Research has described and many clinicians have reported the anorectic patient as socially disconnected, having a disembodied sense of self, perfectionist expectations, and inadequate and shameful feelings. The more intense the internal war, the more food-focused and self-defeating behavior ensues, thwarting one's ability to receive value, self-acceptance, and love. Addressing the anorexia phenomenon, this study considered, from a sociological perspective, the dynamics of attachment and shame. On the basis of 4 propositions and using a multi-method, case-replication design, attachment and shame patterns for 5 restrictive and 5 normal eaters were compared, as determined by scores from the Parental Bonding Instrument, Inventory of Parental and Peer Attachment, Internalized Shame Scale, and personal interviews. Analysis was progressive, as propositions were tested by pattern-matching steps of rating, comparing, and interpreting recurring responses to self-report and interview questions. All anorectics reported a dominant mother, with whom 4 were over attached and struggled ambivalently for autonomy, and a quiet, inexpressive father, whom 4 considered frequently absent or unavailable. As compared to normal eaters, anorectics' trust and communication scores were lower for both parents and peers. Generally, anorectics showed markedly higher internalized shame. Findings indicated that nonoptimal parental bonding patterns were related to shame. The maternal …

The primary focus of this study is to explore the relationship between structural factors of a specific society and occurrence of terror related crimes. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to examine how or to what extent social disorganization theory, which is the basic theoretical foundation of this study, can explain terrorism related crimes in Turkey. Although several previous studies investigated the social and structural dimensions of terrorism in a country, many of those studies did not go beyond investigating the impacts of traditional structural factors such as poverty, inequality, and education on terrorism. This study goes a step further by adding the mediating factors between those primary social disorganization variables and terror related crimes. Direct, indirect and, total effects of structural variables on terrorism through the mediating variables, that is prevalence of voluntary associations and religious institutions, are examined. Findings obtained from multivariate and mediation analyses show that while some structural variables such as education and poverty are directly related to distribution of terror related crimes, this relationship became indirect through the mediating variables for other structural variables such as residential mobility and unemployment. Results suggest that rather than overreliance on traditional antiterrorism strategies which are mostly depending …

Smelser's theory of collective behavior holds that people join radical social movements because they experience strain. Among the most serious strains are anxieties that relate to one's social status and the roles that correspond to it. A social movement arises as a means of coping with these anxieties. Militia presence and activity on the Internet (especially Usenet) is a phenomenon that can be studied within the framework of Smelser's theory. Militia watchers contend that those who join the militias have experienced the kinds of strain to which Smelser refers. A content analysis of Internet traffic of U.S. militias provides a test of the general thesis outlined above. By analyzing Internet sites it is possible to examine whether militiamen have experienced strain, and whether the strain, together with other factors, influence an individual's decision to join the militia. This dissertation was the first sociological study of American militias on the Internet and the first in which militias from all regions of the country was studied. Information was gathered on 171 militiamen who joined 28 militias. A qualitative analysis of militia web sites and Usenet traffic (n=1,189 online documents) yielded answers to seven research questions. Most militiamen studied experienced some form of …

Ethnic identity of Mexican American children under the current socio-political climate was studied. Mexican American children were expected to display symptoms of ethnic ambivalence and self-rejection. Using the Kenneth and Mamie Clark (1947) Brown doll/White doll experiment as a model, data were gathered using a mixed model. This approach combed features of experimental designs, survey research, and qualitative methods. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from a purposive sample of 104 children and some of their parents. They were between the ages of 3 to 15, resided in northeastern Texas, and most were White (n=70) or Hispanics (mostly Mexican American) (n=21) the remainder being Asian (n=13). Children self-identified across ethnic lines, and treated play preference, self-identification, and attractiveness separately. Children did not reflect social stereotypes and society's hierarchy. Instead, they portrayed other ethnic groups positively. Current theoretical approaches provided argue that strong ethnic identification and cultural incorporation displayed by the children may be a result of better integration and assimilation; conversely, it may be a product of the “false consciousness” driven by a global market and the culture of individualistic consumerism. An alternative theoretical perspective argues that the apparent cultural incorporation of children was a result of the social …