SOC-080: African Americans in Contemporary Society - Winter 2004

Note: See the Research by Subject: Women's Studies, Sociology, and Africana Studies for additional material that might be helpful for your research.

 Background Material

Citation Guides

 Library Catalog

Databases

 Web sites

Practicalities

African American encyclopedia. New York : Marshall Cavendish, c2001.

Multi-volume set includes biographical, as well as historical, cultural, and social issues.

Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history. Edited by Jack Salzman, David Lionel Smith, Cornel West. New York : Macmillan Library Reference, c1996,2001.

Topical information on a wide range of subjects including television, film, and the media

CALL NUMBER: Ref E 185 .E54 1996,2001 v1-5/suppl.

Reference library of Black America. Edited by Jessie Carney Smith, Joseph M. Palmisano. Farmington Hills, MI : Gale Group, Inc., 2000.

Presents information on all aspects of African-American life.

CALL NUMBER: Ref E185 .R44 2000  v.1-5 

Bush, Alan J. 
"The influence of consumer socialization variables on attitude toward advertising: a comparison of African-Americans and Caucasians." Journal of Advertising v. 28 no3 (Fall 1999) p. 13-24 

Using the theory of consumer socialization, the authors explore factors that might shape attitudes toward advertising for African-American and Caucasian young adults. Though the African-American market is growing in importance to advertisers, little if any research has explored African-American perceptions of advertising. The theory of consumer socialization provides a conceptual framework for investigating variables that might influence attitudes toward advertising. African-American and Caucasian young adults were surveyed on various consumer socialization variables. Parental communication, peer communication, mass media, gender, and race were found to be related significantly to attitudes toward advertising. African-Americans watched more TV and had more positive attitudes toward advertising than their Caucasian counterparts.

George, Lynell
"Tuned In to TV's Racial Divide; From 'Beulah' to 'ER,' images of African American life have evolved--but still have a long way to go, notes scholar and author Donald Bogle." Los Angeles Times .  Los Angeles, Calif.:  Feb 26, 2001 .   pg. E.1

Glascock, Jack.
"Gender, Race, and Aggression in Newer TV Networks' Primetime Programming." Communication Quarterly v. 51 no1 (Winter 2003) p. 90-100

This paper examines gender and minority roles on non-traditional network primetime programming. In all, 39 shows, 24 comedies and 15 dramas, were analyzed on the Fox, WB, and UPN networks. Compared to previous content analyses of traditional network programming, major male and female characters seem somewhat more equivalent but females more provocatively dressed. Males were overrepresented as participants in physical aggression. Black and white characters were also found equivalent in many respects, but program segregation still appears problematic. Blacks were more verbally aggressive, particularly in comedies, but less physically aggressive than warranted by their overall representation. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

Hughes, Zondra
"Has Hollywood really changed?" Ebony; Jun2002, Vol. 57 Issue 8, p. 98-105. (Accessed: January 26, 2004)

"Market update: Online niche marketing: Few mass-market companies target specific groups."  Internet & E - Business Strategies. Jan 2000. Vol. 4, Iss. 1;  p 6-9. (Accessed: January 26, 2004)

Suggested keyword searches:

Note the use of the truncation symbol(*); you can add terms by joining them with the Boolean term "and," e.g. children and divorce, or use "or" to broaden your search.

race and media
(media or television) and african american*
popular culture
hip hop and culture
pop culture and race
 

Suggested Subject searches:

Look for special aspects of your topic such as --History, --cultural studies, or --social life and customs.

Example:  african americans in mass media -- United States

For finding background material relating to historical, social, or cultural themes:

african americans in motion pictures
african americans in popular culture
african americans in mass media
mass media and minorities
popular culture
hip hop
marketing -- social aspects--united states
african americans on television ( see Primetime blues : African Americans on network television)

See Search strategy example handout.

In addition to the Any Topic Database section, use the Social Sciences link under Databases & Indexes to find articles on your topic.

Examples of the many resources you may find useful:

JSTOR: The Journal Storage project is a nonprofit organization which includes an electronic database of hundreds of back issues of academic publications. Includes African-American Studies and Sociology titles. Users cane search or browse by category/subject.

Social Science Index:  Provides records for English-language periodicals published in the United States and elsewhere Contains a bibliographic citation for each record Includes articles, interviews, obituaries, biographies, and book reviews. 1983 to present updated monthly. Includes links to full-text articles for many articles.

Sociological Collection: This is a comprehensive database covering information on all areas of sociology, including social behavior, human tendencies, interaction, relationships, community development, culture and social structure. Sociological Collection provides complete full text for 615 important journals.

Popular Culture - Race & Ethnicity Issues
http://www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/pop/race.html - Includes general Sites, online articles, and bibliography for further study.

Race Relations at About.com
http://racerelations.about.com/ - Includes a current Time magazine article on L'oreal's marketing to the African American community.

BlackNews.com
http://www.blacknews.com - The online portal for Black News. Includes a link for Doubleday and AOL Time Warner's "Black Expressions" book club.  

Blackpr.com
http://blackpr.com - African American news wire service. Clients include McDonalds, Cocoa Cola, AOL Time Warner, L'oreal, and BET.com

BET.com
http://www.bet.com/bethome - Black Entertainment Network - a wide variety of information and resources - music/film/sports/entertainment

Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery Follow this link to place an Interlibrary Loan request. There is also a fuller description of the Interlibrary Loan service available.

PLEASE NOTE: You are reminded that it is required to check the Online Catalog (for books) or the two lists of Periodicals Titles  (for journals with articles you need) before ordering on Interlibrary Loan. It will save you considerable time for every reference that you find available here on the shelves or in electronic format.

Off-campus access
Access to the paid-subscription sources listed is limited to workstations with Union College IP addresses. Therefore, a student wishing to use all the links on this page from off-campus will need to apply at Information Technology Services for an account on the Virtual Private Network.  Such an account enables off-campus users to have full access, even to the paid subscriptions.