Editorial Board:
Editor:
George H. Conklin,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Robert Wortham,
 Associate Editor,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Board:
Rebecca Adams,
 UNC-Greensboro

Bob Davis,
 North Carolina
 Agricultural and
 Technical State
 University

Catherine Harris,
 Wake Forest
 University

Ella Keller,
 Fayetteville
 State University

Ken Land,
 Duke University

Miles Simpson,
 North Carolina
 Central University

William Smith,
 N.C. State University

Editorial Assistants

John W.M. Russell,
 Technical
 Consultant

®
Volume 9, Number 2

Fall/Winter 2011

Special Issue Editor:
Stephen Sills
University of North Carolina Greensboro

Special Focus:

Immigration and North Carolina

Outline of Articles

1. Social Capital and the Experience of Prejudice, Aggression and Discrimination among Immigrants, US-Born Minorities and Whites in Greensboro, North Carolina
   by Terrolyn P. Carter, Eric C. Jones, Stephen Sills, Spoma Jovanovic, Robert Davis, and Arthur Murphy
   This study examines the correlates of human relations experiences and social engagement practices of immigrants, U.S. minorities, and Whites in Greensboro, North Carolina. As part of a 2008 State of Human Relations study commissioned by the City of Greensboro, we examined residents' experiences with prejudice, (i.e., ignorance, fear, distrust, superiority), aggression (i.e., names, insults, threats, assault), and discrimination (i.e., blocked access to employment, education, housing, and law enforcement). Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and ordinal regression analyses were conducted using over 1400 surveys to describe and examine discrimination and prejudice experiences of each racial/ethnic group. Findings indicate that each group has experienced levels of discrimination, prejudice, and aggression in Greensboro. Of specific interest is that, though U.S. minorities are more socially engaged, they reported higher incidences of discrimination and prejudice than any group within the sample.
2. Driving While Non-White: Exploring Traffic Stops and Post-Stop Activities  in North Carolina, 2005-2009
   by Cameron D. Lippard and Amy Dellinger Page
   Research has established that Blacks face disproportionate amounts of traffic stops, searches, and arrests by police compared to Whites. However, few studies have ventured past the Black-White dichotomy and considered how Hispanics or other minorities may face the same disparities, especially in places where the Hispanic population has dramatically increased in recent years. Using traffic stop and post-stop data compiled by the North Carolina Department of Justice from 2005 to 2009, this study explored whether Hispanics, Blacks, as well as other racial minorities experienced a higher likelihood of traffic stops, citations, searches, and arrests compared to Whites within sample of city, county, and state law enforcement agencies. We found that generally all racial and ethnic minority groups face higher rates of traffic stops than Whites by almost every law enforcement agency sampled. We also found that rates of post-stop activities including searches, citations, and arrests are higher for all racial and ethnic minority groups examined compared to Whites, especially for Hispanics. Hispanic and non-White disparities in traffic stops also cannot be explained away when controlling for population size, type of law enforcement agency, or the reason stated for the traffic stop (e.g., DWI, speeding, or investigation). More important, however, is that the rate of searches for racial and ethnic minorities did not necessarily match the rates of citations and arrests minorities receive, suggesting that some stops could be racially or ethnically motivated. 
3. With Heart and Soul: Closing a Faith-Based Refugee Resettlement Office 
   by Ruth Hoogland DeHoog
   The U.S. refugee program is implemented almost entirely through national and local nonprofit and faith-based organizations that are highly dependent upon limited government funding and uneven refugee flows.  This paper reports on a study of a large North Carolina nonprofit agency that closed down its longstanding refugee resettlement office in Greensboro in 2010.  The research questions addressed are:  What were the reasons given for the closing according to different participants?  What were the consequences of this shutdown?  This study helps to illuminate not only the organizational dynamics within a large, multi-service agency, but it also exemplifies the challenges faced in refugee resettlement services. The research is based on formal interviews with employees, agency executives, former employees, and representatives of the agency's national office that has a contract with the U.S. State Department to resettle refugees in North and South Carolina.  The issues of leadership, financial management, and organizational culture are central to understanding why Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas closed one of its key refugee resettlement offices.  While the effects on the local community of volunteers, community agencies, and refugees are still unfolding, this closure had a profound impact on how the community viewed itself, as well as on the agency’s reputation. 
4. The University of North Carolina Greensboro Center for New North Carolinians: University Research and Service for Immigrant Empowerment
   by Raleigh Bailey
   This article provides an overview of how a university can serve as a resource for newcomer empowerment in light of changing demographics.  The University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Center for New North Carolinians (CNNC) was established during a time of dramatic demographic change in the state due to immigrant in-migration. CNNC began with a commitment to culturally appropriate outreach services that empower immigrant communities. This article is adapted from and expands upon a presentation by the author at a symposium on Mexican immigration to the Southeastern US, held in 2005, hosted by the Consul General of Mexico. 
5. Book Review of "Getting Ahead: Social Mobility, Public Housing and Immigrant Networks" 2011. New York University Press, by Silvia Dominguez.
   by Stephen J. Sills, reviewer
   Sylvia Dominguez’s book "Getting Ahead: Social mobility, Public Housing, and Immigrant Networks" fits neatly in the tradition of Cecilia Menjivar, Pierette Hondaneu-Sotelo, Mary Romero and other recent longitudinal ethnographic studies of immigrant women’s social support networks. Dominquez attempts in this text to bridge the gap between studies of urban poverty and public housing and that of the assimilation and immigrant incorporation literatures. She notes that the "literature on social mobility among residents of high poverty neighborhoods is unproductively divided into theories to explain the experience of low income African Americans living in areas of concentrated black poverty , and less prolific literature to explain the experiences of immigrants living in similarly segregated neighborhoods."
6. Book Review of "Being Brown in Dixie: Race, Ethnicity, and Latino Immigration in the New South" 2011. Boulder, Colorado: FirstForumPress, by Cameron D. Lippard and Charles A. Gallagher, eds
   by Rachel Madsen, reviewer 
   Moving with the prospect of employment in the US, there has been an influx of migrants from Latin America since the 1990s that has introduced many populations in the South to unfamiliar neighbors. Consequently, a dimension has been added to the long-existing racial turmoil between whites and blacks in these southern states: a "brown" dimension.

   
   Contributed Articles

    
7. Ronald C. Wimberley, 1942-2011
   by Robert L. Moxley and Dale Wimberley
   Ronald C. Wimberley, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Sociology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh, NC, died on July 26 of complications from bile duct and related cancers. He was 68. Wimberley was a founding member of the editorial board of "Sociation Today," and a hard worker over many years for the journal. 
8. Towards A Model of Identity and Role Exit
   by Jason S. Milne
   Explanations of role exit often focus on how factors associated with a specific role that affect whether the individual will exit a role or not.  Other research explains how identities affect our performance in a role.  However, no one has yet to demonstrate the connection between role-set factors and identities, and role exit.   Using data from a survey of 940 current and former soccer referees, this paper provides a model of role exit that involves a complex of processes that include role-set factors (structural and cultural factors) associated with a specific role and identity processes.  Specifically, this paper demonstrates that, other than role conflict, identity processes explain the relationship between role-set factors and role exit.  The model provides a beginning method for understanding the connection between identities and role exit. 
9. The Transition of Health Care in Rural Iran
   by Sara Aghajanian and Shila Hajjehforoosh 
   We investigated the status of rural- urban health differentials and rural health care in Iran. Utilizing the standard health status measures, such as life expectancy at birth and infant mortality, we noted minor rural- urban differences.  The level of health indicators in rural areas was explained by several innovative policies in selecting and training the health care providers at the regional and local level. In addition, the establishment and development of a hierarchical primary care network of providers with cultural and language competency contributed to the significant promotion of health particularly among women and children. We discussed these policies and their outcomes in the context of application and adoption in other countries with similar geography and population distribution. 
10. A Path Analysis of the Social and Psychological Factors Influencing the Psychological Well Being of Empty Nest Mothers in Sari City, Iran
    by M. T. Iman and S.F.Aghamiri
    This research aims to investigate social and psychological well-being of empty nest mothers in Sari City, Iran. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 241 women. Findings indicate significant relationships between marital satisfaction, having intimate relationships with others, family members, dependence on the mother, social participation, quality relationship with others, extracurricular activities, religious beliefs and psychological well-being of the respondents. In multivariate regression equation, dependency of the mothers to child (beta=0.292) and quality relationship with others (beta=0.292) have highest direct effect and quality relationship with others have highest indirect effect (beta=0.074) on psychological well-being of the empty nest.     
     
     

    ©2011 by Sociation Today