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THE BULLETIN |
| of the North Carolina Sociological Association Volume 31, Number 2 April 2005 |
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Students Engage in Public Sociology in Mexican Village Ascary Arias, a native of Mexico, joins other Greensboro College students in soliciting funds from NCSA members for their project in public sociology. Arias and the other students will return to his village to build access ramps for handicapped children and to improve public facilities. Their faculty sponsor (shown extreme right) is Joti Sekhon. Anna Osborne, a student at Greensboro College, discussed her experiences in raising $1820 to build ramps for the village school. The next project will be to provide at least one nutritional meal per day for the students. Eight students and two professors spent their spring break in March working in the Mexican village. Ascary, a former illegal immigrant who came to NC to work in the tobacco fields and is now completing a degree at Greensboro College, said, "We're products of our society. Why not work with it and make it better?"
How Does Globalization Affect NC? Ida H. Simpson, Ken Spenner, and Peter Lodge ponder the effect of the global economy on North Carolina. Simpson of Duke University presented statistics to examine the relative effects of globalization through out-sourcing versus in-sourcing. North Carolina ranks ninth in the nation in the number of jobs that are "in-sourced" from foreign companies. It has 1125 foreign firms who employ 212,700 workers in the state. Simpson asked, "Does in-sourcing offset out-sourcing?" She also noted that the jobs which migrate (out-sourcing) are usually service jobs. "Those jobs central to the core of the company's mission don't migrate," she noted. Peter Lodge of Belmont Abbey College discussed data he has collected on textile plant closings. Lodge found that the reason most often given for separations was consolidation and restructuring (25%) rather than foreign competition or NAFTA (15%). He noted, however, that the impact of NAFTA on textile jobs in NC may be understated: there is a disparity between what NC reports and what the US Labor Department reports. Lodge expressed concern that workers may not be receiving all the compensations for which they might qualify under programs created in the wake of NAFTA.. THE BULLETIN is a publication of the North Carolina Sociological Association. The NCSA is open to any person engaged in teaching or research in sociology, or in a field of applied sociology, as well as to any student whose major interest is sociology. Members receive THE BULLETIN and are invited to attend the annual meeting of the association in late winter or early spring. Dues for one calendar year are $11 (professional) and $3 (student, includes registration for annual meeting). For more information about the NCSA, please visit its main page. Click here to return to THE BULLETIN home page. |
Sociologists Explore "The State of Sociology" What do health care, Latino immigrants, sex education, the global economy, race, criminal justice, and song have in common? Anyone who attended the 2005 NCSA Annual Meeting knows that these were among the many topics discussed and examined during sessions held on Feb. 18 at the Durham Hilton. Program chair Rebecca Bach assembled student and professional sociologists from across the state to discuss their experiences with these and other relevant issues under the rubric of "The State of North Carolina: Our Social Laboratory for Teaching, Research and Service." Their colleagues, 74 faculty members and 91 students, responded with their enthusiastic presence. In between sessions, NCSA members socialized in the hallways, browsed through vendors' displays, and enjoyed refreshments of coffee, soft drinks, fresh fruit, and bakery goods. Their enjoyment of the meeting and collegial fellowship were very apparent. In addition to attending plenary and general sessions, the members of the NCSA made changes in the structure of the organization by amending its constitution and by electing new officers. The constitutional changes separated the offices of secretary and treasurer and removed some androcentric language describing other offices. Outgoing secretary-treasurer Sue Pauley of Wingate University was recognized for her many contributions to the welfare of the NCSA by receiving its "Contributions to Sociology Award" for 2005. Pauley's former office will now have two occupants: Cathy Zimmer will take over as treasurer for the organization while Caroline Whitehead will assume the duties of secretary. In other changes, George Conklin has given over the day-to-day operation of the NCSA website and domain to Jammie Price of ASU. Conklin will concentrate on his role as editor of SOCIATION TODAY, the electronic journal of the NCSA. Newly elected members of the NCSA Executive Council include Ella Keller (FSU), Ken Wilson (ECU), and Tom Plaut (Mars Hill College). Out-going members, who are retiring from the council after serving a three-year term, include Jammie Price (ASU), Graham Spann (Lees McRae College), and Miles Simpson (NCCU). Simpson, however, will continue to serve as the president-elect and program chair for 2006. During the Awards Luncheon, Graham Spann announced this year's winner of the Himes Award for best graduate student paper. John Barnshaw of UNCC received the award for his paper, "Toward Predicting Movement Emergence in Resource Mobilization Theory." There were no two-year or four-year undergraduate submissions, noted Spann. "We clearly need to increase efforts for submissions if the award is going to be meaningful in the future."
Rebecca Bach
Presidential Address In her presidential address, Rebecca Bach spoke about the 1995 decision of the North Carolina State Legislature to enact a law requiring that public schools teach abstinence-only until marriage in their healthy living curriculum. The law allows school systems to hold public hearings and obtain community approval for alternative sex education programs, inadvertently providing Bach with the opportunity to compare the impacts of abstinence-only programs with more comprehensive sex education programs. Bach described the political and social context of the legislature’s decision and outlined some of the challenges in doing research on this sensitive topic. And, she presented preliminary results on the teen pregnancy rates for two time periods, 1995 and 2003. Bach found that the counties with school systems teaching abstinence-only sex education had significantly higher teen pregnancy rates than the counties with schools that provided more comprehensive sex education. Bach indicated that her preliminary results provided support for the proponents of comprehensive sexuality programs.
NCSA 2005 Membership Form is available as a PDF document. Viewing this document requires Abode Acrobat Reader.
Check Out the Complete NCSA Website NCSA members and the general public can access the association’s web site at www.ncsociology.org. Information to be included in THE BULLETIN should be sent to its editor at dodsonl@rockinghamcc.edu or mailed to him at RCC, P.O. Box 38, Wentworth, NC 27375. General information for the NCSA web site should be sent to its webmaster, George Conklin (george@nccu.edu, 919-560-6222). Join Our Electronic Information Service To subscribe to the NCSA list, send a one-line message to listproc@listproc.appstate.edu containing the text: sub NCSA Firstname Lastname. To send a message to the list, send the message to ncsa@listproc.appstate.edu. To unsubscribe to the NCSA list, send a one-line message to listproc@appstate.edu containing the text: unsubscribe ncsa. You may also e-mail Beth Davison with your request (davisonb@appstate.edu). |
Sue Pauley Wins 2005 Contributions Award Sue Pauley has accomplished much during her tenure as secretary-treasurer of the NCSA. She took over the position following the untimely death of Pat Wyatt and has served with great consistency and good will ever since. She helped to create and maintain a database of members' addresses and information. Professionally she has conducted research in family sociology on clergy wives and has worked with Project Head Start. This year Pauley retires from her position with the NCSA to take on her full-time responsibilities as head of the Department of Sociology at Wingate University.
Sociology in Song Al Dunkleman’s multimedia presentation wove biography, history, and ethnomusicology into an entertaining and informative session. Dunkleman came to North Carolina in the 1970s to follow his love of traditional music. In this session, he demonstrated a variety of methods for incorporating his love of mountain music into the teaching of sociology courses. Dunkleman, accompanied on guitar by his wife Karen, played both traditional music and original compositions on the banjo, guitar, and fiddle. One of his most moving compositions, "What Will I Do," described the experience of losing one’s job as a result of the closing of the textile mills, an experience shared by several of his students. Another of his songs, "Shelley's Song," recounts the case of one of Dunkleman's students who was killed by a jealous lover. Clearly, Dunkleman’s ability to share, through his music, this very personal experience with his students allows him to help them identify the connections between their individual lives and the larger social forces which shape them. Among the songs used by Dunkleman during his presentation were such traditional fiddle tunes as "Angeline the Baker," " Shady Grove, " and "Barlow Knife." Dunkleman told his rapt audience, "Use music like restaurants use garnishes--every now and then."
Contact Information: The editor of THE BULLETIN is Lee Dodson,
Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at Rockingham Community College, P.O. Box 38,
Wentworth, NC 27375-0038 The secretary of the NCSA is Caroline Whitehead. Questions about membership should be directed to her. The treasurer of the NCSA is Cathy Zimmer. Any issues concerning financial matters should be directed to her. Contact her at the Odum Institute, CB#3355, UNC, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3355, 919-962-0516, |
