Italian Protestants: Religion, Ethnicity, and Assimilation

Early in the twentieth century, Italian Protestants in the United States comprised a religious minority in the Italian Catholic community and an ethnic minority in the American one. Because the assimilation of Protestants from heavily Catholic countries is little studied, I examine the life cycle of three Italian Protestant churches in three denominations in Rochester, New York in order to explain why they disappeared earlier than did their Catholic counterparts. When the second generation Italian Protestants attained adolescence, religious identity with American Protestants overrode ethnic identity, accelerating their assimilation. The Italian Protestant churches had become middle-class American organizations save for the use of Italian, a fatal contradiction. By 1960,all three churches had died, but all of the ethnic Catholic and national Orthodox parishes had survived.     

Revealing the Cues Within Community Places: Storiesof Identity, History, and Possibility

Place-based approaches to community change have become increasingly popular strategies for addressing significant social problems. With their intentional focus on 'place,' most efforts have sought to gain greater understanding into how neighborhood contexts affect people. However, while both aggregate characteristics and social dynamics of neighborhoods have been subject to scrutiny in the literature, less attention has been paid to understanding how the environmental characteristics of neighborhoods and communities as places have meaning for residents. The present study used an innovative methodology called Photovoice to obtain a greater understanding of the meanings residents ascribe to the salient characteristics of their neighborhoods and communities. As part of a place-based initiative, 29 adult and youth residents in seven distressed urban neighborhoods photographed and dialogued about the meaningful physical attributes of their community. According to participants, place characteristics provided cues about their personal histories as members of the community; communicated messages about the value and character of the community and its residents; defined social norms and behavior within the community; and provided markers that could remind residents of who they are and inspire a sense of possibility for who they could become. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Growing Suburbs,Relocating Churches: The Suburbanization of Protestant Churches in the Chicago Region, 1925–1990

This study examines the locations of Protestant churches in the Chicago region between 1925 and 1990 based on data from the Church Federation of Greater Chicago. The analysis adds two insights to existing explanations of white flight and the corresponding suburbanization of churches: suburbanization patterns were not the same across Protestant groups and churches moving to the suburbs were adding to churches already present in those communities. As the percentage of suburban Protestant churches in the Chicago region started increasing after 1925, the new suburban locations were influenced by settlement patterns in the Chicago region—first along railroad lines and then in between with new sites easier to access by automobile—in addition to racial changes in Chicago neighborhoods and the ethnic composition of denominations. Suggestions for further research include examining the suburbanization of religious groups in more metropolitan regions (particularly beyond the North), comparing the discussions about moving to the suburbs across denominations and congregations, and considering how religious congregations have helped shape suburban communities.     

Life Care Ministry:

As St. John's Lutheran Church in Stamford, Connecticut recognized that senior citizens comprised about 18% of its membership, the congregation decided to hire a full-time staff person to develop and direct a ministry program with the elderly. The program offers group meetings, information and referral, direct services, and visitation. It provides spiritual, educational, and fellowship opportunities, and supports the elderly's independence. Instruction about aging, and involvement of younger members in this ministry, has drawn the congregation together with a sense of understanding, community, and mutual responsibility. St. John's approach demonstrates the important role churches can have in the support network of the elderly.     

Differential Effects of Strategic Planning on Community Change in Two Urban Neighborhood Coalitions

Community coalitions represent a promising approach for addressing the interrelated and multiply- determined issues affecting urban neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. The literature suggests a number of community processes that may affect coalition efforts to change and improve communities. This study uses an interrupted time-series design to examine the effects of a strategic planning intervention on community change in two urban neighborhoods in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Results showed that strategic planning was associated with increased rates of community change in the two urban neighborhood coalitions. Under appropriate conditions, such as the presence of consistent leadership, strategic planning may be a particularly effective mechanism for stimulating community change and addressing locally-determined goals in urban neighborhoods.     

Avoidance ratings and fears of Chinese adults by age, ethnic group, sex, and residency

Few studies among the Chinese population concerning avoidance out of fear have been reported. Existing studies are limited to school and collegiate samples while overlooking ethnic minorities, of which China has more than 50. In this study, a general population sample in China indicated the level at which they would avoid certain situations. The data were analyzed relative to age, ethnicity, sex, and the amount of time living in urban or rural areas. Three samples (urban Han, n=144; rural Han, n=144; Urban Hui, n=72) were selected using stratified quota sampling. Respondents identified that they avoided social situations the most and agoraphobic situations the least. Overall, women expressed significantly greater fear. This sex difference was less marked in the urban sample where the Chinese tradition of male dominance has been diluted due to urbanization and modernization. There were few age-related differences, although some fears among the elderly were explained by age-related vulnerabilities and folklore. The Hui minority group had significantly lower overall scores than the Han group; this was attributed to the role of their Islamic beliefs.     

Intergroup dynamics of extra-legal police aggression: An integrated theory of race and place

The police are empowered to use various forms of coercion to accomplish legitimate duties, but they also may employ them gratuitously in violation of law or departmental policy. These extra-legal behaviors range in severity from verbal abuse, such as racial slurs and profanity, to unjustified physical force resulting in severe injury or death. Racial and ethnic minorities, especially those residing in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods, may be disproportionately targeted for such practices. Scholars have offered several explanations for the differential employment of extra-legal police aggression, but an integrated theory of minority disadvantage has yet to be developed. In this article, we synthesize the existing literature into a model of extra-legal police aggression that considers intergroup dynamics of race and place. We argue that ordinary social-psychological processes triggered by the characteristics of neighborhoods explain extra-legal police aggression against minority citizens.     

Captured in Time: Friendship and Aging

This essay explores the general issues of aging—loneliness, vulnerability, dispossession, disempowerment, fear of death—from a Christian perspective. Drawing on Aristotle and Aelred of Rievaulx, we argue first that Christian stories transform these issues such that we see aging as a gift rather than a threat. Second, friendships among the elderly, and between the elderly and the young, are essential to the church; we need the elderly to tell the Christian stories, to embody the church's memory, and to teach the young how to grow old and die. Finally, we make a few suggestions about how churches can approximate more closely Aelred's vision of a community of friendship.     

Living Independently as an Ethnic Minority Elder: A Relational Perspective on the Issues of Aging and Ethnic Minorities

This study examines the residential experiences of Korean ethnic elders in affordable housing in the greater Chicago area, focusing on how patterns of social relationships that evolved around a geographical location and its urban infrastructure enabled the elders to achieve their desire for residential independence. Based on the theoretical concept of activity settings and social capital, the study suggests an integrated theoretical model where social capital is understood as an embedded asset of an activity setting. Methodologically, this study uses a combined method of qualitative interviews with 138 Korean elders in affordable housing in the greater Chicago area and a geographic analysis of their social relationships in order to present associations among social relationships, urban infrastructures, and the shared value of independence within their residential communities. The study findings indicate that the elders mobilized ethnic businesses, urban infrastructures, and the collective efficacy of groups to achieve the shared goal of maintaining residential independence. In each community, a cultural broker acted as an important bridge between the community of ethnic minorities and the larger social networks coexisting within the community boundary. The relational perspective as a potent ground for understanding and further solving the issues of aging and ethnicity is highlighted.     

The Effectiveness and Trustworthiness of Faith-Based and Other Service Organizations: A Study of Recipients' Perceptions

Drawing on a new community study of more than 2,000 residents of low-income neighborhoods, we examine information about the kinds of service organizations respondents have contacted for assistance and the perceptions of these respondents about the effectiveness and trustworthiness of those organizations. We compare contact with and perceptions of faith-based organizations, nonsectarian organizations, government agencies, hospitals, and churches and employ a method that takes account of respondents' varying portfolios of service providers. The results indicate that the recipients of faith-based organizations resemble those of the public welfare department in the extent of financial need and scope of family problems, and differ significantly from recipients of help from congregations. The results also indicate that recipients' evaluations of the effectiveness and trustworthiness of their portfolio of service organizations are lower when they have sought assistance from public welfare agencies and higher when they have sought assistance from congregations, but are not significantly affected by having contacted faith-based or nonsectarian organizations.     

Building Communities in Tense Times: Fostering Connectedness Between Cultures and Generations through Community Arts

The worldwide upsurge in social polarizations generates intercommunity tensions that challenge the social fabric of urban neighborhoods and undermine the relationships between their members. Because community arts can foster the creation of connections between people that would not have been in contact otherwise, they are often perceived as being powerful tools to foster community resilience. Through a multiple case study approach, this article describes how three community arts projects, carried out in two socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods of Montreal (Canada), influenced the social relationships between participants from diverse ethnocultural backgrounds and generations. Using participant observation and arts-based data collection methods (photography, video, and arts productions), the authors examine how the three projects illustrate (a) the interactive processes at play, (b) the transmission and hybridization of stories and images of adversity and resiliency, and (c) the access to a collective voice.     

Structure and provision of services in Black churches in New Haven, Connecticut

Historically, Black (or African American) churches have played a central role as a center of religious and political life and also as a provider of human services and a healing community. This article examined the extent to which African American churches in 1 Northeastern urban environment are involved in the delivery of health and human service programs to their communities. It also explored how comfortable Black clergy are in referring their parishioners to the formal mental health system and identified the actual level of referrals. In addition, the analyses considered the individual and organizational characteristics that predict variations in the levels of support services and the likelihood of referral. Analyses revealed that African American churches deliver a broad range of services to the community. More than two thirds of the clergy feel comfortable in making a referral to a mental health agency or professional, and more than half have actually made a referral. Both service delivery and referral levels varied by several clergy and congregational characteristics. The implications of these findings for research and health policy are considered.     

Quality Aging

Our culture has an ageist bias whereby the aged are discriminated against; they are treated stereotypically rather than as individuals. Emphasis on aging's positive aspects, or quality aging, can conteract discrimination at its beginnings. Individuals who are models of quality aging exhibit certain characteristics: they are needed, they belong to a community, and they have good health habits. There is a sense of investent in the future. Quality aging reflects a healthy spiritual life, and is posisble for all aged persons, even the infirm, if they receive the necessary support to remain in community life.     

Racial Diversity in U.S. Congregations, 1998–2019

Racially diverse congregations have become an important part of the American religious landscape. We use data from the National Congregations Study (NCS), notably including data from the fourth wave, collected in 2018–2019, to examine 20 years of racial diversity in congregations. We find that racial diversity within congregations has increased substantially between 1998 and 2019. There are more congregations in which no one racial or ethnic group comprises more than 80 percent of the people, congregations’ average diversity level has increased, and the percentage of all-white congregations has declined. Nearly a quarter of evangelical churches now have no one ethnic group constituting more than 80 percent of the people, a rate comparable to what we observe among Catholic churches. Moreover, congregations that meet this 80-percent threshold are more likely to be led by black clergy in 2019 than they were in 1998. We end with a note of caution about concluding that diverse congregations necessarily promote racial justice.     

The construction of multi-layered melancholy in peripheral Tel Aviv

Based on the feminist theory of intersectionality, with a specific focus on emotions, this article proposes the concept of “multi-layered melancholy” to describe the feeling of sadness that emerges during personal or collective loss following spatial, ethnic, and gender inequality among a discriminated group of citizens who are located at the margins of Israeli society and the urban sphere. The case study explored is the Hatikva neighborhood, which was originally a lower-income neighborhood of Mizrahim (marginalized Jews who immigrated to Israel from North Africa and Asia during the 1950s (and which has undergone a dramatic process of change in recent years following the arrival of African migrants and the subsequent contraction of the veteran community. Following anthropological field work I conducted in the Hatikva neighborhood from 2010 to 2013, the analysis shows the multi-layered articulation of spatial, ethnic, and gender melancholy in the urban sphere, and contributes to the current writing on these concepts by showing how they connect to one another and operate simultaneously in practice. While this feeling of loss arises sporadically in specific contexts, I argue that the older Mizrahi women I met in a local day center for the elderly embody a three-dimensional melancholy due to their gender, ethnic, and spatial marginality.     

Growing awareness of gender in urban policies

This article discusses issues from the Women in the City Conference held in October 1994 in Paris. The conference was organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Urban Affairs of the Territorial Development Service. An OECD report "Shaping Structural Change--The Role of Women" was published in 1991. This report argued that economies were not benefiting fully from women's contributions to economic growth and social development. Also, the "systemic nature of gender-based inequalities and the need for systemic solutions" was encouraged. The Secretary General urged OECD work groups to include the issue of the role of women. The conference was organized to this end. The conference demonstrated the progress made in women's international leadership and policy participation. However, the conference also indicated that the representation of women in urban decision making and planning groups was too low in member countries. Some urban changes involving urban women were a concern. 1) Women's participation in the labor force increased to 60%, and these women are required to provide the household budget. 2) Two parent households declined and single parent households, mostly women, increased. 3) Single person households increased and many were elderly and female. 4) OECD country populations were aging. These aforementioned trends place greater responsibilities on women. Urban policies impact on women's daily lives. Women are seeking policy changes related to women's transportation needs, access to affordable housing, improved house and community environments, security, more responsive services, economic development for women, and culture and leisure. Women's participation in public life can be improved through the expansion of child care facilities, legal changes, provision of gender-sensitive information, and new forms of urban governance that are more responsive and accessible to women.     

A sociological view of delinquency and implications for the ministry

Conclusions With respect to the problem of delinquency, we have presented a sociological view of causation, i.e.,we have implicitly suggested that the attempt to control delinquency by dealing with the individual must be balanced by dealing with the conditions in our society which breed alienation and crime. Massive changes are needed in our society at the present time if future problems traceable to alienation and apathy are to be averted. The changes, we believe, are possible if enough people are brought to the point of concern. We do not think we should attempt to be too specific about the changes needed.In general, however, we suggest that ministers must get out of their own churches or parishes and find out what is going on in the surrounding neighborhoods, especially those which are facing problems of poverty, of delinquency, and of ethnic discrimination. It will not do for them to wait until a dramatic event occurs at home before they begin to move. In this regard, we think ministers should make every effort tojoin and/or form pressure and action groups which work to bring about social action at the point of need.     

Selective residential mobility and social influence in the emergence of neighborhood personality differences: Longitudinal data from Australia

This study examined the role of selective residential mobility and differential personality development in the emergence of associations between personality and two neighborhood characteristics: urban–rural residence and neighborhood affluence. Participants were 19,665 individuals from the longitudinal Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) study with personality traits assessed in 2005, 2009, and 2013. Urban and more affluent neighborhoods were both characterized by higher openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. Overall, selective residential mobility was more important for urban–rural differences whereas both selective residential mobility and social influence contributed to correlations with neighborhood affluence. Simulated data based on the regression models produced correlations that were very close to the empirical correlations, suggesting that the empirical correlations could feasibly emerge within a 30-year period.     

Children and youth in neighborhood contexts

Neighborhoods are increasingly studied as a context where children and youth develop; however, the extent of neighborhoods' impact remains debatable because it is difficult to disentangle this impact from that of the family context, in part because families have some choice as to where they live. Evidence from randomized experiments, studies using advanced statistical models, and longitudinal studies that control for family characteristics indicates that neighborhoods do matter. In nonexperimental studies, small to moderate associations were found, suggesting that children and adolescents living in high-income neighborhoods had higher cognitive ability and school achievement than those living in middle-income neighborhoods, and children and adolescents living in low-income neighborhoods had more mental and physical health problems than those living in middle-income neighborhoods. The home environment has been shown to be partly responsible for the link between neighborhood and children's development. For adolescents, neighborhood effects are partially accounted for by community social control. Experimental studies in which families were randomly assigned to move to low-poverty neighborhoods from housing projects found larger neighborhood effects than nonexperi-mental research, particularly for boys' outcomes. Additional issues reviewed are relevant neighborhood characteristics, theoretical models explaining the pathways underlying neighborhood effects, methods for research assessing neighborhood processes, and policy implications.     

Black Church Leaders’ Attitudes About Mental Health Services: Role of Racial Discrimination

Black church leaders are often first responders to mental health issues in the Black community, yet few researchers have examined their attitudes about seeking outside mental health services. In order to fill this gap, we surveyed 112 church leaders in a northeastern urban Baptist Black mega-church (22 associate pastors, 34 deacons, and 56 congregation care givers) using The National Survey of American Life. Findings suggest church leaders more often relied on the church community and alternative health services, leaders who attended church more often tended to report not receiving any outside mental health treatment, the closer church leaders felt to all Black people, the less satisfied they were with help received from formal mental health services, and leaders who experienced more racial discrimination tended to report worse overall mental and physical health. Clinical providers and Black churches should develop collaborative partnerships to better meet the needs of this community.