Environmental Values,Human Nature,and Economic Democracy

Recent social science indicates that the public at large behave more ethically, and favor environmental protection more strongly, than do the wealthiest minority. Yet the latter group exerts predominant control over the economy. This suggests that shifting power away from this minority and onto the majority would yield a better ecology. In this paper I spell out the implications of these considerations for “economic democracy” (ED), a well-developed alternative to capitalism that shifts power from wealthy shareholders onto ordinary citizens and workers. I contrast this rationale for ED with some thinkers’ defense of “sustainable capitalism”, and with others’ ecological arguments for ED based on economic stability and self-interest, rather than ethical behavior per se.     

High-Stakes Accountability, Minority Youth, and Ethnography: Assessing the Multiple Effects

In this article, I offer a review of the ethnographic research that reports the effects of current accountability policies on minority youth. Included in this article are qualitative investigations that have significant field-based components, most especially direct observations at the classroom level. In this article, I demonstrate both the power and potential of ethnography to offer clearer, more detailed portraits of the varied ways that current accountability policies affect teachers of minority youth, the curriculum and pedagogy that minority youth experience, minority youth in general, and the schooling of minority youth.     

Ethnicity,the search for rapists and the press

Media reporting of rape continues to provoke concern. This article focuses on the press reporting of the discovery and search for alleged rapists. On examining nine British newspapers for one complete year (1992), a serious distortion in the media reporting of ethnicity emerges at this early stage of the criminal process. While there is an over‐representation of minority ethnic men accused of rape coming to the notice of the police, the cases identified as involving minority ethnic (particularly black) men as assailants, are much more likely to be reported widely. The distortion is then intensified by associating minority ethnic (and again particularly, black men) with certain types of rape. However, there are important differences between newspapers in their coverage. Furthermore, while media coverage of the search for rapists is a matter of concern, it also needs to be seen as part of the wider process of the social construction of rapists. Nevertheless, the conclusion is that the media coverage of rape tends to distort in ways which may well exacerbate hostility against minority ethnic groups.     

Faith,culture and fear: comparing Islamophobia in early modern Spain and twenty-first-century Europe

Abstract

In 1609, King Philip III of Spain ordered the expulsion from his kingdom of circa 300,000 Moriscos (Muslims forced to officially convert to Christianity). This expulsion marked the end, and failure, of over a century of concerted efforts by both the Spanish government and Catholic Church to assimilate this minority by destroying its culture. This article explores how the fate of the Moriscos was not inevitable but rather the result of an explosive situation in which (1) faith and culture became conflated and (2) the minority came to be perceived as politically disloyal and a threat to the survival of the state and Church. It draws parallels with the current situation of Muslim communities in contemporary Europe to highlight the similarities between them and to sound a cautionary warning to all Europeans, whatever their creed.     

Effects of Minority Stress,Group-Level Coping,and Social Support on Mental Health of German Gay Men

Objective

According to epidemiological studies, gay men are at a higher risk of mental disorders than heterosexual men. In the current study, the minority stress theory was investigated in German gay men: 1) it was hypothesized that minority stressors would positively predict mental health problems and that 2) group-level coping and social support variables would moderate these predictions negatively.

Methods

Data from 1,188 German self-identified gay men were collected online. The questionnaire included items about socio-demographics, minority stress (victimization, rejection sensitivity, and internalized homonegativity), group-level coping (disclosure of sexual orientation, homopositivity, gay affirmation, gay rights support, and gay rights activism), and social support (gay social support and non-gay social support). A moderated multiple regression was conducted.

Results

Minority stressors positively predicted mental health problems. Group-level coping did not interact with minority stressors, with the exception of disclosure and homopositivity interacting marginally with some minority stressors. Further, only two interactions were found for social support variables and minority stress, one of them marginal. Gay and non-gay social support inversely predicted mental health problems. In addition, disclosure and homopositivity marginally predicted mental health problems.

Conclusions

The findings imply that the minority stress theory should be modified. Disclosure does not have a relevant effect on mental health, while social support variables directly influence mental health of gay men. Group-level coping does not interact with minority stressors relevantly, and only one relevant interaction between social support and minority stress was found. Further longitudinal or experimental replication is needed before transferring the results to mental health interventions and prevention strategies for gay men.     

The illusion of progress: Race and politics in Atlanta,Georgia

The relation between stereotypes and social distance towards The Netherlands' minority groups is analysed in a survey of 204 secondary school and university students. Two aspects of social distance are distinguished. One is the amount of social distance towards minority groups, and the other is an ethnic hierarchy of minority groups in social distance. This ethnic hierarchy was shared by a majority of the students. Forty‐eight stereotypes scored for seven ethnic groups were found to converge into six latent dimensions common to all groups. The association between stereotypes, social distance and the ethnic hierarchy depended on the domain of contact. Stereotypes appear to anchor the ethnic hierarchy into Dutch institutions and values, rather than classical racism.     

Effects of selected nonmusical characteristics and band festival participation,scores, and literature difficulty

The purpose of this study was to examine potential validity concerns regarding the use of music festival scores as an element of value-added assessment practices mandated by federal education policy. Nonmusical school and band characteristics of band size, school enrollment, school percentage of minority enrollment, and school percentage of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch were compared to concert band festival participation, scores, and literature selection. Results of a one-way ANOVA revealed that schools with lower enrollments and higher percentages of minority students and students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs were less likely to participate in a concert band festival. MANOVA results using composite festival score and literature difficulty as dependent variables indicated a significant three-way interaction for school size, free/reduced-price lunch category, and band size, with an additional interaction for minority category and school enrollment. Significant main effects were found for band size and for school enrollment. Composite festival scores were found to be higher for schools with a lower percentage of minority students and larger band sizes. Smaller bands, as well as bands from schools with lower enrollment and higher percentages of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, tended to perform less difficult literature. These results suggest that policymakers should recommend caution in the use of festival results for teacher evaluation purposes.     

Belonging to the nation: generational change,identity and the Chinese diaspora

This study reviews developments in the ethnic and national identity of the descendants of migrants, taking ethnic Chinese as a case study. Our core question is why, in spite of debates worldwide about identity, exclusion and rights, do minority communities continue to suffer discrimination and attacks? This question is asked in view of the growing incidence in recent years of ‘racial’ conflicts between majority and minority communities and among minorities, in both developed and developing countries. The study examines national identity from the perspective of migrants' descendants, whose national identity may be more rooted than is often thought. Concepts such as ‘new ethnicities’, ‘cultural fluidity’, and ‘new’ and ‘multiple’ identities feature in this examination. These concepts highlight identity changes across generations and the need to challenge and reinterpret the meaning of ‘nation’ and to review problems with policy initiatives designed to promote nation-building in multi-ethnic societies.     

Frequencies of ABO, Rh and Kell phenotypes in couples from Han, Kazak, Uyghur and Hui in Xinjiang: an inheritance simulation model for blood group incompatibility in new-born

The Xinjiang region with residents from more than 13 minorities represents an area of many diverse ethnicities. This ethnic diversity in relation to their blood groups and immune status may have a consequential impact on the clinical status of married couples. To evaluate the risks of haemolytic disease in new-born infants, we investigated the rate of blood-group incompatibility among 487 married couples from four ethnic minorities, namely the Han, Hui, Uyghur and Kazak populations. Han minority married couples showed significantly different ABO, Rh and K phenotype frequencies between marrial relationship, whereas there was no significant difference in ABO, Rh and K phenotypes between the Uyghur, Hui and Kazak .There was a significant difference between ABO blood types in Han married couples, in the Kazak Rh-C phenotype and in the Uyghur Rh-D phenotype. The Hui married couples only demonstrated ABO, Rh and K phenotypes. The Hui minority showed the highest incompatibility rate for Rh-C and Rh-E phenotypes between mothers and their new-born infants. The highest incompatibility rate for the ABO phenotype occurred in the Kazak group. These results particularly demonstrate the clinical issues relating to ABO and Rh incompatibility, in the Kazak and Hui minorities, respectively.     

The effect of self-fertilization, inbreeding depression, and population size on autopolyploid establishment

The minority cytotype exclusion principle describes how random mating between diploid and autotetraploid cytotypes hinders establishment of the rare cytotype. We present deterministic and stochastic models to ascertain how selfing, inbreeding depression, unreduced gamete production, and finite population size affect minority cytotype exclusion and the establishment of autotetraploids. Results demonstrate that higher selfing rates and lower inbreeding depression in autotetraploids facilitate establishment of autotetraploid populations. Stochastic effects due to finite population size increase the probability of polyploid establishment and decrease the mean time to tetraploid fixation. Our results extend the minority cytotype exclusion principle to include important features of plant reproduction and demonstrate that variation in mating system parameters significantly influences the conditions necessary for polyploid establishment.     

Aboriginal mortality in Canada, the United States and New Zealand

Indigenous populations in New World nations share the common experience of culture contact with outsiders and a prolonged history of prejudice and discrimination. This historical reality continues to have profound effects on their well-being, as demonstrated by their relative disadvantages in socioeconomic status on the one hand, and in their delayed demographic and epidemiological transitions on the other. In this study one aspect of aboriginals' epidemiological situation is examined: their mortality experience between the early 1980s and early 1990s. The groups studied are the Canadian Indians, the American Indians and the New Zealand Maori (data for Australian Aboriginals could not be obtained). Cause-specific death rates of these three minority groups are compared with those of their respective non-indigenous populations using multivariate log-linear competing risks models. The empirical results are consistent with the proposition that the contemporary mortality conditions of these three minorities reflect, in varying degrees, problems associated with poverty, marginalization and social disorganization. Of the three minority groups, the Canadian Indians appear to suffer more from these types of conditions, and the Maori the least.     

西南地区少数民族传统生计变迁与农户生计安全

少数民族农户生计及其安全对于民族地区的生态建设、区域发展和文化保护有着重要意义。在总结中国西南地区少数民族传统生计及其特点、传统生计变迁及其主要驱动力的基础上,主要从环境行为/生态后果、文化适应两方面分析了生计变迁的影响。资源配置家庭化是少数民族生计变迁后的一个显著特点,因此对于农户生计的研究应受到重视。当前针对农户生计的研究主要围绕可持续生计分析框架和农户生计安全而开展。农户生计安全是农村社会可持续发展的微观基础,与可持续生计密切相关。在考虑西南地区生态安全的背景下,生态脆弱性和生计后果是相关研究需要重点关注的内容,而针对少数民族生计的研究还需要突出民族文化的特点和作用。民族文化资本化是保护民族文化、发展民族地区经济的有效途径,将民族文化作为生计资本并纳入可持续生计分析框架将是对西南少数民族生计研究的有效补充。     

Literacy, Culture, and Politics of Schooling: Counternarratives of a Chinese Canadian Family

To counter the "grand narratives" of the model minority myth, this study unveils the stories of a Chinese immigrant family who are encountering difficulties with schooling. The study demonstrates a complex interrelationship between home literacy, culture, and politics of schooling. Findings suggest that cultural mismatch theory alone cannot explain minority schoolfailure. Rather, multilevel interactions, including cultural differences, modes of incorporation, and differential power relationships between school and home, result in minority students' school difficulties.     

In visible bodies: minority women, nurses, time, and the new economy of care

Health care reform in Canadian hospitals has resulted in increased workloads and bureaucratization of patient care contributing to the development of a new economy of care. Interviews with nurses and visible (non-white) minority women who have given birth in institutions undergoing health care reform revealed that nurses felt compelled to avoid interactions with patients deemed too costly in terms of time. Overwhelmingly, these patients were members of culturally marginalized populations whose bodies were read by nurses as potentially problematic and time consuming. As their calls for assistance go unanswered, visible minority women complained of feeling invisible. Taken in context of historical and contemporary interethnic relations, these women regarded such avoidance patterns as evidence of racism. Obstetrical nurses, too, understood that the new economy of care wrought by health care restructuring has altered nursing practice and patient care to the detriment of minority women.     

Immigration and Chinese reproductive behavior in Canada

This study is intended to provide an empirical testing of the minority status hypothesis with regard to the fertility behavior of Chinese immigrants to Canada. The focus is placed on the role of group or social context on actions of individuals. Factors incurred in the immigration process as explained by disruption and assimilation hypotheses are also examined. Using the multi-level contextual analysis, we have found that the relative economic insecurity that comes from minority membership and the course of immigration serves to decrease fertility of minority members, whether they are associated with a pronatalist heritage or not. However, pronatalist traditions do stimulate fecundity of Chinese immigrants as long as their relative economic status is improved and the hardship is gone.     

Books received,August 1st to October 31st 1989

Abstract

This article focuses on two important questions. First, how can we explain changes in the employment position of England's racialized minority groups over the past three decades? And second, why have these changes taken place at a different pace for different minority groups? It is argued that much of the increase in Asian self-employment represents working-class accommodation to the inferior conditions of employment available under neo-liberal modernity rather than evidence of upward social mobility as current orthodoxy claims. It is also contended that the growing representation of minorities in junior non-manual work was driven by anti-racist activism around a racialized ‘black’ identity and confirms the continuing significance of ‘race’ in the English labour market. By unravelling the complex relationship between the geographical distribution of different minority groups, their educational qualifications, anti-racist activism, and racism, the study establishes why such employment change has taken place at a different pace for different minority groups.     

Make Afrikaners great again! National populism,democracy and the new white minority politics in post-apartheid South Africa

This article on national populism in South Africa brings a view from the South to scholarship overwhelmingly concentrated on the north Atlantic and European world. While in white majority contexts, national populism seeks to capture formal political power, the white minority’s lack of political leverage in post-apartheid South Africa sees an assertion of white autonomy emerge in the civil society arena. The article examines the discursive strategies of the Solidarity Movement, a broad-based social movement which claims to represent the white minority, particularly white Afrikaans-speakers, amid black majority rule. It shows how through a reinvention of the past, recasting of race, and reformulation of nationalist narratives by neoliberal logics the Movement discursively undermines black majority rule, and seeks to create spaces in which white privilege, power and identities are maintained. These findings provide new insights into the relation between populism and democracy, and hold important lessons for the increasingly multicultural global North.