Highlights from Past Conferences
ROSS KOPPEL The 57th Annual Conference of the
Pennsylvania Sociological SocietyCalifornia University of Pennsylvania
October 26 - 27, 2007"Practicing Sociology: New Directions in Applying Sociology to Create a Better World"
Two Keynote Speakers
University of Pennsylvania
President, Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology
President, Social Research Corporation Ross Koppel, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania: Department of Sociology, School of Arts and Sciences; Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine; Graduate School of Education; and President, Social Research Corporation, Wyncote, PA.Dr. Koppel’s work focuses on: research methods, employment, skills, cost of disease, evaluation research, education and human capital, medical sociology, and public policy. Professor Koppel has authored or co-authored over 150 academic papers and articles, several monographs, and several books and book chapters. He serves as President of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology, and is the recipient of several major awards including the William Foote Whyte Award for Distinguished Career in the Practice of Sociology and the Sociological Practice Award. Koppel, who received his Ph.D. in 1981 from Temple University, has worked on studies for the U.S. Congress’s Office of Technology Assessment, and has served twice on the White House Conference on the Future of Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
For the past 15 years, Professor Koppel has taught research methods, statistics, and field methods at Penn. Dr. Koppel is the Principal Investigator of the study The Role of Hospital Workplace Culture and Medication Errors. His recent article (Role of Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems in Facilitating Medication Errors) based on this study appeared in JAMA and received widespread attention. This research reflects his long-standing focus on the study of work and the role of technology in the workplace.
Professor Koppel has developed, administered and analyzed over 165 surveys on topics ranging from energy use to bureaucratic efficiency. He has written about workplace stress and error, the impact of technology on jobs and skills, minimum wage policy, educational policy, Alzheimer’s disease costs, transportation systems, ADA compliance, utility company policy, wage and earning determination, management-union cooperation, and statistical analysis in social research. He is an author of the ethics code of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology.
Professor Koppel wrote two analyses of the cost of Alzheimer’s disease borne by U.S. businesses. He uncovered the almost $100 billion business spends each year, mostly on caregivers’ lost productivity. Koppel also directed a study on public transit use by people with disabilities in Boston, which ended a five-year court battle, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in system changes to assist people with disabilities. It has become the federal model for all transit research on the subject.
STEVE STEELE
Anne Arundel Community College
Institute for the Future @ AACCStudying the future within the field of sociology is not new, yet the topics and tools of futures studies are not routinely addressed in college sociology programs and courses. In two presentations:
- “So You Want to Teach the Future?” Topics, Tools and Tasks for Sociologists
- Creating an Institution for the Future at your College or University
Steve Steele will address these questions –
- Why study the future?
- Can we connect sociology and the future?
- Futures, foresight and applied sociology – a probable combination?
- What are some thoughts on teaching “the future?”
- How and why should we create institutes to address local futures?
Who? Steve Steele does not consider himself a “futurist!” Rather he integrates a proactive understanding of the future into the breadth of his work, believing that we all can have a hand in shaping our own futures. As the Director of the Institute for the Future @ Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland (http://www.aacc.edu/future), he works with an advisory team in the ongoing development of a vehicle for the delivery of future views at the local level. IF @ AACC is truly providing the vehicle to “think globally and ‘act locally.’”
Steve has been active and visible in applied sociology and futures thinking for over three decades. A graduate of Eastern Michigan University (B.A. and M.A.) and The Catholic University of America (Ph.D.), his career spans academia as a professor at Anne Arundel Community College and a former adjunct professor in the graduate program in Organizational Development and Human Resources at Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education. Awards from Johns Hopkins University, the American Sociological Association and the Society for Applied Sociology reflect his prowess in teaching and practice. This solution-centered approach to sociology is further reflected in his book, aptly titled Solution-Centered Sociology: Addressing Problems Through Applied Sociology (Sage Publications, 1999) and Applied Sociology: Terms, Topics, Tools and Tasks, 2nd edition (with Jammie Price, Wadsworth, 2007).
2007 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2007
4:30 – 7:10 p.m. ---- Registration and Packet Pickup
6:30 – 8:30 p.m. ---- Dinner
Welcome by Dr. Laura Tuennerman-Kaplan, Interim Dean of Liberal Arts, California University of PennsylvaniaKeynote Address
“So You Want to Teach the Future?” Topics, Tools and Tasks for Sociologists
Dr. Stephen Steele, Professor of Sociology, Anne Arundel Community College8:30 p.m. ---- Visiting students (undergrad and grad) are invited to meet and socialize with Cal U sociology students. Our students will remain behind after dinner and are happy to “show you the town!” SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2007
7:30 – 8:00 a.m. ---- Continental Breakfast, Courtesy of Ms. Dana McClane, McGraw-Hill Higher Education
7:30 a.m. – noon ---- Registration and Packet Pickup
7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ---- Book Exhibit – McGraw-Hill Higher Education
8:00 - 9:30 a.m. ---- SESSION ONE-A
Workshop: Preparing a Manuscript for Sociological Viewpoints
Facilitator: Anthony Zumpetta, West Chester University of Pennsylvania
SESSION ONE-B
Paper Session: Issues in Public Policy
Facilitator: Joseph D. Yenerall, Duquesne UniversityMatthew Searight, Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy, Duquesne University
Educational Policy Issues in Ireland
As part of a fieldwork in social policies course in Ireland, summer, 2007, I undertook a study of the Irish public educational system and the current policy issues facing that institution. This paper provides an overview of the structure and content of the Irish educational system and reviews several matters of debate about educational protocols, including class sizes, special education concerns, educational for the rapidly increasing non-Irish population. Data for the paper was garnered through secondary sources, on-site observations, and informal interviews with Irish teachers and administrators.Glynnis Harvey, Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy, Duquesne University
Environmental Policy Issues
A field work course in Ireland (summer, 2007) provided the opportunity to research current Environmental policy issues in Ireland. The leading issue discovered and studied as the basis for this paper is the Shell to Seas project involving the placing of a gas pipeline through County Mayo. This project has been the object of considerable protest since its inception 6 years ago. This paper reviews the factors that affect the development of environmental policies in Irish society, the origin and development of the Pipeline project in County Mayo, and the ongoing development of the social movement opposed to the pipeline project. Future policy developments regarding this project are explored.Joseph D. Yenerall, Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy, Duquesne University
The Bark is Worse than the Bite: The Ecology of Humane Society Officers and the Implications for the Enforcement of Animal Cruelty Laws in Pennsylvania
Animal Cruelty Laws have received increased public scrutiny in the past year during which animal rights groups have been particularly active in the legislative arenas throughout the US. New laws have been proposed for Pennsylvania that contain a much more serious “get tough” approach to dealing with those who violate animal cruelty laws. This paper explores the distribution of Humane Society Police Officers throughout Pennsylvania who would be charged with the enforcement and prosecution of the laws. What is their distribution throughout the various counties in Pennsylvania and what are the implications for animal cruelty policies enforcement in the state? These are the research questions that are addressed in this paper.SESSION ONE-C
Paper Session: Evaluating Programs, Processes, and Behaviors
Facilitator: Richard Griffin, California University of PennsylvaniaJames Paharik, Seton Hill University
Peacemaking as Applied Sociology
This paper describes research undertaken on behalf of the Beit Benedict Peace Academy, an initiative of the Dormition Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Jerusalem. The research design employed participant observation and qualitative interviews to determine the range and effectiveness of peace programs currently available to Israeli and Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. Based on the results of this study and on the finding of other research on peacemaking in segregated and culturally divided societies, a series of recommendations are offered regarding the factors that make interfaith and intercultural encounter programs effective.Joseph W. Ruane, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
No News is Good News: Media Violence and Communicative Action
Media violence coverage fills television screens throughout the year during the evening news. This short paper sees that of one actor, the TV production, informing a second actor, the viewers. The link and theoretical pinnings flow from an extrapolation of the work of James Chriss (1995:545) on Jurgen Habermas and Erving Goffman looking at individuals in communicative action. The difference this paper makes with this definition is that while the actors are not face-to face to read one another’s responses, the aim of the first actor is to communicate to the second actor information relevant to a message given by the first actor, in this case the TV editor, that applies to facts that may be known to the second actor, but ignoring the consequences of the reception of the message by any and all of the second actors or viewers.Michele Kozimor-King, Elizabethtown College
Hidden Dangers: A Sociological Analysis of Food Additives
Food is one of the necessaries of life that all must consume, but never before has the choice of food been more complicated. Average consumers are flooded with information about food from the organic versus local produce debate raging in the media and information surfacing about pesticide and herbicides bioaccumulating in the bodies of children, to concerns about food safety and deadly bacteria. Still, the information seems contradictory, leaving concerned individuals with an absence of knowledge and a whole lot of anxiety. Individuals are faced with important food decisions three to five times each and every day. In addition, the number of categories for any one food item has increased dramatically in just the past 5 years. For example, go down a typical cereal aisle in a local grocery chain and one will find a mass of at least fifty different options for a “healthy” and quick breakfast. While it is commonly known that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, less attention is being paid to what is actually eaten at the table or in the school cafeteria. Most highly processed and packaged breakfast foods are loaded with added ingredients which detract from the nutrients in the food. Such additives include, but are not limited to, refined sugar, monosodium glutamate, aspartame, and artificial food colorings. Even less is known about other food additives designed to enhance flavor or preserve shelf life. This workshop will provide information on common food additives including refined sugar, corn syrup, monosodium glutamate, aspartame, and food coloring. The session will end with a discussion of some of the obstacles to consuming less processed food such as cost, palatability, social norms, and increased food preparation times.Janice K. Purk, Mansfield University of Pennsylvania
Are Pennsylvanians Ready to Retire?
This report addresses the current status of saving and planning for retirement of the residents of Pennsylvanians. Currently boomer retirement status especially women has been questioned. To examine the issues of retirement further we explored the saving patterns for retirement through a random study of 1,102 adult Pennsylvanians. The results found that 15% of adults over 35 have not begun to save for retirement. Of adults who are saving for retirement 40% do not began to investing for retirement until the age of thirty. Most savings for retirement are linked to employer supported plans such as 401k’s. Those that are married were found to be more likely to be saving for retirement. In addition the populations was asked there intended age they planned to retire, the findings indicate that the baby boomer population is planning to work longer then the previous cohort. Overall, a significant number of adults in Pennsylvania are not taking concrete steps towards retirement planning. The findings also indicate that women were as likely as men to report that they were financially planning for retirement. These findings may indicate a change in the gender difference in the area of planning and saving for retirement.Carla Messikomer, The Acadia Institute
An Action Plan for Bringing Sociological Knowledge to the Practice Community
This paper describes a method to access data in community-based organizations for field research. It was most recently used in a study of ethics in assisted living and was adapted from a method implemented in prior studies in aging and in health care, including a medical school merger and a study of the comparative functional health of nursing home residents, senior center participants, and adult day care recipients.As the first wave of baby-boomers turn sixty, both public and private organizations are gearing up to meet their needs and new “silver industries” have emerged. In many counties, specialized yet multi-disciplinary networking groups have been formed that provide opportunities for members of aging services organizations and corporations to promote their products and services, and to assess local employment opportunities. Joining these organizations was an important first step to gaining access to assisted living organizations where our research was conducted. The development trust between researchers and practitioners within the parameter of these groups was critical to the “getting in” phase of our field research. The “how and why” these groups assisted the research team in accessing relevant organizations will be discussed.
Although the qualitative methodology for the study was carefully constructed, it was important to develop a method to implement the methodology in multiple organizations. To that end, we developed a process to communicate respect for the organization, its work and its employees. The guidelines included behavioral guidelines to which researchers would abide when on the premises of the organization, how information would be handled off site, and how the data would be used at the close of the study. A “contract” was developed by the researchers, in consultation with the chief executive of each participating organization which was signed by both parties. The process of developing the “contract” and its content will be presented.
Both the costs and benefits of this approach will be discussed and the implications of its use in organizational research will be highlighted.
Raymond Hsieh and William Schweiker, California University of Pennsylvania
Concern with Identity Theft and Building Trust in E-Commerce
If potential purchasers feel apprehensive about the privacy and security of their online transactions, especially identity theft, they will not make purchases. Online purchasing decisions critically depend upon the consumer’s willingness to trust the online merchant. As a result, online retailers (or e-tailers) not only must analyze carefully the perceived security of their online purchasing systems, but they must also develop privacy policies to address consumer concerns. Equally important, online merchants must effectively communicate their policies to potential customers so as to allay their fears about providing information to the vendor.As communication researchers, we were skeptical that these posted policies directly and effectively addressed the critical concerns of online shoppers. We hypothesized that online privacy and security statements would be fraught with the language of system security and legal privacy protection rather than the language of consumer concerns. To test this proposition, we first surveyed 387 persons and identified their online privacy and security concerns using an open-ended format. Next, we downloaded 500 privacy/security policies posted on the Internet by online vendors. Finally, in order to assess the degree of correspondence between policy language and the language of users themselves, we content-analyzed the texts from both samples and then constructed a perceptual mapping for each. Based upon a comparison of the two samples, and drawing upon script and schema theories, we offer recommendations for ensuring that online privacy/security statements effectively address consumers’ fears regarding the safety and appropriate use of their private information.
10:00 – 11:30 a.m. ---- SESSION TWO-A
Workshop: Creating an Institute for the Future at your College or University
Facilitator: Dr. Stephen Steele, Anne Arundel Community CollegeFuture thinking is an essential element for 21st century sociology. As a vehicle that promotes futures thinking and develops the art of foresight a futures institute is an appropriate structure to foster applied sociology as well as interdisciplinary thinking and action. Such a structure can be implemented to facilitate creativity, to support planning and to conduct trend analysis for the community served by a college. It provides a means for open “thinking globally and acting locally.” This workshop provides an overview of the processes and structures necessary to start an institute for the future at a college or university using the Institute for the Future @ AACC as a model.
SESSION TWO-B
Undergraduate Student Paper Competition and Poster Session
Facilitator: Michele Lee Kozimor-King, Elizabethtown CollegeKristin Nelson, Westminster College
The Decline of Social Connectivity Linked to Stress, Depression, Isolation, and Suicide in College Students
The increase in rates of stress, depression, and suicide among college students is indeed a social problem that needs much research and possible solutions. The primary focus of this project is to research the decline of social connectivity and link it to stress, depression, social isolation, and suicide in college students. This research will be conducted deductively since I will be testing what other researchers have concluded, and inductively because I anticipate finding “theory-building” evidence in conducting the research. My present research will consist of questionnaires given to five freshman classes administered at the middle of the semester.Matthew Elicker, Elizabethtown College
Unlawful Justice: An Opinion Study on Police Use of Force and How Views Change Based on Race and Occupation
The inappropriate use of force by police officers has been a serious discussion in the media and across the nation for some time. For this research, the relationship between race, selected criminal justice occupations, and attitudes toward police use of force will be examined using data obtained from the General Social Survey (GSS) for the years 1994 through 2004. The GSS is a representative sample conducted biennially by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. The sample size for this study was 147 respondents. To operationalize attitudes towards police use of force, an index was created from questions measuring specific use of force scenarios. Results from bivariate correlations support the hypothesis that there is a relationship between race, occupation, and attitudes toward police use of force. As expected, white individuals were significantly (29.5%) more accepting of police use of force when a citizen was attempting to escape custody than blacks when analyzed using the chi-squared statistical test (p<.001). Interestingly, contrary to the hypothesis, lawyers and judges were more tolerant of police use of force than respondents in law enforcement occupations. The results of this study illustrate the importance of criminal justice occupations on attitudes towards police use of force further analyses would be beneficial to explore these relationships further.Branden Rupert and Julie D’Alessandris, California University of Pennsylvania
A Qualitative Response: Homelessness and Future Employment
This research project was originated at the Applied American Sociological Association in Ypsilanti, Michigan. We are attempting to find ways that help the SOS organization. In this attempt we are investigating the differences in education and instabilities in the homeless population. We are also investigating the possibilities of gender differences in the employment process. While keeping employment in mind, the main priority of SOS is housing families. This investigation looks into the process of going from an unstable environment to that of a consistent income and home. We are also looking into the possibilities of jobs where there is room for advancement.Christie Stratos, Lebanon Valley College
Reflections of Patriarchy: A Fashion Perspective of Women’s Religious Positions through the Years
Clothing fashions reflects cultural ideology, which in turn gives stable grounds to analyze and understand the culture of a time period. Religious ideology is no exception to this rule. In fact, women’s positions in religion become blatantly obvious in looking through the lens of fashion. This socio-historical analysis of women’s fashion reveals that fashion itself is a direct manifestation of women’s positions in religion throughout entire centuries. This chronology of fashion begins with the very birth of America and continues through the modern era, encompassing America’s lifespan to date.Keanan Barbour-March, Elizabethtown College
An Educated Guess: The Effects of Education on Political Comprehension, Understanding, and Political Identity
Previous research has examined the effects of educators on political identity, but there is a lack of research of the effects of the quantity of education. This research examines the relationship between years of formal education (K-12) and political knowledge, understanding, and identity. Data was obtained from the General Social Survey (GSS), using the year 1996 for political comprehension and understanding, 2002-2004 for educational effects on political identity. The sample size for the 1996 data was 1242 and the sample size for the 2002-2004 data was 2636. Results from this research support the hypotheses, showing that more education increases an individual’s confidence in their own political understanding and comprehension. Individuals with the highest level of education were 18.2 percent (p<.000) more likely to agree that they had a good understanding of politics and comprehension than those with the lowest level of education. In addition, those with the highest level of education are the most likely to identity themselves as a Liberal, thus supporting the hypothesis. The 2008 Presidential election draws near, results of this study are important for candidates preparing their campaign, in order to most effectively reach their constituents.Rachael Marion, Kyle Spender, Molly Hoshour and Laura Gockley, Lebanon Valley College
Quality of Life in a Continuing Care Retirement Community: Comparing Sex and Residence
POSTER
Quality of life (QoL) is described as one’s personal satisfaction with the cultural, physical, emotional, and intellectual conditions under which one lives. The current study aims to determine whether sex and the different levels of residence in a continuing care retirement community have an impact on elderly QoL. The study presents results of research based on data from questionnaires completed by 109 residents (36 male, 70 female) in independent living (n = 82), assisted living (n = 16), and skilled care (n = 8). The questionnaire examines factors that deal with aspects of QoL such as maintaining identity, staff relations, security, and ability to make choices. Results show that female residents in the facility have a higher overall QoL than males. In addition, independent residents ranked highest in QoL, followed by skilled care and assisted living.
11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. ---- Luncheon and Keynote Address
Welcome by Dr. Elizabeth Jones, Director, Sociology Division, California University of Pennsylvania“Using Sociology for Good”
Dr. Ross Koppel, University of Pennsylvania, Social Research Corporation, PresidentPSS election results and announcement of new board members
Student Paper Competition Awards
PSS Service Award
Distinguished Sociologist Award1:30 – 3:00 p.m. ---- SESSION THREE-A
This is your PSS! Learn more about the Pennsylvania Sociological Society, offer new ideas, meet the board, get involved!
Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend!
This session also serves as the business meeting, during which plans are laid for next year’s conference.SESSION THREE-B
Paper Session: College Life: Socialization, Mentoring, Privilege, Exclusion
Facilitator: Andrae Marak, California University of PennsylvaniaRay Muller and S. Hooshang Pazaki, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania
Educational Alienation among Sociology Students: Rethinking Socialization into the Major
Over the years we have found that the majority of our majors are under-prepared to benefit fully from our courses. We determined that they are often insufficiently socialized into the major, and consequentially rarely identify with the sociology as a discipline. Many of our students, in effect, lack the sociological imagination and way of seeing essential for upper division work. As a part of the solution, we will be offering a new course entitled “Sociological Inquiry" as a 200 level re-introduction to the discipline. The course will introduce students to theory, research methods, and content areas, specifically focusing on the vital connections between theory, methods and the sociological perspective. The course is also designed to generate the requisite social capital in order to build a community of sociological majors. We start our paper with a discussion of the broader cultural trends of contemporary higher education. Among other topics, we will focus on the rapid vocationalization and corporatization of higher education, ubiquitous consumerism and a lack of responsible citizenship, as they impact higher education, the discipline of sociology, and student socialization as they are related to broad based educational alienation. In fact, we have concluded that it is educational alienation that is at the core of student apathy and underpreparedness.Susan Eichenberger and Rebecca Harvey, Seton Hill University
“Witnessing” in the Classroom: Handling Issues of Privilege and Oppression with College-Aged Students
This paper offers ways for instructors to think about and address the challenges that occur when divisive topics (racism, sexism, homophobia) come up in the classroom. Using an interdisciplinary approach, combining both sociological and psychological principles, the authors offer ways for instructors to facilitate classroom discussion and explorations with students in an effort to help them examine and improve their relationships with people different from themselves. The technique includes discussions of oppression and privilege as well as the use of exercises developed to help students begin to recognize the ways in which they may be both privileged and oppressed. Finally, drawing from the work of Kaethe Weingarten and her ideas about witnessing violence in everyday life, the authors offer suggestions for ways to help students negotiate issues of oppression in their lives.Vincent E. Miles and Lisa Belfield, Cheyney University and Delaware Valley College
An Examination of the Social Exclusionary Patterns that Exist Between Intra-Group Members of Black Greek-Lettered Organizations (BGLOs)
This research examines how alumni BGLO members (that had acquired membership through a traditional pledge process) perceive the current BGLO members (that were indoctrinated through the new membership intake process). Research shows that there has been a debate over the credibility of new members and their commitment to the organizations. It also provides for an examination of the commonalities that enable current BGLOs to resemble modern day gangs. This research sheds light on the interaction gap that exists between the same-group alumni and the undergraduate members. Findings provide insight on potential strategies that may alleviate the rash of hazing cases and illegal initiation rites that surface on a yearly basis.
SESSION THREE-C
Paper Session: Gender, Economics, Religion, and the Existential Realm: An Interplay of Cultural Elements
Facilitator: Elizabeth Jones, California University of PennsylvaniaChin Hu -- East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania
Kholoud Al-Qubbaj -- Southern Utah University
S. Hooshang Pazaki -- East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania
The Perception of Gender Norms among the First-Generation Muslim Women in the U.S.: Preliminary Findings
In this study, we attempt to describe the perception of gender norms among the first generation Muslim women living in the United States. Specifically, we argue the dominant and persistent impact of Islamic religion on gender norms and practices. All women participating in this research have strong identity in Islam and are coming from countries where Islam is the dominant religion. These women, regardless of their education, age, national origins, and years living in the U.S., have expressed unyielding support for the traditional gender practices, believing that women’s pivotal role is at home and arguing the importance of motherhood in fulfilling one’s rights and obligations as a Muslim woman. Feminism is, in general, identified with Western cultures, and considered a negative ideology and practices that contradict women’s “predetermined” role in life.Despite the overwhelming consensus on women’s role, an intriguing finding shows that greater number of women who immigrated to the U.S. at a younger age (14 or younger) were more likely to endorse a strong adherence to the traditional gender norms than those who immigrated at an older age (15 or older). However, the same group of women was less likely to follow their religious duties on the day to-day basis, such as wearing hijab in the public and praying and fasting less frequently. Perhaps parents found it imperative to first and foremost protect their young daughters from the unwanted influences of mainstream gender practices in American society.
Marianne Goodfellow, Lebanon Valley College
Edith Abbott and the Woman Wage Earner
Revisionist scholarship on the history of sociology suggests that women scholars made distinctive contributions to the development of the field of sociology. These contributions were pushed to the periphery of the profession and exempted from both the history and canon of sociology. Restoring the women founders to the canon of sociology requires more than passing mention in current introductory sociology texts. It requires full investigation and examination of their distinctive theoretical orientation and the empirical research. One of these unique women, Edith Abbott, wrote extensively of the economic challenges facing the women wage earner—themes alive and well in contemporary scholarship. This paper presents an analysis on one of Abbots empirical studies Women in Industry published in 1926.Miin-Wen Shih, Gettysburg College
Beings (All) and Nature: Their Social Polarization and Existential Restoration
Man is a being-with-space. It means he is spatial. Man is (even though man struggles for his “beingness”-the different degree of “beingness” which defines man as a rational, emotional, and sensual being), and Man is what he is not-he is no longer or not yet. The fellow men and individual agents share a living world with its own duration and space. Man is, and engages in his “average everydayness”. He is his “average everydayness”, but he cannot control it. He left and came back. He may lose different dimensions of his “beingness”, he is not free, but he still struggles. The fellow men’s “average everydayness” constructs the life world with shared time and space. According to Heidegger, our anguish comes from that we will be unable to fall into the world. We fall into the world, and we will be unable to fall into the world, this is his most basic existential mood.Man can polarize the existential and social relationships between man and fellow men, and between man and nature in order to overexploit labor and nature physically for survival and accumulation, and overcome his desolateness in a society. The simple fact is that it is inauthentic and immoral (sociology is political, therefore, is not value free, according to Immanuel Wallerstein). We have to live in a society of sustainability in order to overcome the problems of overexploitation and beings’ desolateness. In addition, in a position of schizophrenia and psychosis being engages himself in total absolute desolation or no concerning desolation. Beings-in-desolation deepen the problems of societal anomie.
1:30 – 3:00 p.m. ---- SESSION FOUR-A
Film: The Founder of American Sociology
Lester F. Ward: A Life’s Journey 1841-1913
2005 (Written, directed and produced by Gale Largey)SESSION FOUR-B
Workshop: Internationalizing the Curriculum
Facilitators: JoAnn Chirico and Kristin Park, Pennsylvania State University and Westminster College
In this workshop we facilitate discussion among participants on how to bring more of an international focus to their Sociology courses and larger campuses. Participants are invited to bring a syllabus, assignment, or class exercise that they would like to develop in this way. A general annotated resource bibliography and a work book of course modules with units on violence, inequality, environment, population, and health will be provided. Each module includes several class lessons, student worksheets and an annotated resource bibliography. Other topics for discussion will depend on participant interests, but may include challenges such as student provincialism, apathy or vocational orientation, and how to balance content on the United States, Western societies, and other world regions within a disciplinary or college curriculum. There will be a $5 fee to cover copying costs ($4) with profit donated to the PSS!SESSION FOUR-C
Paper Session: Teaching, Internships, and Service Learning
Facilitator: Carla Messikomer, The Acadia InstituteJoseph F. Cimini, University of Scranton
Anecdotes on Internships: One Academic Program’s Success with Internship Courses in Criminal Justice, Gerontology, and Sociology
One successful direction in applying sociology and other social science courses to create a better world has been the integration and utilization of internships as part of the curriculum’s upper division major course offerings. This paper discusses internship courses at The University of Scranton, specifically in its Sociology / Criminal Justice Department’s undergraduate academic degree programs. Along with addressing the university-wide guidelines and requirements that pertain to internships for credit, it focuses upon the specific course descriptions and operational aspects of internships available at Scranton over the years in criminal justice, gerontology, and sociology. This paper concludes with selected anecdotes about both student and agency expectations, experiences, and outcomes.Mary Kreis, California University of Pennsylvania
Terrific Twos’ GET FIT Reading Program: A Service Learning Project at a Public Library
As a professor of Sport Management, I share with students just how important it is for sport organizations to have strong relationships with their communities. In fact, this is a career path that Sport Management students can choose by specializing in Community Relations. I teach them about the commitment that these sports organizations have to their communities by sharing with my students examples from texts, journals, newspapers, online materials, and brochures. Therefore, I felt it was important for me, as a Sport Management professor, not only to set the example for my students through my own community and service commitment, but to also instruct my students as to how they too can get involved and make a difference!The service project we created was a “Terrific Twos’ GET FIT Reading Program” at the Rostraver Public Library. What a giant leap it was for these students to go from being volunteers who assisted in the program on a weekly basis, to actually being put in charge of managing activities for the GET FIT program - from setting up, to participating, to cleaning up! They learned that every little detail makes a big difference!
The students who participated in this service learning project will have an “edge over the competition” when interviewing for a position in sport management and will more likely get the job over someone who has not participated in this type of service learning. They will be able to explain to their future employers the “Terrific Twos’ GET FIT program” they organized and how this experience will benefit them in their new position in a sport organization. After all, they will ultimately find themselves leading, developing, and participating in community relations events regardless of what position they hold in a sport organization. Who knows…maybe I have inspired the next Community Relations manager for the Steelers through this service learning project! Ha!
The summer session of “Terrific Twos” included the following programs (the LEFT column is what GET FIT meant to the families and the RIGHT column is what it meant to the volunteering Cal U and BVAHS students):
G-rowing up Healthy and Fit! G-iving back! E-ating Right to GET FIT! E-njoying volunteering! T-hree-ring CircusFit! T-eaching and reading! F-amily Fun and Fitness! F-inding that you can do it! I-can BEE Anything! I-know you can make a difference! T-ime to Sleep! Zzzzzzz T-errific Twos” needs YOU! Barbara J. Denison, Shippensburg University
Linking Theory to Analysis: Doing Organizational and Leadership Assessment through Internship
The Master of Science degree program in organizational development and leadership at Shippensburg is now in its fifth year. More than 50 graduates have completed the mandatory capstone experience which involves an internship and concomitant completion of an organizational analysis and leadership assessment of the placement organization. This paper discusses how the program’s core academic experience involves courses in leadership theory and leadership change based squarely in the appropriate sociological traditions. Completing the assessment project provides students with a practical application of theory from the macrosociological areas of organizations and change and the microsociological focus on the presentation of self and its ties to the leadership literature.Ivan Chompalov and Lubomir Popov. Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and Bowling Green State University
Teaching Descriptive Statistics and Graphical Display Skills with SPSS in a Capstone Sociological Research Methods Course
Practical hands-on skills involving the analysis and presentation of sociological data are highly valued by prospective employers of applied sociology program graduates. Research has demonstrated that employers in applied sociology and human services organizations emphasize the usefulness of sound computer, statistical, analytical, and presentation skills in conjunction with an ability to interpret findings and evaluate the progress and outcomes of specific programs. The acquisition of such skills often translates into giving sociology graduates a leg up in the competition for securing a desirable and well-compensated entry-level position. In response to this market need, capstone sociology methods courses at four-year, predominantly teaching liberal arts universities, such as Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, need to focus on the learning and mastering of the use of SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) through both primary and secondary data analysis, as well as on how to make sense of and present research findings in an understandable manner. This paper reviews the use of SPSS in one such course (SOC 500) for conducting, organizing, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting social research. Special attention is devoted to learning how to take full advantage of the potential of SPSS to utilize a variety of descriptive statistical techniques and to create informative graphs and charts.SESSION FOUR-D
Paper Session: Deviant Subcultures
Facilitator: Anthony Zumpetta, West Chester University of PennsylvaniaAnthony Zumpetta, West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Twenty-Five Years of Change: A Comparative Study of Long-Term Offenders in the PA Department of Corrections Between 1980 and 2005
This research examined the changes in behavior, mores, attitudes, and values experienced by long-term inmates. The convenience sample was composed of volunteers from three maximum security prisons and four other state prisons across Pennsylvania. Baseline data on the attitudes, mores, and behavior of the inmate subculture of the 1970s was based on a review of the literature and the experience of the researcher as a staff member and administrator in the PA Department of Corrections from 1973 to 1988. The data obtained on current behavior, attitude, values and mores was obtained through individual and group interviews with over 200 inmates in the seven participating institutions.The presentation will include an account of the process in gaining the needed approval from the Department of Corrections and university to conduct such a project. It will also report on the differences and similarities of the long term inmate population of today and the long-term inmate population of the 1970s. This includes the behavior, values, and mores of the current long-term population and the behavior, values and mores of younger inmates in the system who have long sentences.
Eric Cohen, Penn State University – Fayette Campus
Drug Use Patterns in a Rural Pennsylvania Community: Some Observations
This paper first reviews the relevant literature pertaining to drug abuse patterns in rural areas. It then explores specific patterns of drug abuse in the southwestern Pennsylvania region in general and Fayette county specifically, focusing in the main on emergent patterns of narcotics abuse. National, state and local data is presented in order to characterize recent trends. Ethnographic insights are also offered in order to better understand the illicit pills markets in Fayette County, and the local domestic marijuana scene in the county.
Special Thanks
Dr. Angelo Armenti, Jr., President, California University of Pennsylvania
Sean C. Madden, D.A., Interim Provost
Laura Tuennerman-Kaplan, Ph.D., Interim Dean of Liberal Arts
John R. Cencich, LL.M., Professor and Chair, Department of Justice, Law & Society
Elizabeth Jones, Ph.D., Professor and Sociology Division Director, Department of Justice, Law & Society
Mr. Butch Widing, Secretary, Sociology Division – Department of Justice, Law & Society
Ms. Dana McClane -- McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Department of Justice, Law & Society, Sociology Division -- California University of Pennsylvania
Sociology Club -- California University of Pennsylvania
Office of Admissions -- California University of Pennsylvania
Welcome Center -- California University of Pennsylvania
Graphic Design Club -- California University of Pennsylvania