Dissertationen zum Thema „Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies|Sociology, Demography“

This study explored the impact demographic dissimilarity between an interviewer and a job candidate has on how the candidate is evaluated for a job. The interviewer's levels of race- and gender-based prejudice were examined as moderators of this relationship, while stress was examined as a mediator. Race and gender dissimilarity were manipulated by presenting participants with scripted videos of a job candidate responding to interview questions. Participants, who consisted of undergraduate students, were randomly assigned to evaluate a White male, a White female, an African-American male, or an African-American female job applicant. After a brief introductory clip of the candidate, participants reported how stressful they expected the task of evaluating the candidate to be and after watching the video of the interview evaluated the candidate for the job of Academic Advisor, and completed measures of prejudice.

While racial and gender dissimilarity to the job candidate did not directly affect how the candidate was evaluated for the job, results showed that racial and gender dissimilarity indirectly affected how the candidate was evaluated for the job through the mediator of stress and at different levels of race- and gender-based prejudice. Theoretical support for the impact of demographic dissimilarity on interview outcomes is provided and the practical implications of these findings are discussed. Suggestions for future areas of research are also presented.

In the United States the growing Latino population is often referred to as the "sleeping giant" of electoral politics due to the group's significant size. After the 2012 Presidential elections some argued that the 'sleeping giant' had finally awakened. This work analyzed the validity of this claim by looking at national Latino electoral participation from the 1990's to the present, concentrating on measures of electoral participation and influence of Latino voters. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the ANES Survey at the national level, this work then focused on two states, Arizona and Nevada, to assess the changing influence of Latinos and Latino voters on state elections. The findings of this work establish that the electoral power of Hispanics in presidential elections has been overstated and overestimated. It additionally shows that in the future the influence and political power of this ethnic group will register a significant growth, which might cause substantial electoral and political shifts favoring the Democratic Party if current trends continue. Although, at the same time this projected political growth is greatly dependant on an increase of Hispanic voter registration in the future.

Ethnic identity is dynamic social construction. Ethnic groups define and display their heritage to meet the social, economic, and political interests of the group. Tourism is one outlet for ethnic groups to express their identity while stimulating local economies. Ethnic tourism is becoming more popular in urban settings, as municipal governments attempt to compete for tourism income and establish a unique brand. Placing ethnic tourism within an urban setting creates additional layers of complexity that have the potential to alter the way ethnic groups interact and are perceived by locals and visitors. Tourism involves the construction of expectations through deliberate representation. When the object of expectation is an ethnic or minority group, the creation of symbols to enhance the exotic appeal can have unintended consequences for the performance of ethnicity within urban structures. This paper attempts to document the effects of urban ethnic tourism on the ethnic group that is the subject of tourism by applying a new framework for urban ethnic tourism to the ethnic festivals of Milwaukee, WI.

The United States is an increasingly diverse society. The recent Supreme Court hearings on Affirmative Action have reiterated the need to study the impacts of changing demographics on organizations. Race-based policymaking fundamentally rests on a "diversity is good for the organization" ideology, yet there is relatively little research that directly measures the institutional effects of racial/ethnic diversity. Diversity within organizations (also known as structural diversity or organizational heterogeneity) is overdue for a broader range of scholarly attention. Building on an organizational demography framework, this study investigates whether or not there are relationships between diversity and outcomes at higher education institutions (HEIs) nationwide. It adopts a new theoretical approach, the “Critical Mass in Context” perspective, which includes not only demographic factors, but culturally-related, or contextual factors in estimating the effects of diversity on two organizational outcomes: student retention and the diversity of degree completers. The results of these comparative tests are mixed, and show that the effects of demographic diversity may be either positive or negative (or have no effect), and that these results are highly context dependent. In other words, diversity did not have wholly negative nor positive effects on the outcomes included in this study, and the type of institution played a role in determining these how these results varied. For instance, although student gender and racial/ethnic diversity had negative effects in models that measured student retention rates, faculty gender contributed positively to predicting this outcome. Contextual factors, such as the MSDI 4 (or very high diversity elements in an HEI’s mission statement) and an HEI’s urban index (or suburban locale) contributed positively. In models that used the racial/ethnic diversity of degree completers as the tested outcome, the race/ethnicity of overall students was the most important (indeed, nearly the only) predictor. So, not only do the research results depend on what types of organizational outcomes are considered, but also in what context and how they are measured. This study therefore adds new levels of understanding to what effects diversity may have on institutions and the importance that culturally related factors may have on these effects.

This research examines racially biased crimes across US cities, utilizing social threat and a general criminality perspective based on social disorganization and strain theories. Racially biased crime is compared to violent crime in general and to unbiased racially disaggregated homicide to further examine the effects of social threat and general crime variables on different forms of violent crime. Data is compiled mainly from the 1990 and 2000 US Censuses, the 1996–2000 Uniform Crime Reports and the 1996–2000 Supplemental Homicide Reports. The research shows bias crimes cannot be explained utilizing general crime predictors. In particular, anti-Black violent bias crimes committed by Whites are mainly driven by economic forces, though not necessarily economically threatening conditions. Anti-White violent bias crimes committed by Blacks are more similar to homicides of Whites committed by Blacks, which is consistent with prior research. Additionally, the research shows the importance of complying with hate crime reporting requirements and region, again consistent with prior research. That is, the more frequently a city reports data, the higher the counts of bias crimes. Cities located in the South are less likely to have high counts of bias crimes, suggesting a lack of compliance with reporting requirements. These findings pertaining to reporting compliance offer support for social constructionist perspectives in the study of bias crimes.

The goal of this study is to examine racial residential segregation in U.S. metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. The study uses 1990-2010 decennial census data to answer a broad theoretical question: is the historical black-white color line being replaced by a black-nonblack or white-nonwhite color line? The results show that black-white segregation is higher than black-nonblack and white-nonwhite segregation in metropolitan areas, nonmetropolitan areas, and the United States as a whole. A multivariate analysis reveals that population size tends to be associated with higher segregation in metropolitan areas and lower segregation in nonmetropolitan areas. As a control variable, diversity seems to play an important role in segregation by U.S. region. The study concludes that further research is needed to examine how the color line might change, especially in nonmetropolitan areas, which experienced rapid minority population growth during the 2000s.

This dissertation commences a critical examination of the issue of historical representation and draw on the fieldwork surrounding Bopiliao Historic District in Taipei to explore how the imagination and authentic sense of heritage influence the designation of historic sites and the way in which people use authenticity to negotiate their position in the progress of place making. The buildings cannot speak for themselves. Historical significance is not a given but something that needs to be interpreted and constantly reimagined. A sentimental yearning for a former time and place is not enough to explain the establishment of this historic district with twists and turns and the ambivalence over it expressed by the host community.

The first empirical chapter describes the historical background, preservation process, and the status quo of Bopiliao Old Street under the influence of the government-supported film Monga, which causes considerable controversy over heritage and culture representation and affects public image of the site and the host community. The second empirical chapter illustrates how an old urban neighborhood has been narrated, interpreted, and eventually certificated and accepted by the public as cultural heritage based on various social groups' heritage imagination and practice. The third empirical chapter examines how the stakeholders construct and employ the idea of authenticity to justify their viewpoint of cultural heritage and to strive for their position in the progress of place making.

My research seeks to contribute to the sociological literature on historic representation, heritage interpretation, and the construction of historical authenticity by exploring the increasingly central role played by media, activists and the locals. The tangible heritage is the production of the interaction between historic relics and the host community. Historical representation in the cinematographic media became a stimulus urging civil resistance to the existing official forms and strategy of historic preservation. Tourism continues to highlight the impact as well, for the opinions of the visiting tourists play an important role in reinforcing the image of destination. The contradiction in the sense of authenticity among social groups implies the existence of entirely different images of cultural heritage. The conflict represents the struggle of establishing local identity in contemporary Taiwan society. It is argued that the preserved heritage never denotes a successful end; rather, it is a start of the dialectical place-making process.

L'étude présente se contre sur la question identitaire aux sujets de la langue et de la culture cadienne au sud de la paroisse Lafourche ; un paroisse du sud-est de la Louisiane. Donnant qu'il y avait peu de recherches venant de cette région de la Louisiane française, cela serait inéressant de voir des avis aux sujets de la langue et la culture cadiennes de vue des gens de cette petite partie.

Des questionnaires a été distribués aux lycéens de South Lafourche High School, et des entrevues a été faits avec des locuteurs natifs du français cadien de la meme région.

Avec les résultats, l'auteure examine les réponses des questionnaires des jeunes lycéens et les réponses des entrevues avec les locuteurs du français cadien sont considérées séparément. Aussi, les réponses des deux groupes sont considérées ensemble pour trouver s'il y a des similarités ou des différences.

Ce projet cherche de parler des sujets ou de répondre aux questions suivants : Pour les jeunes, Quel est leur niveau de contact avec le français hors de la salle de classe, et Quel est le role du français dans leur vie ? Quelles idées et quelles connaissances ils ont du français cadien ? Quels sont les aspects saillants de l'identité et de la culture cadiennes pour ces lycéens ?

Pour les locuteurs natifs de français cadien, quel est le role du français dans leur vie présente et passée ? Quels sont les aspects de l'identité et de la culture cadiennes qu'ils trouvent le plus importants ? Et qu'est-ce que ces locuteurs pensent de l'enseignement du français par rapport aux plus jeunes générations de la région ?