Summary articles on writing and digital platforms

¶ … children's conceptualization of race and experiences with racial discrimination" details a research study regarding the awareness and impact of racism on young children. The researchers conducted a series of interview with children from seven to 12 years old in which one of the most crucial criteria was determining whether or not the youths could define racism themselves. The children were either black, Hispanic or white; the white children served as a control (of sorts) since the rate of incidence of their experience of racial discrimination was thought to be less than those of the aforementioned historical minority groups. The principle effect of racism studied was self-esteem, which was measured in the children via the Rosenberg Scale.

The results demonstrated that black children were more aware of racism than the other two groups of children, due to the fact that they could define the term in measurable ways through the Williams-Every-day-Discrimination Scale. The effects of racism on self-esteem revealed that there was a significant correlation between the two -- specifically that discrimination based on race was a contributing factor to low self-esteem. Results also indicated that Hispanic children experienced the greatest amounts of racism.

Rose Galvin's study, "Researching the disabled identity: contextualizing the identity transformations which accompany the onset of impairment" attempted to determine in what ways people's perceptions of themselves, and the way in which they were perceived by others, changed after a physical debilitation. Research was conducted in the form of narratives, utilizing the grounded theory approach, collected from the disabled in four countries. Some of the materials were unsolicited; the author also made use of autobiographical literature and phone conversations to gather data. The principle difference that occurred in perception was related to a lack of independence, as well as a decreased feeling of value in terms of sexuality and job performance. All of these factors accounted for negative feelings for both the disabled and that which they perceived from others.

Philip Kretsedemas' article, "Language barriers & perceptions of bias: ethnic differences in immigrant encounters with the welfare system" attests to pronounced differences in the treatment of Hispanic and Haitian immigrants via the welfare system in Miami-Dade county. The author's research, a comparative study to both of these groups, which are largely situated in respective welfare centers within Miami-Dade County, found that this program is significantly more advantageous to Hispanics. Virtually all of the workers at the welfare offices visited by predominantly Hispanic people spoke both Spanish and English; it was rare to find a worker in the Haitian offices that spoke Haitian Creole. Consequently, Hispanics got better services in a more expedient time frame than their Haitian counterparts.