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In this paper, we offer a case study of Callisto, an online site for sexual assault reporting, to highlight innovations in value design. We compare Callisto first to ordinary reporting systems, second to value design projects in computer/information system engineering, and third to large scale social movements and social media enterprises. Callisto stands out from other systems based on its exceptional value agency- a measure of a system’s societal reach, resource commitment, and value design engineering. As such, it provides a model for human rights and social justice campaigns.

As in other areas of social life where the privileging of whiteness is rendered invisible, the donor insemination choices of white lesbians making individual choices about the race of potential children are de-racialized and de-politicized. Using qualitative data, we focus on how white women who choose white donors rely on racial markers, while avoiding overt discussions of race, to explain their racial preferences in childrearing. The individuals we interviewed rarely questioned their decision to use white donors, or even verbally acknowledged their decision. For instance, while no participants explicitly stated, ‘I wanted a white child’, they did display preferences in terms of skin colour, hair colour, eye colour, and ethnicity. That is, individuals assumed whiteness and assumed this decision did not have to be explained. Our research deconstructs this narrative and challenges its invisibility.

Although women’s presence in the labor force has shown a marked increase, much of the existing research on housework suggests that for heterosexual families men’s and women’s housework contributions remain unequal. Scholars of domestic labor suggest that this influx of privileged women into the labor force, coupled with growing income inequality has caused an increase in the demand for paid domestic labor. This re-delegation of domestic labor may in some ways represent a threat to privileged women’s self image as caring for family has been inextricably part of the ideological construction of what constitutes a good wife and mother. Research demonstrates that even as families hire someone for domestic/cleaning labor women feel “obligated” to retain control of its’ supervision. This is not necessarily challenging the existing gendered division of labor but rather displacing housework along raced and classed lines. Utilizing data from 30 qualitative interviews with white class privileged women who hire domestic workers; this paper explores the motivations for hiring domestic workers, the ways in which participants conceptualized this labor as gendered, and finally how they navigated the guilt that often times accompanied hiring domestic workers.

The second edition of Servants of Globalization: Migration and Domestic Work expands on Parrenas’ original interview data with Filipina domestic workers in Rome and Los Angeles with newly collected...

Various studies of domestic work have identified close personal relationships between domestic workers and employers as a key instrument in the exploitation of domestic workers, allowing employers to solicit unpaid services as well as a sense of superiority (Rollins, 1985; Romero, 2002; Glenn, 1992; Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2001). Likewise, other scholars have pointed out that close employee-employer relationships may actually empower domestic workers, increasing job leverage (Thorton-Dill, 1994). Ultimately, these lines are blurry and ever changing as employers continuously redefine employee expectations. Drawing from a larger study involving thirty interviews with white upper middle class women who currently employ domestic workers (mostly housecleaners) this paper explores employers’ interactions with domestic workers. Through these interviews this research elaborates on how employers and employees interact, how employers feel about these interactions, and explores to what extent these interactions are informed by the widely reported maternalistic tendencies of the past, while also considering the consequences of this.

We examined representations of Latinidad and masculinidad in a set of crime and independent films. Findings show that crime films emphasized marginality and suggested Latinos’ inadequate cultural stock. They focused on violence and created notions of Latino inferiority based on class-specific presumptions of power, masculinity and success. The narratives suggest that Latinos lack the assertiveness and brilliance of the tough white gangster of the 1930s and 1940s. The deviant Latino is rather emotional and succumbs to his own vulnerabilities. He possesses an unfit masculinity which is linked to the presumed backwardness of his own ethnic community. The independent films reproduced some elements of these stereotypes, but one, Girlfight, situated Latinos in the context of racism, assimilation and multiculturalism. They offered a different narrative and a new Latino subject, one that somewhat destabilizes the coherence of racist and patriarchal messages found in the crime movies examined in this paper.

This paper explores how current shifts in racial discourse and demographics are reflected within the negotiation of paid domestic work. Various scholars have pointed out that racism in the United States has become increasingly covert and institutionalized, void of racial terminology and invisible to most whites. This shift has been institutionalized in the negotiation of domestic work, as alternative racial markers such as language and citizenship replace explicit racial terminology. Through an analysis of thirty interviews with white women who employ domestic workers this research examines contemporary negotiations of racial privilege and subordination in domestic work. Overall, white employers insisted that race did not matter when making hiring decisions; however other cultural markers such as language mattered greatly, at times even resulting in firing. In addition, complex and contradictory narratives about immigration were used to simultaneously both vilify immigrant workers and romanticize...

Earlier research has documented negative perceptions of childless couples, particularly the voluntarily childfree, among college students. In this project we used hypothetical vignettes to assess variations in students’ (N = 478) perceptions of childless couples related to the couple’s race, occupations of husband and wife, and assumed reasons for childlessness. Perceptions were strongly influenced by occupational status and gender, but we found few race differences. Neither infertility nor chosen childlessness was rated negatively, but couples were rated more positively if they were perceived as temporarily rather than permanently childless. Our findings suggest that delayed parenthood is regarded as normative and that students have few negative biases regarding infertility or chosen childlessness. Perceptions were strongly conditioned by economic and employment considerations, which reflect current concerns about balancing work and family trajectories.

This paper draws from social science literature on Whiteness and anti‐racism as well as personal classroom experience to examine the obstacles educators face in teaching anti‐racism to White college students. Emphasis is placed on popular perceptions and common definitions of the word ‘racism’ as it is used in mainstream American society. The authors explore the problems that arise when trying to define anti‐racism accurately. Whiteness is critically discussed and analyzed as a cultural myth and as a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to White Americans’ adoption of an anti‐racist philosophy and practice. Ultimately, the authors stress the importance of reflexivity in the classroom, both for students and teachers, and of dialogue as a tool to create counter‐hegemonic narratives. This dialogue is intended to make systems of privilege and oppression visible, specifically focusing on how students may effectively challenge covert racism in their daily interactions.

This work provides a broad analysis of sociological and historical literature on African American families. Beginning with an analysis of Black families under slavery, we trace the current diversity of African American family structures through history, elaborating on the structural oppressions that shape these experiences. The contemporary experiences of Black families are intimately connected with the historical, economic, and social conditions encountered by generations past. This work is not intended to be a definitive statement regarding the experiences of largely diverse groups of families, but instead a critical look at the structural forces that affect the lives of Black families and the systematic racism that informs public discourse about Black families and scholarship.

In this paper we examine the ways in which technological innovations have entered the home through the process of laundry. We take a brief look at the history of laundry technology, examining the costs of locating laundry in the private sphere and discussing alternatives. We highlight the links between laundry technology and ideologies about “women’s place.”