Department of Sociology

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11875/2788

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An Examination of Acculturation, Social Support, and Health Outcomes among Chinese American Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities
(2021) Deng, Furjen
Dataset for An Examination of Acculturation, Social Support, and Health Outcomes among Chinese American Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities. As new immigrants facing cultural and structural barriers, Asian American parents raising a child with developmental disabilities are expected to encounter greater frustration, stress, social isolation, and poorer health outcomes. Based on data collected from 57 Chinese American parents of children with developmental disabilities, this paper examines the relationships between social support, acculturation, disability severity level, and parent’s physical and mental health status. The findings showed that Chinese American mothers and fathers exhibited different pathways to better health outcomes. Overall social support, specific support from family and friends/co-workers, and community involvement were significant correlates of maternal physical and mental well-being. Fear of stigmatization was significantly and positively associated with maternal depressive symptoms. In contrast, education and employment status were significantly correlated with paternal physical and mental well-being. Parent’s age and child’s age were also found to be significantly and negatively correlated with paternal depressive symptoms. The child’s disability severity level was not associated with parent’s physical and mental health. The findings also confirmed that Chinese American mothers experienced poor physical and mental health compared to Chinese American fathers. The implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.
Student perceptions and instructional evaluations: A multivariate analysis of online and face-to-face classroom settings
(Education and Information Technologies, 2015) Brocato, Billy R.; Bananno, Alessandro; Ulbig, Stacy
This study examined students’ evaluations of faculty performance in traditional and online classes. The study design builds upon prior research that addressed socially relevant factors such as classroom environments, students’ learning goals, expected, and received grades, and more importantly, students’ ratings of instructors’ performance. The sample consists of data from a population of humanities and social sciences faculty from a medium-sized southwest undergraduate university who taught both online and traditional classes during the semester periods Fall 2010 to Spring 2012. In a traditional setting, the evaluation factors (develops rapport with students, stimulates students, challenges student learning, provides timely feedback, and teaches fundamentals), and the external factors—(course level taught and gender)—were found to significantly contribute to faculty summary scores. In an online class, students consistently rank female instructors better. However, the evaluation criteria—develops student rapport, stimulates students, provides timely feedback, and teaches fundamentals (though not ‘challenges and involves students in their learning’)—mirrored the same affects observed in the traditional classroom evaluations. The finding that “teaches fundamentals” received the largest standardized beta-coefficient in both classrooms further confirms earlier research that university students perceive course mastery as a major indicator of instructor performance regardless of gender or rank. However, the results indicate that students’ perceptions are different when attending a traditional versus online classroom setting. This infers that synchronous and asynchronous settings require different teaching styles and different evaluation criteria.
The Financialization of Agriculture and Food in the Context of the Neoliberal Restructuring: Primary Characteristics and Basic Contradictions
(Estudios Rurales, 2016) Bananno, Alessandro
This article examines the dynamics and characteristics of the macro-process of financialization of agriculture and food. It refers to the rapid growth of the financial sector and the concomitant trend towards the securitization of economic activities, that is, the process that reduces the entire value of the economy to financial instruments. Having pointed out the basic components of the financialization of agri-food, this article proposes the hypothesis that the evolution of the sector is largely directed by a group of actors operating within the financial sector. The article concludes that the solutions to current problems and the analysis of the agri-food sector require attention to its financial dimension.
Terra, capitale, lavoro e la ristrutturazione neoliberale dell’agricoltura
(Agriregionieuropa, 2015) Bananno, Alessandro
Negli ultimi 120 anni di storia del capitalismo, la questione della relazione tra terra, capitale e lavoro è stata caratterizzata da un susseguirsi di periodi di equilibrio e crisi che ne hanno definito l’evoluzione. La critica marxista all’economia politica lascia pochi dubbi sulla contraddizione tra l’affermazione dell’ideologia borghese, che rinvia all’esistenza di un sistema basato sulla cooperazione e lo scambio mutualmente conveniente, e i processi disequilibranti di dominazione e sfruttamento generati dalle relazioni di mercato. Questa situazione di disequilibrio strutturale ha storicamente richiesto interventi di legittimazione del potere delle classi dominanti che hanno preso la forma sia di azioni socio-economiche (legittimazione materiale) sia di azioni a livello culturale e ideologico (legittimazione ideologica). In entrambi i casi si è trattato di tentativi per creare sistemi di egemonia, per cui l’ideologia e la politica delle classi dominanti erano condivise dalle classi subalterne. La ricerca e applicazione di giustificazioni a situazioni di disequilibrio e sfruttamento e il loro contenimento possono essere usati come chiavi di lettura del rapporto terra, capitale, lavoro che si e sviluppato nel XX secolo e in queste prime due decadi del XXI secolo.
La Questione del Lavoro nel Settore Agro-Alimentare: Questioni Teoriche e Problemi Storici
(Agriregionieuropa, 2014) Bananno, Alessandro
A livello internazionale1, la questione agro-alimentare contemporanea contiene, per lo meno, due processi contraddittori. Il primo si riferisce all’importanza dell’uso, nelle varie fasi del processo produttivo, di una forza di lavoro salariata2 a basso costo e politicamente debole e a la concomitante assenza di discussioni sul tema del lavoro nella produzione scientifica specializzata, soprattutto quella in lingua inglese. Il secondo si riferisce all’uso di teorie che spiegano l’uso e il comportamento della forza di lavoro agricola in termini di funzionamento del mercato attraverso l’andamento della domanda e dell’offerta di lavoro in un contesto in cui altri fattori contribuiscono a spiegare lo sviluppo della struttura occupazionale. In maniera molto breve, questo articolo discute questi due processi contraddittori evidenziando le loro caratteristiche e implicazioni. Benché questi temi siano stati affrontati in un contesto interdisciplinare, per motivi euristici la discussione che segue si basa sulla letterature sociologica sul settore agro alimentare.
Responses to the Crisis of Neoliberal Globalization: State Intervention in Palm Oil Production in Chiapas, Mexico
(International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture, 2013) Fletes-Ocon, Hector B.; Bananno, Alessandro
Employing the case study of the cultivation of African palms for the production of palm oil in Chiapas, Mexico, this article probes the theme of alternative patterns of development to neo-liberal globalization. In particular, it discusses the issue of the return to state intervention (neo-Fordism) as an instrument to promote socio-economic development. Chiapas has been the theatre of the Zapatista movement of 1994. As a result of that popular uprising and despite its overtly neo-liberal posture, the Mexican state intervened significantly in Chiapas. In this context, the monoculture of the African palm has been pursued as a strategy to address local poverty among farmers, generate alternative and renewable forms of energy and provide a scheme for socio-economic growth in the area. This article illustrates the contradictory results of this ‘interventionist’ developmental project and the consequences and resistance that it entailed. The analysis of this case reveals the problematic nature of nation-state led interventionist schemes in a context marked by the emerging crisis of the neo-liberal model. It also underscores the significance of local initiatives that are generated by the aspirations and abilities of local residents.
Globalization, Food Quality and Labor: The Case of Grape Production in North-Eastern Brazil
(International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture, 2012) Bananno, Alessandro; Cavalcanti, Josefa Salete Barbosa
This article investigates the consequences of the production of table grapes for export to corporate supermarkets in the global North on labor in a region of the Brazilian North-east. This production is destined to meet the growing demand for year-round food marketed as quality food. Quality food is required by supermarket chains to increase competitiveness and is guaranteed through third-party certification programs. Despite claims that certification not only maintains product quality but also safeguards the use of labor, the study demonstrates that the global production of quality grapes engenders negative consequences for workers. Laborers work longer for less pay, perform more sophisticated tasks, are employed mostly through temporary contracts, and experience new and more advanced forms of control. Additionally, the article illustrates the ways in which other salient actors, such as global food retailers, brokers and firms, operate in regard to labor and quality grape production. It is concluded that, despite various claims about the objectives of certification programs, the actual use of the certification processes at the local level does not translate immediately into better labor relations in the global South.
GLOBALIZATION, TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS, THE STATE AND DEMOCRACY
(International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture, 2004) Bananno, Alessandro
In this article I argue that TNCs are the most powerful actors under globalization. Additionally, I contend that the contradictory relationship between TNCs and the state represents one of the most important aspects of this era. The core of this article, however, probes the issue of future outcomes of globalization. My point is that, while globalization is a response of the dominant groups to the gains and status that subordinate classes obtained under Fordism, it contains important contradictions that allow the possibility for the democratization of contemporary society. Under Fordism, subordinate classes’ gains established never-reached-before levels of substantive democracy. Globalization represents a dominant class’ response to this situation and, above all, an attack on labor and class based movements and the historical Left. Under globalization, the historical Left’s ability to organize and find strength in the factories and agricultural fields has been significantly diminished. Resistance emerged from new social movements. The environmental and consumer movements are two among these new social movements. Because of their focus on quality of life and consumption, they have the possibility to counter TNCs and establish substantive forms of democracy. My point is that these new social movements represent new emancipatory actors in the era of globalization. New emancipatory actors are accompanied by spaces of emancipation. I identify one of these spaces in the state. Because of its contradictory relationship with TNCs, the state is called to support and legitimize corporate actions in a situation in which TNCs tend to by-pass state demands and consequently limit the state’s ability to assist them. This situation opens up a crisis of legitimation in which the state is called to justify actions that it cannot fully control and regulate. I further argue that the contradiction of realization experienced by TNCs is another space of emancipatory action. I argue that TNCs’ need to realize their production – i.e., to sell the commodities they produce in order to transform them into money – makes them vulnerable to new social movements’ demands and create the possibility for more ethically and socially acceptable forms of production. I conclude the article by arguing that, in spite of the above mentioned contradictions and anti-corporate movements, TNCs remain firmly in control of contemporary society. This situation makes the attainment of more democratic conditions a contested terrain whose outcome will be decided by the ability of alternative forces to exploit globalization’s contradictions and use available spaces of emancipation.
Global Post-Fordism and Concepts of the State
(International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 1994) Bananno, Alessandro; Friedland, William H.; Llambi, Luis; Marsden, Terry; Moreira, Manuel Belo; Schaeffer, Robert
Following a review of the literature on the State and some of the basic features of global post-Fordism, it is maintained that global post-Fordism can be synthesized through a set of four dialectical relationships: deregulation/re-regulation, fragmentation/coordination, mobility/embeddedness and empowerment/disempowerment. Moreover, it is argued that: 1) the State in global post-Fordism cannot be thought of exclusively in national terms; 2) its re-conceptualization must entail a transnational dimension; 3) the State cannot be conceptualized exclusively in terms of formal public appearances, agents and agencies; and 4) non-public apparatuses, agents and agencies must be included in the analysis.
Theory, Epistemology and Critical Rural Sociology
(International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 1992) Bonanno, Alessandro; Swanson, Louis E.
This paper would like to provide an alternative to the Marx-Weber dichotomy which has recently emerged in rural sociological studies. It consists of the re-proposition of critical sociology as a mode of scientific investigation which, while remaining within the Marxian tradition, addresses many of the central concerns of Weberian scholarship. Though a merger between Marx and Weber is not proposed, it is assumed that a lack of knowledge of critical sociology has hampered further development of the theoretical debate in rural sociology. More importantly, this lack of knowledge has prevented the diffusion of the basic tenets of critical sociology among sociologists concerned with the study of agriculture and food, limiting their ability to inform empirical investigations and to instruct students.
The Globalization of the Agricultural and Food Sector and Theories of the State
(International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 1991) Bananno, Alessandro
The paper investigates the theoretical dislocation between the domestic oriented character of theories of the State and the transnational character of theories of socio-economic development. Employing the case of the food and agricultural sector, it is argued that the literature in this area has emphasized the transnational dimension of capital accumulation and the process of by-passing State authority at the national level. This situaion mandates a re-evaluation of State theories in regard to the international dimension of current processes of capital accumulation. Furthermore, the present analysis suggests patterns of "contradictory convergence" in which expansion at the transnational level of State action is demanded by transnational corporations and subordinate classes alike. This demand, however, is contradictory, as it finds its limits in the transnational bourgeoisie's desire to avoid State action. Politically, as a result of this situation the locus of emancipatory social action should be increasingly transferred to the international arena.
Mapping out the social experience of cancer patients with facial disfigurement
(Health, 2010) Bananno, Alessandro; Choi, Jin Young
This article contributes to the limited literature on the social consequences of cancer generated facial disfigurement by reporting the result of an exploratory analysis of interaction between facially disfigured cancer patients and strangers and acquaintances (secondary groups). Secondary groups are those in which membership occurs due to performance of formal and/or non-intimate roles. Interaction is studied as it takes place in different social settings. Indivi- duals who are affected by cancer of the head and neck region can now expect to survive for many years after the cancer is detected and later surgically removed. Because of surgery, these survivors live the rest of their lives with facial disfigurement and are stigmatized and socially excluded. It follows that a new and socially relevant situation has emerged: as medicine develops and allows more patients to survive, it forces them to spend significant portions of their lives dealing with the stigma associated with facial disfigurement. Research on social issues pertaining to facially disfigured cancer patients remains sparse. Limited knowledge has been produced on the “social context” within which interaction between the disfigured and relevant social groups takes place. To date most research has focused on the individual and his/her ability to adapt to the condition of facially disfigured. To address this scientific gap and document the manner through which the interaction process is socially created and evolves, interviews with fourteen facially disfigured cancer patients were carried out. These interviews were designed to reconstruct the interaction experiences of these individuals in different social contexts. Data were analyzed through the qualitative approach of grounded theory. Results indicate that patients can be divided into two groups: Occasionally Comfortable Patients and Always Comfortable Patients. Occasionally comfortable patients are individuals who experience different levels of comfort in interaction. In some situations they do not feel stigmatized, but other interactions constitute the contexts within which this discomfort emerges. Discomfort in interaction was employed as an indicator of stigmatization. Interacting groups were divided into small and large. Intrusion (unsolicited attention to patients) in interaction in large and small groups always generates uncomfortable situations. Sympathy (unsolicited comments and/or actions in support of patients) is associated with comfort in interaction in small groups and produces varying patterns in the case of large groups. Benign neglect (a situation in which interacting individuals do not pay particular attention to patients) produces comfort in interaction within large groups and varying outcomes in the case of small groups. Always comfortable patients are those who do not experience discomfort in interaction regard- less of the size and characteristics of the interacting group. The article concludes by stressing that facially disfigured cancer patients should be prepared to face different interaction patterns. Simultaneously, efforts should be made to educate patients and the general public about these interaction patterns.
GOVERNANCE, GLOBALIZATION, AND THE STATE
(Journal of Rural Social Sciences, 2010) Bananno, Alessandro
At the outset of the second decade of the twenty-first century, rural sociology in general, and agrifood studies in particular, are characterized by a growing interest in the analysis of “governance.” In many respects, this is a surprising event as only a little over a decade ago, this topic was virtually absent from the many debates on rural and agrifood issues. Yet, there is very little disagreement on the reasons for the recent development of studies on governance. Globalization and the changed role of the state that it engendered are often cited among such reasons.
The crisis of representation: the limits of liberal democracy in the global era
(Journal of Rural Studies, 2000) Bananno, Alessandro
In liberal thought, democracy is guaranteed by the unity of community and government. The community of citizens elects its government according to political preferences. The government rules over the community with powers which are limited by unalienable human, civil, and political rights. These assumptions have characterized Classical Liberalism, Revisionist Liberalism and contemporary Neo-liberal theories. However, the assumed unity of community and government becomes problematic in Global Post-Fordism. Recent research on the globalization of the economy and society has underscored the increasing inability of nation-states to exercise power over their communities which, in turn, limits the ability of communities to express their will at the nation-state level. The current phase of capitalism is characterized by socio-economic relations which transcend the jurisdictions of nation-states and local spaces. This paper addresses the issue of the fracture of the unity of community and government by introducing feature characteristics of Classical Liberalism, Revisionist Liberalism and Neo-liberalism. Moreover, it analyzes the contribution of the theory of Re#exive Modernization which represents a novel attempt to rethink democracy within the liberal tradition. The paper concludes that the inability of governments to control economic and non-economic environments creates a crisis of representation which implies serious limits to liberal democracy. This situation is particularly important for rural regions as their socio-economic development, and programs for its democratization have been historically based on the intervention of agencies of and control by the nation-state. c 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
SOCIOLOGY OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD BEGINNING AND MATURITY: THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE MISSOURI SCHOOL (1976–1994)
(Southern Rural Sociological Association, 2009) Bananno, Alessandro
Sociology of agriculture and food (SAF) is one of the most visible substantive subareas in Rural Sociology and a growing subarea in Sociology. While the studying of agriculture has always been a part of Rural Sociology, it was in the 1970s that the process that led to a clear and formal distinction between Rural Sociology and SAF began. SAF grew stronger in the 1980s and became established in the 1990s. This paper reviews salient theoretical and historical events that engendered the establishment and growth of SAF as a separate substantive area from Rural Sociology. Additionally, it reviews its development in the United States in relation to a movement that has been global since its onset. In particular, the paper addresses the ways in which SAF developed at the University of Missouri-Columbia under the intellectual leadership of William Heffernan. Heffernan’s “radical” reading of, and methodological approach to, the evolution of agriculture and food are compared with other popular views of, and approaches to, SAF such as the Marxist and the Constructionist. It is argued that Heffernan’s approach is grounded in the American theoretical tradition of Pragmatic Democracy exemplified by the classical work of John Dewey. Research on SAF produced at the University of Missouri-Columbia became highly visible as SAF reached its maturity in the mid-1990s. Heffernan’s intellectual contribution remains most influential in current salient debates within SAF.
La globalización agro-alimentaria: sus características y perspectivas futuras
(Sociologias, 2003) Bonanno, Alessandro
El objetivo de este artículo es de examinar las características principales del proceso de globalización del sistema agro-alimentario en relación al desarrollo socio-económico de América Latina. La vasta literatura sobre la globalización está resumida en tres grupos distintos. Los neo-liberales radicales argumentan que la globalización representa la receta necesaria para adelantar el desarrollo socio-económico a nivel mundial. Los centristas intervencionistas destacan que, aunque las dinámicas de mercado tienen una importancia central, no es posible mantener los equilibrios sociales y económicos sin la intervención del Estado. El tercer grupo critica la globalización y la define como un sistema contradictorio que aumenta la brecha entre los países ricos y los pobres y, dentro de cada uno de ellos, las desigualdades entre las clases sociales. Empleando tres estudios de caso, el trabajo analiza tres hipótesis generadas por este debate. La primera se refiere a la cuestión del funcionamiento del libre mercado, la segunda a la cuestión de la fuerza y papel del Estado y la tercera a la cuestión de la democracia. Se concluye que el mercado está fuertemente condicionado por las CTNs y que sus acciones afectan negativamente a varios grupos sociales. También, se destaca que el Estado mantiene importantes poderes que, sin embargo, están siendo usados para adelantar los intereses de la CTNs creando condiciones favorables para la hiper-movilidad del capital. En relación al tercer tema se concluye que la globalización limita la participación popular en procesos de toma de decisiones, pero, simultáneamente, genera resistencia y movilización social. Las conclusiones subrayan que la globalización crea una crisis de programas de desarrollo nacional dado que el crecimiento económico se basa más en el eje regional-global. También, se indica que la inclusión en los circuitos globales tiende a generar crecimiento de los beneficios para las compañías pero que no se traduce necesariamente en desarrollo social. Esta situación indica la exclusión de los circuitos globales como una estrategia democrática de desarrollo socio-económico
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: GETTING BEYOND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND INTO FOOD SYSTEMS
(Southern Rural Sociology, 2008) Jordan, Jeffrey L.; Constance, Douglas H.
This paper introduces the special issue of Southern Rural Sociology and lays the groundwork for the rest of the papers. The genesis of this special issue flows from the efforts of the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (S-SARE) program to bring more social science research into its portfolio of projects. Our concern is that by providing best management practices (Band-Aids) to a fundamentally unsustainable agricultural system, the sustainable agriculture movement (and SARE’s granting program) favors the environmental component at the expense of economic and social “legs” of the sustainable stool. While focusing on the history and work of the SARE program, we provided a social science perspective on sustainable agriculture.
CONVENTIONALIZATION, BIFURCATION, AND QUALITY OF LIFE: CERTIFIED AND NON-CERTIFIED ORGANIC FARMERS IN TEXAS
(Southern Rural Sociology, 2008) Constance, Douglas H.; Choi, Jin Young; Lyke-Ho-Gland, Holly
Organic agriculture has been advanced as a production system that improves environmental quality and supports rural community development. Recent developments in organics have called into question both assertions. Researchers have argued that the advent of national-level organic standards has contributed to the conventionalization and bifurcation of organics. Conventionalization refers to the process by which organic agriculture increasingly takes on the characteristics of mainstream industrial agriculture. Bifurcation refers to the process by which the organic agriculture adopts a dual-structure of smaller, lifestyle-oriented producers and larger, industrial-scale producers. This research examines the conventionalization and bifurcation theses through a comparison of certified organic and non-certified organic producers in Texas. We conclude that the case of organics in Texas provides mixed support for the conventionalization thesis.
Globalization, Broiler Production, and Community Controversy in East Texas
(Southern Rural Sociology, 2002) Constance, Douglas H.
The poultry industry was the first livestock commodity sector to adopt an industrial organizational model. In recent years the poultry industry has expanded beyond national boundaries into a globalized system of production. The globalization of agriculture and food is a frequent topic of discussion for researchers interested in rural society. A common focus of these discussions is the consequences of corporate penetration on rural areas and the ways local communities respond to such corporate actions. This paper uses the case of the introduction of large-scale broiler production in East Texas combined with a sociology of agriculture and food conceptual framework to inform discussions regarding the community impacts of the globalization of the agrifood system. This paper concludes that economic development initiatives can experience legitimation crises as local social movement groups resist development strategies.
CONTESTED GLOBALIZATION OF THE AGRIFOOD SYSTEM: A MISSOURI SCHOOL ANALYSIS OF SANDERSON FARMS AND SEABOARD FARMS IN TEXAS
(Southern Rural Sociology, 2009) Constance, Douglas H.
The Missouri School of Agrifood Studies began with a focus on the power of agribusiness corporations in relation to quality of life of farmers and their related communities. The poultry industry was the first commodity studied, with later research into other commodity sectors and then the global dimensions of this process. In this paper I continue the Missouri School agenda by focusing on the entry of the poultry firm Sanderson Farms and the hog firm Seaboard Farms into Texas. This paper combines a sociology of the agrifood system conceptual framework with two case studies of agribusiness expansion in Texas to inform discussions regarding the characteristics of the globalization of the agrifood system. The results of the research indicate that the CAFO-based economic development strategies in Texas created significant controversies as local citizens organized to challenge the initiatives. This contested process of the globalization of the agrifood system was mediated by the state, mostly in favor of the agribusiness transnational corporations (TNCs).

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