paula F. Pipes, University of Houston

Organizational religiosity is analyzed with data from a national survey of faith-based social service coalitions (N = 656). Twenty-one items related to religious practices within these organizations result in three distinct factors: service religiosity, staff religiosity and organizational religiosity scales. Self-defined faith-based coalitions vary widely on all three. OLS analysis regressing 12 coalition attributes on the three scales demonstrates that the religiosity measures often relate to the predictor variables in different ways, although in two cases there is consistency. Government funding is inversely related to all three religiosity measures, and evangelism as a coalition goal is positively related to all three.

 
Why Estimates of the Impact of Public Opinion on Public Policy are Too High:  Empirical and Theoretical Implications

Paul Burstein, University of Washington

Statistical studies often show public opinion strongly affecting public policy. But the studies may overestimate the effect because they focus on issues – those especially important to the public – on which governments are most likely to be responsive. This article considers what the opinion-policy linkage would be if less-important issues were also considered, by examining a random sample of proposals addressed by the U.S. Congress. Opinion has considerably less impact in the random sample than in the statistical studies. But this does not mean that the public is being defeated by special interests. On many issues, the public has no meaningful opinions; organized interests, therefore, can win without the public losing.

 
Did Falling Wages and Employment Increase U.S. Imprisonment?

Bruce Western, Princeton University
Meredith Kleykamp, Princeton University
Jake Rosenfeld, Princeton University

This paper studies the effects of wages and employment on men's prison admission rates in the United States from 1983 to 2001. Research on the effects of the labor market on incarceration usually examines national- or state-level data, but our analysis studies prison admission among black and white men in specific age-education groups. We find a significant increase in educational inequality in incarceration; nearly all the growth in the risk of imprisonment was confined to non-college men. Regression analysis of prison admission rates shows the negative effects of wages and employment on black men's incarceration, and the negative effects of wages on white men's imprisonment. If 1980s' wage and employment levels had persisted through the late 1990s, the estimates suggest that prison admission rates would be 15 to 25 percent lower for all non-college men.

 
Exit and Voice: Organizational Loyalty and Dispute Resolution Strategies

Elizabeth A. Hoffmann, Purdue University

This study compares workplace dispute resolution strategies (exit, voice and toleration) in matched pairs of conventional and worker-owned cooperative organizations operating in three industries – coal mining, taxicab driving and organic food distribution. Building on Hirschman's classic exit, voice and loyalty thesis, this research demonstrates how the degree of loyalty that workers hold affects how they approach workplace problems. I find that workers with greater loyalty are more likely to embrace "voice" as a way to address their problems. Although the "exit" patterns do not mirror the classic "exit-voice framework," the data support Hirschman's broader thesis, which incorporates examination of emotional involvement, and entry and exit costs.

 
Conflict and Fairness in Social Exchange

Linda D. Molm, University of Arizona
Jessica L. Collett, University of Arizona
David R. Schaefer,University of Arizona

Inherent to all social exchange relations are elements of both cooperation and competition. We develop and test a theoretical model which proposes that the relative salience of the competitive, conflictual elements of exchange mediate and explain the negative effects of negotiated exchange, as compared with reciprocal exchange, on actors' evaluations of fairness. By creating inequality within rather than across transactions, and by making relations between one actor's gain and another's cost more transparent, negotiated exchanges alter the relational context of exchange to one of competition and conflict and heighten actors' sense of unfairness. Results of experimental tests show that (1) the salience of conflict increases and perceived fairness decreases as we make reciprocal exchanges more like negotiated exchanges on dimensions of conflict, (2) the salience of conflict mediates and explains the relation between the form of exchange and perceived fairness, (3) conflict affects fairness directly rather than through self-serving attributions, and (4) regardless of the relative conflict in reciprocal exchange, actors reciprocally exchange with unfair partners far more often than they negotiate agreements with them.