Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

A Treatise on the Family. G. S. Becker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1981. Gary Becker is one of the most famous and influential economists of the second half of the 20th century, a fervent contributor to and expounder of the University of Chicago free-market philosophy, and winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in economics. Although any book with the word "treatise" in its title is clearly intended to have an impact, one coming from someone as brilliant and controversial as Becker certainly had such a lofty goal. It has received many article-length reviews in several disciplines (Ben-Porath, 1982; Bergmann, 1995; Foster, 1993; Hannan, 1982), which is one measure of its scholarly importance, and yet its impact is, I think, less than it may have initially appeared, especially for scholars with substantive interests in the family. This book is, its title notwithstanding, more about economics and the economic approach to behavior than about the family. In the first sentence of the preface, Becker writes "In this book, I develop an economic or rational choice approach to the family." Lest anyone accuse him of focusing on traditional (i.e., material) economics topics, such as family income, poverty, and labor supply, he immediately emphasizes that those topics are not his focus. "My intent is more ambitious: to analyze marriage, births, divorce, division of labor in households, prestige, and other non-material behavior with the tools and framework developed for material behavior." Indeed, the book includes chapters on many of these issues. One chapter examines the principles of the efficient division of labor in households, three analyze marriage and divorce, three analyze various child-related issues (fertility and intergenerational mobility), and others focus on broader family issues, such as intrafamily resource allocation. His analysis is not, he believes, constrained by time or place. His intention is "to present a comprehensive analysis that is applicable, at least in part, to families in the past as well as the present, in primitive as well as modern societies, and in Eastern as well as Western cultures." His tone is profoundly conservative and utterly skeptical of any constructive role for government programs. There is a clear sense of how much better things were in the old days of a genderbased division of labor and low market-work rates for married women. Indeed, Becker is ready and able to show in Chapter 2 that such a state of affairs was efficient and induced not by market or societal discrimination (although he allows that it might exist) but by small underlying household productivity differences that arise primarily from what he refers to as "complementarities" between caring for young children while carrying another to term. Most family scholars would probably find that an unconvincingly simple explanation for a profound and complex phenomenon. What, then, is the salient contribution of Treatise on the Family? It is not literally the idea that economics could be applied to the nonmarket sector and to family life because Becker had already established that with considerable success and influence. At its core, microeconomics is simple, characterized by a belief in the importance of prices and markets, the role of self-interested or rational behavior, and, somewhat less centrally, the stability of preferences. It was Becker's singular and invaluable contribution to appreciate that the behaviors potentially amenable to the economic approach were not limited to phenomenon with explicit monetary prices and formal markets. Indeed, during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, he did undeniably important and pioneering work extending the domain of economics to such topics as labor market discrimination, fertility, crime, human capital, household production, and the allocation of time. Nor is Becker's contribution the detailed analyses themselves. Many of them are, frankly, odd, idiosyncratic, and off-putting. …

A Treatise on the Family

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What About Us

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)30569-X.pdf

Structural racism and health inequities in the USA: evidence and interventions

“WHAT can men do, what do they do, and what do they want to do ?”—these are the uestions that Prof. Thorndike seeks to answer in a very comprehensive and elaborate treatise. His undertaking is inspired by the belief that man has the possibility of almost complete control of his fate if only he will be guided by science, and that his failures are attributable to ignorance or folly. The main approach is through biological psychology, but all the social sciences are appealed to and utilized in an effort to deal with the human problem as a whole. The relative immaturity of the sciences dealing with man is continually stressed, but it is claimed that they provide a body of facts and principles which are “far above zero knowledge”, and that even now they are capable of affording valuable guidance in the shaping of public policy. Human Nature and the Social Order By E. L. Thorndike. Pp. xx + 1020. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1940.) 18s. net.

Human Nature and the Social Order

What, if any, changes have occurred in the nation’s police departments 21 years after the Rodney King beating? To answer this question, this study examined findings provided by the National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project (NPMSRP). An additional goal of this study was to examine how the public generally perceive police and how race and racism shape this discourse. To answer this secondary question, we examined narratives provided by 36 contributors to the NPMSRP site. The following two questions were foundational to this study: (1) What do findings from the NPMSRP suggest about the rate of police brutality in America? (2) How do individuals perceive the police department, and what implications do these perceptions hold for Black men in America? In general, fatalities at the hands of police are higher than they are for the general public. Grounded theory analysis of the data revealed that individuals perceive members of law enforcement in the following ways: (a) contempt for law enforcement, (b) suspicion of law enforcement, (c) law enforcement as agents of brutality, and (d) respect for law enforcement. Supporting qualitative data are presented in connection with each of the aforementioned themes.

Racism and Police Brutality in America

Thirty African American married couples (N = 60 individuals) were interviewed regarding the challenges and benefits of their happy, enduring marriages. Qualitative coding and analysis revealed 4 key themes: (1) Challenges in African American Marriages, (2) Overcoming External Challenges to Marriage, (3) Resolving Intramarital Conflict, and (4) Unity and the Importance of Being “Equally Yoked.” Supporting qualitative data are presented in connection with each theme. Implications for enduring marriages among African Americans specifically are discussed.

/pdf/together-we-are-strong-a-qualitative-study-of-happy-enduring-1i2m5fyqa1.pdf

“Together, We Are Strong”: A Qualitative Study of Happy, Enduring African American Marriages*

"Please don't let me die"--16-year old Kimani Gray's last words on March 9, 2013 The aforementioned five words were the last ones uttered by a young unarmed Black male that died at the hands of police. Since police officers who come face-to-face with armed and dangerous suspects are trained to "shoot to kill"(Danyiko, 2014), it is imperative that scholars critically examine circumstances surrounding the deaths of unarmed African Americans. This topic is significant for four reasons. First, compared to other developed countries such as England, Australia, and Germany, the United States has a significantly higher number of civilians shot and killed by police (The Economist, August 15, 2014). According to a recent report, American police killed more people in March 2015 than the entire United Kingdom police have killed since 1900. Specifically, a total of 111 people were killed by police in the United States in March of 2015. Since 1900, in the entire United Kingdom, 52 people have been killed by police (King, April 1, 2015). Second, the number of Blacks killed by police has reached epidemic proportions (Chaney & Robertson, 2013; Cush, 2013; Fletcher, 2014; Gabiddon, 2010; Gabbidon & Greene, 2013; Huff Post, 2014; Kane & White, 2009; Karenga, 2010; Mitchell, 2014; Police Brutality Statistics, 2011; Robertson, 2014; Staples, 2011, Tonry, 2011). In a report on the extrajudicial killings of Black people by police, security guards, or self-appointed law enforcers, the Malcolm X grassroots organization found that from January 1-June 30, 2012, one Black person was killed by law enforcement or someone acting in such a capacity every 36 hours, representing a total of 120 persons. Moreover, while five percent of the Blacks killed were women, the bulk of those killed have been Black men like Rodney King. Perhaps more alarming is that 46% of those killed were unarmed (just like King) and 36% were alleged to have weapons by police, including a cane, a toy gun, and a bb gun (Operation Ghetto Storm, 2012). Sadly, while the murders of Black men by police are well-known, incidents in which Black women are murdered by members of law enforcement receive far less attention (Dionne, 2014). Even Black children are not immune to being victims of police violence. One study found Black boys as young as 10-years old may be seen as less innocent than their white peers, are much more likely to be mistaken for being older and to be perceived as guilty, and face police violence if they are accused of committing a crime (Goff, 2014). Third, the increasing number of incidents in which police have used excessive force or killed unarmed Blacks (or other persons of color) has resulted in increased local and national scrutiny of law enforcement agencies (Aguilar, 2012; Boyer, 2001; Clifford, 2014; Crochett, 2015; Desmond-Harris, 2012; Elicker, 2008; Hassell & Archbold, 2010; Kumeh, 2010; Lozano, 2012; Rafail, Soule, & McCarthy, 2012; Stuart, 2011). The DOJ (Department of Justice) has investigated over 17 police departments across the country and has monitored no fewer than five settlements involving four police agencies since 2010 (Gabbidon & Greene, 2013). The recent findings of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) investigation of the Ferguson Police Department confirmed the cries of many Black men and women that have made complaints about police. In particular, the DOJ found the Ferguson Police Department frequently engaged in "implicit and explicit racial bias" and "routinely violating the constitutional rights of its black residents" (The United States Department of Justice, Wednesday, March 4, 2015). As a result of the DOJ's findings on the Ferguson Police Department, greater attention has been given to simultaneously protecting members of law enforcement whose mission is to protect and serve as well as protecting members of the citizenry from being harmed by police. Finally, this paper will critically examine the circumstances around the deaths of 78 unarmed Black males and females by police in various parts of the United States between 1999 and 2015. …

Armed and Dangerous? an Examination of Fatal Shootings of Unarmed Black People by Police

This study explored Latina/o American college students at a predominantly white university in the South. The authors assessed how 12 Latina/o American college students understood racism and racial ...

Racism and the Experiences of Latina/o College Students at a PWI (Predominantly White Institution)

This qualitative study explores how 21 African Americans, regular and active members in an African American Baptist church organization in the Midwest, define the terms religiosity and spirituality. The qualitative data were analyzed using a grounded theory methodology to determine the themes that were provided by the participants. This article will explore five recurring themes, including: (a) religiosity as external behaviors; (b) religiosity as internalized beliefs; (c) spirituality as acknowledging a “spiritual reality”; (d) spirituality as connectedness to God; and (e) interconnectedness of religiosity and spirituality. Narratives will be offered to support and illustrate each of these themes.

Cassandra Chaney

Papers

Racism and Police Brutality in America

“Together, We Are Strong”: A Qualitative Study of Happy, Enduring African American Marriages*

Armed and Dangerous? an Examination of Fatal Shootings of Unarmed Black People by Police

Racism and the Experiences of Latina/o College Students at a PWI (Predominantly White Institution)

Religiosity and Spirituality Among Members of an African American Church Community: A Qualitative Analysis