June 2007, Volume 85, Number 4

Capitalism and Urbanization in a New Key? The Cognitive-Cultural Dimension

Allen J. Scott, University of California, Irvine

The cognitive-cultural dimensions of contemporary capitalism are identified by reference to its leading sectors, basic technologies, labor relations systems and market structures. Cognitive-cultural systems of production and work come to ground preeminently in large city regions. This state of affairs is manifest in the diverse clusters of high-technology sectors, service functions, neo-artisanal manufacturing activities and cultural-products industries that are commonly found in these regions. It is also manifest in the formation of a broad stratum of high-skill, cognitive-cultural employees in urban areas. Many of these employees are engaged in distinctive forms of work-based learning, creativity and innovation. At the same time, the cognitive-cultural economy in contemporary cities is invariably complemented by large numbers of low-wage, low-skill jobs, and the individuals drawn into these jobs are often migrants from developing countries. The ideological-cum-political ramifications of this situation are subject to analysis in the context of a critique of the currently fashionable idea of the "creative city." I advance the claim that we need to go beyond advocacies about local economic development that prescribe the deployment of packages of selected amenities as a way of attracting elite workers into given urban areas. Instead, I propose that policy makers should pay more attention to the dynamics of the cognitive-cultural production system as such, and that in the interests of shaping viable urban communities in contemporary capitalism we must be more resolute in attempts to rebuild sociability, solidarity and democratic participation.

The Sex Difference in Depression Across 29 Countries

Rosemary L. Hopcroft, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Dana Burr Bradley, Western Kentucky University

The sex difference in depression is well documented in westernized, developed societies, although there has been little quantitative cross-cultural research on the topic. In this study, we use multilevel logit models to examine sex differences in depression across 29 countries using data from the World Values Survey. We find that in no country are males more likely to be depressed than females. We also find that while levels of depression are higher in low gender equity countries, the gender gap in depression is larger in high gender equity countries.

Women’s Political Representation and Welfare State Spending in Twelve Capitalist Democracies

Catherine Bolzendahl, University of California, Irvine
Clem Brooks, Indiana University, Bloomington

One of the sharpest criticisms of welfare state research is insufficient attention to factors relating to gender relations and inequalities. Recent scholarship has begun to address welfare state effects on gender-related outcomes, but the evaluation of theories of welfare development with respect to gender factors is somewhat less developed, leaving open a number of important questions regarding gender as a mechanism behind welfare state development. Using established theoretical perspectives as a baseline model, this study evaluates the effects of women's political power on welfare state effort within 12 capitalist democracies. Cross-sectional time-series analyses of OECD data provide evidence for the impact of women's political representation on levels of social expenditure. Further, women's political representation mediates a portion of the effects of women in the labor force. We discuss implications for extending welfare state theory and for refining the role of gender-related mechanisms in welfare state development.

Gender and Job Mobility in Postsocialist China:
A Longitudinal Study of Job Changes in Six Coastal Cities

Yang Cao, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Chiung-Yin Hu, Louisiana State University

This study examines the gender differences in job mobility in urban China. Conceptualizing China's postsocialist transition as a multi-faceted process, we argue that the emergence of labor markets, gendered role differentiation within the family, and the state's declining involvement in promoting women's rights lead to widened gender gaps in job mobility. Event history analysis of data from six coastal cities finds that married women are less likely than their male counterparts to change jobs for career advancements, but are more likely to experience family-oriented job changes and involuntary terminations. The gender gaps in career-oriented job changes and involuntary terminations have also widened considerably during the reform period. We interpret these findings as the joint results of economic, socio-cultural and political processes.

Internal and External Ethnic Assessments in Eastern Europe

Patricia Ahmed, University of Kentucky, Lexington
Cynthia Feliciano, University of California, Irvine
Rebecca Jean Emigh, University of California, Los Angeles

Survey data for majority and minority ethnicities in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Russia illustrate how internal ethnic identification and other social characteristics influence external ethnic classification. Logistic regressions show how interviewers use negative social characteristics (poverty, low education) to classify respondents as Roma (Gypsies) who did not self-identify as such. In contrast, for other minorities (Hungarians in Romania, Ukrainians in Russia) and majorities, these characteristics had the opposite or little effect, though self-identification, parents’ ethnicity and language were influential. Interviewers’ classifications tend to include, not exclude, these ethnicities as majorities. Thus, classifications are external and exclusionary for the racialized ethnicity, Roma, while classifications are optional and inclusive for other ethnicities.

Organizational Diversity, Vitality and Outcomes in the Civil Rights Movement

Susan Olzak, Stanford University
Emily Ryo, Stanford University

Sociologists often assert, but rarely test, the claim that organizational diversity benefits social movements by invigorating movement vitality and facilitating success. Our analysis of black civil rights organizations shows that goal and tactical diversity of a social movement is largely a function of organizational density, level of resources available to the movement, and the number of protests initiated by the movement. Goal diversity increases the rate of protest, whereas tactical diversity increases the likelihood of achieving a desired policy outcome. These findings advance our understanding of social movements and organizations by illuminating how organizational dynamics of a social movement might change over time, and in turn how this change might affect the vitality and desired outcomes of social movements.

Amplifying Public Opinion:  The Policy Impact of the U.S. Environmental Movement

Jon Agnone, University of Washington

Time-series data from 1960-1998 is used to test hypotheses regarding the impact of protest and public opinion on the passage of U.S. environmental legislation. An amplification model of policy impact is introduced which posits that protest affects legislative action independent of public opinion as suggested by protest event theorists, whereas the impact of public opinion on legislative action is greater depending on the level of protest. Evidence is found for the existence of an amplification mechanism between environmental movement protest and public opinion, where public opinion affects policy above and beyond its independent effect when protest raises the salience of the issue to legislators. These findings point to the need to restructure analyses of the impact of social movements on public policy.

The Rising Significance of Education for Health

Brian Goesling, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Research on inequality in America shows evidence of a growing social and economic divide between college graduates and people without college degrees. This article examines whether disparities in health between education groups have also recently increased. Pooled cross-sectional regression analyses of data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) show that educational disparities in self-reported health status increased from 1982 to 2004 among older adults but held relatively steady or narrowed among younger adults. Sensitivity analyses show that the trends do not totally or primarily reflect change in the demographic composition of education groups. The trend of increasing disparities among older adults might reflect large and growing educational disparities in economic resources, health-promoting behaviors, or the use of health services and medical technology.

Measuring Religion in Global Civil Society

Evelyn L. Bush, Fordham University

This article illustrates two conceptual and methodological problems that interfere with the accurate identification and measurement of religious mobilization in global civil society. First, data used to study the organizational composition of global culture contain a selection bias that favors organizations within an elite stratum of the world polity, to the neglect of organizations in the lower strata, where religious mobilization is likely to be more prevalent. Second, religious mobilization is measured as if religion were a distinct sector of social life, not allowing for any overlap with other sectors. Through a comparison of data sources and methods, this article illustrates both the selection bias and prevalence of religious mobilization in human rights, an arena that is often assumed to be secular.

Losing My Religion:
The Social Sources of Religious Decline in Early Adulthood

Jeremy E. Uecker, University of Texas at Austin
Mark D. Regnerus, University of Texas at Austin
Margaret L. Vaaler, University of Texas at Austin

Many Americans exhibit declining religiosity during early adulthood. There is no consensus about why this occurs, though longstanding assumptions suggest the secularizing effects of higher education, normative deviance and life course factors. We evaluate these effects on decreasing frequency of religious practice, diminished importance of religion and disaffiliation from religion altogether. Results from analyses of the Add Health study indicate that only religious participation suffers substantial declines in young adulthood. Contrary to expectations, emerging adults that avoid college exhibit the most extensive patterns of religious decline, undermining conventional wisdom about the secularizing effect of higher education. Marriage curbs religious decline, while cohabitation, nonmarital sex, drugs and alcohol use each accelerate diminished religiosity – especially religious participation – during early adulthood.

Genetics and Faith:
Religious Enchantment through Creative Engagement with Molecular Biology

Kathleen E. Jenkins, College of William & Mary

In this article I develop heuristic types for understanding how the U.S. evangelical Christian subculture engages the newer science of molecular biology as it works to legitimate and enchant religious worldview: 1.) symbolic engagement, employing genes and DNA as sacred icon; 2.) disputatious engagement debating genetic essentialism and scientific naturalism; and 3.) performative engagement, fortifying theism through scientific performance. These types contribute to recent theories of religious strength and identity by providing a framework for exploring the complexity and quality of creative engagement efforts in thriving religious subcultures. I argue that the power of these types to have an impact on audiences lies in sophisticated subcultural levels of discursive engagement through media employment as well as cursory lay knowledge of molecular biology and a pervasive cultural faith and doubt in scientific advancement.

One Size Fits All? Explaining U.S.-born and Immigrant Women’s Employment across Twelve Ethnic Groups

Jen’nan Ghazal Read, University of California, Irvine
Philip N. Cohen, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Leading explanations for ethnic disparities in U.S. women's employment derive largely from research on men. Although recent case studies of newer immigrant groups suggest that these explanations may be less applicable than previously believed, no study to date has assessed this question systematically. Using 2000 Census data, this study tests the relative merit of existing explanations for women in 12 ethnic groups. To this end, we disaggregate Hispanic, Asian and Middle Eastern women by country of origin and examine patterns by nativity. The results show that human capital and nativity are important for all groups, but these factors explain the employment gap with whites for Hispanic women much more than for Asian and Middle Eastern women, especially immigrants. Additionally, standard models are more useful for understanding variations in employment among Middle Eastern, Japanese and Hispanic women than for explaining differences among whites and other Asian subgroups. These findings indicate the need for newer concepts and measures to capture the increasing heterogeneity in U.S. ethnic women's employment patterns. We conclude by suggesting possible avenues for future research that expand on models of men's employment to include factors unique to women.

Family Migration and Labor Force Outcomes: Sex Differences in Occupational Context

Kimberlee A. Shauman, University of California, Davis
Mary C. Noonan, University of Iowa

Empirical analyses of sex differences in the career consequences of family migration have focused on adjudicating between the human capital and the gender-role explanations but have ignored the potential influence of gender inequality in the structure of the labor market. In this paper we estimate conditional difference-in-difference models with individual-, family- and occupation-level data to test a structural explanation that attributes sex differences in the returns to family migration to occupational sex segregation. Despite using measures of relevant occupational characteristics and occupational fixed effects, our results do not support the structural explanation. Instead, the results add to the body of empirical evidence that is consistent with the gender-role explanation of sex differences in the experience of family migration.

Prestige from the Provision of Collective Goods

Joseph M. Whitmeyer, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Groups often confer high prestige on individuals even when few members of the group ever interact with those individuals. To account for this phenomenon, I present a multilevel simulation model of a group's selection of its top-ranked member. In the model, the mechanism for social agreement on a top person is aggregation of group members' private acceptance of that rank due to the person's likely provision of a collective benefit. The simulation shows this process can generate group consensus on a top person, even in large groups in which there is no consensus on who has the most ability. It also generates predictions, including one that large groups will grant prestige primarily for nonrival benefits.

Rational and Empirical Play in the Simple Hot Potato Game

Carter T. Butts, University of California, Irvine
David C. Rode, Carnegie Mellon University

We define a "hot potato" to be a good that may be traded a finite number of times, but which becomes a bad if and when it can no longer be exchanged. We describe a game involving such goods, and show that non-acceptance is a unique subgame perfect Nash equilibrium for rational egoists. Contrastingly, experiments with human subjects show willingness to accept such goods under a variety of conditions. Acceptance of the hot potato is positively related to payoff size and to the length of the remaining chain, but negatively related to the number of potential exchange partners. We find that subjects' behaviors are consistent with collectively oriented behavior, in contrast with their personal accounts. Implications for rational choice theory and economic sociology are discussed