Status Maximization, Hypodescent Theory, or Social Identity Theory? A Theoretical Approach to Understanding the Racial Identification of Multiracial Adolescents

This chapter examines whether the racial identification of mixed-race adolescents can be understood through several theories: Status Maximization Theory, the rule of hypodescent, or social identity theory. Status Maximization theory posits that mixed-race adolescents will attempt to identify as the highest racial status group they possibly can. The rule of hypodescent or hypodescent theory, also known as the one-drop rule, is a legacy of the Plantation-era South and prescribes that mixed-race individuals identify as their lowest status racial identity. Social identity theory posits that the higher frequency or quality of contacts with parents or individuals in mixed-race adolescents’ peer networks affect the racial identification of mixed-race adolescents. Also, social identity contends that a mixed-race adolescent\u27s intergroup dynamic (measured here as a child\u27s level of self-esteem, whether there is prejudice at school, and a child\u27s self-concept) dictates how he or she will racially identify. Through analyses of mixed-race adolescents in the National Longitudinal Adolescent Health (Add Health), I find that Asian-white and American-Indian-white adolescents do not status maximize nor abide by hypodescent, while black-white adolescents do not status maximize but do adhere to hypodescent when forced to choose one race. There is no tendency for the frequency or quality of contact with parents, romantic partners, or school composition to affect racial identity, as predicted by social identity theory. Yet, several of the aforementioned social-psychological variables are found to influence the racial identification of mixed-race adolescents. Specifically, whether they felt positively about school, if they experienced prejudice, whether they had higher levels of self-esteem, and if they felt socially accepted by their peers. Another key finding from this research suggests that racial identification for Asian-white and American-Indian-white adolescents are both fluid and optional; this is not the case for black-white adolescents. I conclude by offering the implications of these findings for black-white multiracial individuals

The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry: Race, Identity, and the Performance of Popular Verse in America (Book Review)

Review of the book, The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry: Race, Identity, and the Performance of Popular Verse in America, by Susan Somers-Willett, University of Michigan Press, 200

Dear Colleague

Research demonstrates that faculty of color in historically white institutions experience higher levels of discrimination, cultural taxation, and emotional labor than their white colleagues. Despite efforts to recruit minority faculty, all of these factors undermine their scholarship, pedagogy, social experiences, promotion and retention

Multiracial Identity

This entry examines multiracial identity from each of the aforementioned perspectives, positing that classification entails more than individual claims and assertions; rather, the interactions between the state, multiracial groups, and personal decisions lead to a more nuanced understanding of the process of multiracial identification. The government plays a critical role in creating the mark all that apply (MATA) option on the census. The emergence and influence of multiracial activist organizations advocating for recognition of this population is significant now. Finally, there is considerable social psychological literature addressing mixed-race identity, focusing on the four largest pairings. Early research characterized this population as dysfunctional and pathological; however, current research posits that multiracial identity is fluid, contextual, and normal

Break Beats in the Bronx: Rediscovering Hip-Hop’s Early Years (Book Review)

Review of the book, Break Beats in the Bronx: Rediscovering Hip-Hop’s Early Years, by Joseph C. Ewoodzie, University of North Carolina Press, 2017, https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469632759/break-beats-in-the-bronx/

Social Studies Teachers’ Sense of Self-Efficacy in Senior High Schools in the Kumasi Metropolis

The study aimed at assessing the level of Social Studies Teacher’s sense of self-efficacy and the relationship between Senior High School Social Studies teachers experience and level of self-efficacy in the Kumasi Metropolis. The quantitative data were gathered through questionnaires administered to 25 teachers and 1000 students in five selected public Senior High Schools in the Kumasi Metropolis. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation were employed to analyze the data. The results of the study showed that Social Studies Teachers have high efficacy level. Workshops and in-service training programs by the ministry of education are recommended for all the teachers to further improve their efficacy level

Incorporating Physics-Based Patterns into Geophysical and Geostatistical Estimation Algorithms

Geophysical imaging systems are inherently non-linear and plagued with the challenge of limited data. These drawbacks make the solution non-unique and sensitive to small data perturbations; hence, regularization is performed to stabilize the solution. Regularization involves the application of a priori specification of the target to modify the solution space in order to make it tractable. However, the traditionally applied regularization model constraints are independent of the physical mechanisms driving the spatiotemporal evolution of the target parameters. To address this limitation, we introduce an innovative inversion scheme, basis-constrained inversion, which seeks to leverage advances in mechanistic modeling of physical phenomena to mimic the physics of the target process, to be incorporated into the regularization of hydrogeophysical and geostatistical estimation algorithms, for improved subsurface characterization. The fundamental protocol of the approach involves the construction of basis vectors from training images, which are then utilized to constrain the optimization problem. The training dataset is generated via Monte Carlo simulations to mimic the perceived physics of the processes prevailing within the system of interest. Two statistical techniques for constructing optimal basis functions, Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Maximum Covariance Analysis (MCA), are employed leading to two inversion schemes. While POD is a static imaging technique, MCA is a dynamic inversion strategy. The efficacies of the proposed methodologies are demonstrated based on hypothetical and lab-scale flow and transport experiments

What about my health? An assessment of how the health and safety issues of health workers are addressed

Hospitals are established to attend to the health needs of people as well as to treat the injured and the sick. However, health workers are sometimes faced with occupational health and safety issues which give a bad image to the socio-economic importance of the hospitals. This study assessed how the health and safety issues of health workers in the public health facilities of Ghana are addressed. Using the experience of the Achimota Hospital, a sample of fifty-three (53) health workers were randomly selected from the laboratory department, dental department, x-ray department and the various wards. The study observed that chemicals, noise, heat, communicable disease and patient aggression are the safety and hazardous issues entangling health workers and must be looked at carefully. The study also observed that the measures adopted by management in addressing the safety concerns of the workers are the provision of safety materials, the establishment of a compensation strategy, the formulation of a safety policy, and organization of training programs and durbars. The study concluded by making recommendations to management, health workers, patients and the government on how the health facilities can be made safe to protect the life of the workers and clients. Keywords: Health and safety, health workers, public health facility, health and safety polic

Bringing Mothers and Fathers Together: Undergraduate Studies in Anthropology and Sociology

As social scientists in a combined Sociology and Anthropology department at a small liberal arts institution, we approach research questions on mothering and fathering from our respective disciplines. In the summer of 2014 we made plans to experiment with a first year seminar that would bring our distinct courses together: Oware’s Man Up: Unpacking Manhood and Masculinity, and Castañeda’s Global Perspectives on Reproduction and Childbirth. In the fall of 2014, we combined our courses over two-weeks to discuss the roles of fathering and mothering in our research agendas. As we suspected, our courses were unevenly represented on their own with Oware’s class enrolling mostly men and Castañeda’s mostly women. We utilized a multidisciplinary approach to ask students to unpack the use of the phrase “man up” when applied to fathering and to discuss what it means to “mother,” among many other topics. Ultimately the decision to bridge our courses opened the door to many more questions that have only enriched our research, department, and class content on mother and father studies. In the remainder of this essay we discuss our individual research to illustrate two of the ways we introduce mother and father studies to our students. We begin with an assessment of fatherhood in rap music and progress to discussing doulas and mothering. Specifically, Oware focuses on the constructions of fathering in rap music and Castañeda’s work examines how doulas force us to rethink how we understanding mothering through their work. This is followed by an analysis of a case study on how students in our departmental proseminar course responded to questions on mothering and fathering. Finally, we include a reflection on how bridging mother and father studies impacts our department, students, and our own personal lives