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- All Subjects: Sociology
- Creators: Menjivar, Cecilia
- Resource Type: Text
The abundance of resources at the Asian center flowing to the social networks of seniors are attributed to three factors: work and volunteer engagement and history, the organization of the center, and individual activities. At both centers seniors bond with each other due to shared ethnicity, language, and migration experience and share information and companionship in the language in which they feel most comfortable. What differentiated the two centers were the presence of several people well connected to individuals, groups, and institutions beyond the affiliated center. The presence of these "bridges" were critical when the centers were faced with budgetary constraints and Arizona was experiencing the effect of ongoing immigration policies. These "bridges" tend to come from shared ethnicity, and better social positions due to cumulative factors which include but are not limited to higher education, professional occupation, and work and volunteer history. I have also presented cases of individuals who, although have developed expertise from past work experiences and individual activities, have limited contribution to the resource flow because of the differences in ethnicity. The study also explored a gendered life course and its impact on the social network for older Asian and Latino immigrants.
In this research, I explore three questions: 1) how do stay-at-home fathers construct their masculinity, specifically in relation to their social roles as fathers, partners, peers, etc.? 2) Is the negotiation of household labor, including care work and household tasks, in these families a reflection of shifting gender roles in the home where the primary caregiver is the father? 3) In what ways does social location and intersecting identities influence the ways in which fathers construct this stay-at-home identity?
My research emphasizes how these fathers understand their role as a stay-at-home father while challenging some traditionally dominant expectations of fatherhood. Specifically, I use themes of isolation, resistance, and the division of household labor in order to understand the multiple ways fathers experience their roles as stay-at-home parents.
With a prison population that has grown to 1.4 million, an imprisonment rate of 419 per 100,000 U.S. residents, and a recidivism rate of 52.2% for males and 36.4% for females, the United States is facing a crisis. Currently, no sufficient measures have been taken by the United States to reduce recidivism. Attempts have been made, but they ultimately failed. Recently, however, there has been an increase in experimentation with the concept of teaching inmates basic computer skills to reduce recidivism. As labor becomes increasingly digitized, it becomes more difficult for inmates who spent a certain period away from technology to adapt and find employment. At the bare minimum, anybody entering the workforce must know how to use a computer and other technological appliances, even in the lowest-paid positions. By incorporating basic computer skills and coding educational programs within prisons, this issue can be addressed, since inmates would be better equipped to take on a more technologically advanced labor market.<br/>Additionally, thoroughly preparing inmates for employment is a necessity because it has been proven to reduce recidivism. Prisons typically have some work programs; however, these programs are typically outdated and prepare inmates for fields that may represent a difficult employment market moving forward. On the other hand, preparing inmates for tech-related fields of work is proving to be successful in the early stages of experimentation. A reason for this success is the growing demand. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 11 percent between 2019 and 2029. This is noteworthy considering the national average for growth of all other jobs is only 4 percent. It also warrants the exploration of educating coders because software developers, in particular, have an expected growth rate of 22 percent between 2019 and 2029. <br/>Despite the security risks of giving inmates access to computers, the implementation of basic computer skills and coding in prisons should be explored further. Programs that give inmates access to a computing education already exist. The only issue with these programs is their scarcity. However, this is to no fault of their own, considering the complex nature and costs of running such a program. Accordingly, this leaves the opportunity for public universities to get involved. Public universities serve as perfect hosts because they are fully capable of leveraging the resources already available to them. Arizona State University, in particular, is a more than ideal candidate to spearhead such a program and serve as a model for other public universities to follow. Arizona State University (ASU) is already educating inmates in local Arizona prisons on subjects such as math and English through their PEP (Prison Education Programming) program.<br/>This thesis will focus on Arizona specifically and why this would benefit the state. It will also explain why Arizona State University is the perfect candidate to spearhead this kind of program. Additionally, it will also discuss why recidivism is detrimental and the reasons why formerly incarcerated individuals re-offend. Furthermore, it will also explore the current measures being taken in Arizona and their limitations. Finally, it will provide evidence for why programs like these tend to succeed and serve as a proposal to Arizona State University to create its own program using the provided framework in this thesis.
The dissertation generated several findings; the first was to provide a profile of an Unaccompanied Minor, and for the sake of the study, only participants from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were interviewed. From those interviewed, we learned that UIMs are a heterogeneous group. They come from diverse backgrounds in terms of household structures; (nuclear family structures, single-parent structures, extended-family structures, and migrant-family structures). Also, education levels varied; (some finished elementary or even secondary school, but for those living in rural areas it was harder to attend school due to the distance and availability of educational facilities). Many also worked in the labor force from an early age. One salient theme that UIMs talked about in relation to their home life was how the increase in violence in many Latin American countries was threatening their safety, especially for UIMs from El Salvador and Honduras. The next major finding was the ability to see the multiple stages UIMs experience, including: initiation/decisions to migrate, journey, arrival/adaptation and what takes place in each of these stages.