Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology

Complete Spring 2013 Issue

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Introduction to this special issue

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Little examined elements in the welfare reform debate: The diminished male and the decreased value of education in the later market

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* Originally printed in Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology 1998 26(1).

In the welfare reform debate in the 1990s, Republicans argued that government programs designed to give a helping hand breed illegitimacy, crime, illiteracy, and more poverty. Democrats focused on the changing labor market: High tech jobs have educational requirements that persons with little education or training cannot fill; therefore, welfare reform should target job training and education. Neither party looked at how the reorganization of the labor market negatively affected men more than women such that women had a reduced pool of employed males with livable wages as marriage partners. The loss of employed men with livable wages was found to account for increased levels of poor
families with dependent children headed by single females. Also, neither party accounted for the existence of more persons with educational requirements than there are positions requiring those requirements. The labor market continues to produce employment on both ends of the skill and wage spectrum. Thus, education and training do not necessarily translate to higher paying jobs as they did before the mid-1970s.

Deindustrialization and the reorganization of occupations: The reorganization of the labor market in Oklahoma between 1970 and 1990*

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*Originally printed in Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology 29(1).

Studies of deindustrialization generally assume that the decline of craft and laborer occupations is principally associated with a relative loss of
manufacturing jobs combined with a gain in service and trade jobs. This study tests this assumption in Oklahoma between 1970 and 1990 using a secondary analysis of U.S. Census data for the state as a whole and for Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Muskogee, Ardmore, and McAlester. Deindustrialization was found principally in Tulsa. Oklahoma City and McAlester lost a significant proportion of employment in the government sector. Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and McAlester each lost significantly more employment in craft and laborer occupations and gained more employment in managerial, professional, and technical occupations than can be accounted for by the change in the industrial distribution of employment alone. In most areas included in the study, employment in administrative support occupations decreased more than expected from changes in the distribution of employment by industry alone while
sales occupations increased. This additional change in the occupational
distribution was associated with the reorganization of occupations within
industries. Finally, a doubling of the rate of part-time workers occurred that
cannot be accounted for by the proportional change of employment by industry or by occupation within industries.

Testing some truisms about poverty in Oklahoma*

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*Originally printed in Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology 2010 38(2).

Four truisms about poverty are often heard in Oklahoma: Dependency causes poverty, education solves poverty, discrimination is no longer a problem, and a rising economic tide floats all boats. This paper uses publicly available sources -such as the U.S. Census- to test these truisms in Oklahoma. From 1999 and 2006 it was found that poverty increased in the face of decreased public assistance, that poverty increased in the face of increased education levels, that higher rates of poverty level wages were paid to minorities and women than to white men, that poverty level wages were a part of the labor market and that poverty rises and falls as the proportion of jobs that pay poverty level wages rises and falls, and that real wages fell as per capita gross domestic product rose. After a close examination of various industrial sectors and of recent cross national studies, it was concluded that a rising floor under the labor market is more effective at reducing poverty than a rising general tide of economic growth.

Identifying possible impediments to fair housing in Tulsa, Oklahoma, using less-than-perfect Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data*

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*Originally printed in Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology 2001 29(2).

Studies that utilize Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data reveal more
problems than they resolve. HMDA data include limited variables used by
lenders. Even when supplemented with additional information, researchers
question their results by hypothesizing additional variables that might account
for race. Criteria of adequacy for utilizing HMDA data are proposed that are
adequate to the planning task of identifying the effects of impediments to fair housing. While HMDA data provide questionable evidence for discrimination, they provide adequate evidence to determine if a minority population experiences impediments to fair housing. A methodology is derived from a literature review.

A critical analysis of the concept of power: An interactionist revelation of its moral nature*

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*Originally printed in Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology 1990 18(2).

It is argued that power is best understood as a moral category rather than as a causal category for purposes of social analysis. Since the exercise of power
implies the violation of preferences, it is a moral problem which requires the
identification of a responsible party for remedy. If a social analysis does not
make responsible actors and relevant moralities manifest, the analysis
emasculates the fundamental moral resources available to the party over
whom power is exercised. Concepts of power involving closed, substituted,
simultaneous, and negotiated moral universes are examined from this
perspective.

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Front matter

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Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology

Complete Spring 2013 Issue

Introduction to this special issue

Little examined elements in the welfare reform debate: The diminished male and the decreased value of education in the later market

Deindustrialization and the reorganization of occupations: The reorganization of the labor market in Oklahoma between 1970 and 1990*

Testing some truisms about poverty in Oklahoma*

Identifying possible impediments to fair housing in Tulsa, Oklahoma, using less-than-perfect Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data*

A critical analysis of the concept of power: An interactionist revelation of its moral nature*

Table of contents

Front matter