Drawing from the homophily principle and organizational ecology theory, I follow previous literature and predict racial minorities will have lower levels of belonging and commitment when attending predominantly white congregations. Going beyond this literature, I incorporate contemporary racial stratification literature and propose integration into white congregations would vary by racial group as a result of the differing symbolic group positioning of minorities in America's racial hierarchy. Results from multilevel models using a national dataset generally support my hypotheses. The findings from this study reveal distinctions between minority racial groups within predominantly white congregations. Thus, the homophily principle and organizational ecology are not sufficient when studying race within congregations, as it is not enough to rely solely on the numeric representation of racial groups in congregations without taking into account the social positioning of these groups. These results, their implications, and potential directions for future studies are further discussed.
AbstractThis chapter amplifies student leader voices as they reflect on their involvement and growth as facilitators and participants of story circles, a structure and process for individuals to use empathy, the arts, and social imagination to support dialogue and change in local communities.
AbstractThis article explores the communicative interactions of one Latino youth, Lorenzo, in an English Language Arts classroom located in an intensely-segregated Black and Latino urban community. While the larger city in which this school is located is known for its diverse cosmopolitan population characteristic of super-diversity, I argue that Lorenzo's language practices index his socialization in contact zones shaped by Black and Latina/o cultural and linguistic practices. While sociolinguistic perspectives on super-diversity might offer an explanation for the repertoires of languages uttered by Lorenzo and his Black and Latina/o peers, the language practices explored are reflective of the cultural historical experiences of Lorenzo's intensely-segregated community which have been practiced prior to any conceptualization of super-diversity. Drawing on super-diversity research, language ideological inquiry and language crossing and sharing scholarship, this article calls for further attention to the cultural historical past of Black and Latina/o communities in future discussions of super-diversity in the U.S.
After the 1980 presidential election, the New Christian Right (NCR) became a political force that could no longer be ignored. Since the early 1980s the political agenda of the NCR has expanded beyond culture war issues. Currently the NCR addresses several international issues such as, human trafficking, the spread of HIV, and religious persecution. Since the NCR is one of many political forces that presently influences policy makers, it's become crucial for the public to possess a good understanding of what the NCR is, and grasp what lies behind its intersecting religious dynamics. Unfortunately, much of the American public as well as the mainstream media are unaware of, or glaze over the intellectual and religious complexity of the NCR. Most media coverage highlights its evangelical leadership, while it fails to emphasize the role non-evangelical political activists, and intellectuals played in the development of this alliance. This type of media coverage not only mischaracterizes the NCR, but leads the public to believe that all evangelicals are a part of this interfaith alliance. This thesis attempts to expand beyond the evangelical aspect of the NCR. Like evangelical leaders, a group of Catholic conservative elites played a pivotal role in establishing the intellectual as well as political foundation of the NCR. Although evangelical leaders provided the NCR with much of its public leadership, Catholic conservatives such as William F. Buckley, Phyllis Schlafly, Brent Bozell, Paul Weyrich, and Richard Viguerie provided political guidance, and created a religious conservatism which became the intellectual foundation of the NCR. These claims are argued by historically reconstructing the formation of the NCR. This reconstruction illustrates how historical events in conjunction with the actions of few Catholic conservatives, resulted in the formation of religious conservatism, and led to political activism in the defense of traditional family values. Another important reason I choose to reconstruct the formation of the NCR is to dispel common misconceptions regarding this interfaith alliance. One misconception I hope to correct is that evangelical leaders primarily became politically involved to fight a moral quest against abortion. Although abortion became one of the prime culture wars issues, the Roe v. Wade decision was not the event that led to the political unification of these historically hostile faiths. I want the reader to understand that the formation of the NCR was a complex and lengthy process that did not occur overnight, or due to the efforts of leaders from one religious faith. Conclusion: After researching this topic, I concluded that the NCR is a fragile and loosely knit political alliance. Historical inter-faith tension still lingers amongst some leaders of the NCR, which leads me to believe that political pragmatism is the main adhesive keeping this interfaith alliance together. As author Randall Balmer stated, "The New Christian Right is a marriage of political convenience."[1] This coalition is extremely reminiscent of a business relationship, in which all parties gain from associating with one another. Simply put, at the core of the NCR there seems to be nothing more that a strategic coalition developed, and maintained to reach common political objectives. While researching the formation of the NCR I also discovered that the events that took place from 1950 to the 1970s were catalysts that incited the formation of this defensive alliance. These historical events increasingly polarized religious faiths from within, and created common political goals amongst the religiously orthodox.[2] Although these historical events were important factors that contributed to the formation of the NCR, I also found that Catholic conservatives played a critical role in the development of this interfaith alliance. Catholic conservative intellects and political activists filled an intellectual void that existed within the evangelical political movement. Thesis Sources: In researching this topic I used a variety of sources. Throughout my research I attempted to balance my first and secondary sources. My first hand sources consisted of interviews, and several books written by some of the Catholic conservatives I focused on within the thesis. Interviewees Phyllis Schlafly, Randall Balmer, and George Weigel were chosen because I felt that they would provide my work with a variety of opinions and historical information regarding the NCR. Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum and prominent political activist, provided my work with invaluable insight on the development of the pro-family movement. Author and Columbia University professor, Randall Balmer also provided my thesis with insight on the role evangelical leaders played in the formation of the NCR. Secondary sources varied from books written by historians, to documentaries and internet resources. Although, I tried to minimally incorporate internet resources for this project. In order to write a comprehensive piece on this interfaith alliance, I included a wide variety of sources, and read books that varied within their historical interpretations regarding the formation of the NCR. Several other insightful books exist on the topic, however given the magnitude of this projected I was unable to include them all. [1] Randall Balmer, interview by author, Columbus, GA, April 24, 2007. [2] The word orthodox is not used in the traditional sense that describes specific doctrinal creeds or practices. But is used to describe a group of people whose world view and belief system is committed to an "external definable authority," which defines "at least in abstract, a consistent, unchangeable measure of value, purpose, goodness, bother personal and collective." James Davison Hunter. Culture Wars the Struggle to Define America: Making sense of the battles over the family, art, education, laws, and politics [New York: Basic Books, 1991], 44.
Studies in developing countries have demonstrated that co‐operatives have the potential to become an important economic factor. However, these studies have revealed deficient management practices that could hinder co‐operative's possibilities of playing this role in the economy. There are recurrent calls to study this issue and generate knowledge that could improve prospects for co‐operatives. This paper advances current research by applying an already tested methodology inspired on the viable systems model to provide a better understanding on co‐operatives' governance systems, in the context of developing countries. The results show positive evidence for how a participatory and facilitated systemic intervention could support the implementation of actions aiming to improve a co‐operative governance system. The approach and methodology used in the project represent a promising toolkit to work on governance systems within co‐operatives and provide new academic perspectives to address governance issues within these organizations.
AbstractThis chapter presents an overview of six additional disciplines. Descriptions and resources for psychology, arts and music, women's studies, religious studies, parks and recreation, and interdisciplinary studies are included.
