Abstract Benefit cutbacks have been prominent after the Great Recession. The Family Economic Stress Model (FESM) theorizes how financial losses such as those spurred by cutbacks might adversely affect parental and child well-being. Yet, few links with policy have been established. We extend current knowledge by comprehensively assessing how benefits cutbacks may affect parents and their adolescent children. We rely on the first ten waves of the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009–2019) and an event-study approach to examine the aftermath of an exceptional raft of benefit cutbacks. We find that mothers with lower incomes and single mothers accumulated losses equal to 20–30 percent of their household benefit income. Mothers could not fully compensate for such benefit income losses via their extra earnings, despite increased workforce participation. Financial worries, some forms of material hardship, and mental health worsened among mothers with lower incomes and single mothers exposed to cutbacks. Adolescent socio-emotional difficulties also increased in the period. We find little evidence, though, that cutbacks disrupted parenting. Parents thus display more agency than that accorded by the FESM. Nonetheless, findings point to deepening socioeconomic divides in financial and mental well-being, questioning the rationale for cutbacks.

Abstract A significant amount of research has been devoted to studying the sociopolitical incorporation of immigrants and their descendants both socially and structurally. However, questions remain about how psychological mechanisms play a role in the incorporation process. While some immigrants might internalize a sense of social alienation, others might be able to overcome the detrimental impact of historical and present-day exclusion and develop a psychological notion of belonging to US society. To test the role of a psychological mechanism in the incorporation process, I rely on national survey data from the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey and a novel survey experiment. By leveraging these data, I examine the determinants of perceptions of inclusion in the United States among Latinos. The findings present a mixed picture of incorporation. I find that as Latinos become more familiarized with the United States culturally and socially, they are more likely to develop a sense of belonging. However, both experiencing discrimination and perceiving that the in-group faces discrimination negatively shape Latinos’ psychological sense of belongingness. Furthermore, receiving hostile messaging causes Latinos to feel less included in the US society. This paper highlights a social psychological mechanism of racialized incorporation, capturing whether immigrants and their descendants feel that they belong and are part of the host society.

Abstract How do real-estate investors make decisions about where to purchase properties? In recent years, an increasing share of the market has gone to investors, making it critical that we understand the behaviors of these important actors. This study examines investment as a relational process. Through 74 interviews with real estate investors, as well as additional interviews with homeowners and renters in low- to middle-income neighborhoods in Baltimore, I find that strategic interactions and intimate relational work among professional and amateur investors are key to understanding how properties are sold. Professional investors cultivate bonds with new investors by identifying common goals and obstacles. They also use concealment strategies to sell homes, including: legal concealment, concealment through bundling, and concealment through brokers. Legal concealment involves using legal vehicles to transfer properties between owners. Concealment through bundling occurs when properties are bundled together to be sold in bulk. Finally, concealment through brokers entails finding brokers who can connect sellers to investors from other markets. These strategies obscure not only the nature of the relationship between buyers and sellers but also the quality of products being sold. The series of exchanges resemble how products are sold within direct-selling organizations and other predatory industries, which rely on a pyramid-like structure of sponsors and distributors. Furthermore, concealment strategies are more likely to happen in weaker markets and poorer neighborhoods where investor behavior is less constrained—this suggests that concealment has potential to increase urban inequality.

Journal Article Review of "Words Like Water: Queer Mobilization and Social Change in China" Get access Review of "Words Like Water: Queer Mobilization and Social Change in China" By Caterina Fugazzola Temple University Press, 2023. 190 pages. Prices: $79.50 (cloth); $25.95 (paper). https://tupress.temple.edu/books/words-like-water Wei Wei Wei Wei East China Normal University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, soae045, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soae045 Published: 30 March 2024 Article history Received: 09 January 2024 Accepted: 19 January 2024 Published: 30 March 2024