This dissertation develops and empirically tests a theory of political participation that posits that the local economic context moderates the effects of individuals’ socioeconomic status by influencing their prospective financial outlooks. These perceptions, in turn, affect individuals’ likelihood of engaging in various political activities. I examine the theory using indicators of economic vitality and status both for the entire population and for racial and ethnic group-specific economic conditions. This two-pronged approach allows me to assess the extent to which group-specific conditions are more salient for minority group members than are more traditional contextual (full population) measures that reflect the economic status of the entire population. Thus, such questions as whether blacks’ financial outlooks are influenced more by the visibility of black-owned businesses or by the total visibility of business activity are addressed. Hypotheses are tested using the 1992 National Election Study, the 1995 Texas Minority Survey, and economic data collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, 1992 Economic Census. Results indicate that the financial perceptions of blacks and Latinos are significantly related to levels of political activity while the financial outlooks of Asians and whites are not significantly related to their political activity.

Thesis (EdD)--Open University. BLDSC no. DXN115889.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-210).

The politicization of ethnic diversity has long been regarded as perilous to ethnic peace and national unity, its detrimental impact memorably illustrated in Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia or Rwanda. The process of indigenous mobilization followed by regional mobilizations in Bolivia over the past decade has hence been seen with some concern by observers in policy and academia alike. Yet these assessments are based on assumptions as to the nature of the causal mechanisms between politicization and ethnic tensions; few studies have examined them directly. This thesis systematically analyzes the impact of ethnic mobilizations in Bolivia: to what extent did they affect ethnic identification, ethnic relations, and national unity? I answer this question through a time-series analysis of indigenous and regional identification in political discourse and citizens’ attitudes in Bolivia and its department of Santa Cruz from 2000 to 2010. Bringing together literature on ethnicity from across the social sciences, my thesis first develops a framework for the analysis of ethnic change, arguing that changes in the attributes, meanings, and actions associated with an ethnic category need to be analyzed separately, as do changes in dynamics within an in-group and towards an out-group and supra-group, the nation. Based on this framework, it examines the development of the two discourses through a qualitative analysis of anthropological accounts, news reports, and expert interviews. In both discourses, the unity of the respective in-group is increasingly stressed, before diverging conceptions become ever more prominent. Finally, my thesis quantitatively examines changes in in-group identification, out-group perception, and national unity, using survey data collected by the Latin American Public Opinion Project over the decade. It finds changes in identification that can be clearly linked to political mobilization. More citizens identify as indigenous and Cruceño, respectively, and do so more strongly than before. Yet identification then decreases again, concomitant with the growing divisions in discourse. Moreover, the rise in identification is not associated with a rise in out-group antagonism or a drop in national unity. On the contrary, the latter has increased steadily among all Bolivians. Besides shedding light on ethnic relations in Bolivia, this analysis thus also contributes to the wider debate on the effects of ethnic politics. It shows that identifications do indeed change in response to mobilizations, that they do so more quickly than expected and not necessarily in the manner as expected, demonstrating that it is necessary to carefully distinguish different elements of ethnicity.

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the Latino remarriage conundrum: Latinos have first marriage and divorce rates similar to whites but notably lower remarriage rates than whites. What explains this divergence in race, ethnicity and nativity (R-E-N) differences for remarriage? The question is particularly intriguing because the R-E-N patterns for first marriage and divorce are often explained as a consequence of Latinos having a cultural orientation that promotes pronuptial values. Despite having socioeconomic disadvantage compared to whites, this view suggests that Latinos marry and divorce at rates similar to whites because of their strong cultural attachment to marriage. The conundrum is how could pronuptial values fully account for Latino-white patterns in marriage and divorce but not for remarriage? To investigate the Latino remarriage conundrum, I utilized a mixed method approach using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979-2010 (NLSY79), the National Survey of Family Growth 2006-2010 (NSFG) surveys and 23 in-depth interviews with recently divorced white and Latina women. I examined a variety of economic, cultural, and social factors to explore why remarriage patterns differ from marriage and divorce among R-E-N groups. Findings suggest that religious affiliation, parental reactions to post-divorce dating, and socioeconomic preferences for remarriage influence white-Latino remarriage differences. / text

This study examined the relationship between ethnic identity and ethnic self-labels, and their associations with adolescents’ psychosocial outcomes (perceived self-concept, self-reported grades, conduct disorder symptoms), in a diverse sample of 759 adolescents (52% females; 46% Latino, 35% Black, 13% White, and 6% of another race) aged 12 to 20 years in New York City). To further elucidate these relationships, the role of parental ethnic/racial socialization and age were also examined. Regression analyses revealed that ethnic identity, parental socialization, and age all had significant associations with each other and with psychosocial outcomes. There were no significant associations between ethnic self-labels and ethnic identity, behavioral symptoms or social competence. However, adolescents who used hyphenated ethnic self-labels reported higher academic achievement. Though the hypothesis that ethnic self-labels would predict adolescent outcomes was not supported, they suggest the need for greater accuracy in determining ethnic self-labels and delineation of ethnic identity. / text

In considering current college students’ general well-being, their diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds need to be considered as an important contributor. Previous research revealed that certain ethnic grouops had more difficulty adjusting to college life. This study examined the contributors to general well-being by introducing self-compassion as an important contributor for college students from three different ethnic backgrounds as determined by their self-identified choices. Data came from the online survey responses of 95 college students attending a southwestern university. Correlations between self-compassion and the nine subscales of general well-being yielded a positive relationship as in previous studies, with six of them meeting the previous criterion ( r = .60). Results showed that etnic groups and degree of ethnic identification did not, for these students, moderate the relationship between self-compassion and general well-being.. / text

This research explores the history of an enslaved African-American family who descend from an eighteenth-century ancestor named Anakah, through archival records in order to uncover any inconspicuous clues and a preponderance of evidence positively linking her family to its West African origins. This research also unearthed the Africanisms that prevailed within her family during slavery. Anakah's family was linked to two possible regions in West Africa, but no concrete evidence was found to definitively link the origins of her family to one of those regions. Additionally, familial customs and practices that mirrored West African customs were found among four generations of her enslaved descendants in South Carolina and Mississippi. This research displayed how definitive links to specific West African regions can be plausibly asserted in some families through an in-depth, historical analysis. Although certain Africanisms can not serve as conclusive evidence to adequately identify the West African origins of this family or any African-American family, the documentation of the West African cultural retentions served as an integral part of successfully bridging the gap between Anakah and her family in America and West Africa.

This research was designed to examine the transformation of Stokely Carmichael from a reformist in the Civil Rights Movement to a militant in the Black Power Movement due to experiences which he encountered while an organizer in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The three factors which Stokely Carmichael, as well as some of his corroborators in SNCC, spoke most of were soured relationships with white liberals, the ineffectiveness of moral appeals to the government and white southerners, and the significance of black nationalist politics These factors contributed to Carmichael's shift in ideology and caused many members of SNCC to follow him. The research suggests that Stokely Carmichael and his comrades in SNCC made the transformation to Black Power due to their disappointment with the results of civil rights tactics. However, due mostly to repression fiom the government, they were never able to move past ideological explanations to actually implementing a program The African-American community made the transformation in much the same way that Carmichael and SNCC did Self-pride and a self-definition became prevalent topics of discussion in the African-American community. However, the psychological gains did not cross over into their economic and political lives There was a definite interest in black nationalist politics in the African-American community However, again, any efforts to mobilize the African-American community into a powehl force working for its own self-interest were squashed by the FBI who sought to eliminate any potential black militant leaders.