Using 42 in-depth interviews with rural, Southern whites in Mississippi, I examine the intra-racial boundary work respondents use to construct their regional and racial identities in relation to other whites in their communities, particularly "rednecks". I find that "rednecks" are defined and categorized in multiple ways based…

In spite of the fact that more than 10 percent of Americans claim no religion, academic investigations of the "nones" represent an underdeveloped area in the sociology of religion. We find that people with religiously unaffiliated parents and those who attended religious services less as a child are more likely to claim no religion. In addition,…

We investigate the social and behavioral characteristics of male adolescents who self-identify as players, focusing particularly on Anderson's claim that this social role is inextricably linked with poverty and minority status. Results indicate that black respondents, those affiliated with liberal peers and young men who initially report a…

Using data from Add Health, this study investigates the role of neighborhood violence in mediating the effects of neighborhood disadvantage on high school graduation and teenage pregnancy. Results show that neighborhood violence is a strong predictor of both outcomes, net of individual, family, community and school controls. Neighborhood violence…

Survey data for majority and minority ethnicities in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Russia illustrate how internal ethnic identification and other social characteristics influence external ethnic classification. Logistic regressions show how interviewers use negative social characteristics (poverty, low education) to classify respondents as Roma…

The American jury is heralded as an institution that is simultaneously representative and egalitarian. However, jury studies conducted 50 years ago found that white, upper-class men dominate jury deliberations, presumably due to their higher status outside of the jury room. Logistic regression analysis of dyadic influence inside the jury room…

Examines the Goldscheider-Uhlenberg theory of minority group fertility using data from two generations of Puerto Rican women, before and after controlling for social characteristics. Finds that (1) assimilation is of limited usefulness in studying fertility behavior, and (2) minority status insecurity has a direct effect on the fertility of the…

Four identities were explored in terms of salience, frequency, and valence: gender, religion, family, and peer. For both males and females in Latin and Anglo cultures, gender emerged as the most prominent identity. Social and cultural differences between the two cultures were considered as explanations for variations in adolescent identity…

Data collected from interviews with residents of a western Canadian city did not support the hypothesis that the perception and fear of crime would be inversely related to neighborhood cohesion and social activity. But as hypothesized, the fear of crime was negatively related to affect for the community. (RLV)

This paper investigates the effects of individual, family, social and demographic characteristics on the maintenance of Spanish among English-speaking Latino youth. This research finds effects of generation, gender, race, parent's English proficiency, single-parent status, parental income, and neighborhood concentration of co-ethnics as well as…