(Press-News.org) Contrary to stereotypes, low-income trailer park residents form distinct groups with different visions of morality, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"These findings emphasize the multiplicity and richness of social identities that exist within the same social class of the working poor," write authors Bige Saatcioglu (Ozyegin University) and Julie L. Ozanne (Virginia Tech).
The authors conducted an ethnographic study within a trailer park community in the United States. They examined the ways low-income consumers negotiate their social status within a resource-restrained and stigmatized community. They found that residents used different visions of morality to evaluate themselves and their neighbors.
The study revealed five distinct social groups within the trailer park. The Nesters value hard work, discipline, and perseverance, and cherish their trailers as power symbols of their successful consumerism. Nesters are critical of many of their neighbors who they see as irresponsible, lazy, and immoral. Reluctant Emigrants view life in the park as a downward trajectory from their past lives. Community Builders offer constructive communal solutions and cooperate with various stakeholders to help improve life within the park. Homesteaders are resigned and indifferent, but skilled in leveraging social support within the community. They are reluctant to leave the park where they feel at ease and find support. Finally, the Outsiders represent a tightly knit defiant subculture focused around a thrill-seeking moral disposition. They engage in defiant and rule-breaking practices within the park and attach little symbolic meaning to the trailer home or life in the park.
This study sheds light on why it is difficult for low-income consumers to unite.
"Why is there enduring class stability and very few working-class protests despite growing social inequalities in the United States?" the authors ask. "The micropolitics of life within the trailer park suggest organizing for social change would need to overcome significant differences among these groups."
###
Bige Saatcioglu and Julie L. Ozanne. "Moral Habitus and Status Negotiation in a Marginalized Working Class Neighborhood." Journal of Consumer Research: December 2013. For more information, contact Bige Saatcioglu (bige.saatcioglu@ozyegin.edu.tr) or visit http://ejcr.org/.
Working-class consumers: A look at the complex social system of a trailer park
2013-09-10
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
How do consumers compare prices? It depends on how powerful they feel
2013-09-10
Your reaction to the price on a bottle of wine or another product is partly a response to how powerful you feel, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"The degree to which one feels powerful influences which type of price comparison threatens their sense of self-importance and, in turn, affects the perception of price unfairness," write authors Liyin Jin, Yanqun He (both Fudan University), and Ying Zhang (University of Texas, Austin).
Variations in price are common in today's market, the authors explain, but companies risk consumers' wrath when ...
Older adults gauge their partner's feelings through knowing, not seeing
2013-09-10
Compared to younger adults, older people are less adept at reading emotion in their spouse's face. But when their spouse isn't present, older and younger adults are equally able to discern their significant others' moods.
These findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggest that older adults retain the ability to make accurate judgments about others emotions using their acquired knowledge, but not sensory cues.
"When judging others' emotions in real life, people do not exclusively rely on emotional expressions," ...
Changing part of central line could reduce hospital infections
2013-09-10
VIDEO:
Simply replacing the connector in the IV system in patients with central lines could help reduce deadly bloodstream infections, researchers at Georgia Regents University have found.
Dr. Cynthia C. Chernecky, a...
Click here for more information.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Simply replacing the connector in the IV system in patients with central lines could help reduce deadly bloodstream infections, researchers at Georgia Regents University have found.
A central line or central ...
Study: Racial, ethnic differences in outcomes following stroke known as subarachnoid hemorrhage
2013-09-10
TORONTO, Sept. 10, 2013—Race or ethnicity can be a significant clue in the United States as to who will survive a kind of stroke known as a subarachnoid hemorrhage and who will be discharged to institutional care, a new study has found.
Compared to Caucasians, Asian/Pacific Islander patients were more likely and Hispanic patients less likely to die of a subarachnoid hemorrhage, or SAH, while in the hospital.
African-American patients were more likely than Caucasians to require institutional care following discharge from the hospital, although their risk of death while ...
MSU lands first drone
2013-09-10
Farmers can now get a birds-eye view of their fields – in full HD – thanks to Michigan State University landing its first drone.
MSU researchers are using its first unmanned aerial vehicle to help farmers maximize yields by improving nitrogen and water management and reducing environmental impact such as nitrate leaching or nitrous oxide emissions.
For this initiative, MSU's UAV measures how crops react to stress, such as drought, nutrients deficiency or pests. The drone flies over the field documenting the field's status – down to centimeters. The portrait gives ...
African-American study identifies 4 genetic variants associated with blood pressure
2013-09-10
Case Western Reserve University is part of a landmark study that has discovered four novel gene variations which are associated with blood pressure. The 19-site meta-analysis, involving nearly 30,000 African-Americans, also found that the set of genetic mutations are also associated with blood pressure across other populations.
Epidemiology and biostatistics professor Xiaofeng Zhu, PhD, is co-senior author of the paper, which appears in The American Journal of Human Genetics. The Continental Origins and Genetic Epidemiology Network (COGENT) consortium conducted the ...
Think twice, speak once: Bilinguals process both languages simultaneously
2013-09-10
Bilingual speakers can switch languages seamlessly, likely developing a higher level of mental flexibility than monolinguals, according to Penn State linguistic researchers.
"In the past, bilinguals were looked down upon," said Judith F. Kroll, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Linguistics and Women's Studies. "Not only is bilingualism not bad for you, it may be really good. When you're switching languages all the time it strengthens your mental muscle and your executive function becomes enhanced."
Fluent bilinguals seem to have both languages active at all times, ...
Language change: From London's 'EastEnders' to Glasgow
2013-09-10
(Washington, DC) – A recent study provides the first empirical evidence to show that active and engaged television viewing can help to accelerate language change. The study, "Television can also be a factor in language change: Evidence from an urban dialect," to be published in the September 2013 issue of the scholarly journal Language, is authored by Jane Stuart-Smith, English Language/Glasgow University Laboratory of Phonetics, Glasgow University; Claire Timmins, Speech & Language Therapy, Strathclyde University; Gwilym Pryce, Urban Studies, Glasgow University, and Barrie ...
Rim Fire update Sept. 10, 2013
2013-09-10
Hot and extremely dry conditions combined with shifting winds and low humidity continue to plague firefighter efforts at the Rim Fire in California. To date over 254,000 acres have been burned. Pockets of unburned vegetation around Thompson Peak and at the South edge of the fire's perimeter continue to burn. Fire crews successfully contained 15 spot fires along the Tioga Road today and the plan is to set a fire in a three quarter mile section of land within the park to contain an additional spot fire. Firefighters often have to set controlled burns in areas of dry tinder ...
Statins being overprescribed for growing number of kidney disease patients
2013-09-10
PORTLAND, Ore. – A new analysis concludes that large numbers of patients in advanced stages of kidney disease are inappropriately being prescribed statins to lower their cholesterol – drugs that offer them no benefit and may increase other health risks such as diabetes, dementia or muscle pain.
The findings, which were published in the American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs as a review of multiple studies, raise serious questions about the value of cholesterol-lowering therapies in kidney disease.
The issue is important, the researchers say, because the incidence ...