The Importance of Context in Explaining Human Capital Formation and Labor Force Participation of American Indians in Rosebud County, Montana

Abstract

In response to recent recommendations to incorporate social, political, and cultural contexts into employment and poverty analyses for minority populations, this paper draws on several sources and types of data to examine the human capital and labor force participation patterns of Northern Cheyenne Indians and non-Indians in Rosebud County, Montana. Discussions utilizing human capital and economic organization data contribute to clarifying differences in poverty levels of the two populations. However, the "embeddedness" approach utilizes ethnographic data· and recent analyses of schooling to illuminate the social and cultural relations affecting Northern Cheyenne employment patterns as well as the methods by which individuals, families, and communities adapt to the recent declines in economic opportunity and wages on the reservation. Such discussions suggest the need to reconsider policies designed to address American Indian human capital formation and economic development needs.

Food provisioning strategies, food insecurity, and stress in an economically vulnerable community: the Northern Cheyenne case

“…However, those with full-time work are not immune to the stresses of food shortages since they typically help support a large number of people on wages that are typically low. The scarcity of jobs in the area of the reservation-especially good paying jobs-translates into a high dependency ratio, which means that resources such as wages are spread very thinly (Ward 1998;Whiting and Ward 2007).…”

Implications of Welfare Reform for Community Development: A Case Study Comparing Tribal and County Food Assistance Programs Serving the Northern Cheyenne Nation

“…Understanding local contextual factors becomes important to any community development effort. Confirming the importance of contextual features of the Northern Cheyenne reservation for local life chances, Ward (1998) proposed the idea of "native capital"as a way of taking into account the unique cultural resources and values of the reservation context that shape individual and community actions. Recognition of these unique social features has particular importance for understanding and implementing community development strategies within the Northern Cheyenne context.…”

La relación entre el estrés laboral, las fuentes que le dan origen y las estrategias de coping en el sector público y el privado

“…Cuando calculamos las correlaciones entre estrategias de coping y vivencia de estrés laboral, por sector, identificamos que los trabajadores del sector público identifican un mayor número de estrategias Sin embargo, los estudios siempre van a depender del contexto donde se realicen, que ha demostrado ser valioso para la comprensión de fenómenos específicos como el caso de la percepción de la justicia y los comportamientos éticos, así como en el caso de los comportamientos organizacionales y el clima laboral (Blickle et al, 2013;Harrison et al, 1995;Ward, 1998;Wyld y Jones, 1997). De este modo, realizada la observación de los problemas de generalización de los resultados por ser un estudio contextual, hacemos observar que el contexto resulta necesario en la comprensión de los mismos.…”