New and Noteworthy

Board member Mason Jones wrote up new research from Stefanie Mollborn and colleagues showing that high SES parents try to negotiate with their kids, not set hard limits, to try and reduce “screen time” and “bad” tech uses

Worth a Read, Sociologically Speaking

Daniel Carlson wrote for Council on Contemporary Families on his new research showing that exactly how couples divide up household work matters for relationship satisfaction and happiness. When couples share tasks equally, rather than splitting tasks 50/50, they are happier and more satisfied.

Alumni Spotlight

In honor of The Society Pages’ tenth anniversary in 2022 we’re highlighting the contributions and ongoing work of our superb alumni!

This week we caught up with Erik Kojola who had this to say about his time on the board:

“I have fond memories of our Friday morning meetings pitching ideas for articles and talking about current events. I did several podcasts that enabled me to interview scholars doing exciting research and as a graduate student talk with some leading sociologists. One of my first interviews was with Michael Burawoy which was exciting and nerve-racking to interview a scholar who’d made major contributions to theories of class and labor as well as advancing public sociology. I was able to spend an hour talking with a former ASA president and to have an in-depth discussion about how he conceptualized public sociology. I also compiled a roundtable about climate change in the 2016 US Presidential election and got leading environmental sociologists to analyze the stakes of climate action and climate justice.

Now, I’m an assistant professor at Texas Christian University and have recently started some community-based and collaborative research on environmental racism in Fort Worth. I’m working with several community organizations to do applied research that will help them advocate for policies to protect public health and limit pollution in black neighborhoods. I’m also having students write policy reports and op-ed articles about environmental justice issues in Texas so they learn how to communicate issues to broader publics.

I continue to use TSP in my classes. I have students read Discoveries articles in my research methods classes to learn about different research methods and how to summarize research.”

Thanks for all your contributions to TSP and your ongoing public sociology work, Erik!

Backstage with TSP

This year, we have a group of talented undergraduates on our board. This is new for us and has meant changing up how we do “pitches,” where board members bring in recent social scientific articles and we consider whether to write them up. Returning board members have been pitching articles for both themselves and new board members to cover. There’s a lot of moving pieces trying to match articles with the interests of our board members but it’s been a fun process and has meant that, sometimes, people are writing up pieces that aren’t neatly within their comfort zone. This can be challenging but helps us pursue our broad, “big tent” vision of sociology.

More from Our Partner & Community Pages

Joe Eggers wrote for Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies’ blog on What Past is Worth Remembering?: Germany’s Colonial History in Public Memory

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Image Attribution

Starting at top left, clockwise 1. “dishes” by Attila Malarik is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. 2. “Berlin: Bismarck Memorial” by Taxiarchos228 is licensed under FAL. 3. “Erik Kojola” 4. “Untitled” by Japanexperterna.se is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

New and Noteworthy

For our partner page World Suffering I wrote up new research from Mike Vuolo and colleagues showing that prescription drug monitoring programs, that tracks prescriptions for drugs like opioids, decrease overdose deaths.

Worth a Read, Sociologically Speaking

Hilary Silver wrote for Contexts‘ blog on how the slow uptick in home work from its low point in the 1980s was fast-tracked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Citings and Sightings

Giving context to Supreme Court news, Adam Harris interviews Natasha Warikoo for the Atlantic, on her September book Is Affirmative Action Fair?: The Myth of Equity in College Admissions.

Backstage with TSP

One thing we’re constantly thinking about at TSP is how much information to include in our Discoveries, short write-ups of new academic research. We want to make sure we’re accurately representing the research and the importance of the finding(s) but we also want to make sure we aren’t bombarding our readers with lots of jargon or complexity that makes the piece less accessible. It’s a tough balance to strike and something we always discuss in on our weekly Discoveries workshops.

Alumni Spotlight

In honor of The Society Pages’ tenth anniversary in 2022 we’re highlighting the contributions and ongoing work of our superb alumni!

This week we caught up with TSP alum Kyle Green. Here’s what he had to say about his time on the TSP board:

“Over the course of my four years with TSP I was involved with most, if not all, parts of the project. I think am proud of that. However, I am sure I am proud of four things: (1) Getting to be part of the initial transition from Contexts to TSP when all dreams seemed possible; (2) Working on the Getting Culture volume with Stephen Suh; (3) Hosting and producing many episodes of the Office Hours podcast with Sarah Lageson; (4) Creating, hosting, and producing the Give Methods a Chance podcast with Sarah Lageson. But really, it isn’t what I wrote/recorded as much as the friends I made (I started writing this statement as a joke but decided it is actually right by the time I finished typing). 

TSP has completely shaped my vision of the discipline and what it could/should be, for better or worse (usually better). For example, I still am surprised when I meet an academic who does not believe in the inherent value of producing accessible work that can be consumed rather easily by the sociologically interested. I also owe my big tent understanding of the discipline to my time at TSP and I owe my ability to have conversations with scholars across the discipline to my time spent listening to grad board members pitch ‘citings’ from a variety of subfields. Most directly linked to my time at TSP, I created the Give Theory a Chance podcast and have recorded almost 50 episodes with scholars across the social sciences. I can honestly say that I would not be the researcher and teacher I am today without my time spent as part of the TSP crew.”

Kyle Green is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at SUNY Brockport. He is also host and producer of the Give Theory a Chance podcast.

From the Archives

Ahead of next weeks midterm voting check out this research roundup!

More from our Partner and Community Pages

Abbie E. Goldberg wrote for Council on Contemporary Families’ blog on her new book describing the pathways and challenges and offering guidance for LGBTQ people seeking parenthood.

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ blog posted Gelinada Grinchenko‘s Oral History Journal piece on her forthcoming book and series of accompanying short films and her experience and role in the context of the current conflict in Ukraine as an oral historian, survivor, and future storyteller.

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Starting at top left, clockwise. 1. “Kyle Green” by Kyle Green. 2. “Women Couple Playing With a Boy” by Kampus Productions is in the public domain. 3. “Opioids” by  K State Research and Extension Extension and Education is licensed under CC BY 2.0. 4. “Vote here, vote aqui” by Erik (HASH) Hersman is licensed under CC BY 2.0. 5. Discoveries logo, The Society Pages, all rights reserved. 6. “Mom working from home” by  www.lyncconf.com/ is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

New and Noteworthy

New board member Leo LaBarre wrote up research from Dylan Jackson and colleagues showing that kids who are expelled or suspended from school experience earlier and more frequent police encounters.

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

Ahead of trick-or-treating on Monday, read this Conversation piece from sociologist Joel Best on his research of decades of media stories about hazardous and contaminated halloween candy.

Backstage with TSP

We’ve got something in the works (shhhhh!) that has us thinking about the books and articles that first got us interested in sociology. It’s fun to see the variation (from Marx to Evicted) and exciting to think about how we’d communicate what we love about these works to a public audience.

From the Archives

It’s Halloween weekend. Before you don the hat and hop on a broomstick, read this piece on how witchcraft as a religious practice empowers marginalized groups.

Alumni Spotlight

In honor of The Society Pages’ tenth anniversary in 2022 we’re highlighting the contributions and ongoing work of our superb alumni!

This week we caught up with TSP alum Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira. Here’s what she had to say about her time on the TSP board:

“The Society Pages is where I learned that social scientific writing does not need to be bad writing. That might sound a bit extreme, but after reading pages (and pages) of sociological theory written centuries ago, I thought that writing like a sociologist meant writing long paragraphs full of jargon. Thankfully, TSP changed this. As part of TSP, I learned the value of writing for broader audiences, as well as how to speak without academic terms that do not resonate with the public. 

I have used this ability to translate my research on genocide into broader settings in several ways, including but not limited to the following: 

• Creating policy reports for governments and nonprofits;
• Giving a TEDx talk;
• Publishing an op-ed in the New York Times;
• Speaking about my research on C-SPAN; 
• Writing grants for general audiences; 
• Consulting with museums as they create new wings on genocide; and 
• Training high school teachers.”

Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the the Ohio State University. Her research examines why and how genocide happens and how countries rebuild in the aftermath.

More From Our Partner and Community Pages

Emily Fox and Canton Winer ask: What can asexual and aromantic folks teach us about friendship? What’s the difference between sexual and romantic attraction? Where is the line between a friendship and a romantic partner? for Council on Contemporary Families’ blog

New Contexts editors Amin Ghaziani and Seth Abrutyn invite your feature story pitches!

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Image Attribution

Images clockwise from upper-left. 1. Image: Group of adults lying down with their heads in the center. “Group of Friends Happily Lying on a Grass Field” by Kampus Production is licensed under CC0. 2. Dr. Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira 3. Image: Pile of colorful sugar-coated candy “Candy” by mooppoert is licensed under CC0 4. Image: A witch flies in front of a full moon on a broomstick. “Witch And Full Moon” by Linnaea Mallette is licensed under CC0. 5. Image: The back of a young black person in a red jacket, they are facing a large building in the distance. Image licensed by CC0.

New and Noteworthy

New board member Caroline Garland wrote her first piece (!), writing up research from Benjamin Karney and colleagues showing that slightly raising the minimum wage decreases both divorce and marriage rates in cities.

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

Check out this piece in partner Berkeley Journal of Sociology’s relaunch issue from Santiago J. Molina on “Biological Citizenship and Surveillance in the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

From the Archives

With Liz Truss resigning (outlasted by a head of lettuce) check out this piece from partner Sociological Images connecting Theresa May’s 2015 rise to prime ministership to the “glass cliff” for women leaders promoted in times of crisis.

Citings & Sightings

NPR and the LA Times spoke with Nancy Wang Yuen ahead of the Anna May Wong quarter release next Monday. Wong will be the first Asian American featured on U.S. currency.

More from our Partner and Community Pages

Meyer Weinshel writes for Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ blog on Art in the Public: Voice to Vision at the Solidarity Street Gallery

Council on Contemporary Families‘ blog reposted Barbara Risman‘s piece on how Life in Post-Roe America forces new understandings of sex and pleasure.

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New and Noteworthy

Board member S Ericson wrote up recent research from Bart Bonikowski, Yuval Feinstein, and Sean Bock showing that in the 2016 presidential election both parties’ supporters held nationalist beliefs, however, the nature of these beliefs was partisan

From the Archives

Last week President Biden pardoned thousands of people federally convicted of marijuana possession. For context on this historic moment check out this archive piece from Katherine Beckett for partner Scholars Strategy Network on the “Futility and High Cost of Criminalizing Marijuana”

Alumni Spotlight

In honor of The Society Pages’ tenth anniversary in 2022 we’re highlighting the contributions and ongoing work of our superb alumni!

Allison Nobles, former graduate managing editor, shared this reflection of her time with TSP:

“TSP always felt like a little community within the larger sociology department. I genuinely wanted to get to our Friday board meetings early so I could catch up with everyone. Now, as I consider future career goals, I find myself coming back to my time at TSP — not only as a place where I refined many transferable skills, but even more so as an exemplar of what a workplace could be like. “

Allison Nobles is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. She studies how adults learn about sex. Allison is preparing for an “alt-ac” career outside of the academy.

More from our Partner and Community Pages

Mary Shi wrote for the Berkeley Journal of Sociology on Counterpoints, a project featuring cartography, essays, illustrations, poetry, and more from gentrification and resistance struggles across the San Francisco Bay Area, as public sociology.

Council on Contemporary Families’ blog reposted Chloe E. Bird’s write-up of their study that found that doubling the spending the National Institute of Health spends on research assessing women’s health would have a substantial return on investment.

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The winds of (seasonal) change are blowing here in Minnesota! As the leaves turn on the banks of the Mississippi River we’re breaking out the flannel and cozying up with some great soc reads…

From the Archives

October is breast-cancer awareness month. Check out this piece from alum Sarah Catherine Billups on “The Politics of Pink”

Citings and Sightings

Jireh Deng interviewed sociologist Anthony Christian Ocampo for the Los Angeles Times on his new book, Brown and Gay in LA: The Lives of Immigrant Sons

Alumni Spotlight

In honor of The Society Pages’ tenth anniversary in 2022 we’re highlighting the contributions and ongoing work of our superb alumni!

Board member Jacob Otis sat down with Dr. Sarah Shannon to reflect on Sarah’s TSP experience.

Dr. Sarah Shannon was on the inaugural graduate board! During her time in TSP, she learned the value of writing for a public audience and how accessible writing can have an impact on audiences.  Behind the TSP curtain, Sarah reminisced about the opportunities that came with board membership. She remembers meeting renowned social scientists, networking with fellow students, publishing her work, and building confidence. Reflecting back 10 years since the founding of TSP, Sarah’s fondest memories are of the people she connected with and the relationships made. She remembers goofing off in board meetings, sharing food, and laughing together.

Currently, Sarah is an associate professor of sociology and director of the criminal justice studies program at the University of Georgia. Her research has been cited by everyone from prominent punishment scholars to former President Barack Obama. Sarah is also an award-winning teacher and public scholar, who facilitates the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program in Georgia’s Clarke County Jail .

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

Shelby Astle wrote for Council on Contemporary Families’ blog about her new research finding that, in conversations about sex with their parents, kids are more willing to share if they talk more frequently and openly about it.

Michelle Mueller wrote for Contexts’ blog about how the responsibility for addressing systemic inequality should not fall to marginalized groups, themselves.

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New and Noteworthy

Council on Contemporary Families’ blog re-printed Arielle Kuperberg and Pamela Stone on their new research that shows that representations of stay-at-home fathers have gotten more positive, but only for some dads.

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

Check out this piece from Tyler Leeds in the Berkeley Journal of Sociology on the “Unthinkable Path Forward for American Journalism,” drawing on both social science research and personal experience.

Backstage with TSP

This week we’re talking podcasts! It’s been a few years since we’ve put out an Office Hours podcast. We’re excited to think about what the future of TSP produced podcasts might be. Some of our new undergraduate board members are really excited about getting involved in pocast-ing. We’re not sure how this will shake out just yet but are looking forward to getting the conversation going again.

From the Archives

With news that Hurricane Ian has hit coastal communities in the United States hard, check out our write up of Junia Howell and James Elliot‘s work on “Disaster Relief’s Unequal Aid”

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New and Noteworthy

Chantal A. Hailey wrote about results from her experimental study that show that that high students express different race-based preferences for schools than their parents

Worth a (Look), Sociologically Speaking

TSP partner Berkeley Journal of Sociology published a photo-essay on the process of producing the documentary film “Una Escuela llamada América,” that explores the relationship between production of the documentary and social research as well as how visual narratives can serve public debates

Backstage with TSP

This week we’re starting off a new round of pitches for the semester, returning board members summarize new sociological articles they think would make good Discoveries for the site. This year, we’re focusing on making sure we have good coverage of the generalist journals in sociology. It can be tempting for graduate students to only pitch articles from their sub-areas but we think this broader focus will help us connect back to the big vision of the field, something that is at the heart of TSP

From the Archives

In the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona hitting Puerto Rico, read this roundup of research from us on “Not So Natural Disasters”

Citings & Sightings

NPR’s “On the Media” spoke with John Thompson about how technology has changed the book industry, paving the way for Amazon’s global dominance

More from Our Partner & Community Pages

Andrew Guest wrote for Engaging Sports on Thinking Fandom: When (and How) to Watch Games We Love and Hate

New and Noteworthy

S Ericson writes up research from Gillian Slee and Mathew Desmond that finds that the higher a neighborhood’s eviction rate, the lower its voter turnout rate is.

From the Archives

The start of a new semester is a great time to re-read this piece from our archives, covering research from Miloš Broćić and Andrew Miles on how the moral values of people who have attended college differ from those that have not.

Sightings & Citings

Adia Harvey Wingfield reflected on the legacy of Barbara Ehrenreich for The Conversation arguing that, while Ehrenreich was not a sociologist, “she adopted what I like to think are the strengths of my discipline”

Backstage with TSP

All the fresh faces and activity around campus has us feeling energized and we’re starting off the semester with a bang! This week, members of our undergrad cohort have their first discovery “workshop,” where we edit one of our short and informative summaries of new research for a public audience. It can be intimidating for new board members to engage in this public editing process for the first time but (as alumni and returning board members can attest) it is a super valuable process that teaches all of us a lot about improving our writing. We’re excited to get started!

More from Our Partners & Community Pages

Our partner, Berkeley Journal of Sociology, just put out a new call for their Spring 2023 issue! Check out more info here.

Council on Contemporary Families’ blog reprinted Joan Maya Mazelis for the The Inquirer on why paying for childcare shouldn’t be so hard.

Sarah Barnes wrote for Engaging Sports on how the WNBA’s working-conditions effect player’s sleep.

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New & Noteworthy

Mieke Beth Thomeer described findings from their new study for Council on Contemporary Families’ blog showing that never married respondents were at increased risk for poor mental and physical health relative to married adults as the pandemic progressed during 2020.

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

We reposted Sarah Shannon’s piece in The Criminologist on how archival-based learning can bring challenging topics to life for students, viscerally connecting them with course concepts and providing opportunity for community engagement.

Backstage with TSP

This week marks our first board meeting of the semester! As you read this, we may be gathered around the table welcoming new board members and excitedly reuniting with old friends. This year, we’re joined by a cohort of undergraduate board members for the first time. We’re excited to work with this group of amazing undergraduates, helping connect them to public sociology and scholarship and benefitting from their energy, enthusiasm, and fresh ideas!

More from our Partner & Community Pages

For their relaunch issue the Berkeley Journal of Sociology spoke with Arlene Stein and Jessie Daniels, authors of Going Public, a field guide for connecting research to public audiences and policymakers.

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