homelessness quiz resubmit

Jessica Helm, 457 words

            The two articles Relationship Among Respondent Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, and Homeless Status on a Homeless Population's Functional Status and Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness both examine aspects of homelessness. Including public opinion about homelessness and factors surrounding the homeless themselves. Impacts of homeless on society and the homeless' people themselves.

            The article Relationship Among Respondent Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, and Homeless Status on a Homeless Population's Functional Status examines the correlation of ethnicity and the homeless' functional status. The study was conducted in Los Angeles county on 394 homeless, within those 394 participants more than one-third of them claimed to be on or use drugs at the time of the interview. This study used the Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale to measure functional impairment on the homeless, which they measured by the subscales: Relation to Self and Others, Depression–Anxiety, Daily Living Skills, Impulsive– Addictive Behavior, and Psychosis. The study found that White and African American did poorer than Native Americans and Latinos, on the BASIS subscales relation to self and others, depression-anxiety, and daily living skills. Another finding was that the degree of homelessness affects the depression-anxiety scale, in which people with acute homelessness showed higher signs than people who were chronically homeless.

            The contact hypothesis indicates that the amount of contact between the member's pf an in-group and an out-group can positively change the stereotypical attitudes towards the outside from the in-group which is examined in the article Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness. The amount of time spent with a certain group can lower prejudice against said group. The study determined that overall exposure to homeless people affected people's opinions/views in a positive manner. Exposure also positively affected people's willingness to get involved and support policy about homelessness. They also found that the age of the participant, impacted the amount of sympathy towards the homeless, with older age comes a decrease in sympathy for the homeless. African Americans and Hispanics were less likely to hold empathy for the homeless. 

            Both articles touch on aspects of homelessness, however they deal with different areas and do not leave much for comparison. Nonetheless, the article Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness could examine racial impacts of biased towards the homeless. When look at racism as impact or factor, you can possibly determine the personal threat level felt towards homeless in relation to race and ethnicity.  Relationship Among Respondent Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, and Homeless Status on a Homeless Population's Functional Status hold criticism due to the fact that the participants were under the influence at the time on the interview, which could of possibly affect the outcome of the surveys.

Homeless/Food Quiz

Alma Garcia, 557 words

            "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" by Kelly Stamper Balistreri states the research of food insecurity by their race, among low-income households who have children and the ones who don't. Food insecurity has been rising more and more in the US. Food insecurity is not being able to have much access to food. Over 6.9 million households in the US have very low food security. Even though the rates of employment had been rising in the year of 2008 there is another factor that plays into the role of food insecurity. Since employment went up so did food prices. This article also states that another reason that there is still insecurity in the US is because of the collapse of housing prices. This also played a big role in food insecurity. During the recession there was a hike in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rising from 8.5% of the population in 2008 to 15% in 2013. Since there was a high increase of people needing assistance many individuals were limited to this service which were mainly adults without kids. In 2014 about 10.5% White household's food insecure, but the higher numbers came from Blacks with 26.1% and Hispanics with 22.4%. Food insecurity has long term consequences for children and adult's well-being. It has been related to lower adult's general physical health as well as of poor health outcomes such as diabetes and hypertension. The studies also show that among children it affects their general health as well as them getting anemia and asthma. The methods used for this research was the current population survey (CPS) and the Food Security Supplement (FSS). This was done for many years. There was three points chosen for this study which were 2001 to 2003, 2006-2008, and 2011-2013. These times were used to see the changes during the recession and the post-recession. The implications of this research study states that any cuts to SNAP funding may have a huge impact on low-income households.

            "Understanding Food Insecurity Among Latino Immigrant Families in Rural America" states how low-income Latino immigrant families either succeeded or failed to meet their food needs. The reason for this study is to understand why some Latino immigrant's families are constantly successful in meeting their food needs and some aren't. Using a case study approach, ten families were selected to represent food secure and food insecure groups. Maintaining food security was very tough and complicated for families. Over 13 million U.S. households are food insecure which were categorized as having low food security or very low food security. One-in-five U.S. children live in a food insecure household. Even though Latino immigrants have been contributing billions of dollars to rural communities as laborers and consumers their presence may stress the local resources and may be unable to meet their basic needs. These families participated in this study from four different states which were California, Michigan, Oregon, and Iowa. California's participants were mainly second generation, Michigan's were mainly migrant workers, and Oregon's and Iowa's participants were "semi-settled" residents who migrated to the U.S. in the past 20 years. Many mothers were recruited through community organizations such as WIC or head start. The research suggests that an effective way to ensure food security may be to strengthen their basic literacy skills and life skills such as knowledge of basic nutrition, health practices, and family planning. The root of the issue may also be because they are lacking in English fluency. 

Alline Wright SOC 111 582 words

         

The article "Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness" used researchers' 1990 national telephone survey to find a survey sample of 1,388 individuals to conduct interviews for ten dollars each. The dependent variables of the interview were nine scales assessing the interviewees' attitudes on homelessness: structural causes, individual causes, role competency, dangerousness, positive emotions, lack of empathy, community burden, support of rights and willingness to sacrifice. The independent variables were 14 exposure types comprised into four dimensions, which transformed into the overall exposure scale. Race, income, employment status, age, sex and education were all controlled variables. The goal was to see how the measures of exposure affected attitudes towards the homeless differently. The overall exposure resulted in strongly influencing attitudes about homeless people in a positive way, which supports the simplified contact hypothesis. The more exposure the respondent had resulted in lower amounts of attributing homelessness to individual causes and increased willingness to make sacrifices to support homeless people. Older aged respondents and minorities were less supportive and sympathetic towards the homeless. Because many minority citizens live in areas that have a high homeless population, their exposure is greater than their white counterparts, resulting in more Hispanics' with non-supportive attitudes. Voluntary exposure, like television, can be less impactful than involuntary, like having a homeless family member, but each dimension reveals greater sympathy for homeless people. Personally overcoming homelessness was not a significant factor increasing positive attitudes towards the homeless. One in ten respondents admitted to avoidance mechanisms, like using alternative public transportation to ensure a homeless-free route. Increased avoidance did not support the hypothesis because it correlated with higher exposure levels. This was explained by the concept that when too extreme, exposure can increase a dislike for the out-group, whom are the homeless.  Lastly, African Americans were more likely than women and elder interviewees to interact and be exposed to homeless people.

            The next article, "The Impact of Slavery on Racial Inequality in Poverty in the Contemporary U.S. South," uses county-level data from the 2000 U.S. Census and population data from the 1860 U.S. Census for the U.S. South, excluding Oklahoma. The poverty threshold calculated based on a four person family was 33,000 to $64,000. Some Southern counties varied in geographic location from the 1860 data set to contemporary counties, but it was critical to keep spatial consistency by adding a .25 weight, evenly distributing a quarter of 1860's slave population data among the contemporary data set.  One limitation is that slaves used to be bulkily populated around rural plantations, so the displacement of slave populations could cause skewed results. Least squares regression model and spatial data analysis tools demonstrated how the legacy of slavery correlated with poverty in racial inequality. The final model only used the variables that related to the slave legacy, which was measured by dividing the number of slaves in 1860 data by the total 1860 population. The independent variable poverty covariates in the final model were the proportion black, proportion of blacks squared, homeownership, agriculture, manufacturing, FIRE, single-mother families, and middleclass. A counties' structural factors were accounted for the surrounding levels of racial inequality throughout the South.  Middle class income and the number of agricultural-based employees did not conform to expectations. Counties with a higher proportion of these variables resulted in greater racial inequality. The black proportion of a county is positive and vitally related to black disadvantage, but is a separated concept from the 1860 slave concentrations because racial threat was found to be insignificant.  Overall, Southern counties that had a stronger connection to slavery showed disproportionately higher racially unequal poverty rates than counties that were loosely connected to the slave population.

Parinav Kanwar

                                                                              

                                                                                  Parinav Kanwar  382  words

A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity

This research focused on measuring the effect of the food insecurity among various groups in United states. The data was obtained from current population survey in Food Security Supplement during 2001 to 2003, 2006-2008 and 2011-2013. A food security scale by USDA was used to gather data and then normalized to Food Insecurity Index. The results indicated higher food insecurity among households with children than without children. A rapid increase in food insecurity among in low income households without children. It was also found that low income black households children had higher food insecurity while also had high depth and severity. White household children had higher depth and severity of food security than Hispanic households. Black children who had no children had an increased disadvantage. The results could be due to differences in race and ethnic variation in recovery since great recession.

Understanding Food Insecurity Among Latino Immigrant Families in Rural America

This study sampled Latino immigrant mothers from Rural Families Speak project. Latino women were from California, Michigan and Oregon and Iowa, who were at least 18 years of age and below federal poverty line.  The collected data from project was analyzed using grounded theory and second stage utilized coding scheme while the third phase used methodology of Miles and Huberman to identify family experiences pattern. The results indicated that food secure families had good health as well as essential life skills, knowledge of community resources and husbands with table employment as compared to food insecure families. Also, food insecure families had low literacy levels which impacted other aspects in their life. This group also received poor support from family and friends than food secure families. The results can be explained through ecological theory, which indicated that food insecurity was the results of factors and in reaction from ecological levels such as income etc. Food security is complicated tasking to achieve has many factors involved.

Both of these articles focused on food insecurity while the purpose of the first study was to discuss food insecurity and its relationship with children and income level in various racial groups such as white, Hispanic and blacks. Second study was more focused on one particular group Latino families but explored many effects of food insecurity on families. Although both studies provide a better insight into the issues of food insecurity presence in many racial groups. 

Ashley Meneses

The first article I read was Monitoring Perceptions of the Causes of Poverty in South Africa. In this article they found that South Africans mainly had three views towards the cause of poverty in their country. The first being individualistic explanations, essentially blaming solely the person, structural explanation, believing that there are social and economical factors that play a factor, and fatalistic explanations, meaning that the cause of poverty is an individual's bad luck or illness they may have. In order to find the most viewed perception they made a survey of mainly agree/disagree answers to a total of 3,498 random South Africans. Within this survey they made sure to take into account all of the different demographics that makes each participant unique, such as their race, gender, age, income, and much more. After receiving all of the results many statistical measures were taken to see if there was a correlation between any demographic and a certain perception towards the cause of poverty. One thing that was found was that whites didn't have to struggle to maintain basic necessities of life compared to the other races. Also that there wasn't even a race that voted a majority in a certain mindset, instead all of the answers varied even within a race group. By looking over all of the answers they found that there really wasn't an impact of demographics on a person's perception.

The second article that I chose to read was called, "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth, and Severity of Food Insecurity". Since the year 2000 and especially after the Great Recession in 2008 food insecurity has been raising. Food insecurity is the inability to maintain sufficient amounts of food within a household, and with that they found that black households have the biggest disadvantage regarding income which hinders the ability to have access to enough food. Many things are tied together with the issue of food insecurity, if a household has low income that leads to food insecurity and with that they members of the family begin to have health issues. Which especially in children can lead to problems with their cognitive development, lead to higher probabilities of anxiety and aggression and behavioral problems. What they chose to do was to pick 2 year spans before, during and after the recession. Within this they had a number of households answer questions and with those answers they formed a point system and depending on the amount of points in the end they could determine their food stability. From their findings the houses with low incomes and no children had the quickest increase in food insecurity. As I mentioned before blacks had the highest rate of food insecurity yet when looking at the numbers and data they found that they had a very low change in food insecurity over the decade examined. There was no change in the hispanic households with low income and children. The race with the greatest change in food insecurity were the white low income households with children increasing in all three time spans. Overall food insecurity is a problem that is affecting many households in the US, some may be hit more than others but is something that should be known and will sadly always be an issue.

Quiz

Caitlynn Toste Homeless/Food Quiz

Caitlynn Toste

Word Count: 372

Homeless/Food Quiz

"A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" is an article reviewing and studying the statistics of poverty in the United States. This study reviews the time period from 2000 to 2014 to study the differences between before the recession (2001-2003), during the recession (2006-2008), and after the recession (2011-2013). Food insecurity was measured by the experience in the household in the last twelve months and measured in a scale that has 18 items to classify the severity of food insecurity in different households. In this study they found that there has not been any recovery to food insecurity since the Great Recession (Balistreri, 2016). In patterns of food insecurity, they found that low-income black families with children had the highest rate of food insecurity while, low-income Hispanic households with children had no change in their food insecurity (Balistreri, 2016). In low-income white households with children, Balistreri found that food insecurity rapidly increased (Balistreri, 2016).

While "Monitoring Perceptions of the Causes of Poverty in South Africa" is an article that reviewed and studied how individuals view the poor. This survey included results from 3,498 randomly selected South Africans and participants were surveyed on individualistic explanations, structural explanations, and fatalistic explanations (Davids and Gouws, 2013). Individualistic explanations meaning the blame is completely on the poor, structural explanation meaning the blame is n the social and economic forces, and fatalistic explanations meaning the blame is on the bad luck or illness of the poor person. In this survey, the participants included a variation of race, these races included; 76% black Africans, 12% whites, 9% colored, and 3% Indian/Asian, and when they are grouped by gender 49% were male and 51% were female (Davids and Gouws, 2013). This study has concluded that many factors have pushed individuals to become poor, whites have a greater amount of access to everyday necessities then other races, and there is a variation in opinions of the poor that was based on racial groups (Davids and Gouws, 2013). It was also concluded that age, education, employment, and gender were not factors that significantly impacted the rates of poverty and discovered that poverty is seen on both the structural and individualistic aspects (Davids and Gouws, 2013). 

Priscilla Gabriel

Priscilla Gabriel, 478 words

A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity

            In this article, they looked at the rates of food insecurity in the US. They wanted to find out whether the rates were increasing or decreasing. To do this, they did a study that ranged from 2001 to 2003, 2006 to 2008, and 2011 to 2013. During these years they used the Current Population Survey and the Food Security Supplement survey to gather their findings. Some factors that these surveys addressed were whether the households had children or not and also the different races of those taking the survey. There were many questions some asking if their children couldn't eat because of money problems or if they didn't have enough food to last them till they got more money for more food. These surveys showed them that the food insecurity rate had increased greatly because of low income. Many people were unemployed or didn't make enough money to buy enough food for their family. They also found that the rate of those unemployed or in poverty were higher among Black and Hispanic households. Another thing they found was that the rate of those households with children were higher than those without children, however those households without children had a higher increase rate throughout the years.

 

Mental Health Correlates of Past Homelessness in Latinos and Asians

            This article looked at the number of homeless Latinos and Asians and whether any mental illness was a factor in these findings. To get the data they needed they used the National Latino and Asian American Study. In this study, they had multiple surveys asking Latinos and Asian Americans whether they have been homeless and if so how long. These surveys also asked if they had any mental illnesses or history of substance abuse. After doing this survey they were able to gather a lot of information. This was the first study that had data about Asian Americans being homeless. This study showed that only 1.3% of Asians reported being homeless for a week or more. They also found that those Asian Americans who were homeless had a history of being on welfare. Although they were able to gather data about Asian Americans, there wasn't much Asians who were homeless. They believed this was because most Asians feel they should care for sick family members which led to a low number of reported homeless. Next, this study found that there was a higher reported rate for Latinos. About 4.7% of Latinos reported being homeless for a week or more. Those who reported being homeless were more likely to have a history of substance abuse. Many of these Latinos reported that they attended church services more than once a week. They believed that this led the rates of homelessness to decrease because many Latinos found church as a cure.

Cymone Bell

                                                           Cymone Bell

                                                             535 words

Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness

In this article it examines the findings of people's attitudes towards homelessness and how the homeless are stigmatized within society. The article puts forth that people tend to become prejudice and because of this attitude they are ignorant to the fact that not all homeless people are on drugs, are alcoholics nor do all fall under the category of having a mental illness. This way of thinking is ignorant and because there are a lot of people who give homeless people these types of labels, this continues to perpetuate the negative outlook on homelessness. One of the major ways to reduce prejudice is to expose people what they are prejudice against. People with the lowest exposure of homelessness have the most negative attitudes when it comes to this huge issue. If people took the time to volunteer at homeless shelters or even go out to talk to homeless people, maybe their perception might change. The article also takes a look at many different dependent variables that may attribute to homelessness and how many people believed that this may be caused by structural or individual causes.  The structural causes included dimensions of a shortage of affordable housing, the economic system and government aid while the people who looked at homelessness on an individual cause believed that this was either due to laziness, substance abuse or the homeless just being irresponsible and while these are the dependent variables that were looked upon, the article also exposes such factors like race, gender, age and education and how these factors also play a huge part in the increase or decrease of sympathy towards the homeless. The findings overall shows that the more exposed people are to homelessness then the more positive response that they'll have.

Intimate apartheid: Ethnic dimensions of habitus among homeless heroin injectors;

In this article it takes a look at how African Americans, Whites and Latinos use drugs in different ways. African Americans and Whites prefer IV and heroin use and inject the drug inside themselves with a needle into their veins. Whites, although they like using an IV, they tend to want to be more careful about over using their veins and usually White heroin addicts would rather or usually poke themselves anywhere to avoid using the same veins. African Americans on the other hand aren't as careful about this. There is also a distinguish finding on how Whites and African Americans get their money. Whites beg and usually work part time and would do things like recycle cans and there is also the notion that white heroin drug addicts take pride in their work, while on the other hand the article examines how African Americans panhandle and they don't do too much work. They may do part time work that may just last a minute. In the article the authors also take a look at how homeless heroin addicts have adopted this sense of discrimination within society and how African American homeless heroin addicts feel like they are treated like second class citizens and the authors suggest that this may have something to do with the structural historical method of slavery.

 

Alexis Abdulian

Alexis Abdulian

558 Words

 

The article titled "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" by Kelly Balistreri, analyzes food insecurity across many years in the United States focusing on the race and ethnicity factor. They used the data from the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement. They focused on patterns of food insecurity in the three time intervals 2001-2003, 2006-2008, and 2011-2013. They really wanted to narrow in on the time periods around the recession of 2008. They used the Food Insecurity Index in order to find out the degree that households were not secure in food. Their findings show that the time period around/after the 2008 recession did not have any recovery when it came to the people that were low or very low-income households that have children. Low-income households that did not have children showed the most rapid decrease in food security. They found the Black households with children and low-incomes had the highest rate of food insecurity, but it has changed very little over the time periods studied. Hispanic households that also have children and a low-income had nearly no change to food insecurity; however, the severity did increase in the people that already had food insecurity in this group. White households in the same position (with children, low-income) had a very rapid increase in food insecurity. All three races increased when it came to food insecurity in low-income households without children. The largest increase in percentage was White households, but in Black households showed the largest increase. In both cases, Black households with low-incomes had the worst food insecurity and it is an increasing problem. Whites have experienced the biggest increase in food insecurity over the years studied. The author suggests this is due to the great recession.

The second article is titled "Demographic Factors Associated with Poverty among American Indians and Alaska Natives," written by Kimberly R. Huyser, Iasao Takei, and Arthur Sakamoto. Their main purpose of the study was to provide demographic information regarding the poverty of American Indians and Alaska Natives that was more relevant to the present time. They used the American Community Survey (ACS), which is an annual survey done by the US Census Bureau, and focused on the years ranging from 2006-2010. They used the five-year estimate of the ACS because it gave them more detailed geography and better analysis of the small populations. The groups they researched into were American Indians of single-race, non-Hispanic White and Native Indian mixed race, African American and Native Indian mixed race, and Native Indians and some other race. They also used Native Indian groups that are federal and state recognized tribes. They had two dependent variables in their research. They are measures of relative poverty and absolute poverty. They found that the absolute poverty rate of American Indians was 23.3 percent. The relative poverty rate for American Indians was 39 percent. They compared this with non-Hispanic Whites whose absolute poverty rate was 9.5 percent and relative poverty rate was 18.5 percent. An interesting finding was that White children and women have a higher poverty rate than White men. The researchers said that it is important to note that the jump between absolute and relative poverty is higher in non-Hispanic Whites than in American Indians. Over all groups, children, male, and female, American Indians had more poverty than non-Hispanic whites.

 

Resources

 

Balistreri, K. (2016). A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 37(3), 373-382.

Huyser, K., Takei, I., & Sakamoto, A. (2014). Demographic Factors Associated with Poverty among American Indians and Alaska Natives. Race and Social Problems, 6(2), 120-134.

SOC 111 (MonWedFri 10AM) - Food and Homeless Quiz Response - Alexander Ray Salmeron

Alexander Ray Salmeron - 449 words

Today I analyzed two articles, "Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Cause of Public Exposure to Homelessness" by Barrett A. Lee, Chad R. Farrell, and Bruce G. Link, and "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth, and Severity of Food Insecurity" by Kelly Stamper Balisteeri. Both of these articles deal with studies revolving around the issues of homelessness and food insecurity, respectively.

In "Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Cause of Public Exposure to Homelessness", Barrett A. Lee, Chad R. Farrell, and Bruce G. Link put their contact hypothesis to the test. Their hypothesis seeks to identify whether or not personal exposure to homelessness affects respondents' perception of the homeless. The researchers gathered data from a nationwide telephone survey provided by Columbia University. Probability sampling through telecommunications was used to congregate respondents. Each participant was gestured $10 for their contribution to the study. Approximately 1,507 telephone interviews were conducted. An exasperating 65% of respondents spoke English, and 63% did not. From the sample, 1,388 respondents represented the working class. The total sample excessively represented women and barely represented Latinos. No significant bias was identified in the interviews. Respondents' attitudes towards the homeless represented the dependent variable of the study. Nine significant multi-item scales accounted for reliability of responses and assessed various forms of respondents' attitudes. Respondents' exposure to the homeless represented the independent variable. Fourteen vital measure were observed, including respondents' sex, gender, age, and encounters with the homeless. Regression equations were utilized to formulate results. Findings show that respondents' overall exposure to homelessness was higher than predicted. Respondents' sex, age, gender, and exposure to homelessness were identified as significant contributors to their attitudes towards the homeless. Contextual facts were measured by formulated analyses. It was discovered that ethnic minorities tend to lack empathy towards the homeless. Vicarious exposure was found to have a less significant impact on respondents' views compared to physical exposure.

In "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth, and Severity of Food Insecurity", Kelly Stamper Balisteeri tests her hypothesis regarding the various prevalences of food insecurity amongst multiple ethnic groups. Balisteeri collected her data from two sources, the Current Population Survey (CPS) and Food Security Supplement (FSS). She gathered ethnic household data from three time frames throughout the last decade (2001-03, 2006-08, and 2011-13). Households were selected at random, with over 100,000 observed. Variables measured in this study included ethnicity, food insecurity, household income, and the presence of children within each household. Emphasis was placed on identifying the depth, extent, and severity of food insecurity within each household. Data was measured through utilizing a standardized household supplement. Findings show that low-income households(without children) are most susceptible to food insecurity. Non-Hispanics and Caucasians households(without children) held minimal prevalence rates of food insecurity. However, the rates from these households significantly increased over the years. Low-income households of African-Americans and Non-Hispanics(with/without children) represented the most deprived populations which suffer the highest amounts of food insecurity.

Alina Moua

People who are considered homeless are unable to maintain a secure home. Those who become homeless are veterans, children, women, and all types of classification. People become homeless because of domestic violence, unemployment, no support system, severe illness, and the list goes on. Homeless people reside from place to place, that can be problematic to society.

In the article, Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness, the authors, Lee and Farrell's, mission was to see how contact with homeless people affects the in group's attitudes. The homeless was considered the out group population. To analyze their hypothesis, Lee and Farrell used national telephone survey data in 1990. For their independent variable, there were fourteen different types of exposure measured.

After 14 different types of exposure, it came down to four main exposure that made a difference. From their findings, people with exposure on information, observation, interaction, or membership had positive attitudes toward homeless people. If individuals increase their contact with homelessness, it increases their positive outlook about homeless people. Those who are exposed to homelessness are more willing to help and support the homeless people. To further test their hypothesis, they found out that there is a limit of exposure to homelessness. An interesting aspect is overexposure. Overexposure causes people to dislike the outsiders. If an individual is around them all the time, have a family member who is an outsider, or is considered homeless themselves, can cause a more negative approach towards the outsiders. Another last finding is race. This pattern did not work for African Americans the way it did for Whites. African Americans were found to still have a negative attitude throughout the analysis due to their overexposure neighborhoods. The attitudes of people depends on the amount of exposure to homelessness.

In 2007, the authors Bourgois and Schonberg published an article called Intimate apartheid: Ethnic dimensions of habitus among homeless heroin injectors, where they observed and tried living the life of the people they were studying. They helped and observed middle age African Americans, Latinos, and White people who used drugs such as heroin and crack.

From their finding, Bourgois and Schonberg made distinctions between African American, Whites and Latinos in the way the homeless use drugs. There are different techniques and methods for using drugs. African Americans and Whites both prefer IV heroin use. IV use makes the rush faster, yet the problem is they become scar. When using this technique, African Americans are not as careful, while Whites do not overuse IV because they still want to keep their normal features. Race differ in how people make their money for drugs. Whites often work part-time for small business or beg using signs saying "please help, Vietnam Viet" and so forth. Compare to African Americans, they offer a service such as washing windshields or burglary warehouses and car trunks. African Americans are rarely employed due to akin with slavery. The author emphasize on how people get their money and how people shoot drugs has everything to do with the history of race relations.

Homelessness is ubiquitous around the world. The amount of exposure people come in contact with homeless determines their point of view, which can either be negative or positive. Those who are homeless have a different system to obtain money for drug use.

Sara Greenlee

Homeless / Food quiz

            The required article that I chose to evaluate is entitled, "Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness" by the authors Barrett A. Lee, Chad R. Farrell, and Bruce G. Link.  This article evaluates why homeless people are seen as the outcasts of society, delving into how homeless people are usually seen as substance abusers, victims, or perpetrators of crime, and not always fully there mentally. Based off of previous work testing the contact hypothesis, the article's authors determined that to properly test the contact hypothesis, it is best to put participants face to face, to determine people's views of homeless people, say, that are asking for money on the street. For this example, many negative generalizations can run through a person's head while being face to face with a homeless person asking for spare change. To test the authors' hypothesis that exposure to homeless people will help push aside these negative generalizations of homeless people, the method used in this study was evaluating a 1990 telephone survey of 1,507 participants, 18 years of age or older. The dependent variables of this study were the telephone survey participants, and their views of the homeless. The independent variables were 14 various exposure scenarios that the interviewee may be faced when meeting a homeless person. As for the results of this study, the author's concluded that, the more exposure scenarios that participants faced when theoretically meeting homeless people, the more people that felt empathy for the theoretical homeless people, and overall, people seemed less threatened of homeless people.  The second article that I chose to examine was, "Food Insecurity Is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women" by Elizabeth J. Adams, Laurence Grummer-Strawn, and Gilberto Chavez.

            In, "Food Insecurity Is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women" the authors examined food insecurity of Californian women, and their increased risk of obesity. This study was also conducted as an anonymous telephone survey, from the years 1998-1999, interviewing Californian women 18 years of age or older, with 8169 participants total. The interview consisted of 200 questions. Questions included were how much participants walked as an activity, what race do they identify with, what their income and education levels were, and what each participant's BMI was. The results did show a correlation between obesity and food insecurity, with those that were obese, having a mean BMI greater than 29km/m squared. This study's primary focus wasn't on comparing races and their food insecurity rates, but the results for that, were that Whites had lower food insecurity rates, while Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics were grouped together as being more food insecure as Whites. Though this study proved that there is a relationship between obesity in Californian women, the authors say it is just a causal relationship. They provide that more research needs to be done in order to accurately access how all of the variables of obesity relate to food insecurity.

 

Megan Dudley Soc111 Food/Homeless Quiz

Megan Dudley,  528 Words

Even though the U.S. is a powerful and wealthy country, tons of individuals go without food every day. This is something that has been an increasing problem throughout the years and especially very recently.  The article, "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" talks about this problem and how they were able to evaluate the severity of this issue. It focuses on predominantly ethnicity and race, whether subjects have children and of course income. The food insecurity issue could be related to the recession in our economy in 2008 and the unemployment rates this caused. Food can be very expensive and without a job obviously there would not be enough for an abundance of food. However food is extremely important and is necessary for life which is why this is a crucial problem. The study looked at surveys done throughout the decade to see what the change was. They found that Black families suffered the most overall. This was consistent whether they had children or not. The study looked at low income levels particularly to be able to truly understand how severe the situation was. The food insecurity levels were much higher in individuals with low income and without children. All patterns indicated a steady increase in food insecurity throughout the decade. Ultimately even though the economy has been steady increasing since the Great Recession, food insecurity levels remain severe. Whether the households had children or not had an impact however it remain constant that low income households suffered the worst. 

The article, "Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness" is looking at overall public opinion of homelessness. It looks at people's attitudes about homeless and how it is related to how close you are to homeless. The article focusses on in-group and outgrip ideals about homeless and whether this has an impact of beliefs.  The contact hypothesis suggests that  the more exposure the in group gets to the out group the more likely attitudes turn less negative toward the there and vice versa for either groups. The article shows that as humans  we are often more prejudice against people because we are not exposed  to them or from being ignorant about the topic overall. Once you become exposed to homelessness these prejudices tend to disappear. This is true for generally any group in society. Also just because exposure is high does not mean that prejudices will go away, individuals can still remain stuck in their beliefs regardless of exposure levels. This study uses a national survey to gather the data. They first looked at individuals general attitudes about homelessness. They also looked at television the individuals watched, conversations they had with homeless, jobs, neighborhoods, etc. It was found that overall high exposure leads to more positive ideas about homelessness. This supports the authors hypothesis suggesting that people with lowest exposure have most negative attitudes of homeless and vice versa. Overall more exposure leads to  more positive attitudes.To increase exposure to homeless one could volunteer in a homeless community, they could talk with family and friends, or simply just figure out a way they can become involved and aware.Attitudes about dangerousness  also go down after exposure is increase as well as empathy or compassion going up with more exposure.

Victoriano Gutierrez

Victoriano Gutierrez

591

Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness discusses how in-groups or domicile individual's contact influences attitudes towards out-groups or homeless. Contact was divided into interactions, observations, membership, and information. Attitudes about in-groups relied on exposure. The length, atmosphere or temperament, and degree of exposure changed some out-group member's attitudes in cases and increased prior attitudes in other cases. A national phone survey of 1,507 interviews was used to test the contact hypothesis. Overall, more exposure to the out-group members meant better attitudes, and less exposure meant more negative attitudes. Justification for this finding presumes that within in-groups judgement is cast on out-groups. Judgement that it is wrong to panhandle, sleep in public, rummage through garbage, and use drugs. Members within in-groups influenced and shaped each other's cognizance which meant less contact with the out-group. Once exposed to various interaction and observation scenarios, other than panhandling and looking for cans, in-group members had less negative attitudes and even felt compassion or sympathy. Some discrepancies were found. The contact hypothesis was accurate for predominately white in-groups, but not for minority in-groups. Reasoning for this concludes white in-groups do not have enough contact with the out-group so any contact would be better than none. Their negative attitude toward out-groups comes from lack of exposure and judgement that may not be true, but they would not know because they are not exposed. Once they are exposed some of their attitudes change direction. Contrarily, minority in-groups have too much contact with the out-group. The homeless is a nuisance in these communities. These communities have constant exposure to homeless using drugs, panhandling, rummaging for cans, and sleeping in the public areas. These in-groups see a large population of out-groups all behaving similarly which lead to more negatives attitudes.   

A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth, and Severity of Food Insecurity analyzes the correlation between Hispanic, White, and African American low-income households with or without children, and the depth, severity, and prevalence of food insecurity. The results were found by incorporating information from the Current Population Survey which administered the Food Security Supplement to over 250,000 households from 2001-2003, 2006-2008, and 2011-2013. Food insecurity was most common among households with children, but households without children saw a more rapid increase in food insecurity. African American households with and without children experienced food insecurity. Mostly white American households without children experienced food insecurity. The article noted that food insecurity relief programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will lose beneficiaries due to time restraints, and will lead to more families having less food.

Government assistance programs aim to help low-income and no income households and/or individuals. These programs are not adequately funded to support everyone, and applicants need certain qualifications. Households with many children receive aid if the head/s of the household have minimal income or zero income. If both parents found minimum wage jobs they could pay for necessities like PG&E, clothes, and rent but not all necessities. They could not afford to live and pay the food bill for growing children. If they stayed unemployed the benefits would continue. Some families need more help than others because household income fluctuates, and household size differs. Government assistance programs need to make stronger evaluations of households and their situations. Household income, the individual's/s' mental state/s, and the size of the household should determine the amount of government aid for families. To prevent the growing number of starving families programs cannot solely look at income because many variables effect where and how money is spent.  

Jessica Helm

Jessica Helm, 457 words

            The two articles Relationship Among Respondent Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, and Homeless Status on a Homeless Population's Functional Status and Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness both examine aspects of homelessness. Including public opinion about homelessness and factors surrounding the homeless themselves. Impacts of homeless on society and the homeless' people themselves.

            The article Relationship Among Respondent Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, and Homeless Status on a Homeless Population's Functional Status examines the correlation of ethnicity and the homeless' functional status. The study was conducted in Los Angeles county on 394 homeless, within those 394 participants more than one-third of them claimed to be on or use drugs at the time of the interview. This study used the Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale to measure functional impairment on the homeless, which they measured by the subscales: Relation to Self and Others, Depression–Anxiety, Daily Living Skills, Impulsive– Addictive Behavior, and Psychosis. The study found that White and African American did poorer than Native Americans and Latinos, on the BASIS subscales relation to self and others, depression-anxiety, and daily living skills. Another finding was that the degree of homelessness affects the depression-anxiety scale, in which people with acute homelessness showed higher signs than people who were chronically homeless.

            The contact hypothesis indicates that the amount of contact between the member's pf an in-group and an out-group can positively change the stereotypical attitudes towards the outside from the in-group which is examined in the article Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness. The amount of time spent with a certain group can lower prejudice against said group. The study determined that overall exposure to homeless people affected people's opinions/views in a positive manner. Exposure also positively affected people's willingness to get involved and support policy about homelessness. They also found that the age of the participant, impacted the amount of sympathy towards the homeless, with older age comes a decrease in sympathy for the homeless. African Americans and Hispanics were less likely to hold empathy for the homeless.

            Both articles touch on aspects of homelessness, however they deal with different areas and do not leave much for comparison. Nonetheless, the article Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness could examine racial impacts of biased towards the homeless. When look at racism as impact or factor, you can possibly determine the personal threat level felt towards homeless in relation to race and ethnicity.  Relationship Among Respondent Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, and Homeless Status on a Homeless Population's Functional Status hold criticism due to the fact that the participants were under the influence at the time on the interview, which could of possibly affect the outcome of the surveys.

Laura Rodriguez Socio 111 MWF, 3:30

Based upon our discussion on 4/3/17, I'm resending my Quiz #2.

Thank You,

Laura Rodriguez

Sandy Vongthong

Sandy Vongthong 504 (words)

 

The article I read was called "Food Insecurity is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women" by Elizabeth J. Adams, Laurence Grummer-Strawn and Gilbert Chavez. The research was conducted in 1998 and 1999 by California Women's Health Survey consisting of 8169 women the ages of 18 and above. For the research study, researchers conducted a random digit dialing phone interviews where the participants were asked a series of questions regarding income, race/ethnic city, education, country of birth, and general health status. In addition to these questions other variables included body mass index, city blocked walked, and food security or insecurity with and without hunger.

 

Important findings included:

 

·      1/5 of the 8,169 women study were obese.

 ·      31% of women who were obese was food insecure.

 ·      Food insecurity is associated with increased likelihood of obesity and risk      is greater among non-whites.

·      18.8% of women have an income below poverty line.

 ·      Overall 13.9% of women surveyed were food insecure without hunger.

 

Interesting findings about the article was the fact that obesity was associated with women consuming foods with high in calories and little nutritional value. As you have mentioned in class this type of diet is called food insecurity. For me, this was interesting as I was not aware of this being food insecure. During our group discussion, we discussed different contributions of obesity in our society. Fast food was among one of the topics that came up, and someone mentioned how it was cheap and convenient. Another classmate mentioned the media plays the role it plays in priming our brains in making decisions about food. Overall, the article was a good read and I feel as if I have gained some knowledge on the topic of food insecurity among women and the link it has with obesity.

Work Citied:

Adams, E. , Adams, . , Grummer-Strawn, L. , & Chavez, G. (2003). Food Insecurity is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women. The Journal of Nutrition, 133(4), 1070.

For my second article, I read the article "A Decade of Change Measuring that Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" written by Kelly Stamper Balistreri. The article discusses food insecurity among different groups such as Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites. The article compares food insecurity in our economy today to during the time of the Great Recession in 2008. According to the article there has not been much change in food security. The groups most vulnerable to food insecurity were Hispanics and Blacks. Roughly 6.9 American families are food insecure meaning they are inconsistent with foods and this partially due to their access to food and not being able to afford quality foods.

 

Methodology:

The methodology behind the research consisted of an interval study where data was recorded from Current Population Survey and Food Security Supplement. The food insecurity survey was recorded for a decade starting from 2001 to 2013 in 3 different time frames with sample size ranging from 83, 771 to 95,147 (Balistreri, 2016)

 

Results:

Families in America with children have less food security then those without children. The findings suggest that since the Great Recession, our economy has not improved much as far as food security is concerned for families with children. As a matter fact, the disproportion among food unsecured families in America has increased significantly over the years even more so than prior to the Great Recession.

Work Cited:

 Balistreri, K.S. J Fam Econ Iss (2016) 37: 373. doi:10.1007/s10834-016-9500-9

Sandy Vongthong/Soc 111 Mon &Wed

Sandy Vongthong 504 (words)

 

The article I read was called "Food Insecurity is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women" by Elizabeth J. Adams, Laurence Grummer-Strawn and Gilbert Chavez. The research was conducted in 1998 and 1999 by California Women's Health Survey consisting of 8169 women the ages of 18 and above. For the research study, researchers conducted a random digit dialing phone interviews where the participants were asked a series of questions regarding income, race/ethnic city, education, country of birth, and general health status. In addition to these questions other variables included body mass index, city blocked walked, and food security or insecurity with and without hunger.

 

Important findings included:

 

·      1/5 of the 8,169 women study were obese.

 ·      31% of women who were obese was food insecure.

 ·      Food insecurity is associated with increased likelihood of obesity and risk      is greater among non-whites.

·      18.8% of women have an income below poverty line.

 ·      Overall 13.9% of women surveyed were food insecure without hunger.

 

Interesting findings about the article was the fact that obesity was associated with women consuming foods with high in calories and little nutritional value. As you have mentioned in class this type of diet is called food insecurity. For me, this was interesting as I was not aware of this being food insecure. During our group discussion, we discussed different contributions of obesity in our society. Fast food was among one of the topics that came up, and someone mentioned how it was cheap and convenient. Another classmate mentioned the media plays the role it plays in priming our brains in making decisions about food. Overall, the article was a good read and I feel as if I have gained some knowledge on the topic of food insecurity among women and the link it has with obesity.

Work Citied:

Adams, E. , Adams, . , Grummer-Strawn, L. , & Chavez, G. (2003). Food Insecurity is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women. The Journal of Nutrition, 133(4), 1070.

For my second article, I read the article "A Decade of Change Measuring that Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" written by Kelly Stamper Balistreri. The article discusses food insecurity among different groups such as Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites. The article compares food insecurity in our economy today to during the time of the Great Recession in 2008. According to the article there has not been much change in food security. The groups most vulnerable to food insecurity were Hispanics and Blacks. Roughly 6.9 American families are food insecure meaning they are inconsistent with foods and this partially due to their access to food and not being able to afford quality foods.

 

Methodology:

The methodology behind the research consisted of an interval study where data was recorded from Current Population Survey and Food Security Supplement. The food insecurity survey was recorded for a decade starting from 2001 to 2013 in 3 different time frames with sample size ranging from 83, 771 to 95,147 (Balistreri, 2016)

 

Results:

Families in America with children have less food security then those without children. The findings suggest that since the Great Recession, our economy has not improved much as far as food security is concerned for families with children. As a matter fact, the disproportion among food unsecured families in America has increased significantly over the years even more so than prior to the Great Recession.

Work Cited:

 Balistreri, K.S. J Fam Econ Iss (2016) 37: 373. doi:10.1007/s10834-016-9500-9

Health/food Quiz

Miguel Penate (497W)

Sociology Race

Professor Kubal

4/2/2017

For this Quiz the first article I chose is A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity. The article summarized the findings of past research involving race, social class and food insecurity. One of the methods used to find data was random sample surveys targeting food insecurity from 2001 to 2013. The times were used to see change from the beginning of 2001 through the great recession and post time period impacts.  The next method used was household sample checking and comparing every ones household no more than once. Another method was the food security measurement which measured the food insecurity level in each household. It also measured based upon if the household contained children or not. The questions were based on if the subjects had concerns if their food would run out, or if they had enough money to purchase more and if the children did not eat at all because there wasn't enough money. The last method was food insecurity Indies this checked the results of households that were food secure and contrasted with insecure food households.  The results showed there has been no major recovery since the recession of 2006-2008. These results also showed that the impact of the recession mostly affected the lower class whites with children, while the minority individuals with kids who were already food insecure had about the same results as before. Another great find was that individuals without children were affected more drastically with food insecurity than those with children.

The second article I chose was "Understanding Food Insecurity among Latino Immigrant Families in Rural America." This article focused on lower-class immigrant Latino families and how they were food insecure, what factors caused this and was it because of the migration.  This study was conducted sample surveys involving Latino immigrant mothers. Four states were given this survey assessing food insecurity in California, Michigan, Iowa and Michigan. Most of the immigrants in California were from second generation immigrants. In Michigan most of the immigrants were migrant workers living in Michigan for part of the year. In Iowa and Oregon the immigrants were barely settling.  Another method used was Justification of case selection which studied food security issues faced by the chosen families. This was also based on each families own life experiences. They also checked each family's demographics such as income, social, cultural and political factors. The last method was interview protocols which focused on in depth interviewing over a three year span from 2001 to 2004. This was focused on qualitative questions and answers. The results were families that were considered food insecure had common factors such as low education, a few life skills, and no community resources. Another factor for food insecurity was large households with little income. Food secure families consisted of origin of elders who owned their homes and land in Mexico. These families were also financially stable and needed little or no help at all to meet they're food needs.

Sergio Cortez

Laura Rodriguez Quiz 3

Laura Rodriguez

600 Words

 

 

            The article, "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity," explains how the food insecurity has risen since the Great Recession of 2008 and how it hasn't changed or improved the lives of the needy. This article indicates that a high increase in food insecurity is found in the low-income households of minorities. The escalating unemployment rate and an increase of food prices are some factors leading to food insecurities. The period of the Great Recession greatly impacted the lives of minorities including Hispanics and Blacks and excluded whites.

            The data obtained for this article was gathered by the CPS, Current Population Survey. Three different time periods revolving around the recession were used. The years included, 2001-2003, 2006-2008, and 2001-2013. The Food Security Measurement was another method used, it analyzed the severity of the food insecurity using an eighteen-item scale based on whether children lived in the household. The households considered to have a very low food security ranked six or more positive answers. Households would fall under certain categories based on the answers given to the eighteen questions.  These measures gave limited results because they were only analyzed from a household perspective and not from an individual's point.

            The findings from the methods used indicated that Black households of low income with and without children have the highest disadvantage and that it's worsening. In the last ten years, Whites have had the highest increase across all the measures that were analyzed. Also, there has been an increase among households without children. This is difficult to believe, there are less mouths to feed. On behalf of the latest research, the levels indicate that they haven't returned to post recession figures. There haven't been any improvements.

            In the article, "Knowing "Good Food": Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food Insecurity," it mentions that immigrants are knowledgeable. They understand how to use their agricultural and nutritional background to their advantage, especially with food insecurities.  Others have assumed that people of color don't have a concept about, "good food," more so, food assistance programs because they fall in the low-income category. I believe this is simply discriminatory, to judge others in that sense because of their class.

            The research for this article was conducted through an ethnographic study which included working out in the fields with the farmworkers. This was the only way to gather information about their culture, habits, and their knowledge if any about nutritious foods. For the most part, the research was conducted with the use of a garden project called, Oaxacan Children's Garden located in the area of north central coast. The tracking of the workers enabled the researcher to visually observe their knowledge about the land and agriculture work. The farmworkers were given the chance to obtain a piece of land and plant the foods they were familiar with. According to the article they didn't lack an education about eating good foods but did lack financially.

            Through the article, it was concluded that during the harvest season the workers were able to cut back or entirely stop relying on government assistance like food banks and or WIC. Most of the garden's participants have previously farmed back in their native land in Mexico and have an expansive understanding for the use of foods and farming systems.  The garden was able to help sustain farmworkers and their families but could not be used as a long-term solution to relieve their food insecurity.  In conclusion, farmworkers will make the best use of a piece of land because they know how to use these resources and the harvest. To assume that a person classified in the low-income class doesn't have nutritional knowledge is a racial distinction.

Avelina Charles

Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness

This study took the questions like the ones we asked in our survey and created a study to analyze, and explain the reasons for peoples view towards the homeless population. The data that was used to analyze had been collected from a national survey of public attitudes toward homeless people. This article looks past the typical face to face contacts and breaks down other factors that influence views and opinions. The difference was shown in exposure to homelessness through media. This category was the only one that displayed more of a negative view all around. Not surprising, was the findings that the more isolated you are from homelessness, than the more likely you are to blame the population of homelessness for being homeless. However, White folks that had been exposed to homelessness through environment, contact, relation, or personal experience tend to show greater compassion than those who lived isolated from homelessness.  

What was surprising, were the findings in regards to African Americans and Hispanics. When exposed to homelessness there was empathy for the community; and yet, when oversaturated in exposure the results were the opposite of White folks. In the Hispanic communities, they admitted to avoiding locations with high saturation homelessness, and the African Americans also showed less sympathy. The oversaturation only worked on the White folks. Another factor in this study that was interesting was level of education combined with race. Not all White folks showed higher levels of compassion once exposed. This was only shown true for those who had higher levels of education. The methods portion of the study showed a correlation in the number of participants that gave the money they received for participating in the survey to a homeless person, and higher levels of compassion towards the homeless.

Homeless Educational Policy: Exploring a Racialized Discourse Through a Critical Race Theory Lens

This article was very intriguing, the topic was education and homelessness, but the focal point was looking at those topics through racial lenses. The data collection was done using a variety of qualitative methods at two high schools in the Midwest. The framework used for the study was the Critical Race Theory. The interviews were transcribed and included as supporting evidence. The identities of the schools and participants were anonymous to allow for total honesty. All the students that were interviewed had experienced homelessness, and there were five adults from the school interviewed as well. One adult was from the school district, one was a lawyer, one was a social worker, and the rest were liaisons for the schools. When interviewed, everyone was asked if they though the reason for high homelessness had to do with race in their area? It was reported that the students agreed race is a factor. One student had mentioned that she thought white mothers were nicer and more giving.  

This article did a great job of addressing institutional racism, and how oppression continues to keep minorities within this cycle. There were comments recorded of faculty making bias remarks towards the minority ethnic groups. What was even more disappointing than that, was the conversation recorded with the social worker who was discouraging these children from wasting to enroll in college, and persuading them to a trade school in hopes of getting a blue-collar job. I did find in both articles that it shows people's views are persuaded by their exposure to homelessness. The more compassionate people understood in both articles that the system is set up to make sure certain races stay stuck between a rock and a hard place.  

Matthew Bevers

Matthew Bevers

Race and Ethnicity SOC 111

4/2/17

Monitoring Perceptions of the Causes of Poverty in South Africa

This article attempted to measure the perceptions of poverty in South Africa. A random sample of 3,498 people were chosen throughout South Africa. Of all the demographics and variables used two of the most interesting demographics were that 39% of people who were interviewed were unemployed and that 23% of the sample had no formal schooling. The sample was asked why they felt people were living in poverty and were given 12 reasons why this was happening. Some of the reasons were: "They lack the ability to manage money" and "they have bad fate". They were then asked to rate each response from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Reasons 1-3 measured if people thought the problem was on an individualistic basis. Reasons 4-7 measured if people that that poverty was a structural problem. Finally, statements 8-12 measured if people thought that poverty was related to fatalistic circumstances. The results for this survey were that people generally blamed structural deficiencies for poverty. While people blamed structural problems the most individualistic problems were a close second which supported previous studies done on this subject. Other interesting points were that the white people surveyed blamed individuals for poverty much more than any other race. Non-white people in the survey blamed society and structural problems more. These findings are not surprising especially taking into account that South Africa just recently became a democracy and where non-whites were aggressively in power for a long period of time. One of the most interesting variables in this survey was lived poverty and its relation to the cause of poverty to structural terms. People who had been in poverty or were currently in it, were much more likely to blame the cause of poverty on the structural problems in society. 

 

Knowing "Good Food": Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food Insecurity

This article is about food insecurity among farmworkers and how they cope with said food insecurity. The author of the article claims that ethnic farmworkers are actually more aware and knowledgeable about nutritional foods than the government gives them credit for. And it's not the lack of knowledge that contributes to their food insecurity, but a lack of resources and, sometimes, the wrong resources in the case of food banks and low nutrition food programs. This article was very confusing to me and different than the other articles that I had done. A strong hypothesis was not given, no data or numbers were collected, and everything was done off of qualitative information I suppose. Methods were not explicitly listed, but this didn't feel like a traditional survey. The conclusion that the researcher drew was that when there is food insecurity in the farmworkers community they would rather start their own community farm land that members of the community could draw from. The researcher also went on to state that government underestimates the knowledge that farmworkers have regarding nutritional foods and that this belief is further hurting the communities of migrant workers. Overall, this study was not traditionally what I have come to expect and the lack of any strong scientific information or scientific process made me doubt this survey and find it to be lesser.