References

References

Anderson, N. (2014, May 1). 55 colleges under Title IX inquiry for their handling of sex violence claims. The Washington Post [Washington D.C.]. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/federal-government-releases-list-of-55-colleges-universities-under-title-ix-investigations-over-handling-of-sexual-violence/2014/05/01/e0a74810-d13b-11e3-937f-d3026234b51c_story.html

Boys Town (2014). Healthy Relationships [(Photograph)]. Retrieved from http://www.parenting.org/content/sites/default/files/healthy-relationships-image.jpg
Doublethink. (2014, March 1). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:51, May 5, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doublethink&oldid=597732760

Dur_n, M., Moya, M., & Meg_as, J. L. (2011). It's His Right, It's Her Duty: Benevolent Sexism and the Justification of Traditional Sexual Roles. Journal of Sex Research, 48(5), 470-478. doi:10.1080/00224499.2010.513088

Harding, D. J. (2003). Counterfactual Models of Neighborhood Effects: The Effect of Neighborhood Poverty on Dropping Out and Teenage Pregnancy. American Journal of Sociology, 109(3), 676-719. Retrieved from DOI: 10.1086/379217

Jayakody, Pennsylvania State University, R., Danziger, University of Michigan, S., Seefeldt, University of Michigan, K., & Pollack, University of Chicago, H. (2004, April). National Poverty Center | University of Michigan. Retrieved May 2, 2014, from http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief02/

Karriker-Jaffe, K. J. (2013). Neighborhood socioeconomic status and substance use by U.S. adults. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 133(1), 212-221. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.04.033

MrClinePsy (2014, April 6). Merton's Strain Theory [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fsTFx6xZ2M

National Center for Law and Economic Justice Inc. (2010). About NCLEJ | National Center for Law and Economic Justice. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.nclej.org/about.php

National Sexual Violence Resource Center (2014). National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC). Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.nsvrc.org

NIK (2012, September). KEEP CALM AND STUDY SOCIOLOGY [(Poster)]. Retrieved from http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-and-study-sociology-7.png

Nossiter, A. (2014, April 17). Nigeria Fears Captive Girls Will Be Held as Sex Slaves. The New York Times [New York]. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/world/africa/nigeria-fears-captive-girls-will-be-held-as-sex-slaves.html?action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults&mabReward=relbias%3Aw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%23%2Fnigeria%2520kidnapping%2520girls%2F&_r=0

Sakamaki, Q. (2007, October 2). Rio and Rocinha: Two worlds apart in Brazil [(Photograph)]. Retrieved from http://thevillager.com/villager_230/brazil.gif

Sexism in 2013 should not look like this [(Photograph)]. (2013, July 24). Retrieved from http://cdn.mamamia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/sexism-poster-300x300.png

Stephens, N. M., Markus, H. R., Phillips, L. T., & Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (2014). Social Class Culture Cycles: How Three Gateway Contexts Shape Selves and Fuel Inequality. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 611-634. Retrieved from DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115143

TEDx Talks (2013, November 15). Poverty versus privilege: Ashley Canas at TEDxLincoln [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rClWh28yNVc

TEDx Talks (2013, February 11). Violence against women- it's a men's issue: Jackson Katz at TEDxFiDiWomen [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTvSfeCRxe8

United States Census Bureau (2014). Poverty Main - People and Households - U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/

Vowell,P. R. and May, D. C. (2000), Another Look at Classic Strain Theory: Poverty Status, Perceived Blocked Opportunity, and Gang Membership as Predictors of Adolescent Violent Behavior. Sociological Inquiry, 70: 42–60. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-682X.2000.tb00895.x

Ward, M. (2013, October 12). Poverty and Crime - National Dialogue Network. Retrieved May 2, 2014, from http://www.nationaldialoguenetwork.org/poverty-and-crime/

Emerging Contexts for Gender Inequality

One concept that I found particularly interesting in my high school senior english class was Orwell's doublethink. Doublethink is the act of simultaneously holding two contradictory beliefs to be true without any awareness of conflict or contradiction (Doublethink, 2014). One example of doublethink would be a woman who believes that men and women should be equal and yet buys into the American beauty myth, wearing make-up and subconsciously believing that much of her self worth comes from her sexual appeal. The unequal physical standard that women are held to compared to men is just one example of how women are less-privaledge than men in America.

I have had the interesting conversations with many individuals in which I had to defend my feminist view. Many people think that feminism is women asking for more than their half. This misperception steams from the lack of understanding of how truly unequally women are in society. So, people are often taken aback when they see the full quantity of rights that feminists are asking for. It is interesting how many men abhor the sexism, sexual assault, objectification, and general inequality that women are subjected to and yet they have no concept of how their own privilege is what creates the system of inequality. Therefore, they are unwilling to give up this privilege.

Articles:

The following is a link to a published study about effects of ambivalent or "benevolent" sexism on the perceptions of tradition sexual roles in married couples. The study used college students as participants and found that the participants "ranked sexual marital rights (for him) and duties (for her) more highly, and regarded forced sex [in marriage] as rape to a lesser extent" (Durán, Moya, & Megías, 2011). This results of this study are both appalling and not suppressing. 

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224499.2010.513088#tabModule DOI:10.1080/00224499.2010.513088

The University of Idaho is one of 55 colleges that is currently being investigated for their handling of sexual assault claims. The following is a link to the Washington Post Article, "55 colleges under Title IX inquiry for their handling of sex violence claims," about the aim of the White House Investigation to help colleges prevent sexual violence (Anderson, 2014):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/federal-government-releases-list-of-55-colleges-universities-under-title-ix-investigations-over-handling-of-sexual-violence/2014/05/01/e0a74810-d13b-11e3-937f-d3026234b51c_story.html

("Sexism in 2013 should not look like this", 2013)

This photo may make people uncomfortable. It is a very "in-your-face" representation of sexism and sexual assault. However, the fact that sexual assault happens every day is an uncomfortable truth that needs to be addressed. By continuing to keep the unfortunate reality of sexism and assault a hidden topic, we are not addressing it and therefore not solving it.

Watch this Ted Talk!

Watch this Ted Talk, "Violence against women—it's a men's issue: Jackson Katz at TEDxFiDiWomen" (2013), by Jackson Katz, Phd, who is an anti-sexist activist. He has some really interesting points on the responsibilities of men in preventing violence against women. 

Learn More:

Read this recent article about dozens of Nigerian schoolgirls that were kidnapped from a state school. They have likely been sold as sex slaves. This is attributed to Islamist militant group (Nossiter 2014). 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/world/africa/nigeria-fears-captive-girls-will-be-held-as-sex-slaves.html?action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults&mabReward=relbias%3Aw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%23%2Fnigeria%2520kidnapping%2520girls%2F&_r=0

Also, check out the National Sexual Violence Resource Center website for more information on what you can do as an advocate (National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2014).

http://www.nsvrc.org

Deviance According to Structural Strain Theory

I thought it would be fascinating to compare my findings about poverty in the United States to my research about structural strain deviance, as these topics are intricately intertwined. A typical example of structural strain theory would be that a cultural goal in the United States is to achieve financial stability and success. However, there is a gap between this goal and the means of all US citizens to meet this goal. Those who don’t have the means to financial success may revert to crime/deviance in order to make ends meet. 

In researching this topic, I was looking to see how structural strain theory either explains or fails to explain why affluent individuals might partake in deviant activities, drug usage in particular. I also thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast drug usage rates amongst the different socio-economic classes to see if economic inequality has any effect on drug usage. I found an interesting article that compared alcohol and drug usage rates amongst different socioeconomic groups (see below).

Structural Strain Theory might offer an explanation for how inequality effects everybody in the US, not just the impoverished. When people turn to crime in order to make ends meet, this effects affluent individuals as well. Thievery, emergency room visits, and gang violence are just a few examples of deviant behavior that Structural Strain Theory suggests might be due to the gap in cultural goals and access to those goals.

Scholarly Articles:

The following article, "Neighborhood socioeconomic status and substance use by U.S. adults," found that there was a higher association with tobacco and drug use in disadvantaged neighborhoods than middle-class neighborhoods. This might be explained by structural strain theory. However, this study did not look at prescription drug abuse, which may be a less deviant form of addiction. Using a drug that was prescribe to you by a doctor is much more socially accepted than the use of illicit substances. It also found that there were no significant associations with between alcohol and neighborhood socioeconomic status. 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376871613001750

The following is a link to "Another Look at Classic Strain Theory: Poverty Status, Perceived Blocked Opportunity, and Gang Membership as Predictors of Adolescent Violent Behavior," the findings of which support structural strain theory:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/j.1475-682X.2000.tb00895.x/asset/j.1475-682X.2000.tb00895.x.pdf?v=1&t=hupta92b&s=68870cf0bce3c86010dbc056b9bd5bce12a94010
DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-682X.2000.tb00895.x

Although these photos were not taken in the US, they accurately represent unequal wealth distribution and deviance (Sakamaki, 2007). 

Watch this video:

The video, "Merton's Strain Theory" (2014), explains Structural Strain Theory in great detail.

Learn More! 

Check out the National Poverty Center's stance on Drug Abuse and Welfare users (Jayakody, Pennsylvania State University, Danziger, University of Michigan, Seefeldt, University of Michigan, & Pollack, University of Chicago, 2004): 

http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief02/

Check out this website that has an interesting article on the connection between crime and poverty (Ward, 2013): 

http://www.nationaldialoguenetwork.org/poverty-and-crime/

Inequality and Poverty is Determined by Social Class

Poverty in the United States is much like gender inequality, in the way that those with the more favorable position, men and the wealthy (including the middle class), often recognize the that inequality  exists and even express contempt towards the current structure. But while they agree that this inequality is wrong, they are unwilling to recognize the privileges that they have been born into that give them this upper hand. Or even more so, they are unwilling to give up their advantage in order to create equality. For example, many Americans believe that poverty is a problem in the United States but fail to recognize their own part in the unequal system. 

Scholarly Articles

I have attached a link to the article, "Social Class Culture Cycles: How Three Gateway Contexts Shape Selves and Fuel Inequality," published in the Annual Review of Psychology. Authors, Stephens et. all, bring up interesting points based on there extensive research that contradicts commonly held beliefs about poverty in the United states. One of their main points is that social class predicts and in ways determines life outcomes. Which directly contradicts the "American Dream" based off of a land of equal opportunity. 

http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115143
DOI:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115143

Below is the link to "Counterfactual Models of Neighborhood Effects: The Effect of Neighborhood Poverty on Dropping Out and Teenage Pregnancy," by David J. Harding of Harvard University. This article shows the causal relationship between impoverished neighborhoods and teenage pregnancy. I thought this was interesting considering that single mothers and children make up a large percentage of the people below the poverty line in this country. 

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/379217
Article DOI: 10.1086/379217

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Watch This powerful TedTalk:

Speaker Ashley Canas has some very interesting thoughts on privilege and Poverty in this video, "Poverty versus privilege: Ashley Canas at TEDxLincoln" (2013).

Learn More:

Check out the US Census for up-to-date stats on our poverty rates and other supplemental information about the census, including definitions of terms used in the census (United States Census Bureau, 2014):

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/

Learn more about the National Center for Law and Economic Justice and how they approach inequality in the US at there website (National Center for Law and Economic Justice Inc., 2010): 

http://www.nclej.org/about.php