Research Fellows Conference Panel on Subordinate Actors and Their Marginalization in Social Theory

Also CSST Working Paper #28.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/51159/1/391.pd

Developmental endothelial locus-1 protects from hypertension-induced cardiovascular remodeling via immunomodulation

The causative role of inflammation in hypertension-related cardiovascular diseases is evident and calls for development of specific immunomodulatory therapies. We tested the therapeutic efficacy and mechanisms of action of developmental endothelial locus-1 (DEL-1), an endogenous anti-inflammatory factor, in angiotensin-II (ANGII)- and DOCA (deoxycorticosterone acetate)-salt-induced cardiovascular organ damage and hypertension. By using mice with endothelial overexpression of DEL-1 (EC-Del1) and performing preventive and interventional studies by injecting recombinant DEL-1 in mice, we showed that DEL-1 improved endothelial function and abrogated aortic adventitial fibrosis, medial thickening and loss of elastin. DEL-1 also protected the mice from cardiac concentric hypertrophy, interstitial and perivascular coronary fibrosis and improved left-ventricular function and myocardial coronary perfusion. DEL-1 prevented aortic stiffness and abolished the progression of hypertension. Mechanistically, DEL-1 acted by inhibiting αvβ3-integrin dependent activation of pro-MMP2 in mice and in human isolated aorta. Moreover, DEL-1 stabilized αvβ3-integrin dependent CD25+FoxP3+ Treg numbers and IL-10 levels, which were associated with decreased pro-inflammatory cell recruitment of inflammatory cells and reduced production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in cardiovascular organs. The demonstrated effects and immune-modulating mechanisms of DEL-1 in abrogation of cardiovascular remodeling and progression of hypertension identify DEL-1 as a potential therapeutic factor

Postindustrial parenthood: Gender ideology and family strategy among low-wage hospital workers.

The last quarter of the 20th century in the United States has been characterized by a shift from an industrial- to a service-based economy. How has this affected family life and the way in which women and men think about themselves as mothers and fathers? I address this question through an examination of how low-wage service workers at two hospitals resolve the work/family dilemma. Data for this study are derived from qualitative interviews with 47 working women and men who were raising small children. I found that the workplace did not accommodate family life, particularly for low-wage workers. Parents were forced to construct their own creative strategies to meet the demands of work and family. Four general strategies predominated; these were (1) gender specialization; (2) shiftwork; (3) kin networks; and (4) persistant traditionalism. The structure of the workplace favored a gender specialization strategy and made alternative strategies more difficult to pursue. The adoption of particular family strategies had implications for gender at home and at work. The gender specialization strategy tended to reproduce assumptions about essential differences between women and men. The shiftwork strategy had the potential to transform gender relations in the home, as fathers learn to behave more like mothers; however, this did not occur in all households which adopted this strategy. The family network strategy, when successful, permitted women to mother with less fatigue and without a mandatory attachment to a male provider. Finally, the rarely adopted traditional strategy was used only by families with an exceptional, often religious, conviction that men and women's responsibilities were entirely distinct. Decisions about work and family could not be understood without a consideration of race, which influenced both women and men's constructions of ideal motherhood and fatherhood and contributed to the choice of particular family strategies. The stories told by working parents illustrated the reciprocal causality between gender ideology and family strategy; ideology clearly affected the choice of family strategy, but the experience of living out particular strategies sometimes transformed parents' ideology.Ph.D.SociologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/105087/1/9635507.pdfDescription of 9635507.pdf : Restricted to UM users only

NEGOTIATING INDEPENDENT MOTHERHOOD

The authors examine the experiences and ideals of African American working-class mothers through 20 intensive interviews. They focus on the women's negotiations with racialized norms of motherhood, represented in the assumptions that legal marriage and an exclusively bonded dyadic relationship with one's children are requisite to good mothering. The authors find, as did earlier phenomenological studies, that the mothers draw from distinct ideals of community-based independence to resist each of these assumptions and carve out alternative scripts based on nonmarital relationships with male partners and shared care of children.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66930/2/10.1177_089124396010002007.pd