Skip to main content
Cover image of the book Citizenship and Crisis
Books

Citizenship and Crisis

Arab Detroit After 9/11
Author
Detroit Arab American Study Team
Hardcover
Add to Cart
Publication Date
6 in. × 9 in. 312 pages
ISBN
978-0-87154-052-2
Also Available From

About This Book

"Drawing on exceptionally well-designed survey research on Arab Americans in Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan, the authors of these interdisciplinary articles have collaborated closely, greatly enhancing the significance and impact of their work. Meticulous statistical and ethnographic information informs each piece, and the theoretical focus throughout is on different discourses of citizenship. The chapters all contribute to an extraordinarily compelling yet nuanced argument that, for America's Arab immigrants, their particular and unique history problematizes their attainment of full citizenship in the nation."
-KAREN B. LEONARD, professor of anthropology, University of California-Irvine

"In the most noble tradition of empirically grounded social science, Citizenship and Crisis lifts the veil of misinformation created by post-9/11 anxiety and xenophobia to reveal an Arab- American community that is committed to American ideals and to U.S. society and struggling to gain acceptance here-in short, a group that bears little resemblance to the terrorists and fundamentalists haunting American nightmares."
-RICHARD ALBA, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, the Graduate Center, City University of New York

"Citizenship and Crisis is a timely and important book. Based on a landmark survey of Arab Americans in the Detroit metropolitan area, it looks beyond commonly-held stereotypes of Arab Americans to uncover the complex realities of their religious practices, cultural values, political views, and identities and provides a fascinating analysis of the many contradictions involved in being Arab American today. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding Arab Americans in the United States."
-NANCY FONER, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York

Is citizenship simply a legal status or does it describe a sense of belonging to a national community? For Arab Americans, these questions took on new urgency after 9/11, as the cultural prejudices that have often marginalized their community came to a head. Citizenship and Crisis reveals that, despite an ever-shifting definition of citizenship and the ease with which it can be questioned in times of national crisis, the Arab communities of metropolitan Detroit continue to thrive. A groundbreaking study of social life, religious practice, cultural values, and political views among Detroit Arabs after 9/11, Citizenship and Crisis argues that contemporary Arab American citizenship and identity have been shaped by the chronic tension between social inclusion and exclusion that has been central to this population’s experience in America.

According to the landmark Detroit Arab American Study, which surveyed more than 1,000 Arab Americans and is the focus of this book, Arabs express pride in being American at rates higher than the general population. In nine wide-ranging essays, the authors of Citizenship and Crisis argue that the 9/11 backlash did not substantially transform the Arab community in Detroit, nor did it alter the identities that prevail there. The city’s Arabs are now receiving more mainstream institutional, educational, and political support than ever before, but they remain a constituency defined as essentially foreign. The authors explore the role of religion in cultural integration and identity formation, showing that Arab Muslims feel more alienated from the mainstream than Arab Christians do. Arab Americans adhere more strongly to traditional values than do other Detroit residents, regardless of religion. Active participants in the religious and cultural life of the Arab American community attain higher levels of education and income, yet assimilation to the American mainstream remains important for achieving enduring social and political gains. The contradictions and dangers of being Arab and American are keenly felt in Detroit, but even when Arab Americans oppose U.S. policies, they express more confidence in U.S. institutions than do non-Arabs in the general population.

The Arabs of greater Detroit, whether native-born, naturalized, or permanent residents, are part of a political and historical landscape that limits how, when, and to what extent they can call themselves American. When analyzed against this complex backdrop, the results of The Detroit Arab American Study demonstrate that the pervasive notion in American society that Arabs are not like “us” is simply inaccurate. Citizenship and Crisis makes a rigorous and impassioned argument for putting to rest this exhausted cultural and political stereotype.

The Detroit Arab American Study is a collaboration between the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Dearborn, and an advisory panel of community representatives from more than twenty secular, religious, and social service organizations. The group is led by WAYNE BAKER, SALLY HOWELL, ANN CHIH LIN, ANDREW SHRYOCK, and MARK TESSLER of the University of Michigan; AMANEY JAMAL of Princeton University; and RON STOCKTON of the University of Michigan, Dearborn.

RSF Journal
View Book Series
Sign Up For Our Mailing List
Apply For Funding
Cover image of the book Contemporary Marriage
Books

Contemporary Marriage

Editor
Kingsley Davis
Hardcover
Add to Cart
Publication Date
6 in. × 9 in. 448 pages
ISBN
978-0-87154-221-2
Also Available From

About This Book

This fascinating symposium is based on an assumption that no longer seems to need justification: that the institution of marriage is today experiencing profound changes. But the nature of those changes—their causes and consequences—is very much in need of explication. The experts contributing to this volume bring a wide range of perspectives—sociological, anthropological, economic, historical, psychological, and legal—to the problem of marriage in modern society. Together these essays help illuminate a form of relationship that is both vulnerable and resilient, biological and social, a reflection of and an influence on other social institutions.

Contemporary Marriage begins with an important assessment of the revolution in marital behavior since World War II, tracing trends in marriage age, cohabitation, divorce, and fertility. The focus here is primarily on the United States and on idustrial societies in general. Later chapters provide intriguing case studies of particular countries. There is a recurrent interest in the impact on marriage of modernization itself, but a number of essays probe influences other than industrial development, such as strong cultural and historical patterns or legislation and state control. Beliefs and expectations about marriage are explored, and human sexuality and gender roles are also considered as factors in the nature of marriage.

Contemporary Marriage offers a rich spectrum of approaches to a problem of central importance. The volume will reward an equally broad spectrum of readers interested in the meaning and future of marriage in our society.

KINGSLEY DAVIS is senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.

CONTRIBUTORS: Grace Ganz Blumberg, Elwood Carlson, Kingsley Davis, Thomas J. Espenshade, Amyra Grossbard-Shechtman, Joy Hendry, Adam Kuper, John Modell, Rachel Pasternack, Yochanan Peres, James E. Smith, Graham B. Spanier, Alan A. Stone, Donald Symons, Lenore J. Weitzman, and Margery Wolf.

RSF Journal
View Book Series
Sign Up For Our Mailing List
Apply For Funding
Cover image of the book The Price of Independence
Books

The Price of Independence

The Economics of Early Adulthood
Editors
Sheldon Danziger
Cecilia Elena Rouse
Hardcover
$59.95
Add to Cart
Publication Date
6 in. × 9 in. 328 pages
ISBN
978-0-87154-316-5
Also Available From

About This Book

"For many American parents with young-adult children, The Price of Independence will be a source of consolation and insight. The consolation will come from the documentation that the path to stable work and marriage is not only longer for their children, but for most American young adults. The insights will include evidence that the longer path to adult roles is not driven by changing economic conditions, but rather by changing social norms, especially changes in young people's expectations about work, schooling, and families. The book will help public policy makers recognize that young adults in other industrialized countries are experiencing many of the same challenges that young Americans face. At the same time, the book documents that the large number of young Americans without health care and the extraordinarily high incarceration rates of young adult males of color are problems facing young people that this country has not solved, but many others have avoided."
-RICHARD J. MURNANE, professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education

"The Price of Independence brings together an interesting and diverse set of essays charting changes in the 'launch into adulthood' of today's youth. The changes in ages and levels of completed education, steady jobs, living independent of parents, marrying, having children are documented both for the United States and for several industrialized countries. The extent to which economic factors-changing labor markets, levels of debt, health insurance, costs of living-have influenced these changes are analyzed, often exploding common perceptions of the impact of such factors. But its not just economic factors that are considered; sociologist, political scientist, education specialists all get a turn 'at bat' and the result is a rich multidimen sional contribution to our understanding of these issues. I particularly like the international comparisons and the discussion of how differential social norms may affect both differences in the degree of change and the public perception of changes as positive or negative. Thanks to Sheldon Danziger and Cecilia Elena Rouse for putting this together."
-ROB HOLLISTER, professor of economics, Swarthmore College

More and more young men and women today are taking longer and having more difficulty making a successful transition to adulthood.  They are staying in school longer, having a harder time finding steady employment at jobs that provide health insurance, and are not marrying and having children until much later in life than their parents did. In The Price of Independence, a roster of distinguished experts diagnose the extent and causes of these trends.

Observers of social trends have speculated on the economic changes that may be delaying the transition to adulthood—from worsening job opportunities to mounting student debt and higher housing costs—but few have offered empirical evidence to back up their claims. The Price of Independence represents the first significant analysis of these economic explanations, charting the evolving life circumstances of eighteen to thirty-five year-olds over the last few decades. Lisa Bell, Gary Burtless, Janet Gornick, and Timothy M. Smeeding show that the earnings of young workers in the United States and a number of industrialized countries have declined relative to the cost of supporting a family, which may explain their protracted dependence. In addition, Henry Farber finds that job stability for young male workers has dropped over the last generation. But while economic factors have some influence on young people’s transitions to adulthood, The Price of Independence shows that changes in the economic climate can not account for the magnitude of the societal shift in the timing of independent living, marriage, and childbearing. Aaron Yelowitz debunks the myth that steep housing prices are forcing the young to live at home—housing costs actually fell between 1980 and 2000 once lower interest rates and tax subsidies are taken into account. And Ngina Chiteji reveals that average student loan debt is only $3,500 per household. The trend toward starting careers and families later appears to have more to do with changing social norms, as well as policies that have broadened access to higher education, than with changes in the economy.

For better or worse, the current generation is redefining the nature and boundaries of  what it means to be a young adult. The Price of Independence documents just how dramatically the modern lifecycle has changed and offers evidence as an antidote to much of the conventional wisdom about these social changes.

SHELDON DANZIGER is Henry J. Meyer Distinguished University Professor of Public Policy and codirector of the National Poverty Center at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

CECILIA ELENA ROUSE is the Theodore A. Wells  Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University.

CONTRIBUTORS: Sofya Aptekar, Lisa Bell, Gary Burtless, Ngina S. Chiteji, Henry S. Farber,  Maria D. Fitzpatrick,  Janet Gornick, Melanie Guldi,  Carolyn J. Hill,  Harry Holzer, Helen Levy, Katherine Newman, Marianne E. Page,  Steven Raphael,  Timothy M. Smeeding,  Ann Huff Stevens,  Sarah E. Turner,  Aaron S. Yelowitz.

A Volume in the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality

RSF Journal
View Book Series
Sign Up For Our Mailing List
Apply For Funding
Cover image of the book The Sanctity of Social Life
Books

The Sanctity of Social Life

Physician's Treatment of Critically Ill Patients
Author
Diana Crane
Hardcover
Add to Cart
Publication Date
6 in. × 9 in. 304 pages
ISBN
978-0-87154-209-0
Also Available From

About This Book

Reexamines the nature of death and dying as seen from the physician's point of view. Unlike other treatments of the subject, this study is concerned not with what physician's should do for the critically ill, but with their actual behavior. Based on extensive interviews with physicians in several medical specialties, more than three thousand questionnaires completed by physicians in four specialties, and studies of the records of actual hospital patients, the book shows that while withdrawal of treatment in certain types of cases is widespread, euthanasia is rare.

DIANA CRANE is associate professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.

RSF Journal
View Book Series
Sign Up For Our Mailing List
Apply For Funding

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there has been intense media exploration of social issues revealed by the disaster (e.g. local racial inequalities), social issues produced by the disaster (e.g. the displacement of evacuees) and social issues that contributed to the disaster (e.g. difficulties in coordinating relief agencies and different levels of government). Some journalistic treatments of these issues have been thoughtful and important; others have been tendentious and politically motivated.

For more than thirty years, Robert K. Merton played an important role at the Russell Sage Foundation. A key advisor from 1966 to 1989, Merton was also RSF’s first Foundation scholar. But more than an invaluable resource at the Foundation, Merton was a giant in the fields of urban history, intellectual history, sociology, and African-American studies. After his death, his wife donated his papers to Columbia University, where he spent more than fifty years as a faculty member.

In recent decades, conservative evangelicals have become one of the most active groups in American politics. American Political Science Association (APSA) president Ira Katznelson has established a taskforce to explore what this political force means for American democracy. How is American society currently renegotiating the meanings of its traditional ideals of tolerance, pluralism, and the separation of church and state? The fifteen political scientists participating in the Taskforce on Religion and Democracy will meet three times and produce an edited volume based on their research.

Americans stay in prison longer, and for a wider range of offenses, than their counterparts in other nations. The United States had 2.3 million people in prison or jail in 2007—more than any other country in the world. That’s nearly 751 incarcerated individuals for every 100,000 in the population. The median for all nations is 125 people per 100,000. For some groups, the numbers are especially alarming: about 1 in 36 Hispanic adults and 1 in 15 African American adults have been in prison. In fact, 1 in 9 African American men aged 20-34 have been in prison.

Cover image of the book The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis, Second Edition
Books

The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis, Second Edition

Editors
Harris Cooper
Larry V. Hedges
Jeffrey C. Valentine
Hardcover
$79.95
Add to Cart
Publication Date
7.5 in. × 9.25 in. 632 pages
ISBN
978-0-87154-163-5
Also Available From

About This Book

Praise for the first edition:

The Handbook is a comprehensive treatment of literature synthesis and provides practical advice for anyone deep in the throes of, just teetering on the brink of, or attempting to decipher a meta-analysis. Given the expanding application and importance of literature synthesis, understanding both its strengths and weaknesses is essential for its practitioners and consumers. This volume is a good beginning for those who wish to gain that understanding.” —Chance

“Meta-analysis, as the statistical analysis of a large collection of results from individual studies is called, has now achieved a status of respectability in medicine. This respectability, when combined with the slight hint of mystique that sometimes surrounds meta-analysis, ensures that results of studies that use it are treated with the respect they deserve….The Handbook of Research Synthesis is one of the most important publications in this subject both as a definitive reference book and a practical manual.”—British Medical Journal


When the first edition of The Handbook of Research Synthesis was published in 1994, it quickly became the definitive reference for researchers conducting meta-analyses of existing research in both the social and biological sciences. In this fully revised second edition, editors Harris Cooper, Larry Hedges, and Jeff Valentine present updated versions of the Handbook’s classic chapters, as well as entirely new sections reporting on the most recent, cutting-edge developments in the field.

Research synthesis is the practice of systematically distilling and integrating data from a variety of sources in order to draw more reliable conclusions about a given question or topic. The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis draws upon years of groundbreaking advances that have transformed research synthesis from a narrative craft into an important scientific process in its own right. Cooper, Hedges, and Valentine have assembled leading authorities in the field to guide the reader through every stage of the research synthesis process—problem formulation, literature search and evaluation, statistical integration, and report preparation. The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis incorporates state-of-the-art techniques from all quantitative synthesis traditions. Distilling a vast technical literature and many informal sources, the Handbook provides a portfolio of the most effective solutions to the problems of quantitative data integration. Among the statistical issues addressed by the authors are the synthesis of non-independent data sets, fixed and random effects methods, the performance of sensitivity analyses and model assessments, and the problem of missing data.

The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis also provides a rich treatment of the non-statistical aspects of research synthesis. Topics include searching the literature, and developing schemes for gathering information from study reports. Those engaged in research synthesis will also find useful advice on how tables, graphs, and narration can be used to provide the most meaningful communication of the results of research synthesis. In addition, the editors address the potentials and limitations of research synthesis, and its future directions.

The past decade has been a period of enormous growth in the field of research synthesis. The second edition Handbook thoroughly revises original chapters to assure that the volume remains the most authoritative source of information for researchers undertaking meta-analysis today. In response to the increasing use of research synthesis in the formation of public policy, the second edition includes a new chapter on both the strengths and limitations of research synthesis in policy debates and decisions. Another new chapter looks at computing effect sizes and standard errors from clustered data, such as schools or clinics. Authors also discuss updated techniques for locating hard-to-find “fugitive” literature, ways of systematically assessing the quality of a study, and progress in statistical methods for detecting and estimating the effects of publication bias.

The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis is an illuminating compilation of practical instruction, theory, and problem solving. This unique volume offers the reader comprehensive instruction in the skills necessary to conduct powerful research syntheses meeting the highest standards of objectivity. The significant developments included in the second edition will ensure that the Handbook remains the premier text on research synthesis for years to come.

HARRIS COOPER is professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University.

LARRY V. HEDGES is Board of Trustees Professor of Statistics and Social Policy, and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University.

JEFFREY C. VALENTINE is assistant professor, Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, College of Education and Human Development, University of Louisville.

CONTRIBUTORS: Pam M. Baxter, Betsy Jane Becker, Jesse A. Berlin, Michael Borenstein, Geoffrey D. Borman, Brad J. Bushman, Mike Clarke, Thomas D. Cook, Harris Cooper, David S. Cordray, Alice H. Eagly, Joseph L. Fleiss, Leon J. Gleser, Joel B. Greenhouse, Jeffrey A. Grigg, C. Keith Haddock, Larry V. Hedges, Sally Hopewell, Satish Iyengar, Spyros Konstantopoulos, Huy Le, Mark W. Lipsey, Georg E. Matt, Paul Morphy, Ingram Olkin, Robert G. Orwin, Therese D. Pigott, Stephen W. Raudenbush, Jeffrey G. Reed, Hannah R. Rothstein, Frank L. Schmidt, William R. Shadish, Alex J. Sutton, Jeffrey C. Valentine, Jack L. Vevea, Morgan C. Wang, Howard D. White, David B. Wilson, and Wendy Wood.

RSF Journal
View Book Series
Sign Up For Our Mailing List
Apply For Funding