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Abstract: While sociologists and the public at large are increasingly interested in the life conditions of animals, conceptual and empirical development of the topic is limited. This paper seeks to further develop the sociological research on attitudes toward animal well-being. We build on insights from contemporary stratification theory to explain the nature of animal attitudes and their determinants. We also extend past work by examining a broader range of factors related to attitudes about animal well-being, focusing on place, other social structural factors, and individuals' unique animal-related experiences. Data are from a survey of over 4,000 Ohio residents conducted in 2002. We find that childhood experience has the greatest place-based effect on attitudes. Other findings highlight the importance of social structural factors, suggesting support for the “underdog hypothesis.” Women, people experiencing economic hardship, those with less education, younger and middle aged people, and blacks tend to be more concerned with animal well-being. Individualized, experiential variables are also important. Our results reflect the complexity of attitudes about animals and point to the need for greater sociological attention to factors left largely unexplored in previous studies, including childhood place-based factors, economic hardship, and individuals' unique animal-related experiences

Abstract: An approach is provided for integrating place metadata provided by a community of metadata builders, including receiving registration data that indicates one or more values for a corresponding one or more attributes that describe a place. A place is associated with a geographic location. Providing an indication of match between the registration data and metadata for a predetermined place is also initiated. In some embodiments, a new entry for a set of predetermined places is generated based on validating the registration data and a negligible degree of match. In some embodiments, a unique identifier for the place is included in indication of match for either a new place represented by the registration data or a matching predetermined place.

Abstract: If we are to fully understand the demand side of school choice, we have to understand geography. But geography is not simply distance and commute time. It is also neighborhood and community. Using two conceptions of geography—space and place—I investigate how and when geography factored into parents’ thinking. Drawing on spatial analyses of parents’ choice sets, the schools within two miles of their homes, and longitudinal in‐depth interviews, I describe a range of ways in which geography shaped 36 parents’ choices of middle and high schools in Detroit. Parents considered a small fraction of the schools near their homes; however, all the parents discussed geographic characteristics of schools. The role geography played in the choice process ranged from nonexistent to framing. By investigating how parents’ geographic preferences played out with respect to their other preferences and the existing supply of schools, this study contributes to the field’s increasingly nuanced understanding of parents’ decision...