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The sociology program at UTSA is a fast-growing component of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts at UTSA that highlights the cutting edge work of diverse scholars who are engaged within and outside the academy (please see below for current faculty research and select publications). The core of our program is highlighted by an emphasis on methodological rigor, both quantitative and qualitative. We also strive to achieve a balance between the abstract theoretical concerns that ground our discipline and empirical research that sheds light on the genuine, everyday experiences of real people in the real world. At UTSA sociology, we strive to gain a fuller understanding of the social forces and existent inequalities which disproportionately affect the economically disadvantaged, members of racial ethnic minority groups, and members of low-income rural populations.

 A unifying theme of our program is our department’s philosophy of engaging in scholarly work that addresses public issues in a manner that is timely, relevant, and accessible to general audiences outside the academy. Our emphasis on “Public Sociology” is centered on an understanding of sociology as a scholarly discipline that is both rigorous, research driven, and theoretically informed. In the tradition of sociologists like C. Wright Mills and Michael Buroway, we strive to connect seemingly personal problems like poverty and “deviant” behavior with broader public issues, while making research findings available to audiences outside the academy. This means making findings available to a broad array of audiences from policy makers, members of the community, and the public at large.

 At present the sociology department offers the B.S. and M.S. in sociology. The Master’s program is quite active with over 120 students currently in residence and the number of undergraduate majors growing at a steady pace. We are currently preparing a proposal for the development of a Ph.D. program in sociology here at UTSA.

 Current scholarly work from faculty in the sociology department includes:

 Border Issues, Health Disparities, and Global Studies

  • Research on the experience of transnational families living on the Southwest US border.
  • Research on contraceptive use and women’s health in Yemen.
  • A study of trends in maternal care services in rural India.
  • An examination of knowledge, cultural, and identity construction within transnational San Antonio communities.
  • Assessment of the Latino/a elderly along San Antonio’s West Side.

The Sociology of Education

  • In conjunction with the Edgewood (San Antonio) school district, approximately $600,000 in funding from HUD for student fellowships each year for three years to work on research or projects in the Edgewood District.
  • NSF funded research into early childhood education and the association between bilingual learning and childhood development.
  • Research on literacy, socialization and child development in bi-lingual households.
  • An analysis of successful transitions of Latino students from high school to college that addresses the specific needs of Latino students making this important educational progression.
  • Historical research exploring the institutional barriers faced by African American students. The study also proposes specific initiatives to improve the retention of African American students on US universities.
  • Work addressing racial and ethnic relations among students in academic settings.
  • Research that assesses the impact of a Texas based physical science professional development program on teacher effectiveness in the city of San Antonio.

Social Theory and Culture

  • A critical appraisal of Pierre Bourdieu and recent developments in the French sociology of culture.
  • Work in the sociology of culture that looks at patterns of resistance to bureaucratization in the San Antonio Chicano arts scene.
  • Research in the sociology of culture that examines patterns of class and gender identity in the San Antonio conjunto music community.
  • An examination of resource compensation theories that examine the role of religiosity in affecting levels of self–efficacy in both Christian and Islamic countries.
  • The discourse of the museum - Dada in the museum of Modern Art
  • Recent work that argues that Durkheim’s fatalism parallels Marx’s discussion of alienation and that Durkheim’s binary approach offers a more parsimonious model of empirical possibilities.
  • Theoretical work that seeks to analytically model self-efficacy as a multidimensional construct that is affected by both structural and cultural factors.

Social Movements

  • The Voices of the United Farm Worker Movement in Texas Project is a multimedia research initiative to document the history of the United Farm Worker Movement in Texas from its inception in 1966 to the present-day.  The research project seeks to address present-day issues tied to undocumented immigration into the U.S. by interviewing/filming activists, farm workers, elected officials and community members whom had participated in the movement during her 30-year tenure. The multimedia research initiative which began as a Film Documentary has expanded to include an Oral History Collection, and a Digital Archive.
  • Discourse analysis is applied as the primary research methodology to examine the early framing strategies used by the Black Nationalist movement known as the Nation of Islam (NOI). The data comes from writings, public notices and speeches delivered by early founders of the NOI.
  • Art movements as social movements.  Art avant-garde movements. The Dada art movement, its production, and its changing reception over time.

 Media, Popular Culture and Crime

  • Research on students' perceptions of racism and guilt in a film called Criminal Justice as affected by gender, age, ethnicity, and university experience.
  • Research on the images of crime and the criminal justice system as they appeared in early commercial radio from 1929 to 1962.
  • Research on socialization messages given by mothers and fathers as those messages are recalled by young adults, considering whether the messages vary by the gender of the parents or the children.
  • A content analysis that looks at the social construction of reality in pharmaceutical ads.
  • Research comparing remakes of Psycho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the Original Movie.
  • Research on the Use of Humor in the TV series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

 Race and Ethnicity

  • Research on interracial marriage and the societal factors that influence the choosing of a spouse in African American/White marriages.
  • Research that examines the discrimination experienced by members of interracial marriages.
  • Macro level conceptualization that argues for a more robust and multifaceted understanding of cotemporary race relations in American society.
  • Research that examines issues of diversity in institutional settings and organizations.

 Recent Faculty Publications:

Acevedo, Gabriel. (2008). “Islamic Fatalism and the Clash of Civilizations: An Appraisal of a Contentious

            and Dubious Theory” Social Forces, 86: 1-42.

 

Acevedo, Gabriel. (2008). “The Fatalistic Imagination and the Continued Salience of Religion in the Modern

            World: A Test of Resource Compensation/Resource Amplification Hypotheses Using Cross-National

             Data.” Forthcoming in Sociological Spectrum.

 

Acevedo, Gabriel. (2005). "Turning Anomie on Its Head: Fatalism as Durkheim's Concealed and

             Multidimensional Alienation Theory." Sociological Theory 23:75-85.

Bartkowski, John P. (2004).  The Promise Keepers: Servants, Soldiers, and Godly Men.  New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press

Bartkowski, John P., and Helen A. Regis. (2003). Charitable Choices : Religion, Race, and Poverty in the Post-Welfare Era.  New York: New York University Press.

Bartkowski, John P. (2001). Remaking the Godly Marriage: Gender Negotiation in Evangelical Families.  New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.

Cheatwood, Adrian D. (2007).  "The Film "Criminal Justice": Race, Gender and University Experience in Students' Perceptions of Racism and Guilt," with Rebecca D. Pertersen, Criminal Justice Review, 31 #3, March.

Cheatwood, Adrian D. (2003).  “A Pragmatic Model to Better Integrate Theory and Policy on Homicide,” in The Relationship Between Non-Lethal and Lethal Violence: The Proceedings of the 2002 Meeting of the Homicide Research Working Group, St. Louis, MO., 2003.

Cheatwood, Adrian D. (2002). "Capital Punishment for the Crime of Homicide in Chicago: 1870-1930," Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 92 #3/4.

Garcia, Ginny E., Traut, Rachel, and Dudly L. Poston, Jr. (2008).  "Patterns of Sexually Transmitted Infections in China and the United States." A chapter in Dudly L. Poston, Jr., Wen Shan Yang, and Cathy Ruey-Ling Chu (editors), The Family and Social Change in Chinese Societies.  New York, NY: Klewer/Plenum Publishers, forthcoming.

Garcia, Ginny E., Poston, Dudley L. (2008).  "Methodology" - in The Encyuclopedia of Social Sciences, 2nd edition, edited by William A Darity.  New York:  Thompson Gale/MacMillan Reference USA, forthcoming.

Halley, Jeffrey A. (Forthcoming). "Culture and Bureaucratization in San Antonio: a Comparative Study of Cultural Arts Centers." in The Politics and Economics of San Antonio, edited by Richard Gambitta and Raquel R. Marquez. New York: McGraw-Hill Press.

Halley, Jeffrey A. (2001). "Conjunto Tejano Music: Changes in Chicano Class and Identity." in Puro Conjunto, edited by Avelardo Valdez and J. Tejeda. Austin, TX: CMAS Books, U of Texas Press.

Lewis, Richard Jr. (2002). "The Diversity Challenge: A Systematic Approach for Addressing Differences in Organizations." Journal of Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy 7:63-70.

Lewis, Richard Jr. (1998-1999). "Beyond Political Correctness: Addressing Diversity in Organizations." Journal of Intergroup Relations 24:30-34.

Marquez, Raquel R., Louis Mendoza, and Steve Blanchard. "Neighborhood Formation on the West Side of San Antonio: 1800-1950: A Barriological Approach." Currently under review at Latino Studies.

Miller, Michael & Robinson, Cherylon.  (2004).  Managing the disappointment of job termination:  Outplacement as a cooling-out device.  Journal of Applied Behavioral Science.  40 (1):     49-65.

Robinson, Cherylon and Miller, Michael, (2004). “Emergent Legal Definitions of Parentage in Assisted Reproductive Technology.” Journal of Family Social Work, 8,2:  21-51.

Robinson, Cherylon and Firestone, Juanita, (2003) "Role Taking and Role Making Among Female Red Cross Workers in Viet Nam."  Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology, 31,1:  25-37.

Romo, Harriett D. and Raquel Marquez (eds). (2007). Transformations of La Familia on the U.S.-Mexican Border, in press at University of Notre Dame Press, to be released April 2008.

Romo, Harriett (2006). "Dual Nationalities:  Mexican Americans and Mexican Immigrants Explore Issues of Citizenship" Chapter in Migracion A los Estados Unidos: Mas Alla de los Numeros, Mario Melgar Adalid (ed.) Mexico City:  UNAM, UTSA, FUNSALUD January, pp. 151-188 (with graduate student Maria Rodriguez).

Romo, Harriett (2005). Racial and Ethnic Relations in America, 7th edition sociology textbook (with S. Dale McLemore), Boston: Allyn and Bacon. (with Dale McLemore).

Romo, Harriett (2005).  "Latino Immigrant Children and New Second Generation" Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States, Editors:  Deena Gonzalez (Loyola Marymount University) and Suzanne Oboler (University of Illinois, Chicago).  Oxford University.

Romo, Harriett (2005).  Early Childhood. March 2005.  The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology.  George Ritzer ed., Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Sunil, Thankam., Rajaram, S., and Zottarelli, Lisa. (2006). “Do individual and program factors matter in the utilization of maternal care services in rural India? A theoretical approach.” Social Science and Medicine, 62(8): 1943-1957.

Sunil, Thankam, and Pillai, Vijayan K. (2006). “A reproductive health approach to the study of age at marriage, contraceptive use and abortion in Yemen.” International Social Science Review, 81(1&2): 29-42.