June 2009, Volume 87, Number 4

Power and Relation in the World Polity:
The INGO Network Country Score, 1978-1998

Melanie M. Hughes, University of Pittsburgh
Lindsey Peterson, Ohio State University
Jill Ann Harrison, Ohio State University
Pamela Paxton, Ohio State University

World polity theory is explicitly relational, implying a global network structure that exists outside of the nation-state. And world polity theory increasingly acknowledges power – that some states and regions are dominant in the international field. But current world polity measures of international non-governmental organizations do not adequately incorporate either networks or power, leading to a mismatch between theory and measurement. In this article, we draw upon world polity, world system and social networks theories to inform the development of a new over-time measure of country-level connectedness to the world polity, which we label the “INGO Network Country Score.” This measure scores countries by their centrality in the world country-INGO network. We compare our newly-proposed INGO Network Country Score to the traditional measure (country-level raw counts of INGO memberships) and demonstrate striking differences. Our network-based measure shows less inequality among Western countries than the traditional measure, and greater inequality between the West and the rest of the world. Looking over time, we draw three further implications from our new measure. First, there is evidence of inequality in network centrality in the world polity at all time points. Second, regional inequalities persist. Third, connections in the world polity are not exponentially increasing, as previously hypothesized. An added benefit of the analysis is our presentation of the first visual representation of country connections through INGOs.

Organizations and Local Development:
Economic and Demographic Growth among Southern Counties during Reconstruction

Martin Ruef, Princeton University
Kelly Patterson, Cornell University

Under conditions of uncertainty, we predict that development will be tied to the idiosyncrasy of organizational forms represented within local regions. Our investigation applies this theory to data on 342 counties and 43,352 businesses in the U.S. South during Reconstruction, finding support for the thesis that organizational idiosyncrasy generally dampens growth and challenges taken-for-granted norms of community structure. The causal effect varies somewhat depending on whether the underlying mechanisms entail increases in the production of local goods, the accumulation of fixed capital, or the attraction of new residents and retention of existing ones. We conclude by considering if the theory may generalize to other settings, including locales that depart markedly from the close-knit agrarian culture of the postbellum South.

Drive-bys and Trade-ups:
Examining the Directionality of the Crime and Residential Instability Relationship

John R. Hipp, University of California, Irvine
George E. Tita, University of California, Irvine
Robert T. Greenbaum, Ohio State University

Most prior research testing the hypothesis of the social disorganization theory that residential instability increases crime has used cross-sectional data. Using a unique dataset linking home sales address matched to census tracts with crime data in Los Angeles, we test the direction of this relationship using a six-year panel data design. We also test whether crime acts as a generator of transition and decline in neighborhoods by testing its effect on property values the following year. Our findings suggest little evidence that home sales volatility in one year leads to more property or violent crime the following year. Instead, higher levels of tract property and violent crime in one year lead to more home sales the following year. This effect of high crime rates is exacerbated in tracts with high levels of racial/ethnic heterogeneity, suggesting that such tracts may engender a distinct combination of fear and uncertainty in their residents, leading to more turn over. We also find that tracts with more violent crime one year have lower property values the following year, suggesting a general process of decline.

Adolescent Identities and Sexual Behavior:
An Examination of Anderson’s Player Hypothesis

Peggy C. Giordano, Bowling Green State University
Monica A. Longmore, Bowling Green State University
Wendy D. Manning, Bowling Green State University
Miriam J. Northcutt, Minnesota Department of Corrections

We investigate the social and behavioral characteristics of male adolescents who self-identify as players, focusing particularly on Anderson’s claim that this social role is inextricably linked with poverty and minority status. Results indicate that black respondents, those affiliated with liberal peers and young men who initially report a relatively high number of sexual partners are more likely to resonate with this identity label. Nevertheless, analyses reveal that a number of players within the sample are not disadvantaged black youth, and there is considerable variability in their attitude and behavior profiles. Findings based on longitudinal analyses indicate that the player identity is a significant predictor of later variations in self-reported sexual behavior, net of traditional predictors, including prior behavior. Yet results of in-depth interviews conducted with a subset of the respondents complicate these quantitative findings, highlighting that young men’s perceptions of this identity are not as uniformly positive as Anderson’s depiction might lead us to expect.

Gender Inequality in Interaction – An Evolutionary Account

Rosemary L. Hopcroft, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

In this article I argue that evolutionary theorizing can help sociologists and feminists better understand gender inequality. Evolutionary theory explains why control of the sexuality of young women is a priority across most human societies both past and present. Evolutionary psychology has extended our understanding of male violence against women. Here I add to these theories and present a sexual selection argument to postulate possible evolved predispositions that promote young female deference to adult males in interaction and the converse, lack of male deference to young females. According to this argument, the pattern of greater female deference disappears when the women involved are past menopause. Put together, these ideas form an evolutionary account of gender inequality that complements and extends traditional sociological and feminist theories.

How Welfare States Shape the Gender Pay Gap:
A Theoretical and Comparative Analysis

Hadas Mandel, Tel Aviv University
Michael Shalev, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

We assess the impact of the welfare state on cross-national variation in the gender wage gap. Earnings inequality between men and women is conceptualized as resulting from their different locations in the class hierarchy, combined with the severity of wage differentials between and within classes. This decomposition contributes to identifying the relevant dimensions of welfare states and testing their impact on women's relative earnings. Our empirical analysis is based on income and occupation-based indicators of class and utilizes microdata for 17 post-industrial societies. We find systematic differences between welfare regimes in the components of the gender gap. The evidence supports our claim that the state molds gender inequality in labor market attainments by influencing women's class positions and regulating class inequality.

Schools or Neighborhoods or Both?
Race and Ethnic Segregation and Educational Attainment

Pat Rubio Goldsmith, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Whites, blacks and Latinos in the United States tend to live in different neighborhoods and attend different schools. Does this segregation influence youth in the long run? This study used longitudinal data from the NELS to see whether neighborhoods’ or schools’ proportion black and/or Latino during the high school years influences educational attainment through age 26. The analyses indicate that concentrations of blacks and Latinos in schools, but not zip code areas, associates with lower attainment in the long run. Students in predominantly black and Latino schools are less likely to earn a high school diploma or equivalent and to earn a bachelor’s degree or more than similar students in predominantly white schools.

Equal Access but Unequal Outcomes:
Cultural Capital and Educational Choice in a Meritocratic Society

Mads Meier Jæger, School of Education, Aarhus University

This article argues that existing studies on cultural capital and educational success fail to distinguish the different channels through which cultural capital promotes educational success. Following Bourdieu, the article proposes that for cultural capital to promote educational success three conditions must hold: (1. parents must possess cultural capital, (2. they must transfer their cultural capital to children, and (3. children must absorb cultural capital and convert it into educational success. This research develops an empirical model that analyzes the significance of the three effects with respect to Danish children’s choice of secondary education. Denmark is well-suited for this study because access to secondary education is particularly meritocratic. The empirical analysis shows that all three channels through which cultural capital affects educational success are important.

Resources That Make You Generous: Effects of Social and Human Resources on Charitable Giving

Pamala Wiepking, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ineke Maas, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

In this study we examine whether and why human and social resources increase charitable giving. Using the Giving in The Netherlands Panel Study 2003, we find that people with more extended networks and higher education are more generous. However, these effects can be completely explained by financial resources, church attendance, requests for donations, and pro-social personality characteristics. People with more extended social networks are mainly more generous because they receive more solicitations for donations, and are more integrated in extended religious networks that promote charitable giving. The generosity of people with higher formal education can be explained by their larger financial resources, and stronger verbal abilities. Whereas the effect of education seems mainly causal, that of network extension appears largely spurious.

The Continuing Relevance of Family Income for Religious Participation:
U.S. White Catholic Church Attendance in the Late 20^th Century

Philip Schwadel, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
John D. McCarthy, Pennsylvania State University
Hart M. Nelsen, Pennsylvania State University

The relevance of family income for religious participation in the United States has been largely ignored in recent decades. Addressing this neglect, we focus our attention primarily upon white Catholics, the poorer of whom we reason have fewer options to participate in the context of an increasingly middle-class Church. Analyzing the 1972-2006 cumulative General Social Survey data, we show that net of all other factors low-income white Catholics attend church less often than other white Catholics, although social integration mechanisms significantly moderate the effects of income. Additional analyses suggest that the effects of income on church attendance are greatest for the younger white Catholic cohort. In contrast, the role of income in Latino Catholics’ attendance is relatively weak. In our conclusion, we attempt to integrate our most puzzling finding – having children in the home does not increase the church attendance of low-income white Catholics – with our main theoretical line of argument concerning the central role of social integration in understanding the impact of income on religious participation.

Too many friends: Social Integration, Network Cohesion and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

Christina Falci, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Clea McNeely, University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Using a nationally representative sample of adolescents, we examine associations among social integration (network size), network cohesion (alter-density), perceptions of social relationships (e.g., social support) and adolescent depressive symptoms. We find that adolescents with either too large or too small a network have higher levels of depressive symptoms. Among girls, however, the ill effects of over-integration only occur at low levels of network cohesion. For boys, in contrast, the ill effects of over-integration only occur at high levels of network cohesion. Large social networks tend not to compromise positive perceptions of friend support or belonging; whereas, small networks are associated with low perceptions of friend support and belonging. Hence, perceptions of social relationships mediate the ill effects of under-integration, but not over-integration, on depressive symptoms.

Neighborhood Racial Isolation, Disorder and Obesity

Virginia W. Chang, University of Pennsylvania
Amy E. Hillier, University of Pennsylvania
Neil K. Mehta, University of Pennsylvania

Recent research suggests that racial residential segregation may be detrimental to health. This study investigates the influence of neighborhood racial isolation on obesity and considers the role of neighborhood disorder as a mediator in this relationship. For the city of Philadelphia, we find that residence in a neighborhood with high black racial isolation is associated with a higher body mass index and higher odds of obesity among women, but not men, highlighting important sex differences in the influence of neighborhood structure on health. Furthermore, the influence of high racial isolation on women’s weight status is mediated, in part, by the physically disordered nature of such neighborhoods. Disorder of a more social nature (as measured by incident crime) is not associated with weight status.

Sex and Race Disparities in Health: Cohort Variations in Life Course Patterns

Yang Yang, University of Chicago
Linda C. Lee, University of Chicago

This study assesses changes in sex and race disparities in health over the life course and across cohorts by conducting growth curve analyses of nationally representative longitudinal data that spans 15 years. It finds that changes in disparities in depressive symptoms, disability and self-assessments of health across the life course are cohort-related phenomena: (1. there is significant inter-cohort heterogeneity in health trajectories; (2. intra-cohort sex and race inequalities exist in levels of health but not in growth rates of all health problems; (3. there are inter-cohort variations in the intra-cohort heterogeneity – sex and race gaps change across cohorts in levels of health. Changes in the sex gap in growth rates of depression are also strongly contingent upon cohort membership.

Socioeconomic Status and Health across the Life Course: A Test of the Social Causation and Health Selection Hypotheses

John Robert Warren, University of Minnesota

This research investigates the merits of the “social causation” and “health selection” explanations for associations between socioeconomic status and self-reported overall health, musculoskeletal health and depression. Using data that include information about individuals’ SES and health from childhood through late adulthood, I employ structural equation models that account for errors in measured variables and that allow for explicit tests of various hypotheses about how SES and health are related. For each outcome and for both women and men the results provide no support for the health selection hypothesis. SES affects each health outcome at multiple points in the life course, but the reverse is not true.

Mirage of Health in the Era of Biomedicalization: Evaluating Change in the Threshold of Illness, 1972-1996

Jason Schnittker, University of Pennsylvania

Pooling National Health Interview Survey 1972-1996 data, this study examines whether the threshold of health is rising, such that individuals are more likely to report poor health based on weaker symptoms. The results suggest that those with some form of disability report poor health more often today than they did in the past. Yet the results also reveal a pattern more complex than a simple rising-threshold story. For one, the results suggest a non-linear trend: the conditional reporting of poor health grew steadily until 1983, as expected, but declined thereafter. The results also point to mechanisms not regularly considered in the current debate. Much of the increase, such as it is, has been due to trends in educational attainment, rather than changes in the organization or practice of medicine. Meanwhile, the post-1983 deceleration and reversal has been due, in large part, to population aging. Implications are discussed with respect to the centrality of education in shaping the meaning of and demand for health, as well as the double-edged nature of contemporary medicalization.