The Social Climber

GARY BRINKER, was born on October 25, 1956 in San Antonio, Texas. His family moved frequently while he was growing up, living for a time in St. Louis, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Arkansas. Upon graduating High School in Memphis, Tennessee, Gary enrolled in Southeast Missouri State University in 1975, but dropped out after a few semesters and joined the U.S. Navy, where he studied to become an electronics technician specializing in radar and air traffic control equipment He served the rest of his enlistment on a nuclear powered aircraft carrier, making three deployments to the Mediterranean and receiving an honorable discharge in 1986. At that time, Gary opted to resume his academic studies, first at a local community college, then at Baylor University, both located in Waco, Texas, where he decided at pursue a career as a college professor.

While working on his Masters in Sociology at Baylor, Gary became interested in applied sociology, using sociological knowledge and research methods to address real world problems faced by local government and business leaders. After receiving his doctorate in Applied Sociology in 1997 (he had been the first candidate accepted into that new program), he was accepted and is currently serving as an Assistant Professor on the faculty of Missouri State University, where he co-directs the Center for Social Research.

MARJORIE BUCKNER is our new faculty member in Anthropology. She spent a year in Argentina as a high school exchange student, then returned twice to South America, once on a ten-month study-travel trip. After earning her B.A. in linguistics and in anthropology from San Diego, State University, followed by a bilingual teaching credential (Spanish-English), she spent three years in the Peace Corps teaching high school in the Central African Republic.

Earning a Master's and Ph.D. from the University of Paris X, she became a Member (since 1984) of the Laboratoire d'ethnologie et de sociologie comparative, a research institute at the University of Paris X, and taught a semester at the American University in Paris.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology will offer its first service learning courses during the Spring, 1998 semester. Students may enroll in a one-hour service learning component (either SOC 300 or CJS 300) that combined with one of the following conventional three-hour classroom-based courses: SOC 420, Social Inequality; CJS 320, Causes of Crime and Delinquency; or, CJS 350, Police in American Society.

The Department has established a public affairs scholarship in honor of both Don Landon and Lloyd Young. Please watch for additional information in our next issue. Contributions can be sent payable to:

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology began to offer a B.A. and B.S. in anthropology in Fall 1997. The major requirements include a "core" of 22 hours in all four areas of anthropology--namely cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, and anthropological linguistics--as well as a choice of a "concentration" in either archaeology or cultural anthropology.

The new major has grown far more rapidly than anyone expected, and currently has 69 students! A minor in anthropology has been offered for over twenty years. There has always been interest in a major, but there were many "hoops" to jump to establish the new program, including additional funding to hire more faculty.

This fall we added our fourth anthropologist to the faculty. Dr. Margaret Buckner comes to us from southern California, via the University of Paris, where she received her M.A. and Ph.D. in cultural and linguistic anthropology. Dr. Buckner lived and traveled extensively in South America. She later served in the Peace Corps in Central African Republic and also did field research there, as well as in Guinea-Bissau. Therefore, she is certainly well-qualified to teach our new general education course, ANT 100 (World Cultures), as well as ANT 380 (Language and Culture), and a new course, ANT 310 (Cultural Analysis), a hands-on introduction to ethnographic research. In the near future, we hope to add a biological anthropologist, too.

Students enrolled in two of our Criminal Justice Studies courses have been making a real difference in the quality of life of children- and adults-at-risk in the Springfield community. Through their efforts mentoring elementary school children, advocating for families experience violence and teaching illiterate probationers and parolees how to read, criminal justice students are making a valuable contribution.

Sixty-two students in Dr. Mike Carlie's criminal justice courses are working, one-on-one, with children from one of Springfield's poorest elementary schools. That school reports a disproportionate number of children referred to juvenile services as compared with all other community elementary schools. As a result of working with these children, the principal of the school reports that "for the first time the children are talking about attending college someday." Similarly, Dr. Carlie's students are learning from their mentees what it is like to grow up in poverty, with alcohol and other drug abuse problems in the home and with a series of parents due to divorces.

Eighteen other students studying with Dr. Carlie were offered the opportunity to be trained and certified as literacy teachers by the Ozark Literacy Council. All 18 students passed the required training and have now been certified. They were then partnered with individuals on probation and parole who needed help with their reading skills. Clients who could not even read or complete a job application, for example, will soon be able to do so.

Finally, several of Dr. Carlie's students chose to be trained at the Family Violence Center so that they could provide court advocacy, hot-line and other services for the center's clientele.  All in all, these students are "making a difference" in the community. Through their efforts they are able to see the relevancy of the courses they are taking to the community work they are doing. And, we hope, are developing and expanding upon their own desire to volunteer and work in the community for the betterment of all.

The SACJ faculty travel both for formal training and informally to enrich their life experience and enhance their teaching. This year a number of faculty have had the opportunity to travel and share the following observations.

BRAZIL

(Marvin Prosono, associate professor of Sociology traveled south to Brazil over the Christmas and New Year's holidays.)

It was my good fortune to be able to travel to Brazil and stay with friends in the city of Vitoria, the coastal capital of the state of Espirito Santo, approximately three hundred miles north of Rio de Janeiro. Remember that since Brazil is situated mostly below the equator, going north usually means the weather gets hotter. In addition, that southerly location also means that December is the month in which Spring turns to Summer (the reverse of the seasons in the north). This is all by way of saying that it was usually between 90-95 F every day.

Brazil is the largest country in South America both in terms of the size of its population and its physical size. It has approximately 160 million people which means it is the second most populous nation in the western hemisphere after the United States. In physical size, it is larger than the 48 contiguous United States.   One of the most impressive aspects of Brazilian society is the diversity of its population. Among many others, there are large numbers of and descendants of Portuguese, African peoples, Italians, Germans, Poles, Jews, Arabs and Japanese. In fact, Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil (16 million), has the largest concentration of Japanese living outside of Japan. It is interesting to observe how all of these groups interact to become part of the larger Brazilian social fabric. Race takes on an entirely different meaning in Brazil. I was particularly impressed with the seeming unconcern, at least in public, which people displayed with respect to race. My attitude to the racial and ethnic problems here in the United States have undergone a dramatic change as this experience in Brazil provided me with an alternative cultural framework with which to view some of the issues we are attempting to face here.

The Brazilian people are very hard working and the vast majority live either in fairly modest circumstances or dire poverty. The nation is struggling to educate and employ its vast work force and is making some giant strides as it becomes more attractive to international investors. It gross national product (a little more than one-half trillion dollars) is about one-twelfth the size of the United States. There is a small middle and upper class (together making up about 30% of the population. There is tremendous inequality in the amount of wealth held by those in the different classes. The wealthiest 20% of Brazilians receive 65% of all income. In the United States, the wealthiest 20% receive about 45% of all income. (Compare with Japan, where the wealthiest 20% receive 39% of all income, the most egalitarian of all industrialized nations.)

One of the pleasantest parts of the trip was the four-day period I spent in Rio de Janeiro. The former capital of Brazil (now it is Brasilia), Rio is one of the most physically beautiful places I have ever been. The beaches are superb, the restaurants delightful, the nightlife exciting, the people graciousness itself. It has managed to preserve some of the older architecture, while at the same time giving every appearance of a vibrant, internationally smart city. The boulevards, the shops, the pace, all seem to suggest a European rather than an American city. Brazilian food is delicious. Feijoada is the national dish and resembles a rich stew made of various meats and sausages and served with rice, beans, oranges and other garnish. Fresh fish is readily available as are many exotic (and unrecognizable) fruits which they love to make into drinks and ades. (Fruta da Conge was my favorite. Jaca is exceedingly popular which grows almost watermelon size on tall trees. One should not stand under a jaca tree!)

While in Rio I had the opportunity of meeting a Brazilian sociologist who regaled me with tales of life in a Brazilian university. Again, the model of the university is taken more from Europe than America.  In any case, the two weeks I spent in Brazil were very productive and informative. This small summary can only briefly describe the depth of feeling that was evoked by this hauntingly beautiful and ruggedly struggling nation.

- Marvin Prosono, Ph.D.

During the summer of 1997 Gary Brock, professor of Sociology, participated in a Council on International Educational Exchange seminar in Russia.)

St. Petersburg is one of the loveliest cities in the world and contains many interesting sites - from cemeteries with the tombs of Dostoyevsky and Tchaikovsky, to cathedrals like the Church of Spilled Blood, to the Hermitage. And since we were there during the Russian "white nights," we were able to enjoy the sights with less than two hours of darkness each day!

Visiting the Kremlin and looking out my hotel window at the Russian White House in Moscow were certainly highlights, but the most memorable incident occurred when we met with some "radical" economists. This group of economists was not sanctioned by the government and, in my opinion, provided the more accurate insights into what is occurring in Russian society. Among their findings is that the most available avenue for social mobility in the 1990's is through the informal sector and that the gap between classes in Russian society is increasing at an alarming pace.

But the most memorable highlight of the trip was spending one afternoon with Vice-Dean Alexander, head of the sociology division at St. Petersburg University. His specialty is also social change and religion. So, with the aid of a translator (which unfortunately slowed the process down immensely and prevented us from exploring some topics in depth), he described the changing role of the Russian Orthodox Church in society, the growth of Protestant and western religious groups in Russia, the resurgent Russian interest in religion and whether or nor it had been merely latent all along, the spread of a religious conservative perspective in political groups like the God and Power Party, and the strong resurgence of animism in eastern Russia. Sitting in his office looking at the Smolney Institute (an old cathedral) was certainly one of my special memories.

It is impossible to describe Russian society in a few words, but the concept that constantly kept springing into my mind, and is the image that still remains with me, is that Russian is a country of extremes. It is a society facing increased polarization as it continues the process of democratization. The gap between the "haves" and "have-nots" continues to expand. In the rural areas its still the 19^th century, but parts of Moscow are as modern as London or New York.

The potential is tremendous. In visiting with the mayor of Novgorod, I notd that if they could develop and efficient infrastructure to transport their abundant natural resources to those regions that need it most, they have the potential to recover their role as one of the leading societies in the world. But they must bring some regions of Russian into the 20^th century if they hope to develop their nation.

Stay tuned - the future of Russia is filled with potential and it will be interesting to watch it unfold in the 21^st century. There will be bumps and setbacks along the road to democracy and economic stability.

Again, as editor of this newsletter, allow me to extend a hearty welcome and encourage any of you who might have something of interest to contribute to send it to me by mail to Missouri State, Department of Sociology, 901 S. National, Springfield, MO 65804 or by email.