Copyright (c) 2009 University of Pennsylvania All rights reserved. http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers Recent documents in Departmental Papers (SPP) en-us Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:48:16 PDT 3600 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/138 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/138 Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:02:14 PST Objectives. The purpose of this research was to: (1) examine judgments about immigrants who are victims of and assailants in intimate partner violence, and (2) assess whether immigrants to the U.S., a diverse and growing population, know that intimate partner violence is illegal in the United States and their judgments about what sanctions, if any, should follow. Methods. A random-digit-dial telephone survey was conducted in four languages with 3,679 California adults. There were roughly comparable numbers of white, black, Latino, Korean American, Vietnamese American, and other Asian American participants; 60.1% were born outside the U.S. An experimental vignette design was used to vary victim, assailant, and contextual factors about incidents of intimate partner violence and to assess respondents' judgments about the behavior and what should be done about it. Multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the independent effect of these predictor variables and characteristics of the respondents. Results. Respondent judgments about whether an incident of intimate partner violence was wrong, illegal, or about what sanctions should follow were not related to nativity of either the victim or the assailant. Immigrant respondents differed from native-born respondents on two outcomes: immigrants were more likely to think that the behavior was illegal and that guns should be removed from the assailant. Conclusions. Concerns that immigrants do not know that intimate partner violence is illegal in the U.S. are largely misplaced--immigrants know it soon after their arrival in the U.S. In addition, it appears that a cultural defense regarding domestic violence is not likely to sway others. Susan B. Sorenson http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/137 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/137 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:43:00 PST The Hurricane Katrina and NewOrleans situation was commonly called a "natural disaster" - an anomalous "event" that disrupted lives, spaces, and organizations. Research and planning attention then focused on particular aspects of the event and on restoring order. In contrast, sociologists and similar-thinking scholars have increasingly viewed disaster situations from multiple locations and histories, often using systems theory. Here, reanalysis of empirical material from ethnographic research in New Orleans pre- and post-Katrina suggests that a sociological embeddedness perspective illustrates the dynamic seamlessness of past, present, and future economic contexts and social actions. The perspective's constitutive concepts of weak, strong, and differentiated ties highlight the role of local knowledge, intermediary-led workforce networks, and sustained participatory planning in creating a robust economic environment. Toward this end, disaster research, planning, and theory building could incorporate network tie assessments into social vulnerability protocols, compare embeddedness with other perspectives, and learn from related international experiences. Roberta R. Iversen http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/136 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/136 Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:02:32 PST Contrary to popular beliefs and commonly held rhetoric, rights are not naturally given to people/residents/citizens. Very few, if any, rights are inherently granted by virtue of being born a human being. Although the authors of the Bill of Rights (in the USA) as well as the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights want us to believe that these rights are innate, in fact they were fought for and only barely achieved. At any given time, there are counter forces that actively push to minimize and reverse rights that were gained after long and hard struggles. For example, in the United States the "sacred" right for privacy was vastly violated with the signature and support of President George W. Bush soon after the attack of September 11, 2001 was carried out within the boundaries of the country. This is but one example where rights are not guaranteed forever and are only in place so long as there are enough people actively fighting to keep them and, if possible, to expand them. My argument, though my data are mostly US-based, is that the rights of prisoners and ex-prisoners are an excellent measure and estimate for the strength of human rights in a given society. The more punitive and exclusionary are the policies towards prisoners and ex-prisoners, the less protected are the rights of citizens in general. The more a society excludes prisoners and ex-prisoners, the more ready it is to limit the rights of other members of that society. I would welcome a comparative study of this topic to assess which societies treat prisoners and ex-prisoners more humanly and which in a more exclusionary manner. Ram A. Cnaan Social Policy http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/135 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/135 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:49:04 PST This article critically examines a qualitative research interview in which cultural barriers between a white non-Muslim female interviewer and an African American Muslim interviewee, both from the USA, became evident and were overcome within the same interview. This interview and two follow-up interviews are presented as a 'telling case' about crossing cultural barriers. The analysis focuses on seven phases of the interview (cultural barriers, warming up, crossing the racial barrier, connecting as social workers, connecting as women, connecting as students, and crossing the tape recorder barrier). The discussion outlines the pre-interview and during-interview barriers and facilitating conditions and related implications for cross-cultural qualitative research interviewing. Roberta G. Sands http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/134 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/134 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:46:57 PDT The 2007 AHAR is the first AHAR based on an entire year of data about persons who use emergency and transitional housing programs. In addition, the report contains new information about the seasonal patterns of homelessness and long-term users of shelters and presents new appendices that provide community-level information on the number of homeless persons. Jill Khadduri http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/133 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/133 Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:24:45 PDT Michael B. Katz http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/131 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/131 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:34:38 PDT SROs might be the solution for some people, including the older and disabled homeless, but many others, including the masses of near-homeless (and soon-to-be-homeless) await a more imaginative solution that gives them a chance at stable household formation, adequately compensated labor, social protection from disability and unemployment, and that supports more diverse and mixed household arrangements than is represented in the proposed SRO solution. Dennis P. Culhane http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/130 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/130 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:34:37 PDT The city should take state and Federal financing that goes to the shelters and use it to keep people out of them. Dennis P. Culhane http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/129 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/129 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:34:35 PDT The shelter reveals a charade in American welfare policy, pretending to show concern for the visible poor while demonstrating contempt for the invisible poor -- those struggling to keep a day ahead of homelessness. As we try to help the homeless with shelters, we ignore the policies that continue to put people in them. Dennis P. Culhane http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/128 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/128 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:34:33 PDT The Clinton administration's homelessness plan represents a departure from past federal efforts in recognizing the scope, complexity, and structural causes of homelessness. Most importantly, it provides a much improved conceptual framework for the design of future efforts to reduce homelessness, particularly the recognition that mainstream programs and policies must be enlisted in this fight to avoid expanding the emergency housing system with an unnecessary health and welfare bureaucracy of its own. Dennis P. Culhane