Department of Sociology Works

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    Under the influence of genetics: how transdisciplinarity leads us to rethink social pathways to illness
    (University of Chicago Press, 2008) Pescosolido, Bernice A.; Perry, Brea L.; Long, J. Scott; Martin, Jack K.; Department of Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    This article describes both sociological and genetic theories of illness causation and derives propositions expected under each and under a transdisciplinary theoretical frame. The authors draw propositions from three theories -- fundamental causes, social stress processes, and social safety net theories -- and tailor hypotheses to the case of alcohol dependence. Analyses of a later wave of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism reveal a complex interplay of the GABRA2 gene with social structural factors to produce cases meeting DSM/ICD diagnoses. Only modest evidence suggests that genetic influence works through social conditions and experiences. Further, women are largely unaffected in their risk for alcohol dependence by allele status at this candidate gene; family support attenuates genetic influence; and childhood deprivation exacerbates genetic predispositions. These findings highlight the essential intradisciplinary tension in the role of proximal and distal influences in social processes and point to the promise of focusing directly on dynamic, networked sequences that produce different pathways to health and illness.
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    The Potential of Community-Oriented Policing: A Report to the MidNorth Public Safety Committee
    (2009-09-09T20:21:35Z) Drury, Benjamin; Leech, Tamara G.J.; Drury, Benjamin
    This report assesses the academic literature on community-oriented policing (COP) in regard to three shared goals of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) and the MidNorth Public Safety Committee (MPSC): decreasing crime rates, limiting fear of crime, and increasing community empowerment. The report recommends specific strategies that can be integrated into IMPD’s community policing efforts. It also identifies the appropriate role for MPSC to play.
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    Comparing Practical Theology across Religions and Denominations
    (2011) Schneider, Jo Anne; Wittberg, Patricia
    While significant research and practice has examined congregational involvement in providing for those in need, few have looked at the denominational theology that informs these initiatives or influences the non-profit systems created to provide them. Drawing on ethnographic research from the Faith and Organizations project, a national research/practice initiative designed to explore the relationship between religions and faith based organizations, this paper compares the practical theology behind stewardship of social welfare and educational programs for Catholics, Mainline Protestants, Evangelicals, Jews, Quakers and African American Christians. The paper returns to older, expanded definitions of stewardship and provides identifies three stewardship systems based on religious practical theology. It observes strengths and weaknesses of each system and offers practical suggestions for strengthening connections between faith communities and FBOs in each system
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    Perceived Mental Illness Stigma Among Youth in Psychiatric Outpatient Treatment
    (Sage, 2012-03) Elkington, Katherine S.; Hackler, Dusty; McKinnon, Karen; Borges, Cristiane; Wright, Eric R.; Wainberg, Milton L.; Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    This research explores the experiences of mental illness stigma in 24 youth (58.3% male, 13–24 years, 75% Latino) in psychiatric outpatient treatment. Using Link and Phelan’s (2001) model of stigmatization, we conducted thematic analysis of the interview texts, examining experiences of stigma at individual and structural levels, in addition to the youths’ social-psychological processes. Youth in psychiatric treatment acknowledged that their larger cultural context holds pejorative viewpoints toward those with mental illness and reported experiences of stigma within their families and social networks. Our results also offer insight into the social-psychological processes of stigma, highlighting how labeling may influence their self-concept and the strategies in which youth engage to manage a stigmatized identity. We discuss differences in stigma experiences by gender, age, and diagnosis. Findings provide new information on the stigma experiences of youth in psychiatric treatment and suggest that a multilevel approach to reduce stigma is warranted.
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    Explaining Society: An Expanded Toolbox for Social Scientists
    (2012-03) Bell, David C; Atkinson-Schnell, Jodie L; DiBacco, Aron E
    We propose for social scientists a theoretical toolbox containing a set of motivations that neurobiologists have recently validated. We show how these motivations can be used to create a theory of society recognizably similar to existing stable societies (sustainable, self-reproducing, and largely peaceful). Using this toolbox, we describe society in terms of three institutions: economy (a source of sustainability), government (peace), and the family (reproducibility). Conducting a thought experiment in three parts, we begin with a simple theory with only two motivations. We then create successive theories that systematically add motivations, showing that each element in the toolbox makes its own contribution to explain the workings of a stable society and that the family has a critical role in this process.
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    The Indy Racing League and the Indianapolis 500: Increasing Competition in Open-Wheeled Automobile Racing in the United States
    (http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/sports/racing.htm, 2012-05) White, Robert W.; Baker, Andrew J.
    Over the course of its lengthy history, the popularity of open-wheeled automobile racing in the United States has waxed and waned. This is especially evident in recent years. The 1996 “split” between the Indy Racing League (IRL; later, the IndyCar Series) and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART; later the Champ Car World Series) severely hurt the sport. Following the split there was a well-documented decline in fan interest from which the sport has not recovered. Less understood, however, is that under the Indy Racing League the Indianapolis 500, the premier event in open-wheeled racing in the United States, became more competitive. Ironically, while fan interest decreased in the Indy Racing League era, the quality of racing increased. The increased competition associated with the Indy Racing League is a historically significant development that bodes well for the future of the sport.
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    Faith-Based Umbrella Organizations: Implications for Religious Identity
    (2012-10) Wittberg, Patricia
    Little research has been done on the role of umbrella organizations in affecting how faith-based organizations (FBOs) relate to their sponsoring faith community. Using interviews, archival historical data, and ethnographic observations compiled between 2004 and 2008 by the Faith and Organizations Project, this article applies previous typologies for secular nonprofit umbrella organizations to faith-based umbrellas and outlines some of the benefits and liabilities that these umbrella organizations pose for both faith communities and their local FBOs.
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    The "long arm" of childhood health: linking childhood disability to late midlife mental health
    (2015-01) Latham, Kenzie; Department of Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    A growing body of research underscores the early origins of health in later life; however, relatively little is known about the relationship between childhood physical health and adult mental health. This research explores the relationship between childhood disability and depressive symptoms among a nationally representative sample of late midlife adults (N = 3,572). Using data from Waves 8-10 (2006-2010) of the Health and Retirement Study, a series of ordinary least squares regression models were created to assess the number of depressive symptoms. Childhood disability was significantly associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms; however, late midlife social and health factors accounted for differences between those with and without childhood disability. Late midlife physical health appeared to be a particularly salient mediator. Individuals who experience childhood disability may accumulate more physical impairment over the life course, thus experiencing worse mental health such as greater depressive symptoms in late midlife.
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    Social Norms: Do We Love Norms Too Much?
    (Wiley, 2015-03) Bell, David C.; Cox, Mary L.; Department of Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    Social norms are often cited as the cause of many social phenomena, especially as an explanation for prosocial family and relationship behaviors. And yet maybe we love the idea of social norms too much, as suggested by our failure to subject them to rigorous test. Compared to the detail in social norms theoretical orientations, there is very little detail in tests of normative theories. To provide guidance to researchers who invoke social norms as explanations, we catalog normative orientations that have been proposed to account for consistent patterns of action. We call on researchers to conduct tests of normative theories and the processes such theories assert.
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    Does neighborhood disorder predict recovery from mobility limitation? Findings from the Health and Retirement Study
    (Sage, 2015-05) Latham, Kenzie; Williams, Monica M.; Department of Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    Objective: This research explores whether perceptions of physical neighborhood disorder predict recovery from mobility limitation over a 2-year period and examines whether psychosocial factors (i.e., depressive symptomology and mastery) and physical activity are salient mediators. Method: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS): Participant Lifestyle Questionnaire (2008-2010), odds ratio estimates of recovery were ascertained using binary logistic regression, and post hoc Sobel tests were conducted to formally assess mediation. Results: Net of demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status, increased neighborhood disorder was associated with lower odds of recovery. However, both psychosocial indicators and physical activity were significant individual partial mediators, which suggest neighborhood disorder influences recovery from physical impairment via psychosocial processes and barriers to physical activity. Discussion: Reducing neighborhood disorder may enhance older residents’ psychosocial well-being and improve participation in physical activity, thus increasing recovery from mobility limitation and preventing subsequent disability.