Incorporating Writing into the Mass Class: An Alternate Model for Quiz/Discussion Sessions

One of the main disjunctions that exists in undergraduate education within the discipline of sociology is the increased stress we now place on the importance of writing, and the inadequacy of the training we provide our students to become bet­ter writers. The call for improved student writing ranges from professors surprised and dismayed with reading student essays, which they consider to be inadequate to the complexity of course material, to those who see the task of sociology as providing a general liberal education, with writing an important skill for the development of a well rounded member of society. Although greater and greater attention is being paid to the role of writing in a college educa­tion, little has been written specifically about the role of writing within the discipline of sociology, or how to incorporate the teaching of writing within the con­text of sociology classes. In this paper, I give an overview of the case to be made for incorporating writing in the sociology curriculum, as well as why and how it could be included in the mass class that typically is the first contact students will have with the field of sociology. I argue that not only is the addition of writing not incompatible with the mass class, but that it can serve as a powerful pedagogi­cal tool in enhancing student learning within this environment. While few sociology instructors question the im­portance of training students to become good writ­ ers, what is less clear is how much of that role should be undertaken within the discipline of sociology. Some would argue that the responsibility of teach­ing sociology lies with sociology instructors, while that of teaching writing with English composition in­structors. The argument here is not that sociology should try to take on the role of the English depart­ment, but that writing instruction within the field of sociology can meet needs that cannot be adequately addressed outside the discipline.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/asbookchapters/1022/thumbnail.jp

Choosing the Big City: Destination Choices of Asian Immigrants to the West Coast of the United States

Since 1965, the United States has seen large scale immigration from Asian countries previously under-represented in immigration flows to the United States. Although we know that these groups are predominantly settling in large Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) on the West Coast, we know less about the factors that draw immigrant groups to particular areas. This study looks at the growth of immigrant populations in West Coast SMSAs among four different Asian immigrant groups, comparing census data from 1980 and 1990. Two major perspectives, economic and network models, were examined to see how well they explained current migration patterns within and across different Asian immigrant groups. The results suggest that neither economic nor network models alone adequately explain the growth of immigrant populations across SMSAs. Instead, comparisons across the four immigrant groups show the continuing attraction of the largest SMSAs irrespective of the economic characteristics of the SMSAs, or the socio-economic and historical characteristics of the immigrant groups themselves, and suggest the importance of these areas as entry-ports for newer immigrant groups

Fighting to Belong: Asian American Military Service and American Citizenship

The military has been recognized as one of the most crucial institutions in setting the parameters of national citizenship, and in helping facilitate the expansion of these boundaries to include racial minorities. Historically, it is during periods of war and strong external threat that notions of shared American identity become most salient. It is also during these periods that racial minorities can demonstrate their patriotism through military service, and thus make a claim for the full benefits of social membership.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/asbookchapters/1020/thumbnail.jp

Perceptions of Immigrant Criminality: Crime and Social Boundaries

Researchers studying the relationship between immigration and crime frequently note the discrepancy between actual rates and public perceptions of criminal behavior by immigrants. Analyzing staff‐ and reader‐generated texts in a local newspaper, we find that this connection is maintained through a conflation of key terms, assumptions of the legal status of immigrants, and a focus on high‐profile criminal acts. We argue that the discourse of immigrant criminality has been critical in constructing social boundaries used in recent immigration legislation. Our analysis helps explain why current scholarly findings on immigration and crime have had little influence in changing public opinion

Mapping School Segregation: Using GIS to Explore Racial Segregation between Schools and their Corresponding Attendance Areas

We examine whether student enrollment in nonneighborhood schools changes levels of racial segregation in public schools across urban school districts by comparing the racial composition of schools and their corresponding attendance area. This comparison was made possible by using geographic information systems (GIS) to link maps of elementary, middle, and high school attendance boundaries with 2000 census data, the Common Core of Data, and the Private School Survey for the 22 largest school districts. Results show that public schools would be less racially segregated if all children living in a school district attended their local, neighborhood schools. Similarly, findings reveal that private, magnet, and charter schools contribute to overall racial segregation within most school districts. Finally, while segregation levels in school catchment areas become lower from elementary to middle to high schools, the difference in segregation between catchment areas and the schools that serve them remains constant across all levels

The Fight to be American: Military Naturalization and Asian Citizenship

In 1862, Congress passed legislation granting foreigners serving in the U.S. military the right to expedited naturalization. Although driven by pragmatic concerns, military naturalization served as a powerful symbolic message: those willing to fight for the United States are worthy of its citizenship. At the same time, military naturalization conflicted with existing laws that limited naturalization to whites and blacks. In this Article, we analyze how courts weighed the competing ideologies of citizenship by examining court cases brought by Asian aliens seeking military naturalization between 1900 and 1952. Our research demonstrates the importance of instrumental and ideological pressures in shaping the legal understanding of U.S. citizenship, as well as the contradictions that emerged as the judiciary sought to bring coherence to conflicting legislative acts regarding naturalization. More significantly, we show how decisions made by the courts in defining the pertinent legal issues in military naturalization cases helped perpetuate racialized conceptions of citizenship

Defining Immigrant Newcomers in New Destinations: Symbolic Boundaries in Williamsburg, VA

This article examines media representations of immigration in Williamsburg, Virginia, a ‘new immigrant destination’ in the USA. Through a content analysis of coverage in Williamsburg\u27s local newspaper, we explore how reporters, columnists and readers draw on nationally and internationally circulating discourses to produce public interpretations of immigration issues and construct symbolic boundaries between and among in-groups and ‘others’ in the community. ‘National boundaries drawn locally’ captures how media actors use nationally recognizable frames to interpret local issues and define the parameters of community and national belonging. ‘Localized symbolic boundaries’ take their meanings from place-based, cultural understandings, specific economic conditions and demographics in the local setting. Newspaper discussions in Williamsburg distinguish between ‘deserving’ foreign student workers (primarily from Eastern Europe and Asia) and ‘undeserving’, racialized, Latino ‘others’. Our analysis advances theories of boundary construction and holds implications for the politics of belonging more generally in other immigrant-receiving contexts