Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: As the editor in chief of the Midwest Social Sciences Journal (MSSJ), the flagship journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences, I am honored to bring you the second issue of Volume 27 this spring.The high-quality research and scholarship of the journal continue to reach all around the world through Digital Commons, an Elsevier product.In the past six months, since the publication of the first issue of Vol.27 in September 2024, there have been more than 7240 downloads in 171 countries, from Australia and New Zealand to Finland, from Brazil to Zambia, making the total more than 32,000 in the past five years.The scholarship published in MSSJ has reached more than 600 institutions, including not only academic but also commercial, organizational, and governmental institutions.When you publish with MSSJ, a diamond open access journal, your work reaches diverse readers globally without any cost to the readers or authors.MSSJ provides a perfect venue for disseminating research and scholarship on pertinent issues that are universal in nature and have global relevance.The current issue has undergone our traditional rigorous double-blind peer review by diligent reviewers and presents you the best of social science research.The lead article in this issue is "Mobilizing Discord on the United States' Many Borders: Critical Social Science and Geopolitical Complexity," by Professor Margath Walker.This paper is the invited keynote address at the 95th annual meeting of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences at the University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, Indiana.Professor Walker, a professor of geography at the University of Louisville, is a social and political geographer and focuses on borders, technology, and critical social theory.This paper brings another perspective to the issue of border crossings, extending the notion of discord as a productive lens through which to consider securitization, mobility, and migration.The author is challenging social scientists to reflect on how social science can improve our understanding of the nature of the problems we are studying.There are five contributed papers, which deal with a wide range of social, political, philosophical, social-psychological, and policy issues.The paper by Dobersek, Bennett, Siebers, and Standiford Reyes, titled "Psychophysiological Responses to an Objectified Environment in College-Age Females," is an experimental study, a collaboration of social scientists and a biologist to analyze the effects of an objectified environment on stress levels.Another paper, titled "Learning to Think Like a River Rat: Understanding Place and Identity beyond the Nature/Society Divide," by Nicholas Baxter, bridges the gap between environmental sociology and other sociological understandings of place and place-based identity.Two papers deal with issues in criminal justice and criminology."Maternal Incarceration, Adolescent Delinquency, and Siblings," by Tracey L. Woodard, discusses social challenges and devastating impacts of maternal incarceration.In suggesting to practitioners and policymakers that living with a sibling is associated with variation in juvenile delinquency among adolescents, the author provides a better understanding of factors that will allow for more-effective intervention and allocation of resources for children, families, and communities with possible favorable outcomes.The paper by Nguyen, Paulson, Maynard, and Ha, "The Impact of Religiosity and Violence Prevention vi Midwest Social Sciences Journal Vol. 27, No. 2 Programs on Violence among Adolescents in the United States," is a product of international collaboration.One of the reviewers commented that this is an important topic and should be investigated more frequently.The study showed that adolescents who attended violence prevention programs were generally less likely to engage in violence and that religiosity played a role in moderating their future aggression.The policy paper by Besel, Thornton, Nur, and Chilton, a collaboration of academics and policy practitioners on "Best Businesses for New Urbanist Communities: A Retake," discusses the New Urbanism movement and, based on the authors' longitudinal study, makes a case for thriving commercial and nonprofit sectors in these new urban spaces.
Source: Midwest Social Sciences Journal
Language: English
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409945233