» churches

Mario Small publishes book on networks of mothers in urban childcare centers

mariosmall — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:26:44 +0000

Mario Small has published a new book, Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everday Life. From the book description: Social capital theorists have shown that some people do better than others in part because they enjoy larger, more supportive, or otherwise more useful networks. But why do some people have better networks than others? Unanticipated Gains argues that the answer lies less in people’s deliberate “networking” than in the institutional conditions of the churches, colleges, firms, gyms, childcare centers, schools, and other organizations in which they happen to participate routinely. The book illustrates and develops this argument by exploring the experiences of New York City mothers whose children were enrolled in childcare centers. Relying on scores of in-depth interviews with mothers, quantitative data on both mothers and centers, and detailed case studies of other routine organizations (from beauty salons and bath houses to colleges and churches), Unanticiapted Gains shows that how much people gain from their connections depends substantially on institutional conditions they often do not control, and through everyday process they may not even be aware of. Click here for more information and an excerpt.

Joe Galaskiewicz receives NSF funding to study Phoenix organizations and their impact on the urban community

Celeste Watkins-Hayes — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:34:53 +0000

Joe Galaskiewicz at the University of Arizona recently received $162,274 from
the National Science Foundation to fund his project, “Organizations and their
Impact on the Urban Community.” This funding helps Joe continue his research on
the distribution of organizational resources across the Phoenix metropolitan
area, their effect on what children do in the free time on the weekends, and
how organizations migrate across the metropolitan community in response to
demographic shifts, changes in zoning laws, and competition among
organizational providers. The research looks at a broad range of
establishments that serve community residents including parks, recreation
centers, churches, retail outlets, restaurants, bowling and fitness centers,
barber shops, department stores, malls, theatres, and many, many more local
establishments. For some of Joe’s preliminary results, go to:

http://www.childresearch.net/RESOURCE/RESEARCH/2007/GALASKIEWICZ.HTM

Two new studies find that supplementary educational settings and ethnoburbs important for Chinese immigrant incorporation

Celeste Watkins-Hayes — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:24:13 +0000

In, “The Ethnic System of Supplementary Education: Non-profit and For-profit Institutions in Los Angeles’ Chinese Immigrant Community,” Min Zhou examines how particular types of informal social settings created and structured within ethnic communities generate resources for school success. By looking specifically at non-profit and for-profit institutions serving youth in Los Angeles’ Chinese immigrant community, Zhou highlights an ethnic system of supplementary education that not only offers tangible support but also reinforces cultural norms in pushing immigrant children to succeed in school. The full citation for the piece is:

Zhou, Min. 2008. “The Ethnic System of Supplementary Education: Non-profit and Forprofit Institutions in Los Angeles’ Chinese Immigrant Community.” Pp. 229-251 in Beth Shinn and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, eds., Toward Positive Youth Development: Transforming Schools and Community Programs. New York: Oxford University Press.

In addition, Min Zhou and her co-authors have published a piece looking at new patterns of residential assimilation through the case of a sprawling Chinese ethnoburb in the San Gabriel Valley of California. Using U.S. Census data, field observations, and previous literature, the authors demonstrate that new patterns of immigrant settlement are reshaping Chinese American commercial investment, real estate, educational institutions, and other organizations. The full citation for the piece is:

Zhou, Min, Yen-fen Tseng, and Rebecca Y. Kim. 2008. “Rethinking Residential Assimilation through the Case of Chinese Ethnoburbs in the San Gabriel Valley, California.” Amerasia Journal 34 (3): 55-83.

New piece by King and Haveman sheds light on early institutions and antislavery activism

Celeste Watkins-Hayes — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:33:20 +0000

A new piece in the September 2008 issue of Administrative Science Quarterly (Volume 53, Number 3) highlights the role of churches in the rise of antislavery efforts in the 18th and 19th centuries. “Antislavery in America: The Press, the Pulpit, and the Rise of Antislavery Societies” by Marissa D. King of Columbia University and Heather A. Haveman of the University of California – Berkeley analyzes how communications networks and social institutions influenced the growth of the antislavery movement in the U.S. from 1790 to 1840. As the abstract explains, “Communications networks fueled by print media transmitted news about the movement to the public and so helped mobilize a broad base of support. Among social institutions, churches were especially supportive because their emphasis on morality and community was conducive to antislavery activism. Our analysis focuses on the founding of antislavery societies, the formal organizations that underpinned this movement, and makes three contributions to our understanding of social movement organizations in general and antislavery societies in particular. First, we show that the impact of mass media was strong as far back as the early nineteenth century, and that the growth of magazines spurred antislavery society formation. Second, we demonstrate that theology, specifically an orientation toward this world or heaven, determined whether religious resources were available to antislavery organizations. This-worldly religions supported abolition organizing, while other-worldly religions undermined it. Third, we resolve an important causal ambiguity in debates about antislavery by showing that the development of the media was the cause, not merely a consequence or companion to growth of antislavery organizations.”