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This collection provides information on 731 married wives of couples living in the Detroit metropolitan area in 1955. Data are provided on the frequency and interaction of respondents with their relatives, as well as their attitudes on family. The collection is a combination of two studies: A DESCRIPTION OF URBAN KINSHIP PATTERNS by Morris Axelrod, and THE URBAN FAMILY by Robert Blood. Data are provided on the frequency of and reasons for large family gatherings, the nature of help that the respondent's family received from relatives, the nature of help that the respondent gave to relatives, and the nature of the relationship with the respondent's relatives on both sides of the family. Other questions explored respondents' family attitudes. They were asked about the division of labor and decision-making processes in their homes, their interactions with their spouses, including communication between them and the causes and methods of handling disagreements, and their attitudes toward marriage in general. In addition, the respondents were asked about expected family size and what they felt the advantages were of having children. Also probed was their use of leisure time. Demographic variables specify age, sex, race, education, marital status, occupation, family income, length of residence in the Detroit area, home ownership, and religious preferences.

This study of 664 adults in the Detroit metropolitan area in 1975 provides information on their perceptions of the quality of life in their neighborhood and the services provided by their local governments. Data are provided on neighborhood characteristics and problems, as well as respondents' political beliefs and activities. Items explored respondents' feelings about their neighborhood, city government's services, and a new regional government, and their opinions about government offices and officials, and government's use of taxpayers' money. Also explored were respondents' voting behavior, interactions with people in their neighborhood and in the Detroit tri-county area, and use of the news media. In addition, the respondents were asked to list their neighborhood problems and local issues dealt with that year. Demographic variables specify sex, age, race, education, occupation, and income.

This project seeks to identify sources of ethnic and racial conflict and protest in urban America from 1954 through 1992. The data on collective events are coded using The New York Times. Detailed coding rules produced a chronological dataset that allows researchers to:

1. Analyze the location and timing of both conflicts (confrontations between two or more ethnic populations) and protests (marches, mass meetings, demonstrations on behalf of one ethnic group, expressing grievances related to discrimination or racial policy).

2. Specifically analyze a type of protest (e.g., civil rights movement activity, or urban race riots) and the potential dynamic relationship of different types of protests and conflicts.

3. Identify any ethnic, nationality, or racial characteristics of participants who were the targets and/or instigators of each protest and conflict.

4. Analyze information on each event's location, size, targets, police presence, arrests, damage or injuries, and the content of claims directed against government authorities, police, and other groups.

This study was designed as an exploratory study to understand fear of gang crime among residents living in an urban area plagued by gangs. During the Summer of 1997, six focus groups were conducted in Santa Ana, California -- two in lower income neighborhoods, two in middle income neighborhoods, and two in upper income neighborhoods. After the focus groups ended, participants were asked to take disposable cameras with them and take pictures of examples of neighborhood factors that prompted them to fear gangs and then mail them back to me in a postage-paid envelope.

The research questions guiding this study were: How do the fear-of-crime perspectives apply to fear of gang crime specifically? When worrying about gang crime, do different people focus primarily on different problems (e.g., some diversity or some disorder), or do the same people think about all of these factors? Findings first showed that all four theoretical perspectives on fear of crime applied to the same people at once, rather than to different people (e.g., some being worried about racial and ethnic differences but others about disorder). Second, findings illustrated specifically how these residents connected the factors into one thought process leading to fear of gangs. Residents in these groups clearly believed that ethnic and cultural diversity, or in this case, recent "illegal" Latino immigrants, brought disorder, which in turn caused community decline and brought gangs. This thought process led to personal fear of gang-related victimization. Their beliefs about these causal connections were primarily influenced by their knowledge and observations that gangs in the area were Latino; by direct observation of area diversity disorder, and decline; and by experience living in their changing neighborhoods over time. In addition, beliefs were fueled by indirect victimization, or knowledge gained primarily through acquaintances such as neighbors and community policing officers.