Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Global Perspectives is a 100 level interdisciplinary general education course required of students at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The course content includes international relations, international economics and human geography. The majority of students come to the class suspicious of the material and expressing a general disdain for the subject matter. This paper explores three techniques utilized by the author to better engage students in material they find quite “foreign”. The three techniques analyzed are personalized lectures, collaborative lectures and perspective simulations. Personalized lectures involve the integration of student responses to an anonymous survey into lecture material presented throughout the semester. Collaborative lectures require students to research and present information relevant to the topic at various points in a day’s lecture. The instructor is responsible for assigning the material and then integrating student research into the lecture at the appropriate times. Finally, perspective simulations ask students to place themselves into virtual realities where they are required to make decisions, often life and death decisions, and then analyze their decision-making process and reflect on the choices they have made. The analysis in this paper will illustrate how each of these three techniques increases student engagement and fosters the development of a global perspective.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In this paper, I examine what factors affect the foundings of environmental movement organizations (EMO�s) in Korea. As civil society grows up and social movements become more institutionalized, social movement organizations play more crucial roles in Korea. Environmental movements in Korea have also been institutionalized over the past 40 years. Since the first EMO, the Korean Association for Conservation of Nature was founded in 1963, the number of EMOs has increased exponentially. Between 20 and 30 EMOs has been founded every year since the 1990s. The foci of the environmental movements have become more specific as the field has developed. However, the strategies and tactics of the movements have been fairly general and unchanging over time. I employ resource mobilization theory and institutional theory to test the founding dynamics of the EMO considering various factors including political opportunities, resource availability, the expansion of environmental discourse, and participation in environmental activities in world society.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The term "fascism" is sometimes used so broadly as to be reduced to any sort of oppression that annoys anyone. Sometimes it is used with such specificity as to limit it to just a few supposedly unique cases in history. Both extremes limit its usefulness as a concept that can help understand why and how various modern societies develop certain "fascistic" characteristics. In contrast to perspectives that emphasize either individual psychological or mass cultural aspects, an analysis that emphasizes the underlying class processes provides a more useful definition while still being able to take into account those important cultural, ideological, and psychological aspects.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Abstract submitted for the 102th ASA conference, 2007, New York

Comparative Perspectives on Social Division in US, Asia and Europe � A Stratification and Social Division analysis in a regional perspective

By Carsten Str�by Jensen

Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark., csj@sociology.ku.dk

In this article we try to contribute to the discussions about differences and similarities in forms of social division and stratification. We have argued that it is possible to identify differences in important axes of social divisions by looking at the ways in which trade unions organize and develop. And we have tried to use this argument in relation to an analysis of trade unions in US, Europe and Asia.
The conclusive point in the article is that it is possible to identify some differences in the central axes of social division and stratification in the regions. In US market forces - as a social order and as an axe for social division � plays a much more important role than it is the case in Europe and Asia. Correspondingly community based social relations are much more important in Asian than in Europe and US. Social structures formed around relations are more important in Asian life than is the case in US and Europe. Individual preferences are more likely to be set aside in order to fulfil collectively formulated goals. Europe is � contrary to US and Asia � more influence by class based social institutions. This is why institutionalised arrangements like the welfare states and industrial relations systems have been relatively generalised and universalistic in their content. In that respect Europe seems to have a more the clearly defined class structure in comparison with Asia and US.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: This study examines female and male police officers� perceptions of handling domestic violence. Specifically, it assesses whether female, male officers, or a combination of female and male officers are more suited for disposing of victims and offenders of domestic violence. In addition, this study analyzes whether male and female officers differ in utilizing separation, mediation, referral, and arrest. Survey data were collected from 103 female and 169 male officers from two police departments in Taiwan. Results show that female and male officers display similar attitudes toward whether female, male, or a combination of both is suited for handling domestic violence. Similarly, they do not vary significantly in terms of using of separation, mediation, referral, and arrest. Policy implications are discussed.