By age 30, between 68 and 75 percent of young men in the United States, with only a high school degree or less, are fathers. This volume provides practical, policy-driven strategies to address the national epidemic of disadvantaged young fathers and the challenges they face in raising and supporting their children. National experts discuss the issues of immediate concern to those working to reconnect disengaged dads to their children and improve child and family economic and emotional well-being. Each chapter was presented at a working conference organized by Institute for Research on Poverty director, Tim Smeeding (University of Wisconsin-Madison), in coordination with the Columbia University School of Social Work's Center for Research on Fathers, Children, and Family Well-Being, directed by Ronald Mincy, and the Columbia Population Research Center, directed by Irwin Garfinkel. The conference brought together scholars, many in public policy, to examine strategies for reducing barriers to marriage and fathers' involvement, designing child support and other public policies to encourage the involvement of fathers, and addressing fathers who have multiple child support responsibilities. This volume will appeal to researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners dedicated to improving the lives of low-income families and children.
The killing of Osama bin Laden, the aftermath of the Arab Spring movements, and the shocking and tragic July 2011 events in Norway have exposed important questions about the meaning of democracy and its impetus: How are race, religion, and democracy linked? How are these connections expressed in real life? On the 10th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, this volume examines the symbiotic connections among race, religion, and democracy and calls for reframing the existing discourse on democracy to reflect the mutually inclusive nature of these forces. The authors show that race and religion can be sources for humanizing democratic possibilities and explore the relationship between democratic governance and commitments that citizens have to racial solidarities and religious beliefs around the world, including in the United States, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and South America. This volume will appeal to students of politics and religious studies and to a multidisciplinary scholarly audience in anthropology, political sociology, and race and cultural studies.
Since the end of World War II, runaway fears of Soviet imperialism, global terrorism, and anarchy have tended to drive American foreign policy toward an imperial agenda. This title draws on America's religious and political history and examines two concepts at play in the founding of the country - contractual and covenantal.
The Middle East and North Africa have become places that almost everyone "knows" something about. Too frequently written off as culturally defined by Islam, strongly anti-Western, and uniquely susceptible to irrational political radicalism, authoritarianism, and terrorism-these regions are rarely considered as sites of social and political ......
In a post-Macpherson, post-9/11 world, criminal justice agencies are adapting their responses to criminal behaviour across diverse ethnic groups. Race, Crime and Resistance draws on contemporary theory and a range of case studies to consider racial inequalities within the criminal justice system and related organisations. Exploring the mechanisms of discrimination and exclusion, the book goes beyond superficial assumptions to examine the ensuing processes of mobilisation and resistance across disadvantaged groups. Empirically grounded and theoretically informed, the book critically unpicks the persisting concepts of race and ethnicity in the perceptions and representations of crime. Articulate and sensitive, the book clarifies complex ideas through the use of chapter summaries, case studies, further reading and study questions. It is essential reading for students and scholars of criminology, race and ethnicity, and sociology.
Marking the 20th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly's adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), this volume of the ANNALS considers conceptual, legal, and practical issues related to the realization of children as citizens. The treatment of children is of vital interest to all who seek stronger democracy, especially in aging societies that will necessarily become increasingly dependent on the young. At what age should children be allowed to vote? How are demographic changes taking place in American society relevant to advancing the rights platform for children? What lessons are there to learn from societies that have secured a legal framework for children's rights, such as in Brazil? How are democracy and citizenship strengthened by extending citizenship to children? Using the CRC as a starting point on the path of achieving functional citizenship for children, the distinguished contributors provide examples of empirical research on children's participation in social and political matters and offer recommendations for conceiving child citizenship in a multigenerational context in which the voice, opinions, and energies of children are included and integrated into society at large.
An exploration of how societies have changed over the past five thousand years. The discussion focuses on the idea that industrial societies, despite their great success, have created a new set of recurring and unsolved problems which will serve as a major impetus for further social change.
