Jerry Z Park

Baylor University, Sociology, Faculty Member

Followers

114

Following

122

Co-authors

Public Views

Sociologist with interests in race/ethnicity, religion, intergroup relations, intergroup attitudes, group threat, stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, identity - with a focus on Asian Americans
Address: One Bear Place #97326

less

InterestsView All (30)

Uploads

Papers by Jerry Z Park

Family Sacrifices: The Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans. By Russell M. Jeung, Seanan S. Fong, and Helen Jin Kim

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Mar 23, 2020

Chapter 7. Racial Insularity and Ethnic Faith

New York University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2020

Religious Diversity and Community Volunteerism Among Asian Americans: An Initial Portrait

Social Science Research Network, 2007

We examine whether religious membership and participation foster community volunteerism among a r... more We examine whether religious membership and participation foster community volunteerism among a religiously diverse group of Asian Americans.We use data from the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey (SCCBS), the only data set that contains both a large, national sample of Asian Americans and detailed questions on religious and civic participation. Asian-American Protestants, Catholics, and adherents of non-Christian religions are involved in community volunteerism to varying degrees. Surprisingly, however, fewer Hindus and Buddhists volunteer when compared to the nonaffiliated. We use these results to propose theoretical concepts that take into account the impact of a religion’s structure as well as the double-minority status faced by nonwhite and non-Christian Asian Americans on the likelihood of volunteering. Our findings indicate that accepted predictors of community volunteerism may operate differently among new nonwhite immigrants and their children than in the general U.S. population; this provides building blocks for future research on religion and civic participation among nonwhite and non-Christian populations.

People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States, by Michael O. Emerson (with Rodney M. Woo). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2006, 288 pp.; $19.95 USD (paper), $24.95 (cloth)

Sociology of Religion, Dec 1, 2008

AS I DRIVE westward from the center of Houston down Bellaire Boulevard, I cannot but help notice ... more AS I DRIVE westward from the center of Houston down Bellaire Boulevard, I cannot but help notice the transitions. Passing through a white neighborhood that gives way to a predominately Latino neighborhood, I am presented with yet another change. The names of businesses, the street signs, even the requisite "First Month Free" banners on the apartment complexes are in Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese lettering. Houston's new Asiatown announces itself in large and small ways. In the typical Houston sprawling fashion, this Asiatown stretches for miles in a bewildering series of strip malls and stand-alone buildings, many in varying Asian architectural styles. Now, ten miles out from the center of the city, I pull up to a stoplight and wait to turn left onto Wilcrest Avenue, just a block away from the original location of Wilcrest Baptist Church, one of the congregations I have been studying for a research project. The stoplight is taking interminably long to change to green. I notice the children waiting to cross the street, the people entering the restaurants and shops, and, just off of the main streets, others sitting outside on their front steps. Every major racial group is represented at this intersection. Many are immigrants from Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Vietnam, or Nigeria, while others, especially the blacks, whites and some Latinos, are multi-generation Americans. The neighborhood is not pretty. Many houses have mildew on them, the paint long since faded; the streets and sidewalks need repaving. It has seen better days, though there is new development-especially a few blocks down, where the shiny Hong Kong Mall stands proudly. This is a working-class neighborhood, its residents too busy making a living to spend much time beautifying it. But the area buzzes with activity and hopes for better lives to come just around the corner. During the 1960s, a tumultuous time when America profoundly changed and Wilcrest Baptist was founded, this neighborhood looked very different. In 1968, the year of Martin Luther King's assassination, this location was not part of Houston as it is today, but was Alief, a burgeoning suburb swelling with young middle-class white families moving into their recently built homes. As residents living here during these early days reported to me, one could hear the hum of newness, excitement, youth, and optimism throughout this community of Alief. Increasing the draw of Alief's newness and the affordability of the

Jerry Z Park

Uploads

Papers by Jerry Z Park

Log In