Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In 1994, the Annie E. Casey Foundation initiated a major funding partnership with five "low-income communities" [Boston, Detroit, Denver, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC] and in 1991, the City of Minneapolis began its Neighborhood Revitalization Program, with 45 neighborhood action plans being approved and funded.

The paper compares and contrasts the five RCI neighborhoods with five Minneapolis neighborhoods using regime and structuration theory as a framework to assess the process and products of this infusion of nearly a half a million dollars each year into the neighborhood controlled community building process. Attention also focuses on the similarities and differences resulting from the "vertical" influence and control that derive from foundation and government sources. In addition, the paper discusses the implications and consequences associated with initiatives in which only one neighborhood in a city is supported [RCI] and one in which all neighborhoods have access to funding [NRP] and are expected to collaborate with one another, along with larger community/city goals.

The analysis and writing builds upon previous research and theory that emphasizes human "agency" and the capacity for community building, e.g., the work of Anthony Giddens, Anthony Orum, David Rusk, Roland Warren, et al.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines a key shift within the U.S. labor movement, whereby the worker upsurge of the 1930s gave way to the conservative “business union” model as the dominant organizational form in the 1940s.

Against deterministic arguments that view this transformation as an unavoidable result of organizational development or of deeply ingrained American ideological beliefs, I show that it was the outcome of a political battle between competing models of working-class organization. I argue that accounts that emphasize internal anti-communist purges or long-term legal processes overlook an important factor: state coercion. I contend that at certain critical junctures, coercive state intervention shaped the labor movement by cutting off other potentially viable trajectories.

I develop this argument using the case of a key local of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), Minneapolis Local 574. While the IBT as a whole was an archetypal business union, the Trotskyist-led Local 574 embodied a potential alternate path, based on a competing social unionist vision.

I examine whether the Minneapolis model truly did constitute a viable alternate path for the Teamsters, and if so, why that path was not taken. My findings show that Local 574/544 did present a viable alternate path, and that it was business unionists mobilizing coercive state power that removed the Minneapolis model as an option.

In asking “why didn’t Minneapolis win?” this case study enriches our analysis of this critical juncture of U.S. labor history, and enhances our understanding of how the state enables and constrains processes of organizational change.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Taking an analytical approach to three broadcasts of CNN’s Evening News segments, this paper argues that coverage of the 2007 I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota assumes narrative qualities. Using Walter Fisher’s framework for a narrative paradigm, CNN’s constructed interpretation is investigated and evaluated in terms of how successfully its conceptualization conveys truth for its audience.

Publication Type: Paper/Poster Proposal
Abstract: The present paper analyzes the results of a RDD telephone pre-election poll conducted in Minneapolis a few days before the mayoral elections in November 2001. The candidates for mayor were the two-term mayor S. Belton, an African American woman, and the incumbent R. T. Rybak, a White man. This unique combination of race and gender of the candidates gave us the opportunity to test for both race and gender of interviewer effects.
The dependent variable is measured with the question: “If the general election for Minneapolis mayor was held today, would you vote for S. S. Belton or R.T. Rybak?” and has three categories: the intention of voting for Belton, Rybak, or saying “don’t know”. A preliminary analysis showed an interaction effect between race of the interviewer and gender of the interviewer on voting intentions of the respondents, controlling for race and gender of the respondent. For example, we found that the odds for voting for Belton and not Rybak were the highest when interviewed by an African American woman. We also found that when interviewed by a White man the odds for making a choice were higher than for giving a DK answer.
Contrary to other studies, we did not found that interviewer effects are dependent on matching between the respondent and the interviewer. In addition, we could not fully explain the interaction effect between race and gender of the interviewer. In this paper, the results are discussed in more detail in light of current theories of interviewer race and gender effects. In the current analyses, we will also test if the effect of interviewer race and gender can be accounted for by differences in the political interest and political affiliation of the respondents and by differences between the interviewers in factors such as interviewer experience, education, and workload.