March 2009, Volume 87, Number 3

Toward a Sociology of Racial Conceptualization for the 21^st Century

Ann Morning, New York University

Despite their longstanding interest in race, American sociologists have conducted little empirical research on sociodemographic patterns or longitudinal trends in “racial conceptualization” – that is, notions of what race is, how races differ, and the origins of race. This article outlines key empirical, methodological and theoretical considerations for a research agenda on racial conceptualization. Drawing on in-depth interviews with more than 50 college students, I describe the variety of race concepts among respondents, illustrate the importance of using multiple measures of conceptualization, and demonstrate the malleability of conceptualization, linking it to demographic context and thereby raising the question of its future evolution in the changing United States of the 21^st century.

Paradise Lost: Age-Dependent Mortality of American Communes, 1609-1965

James A. Kitts, Columbia University

Theorists agree that the risk of folding changes as organizations age, but there is little consensus as to the general form or generative processes of age-dependent mortality. This article investigates four such processes (maturation, senescence, legitimation and obsolescence), which have been taken as competing accounts. Using two analytical levers – elaborating on the time shapes of these processes and distinguishing aging of organizations from aging of their templates (designs) – this paper differentiates these four processes and tests them jointly. Analysis of mortality rates for American communes from 1609 through 1965 strongly supports the proposed effects of maturation and senescence at the organization level and legitimation at the level of organizational templates. Results give weaker evidence that obsolescence of templates influenced mortality and that environmental drift exacerbated obsolescence.

Relative Deprivation and Adolescent Outcomes in Iceland: A Multilevel Test

Jón Gunnar Bernburg, University of Iceland
Thorolfur Thorlindsson, University of Iceland
Inga Dora Sigfusdottir, Reykjavik University

The theory of relative deprivation emphasizes that social comparisons contextualize how people experience impoverishment. An important application of this theory argues that relative deprivation that stems from unfavorable social comparisons can result in anger, normlessness and an increased likelihood of deviant behavior. We test this theory in a new societal setting – Iceland. Specifically, we test the proposition that the effects of economic deprivation on individual outcomes are contingent on the standard of living enjoyed by the person’s reference groups. Using multilevel data on 5491 Icelandic adolescents in 83 school-communities, we find consistent support for the theory. We show that the effects of economic deprivation on adolescent anger, normlessness, delinquency, violence and subjective relative family status are weak in school-communities where economic deprivation is common, while the effects are significantly stronger in school-communities where economic deprivation is rare.

The Nones: Social Characteristics of the Religiously Unaffiliated

Joseph O. Baker, Baylor University
Buster G. Smith, Baylor University

In spite of the fact that more than 10 percent of Americans claim no religion, academic investigations of the “nones” represent an underdeveloped area in the sociology of religion. We find that people with religiously unaffiliated parents and those who attended religious services less as a child are more likely to claim no religion. In addition, we find a strong association between having a spouse and peer group that are non-religious and claiming no religion.

Preparing for Public Life:
School Sector and the Educational Context of Lasting Citizen Formation

Jeffrey S. Dill, University of Virginia

School sector and educational context seem to make a difference in civic socialization. There is limited knowledge, however, of the mechanisms through which socialization may occur in public and private schools, and the extent to which they have any lasting effect. Does the private school effect on civic socialization persist into young adulthood, and if it does, what explains the effect? Analyzing data from NELS:88 using HLM, the results of this study show that, net of background controls, there is a private school effect on civic participation in young adulthood, but it is mediated through contextual factors in the family and school – such as parent-school involvement, intergenerational closure, student-teacher relationships and prior participation – that seem to account for the effect on adult civic behavior.

Birth Weight, Math and Reading Achievement Growth: A Multilevel Between-Sibling, Between-Families Approach

Bridget J. Goosby, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jacob E. Cheadle, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

We used multilevel covariance structure analysis to study the relationship between birth weight, family context and youth math and reading comprehension growth from approximately ages 5 through 14 within and between families. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Child Sample, we examined the relationship between birth weight and subsequent academic achievement growth disparities, distinguishing between birth weight and other contextual social confounders. We found that smaller birth weight is associated with lower math and reading scores at age 5. Additional findings indicated that the home environment has important developmental consequences from early childhood and into adolescence. Overall, the pattern of findings painted a complex picture of disadvantage, beginning in the womb and extending through a variety of mechanisms into adolescence.

National Incorporation of Global Human Rights:
Worldwide Expansion of National Human Rights Institutions, 1966-2004

Jeong-Woo Koo, Sungkyunkwan University
Francisco. O. Ramirez, Stanford University

Using an event history framework we analyze the adoption rate of national human rights institutions. Neo-realist perspective predicts adoption rates to be positively influenced by favorable national profiles that lower the costs and make it more reasonable to establish these institutions. From a world polity perspective adoption rates will be positively influenced by a world saturated with human rights organizations and conferences, by increasing adoption densities, and by greater linkages to the world polity. We find support for both perspectives in the analysis of the human rights commission. Only the changing state of the world polity is consequential for the founding of the classical ombudsman office. We discuss the national incorporation of international human rights standards and its relevance to issues of state sovereignty and national citizenship.

Government Stance and Internal Diversity of Protest:
A Comparative Study of Protest against the War in Iraq in Eight Countries

Stefaan Walgrave, University of Antwerp
Joris Verhulst, University of Antwerp

This study tackles the question to what extent the composition of protest events is determined by the stance of governments. Established contextual theories do not formulate propositions on how context affects individual protesters. The article engages in empirically testing whether the macro-context affects the internal diversity of the crowds that took to the streets on Feb. 15, 2003, the massive day of protest against the upcoming war on Iraq. Drawing on a survey of 6,753 individual demonstrators in eight countries, we find that the composition of the marches is determined by the stance of the government and the opposition in the countries at stake. Apart from government stance, also the support in public opinion and the type of mobilization (media support) matter for internal diversity.

The Trajectory of Perpetrators’ Trauma:
Mnemonic Politics around the Asia-Pacific War in Japan

Kiyoteru Tsutsui, University of Michigan

This study proposes a theoretical framework to understand how nations deal with collective memories of perpetration of severe human rights violations, which do not fit comfortably in any national master narrative but have become increasingly difficult to ignore. Building on studies of collective memory, the framework explicates how initial historical conditions of the nation, domestic social movements, and the degree of international pressures move the national discourse along two key dimensions – (1. acceptance of guilt and (2. international orientation of the discourse – which map out seven possible responses to collective trauma of perpetration. Through examination of the history of post-war Japan and content analyses of newspaper editorials and prime ministers’ speeches from 1945 through 2004, the empirical analysis applies the framework to the Japanese case. The analysis reveals that arguments for apologies to Asian victims have gained ground due to the intensification of domestic social movements, international pressures from neighboring countries, and global human rights influence. It also shows that arguments that evade the ugly past have persisted because of the initial conditions immediately after 1945, overwhelming emphasis on Japanese victims in the ensuing decades, and recent appropriation of human rights language by proponents of the defensive arguments.

Correlates of National-level Homicide Variation in Post-Communist East-Central Europe

Janet P. Stamatel, University at Albany

This article examines whether correlates of cross-national homicide variation tested with data from highly developed, predominantly Western nations could also explain homicide rates in East-Central Europe. Using pooled time-series analyses of data from nine countries from 1990 through 2003, this study found that homicide rates were negatively related to GDP/capita and positively related to ethnic diversity and population density. They were also negatively related to the percentage of young people and not significantly related to income inequality or divorce rates. This article also investigates whether conditions specific to the post-communist transformations contributed to homicide variation. Findings indicate that progressive reforms toward democratization and marketization decreased homicide rates. The discussion uses the socio-historical context of the nations to explain these results.

Race Differences in Cohort Effects on Non-Marital Fertility in the United States

Jean Stockard, University of Oregon
Jo Anna Gray, University of Oregon
Robert O’Brien, University of Oregon
Joe Stone, University of Oregon

We employ newly developed methods to disentangle age, period and cohort effects on non-marital fertility ratios from 1972 through 2002 for black and white women ages 20-44 in the United States. We focus on three cohort factors: family structure, school enrollment and the sex ratio. For both blacks and whites, cohorts with less traditional family structures have higher NFRs. Other results differ by race. The impact of school enrollment on NFRs is significantly negative for whites, but significantly positive for blacks. The impact of sex ratio is significantly negative for blacks, but insignificant for whites. If black women and white women had cohort characteristics typical of the other group, age-specific NFRs for black women would decline markedly, while those for whites would increase markedly.

Comment: Distinguishing Cohort Effects from Age*Period Effects on Non-Marital Fertility

Steve Martin, University of Maryland

Race Differences in Cohort Effects on Non-Marital Fertility in the United States: Reply to Martin

Jean Stockard, University of Oregon
Jo Anna Gray, University of Oregon
Robert O’Brien, University of Oregon
Joe Stone, University of Oregon

An Organizational Approach to Understanding Sex and Race Segregation in U.S. Workplaces

Tricia McTague, Missouri State University
Kevin Stainback, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

This article examines the influence of resource dependence and institutional processes on post-Civil Rights Act changes in private sector workplace segregation. We use data collected by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1966 through 2000 to examine organizations embedded within their firm, industry, local labor market and federal regulatory environments. Sex segregation declines precipitously from 1966 through 2000, but we see little evidence that organizations in the same industrial environment have established a stable pattern of segregation and integration. In other words, sex segregation has not been institutionalized. Race segregation, on the other hand, shows strong and increasing evidence of institutionalization, but weak declines after 1980. Firm visibility, field concentration and federal contractor density, but not direct federal affirmative action reporting, prove to be particularly important for understanding changes in segregation levels and institutionalization within industries. Results point to the importance of organizational fields and labor queues for motivating both persistence and change in workplace inequality.

Parties, Unions, Policies and Occupational Sex Segregation in the United States

Stephanie Moller, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Huiping Li, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

We utilize the 2000 Equal Employment Opportunity file of the U.S. Census and various secondary resources to determine if party control, union density and states’ anti-discrimination and family leave policy legacies affect levels of occupational sex segregation across large counties. Our findings offer a puzzle to political sociologists because two theories that are typically pitted against one another (Power Resource Theory vs. Liberal Economic Theory) predict and result in comparable outcomes. Indeed, as suggested by Social Democratic Theory, the sub-national United States have lower levels of occupational sex segregation when the Democratic Party and unions are strong, and policies are the mechanism through which these states maintain low occupational sex segregation. Yet, interestingly, as suggested by Liberal Economic Theory, occupational sex segregation is also low when unions and the Democratic Party are both weak, suggesting that unfettered market capitalism redresses socio-economic inequalities.

Supervisory Bullying, Status Inequalities and Organizational Context

Vincent J. Roscigno, Ohio State University
Steven H. Lopez, Ohio State University
Randy Hodson, Ohio State University

Bullying has been increasingly identified as a significant social problem. Although much of this attention has centered on the context of schooling, researchers are now beginning to recognize that workplaces are also arenas rife with abusive, bullying behaviors. Personality attributes of bullies and victims have received attention, but much less research has examined the social and organizational foundations of bullying. In this article, we focus theoretical attention on the importance of status-based power differentials and organizational context for the emergence of supervisory bullying in employment. Our multi-method analyses, which draw from content-coded data organizational ethnographies (N = 204), highlight the importance not only of structural and social vulnerability – such as being in a racial minority or of a low occupational position – but also of chaotic and disorganized workplaces. Poor workplace organization, we show, creates positive motivations for supervisory bullying. Workplaces without capable guardians create further vulnerabilities to bullying as a managerial control tactic. We conclude by discussing the theoretical implications of our results for understanding social power, organizational dynamics and the ramifications of abuse in the workplace.

Stay in the Game: Gender, Family Formation and Alternative Trajectories in the Academic Life Course

Nicholas H. Wolfinger, University of Utah
Mary Ann Mason, University of California, Berkeley
Marc Goulden, University of California, Berkeley

Academic careers have traditionally been conceptualized as pipelines, through which young scholars move seamlessly from graduate school to tenure-track positions. This model often fails to capture the experiences of female Ph.D. recipients, who become tenure-track assistant professors at lower rates than do their male counterparts. What do these women do instead? We use panel data from the 1983-1995 Surveys of Doctorate Recipients to explore the early careers of Ph.D. recipients. Our results show that female doctorate recipients are disproportionately likely to be employed as adjunct faculty or exit the paid labor force, especially if they have young children. Contrary to conventional wisdom, adjunct professorships provide a better opportunity for getting a tenure-track job down the road than do non-teaching positions inside or outside of academia. Collectively these findings show that the academic life course is both complex and permeable.

Status Valued Goal Objects and Performance Expectations

Stuart J. Hysom, Texas A&M University

I designed an experiment to test predictions, derived from expectation states theories, that the unequal allocation of social rewards among collective task-focused actors will affect the actors’ rates of power and prestige behavior. Past research shows that allocations of exchangeable resources can have these effects. The prediction, however, is general and applies to groups where distributed rewards possess only status value. Consistent with predictions, participants who received a fictitious title and a special certificate inviting them to attend an “exclusive private reception” as an honored guest resisted influence more and evaluated themselves as more capable compared to participants whose partners received the title, certificate and invitation. I discuss implications of this research for status construction theories, which invoke the processes I examine to describe how new status characteristics could emerge in a society.

Ideologically Illogical? Why Do the Lower-Educated Dutch Display so Little Value Coherence?

Peter Achterberg, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Dick Houtman, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

In studies of mass ideology, it is often found that political values are ordered two-dimensionally among the public at large. In a first economic dimension, equality is contested; in a second cultural one, individual freedom is contested. While this general rule of two-dimensionality applies to the public at large, there are large differences between educational categories. While two-dimensionality is found for the lower educated, the higher educated order their values along a single dimension and hence show more value coherence. Using a recent Dutch national survey, we show that these differences between the higher and the lower educated cannot be explained by differences in political competence. Instead, a combination of cultural and economic insecurity is responsible for the lower levels of value coherence among the lower educated.

The Spatial Concentration of Southern Whites and Argument-Based Lethal Violence

Matthew R. Lee, Louisiana State University
Edward S. Shihadeh, Louisiana State University

This analysis examines how the spatial concentration of Southern whites is associated with white argument-based lethal violence. Using a well-known measure of spatial segregation (V, the adjusted P* index) among Southern-born whites in U.S. counties in 2000, the results reveal that the spatial concentration of Southern-born whites is only moderately correlated with their overall representation within counties. This confirms that the quantity of Southerners in an area is not the same thing as their spatial distribution within that same area. Multivariate negative binomial regression models confirm that white argument homicide rates are higher where white Southerners are more spatially concentrated, a link that is confined to Southern counties. The findings illustrate the important role spatial arrangements may play in producing expressive violence among white Southerners.