| April 2006
Civil Rights | Education-Academic
|Immigration | Media
| Multiculturalism/Multicultural Society
| Religion & Values | Social
Conditions & Demographics | Urban Society
| Women |
E1 - How Freedom Is Won: From Civic Struggle to Durable
Democracy
Karatnycky, Adrian; Ackerman,Peter
Freedom House 2005, online edition, 56p.
"A major new study shows that nonviolent "people power"
movements are the strongest force in most successful transitions
to democracy. The report focuses on 67 countries where dictatorships
have fallen since 1972. As this study shows, far more often than
is generally understood, the change agent is broad-based, nonviolent
civic resistance -- which employs tactics such as boycotts, mass
protests, blockades, strikes, and civil disobedience to de-legitimate
authoritarian rulers and erode their sources of support, including
the loyalty of their armed defenders." Adrian Karatnycky
is counselor and senior scholar at Freedom House. Peter Ackerman
is chariman of the board of trustees of Freedom House and founding
chairman of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.
Fulltext
E2 - College Classifications Get an Overhaul
June, Audrey Williams
Chronicle of Higher Education, March 3, 2006, v52, #26, ppA25-A27
The article provides information on the results of the overhaul
of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching labels
affixed to America's colleges and universities. the Carnegie Foundation
released a new version of its basic classifications in early March.
The framework has become more diversified, with subcategories
for two-year colleges, three subcategories of doctorate-granting
institutions instead of two. The term "liberal arts"
to describe mostly undergraduate colleges is discontinued. Fulltext
E3 - The Impact of Illegal Immigration on Mississippi:
Costs and Population Trends
Bryant, Phil
State of Mississippi, Office of the State Auditor, February
21, 2006, 32p.
"Since the 1980s, experts estimate that Mississippi’s illegal
population has increased tremendously; the actual impact of which
must be studied in order to develop long term policy and budget
strategies. This report is intended to be an objective look at
the potential costs to Mississippi and its citizens. It attempts
to quantify State costs associated with illegal immigrants, as
well as the amount of money that may be contributed to the State
through sales and income taxes. … The report does fairly estimate
the net financial impact of illegal immigrants in Mississippi
to be more than $25 million per year. This amount takes into consideration
the financial contributions of the estimated 49,000 illegal immigrants
in Mississippi. Phil Bryant is Mississippi State Auditor.
Fulltext
E4 - Permanent Principles and Temporary Workers
Meese, Edwin III & Spalding, Matthew
The Heritage Foundation, Backgrounder No. 1911, March 1, 2006,
6p.
“To be acceptable both in principle and in practice, and to contribute
to the objectives of comprehensive immigration reform, a temporary
worker program must be truly temporary, not encourage illegal
immigration, and not be an amnesty program. It must also include
serious enforcement mechanisms, be administratively feasible and
fully implemented, and require bilateral agreements with participating
countries.” Ewin Meese III is a Distinguished Fellow at "The
Heritage Foundation" where he holds the Ronald Reagan Chair
in Public Policy. Matthew Spalding, Ph.D., is Director of the
B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at "The Heritage
Foundation". Fulltext
E5 - 2004 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration
Statistics, January 2006, 204p.
“The Yearbook of Immigration Statistics is a compendium of tables
that provides data on foreign nationals who, during a fiscal year,
were granted lawful permanent residence (i.e., admitted as immigrants
or became legal permanent residents), were admitted into the United
States on a temporary basis (e.g., tourists, students, or workers),
applied for asylum or refugee status, or were naturalized. The
Yearbook also presents data on immigration law enforcement actions,
including alien apprehensions, removals, and prosecutions. In
addition to the Yearbook, the Office of Immigration Statistics
Annual Flow Reports and Annual Reports provide text, tables, and
charts on legal permanent residents, refugees and asylees, nonimmigrant
admissions, naturalizations, and enforcement actions". Fulltext
E6 - Projecting U.S. Population to 2050: Four Immigration
Scenarios
Martin, Jack; Fogel, Stanley
Federation for American Immigration Reform, March 2006, 44p.
"The population of the United States is growing and changing
rapidly. The trend is largely because of the current massive flow
of immigrants – both legal and illegal. With proposals now on
the table from the Bush Administration and members of Congress
to further increase immigration, it is important to consider the
implications of those proposed changes for our nation.” This report
offers “a 45-year projection of the United States population based
on current demographic trends.” The authors also “offer alternative
immigration scenarios that demonstrate the differences in the
rate of population change that could result from different public
policy decisions. These population projections have been developed
for each state individually and then aggregated for the country
as a whole.” “The report … reveals that immigration policy decisions
that are made (or not made) in Congress this year, could vary
the size of the mid-century population of the United States by
as many as 135 million people.” Jack Martin is the Federation
of Immigration Reform’s Research Director. Stanley Fogel
is Statistician. Fulltext
E7 - Making It in America: Social Mobility in the Immigrant
Population
Borjas, George J.
National Bureau of Economic Research, NBER Working Paper No.
12088, March 2006, 32p.
“The ultimate impact of immigration on the United States obviously
depends not only on the economic, social, political, and cultural
shifts that take place during the life cycle of the immigrant
population, but also on the adjustment process experienced by
the immigrant household across generations. This paper documents
the evidence on social mobility in the immigrant population and
summarizes some of the lessons implied by the evidence. There
is significant economic "catching up" between the first
and second generations, with the relative wage of the second generation
being, on average, about 5 to 10 percent higher than that of the
first generation. At the same time, there is a strong positive
correlation between the socioeconomic outcomes experienced by
ethnic groups in the immigrant generation and the outcomes experienced
by their children, and a weaker correlation between the immigrants
and their grandchildren. In rough terms, about half of the differences
in relative economic status across ethnic groups observed in one
generation persist into the next. As a result, the very large
ethnic differences in economic status that characterize the current
immigrant population will likely dominate discussions of American
social policy for much of the 21st century. George J. Borjas
is Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy
at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Fulltext
E8 - The State of the News Media 2006 - An Annual Report
on American Journalism
Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2006
This annual report has tracked the the major trends in the American
news media for the last two years. The report compilers see a
"seismic transformation in what and how people learn about
the world around them. Power is moving away from journalists as
gatekeepers over what the public knows. Citizens are assuming
a more active role as assemblers, editors and even creators of
their own news. Audiences are moving from old media such as television
or newsprint to new media online. Journalists need to redefine
their role and identify which of their core values they want to
fight to preserve —something they have only begun to consider."
The Project for Excellence in Journalism is affiliated with
the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Fulltext
E9 - Future of Newspapers
Jost, Kenneth
CQ Researcher, January 20, 2006, v16, #3, 24p
"The nation's $59 billion newspaper industry is facing an
uncertain future even while its biggest companies are enjoying
enviable profits averaging around 20 percent. Newspaper circulation
has been declining for many years, especially among young adults.
Now, newspapers are losing readers and some advertising to the
Internet. In fact, only 52 percent of adults read the paper on
a typical weekday. Many newspapers are working on redesigns aimed
at making their print editions more readable. Most also have created
Web sites to deliver news and information, including special features
and interactive options not included in the print product. But
newspaper executives are struggling to incorporate their online
editions into viable business plans." Kenneth Jost is
a CQ Press Supreme Court Editor. Order
Article
E10 - Online News
Horrigan, John B.
Pew Internet and American Life Project Report, March 22, 2006,27p
"For many broadband users, the internet is a primary news
sourceBy the end of 2005... 50 million Americans got news online
on a typical day, a sizable increase since 2002. Much of that
growth has been fueled by the rise in home broadband connections
over the last four years. For a group of “high-powered” online
users – early adopters of home broadband who are the heaviest
internet users – the internet is their primary news source on
the average day. " John B. Horrigan is Associate Dean
for Research at the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
He is also an Adjunct Professor of Government at the University
of Texas. Fulltext
E11 - Center Stage
Stepp, Carl Sessions
American Journalism Review, April/May 2006 v28, #2, online
edition
The Internet has become an integral part of the way newspapers
distribute their content, a phenomenon that’s only going to increase.
The author takes a firsthand look at the web operations of the
Houston Chronicle, USA Today, the Daily Times Maryland, and the
Washington Post. The author discovered."Most striking are
two clear, probably transforming trends: a move toward merging
online and print newsrooms, and a surge toward producing news
almost around the clock. These changes may well revolutionize
newsrooms, and they raise important questions. Who will produce
the volumes of copy required? How will quality be monitored without
the overlapping layers of editing? What will be stressed in hiring?
How will all this affect the enduring and ingrained newsroom culture?"
Carl Sessions Stepp is a AJR's senior editor and teaches at
the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of
Maryland. Fulltext
E12 - The Stringers
McLeary, Paul
Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 2006, online
edition
Paul McLeary goes inside the secret and dangerous world of the
Iraqi journalists who are becoming the eyes and ears of the Western
press. “For the Iraqi stringers who risk their lives and often
are forced to hide what they do from friends and family, typically
without even the glory of a byline in return, the answer to the
question of why they do it is complicated. In a country impoverished
by decades of war, criminal dictatorship, and international sanctions,
money was often the principal draw, at least initially. Drawn
from the ranks of college-educated professionals — accountants,
professors, doctors, computer experts — the stringers can sometimes
more than double what the average Iraqi earns in postwar Iraq.
But for many, after months, and now even years of working in their
new profession, this blunt economic incentive seems to have given
way to a deeper — even passionate — appreciation for journalism’s
ability to tell important stories and, sometimes, make a difference.”
Paul McLeary is a reporter for CJR Daily. Fulltext
E13 - Chili and Liberty: The Uses and Abuses of Multiculturalism
Sen, Amartya
New Republic, February 26, 2006, pp25-30
"Integration in Britain, which has been at the forefront
of inclusive multiculturalism, has been helped by the fact that
all British residents from the Commonwealth countries have full
voting rights in Britain, even without British citizenship, and
by the nondiscriminatory treatment of immigrants in health care,
schooling and social security. But, according to Sen, people are
categorized by their religious identity in Britain, which may
explain the actions of young Muslims from immigrant families --
born, educated and reared in Britain -- who killed more than 50
people in London in suicide bombings in July 2005. India, on the
other hand, with a greater Muslim population than almost every
other Muslim-majority country in the world, has produced few homegrown
terrorists acting in the name of Islam, and almost none linked
with Al Qaeda. The nature of Indian democratic politics and the
wide acceptance in India that there are many identities other
than religious identity might explain the country's multicultural
success. The real issue is not whether multiculturalism has gone
too far in Britain, but what particular form multiculturalism
should take there." Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya
Sen is Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics
and Philosophy at Harvard University. Order
Article
E14 - Tribal Relations: How Americans Really Sort Out
On Cultural and Religious Issues -- and What It Means For Our
Politics
Waldman, Steven ; Green, John C.
Atlantic Monthly, January/February 2006, v 297, #1, pp136-141
"In analyzing the impact of religion and values on American
politics, the authors move away from the simplistic "right
versus left" stereotype, and categorize the U.S. public into
what they call "the twelve tribes". As the names suggest,
the beliefs and attitudes of the "twelve tribes" are
diverse and complex, especially in the "moral middle,"
which is comprised of the "swing tribes" and a few of
the tribes within each party's base." The authors note that
the size of the "moral middle" limits how much public
policy can change after an election, but that cultural conflict
will be a continual part of American politics for the foreseeable
future." Steven Waldman is the editor-in-chief and CEO
of Beliefnet.com., the largest religion-and-spirituality site
on the Web. John C. Green is a senior fellow with the
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and director of the Ray
C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, at the University of Akron.
Fulltext
E15 - The Preacher
Pappu, Sridhar
The Atlantic Monthly, March 2006, v297, #2, pp92-102
"Characterized as 'a man of God, a promoter of upward mobility,
an international evangelist, a husband and father, a simple preacher,
[and] a sophisticated businessman.' Bishop Jakes is depicted in
this profile as a man who 'epitomizes and stands at the front
of a new generation of black leadership.' Born to working-class
parents in West Virginia, Jakes, a Pentecostal minister, is head
of a 30,000-member nondenominational church. He has also built
a lucrative multimedia empire, lectures on economic empowerment
and self-healing to hundreds of thousands of people annually,
and has spearheaded a growing international outreach program in
Europe, Australia, and especially in Africa, where his church
has invested over $1 million in development projects." Sridhar
Pappu is an Atlantic correspondent. Fulltext
E16 - How Do I Love Thee?
Gottlieb, Lori
Atlantic Monthly, March 2006, v297, #2, pp58-68
"The author, a single woman, interviews operators of online
and personal matchmaking services and throws her name into the
roster while doing so. Gottlieb notes that a new "science"
of attraction is being developed by academic researchers and they
are being used worldwide. It is still evolving, the author notes,
and "it may well take a generation before we learn whether
the psychological, anthropological, or sociological model works
best". The author, however, was unable to find a suitable
match." Lori Gottlieb is an author and journalist.
Fulltext
E17 - Reimagining America : AARP’s Blueprint for the
Future
American Association of Retired People (AARP) 2006, online
edition, 36p
"Can America afford to grow older -- with intergenerational
fairness, that is -- without sticking our children and grandchildren
with the bills? The answer is yes, we can. AARP believes that
as a nation, we can balance longer lives with the pressures the
aging of the boomers and increased longevity will put on our social
systems. While this is often described as a confounding problem
of demographics, it is actually driven by the fragmented and disorganized
delivery of health care, which costs too much and delivers too
little. We also believe that solutions must come from collaboration
among government, private organizations, and individuals."
"AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization
that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in
ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as
a whole." Fulltext
E18 - The State of 50+ America 2006
American Association of Retired People (AARP)Public Institute,
January 2006, online edition, 56p
Compared with a decade ago, the state of 50+ America seems to
have improved, but AARP’s third annual “report card” on the quality
of life of midlife and older Americans finds that the picture
has become less favorable and the outlook more bleak during the
most recent year. Individuals are being required to take more
responsibility for their own retirement, traditional pensions
are in decline even as overall coverage inches up, retiree health
benefits are being reduced or eliminated, the stock market is
stagnant and, although they were turned back in 2005, threats
to partially privatize Social Security are likely to resurface.
Fulltext
Social Conditions &
DemographicS
E19 - How Society Shapes Aging: The
Centrality of Variability
Berkman, Lisa & M. Maria Glymour
Daedalus, Winter 2006, v135, #1, pp105-115
"Accumulating evidence indicates that social as well as biological
factors determine how people age. Paying attention to the variability
in aging produced by exposure to quite different social experiences
may provide us with critical clues as to how we can improve the
health and well-being of older men and women..." This article
discusses the role of the society in shaping and treating the
results of old age."Lisa F. Berkman is Professor of Public
Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health. [...] M. Maria
Glymour, a social epidemiologist, is an instructor at the Harvard
School of Public Health". Fulltext
E20 - Mature Societies: Planning For
Our Future Selves
Harper, Sarah
Daedalus, Winter 2006, v135, #1, pp20-32
This article focuses on the issue of demographic maturity as the
new millennium unfolds and how society faces it. "As mature
societies develop, we must be wary of confounding age with cohort
and life course, implying that those in later life must consistently
act in certain ways because of their age. While age integrated
mature societies may display certain characteristics because of
their demographic profile, we must also acknowledge the complexities
of cohort and period effects: each cohort brings with it specific
life dimensions, dynamics, and histories; and each time period
introduces particular institutional and structural contexts."
Sarah Harper is Director of the Oxford Institute of Aging
at the University of Oxford. Fulltext
E21 - The Long Road Home: Race, Class,
and Recovery from Hurricane Katrina
Cutter, Susan L. et al
Environment, March 2006, v48, #2, pp8-20
"Hurricane Katrina was not the strongest of the three storms
that reached Category Five intensity in terms of wind speeds or
central pressures, but converging factors -- primarily its strength
and landfall location along the Gulf Coast -- made it the most
devastating and costly hurricane in US history. Here, Cutter et
al highlight the challenging tasks of recovery and the implications
of the reconstruction process of the region." Susan L.
Cutter is a Carolina Distinguished Professor and Director of the
Hazards Research Lab at the University of South Carolina.
Fulltext
Urban Society
E22 - Cities at Risk: Hurricane Katrina and the Drowning
of New Orleans
Comfort, Louise K.
Urban Affairs Review, March 2006, v41, #4, pp501-516
"The impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans revealed
vulnerabilities caused by the interaction of the city’s fragile
physical environment, aging infrastructure, and declining economic
and social structure. This condition and its sobering consequences
are not limited to New Orleans, but constitute a silent threat
for other cities in the United States and the world. The author
argues, that the challenge for cities is to create a new vision
of vital, resilient communities that are able to assess and manage
their own risk in order to limit escalating damage from extreme
events." Louise K. Comfort is a professor of public and
international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.
Order Article
E23 - The Political Economy of Urban
Disaster Assistance
Stehr, Steven D.
Urban Affairs Review, March 2006, v41, #4, pp492-500
"In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, policy makers are
once again debating the manner in which we prepare for, respond
to, and recover from extreme events in the United States. While
much is known about how to make urban regions safer, political
and economic calculations often overwhelm these considerations.
The mix of competing priorities and incentives of federal, state,
and local officials conspire to make urban hazard planning difficult
if not impossible. The considerable challenge facing those charged
with making cities less vulnerable is to strike an appropriate
balance between these political and economic dynamics, and the
creation of more disaster-resilient communities." Steven
D. Stehr is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department
of Political Science and Criminal Justice Program at Washington
State University. Order
Article
Women
E24 - Women of Influence: A Conversation with Cokie Roberts
Cole, Bruce & Cokie Roberts
Humanities, January/February 2006, v27, #1, pp6-9
"Bruce Cole, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities,
talked with news analyst Cokie Roberts about her recent book,
"Founding Mothers,' and the importance of women in U.S. political
history. Comparing the recent advances of women in politics with
the role women played in the early days of the Republic, Roberts
also discussed the difficulties of locating the original letters
and manuscripts that formed the basis of the book. In a related
article, "A Life in Letters: The Story of John and Abigail
Adams," Maggie Riechers writes about the influence of Abigail
Adams on her husband, President John Adams, throughout their fifty-year
marriage. Fulltext
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