Study finds shifting domestic roles for men who lost jobs in current recession
August 23, 2011
The acute economic downturn that began in 2008 sometimes is called the “mancession” to reflect its harsher impact on men than women. As recently as last November, 10.4 percent of adult men were unemployed as compared to 8 percent of adult women.
But how do unemployed men cope with their shifting domestic roles, especially when they become financially dependent on a wife or female partner?
One University of Kansas researcher has investigated the impact of joblessness on masculinity and the “breadwinner ideology” within the context of traditional families.
“It changes how men think of themselves,” said Ilana Demantas, doctoral student in sociology, who has interviewed 20 recently unemployed men. “Usually men see themselves as supporters of the family, and since a lot of them are no longer able to do that alone on their income, they have to construct their identity in a new way to allow them to still think positively of themselves.”
Demantas will present her findings at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.
Working with Kristen Myers, an associate professor of sociology at Northern Illinois University, Demantas found that out-of-work men use an array of strategies to deal with their situations. While some suffer from depression, the KU researcher found among the men she studied that most proudly embrace domestic chores such as childcare and housework.
“Before unemployment, while they very much valued ‘women’s work,’ men still constructed their identity in a way that allowed them to remain in charge,” Demantas said. “Working was a way to sort of say, ‘I’m the man.’ But now managing the family is a way to see themselves as men. So they’ve actually used ‘women’s work’ to see themselves as contributing to the family. This seems to be a silver lining in a very bleak recession.”
Demantas also found that men who were out of work in the recession highly valued the employed women in their families who were still able to bring in a vital income stream.
“They very much felt grateful that women were employed,” said Demantas. “One subject said, ‘I’m so lucky that my wife is still working, and she has a great insurance policy.’ Another said, ‘If she weren’t working, I’d be sleeping in a car or something.’ And some of our subjects take up more household work. One of the subjects said he woke up early and made coffee for his wife because it was the one nice thing he could do for her since he wasn’t contributing economically.”
Although the disparity in unemployment statistics between men and women has eased somewhat as the U.S. recession has worn on, Demantas believes that masculinity nonetheless has arrived at a crossroads due to economic pressures.
“Men’s identities have changed,” Demantas said. “They’re proud to contribute to the household, to make up for the work their wives are doing. Yet, they still maintain household authority, holding onto their identities as ‘men’ any way they can.”
About the American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association (www.asanet.org), founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society.
The paper, “‘It’s a Blessing That My Wife Still Works:’ Balancing Masculinity and Economic Dependence on Women During Unsettled Times,” will be presented on Tuesday, Aug. 23, at 8:30 a.m. PDT in Caesars Palace Las Vegas, at the American Sociological Association’s 106th Annual Meeting.
To obtain a copy of the paper; for more information on other ASA presentations; or for assistance reaching the study’s author, members of the media can contact Daniel Fowler at pubinfo@asanet.org or (202) 527-7885. During the Annual Meeting (Aug. 20-23), ASA’s Public Information Office staff can be reached in the press room, located in the Sorrento Room of Caesars Palace, at (702) 866-1916 or (914) 450-4557 (cell).
For more information about the study, members of the media can also contact Brendan M. Lynch, KU News Service, at blynch@ku.edu or (785) 864-8855.
Contact: Daniel Fowler
pubinfo@asanet.org
202-527-7885
American Sociological Association
Study reveals cultural characteristics of the Tea Party movement
August 22, 2011
American voters sympathetic to the Tea Party movement reflect four primary cultural and political beliefs more than other voters do: authoritarianism, libertarianism, fear of change, and negative attitudes toward immigrants and immigration, according to new research to be presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.
“Our findings show that the Tea Party movement can best be understood as a new cultural expression of late 20th century conservatism,” said Andrew J. Perrin, an associate professor of sociology in the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s College of Arts and Sciences, and lead author of the study, “Cultures of the Tea Party.”
Findings are based on two telephone polls of registered voters in North Carolina and Tennessee (conducted May 30-June 3, 2010 and Sept. 29-Oct. 3, 2010), and a set of interviews and observations at a Tea Party movement rally in Washington, N.C. Nearly half of poll respondents (46 percent) felt favorably toward the Tea Party movement.
Researchers found that respondents who felt positively toward the Tea Party movement held the following primary cultural and political dispositions more often than other voters did:
- Authoritarianism: respondents believe that obedience by children is more important than creativity, and that deference to authority is an important value.
- Libertarianism: respondents believe there should not be regulations or limitations on expressions such as clothing, television shows, and musical lyrics.
- Fear of change/ontological insecurity: respondents sense that things are changing too fast or too much.
- Nativism: respondents hold negative attitudes toward immigrants and immigration.
Study co-authors are: Steven J. Tepper, an associate professor of sociology at Vanderbilt University; Neal Caren, an assistant professor of sociology at UNC, and Sally Morris, a doctoral student in sociology at UNC.
About the American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association (www.asanet.org), founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society.
The paper, “Cultures of the Tea Party,” will be presented on Monday, Aug. 22, at 2:30 p.m. PDT in Caesars Palace Las Vegas, at the American Sociological Association’s 106th Annual Meeting.
To obtain a copy of the paper; for more information on other ASA presentations; or for assistance reaching the study’s authors, members of the media can contact Daniel Fowler at pubinfo@asanet.org or (202) 527-7885. During the Annual Meeting (Aug. 20-23), ASA’s Public Information Office staff can be reached in the press room, located in the Sorrento Room of Caesars Palace, at (702) 866-1916 or (914) 450-4557 (cell).
For more information about the study, members of the media can also contact Dee Reid, Director of Communications, UNC College of Arts and Sciences, at deereid@unc.edu or (919) 843-6339.
Contact: Daniel Fowler
pubinfo@asanet.org
202-527-7885
American Sociological Association
African rodent uses ‘poison arrow’ toxin to deter predators
August 3, 2011
Wildlife Conservation Society, University of Oxford, and National Museums of Kenya investigate first known mammal to use plant poison in defense
Woe to the clueless predator trying to make a meal of the African crested rat, a rodent that applies poisonous plant toxin to sponge-like hairs on its flanks, a discovery recently made by Jonathan Kingdon and colleagues from the National Museums of Kenya, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and University of Oxford.
In the only known instance of a mammal acquiring a lethal toxin from a plant for defense, the researchers have discovered where the African crested rat (or maned rat) gets its poison: the Acokanthera tree, the same source used by East African hunters for poison arrows.
The study appears online in the Proceedings of The Royal Society B. The authors include: Jonathan Kingdon, Chris Holland, Tom Gheysens, Maxime Boulet-Audet, and Fritz Vollrath of the University of Oxford; Bernard Agwanda of the National Museums of Kenya; and Margaret Kinnaird and Tim O’Brien of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
“The African crested rat is a fascinating example of how a species can evolve a unique set of defenses in response to pressure from predators,” said Dr. Tim O’Brien, Senior Scientist of the Wildlife Conservation Society and a co-author on the study. “The animal and its acquired toxicity is unique among placental mammals.”
Scientists have long suspected that the African crested rat is poisonous, primarily due to the animal’s specialized behavior, such as exposing a black-and-white coloration on its flanks when threatened by predators, and accounts of dogs becoming ill or dying after encounters with rats. The new discovery concerns the nature of the chemical defense. Instead of producing poison itself – as is the case with poisonous mammals such as the duck-billed platypus and solenodon – the African crested rat finds its toxin (called ouabain) in tree bark.
The researchers confirmed the hypothesis by presenting a wild-caught rat with branches and roots of the Acokanthera tree. The rodent proceeded to gnaw and masticate the bark (avoiding the leaves and fruit) and apply the “slaver” on its flanks. Further, the research team employed electron microscopes to examine the unique structure of the flank hairs. In doing so, they found that the perforated cylindrical structure of the hairs facilitates the rapid absorption of the poisonous saliva. Interestingly, ouabain has also been used by doctors for centuries as a clinical treatment against congestive heart failure.
Besides its warning coloration and poisonous hairs, the African crested rat possesses a thick reinforced skull, thick vertebrae, and unusually tough skin, all protection for the small rodent that rarely grows to more than 2 pounds in weight.
Several mysteries about the enigmatic rodent remain, including how the animal uses poison without succumbing to it.
Contact: John Delaney
jdelaney@wcs.org
718-220-3275
Wildlife Conservation Society
Genetic evidence clears Ben Franklin of Tallow Invasion
July 28, 2011
Invasive tree afflicting Gulf Coast was not brought to US by Ben Franklin
The DNA evidence is in, and Ben Franklin didn’t do it.
Genetic tests on more than 1,000 Chinese tallow trees from the United States and China show the famed U.S. statesman did not import the tallow trees that are overrunning thousands of acres of U.S. coastal prairie from Florida to East Texas.
“It’s widely known that Franklin introduced tallow trees to the U.S. in the late 1700s,” said Rice University biologist Evan Siemann, co-author the new study in this month’s American Journal of Botany. “Franklin was living in London, and he had tallow seeds shipped to associates in Georgia.”
What Franklin couldn’t have known at the time was that tallow trees would overachieve in the New World. Today, the trees are classified as an invasive species. Like Asian carp in the Great Lakes and kudzu vines in the eastern U.S., the trees are spreading so fast that they’re destroying native habitats and causing economic damage.
Each tallow tree can produce up to a half million seeds per year. That fertility is one reason Franklin and others were interested in them; each seed is covered by a waxy, white tallow that can be processed to make soap, candles and edible oil.
Siemann, professor and chair of ecology and evolutionary biology at Rice, has spent more than 10 years compiling evidence on the differences between U.S. and Chinese tallow trees. For example, the insects that help keep tallow trees in check in Asia do not live in the U.S., and Siemann and his colleagues have found that the U.S. trees invest far less energy in producing chemicals that ward off insects. They’ve also found that U.S. trees grow about 30 percent faster than their Chinese kin.
“This raises some interesting scientific questions,” Siemann said. “Are tallow trees in the U.S. undergoing evolutionary selection? Did those original plants brought from China have the traits to be successful or did they change after they arrived? Does it matter where they came from in China, or would any tallow tree do just as well in the U.S.?”
In 2005, Siemann set out to gather genetic evidence that could help answer such questions. With funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Agriculture, he and study co-authors William Rogers, now at Texas A&M University, and Saara DeWalt, now at Clemson University, collected and froze leaves from more than 1,000 tallow trees at 51 sites in the U.S. and a dozen sites in China. The researchers conducted hundreds of genetic scans on the leaves, and they spent more than two years analyzing and correlating the results.
There were a few surprises. First, the tallow trees that are running amok in most of the U.S. aren’t from the batch that Franklin imported. The descendants of Franklin’s trees are confined to a few thousand square miles of coastal plain in northern Georgia and southern South Carolina. All other U.S. tallow trees the team sampled were descended from seeds brought to the U.S. by federal biologists around 1905.
“The genetic picture for Franklin’s trees is muddled; we may never know where they originated,” Siemann said. “But the genetic evidence for the other population — the one that’s problematic in the Gulf Coast — clearly points to it being descended from eastern China, probably in the area around Shanghai.”
In controlled tests in China, the researchers found the U.S. trees even grew and spread faster than their Chinese forebears, despite the lack of chemical defenses to ward off insects.
“They suffered twice the damage from insects that the natives did, but they grew so much faster that they still retained a competitive edge,” Siemann said.
“In some ways, this raises even more questions, but it clearly shows that if you are going to explore control methods for an invasive species, you to need to use appropriate genetic material to make certain your tests are valid.”
Siemann said that with many new species of plants and animals still being introduced from foreign environments into the U.S. each year, it is vitally important for scientists to better understand the circumstances that cause introduced species to cross the line and become dangerous invasive pests.
Contact: Jade Boyd
jadeboyd@rice.edu
713-348-6778
Rice University
Is Japan the Victim of the Curse of the Super Moon?
March 14, 2011
(ChattahBox Science News) Not to sound like an End Times preacher blaming natural disasters on curses and God’s wrath, but the news around the blogoshpere is attributing Japan’s recent troubles to the curse of the upcoming super moon. The so-called super moon phenomenon or lunar perigee event, occurs when a full moon moves closer than normal to the Earth. Supposedly, a super moon’s increased effect on the tides can cause catastrophic disasters and earthquakes, so much so, that days before the event occurs, apparently, the power of the super moon can wreak enough havoc to cause one of the most powerful earthquakes in history. Well, it’s a fanciful tale, mostly advanced by an astrologer named Richard Nolle, but real scientists call the curse of the super moon theories nonsense. Still, we are talking an “extreme supermoon” here, according to Nolle. Read more
Right-Wing Porn: ‘The Reagan Honeymoon’ Weekend
February 7, 2011
(ChattahBox Political News)—What better way for right-wing newlyweds to spend their honeymoon than with a weekend stay at the same hotel and same room even, where Ronald and Nancy Reagan consummated their marriage? That’s right, in commemoration of the Gipper’s 100th birthday anniversary, the historic Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside, Calif. is offering conservative newlyweds a honeymoon package that includes free passes to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Sexy! Now that should get the juices flowing, particularly for those Christian fundamentalist hubbies who definitely are not gay, because the Bible says it’s a sin. Read more
Men more likely to stick with girlfriends who sleep with other women than other men
January 27, 2011
(ChattahBox News) – They needed a study to know this? Men are more than twice as likely to continue dating a girlfriend who has cheated on them with another woman than one who has cheated with another man, according to new research from a University of Texas at Austin psychologist.
Women show the opposite pattern. They are more likely to continue dating a man who has had a heterosexual affair than one who has had a homosexual affair.
The study, published last month in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, provides new insight into the psychological adaptations behind men’s desire for a variety of partners and women’s desire for a committed partner. These drives have played a key role in the evolution of human mating psychology.
“A robust jealousy mechanism is activated in men and women by different types of cues those that threaten paternity in men and those that threaten abandonment in women,” says Jaime C. Confer, the study’s lead author and a doctoral candidate in evolutionary psychology.
Confer conducted the study with her father, Mark D. Cloud, a psychology professor at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania.
The researchers asked 700 college students to imagine they were in a committed romantic and sexual relationship with someone they’ve been dating for three months. They were then asked how they would respond to infidelity committed by the imagined partner.
Some participants were told their partners had been unfaithful with a man, others with a woman. Some were told their partners had an affair with one person, others with multiple partners. Some were told the infidelity happened once, others twice.
Regardless of the number of episodes or partners, the study found that:
- Overall, men demonstrated a 50 percent likelihood of continuing to date a partner who has had a homosexual affair and a 22 percent likelihood of staying with a woman after a heterosexual affair.
- Women demonstrated a 28 percent likelihood of continuing to date a boyfriend who has had a heterosexual affair and a 21 percent likelihood of staying with someone who has had a homosexual affair.
The findings suggest men are more distressed by the type of infidelity that could threaten their paternity of offspring. Men may also view a partner’s homosexual affair as an opportunity to mate with more than one woman simultaneously, satisfying men’s greater desire for more partners, the authors say.
“These findings are even more remarkable given that homosexuality attitude surveys show men have more negative attitudes toward homosexuality and to be less supportive of civil rights for same-sex couples than women. However, this general trend of men showing lower tolerance for homosexuality than women is reversed in the one fitness-enhancing situationfemale homosexuality,” say the authors.
Conversely, women objected to continuing a relationship following both types of affairs, but especially so for a boyfriend’s homosexual affair. Such an affair may be seen as a sign of dissatisfaction with the current relationship and a prelude to possible abandonment, according to the authors.
Participants were also asked the outcomes of real-life infidelity experiences. Results mirrored those of the imagined infidelity scenarios: Men were significantly more likely than women to have ended their actual relationships following a partner’s (presumably heterosexual) affair.
Jaime Confer
512-745-2799
jconfer@mail.utexas.edu
Mark Cloud
570-484-2221
mcloud@lhup.edu
Romania’s Witches Unleash Dog Poop Spells on Leaders
January 6, 2011
(ChattahBox World News)— It’s always the season of the witch in Romania. And if you know what’s good for you, don’t piss them off and subject yourself to their curses and spells made from dead animals and excrement. It’s already too late for the president of Romania, Traian Basescu, who unleashed a witch uprising after declaring that self-employed witches now have to pay taxes. The nation’s witches, and there are quite a few in this superstitious country, have scheduled a protest along the Danube River on Thursday. The covens of angry witches plan to cast spells and curses on President Basescu and other leaders. But Basescu is one step ahead of these cackling witches with their warts and mandrake root. He has invoked the protection of the “Violet Flame” by dressing in purple attire, which acts as a Teflon shield against evil curses. Good to know. Read more
Vulture Arrested Under Suspicion of Being Israeli Spy
January 5, 2011
Saudi Arabia (ChattahBox World News)—Saudi Arabian investigators have determined that Israeli intelligence will stop at nothing when training spies to go undercover—and arrested a vulture last week that they accuse of being a Mossad spy trained by Israel, the UK Telegraph reports.
The bird was discovered in rural Saudi Arabia wearing a GPS transmitter and a tag with an identification code on it from Tel Aviv University, the Telegraph notes. Locals accused the bird of being linked to a “Zionist plot” and told security forces, who subsequently arrested the vulture.
Following the arrest, hundreds of posts appeared on Arabic-language Web sites accusing “Zionists” of training birds for espionage. This follows reports from 2010 in which an Egyptian official apparently accused a shark that attacked humans of being an Israeli spy, the Telegraph reports.
Goat-Sucking Chupacabra or Hairless Raccoon Terrorizing Kentucky (Video)
December 28, 2010
(ChattahBox US News)—The mysterious legend of the goat-sucking creature El Chupacabra is alive and well in the wilds of Kentucky. A hideous hairless animal resembling the mythical Chupacabra beast had the misfortune of wandering into the front yard of a Kentuckian earlier in the month, who promptly shot the creature for the crime of being bald in the winter. Mark Cothren of Lebanon Junction, Kentucky is now famous for either bagging a blood-sucking Chupacabra monster the size of a large house cat or possibly a raccoon with a bad case of mange. Read more