Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Do educated and uneducated citizens? opinions have the same influence on government? This analysis suggests that the influence of spending preferences on policy outcomes is nearly identical for the most and least educated segments of the population.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This work is one of the first attempts to explicitly target the issue of network attrition. It goes beyond the dichotomy of self-interest versus “collective logic” in seeking to illuminate a concrete set of mechanisms that reinforces membership in social structures. The analysis demonstrates that performance indicators are insufficient to account for the observed patterns of network departure.
The social content of ties, much more so than the resources flowing through them or the perception of membership benefit, is responsible for the observed patterns of member retention. The analysis lends credence to sociological arguments about membership “faithfulness”, without discounting altogether the role of self-interest in sustaining participation in the network.
At the individual level of analysis, a notable finding is the primacy of perceived integration in the group over status-maintenance as a mechanism for enhanced membership loyalty. Identification with positive role models and the perception of a friendly environment provide much more powerful incentives for continued membership than the prestige accorded via nominations by network peers. At the group level, the results suggest that the distribution of ties, rather than their volume, matters for membership commitment.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Course organization – the order of lectures, discussions, readings, and exercises – has powerful effects on what is learned. Course organization is to content as the “hidden curriculum” is to the formal curriculum, that is, a structure that cues students on what is to be learned.
The paper reports learning outcomes from versions of a Social Movements course taught using serial and parallel strategies. Students learned more theories through the serial strategy. Students learned more of sociological thinking through the dialogue of theories and cases encouraged by the parallel strategy. Apart from their direct impact on what is learned, with regard to the hidden curriculum, the most significant difference between the serial and parallel strategies is the lesson they send of what sociological thinking is.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The twin challenges of “parallel societies” (the perceived self-segregation of Muslim minorities) and anti-immigrant populism directed at Muslims in western democracies are currently the subjects of considerable cross-continental public discussion and policy-making (European Monitoring Center on Racism and Intolerance, 2006; European Security Forum, 2006; Council on American-Islamic Relations, 2005). This paper examines the extent to which the “securitization” of immigration policy (the official conceptualization of immigration primarily as an existential threat to the state or society) has undermined acceptance of multiculturalism in those western nations where official parlance indicates the perception that they are now home to a “Muslim diaspora.” In many of these societies, the integration of migrants (and their descendents) from largely Muslim nations currently requires assimilation to the dominant culture; those who seek to practice and preserve elements of their traditional religious culture may attract scrutiny as potential security risks. While this transition has affected attitudes and public practices on both sides of the Atlantic, levels of state activity in integration policy (state primacy) may have influenced the differing impact of securitization on public tolerance of multiculturalism. The nature and degree of Muslim integration, the place of multiculturalism, and immigration policy securitization are assessed here in terms of their impact on anti-immigrant populism directed at Muslims and public concern over the development of parallel societies in Muslim communities of the Netherlands, Germany, France, Britain and the United States.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed