Welcome to the Home Page of

John E. Farley

Professor Emeritus of Sociology

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville

Edwardsville, Illinois 62026-1455

Phone (618) 650-2680

Email jfarley@siue.edu

Because I retired in May, 2006, this Web page will no longer be updated on a regular basis. However, you may wish to visit my new personal Web page


My vita is now available online - updated April, 2009! You can view it here!


Why the United States was wrong to Attack Iraq


Teaching

Research and Publications

Community and Professional Service

Activism and Social Change

Special Photo Galleries

Just for Fun

Farley's Favorite Web Links

Teaching

In Spring, 2006, my final semester of teaching before retiring in May, 2006, I will be teaching Sociology 518, the graduate course in Social Data Analysis, as well as leading the ABle student problem-solving group. A syllabus for Sociology 518 for Spring, 2006 can be found here.

Return to Top of Page

Research and Publications

Since my days as an undergraduate at Michigan State and a graduate student at Michigan, I have always enjoyed doing research and writing about it. My major research interests today are in the area of race and ethnic relations, with a particular interest in the extent, causes, and consequences of racial housing segregation. In the early 1990s, I also participated in a series of four surveys concerning Iben Browning's pseudoscientific prediction of a damaging earthquake in the central United States, and the short and long-term effects of that prediction on earthquake awareness, concern, and preparedness in the region. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to co-organize a conference of researchers who studied the Browning prediction, and to guest edit a special issue of the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters in November, 1993 that reported many of these studies. My book, Earthquake Fears, Predictions, and Preparations in Mid-America, published in 1998 by the SIU Press, reports the results of the four surveys.

I am also the author of three major college textbooks in introductory sociology, race and ethnic relations, and social problems, all published by Prentice Hall. The Fifth Edition of the introductory sociology book is now available. The Fifth Edition of the race and ethnic relations textbook was published in 2005 and is available in both printed and electronic formats. Both of the latter books are coming out soon in new sixth editions; more information is available here.

My recent publications include the following:

(with Gregory D. Squires) "Fences and Neighbors: Segregation in Twenty-first Century America."
Contexts: Understanding People in Their Social Worlds 4, 1 (Winter, 2005): 33-39.

"Residential Interracial and Exposure Indices: Mean vs. Median Indices and the Difference it Makes."
Sociological Quarterly 46, 1 (Winter, 2005): 19-45.

"Racial Housing Segregation in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area: Past, Present, and Future."
In Terrence Jones and Brady Baybeck (eds.), St. Louis Metromorphosis. St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society, 2004.

Majority-Minority Relations, fifth edition.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2005.

Sociology, fifth edition.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003.

“An Attack on Iraq is Not Justified.” Pp. 27-31 in William Dudley (ed.),
Iraq: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Thompson-Gale, 2003.

"Contesting Our Everyday Work Lives: The Retention of Minority and
Working Class Sociology Undergraduates" (2001 Midwest Sociological Society Presidential Address). The Sociological Quarterly 43 (Winter, 2002): 1-25.

Earthquake Fears, Predictions, and Preparations in Mid-America.
Southern Illnois University Press, 1998.

"Race Still Matters: The Minimal Role of Income and Housing Cost as Causes of Housing
Segregation in St. Louis, 1990." Urban Affairs Review (formerly Urban Affairs Quarterly) (November, 1995) 244-254.

(with Cui-xia Zhang), "Gender and the Distribution of Household Work: A Comparison of
Self-Reports by Female College Faculty in the United States and China." Journal of Comparative Family Studies 26 (Summer, 1995): 195-205.

"Sustained Preparedness or Cry Wolf: New Madrid Earthquake Awareness and Preparedness
Trends, October, 1990 - May, 1993." Earthquake Mitigation Across the Nation: Proceedings, Fifth U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Chicago, July 10-14, Volume III. Oakland, CA: Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (1994).

"Twentieth Century Wars: Some Short-Term Effects on Domestic Intergroup Relations."
Sociological Inquiry 64, 2 (Spring, 1994): 214-237.

"Public, Media, and Institutional Responses to the Iben Browning Earthquake Prediction:
Editor's Introduction." International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 11, 3 (November, 1993): 271-277.

(with Hugh D. Barlow, Marvin S. Finkelstein, and Larry Riley) "Earthquake Hysteria, Before
and After: A Survey and Follow-up on Public Response to the Browning Forecast." International Journal of Mass Emeregencies and Disasters 11, 3 (November, 1993): 305-321.

A full list of my publications can be seen on my vita. Links to abstracts of the journal articles listed above will be added soon. If you're interested, come back for another visit. And if you're really interested, call or email me and I'll send you a copy of the complete article.

Students or faculty using any of my textbooks are invited and encouraged to send me comments by email to jfarley@siue.edu. Your comments will help me improve the books when I revise them for new editions.

Return to Top of Page

Community and Professional Service

I believe that service is an important part of a state university faculty member's responsibilities, and that in fulfilling this responsibility, we should never lose sight of the goals of improving the quality of life for the average citizen and of encouraging equal opportunity in society. I further believe that the knowledge created by sociology is of its greatest value when it is applied to these objectives. Accordingly, I have been very active in public and university service, directing my activity toward a variety of goals related to these objectives. Among these goals have been the creation and development of a strong fair housing organization in the St. Louis/Metro East area, the encouragement of the larger community to value diversity and equal opportunity, and the promotion of participatory governance and democratic decisionmaking at SIUE. My recent service activities include:

Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council (EHOC)
Co-founder, Board of Directors Member since June, 1992. President, 1992-1998. Vice President, 2000-presnt. Previously, Co-Chair, Confluence St. Louis Valuing Our Diversity Housing Subcommittee. This fair housing organization, founded in 1992, works to combat discrimination in the sale, rental, advertising, and financing of housing in the greater St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois area, and to educate the public about its fair housing rights and responsibilities. If you would like further information or if you believe that you may have been discriminated against, you are urged to contact EHOC at (314) 725-5900 or at (800) 555-3951.

Faculty Senate, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE)
Member, 1982-1985 and 1992-1996; Executive Committee Member, 1993-1996; President 1994-1995. The SIUE Faculty Senate is the official representative of the SIUE faculty in all university governance matters, and has primary responsiblity for academic governance at SIUE.

SIUE Human Relations Advisory Committee
Member from the Committee's inception in 1990 until 1996; member of subcommittee that drafted SIUE's Diversity Plan which is now in the process of being implemented. The Human Relations Advisory Committee acts in an advisory capacity to the SIUE Director of Human Relations, and assists in the development of university policies and plans relating to diversity and equal opportunity.

Focus St. Louis Valuing Diversity Task Force, 1999-2001
This Task Force of 30 diverse citizens of the St. Louis area, under the auspices of Focus St. Louis conducted a comprehensive study of racial inequality and racial polarization in the St. Louis area, examining trends since the last such study 12 years ago and making recommendations on ways to move the area toward greater racial equality. An implementation committee will be put in place by the end of 2001 to take actions to implement the Task Force's recommendations.

Community presentations on diversity and fair housing
I regularly make presentations to community and educational groups on diversity, fair housing, and related topics. Call or email me if your organization is interested.

President, Illinois Sociological Association, 1997-98
Responsible for planning of 1998 annual meetings which were held at the SIUE East St. Louis Center, October 14 and 15, 1998.

President, Midwest Sociological Society, 2000-2001.
Program Chair for the 2000 annual meetings, held in Chicago, April 19-22. I then served as President for the 2000-2001 year, and delivered my presidential address, "Contesting Our Everyday Work Lives: The Retention of Minority and Working Class Sociology Majors" at the 2001 annual meetings in St. Louis.

I am currently a coordinating council member and a research fellow at the SIUE Institute for Urban Research. In the past, I also held a joint appointment for several years with SIUE's office of Regional Research and Development Services, a public service unit on campus. My projects there included focus groups for public housing residents concerning their housing, service, and security needs; an assessment of housing needs of people with disabilities in Madison County, Illinois; identification of medically underserved areas in central and southwest Illinois; and development of a proposal for a program to reduce teenage pregnancy in the city of St. Louis. Some of the research projects mentioned above were also partially supported by RRDS.

Return to Top of Page

Activism and Social Change

Sometimes, equal opportunity, democratic decisionmaking, and protecting the environment can only be acheived by organized collective efforts for social change. When wealth and power are amassed at the expense of others, or of the environment, or of the general quality of life, such efforts are often essential: Sociology tells us that those who have great wealth and power do not often willingly accept changes or reforms that threaten their wealth or power. Thus, I am proud of my participation over the past three decades in a wide variety of organized collective efforts for social change. Some recent examples include:

Does some of this sound interesting? If you think so, keep two things in mind:
  1. YOU CAN DO IT, TOO!
  2. IT'S FUN! (WITH A PURPOSE!)

Helpful Hint

There are lots of sites on the World Wide Web that offer more information on activist organizations and opportunities to get involved. For some of them, see Activism under Farley's Favorite Web Links.

Return to Top of Page

Just for Fun

As important as they are, academics, service, and activism are not all there is to life. When not engaged in one or more of the above, I enjoy snow skiing, fishing, hiking, and weather and nature photography.

Have you ever tried snow skiing? It sure beats sitting inside and complaining about how cold it is. Personally, I know of no greater thrill than speeding down a snowy slope at full tilt but under control, and I know of nothing more tranquil than cross-country skiing in the silence of the woods after a fresh snowfall. To find out more, contact your local ski club. If you live in the St. Louis area, you can reach then at 314-851-6710, or visit the new St. Louis Ski Club Web Page.

If you're one of those people I can't comprehend who truly can't deal with cold weather, try taking a long warm weather hike in the woods or standing by a lake at midnight and seeing more stars than you could count in a thousand years. It's good for the body and good for the soul.

When you're back in the city from your trip to the mountains or the woods, go check out one of your local blues venues. This uniquely American form of music is finally getting the public attention it deserves. And if you're lucky enough to live in St. Louis, Chicago, New Orleans, Kansas City, or Montreal, check out some really great music at your local blues or jazz and blues festival. All of those cities have topnotch festivals.

Finally, whatever you're doing just for fun, remember this: Life's a mountain, not a beach!

Return to Top of Page

Special Photo Galleries

On October 15 and 16, 1998, the annual meetings of the Illinois Sociological Association were held at SIUE's East St. Louis Center. Here are some pictures.

In December, 1997, my close friend and college roomate Ed Clark passed away suddenly. Here is a Web page dedicated to his memory.

On August 30, 1997, I was married to Dr. Alice Hall Petry of the SIUE English Department!

On April 13, 1998, a tornado hit Edwardsville. Several businesses, a home, and a farm building suffered serious damage. Here are some photos of the damage.

Farley's Favorite Web Links

Academics

Activism

Just for Fun

Nifty Net Nook of the Month

Nooks from Previous Months

Return to Top of Page

This page last updated April 16, 2009. Since I am now Professor Emeritus and am no longer teaching, updates of this page will be few and far between. Sorry about the dead links! For my current Web page, please visit www.johnefarley.com.

Materials appearing on this Web page and any of my pages linked to it represent my views and opinions only. No material appearing here represents any view or position of Southern Illinois Univeristy at Edwardsville. Also, material on pages linked from here that are maintained by others represent the opinions of the people who posted that material, not necessarily mine.

Comments to mailto:jfarley@siue.edu