scholarly journals Shades of Belonging: The Intersection of Race and Religion in Shaping Utah Immigrants’ Social Integration

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 246
Author(s):  
Jane Lilly Lopez ◽  
Genevra Munoa ◽  
Catalina Valdez ◽  
Nadia Terron Ayala
Keyword(s):  
Social Integration ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Church Leadership ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigrant Integration ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
Levels Of Integration

Utah, USA, a state with a unique history of immigration and a distinctive religious context, provides a useful setting in which to study the intersection of racism and religious participation with immigrant integration. Utah is one of the Whitest states in the United States, with 4 of every 5 residents identifying as non-Hispanic White. It is also home to the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) which, until 1978, explicitly imposed race-based exclusions that prohibited or strictly limited Black members’ participation in church leadership, rituals, and ordinances. The state’s cultural, social, and religious history has contributed to widespread beliefs among modern Utah residents of Whites’ racial supremacy in contexts both mundane and divine. Much of Utah’s population growth since 1960, especially among non-White racial and ethnic groups, can be attributed to immigrants, who today compose nearly 10 percent of the state’s population. Given Utah’s religious, social, and cultural relationship to race, it is an ideal case to study the following question: how do race, religion, and culture shape integration among immigrants? Utilizing interviews with 70 immigrants who have lived in Utah for an average of 13 years, we find that both race and LDS Church membership influence immigrants’ social integration, creating a hierarchy of belonging among immigrants in Utah––with White LDS immigrants reporting the highest levels of integration and non-White, non-LDS immigrants reporting the lowest levels of integration. These findings suggest the power of cultural narratives––beyond explicit institutional policy and practice––in perpetuating racial inequality in society. Thus, efforts to increase integration and belonging among immigrants must not only include work to dismantle legal and structural inequalities but also efforts to actively change the cultural narratives associated with them.

The Interplay of Developing Morality and Gender Attitudes

2020 ◽  
pp. 724-745
Author(s):  
Rebecca S. Bigler ◽  
Lynn S. Liben
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gender Nonconformity ◽  
Gender Attitudes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Ethical Policy ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Gender ◽  
And Behavior

Morality and gender are intersecting realms of human thought and behavior. Reasoning and action at their intersection (e.g., views of women’s rights legislation) carry important consequences for societies, communities, and individual lives. In this chapter, the authors argue that children’s developing views of morality and gender reciprocally shape one another in important and underexplored ways. The chapter begins with a brief history of psychological theory and research at the intersection of morality and gender and suggests reasons for the historical failure to view gender attitudes through moral lenses. The authors then describe reasons for expecting morality to play an important role in shaping children’s developing gender attitudes and, reciprocally, for gender attitudes to play an important role in shaping children’s developing moral values. The authors next illustrate the importance and relevance of these ideas by discussing two topics at the center of contentious debate in the United States concerning ethical policy and practice: treatment of gender nonconformity and gender-segregated schooling. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research.

Amidst pandemic and racial upheaval: Where Asian Americans Fit

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Whitney Hua ◽  
Jane Junn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
American Capitalism ◽  
Racial History ◽  
History Of

Abstract As racial tensions flare amidst a global pandemic and national social justice upheaval, the centrality of structural racism has renewed old questions and raised new ones about where Asian Americans fit in U.S. politics. This paper provides an overview of the unique racial history of Asians in the United States and analyzes the implications of dynamic racialization and status for Asian Americans. In particular, we examine the dynamism of Asian Americans' racial positionality relative to historical shifts in economic-based conceptions of their desirability as workers in American capitalism. Taking history, power, and institutions of white supremacy into account, we analyze where Asian Americans fit in contemporary U.S. politics, presenting a better understanding of the persistent structures underlying racial inequality and developing a foundation from which Asian Americans can work to enhance equality.

From social menace to unfulfilled promise: the evolution of policy and practice towards people with intellectual disabilities in the United States

2019 ◽  
pp. 195-206
Author(s):  
Philip M. Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Intellectually Disabled ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
History Of ◽  
People With Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Post War ◽  
Early Century ◽  
Kennedy Family

This chapter uses the stories of three families, the ‘Kallikaks’, the Kennedys and the Fergusons, to narrate the key stages of the history of intellectual disability in the twentieth century. The so-called‘Kallikaks’ were used as part of the vicious eugenic libel against the intellectually disabled population that stoked the cruel mass institutionalization programmes of the early century. This section tells the story of Emma Wolverton, one of those on whose life stories the mythical Kallikaks were based and created to spread fear and drive segregational policy. The story of the famous Kennedy family shows the post-war journey of the intellectually disabled person from a hidden site of shame to the policy reforms of the community return. Finally, the story of the author’s own family shows some of the great post-reform liberating shifts towards a life of choice and inclusion that have taken place, and alerts us to the brooding threats that still lurk.

American Policy in Gifted Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyce VanTassel-Baska
Keyword(s):  
Education Policy ◽  
Gifted Education ◽  
National Level ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Specific Aspect ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
Gifted Program ◽  
History Of

This article explores the history of gifted education policy and practice in the United States over the last five decades, documenting the lack of sustained progress in obtaining sustained federal support. It also highlights two case examples, one at the state level and a second at the national level of where a policy in a specific aspect of gifted program development has been successfully advanced. Implications of the article suggest that gifted education policy is not coherent across the country, is controlled by state legislatures, and subject to annual scrutiny for continued and new funding.

Introduction: Vernacular Religion and Mormon Apocalypticism

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Christopher James Blythe
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Church Leadership ◽  
The United States ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Vernacular Religion ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

This introduction explains the book’s basic arguments and methodology. The book examines the place of apocalypticism in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a means of responding to what they perceived as persecution from the United States. It is particularly interested in how last days prophecies and visions have been told by those outside of church leadership. It defines the idea of apocalypticism and argues that Mormon Studies scholars have not sufficiently integrated their work with the field of lived or vernacular religion. This book seeks to remedy this neglect. A summary of each of the six chapters is provided.

Indigenous Women and Work

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Women And Work ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of

This book creates a transnational and comparative dialogue on the history of the productive and reproductive lives and circumstances of Indigenous women from the late nineteenth century to the present in the United States, Australia, New Zealand/Aotearoa, and Canada. Surveying the spectrum of Indigenous women's lives and circumstances as workers, both waged and unwaged, the chapters offer varied perspectives on the ways that women's work has contributed to the survival of communities in the face of ongoing tensions between assimilation and colonization. They also interpret how individual nations have conceived of Indigenous women as workers and, in turn, convert these assumptions and definitions into policy and practice. The chapters address the intersection of Indigenous, women's, and labor history, but will also be useful to contemporary policy makers, tribal activists, and Native American women's advocacy associations.

The Rosewood Massacre

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward González-Tennant
Keyword(s):  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Census Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Violence ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
Race Riot ◽  
New Methods ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Town

The Rosewood Massacre investigates the 1923 race riot that, in a weeklong series of events, devastated the predominantly African American community of Rosewood, Florida. The town was burned to the ground by neighboring Whites, and its citizens fled for their lives, never to return. None of the perpetrators were convicted. Very little documentation of the event and the ensuing court hearings survives today. The only signs that there was once a vibrant town are a scattering of structural remains and a historical marker erected in 2004 declaring the site a Florida Heritage Landmark. Drawing on new methods and theories, Edward González-Tennant uncovers important elements of the forgotten history of Rosewood. He uses a mix of techniques such as geospatial analysis, interpretation of remotely sensed data, analysis of census data and property records, oral history, and the excavation and interpretation of artifacts from the site to reconstruct the local landscape. González-Tennant interprets these and other data through an intersectional framework, acknowledging the complex ways class, race, gender, and other identities compound discrimination. This allows him to explore the local circumstances and broader sociopolitical power structures that led to the massacre, showing how the event was a microcosm of the oppression and terror suffered by African Americans and other minorities in the United States. González-Tennant connects these historic forms of racial violence to present-day social and racial inequality and argues that such continuities demonstrate the need to make events like the Rosewood massacre public knowledge.

Incarceration and Living Arrangements

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 787-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. London ◽  
Wendy M. Parker
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
United States Today ◽  
History Of

The authors use data from the 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey to examine the association between incarceration and living arrangements, net of a range of sociodemographic and early life characteristics. Relative to living with a spouse and child(ren), there is evidence that a history of incarceration is strongly associated with several nonnuclear living arrangements, including living alone, as a sole adult with child(ren), with a partner and child(ren), with a partner but no child, and with other family but no spouse, partner, or child. These living arrangements may be indicative of lower levels of social integration, which have potentially serious consequences for these individuals as well as their families and communities. The authors discuss these results with reference to the decades-long, unprecedented mass incarceration that is ongoing in the United States today.

Standard-Bearers of Equality

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Polgar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early History ◽  
Black Freedom ◽  
Early National ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
History Of

This book recovers the racially inclusive vision of America's first abolition movement. In showcasing the activities of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, the New York Manumission Society, and their African American allies during the post-Revolutionary and early national eras, he unearths this coalition's comprehensive agenda for black freedom and equality. By guarding and expanding the rights of people of African descent and demonstrating that black Americans could become virtuous citizens of the new Republic, these activists, whom Polgar names "first movement abolitionists," sought to end white prejudice and eliminate racial inequality. Beginning in the 1820s, however, colonization threatened to eclipse this racially inclusive movement. Colonizationists claimed that what they saw as permanent black inferiority and unconquerable white prejudice meant that slavery could end only if those freed were exiled from the United States. In pulling many reformers into their orbit, this radically different antislavery movement marginalized the activism of America's first abolitionists and obscured the racially progressive origins of American abolitionism that Polgar now recaptures. By reinterpreting the early history of American antislavery, Polgar illustrates that the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are as integral to histories of race, rights, and reform in the United States as the mid-nineteenth century.

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