Sociological Perspectives

It is argued that sociological theory and its applications to real world problems should constitute the core of the discipline. Yet, the notion of “socioligical practice” is abandoned in favor of a more rigorous application of sociological theory and research to engineering applications. Sociology should redefine and reorient its practive to create an engineering dicipline where abstract theoretical principles are boiled down to rules of thumb and used to build or tear down social structures. By adopting an engineering orientation, sociological thoery and research will be more focused and useful.

Using a unique 1994 Los Angeles County Household Survey of foreign-born Mexicans and the March 1994 and 1995 Current Population Surveys, we estimate the number of unauthorized Mexican immigrants (UMIs) residing in Los Angeles County, and compare their use of seven welfare programs with that of other non-U.S. citizens and U.S. citizens. Non-U.S. citizens were found to be no more likely than U.S. citizens to have used welfare, and UMIs were 11% (14%) less likely than other non-citizens (U.S.-born citizens). While these findings are not surprising given the institutional and legal obstacles UMIs face, they are in light of recent restrictive immigration and welfare policy changes. They also directly contradict public perceptions that UMIs use an undeserved share of public assistance. Lastly, we demonstrate how results differ depending on the unit of analysis employed, and on which programs constitute “welfare.”

Those who lack the financial means to organize for social change may turn to elite funders, yet in doing so risk having their goals co-opted. Activist philanthropy minimizes this threat because its grant decisions are made by movement insiders. This structure leaves donors occupying a precarious position. Their money is essential, yet their class position is discrediting. The Crossroads Fund raises its money by integrating donors as activists alongside community organizers. Even though community organizers have greater power inside the foundation, integrating donors requires that community organizers defer to donors' wider class and racial privilege. By showing that securing funding from donors hinges on legitimating their identity claims, this study bridges social movement theories about resource mobilization and collective identity formation.

In this paper, we use data from the 1990 census to compare patterns of Asian American intermarriage with those reported by Lee and Yamanaka (1990). Lee and Yamanaka (1990) used data from the 1980 census to examine patterns of Asian American racial and ethnic intermarriage. They reported that one- quarter of married Asian Americans were outmarried; of these, 90% were married to non-Asians. Variations by gender and nativity were also observed. Women and the native-born were more likely to be outmarried. We expect to see a decline in Asian American intermarriage since 1980 because of high levels of immigration, growth of the Asian population, and increased social distance between Asian Americans and Whites. Our main findings show that: (i) the overall outmarriage rate has declined; (ii) Asian American inter-ethnic marriages (that is, marriages between two Asian Americans of different Asian ethnicities) have increased; and (iii) social distance, measured by an Index of Intermarriage Distance, between Asian Americans and other racial and ethnic groups has widened. We conclude by discussing some implications of the findings for the role of racial and ethnic intermarriage as an indicator of intergroup relations.

The villages of rural Alaska comprise one of the most exceptional, yet least visible, sociocultural environments in the United States They are geographically remote, and set off from the mainstream also by their unique Eskimo, Indian or Aleut cultures. At the same time many economic, legal and cultural connections pull these villages toward the dominant U.S. society, impelling continual and rapid social change. Our research focuses on adolescents growing up in this culturally complex and changing environment. We employ survey data from adolescents in 19 rural schools to explore relationships between ethnic identity and students' expectations about moving away or attending college. Many students describe their ethnic identity as mixed, both Native and non-Native. On some key variables, the responses of mixed-identity students fall between those of Natives and non-Natives, supporting a theoretical conception of ethnicity as a matter of degree rather than category. Migration and college expectations vary with ethnic identity, but the college expectations/identity relationship fades when we adjust for other variables. Ethnicity affects expectations for the most part indirectly, through “cultural tool kit” variables including family role models and support. Gender differences in expectations, on the other hand, remain substantial even after adjusting for other variables.

Class differences in racial attitudes among blacks were examined using the 1979–1980 National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA). We examined two perspectives—class realignment and ethnic competition—as possible explanations for attitudinal differences between middle- and lower-class blacks. The majority of our findings supported the ethnic competition perspective which predicts a more critical attitude among middle- than lower-class blacks toward the stratification system. However, we found no significant class differences in blacks' attitudinal orientation towards whites. In addition, a clear difference between classes with respect to political action was found. In general, the results provide qualified support for Wilson's class polarization thesis.

Four central constructs of the post-modern perspective are extended and tested using secondary analysis of Census data and the NORC General Social Survey: 1972–94 data sets. The modified postmodern themes of: (1) the decline of a single universal family organizational standard, and (2) growing cultural diversity, which is seen as legitimate—diversity which is increasingly based upon affectivity and achievement emanating from an emphases on relationship cooperation, friendship, individual choice and expressive communications, were supported by examining changes in American family structure, attitudes toward such structural changes, and changing attitudes toward marital and family patterns over the last quarter century. However, little support was found for the greater use of, and reliance on, (3) the mass media. Mixed results were found on the fourth construct, greater variance in, and/or loss of, personal happiness or personal or family life satisfaction. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed. Given the growing importance and acceptance of organizational and cultural diversity, future studies of family structure and processes may profit from more narrowly defined localized and pragmatic parameters of finely delimited social aggregates. Such studies are more consistent with the realities of contemporary American social organization and cultural values of family life, the behaviors and attitudes of Americans, and the modified post-modern perspective.

Previous research on loneliness has often neglected the role of marriage and family ties, comparative analysis, and cohabitation. It is not clear if the married/parent - loneliness relationship is consistent across nations, is stronger than a cohabitant-loneliness relationship, and applies to both genders. The present study addresses these issues. Data are from 17 nations in the World Values Survey. The results of multiple regression analyses determined that (1) Marriage is associated with substantially less loneliness, but parenthood is not (2) being married was considerably more predictive of loneliness than cohabitation, indicating that companionship alone does not account for the protective nature of marriage (3) both marriage and parental status were associated with lower levels of loneliness among men than women, (4) marriage is associated with decreased loneliness independent of two intervening processes: marriage's association with both health and financial satisfaction, (5) the strength of the marriage-loneliness relationship is constant across 16 of the 17 nations. Theoretically, the results are consistent with a social causation hypothesis on marriage and well-being, but also suggest possible support for a social selection thesis. The findings provide wide sweeping, strong, and largely consistent support for the married-loneliness thesis, but only weak support for a relationship between parenting and loneliness.