New & Noteworthy

We have several new and reposted pieces published this past week including a piece by me on Rural/Urban boundaries on work by Daniel T. Lichter and Kenneth M. Johnson, and a particularly interesting read, Hacking Barbie, by Martha McCaughey and Beth Davison (I will be seeing the Barbie movie this weekend with my partner). In World Suffering, Mahala Miller writes about the risks and realities of bullying as school starts – click here to learn more.

Citings & Sightings

Sociologist Kristen Barber recently wrote a piece about the recent (and ongoing) Zuckerberg-Musk cage-fight drama. Give it a read to learn more about its ramifications for “masculine anxiety”.

The Conversation compiled a list of 7 songs that are milestones to hip-hop’s 50 years of influence on society – give it a read (and a listen).

Backstage with TSP

September is here and TSP will be bringing more sociology to a device near you! If you are interested in bringing some of your sociological work to our readers, visit https://thesocietypages.org/about/ and click on “Submissions”.

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts has new pieces on:

• How intersectional identities for Latina immigrant mothers shape their lived experiences by Sarah Bruhn.
• Q&A with Dr. Katja M. Guenther on their article on “Irresponsible Pet Owner” from Context’s Summer 2023 issue.
• How college experiences and context shape students’ making sense of inequality, and their role in it by Jonathan Mijs.

Council on Contemporary Families latest includes:

• How older siblings may be a source of support and success for disadvantaged families by Emma Zang.

New & Noteworthy

A whole lot has been happening with TSP! Our founders and fearless leaders Douglas Hartmann and Chris Uggen received the 2023 Public Understanding of Sociology Award at the American Sociological Association Conference, Sarah Shannon and Diana Graizbord launched First Publics, and we have published new content on dating for older adults, adult bullying, and an “About Us” video on TSP.

Citings and Sightings

Flordia’s new education standards for the educational narrative about African American history have led to a number of responses from sociologists, including Caty Taborda who wrote a piece for WBUR – click here to read more.

Deborah Carr was featured in the New York Times’s piece on heat-related illnesses, and commented on older adults’ selection of retirement locations, with most prioritizing a low cost of living and proximity to family over migration to warmer climates.

Backstage with TSP

Summer is over (almost). TSP will be welcoming several new board members, producing more social media content on other platforms, and investing in new ideas and projects as the academic year starts. Happy Fall! (almost)

More from our Partner and Community Pages

Contexts has new pieces on:

• Q&A with Elena G. van Stee on her Summer 2023 Context’s feature article.
• An undocumented immigrant’s story (part 1; part 2; part 3) of pursuing legal status by Jozef C. Robles.
• Multigenerational living arrangements in China by Rose Xuequing Zhang.
• Meet the editors: Letta Page, Jooyoung Lee.

Council on Contemporary Families latest includes:

• Regulation of Polgamies by Melanie Heath.
• How college students learn about their position in a world with inequality and segregation by Jonathan J.B. Mijs.
• How transgender people’s families’ are actually more supportive than not by Laurel Westbrook and Stef M. Shuster.

New & Noteworthy

Changes to Affirmative Action may impact elite prep schools, which serve as a major pipeline into elite universities. Read Richard Zweigenhaft’s latest Special Feature to learn more.

TSP board member Ellie Nickel’s writes up research by Lauren Rivera and András Tilcsik on Double Discrimination for educational opportunities that students who are Black and Disabled face.

Citings and Sightings

Parents are especially vulnerable to economic shifts and uncertainties. Sociologist Jessica Calarco was featured in The Atlantic and provides insight on some of the risks and realities that parents face.

Russian sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky, a Professor at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences,  was charged with “justifying terrorism” for an online post analyzing the possible fallout of the destruction of the Crimea bridge.

Backstage with TSP

With the American Sociological Association’s annual conference a few weeks away, we will be launching a new podcast, videos, and other content within the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned on Twitter, or X, for more.

More from our Partner and Community Pages

Contexts has new pieces on:

• Police Officer’s determination of what constitutes the “hate” in hate crimes.
• COVID-19 blame and scapegoating in South Korea.
• Meet the editors: Laura Beth Nielsen and Seth Abrutyn

Council on Contemporary Families latest includes:

• LGBTQ health and its connections with State-Level Protections.
• What makes “Great Sex”?

New & Noteworthy

Fathers who spend more time on childcare duties with their young children are more likely to feel that men and women should be treated equally. Read our latest Discovery written up by Caroline Garland on Tomas Cano’s and Heather Hofmeister’s work, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family. 

Citings and Sightings

Marriage patterns in the United States among midlife adults have increased, as perceptions of marriage have become more of a “capstone” life experience. Click here to listen to sociologist Susan Brown’s comments on NPR about this trend.

Backstage with TSP

Behind the scenes, our grad board is working on some new discoveries, special features are being edited, and new YouTube videos for our channel are being developed. Stay tuned for more upcoming content!

More from our Partner and Community Pages

Our partner Contexts has a number of great reads that have been published over the past few weeks, including (but not limited to) what is it to be ukrainian, black sociology: a primer, and the privileged professor. Give one (or all) a read!

Are you the oldest child? Click here to read the Council on Contemporary Families piece on favoritism towards the “prodigal children” by Reilly Kincaid. 

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New & Noteworthy

Good healthcare systems have been linked to reduced impacts of childhood adversity on adult health. Gradboard member Nicole Schmitgen writes up important findings from Matthew Andersson and colleagues in our latest TSP discovery.

Prisons around the world have a variety of disparities, but what about differences across prisons-within-prisons? Jacob Otis explores the contrasts between English & Welsh, and Norwegian prisons based on insights from Ben Crewe, Julie Laursen, and Kristian Mjåland.

Citings and Sightings

Supreme Court rulings have sparked nationwide discussions and demonstrations. Click here to hear about some sociologists’ reactions to rulings on affirmative action and student loan forgiveness.

Backstage with TSP

With July having arrived, TSP has made significant progress on some new projects. This includes our growing YouTube channel (early access) which will be regularly updated in the coming months with new content. Stay tuned for more!

From the Archives

Regions across the United States have experienced a surge in smog caused by Canadian wildfires. To delve deeper into the connection between humans and wildfires, click here.

More from our Partner and Community Pages

Peter Harvey writes up some of his research on how students make sense of their position and identity in society in Contexts’ blog.

In Sociological Images, Victoria Lieberman covers how female and male body types are portrayed in children’s TV and movies, click here to read more.

Ever wondered about the older adult dating scene? Lauren Harris in Council on Contemporary Families covers her recently published research in the Journal of Marriage and Family.

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New & Noteworthy

Millennial mothers are spending less time in the workforce and more time on housework and childcare when compared to Generation X and Baby Boomer mothers. Read our latest Special Feature by Brendan Churchill, Leah Ruppanner, and Sabino Kornrich to learn more. 

Citings and Sightings

As the United States continues to grapple with labor shortages today, Smithsonian Magazine recently highlighted the photography of sociologist Lewis Hine and his thousands of photos of children’s working conditions in the 1900s. Click here to read more and view dozens of pictures of child labor in the 1900s.

Backstage with TSP

Summer is heating up! We have a number of projects nearing completion and coming soon to a computer/phone/or device near you. You may have also noticed that I am not Mahala. As Mahala passes the TSP torch to me this summer (Jake), I want to say a quick thank you and tribute to the years of guidance, commitment, and leadership Mahala has provided the TSP board. Thank you Mahala!

More from our Partner and Community Pages

College students returning home during COVID-19 faced the challenge of living through a pandemic, while simultaneously adjusting (or not) back to their parents’ authority, writes Elena van Stee of partner Contexts’ blog. 

The impacts of wrongfully imprisoning an innocent person go far beyond just the person, the friends, family, and community are also robbed of time with their loved one, Janani Umamaheswar writes in Council on Contemporary Families’ blog. 

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New and Noteworthy

Although many states have laws requiring judges to order the confiscation of guns when emergency restraining orders including threats of violence are issued, most don’t. On the site, Jacob Otis writes up this surprising finding from Julie Kafka and colleagues.

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

Although homophobic lyrics were once common, mainstream rappers now apologize for using slurs and share the spotlight with LGBTQ artists. Matthew Oware writes on the changing culture of hiphop for The Conversation.

Citings and Sightings

This week Shiny, Happy People, a docuseries about reality TV family the Duggars, and the fundamentalist Christian organization they belong to, premiered featuring sociologist Danielle Lindeman, who emphasized that the men in the family profited off the labor of their wives and daughters, whose births and weddings drew viewers.

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

ALL of partner Contexts Spring 2023 issue is open access for just a few more days! Check out the table of contents and download great content for your to-be-read list while you can.

First-generation college graduates are often the advantaged members of their disadvantaged class while people who don’t graduate college like their parents are often relatively disadvantaged. For Council on Contemporary Families‘ blog Anna Manzoni and Jessi Streib share their findings on what differentiates first-generation students, as well as students who do not follow in their parents’ footsteps to college, from their peers.

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Welcome back to our summertime, fun-time, bi-weekly roundup!

New & Noteworthy

Restrictive immigration restrictions decrease healthcare usage among Latinx agricultural workers with legal status, through a chilling effect. Read this discovery from Rebecca A. Schut and Courtney E. Boen written up by S Ericson on the site.

Worth a Watch (Sociologically Speaking)

Check out this quick video rounding up research on the joys and challenges of motherhood from board member Jacob Otis.

From the Archives

Yesterday marked the third anniversary of George Floyd’s murder that inspired our series Wretched/Wonderful, reflections from social scientists on the racial dynamics of the twin cities. Check out Walt Jacob’s introduction to the series here.

Backstage with TSP

This week we had our first summer board meeting, an informal time for us to reconnect and make progress on our summer plans. It was fun to be back in the room together after a few weeks, and we’re excited about some big projects that we’re set to announce later in the summer.

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

Contexts released their Spring 2023 issue. The entire issue is available open access for a limited time, explore it here!

For Sociological Images Leah Long wrote about the challenges, and dangers, of dating while trans and what changes could help keep trans people safer as they seek romantic and sexual connection.

Women athletes are both athletically and physically misrepresented in sports video games reflecting gender inequality write Judy Liao and Emily MacMillan for Engaging Sports.

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Citings and Sightings

We’ve got a few quick ones for you to checkout this week:

After our most recent Earth Day, National Public Radio’s Science Friday spoke with sociologist Dana R. Fisher on the state of climate activism including the importance of media attention for shock-based demonstrations and the salience of overlapping social justice motivations for activists.

Axios spoke with Nancy López on her recent research showing that Afro-Latinos have higher educational attainment but lower pay than other Latinos, emphasizing the need for research into the diversity of Latino experiences.

From the Archives

This week, the Met Gala opulently honored the contributions of the controversial Karl Lagerfeld. For some sociological context on why gay men, such as Lagerfeld, find themselves more often in the fashion spotlight than women designers, check out this archive piece.

Yesterday, members of the far-right hate group the Proud Boys were charged with seditious conspiracy for their role in the January 6th, 2021 insurrection. Read this archive piece to understand “The Sociology of the Siege.”

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

People who live closer to protests are more supportive of them, despite experiencing more disruption to their lives according to recent research by Duoduo Xu and Jaio Guo written up for Contexts’ blog by Parker Muzzerall.

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ blog had a Student Spotlight on Rachel Dodson.

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New and Noteworthy

Differing social norms make Helsinki playgrounds a site where ethnic segregation is (re)inforced among Finnish and immigrant mothers according to research from Paula Paajanen and colleagues.

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

Black gamers’ nostalgia and desire for representation, not their social conservatism, has them turning to the new Hogwarts legacy video game despite calls for a boycott suggests sociologist Steven Dashiell for The Conversation.

Citings and Sightings

Morality and ethics animate both sides of the porn debate according to Kelsy Burke speaking to The Los Angeles Time about her new book The Pornography Wars. (Read our coverage of Burke’s work on “pornography addiction” here).

Backstage with TSP

As we prepare to wrap up the semester, we’re making plans for our end-of-year celebration. We’ve received a wide variety of suggestions (laser tag or paintball, anyone?) While we’ll likely have a humble get together, we also know from sociological research the importance of rituals such as this for our individual and collective lives. We look forward to the chance to celebrate our hard work together (31 pieces published this academic year and more than a dozen zooming alone our pipeline!) before we scatter to the winds for the summer.

From the Archives

Yesterday the woman who falsely accused Emmett Till died. For context, read this archive piece from Aisha Upton on how Till’s death was not an isolated incident but, rather, representative of pervasive racial terror that did not go unopposed.

More from Our Partner & Community Pages

Book bans prevent students from discovering new ways of thinking and understanding the world, particularly in conservative states according to Alyssa Lyons‘ analysis of book ban data for partner Contexts’ blog.

Women who keep their last names or hyphenate when they get married are viewed as less committed according to recent research from Kristin Kelley that she wrote up for partner Council on Contemporary Families’ blog. (Read our own coverage of Kelley’s research here).

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