soclinks

Monday, April 20, 2009

Modernization's Challenge to Traditional Values: Who's Afraid of Ronald McDonald?

Modernization's Challenge to Traditional Values: Who's Afraid of Ronald McDonald?

http://www.deu.edu.tr/userweb/ceyhan.aldemir/dosyalar/inglehart,%202001.pdf

Modernization's Challenge to Traditional Values

Modernization's Challenge to Traditional Values

http://www.deu.edu.tr/userweb/ceyhan.aldemir/dosyalar/inglehart,%202001.pdf

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Think Progress » Texas lawmaker: Asians should change their names to make them ‘easier for Americans to deal with.’

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

The Happiest Places In The World - Forbes.com

Psychologists at the University of Leicester in Britain recently produced the world's first map of happiness. Using data from the emerging science of happiness, they created a color-coded atlas of bliss, a topography of the human spirit, from Swaziland to Singapore. Happiness, it turns out, is like oil. Some countries are awash in it; others are bone dry.

Area husband pretends to give a shit -- comic insight in competition with sociological insight

Area husband pretends to give a shit

After six years of marriage, Woodman said he feels that his willingness to pretend to give a shit about what his wife says is vital to the health of their relationship.

"If I didn't sit there in total silence, staring off into the distance but occasionally grunting out an 'Oh yeah?' or a "No kidding,' Jena would probably start to think we have a communication problem," said Woodman. "Sure, I could just walk out of the room when she starts barking out her meaningless ramblings, but that would be equivalent to just coming right out and saying that she's boring me."

"I pretend to give a shit because I care," Woodman added.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided.

Rasmussen Reports™: The Most Comprehensive Public Opinion Data Anywhere

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

San Luis Obispo County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau

State & County QuickFacts

Brenda Laurel on making games for girls | Video on TED.com

A TED archive gem. At TED in 1998, Brenda Laurel asks: Why are all the top-selling videogames aimed at little boys? She spent two years researching the world of girls (and shares amazing interviews and photos) to create a game that girls would love.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

American Community Survey (ACS)

Census racial classification

Census 2000 Briefs and Special Reports Series

How are the race categories used in Census 2000 defined?

“White” refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples
of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who
indicated their race or races as “White” or wrote in entries such as
Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish.

“Black or African American” refers to people having origins in any of the
Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicated their race
or races as “Black, African Am., or Negro,” or wrote in entries such as
African American, Afro American, Nigerian, or Haitian.

“American Indian and Alaska Native” refers to people having origins in
any of the original peoples of North and South America (including
Central America), and who maintain tribal affiliation or community attachment.
It includes people who indicated their race or races by marking
this category or writing in their principal or enrolled tribe, such as
Rosebud Sioux, Chippewa, or Navajo.

“Asian” refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of
the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. It includes
people who indicated their race or races as “Asian Indian,” “Chinese,”
“Filipino,” “Korean,” “Japanese,” “Vietnamese,” or “Other Asian,” or wrote
in entries such as Burmese, Hmong, Pakistani, or Thai.

“Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander” refers to people having
origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or
other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicated their race or
races as “Native Hawaiian,” “Guamanian or Chamorro,” “Samoan,” or
“Other Pacific Islander,” or wrote in entries such as Tahitian, Mariana
Islander, or Chuukese.

“Some other race” was included in Census 2000 for respondents
who were unable to identify with the five Office of Management and
Budget race categories. Respondents who provided write-in entries
such as Moroccan, South African, Belizean, or a Hispanic origin (for
example, Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban) are included in the Some
other race category.

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 (1923), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court decided that Bhagat Singh Thind, who was a high caste Punjabi Sikh, settled in Oregon, could not be a naturalized citizen of the United States, despite the fact that anthropologists had defined the people in India as belonging to the Caucasian race. The ruling followed a decision in Takao Ozawa v. United States, where the same court had ruled that a light-skinned native of Japan could not be counted as "white", because "white" meant "Caucasian". In Bhagat Singh Thind, the court seemed to contradict itself, ruling that Thind was not a "white person" as used in "common speech, to be interpreted in accordance with the understanding of the common man."

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204
Case citation

Case citation is the system used in common law countries such as the United States, England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and India to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called Rep...
(1923), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the supreme court in the United States and leads the judiciary separation of powers of the United States federal government....
decided that Bhagat Singh Thind
Bhagat Singh Thind

Bhagat Singh Thind, PhD, was an Indian American Sikh writer and lecturer on "spiritual science" who was involved in an important legal battle over the rights of Indians to obtain United States nationality law....
, who was a high caste
Caste system in India

The Hindu caste system describes the social stratification and social restrictions in the Hindu religion, in which social classes are defined by thousands of endogamy hereditary groups, often termed as jatis or castes....
Punjabi
Punjabi people

The Punjabi people are an Indo-Aryans ethnic group from South Asia. Their region, the Punjab region, has been host to some of the oldest civilizations in the world....
Sikh
Sikh

A Sikh is an adherent of Sikhism. The term originates from the Punjabi language where it means student or disciple....
, settled in Oregon
Oregon

Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Oregon borders the Pacific Ocean on the west, Washington on the north, Idaho on the east, and California, and Nevada on the south....
, could not be a naturalized
Naturalization

In law, naturalization is the act whereby a person voluntarily and actively acquires a nationality which is not his or her nationality at birth....
citizen of the United States
United States

The United States of America, also known as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., and America, is a country in North America....
, despite the fact that anthropologists
Anthropology

Anthropology consists of the study of humanity . It is holism in two senses: it is concerned with all humans at all times and with all dimensions of humanity....
had defined the people in India as belonging to the Caucasian race
Caucasian race

The term Caucasian race or Caucasian is used to refer to people whose ancestry can be traced back to Europe, North Africa, West Asia, the Indian subcontinent and parts of Central Asia....
. The ruling followed a decision in Takao Ozawa v. United States
Takao Ozawa v. United States

Takao Ozawa v. United States Case citation was a case in which the United States Supreme Court found Takao Ozawa, a Japanese man, ineligible for naturalization....
, where the same court had ruled that a light-skinned native of Japan
Japan

is an Island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of China, Korea, and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south....
could not be counted as "white", because "white" meant "Caucasian". In Bhagat Singh Thind, the court seemed to contradict itself, ruling that Thind was not a "white person" as used in "common speech, to be interpreted in accordance with the understanding of the common man." Using the "understanding of the common man" argument, it was therefore decided that Congress never intended for Indians to be able to naturalize.

Echoes of Freedom: South Asian Pioneers in California, 1899-1965 | Chapter 10: U.S. vs. Bhagat Singh Thind

Bhagat Singh Thind, a native of Punjab, immigrated to America in 1913. Working in an Oregon lumber mill he paid his way through University of California, Berkeley and enlisted in the United States Army in 1917, when the United States entered World War I. He was honorably discharged in 1918. In 1920 he applied for citizenship and was approved by the U.S. District Court. The Bureau of Naturalization appealed the case, which made its way to the Supreme Court. Thind's attorneys expected a favorable decision since the year before in the Ozawa ruling the same Court had declared Caucasians eligible for citizenship and Thind, as most North Indians, was clearly Caucasian.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Dr. Judith Lorber, '08 Keynote Speaker

JUDITH LORBER is Professor Emerita of Sociology and Women’s Studies at The Graduate Center and Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She received her Ph.D. degree from New York University in 1971 and began developing and teaching courses in women’s studies in 1972. She was the first Coordinator of the CUNY Graduate Center’s Women's Studies Certificate Program and was Founding Editor of Gender & Society, official publication of Sociologists for Women in Society.

Barbara F. Reskin | American Sociological Association

Barbara F. Reskin served as the 93rd President of the American Sociological Association. Her Presidential Address, entitled "Modeling Ascriptive Inequality - From Motives to Mechanisms," was delivered at the Association's 2002 Annual Meeting in Chicago, and was later published in the February 2003 issue of the American Sociological Review (ASR Vol 68 No 1, pp 1-21). Reskin is currently with the Department of Sociology at the University of Washington.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Living together no longer 'playing house' - USATODAY.com

• The odds of divorce among women who married their only cohabiting partner were 28% lower than among women who never cohabited before marriage, according to sociologist Daniel Lichter of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

• Divorce rates for those who cohabit more than once are more than twice as high as for women who cohabited only with their eventual husbands, says Lichter's study, to be published in the Journal of Marriage and Family in December.

• Cohabiting between a first and second marriage doesn't raise the risk of divorce — unless the woman brings a child into the marriage from a previous relationship. A man with a child from a previous relationship does not raise the likelihood of a second divorce, finds a study in the May Journal of Marriage and Family, in which Teachman analyzed findings on 655 women from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth.

Abuse risk seen worse as families change - USATODAY.com

•Children living in households with unrelated adults are nearly 50 times as likely to die of inflicted injuries as children living with two biological parents, according to a study of Missouri abuse reports published in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2005.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

NAFTA and Mexican Immigration

It was supposed to be the magic wand that took care of immigration. The North American Free Trade Agreement was to make Mexico rich and create enough employment incentives to keep its people at home. It has been anything but. More than ten years after the signing of the treaty, economic growth has been anemic in Mexico, averaging less than 3.5 percent per year or less than 2 percent on a per capita basis since 2000; unemployment is higher than what it was when the treaty was signed; and half of the labor force must eke out a living in invented jobs in the informal economy, a figure ten percent higher than in the pre-NAFTA years. Meanwhile, jobs in the runaway maquiladora industry that left the United States to profit from free trade and cheap labor commonly pay close to the Mexican minimum wage of U.S. $7.00 per day, an amount so small in the now “open” Mexican market as to force people into informal jobs or across the border.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Julie Lynem: Affordable doesn’t mean low prices - Local - San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo County is making some inroads in housing affordability, at least in a small way.

It moved from the nation’s second to the third least affordable metropolitan area in the fourth quarter of last year, edged out only by San Francisco and New York, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.

But that news gives Jerry Rioux, executive director of the nonprofit San Luis Obispo County Housing Trust Fund, little reason to celebrate. “More people can afford to buy, but compared to where it should be, we’re still horrible,’’ he said.

Roughly 20 percent of homes sold in the fourth quarter were affordable to a family earning the median income of $67,000 considering a median home sale price of $376,000, according to the index.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

OpEdNews » Sean Hannity's Ridiculous War against Socialism

Refuse to send your kids to socialized public schools and universities; refuse to use socialized roads and highways; refuse to call upon socialized police and fire departments; shut down the socialized air traffic control; refuse to visit socialized national parks; tell grandma that her Social Security and Medicare will have to be sent back to the government; demand the immediate dismantling of our socialized American military. Sarah Palin and her supporters in Alaska should refuse all forms of "redistributed wealth" by sending back their checks from the socialized oil program there.

Send it all back. I'm sure the entire roster of Neo-McCarthyite pundits enumerated above -- Limbaugh, Scarborough, Hannity and the like -- have already forgone their usage of these socialist services so we can assume they've figured out a ways to get by. How hard can it be really? I mean, who needs roads when there are hot-air balloons and jet packs. Socialist fire departments? A house fire will eventually burn itself out, won't it? As for the pre-socialist 50-percent poverty rate for the elderly? If we can put a man on the Moon (also a socialist program), we can invent some bootstraps that'll fit over grandma's therapeutic stockings.

Teen FightTube: Local students are posting video of school scuffles online - Local - San Luis Obispo

The growing predominance of such videos online provides a glimpse into the savvy and growing multimedia youth culture. The number of youths using such sites continues to grow — challenging school officials with the task of navigating the new terrain and protecting students from intentional intimidation.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

2 Kids + 0 Husbands = Family - Some Mothers, Single by Choice, Stick Together - NYTimes.com

IN 1960, UNMARRIED MOTHERS accounted for about 5 percent of births in the United States. Now they are having almost 40 percent of the country’s babies. About half of these women are on their own, and the other half are living with a man at the time of the birth, according to Pamela Smock, a sociology professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The stock characters of the explosion of out-of-wedlock births are feckless fathers and hapless young mothers. It’s true that most unmarried mothers are still in their 20s — and less often in their teens — and have no more than a high-school education. But as television’s Murphy Brown predicted in the 1990s, an increasing number of unmarried mothers look a lot more like Fran McElhill and Nancy Clark — they are college-educated, and they are in their 30s, 40s and 50s.

Welfare Aid Not Growing As Economy Drops Off - NYTimes.com

Despite soaring unemployment and the worst economic crisis in decades, 18 states cut their welfare rolls last year, and nationally the number of people receiving cash assistance remained at or near the lowest in more than 40 years.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Is Membership in the Forest Lake Country Club Inherently 'Sensationalist'?

I see what Katon did as evidence of his commitment to
including and involving people from all walks of life and all races.
Katon took a stand for what was right. He stood up in front of his
friends at the club and told them what they were doing was wrong, and
when they refused to change, he decided to leave. I’m not saying that
Katon deserves a medal for the courage he showed that day, but I do
think this one incident revealed the depths of Katon’s personal
commitment to inclusion.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Are Romantic Movies Bad For You? - TIME

Last week, researchers at Heriot Watt University's Family and Personal Relationships Laboratory in Edinburgh, which studies best practices in relationship counseling, completed a study of 40 Hollywood romantic comedies released between 1995-2005. They found that problems typically reported by couples in relationship counseling at their counseling center reflect misconceptions about love and romance depicted in Hollywood films.