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The United States’ neoliberal approach to governance promotes structural inequalities that shape individuals’ sense of dignity. We employ qualitative in-depth interviews and ethnographic field study to examine dignity construction via daily experiences with food access and foodways. Situating our study within a rural Oklahoma community with high food insecurity rates, we ask: How does structural inequality impact individuals’ daily experiences with dignity construction? How is a sense of dignity influenced by daily experiences with food access and foodways within the context of community-based food initiatives? We address structural inequality and the resulting social hierarchy of food security, focusing on three overlapping social arenas—relational, individual, and institutional. Relational interactions in food access spaces promote dignity when interactions are characterized by symmetrical social encounters. Dignity in the individual arena centers on foodways, cultural or familial traditions, and role-taking as a food provider. In the institutional arena, dignity is influenced by structures and operational approaches. Our research contributes to literatures informing policies and strategies employed by community-led, rights-based food aid systems in advanced capitalist nations. Efforts prioritize and promote human dignity, despite neoliberal, advanced capitalist governments’ failure to address structural inequalities as a root cause of food insecurity.
Amy Herrington; Tamara Mix. Invisible and Insecure in Rural America: Cultivating Dignity in Local Food Security Initiatives. Sustainability 2021, 13, 3109 .
AMA StyleAmy Herrington, Tamara Mix. Invisible and Insecure in Rural America: Cultivating Dignity in Local Food Security Initiatives. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (6):3109.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAmy Herrington; Tamara Mix. 2021. "Invisible and Insecure in Rural America: Cultivating Dignity in Local Food Security Initiatives." Sustainability 13, no. 6: 3109.
Traditional food initiatives often aim to increase food access through market‐based, needs‐driven models, leaving basic food requirements unmet for many in the current U.S. food system. Employing qualitative community‐based participatory methods, we examine the asset‐based developmental stages of a local‐level Food and Resource Center (FRC) in rural Stillwater, OK. We consider the ways that social capital can be activated as a community asset for development, articulating how social networks are used to identify, mobilize, and galvanize community support. How has the community identified and mobilized a “stock” of social capital to employ an asset‐based approach to developing a food resource center? How can the FRC enhance social capital for the community as a whole? We provide insight into how individual, agency, and institutional actors act as pivotal resources for community development, delineating the ways in which community social capital and asset‐based development can influence an organization's operational goals. Additionally, we explore strategies used to enhance linking and bonding forms of social capital as well as obstacles to bridging social capital in the broader community.
Amy Herrington; Tamara L. Mix. “Building a Bigger Table”: Mobilizing Social Capital to Develop a Community Food Resource Center. Sociological Inquiry 2019, 90, 794 -822.
AMA StyleAmy Herrington, Tamara L. Mix. “Building a Bigger Table”: Mobilizing Social Capital to Develop a Community Food Resource Center. Sociological Inquiry. 2019; 90 (4):794-822.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAmy Herrington; Tamara L. Mix. 2019. "“Building a Bigger Table”: Mobilizing Social Capital to Develop a Community Food Resource Center." Sociological Inquiry 90, no. 4: 794-822.
Women’s secondary schools have become an option for educational attainment in Nepal. We assess bonding and bridging social capital available to women who attend the Utprerana Women Secondary School (UWSS) in Nepal’s major city of Kathmandu. Using qualitative approaches, we consider the social capital available to women that both encourages and limits women’s educational access and address the networks women build when attending school. Bonding capital both encourages women to pursue their education and demands that women conform to traditional roles. School attendance prompts a change in bonding social capital, accumulated with family prior to school attendance. Women add to their bonding social capital by strengthening relationships with classmates and teachers. Women’s school attendance improved bridging social capital by enhancing future opportunities. Bonding social capital formed within the school provides emotional support, personal space from domestic responsibilities, and a sense of freedom, while demanding women’s conformity to expectations for student conduct.
Srijana Karki; Tamara L. Mix. “My Family Are Supportive . . . But People in My Village Mock Me”: Bonding and Bridging Capital among Women Pursuing Secondary Education in Kathmandu, Nepal. Sociological Perspectives 2018, 61, 711 -727.
AMA StyleSrijana Karki, Tamara L. Mix. “My Family Are Supportive . . . But People in My Village Mock Me”: Bonding and Bridging Capital among Women Pursuing Secondary Education in Kathmandu, Nepal. Sociological Perspectives. 2018; 61 (5):711-727.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSrijana Karki; Tamara L. Mix. 2018. "“My Family Are Supportive . . . But People in My Village Mock Me”: Bonding and Bridging Capital among Women Pursuing Secondary Education in Kathmandu, Nepal." Sociological Perspectives 61, no. 5: 711-727.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan highlights risks associated with nuclear power. In France, a nation highly dependent upon nuclear electricity, actors create powerful official frames to shape public acceptance of nuclear risk. One component of establishing the nuclear energy infrastructure includes creation of normalizing media messages about nuclear energy, downplaying potential harms and discouraging the presence of contrasting narratives as well as social movement action. Drawing from literature on risk society, framing, and the role of media in creating and shaping discourse, we conduct a qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles published in two widely disseminated French daily newspapers, Le Monde and Le Figaro, to understand the construction of nuclear risk in France around the time of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. We argue that mainstream media promotes narratives that support nuclear energy, normalizes risk and regulates public knowledge to the detriment of antinuclear collective action even under high-risk conditions.
Julie Schweitzer; Tamara L. Mix. Risk normalization in a nuclear reliant society: the construction of risk in French media narratives pre- and post-Fukushima. Environmental Sociology 2017, 4, 264 -274.
AMA StyleJulie Schweitzer, Tamara L. Mix. Risk normalization in a nuclear reliant society: the construction of risk in French media narratives pre- and post-Fukushima. Environmental Sociology. 2017; 4 (2):264-274.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJulie Schweitzer; Tamara L. Mix. 2017. "Risk normalization in a nuclear reliant society: the construction of risk in French media narratives pre- and post-Fukushima." Environmental Sociology 4, no. 2: 264-274.
We coconstruct a series of autoethnographic reflections to offer analysis of the emotions involved in early social movement mobilization. Oil and gas extraction and production are deeply embedded in Oklahoma’s economic, political, social, and cultural milieu. Using Woods et al.’s ladder of emotions model, we consider the constraints faced by three different proenvironmental/antifracking activists in Oklahoma within the context of place-based activism. Emotion and place-based identities are central to the early stages and continuance of social movement organization. We call for greater attention to these dynamics and further study of the role of emotions in the emergence, ascendance, and abeyance of social movement activity.
Dakota K. T. Raynes; Tamara L. Mix; Angela Spotts; Ariel Ross. An Emotional Landscape of Place-based Activism. Humanity & Society 2016, 40, 401 -423.
AMA StyleDakota K. T. Raynes, Tamara L. Mix, Angela Spotts, Ariel Ross. An Emotional Landscape of Place-based Activism. Humanity & Society. 2016; 40 (4):401-423.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDakota K. T. Raynes; Tamara L. Mix; Angela Spotts; Ariel Ross. 2016. "An Emotional Landscape of Place-based Activism." Humanity & Society 40, no. 4: 401-423.
Natural resources governance is key to enhancing resilience toward climate change and strengthening socioecological systems in light of future uncertainties. Overlapping jurisdictions and lack of clarity in the lines of authority reduce the efficiency of environmental policies and governance, jeopardizing the conservation and sustainable use of resources. With the forecast of longer droughts, extreme precipitation patterns, faster runoff, and slower water table recharge over the coming years, water governance becomes an impellent issue. To understand the risks posed by water scarcity and water regulations, a case study was conducted of Oklahoma state-level water policies and governance. A content analysis of water policies and a network analysis of water governance was used to determine how Oklahoma experiences features of fragmented and adaptive governance within its natural resource governance structure. Data analysis reveals that Oklahoma water governance experiences multiple forms of fragmentation while also showing features of an adaptive network. Such adaptive features make Oklahoma's water governance network more resilient than forecasted. Identifying gaps and understanding how a governance system experiences fragmentation can help policy makers develop strategies to enhance the adaptive features of water governance, thus preparing for risk and disasters related to water scarcity and climate variability.
Beth Caniglia; Beatrice Frank; Bridget Kerner; Tamara L. Mix. Water Policy And Governance Networks: A Pathway To Enhance Resilience Toward Climate Change. Sociological Forum 2016, 31, 828 -845.
AMA StyleBeth Caniglia, Beatrice Frank, Bridget Kerner, Tamara L. Mix. Water Policy And Governance Networks: A Pathway To Enhance Resilience Toward Climate Change. Sociological Forum. 2016; 31 ():828-845.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBeth Caniglia; Beatrice Frank; Bridget Kerner; Tamara L. Mix. 2016. "Water Policy And Governance Networks: A Pathway To Enhance Resilience Toward Climate Change." Sociological Forum 31, no. : 828-845.
Using interview data from thirty-one grassfed ranchers across Oklahoma, we adapt a culturally focused social movement framework to explore a regional grassfed livestock movement. Drawing on social movement and agrifood literature, we examine how grassfed actors forge a cohesive grassfed collective identity and how collective identity processes inspire engagement in forms of individualized, cultural protest. We address how collective identity politicizes movement actors, moving them to prioritize cultural issues of the grassfed movement and development of a grassfed activist identity, sometimes above other tangible, economic rewards. We also consider how grassfed ranchers are restricting the boundaries of movement membership in response to increased interest in alternative agricultural practices by new producers and by agrifood elites, and how they use market-oriented tactics to enforce those boundaries. In doing so we draw parallels to conventionalization processes in the organic sector. By emphasizing the identity work of grassfed producer-activists, we provide new perspectives on an emerging agricultural movement gaining traction in the US and abroad.
Andrew Raridon; Tamara L. Mix. “That's not Grassfed!” Identity Formation, Maintenance, and Co-Optation in Oklahoma's Grassfed Livestock Movement. Sociological Inquiry 2016, 86, 141 -165.
AMA StyleAndrew Raridon, Tamara L. Mix. “That's not Grassfed!” Identity Formation, Maintenance, and Co-Optation in Oklahoma's Grassfed Livestock Movement. Sociological Inquiry. 2016; 86 (2):141-165.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAndrew Raridon; Tamara L. Mix. 2016. "“That's not Grassfed!” Identity Formation, Maintenance, and Co-Optation in Oklahoma's Grassfed Livestock Movement." Sociological Inquiry 86, no. 2: 141-165.
Rachel M. Gurney; Beth Schaefer Caniglia; Tamara L. Mix; Kristen Baum. Native American Food Security and Traditional Foods: A Review of the Literature. Sociology Compass 2015, 9, 681 -693.
AMA StyleRachel M. Gurney, Beth Schaefer Caniglia, Tamara L. Mix, Kristen Baum. Native American Food Security and Traditional Foods: A Review of the Literature. Sociology Compass. 2015; 9 (8):681-693.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRachel M. Gurney; Beth Schaefer Caniglia; Tamara L. Mix; Kristen Baum. 2015. "Native American Food Security and Traditional Foods: A Review of the Literature." Sociology Compass 9, no. 8: 681-693.
Using qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles, Web site matter, and newsprint advertisements, the authors analyze the nuances of Know Your Power (KYP), a corporate Astroturf campaign created in 2007 to challenge the permitting of the Red Rock coal-fired facility in northern Oklahoma. Employing a risk society framework, the study contributes to literatures on Astroturf campaigns, the social construction and definition of risk, discourse on the contentious politics of energy, and corporate use of false grassroots coalitions in an environmental conflict. Findings indicate that KYP utilized an educational framework, neighborhood expert knowledge, themes central in the risk society, and the impression of a grassroots coalition to convince lay publics and regulatory actors that “Red Rock is wrong.”
Tamara L. Mix; Kristin G. Waldo. Know(ing) Your Power: Risk Society, Astroturf Campaigns, and the Battle over the Red Rock Coal-Fired Plant. The Sociological Quarterly 2015, 56, 125 -151.
AMA StyleTamara L. Mix, Kristin G. Waldo. Know(ing) Your Power: Risk Society, Astroturf Campaigns, and the Battle over the Red Rock Coal-Fired Plant. The Sociological Quarterly. 2015; 56 (1):125-151.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTamara L. Mix; Kristin G. Waldo. 2015. "Know(ing) Your Power: Risk Society, Astroturf Campaigns, and the Battle over the Red Rock Coal-Fired Plant." The Sociological Quarterly 56, no. 1: 125-151.
We utilize in-depth interviews with 30 homebirth mothers and 11 midwives in Oklahoma to understand their perspectives on power, ideology, and practices in society's hegemonic birth system. Employing Foucauldian, Foucauldian feminist, and social constructivist frameworks, we illuminate issues of reality construction, knowledge, and power related to the homebirth experience. Participants expressed distinctions between a biomedical and midwifery model. They described complex power / knowledge relations in the biomedical model whereby women's bodies are made docile through disciplinary technologies, including physician control of knowledge and panopticonic domination of time, space, and movements of the body. Homebirth mothers and midwives articulated narratives of empowerment, knowledge, and control in the philosophy and practice of the midwifery model and homebirth. In pursuing “empowerment, healing, and respect,” participants engaged in alternative practices and philosophies, garnered agency and empowerment, and challenged normative medical hegemony.
Kathryn Worman-Ross; Tamara L. Mix. “I Wanted Empowerment, Healing, and Respect”: Homebirth as Challenge to Medical Hegemony. Sociological Spectrum 2013, 33, 453 -481.
AMA StyleKathryn Worman-Ross, Tamara L. Mix. “I Wanted Empowerment, Healing, and Respect”: Homebirth as Challenge to Medical Hegemony. Sociological Spectrum. 2013; 33 (5):453-481.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKathryn Worman-Ross; Tamara L. Mix. 2013. "“I Wanted Empowerment, Healing, and Respect”: Homebirth as Challenge to Medical Hegemony." Sociological Spectrum 33, no. 5: 453-481.
Focusing on environmental justice (EJ) activists’ experiences with local‐level coalition building as a purposive organizational form, data sources for this manuscript include focus groups, face‐to‐face, and telephone interviews with a sample of activists across the United States representing community‐based, grassroots EJ organizations. From the perspective of EJ activists, what forms do local‐EJ coalitions take? What are the costs of coalition building and what strategies do EJ organizations use to promote local‐level coalitions as an organizational form? What are the benefits of coalition building and how may coalitions enhance movement success and community social capital? Findings indicate that activists view coalitions positively and that coalitions exist in three primary forms. Costs of coalition building are associated with a labor‐intensive education and outreach framework entailing significant personal communication, networking, and trust building. Benefits of coalition building include an enhanced understanding of local and community experiences, an opportunity to share resources, and a stronger voice to hold power accountable. Local‐EJ coalition efforts maintain attributes useful in building community social capital.
Tamara L. Mix. Rally the People: Building Local-Environmental Justice Grassroots Coalitions and Enhancing Social Capital*. Sociological Inquiry 2011, 81, 174 -194.
AMA StyleTamara L. Mix. Rally the People: Building Local-Environmental Justice Grassroots Coalitions and Enhancing Social Capital*. Sociological Inquiry. 2011; 81 (2):174-194.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTamara L. Mix. 2011. "Rally the People: Building Local-Environmental Justice Grassroots Coalitions and Enhancing Social Capital*." Sociological Inquiry 81, no. 2: 174-194.
Employing an interpretive content analysis of online forums, the author examines use of environmental themes by the United States white separatist movement in its efforts to seek legitimacy and garner a broad base of support. The contemporary white separatist movement draws upon latent National Socialist environmental discursive frames linked to history, spirituality, and stewardship. The lack of a specific position on the environment in the movement permits the manipulation of environmental themes to appeal to a wide range of audiences. Appeals to right wing environmental, population, and anti-environmental audiences include a discourse of environmental skepticism, concerns about immigration and overpopulation and discussion of rights to nature and land. Appeals to left wing and mainstream audiences involve expressions of environmental concern, preservation, stewardship, and rights of nature. A narrative of networking using environmentalism's broad appeal, perceived concerns regarding immigration and population growth, and similarities in racial characteristics was also evident.
Tamara L. Mix. The Greening of White Separatism: Use of Environmental Themes to Elaborate and Legitimize Extremist Discourse. Nature and Culture 2009, 4, 138 -166.
AMA StyleTamara L. Mix. The Greening of White Separatism: Use of Environmental Themes to Elaborate and Legitimize Extremist Discourse. Nature and Culture. 2009; 4 (2):138-166.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTamara L. Mix. 2009. "The Greening of White Separatism: Use of Environmental Themes to Elaborate and Legitimize Extremist Discourse." Nature and Culture 4, no. 2: 138-166.
Wealth production within a “risk society” typically depends on production technologies that expose citizens to dangerous substances. Knowledge of such exposure is, more often than not, hidden from the public. Empirical analyses show that citizens' claims of illnesses caused by risky exposures are frequently contested by the institutions that select production technologies and control information: the government, corporations, and physicians. In this article, we use the risk society thesis as a framework for addressing gaps in the environmental illness literature—specifically, the basis for authorities' contestations of illness claims for which the exposure–illness link is scientifically confirmed. Using case methods, including in-depth interviews with 124 citizens, analyses center on the contested illness claims of nuclear weapons workers at the federal Oak Ridge Nuclear Reservation. Results highlight how institutional and organizational resources provided authorities with tactical leverage, and allowed them to manufacture an ambiguous climate for public discourse. This discourse focused on the exposure—illness link for a particular individual and their specific symptoms rather than the established exposure—illness links in general. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for analyses of environmental exposure specifically, but also the seemingly contradictory tension between the risk society's need to restrict information to experts and democracy's need for open discourse.
Sherry Cable; Thomas E. Shriver; Tamara L. Mix. Risk Society and Contested Illness: The Case of Nuclear Weapons Workers. American Sociological Review 2008, 73, 380 -401.
AMA StyleSherry Cable, Thomas E. Shriver, Tamara L. Mix. Risk Society and Contested Illness: The Case of Nuclear Weapons Workers. American Sociological Review. 2008; 73 (3):380-401.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSherry Cable; Thomas E. Shriver; Tamara L. Mix. 2008. "Risk Society and Contested Illness: The Case of Nuclear Weapons Workers." American Sociological Review 73, no. 3: 380-401.
Tamara L. Mix; Thomas E. Shriver. Neighbors, nuisances and noxious releases: Community conflict and environmental hazards in the atomic city. The Social Science Journal 2007, 44, 630 -644.
AMA StyleTamara L. Mix, Thomas E. Shriver. Neighbors, nuisances and noxious releases: Community conflict and environmental hazards in the atomic city. The Social Science Journal. 2007; 44 (4):630-644.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTamara L. Mix; Thomas E. Shriver. 2007. "Neighbors, nuisances and noxious releases: Community conflict and environmental hazards in the atomic city." The Social Science Journal 44, no. 4: 630-644.
The state of Alaska has a complex historical relationship with its wild wolf packs. The authors expand Connell's concept of frontier masculinity to interpret articles from the Anchorage Daily News as an alternative way to understand Alaska's shifting wolf policies. Originally, state policies were shaped by frontier masculinity and characterized by claims of sportsmen's rights to kill wolves. With the reinstitution of an aggressive wolf-eradication project, Alaska policy makers retooled frontier masculinity. This altered form of masculinity, retro frontier masculinity, is constructed at the state level and deploys new strategic emphases: vilifying opponents as feminized sissies, casting wolf hunters as paternalist protectors, reifying the masculine family provider role, and framing the issue as fundamentally about competition.
Sine Anahita; Tamara L. Mix. Retrofitting Frontier Masculinity for Alaska's War Against Wolves. Gender & Society 2006, 20, 332 -353.
AMA StyleSine Anahita, Tamara L. Mix. Retrofitting Frontier Masculinity for Alaska's War Against Wolves. Gender & Society. 2006; 20 (3):332-353.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSine Anahita; Tamara L. Mix. 2006. "Retrofitting Frontier Masculinity for Alaska's War Against Wolves." Gender & Society 20, no. 3: 332-353.
This piece focuses on working class activists' perspectives on cross-class coalitions, considering the influence of environmental justice activists' social status evaluations on experiences in cross-class coalition efforts with professional environmental activists. We ask: To what extent have cross-class coalitions been formed between working class and middle class environmental organizations? How did working class activists perceive their experiences in contacts with middle class environmental organizations? From the perspective of working class activists, what role does differential social status play in coalition efforts? Data sources include face-to-face focus groups and interviews, and telephone interviews with a sample of actiuists across the United States representing working class, community-based, grassroots environmental justice organizations. Findings indicate that cooperative efforts involving groups of different status within the contemporary environmental movement are rare and that coalitions do not occur. Social status evaluations are a central factor in determining the likelihood of cooperative efforts and coalition building.
Tamara L. Mix; Sherry Cable. Condescension and Cross-Class Coalitions: Working Class Activists' Perspectives on the Role of Social Status. Sociological Focus 2006, 39, 99 -114.
AMA StyleTamara L. Mix, Sherry Cable. Condescension and Cross-Class Coalitions: Working Class Activists' Perspectives on the Role of Social Status. Sociological Focus. 2006; 39 (2):99-114.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTamara L. Mix; Sherry Cable. 2006. "Condescension and Cross-Class Coalitions: Working Class Activists' Perspectives on the Role of Social Status." Sociological Focus 39, no. 2: 99-114.
Drawing on secondary sources, the authors analyze how contemporary U.S. social institutions continue to produce racial differentials despite considerable pressures for institutional changes to reduce or eliminate those differentials. They argue that the post-Civil War industrial revolution brought economic imperatives that shaped the labor pool and created occupational segregation by race. The principle of racial segregation subsequently permeated other social institutions, most notably the political, educational, and residential institutions, to form the American apartheid system by 1918. Between the world wars, the United States strove for global economic dominance by a state collaboration with corporate interests to maintain the apartheid system. The apartheid system was the basis for the 1945 achievement of U.S. economic dominance. During the phase of unchallenged economic dominance, Black resistance combined with global criticisms of racism to dismantle the apartheid system. When U.S. global economic dominance faded in the 1970s and 1980s, a White back-lash occurred against Black economic and political gains.
Sherry Cable; Tamara L. Mix. Economic Imperatives and Race Relations. Journal of Black Studies 2003, 34, 183 -203.
AMA StyleSherry Cable, Tamara L. Mix. Economic Imperatives and Race Relations. Journal of Black Studies. 2003; 34 (2):183-203.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSherry Cable; Tamara L. Mix. 2003. "Economic Imperatives and Race Relations." Journal of Black Studies 34, no. 2: 183-203.