Robert M. Jiobu

Ethnic Hegemony and the Japanese of California

This research proposes a model to explain how ethnic minorities establish an economic niche in the host society. The model emphasizes infrastructure and proposes the concept of ethnic hegemony a situation in which an ethnic group achieves economic control over an important economic arena that interfaces with the majority. By a priori specifying the model, it is possible to see how the ethnicity of a specific group might (or might not) reinforce the infrastructure. Japanese-Americans of California were used to assess the model empirically. Since the Japanese achieved remarkable upward mobility in the face of extreme discrimination, they constitute an important test of the model. Data drawn from various historical sources show that California Japanese hegemonized a specific arena of produce agriculture, from farm labor to production and through distribution. In a more limited way, they also hegemonized contract gardening. The model of ethnic hegemony was contrasted to the usual explanation for Japanese-American success-education. Distinctions between the model and the model of ethnic enclaves are discussed. In the future, the ethnic-hegemony model might be extended and specified to other ethnic minorities.

Urban Structure and the Differentiation Between Blacks and Whites

In this study some of the determinants of black assimilation into large United States cities are examined. Assimilation is treated as a multidimensional phenomenon, the various dimensions of which are attributes of organized populations. A structural model is developed and analyzed, using the technique of path analysis, in which other attributes of urban social structures are related to the various dimensions of assimilation. Analysis suggests that the dimensions of assimilation are causally interrelated, with educational assimilation a major determinant of income assimilation, both directly and indirectly through its effects upon occupational assimilation. However, other attributes of organized urban populations also make important direct and indirect contributions to assimilation. Of special importance is percent of the citys population that is black and the rate of black population growth. Surprisingly, ghettoization is not very important causally when compared with other variables in the system, a significant negative finding in view of current emphasis upon this factor. This analysis suggests that greater attention be paid to organizational dimensions of urban populations as a means of specifying the processes underlying the assimilation of blacks.

Lack of Confidence in the Federal Government and the Ownership of Firearms

Objective. Scholars have debated the importance of declining confidence in social institutions to the American political system. The objective of this research was to offer and test the hypothesis that individuals with little faith in the three branches of the federal government will be more likely to own firearms than individuals with higher levels of confidence. Methods. The data were drawn from the General Social Survey for the years 1982-1996 and analyzed with a multivariate logistic regression equation that controlled for many of the variables known to be associated with gun ownership. Results. The regression showed that even in the presence of many control measures, respondents who lacked confidence in the federal government were more likely to own firearms than their counterparts who had greater faith in the federal government. Conclusion. Although the hypothesis relating confidence in government to gun ownership was supported and has important policy implications, the data did not permit us to disentangle possible causal relationships. For that, further research will be necessary.

Urban determinants of racial differentiation in infant mortality

This study relates differential socioeconomic status between blacks and whites to racial differentiation in infant mortality rates. The basic assumption is that decreases in socioeconomic differentiation and related variables lead to decreases in the black—white infant mortality differential. A comparative approach based on aggregate measures of socioeconomic differentiation is utilized to compare sixty-one United States urban places. Path analysis shows that neonatal mortality differentiation is virtually unaffected by socioeconomic differentials while decreased racial differences in hospital births tend to increase neonatal mortality differentiation. In contrast, postneonatal differentiation is affected by socioeconomic differentiation, especially along the dimensions of income, education, and regional location. It is concluded that despite some suggestions that infant mortality is no longer responsive to socioeconomic factors, postneonatal differentation is affected by socioeconomic differentials when comparison is based on city units.

Catastrophe Theory A Quasi-Quantitative Methodology

The mathematical theory of catastrophes was developed by Rene Thom and consists of models suitable for explaining the abrupt changes of discontinuous dependent variables. Such variables are called catastrophic and have been difficult to analyze because mathematics has traditionally assumed that both the independent and dependent variables are continuous. Catastrophe theory has been highly touted as being particularly suitable for the less exact sciences, such as sociology, where measurement and conceptual difficulties make the assumption of a continuous dependent variable somewhat dubious in many cases. This paper explicates the nature of catastrophe theory in a nontechnical way, emphasizing the simplest model, the cusp. Both an inductive and deductive approach in applying the cusp model to sociological data are developed and illustrated, and the paper concludes with a discussion of how catastrophe theory might contribute to sociological understanding.

An alternate test of the minority status and fertility relation

This study examines the relation between relative group size and the family sizes of white, Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino Americans. The concern is with the generality of Days (1968) explanation for the fertility of Catholic minorities residing in countries other than the United States. Here we apply the perspective to the United States-a large, heterogenous country in which minority status is defined along racial-ethnic lines rather than principally by religious affiliation. The family sizes of each minority, where it is a relatively small proportion of the state population, are compared with a state where each group is a relatively large proportion, adjusting for appropriate compositional differences.