Friday Roundup

New and Noteworthy

Board member Daniel Cueto-Villalobos wrote up new research from Samuel Perry and colleagues that explores the relationship between White Christian nationalism and denial of anti-Black discrimination and racial injustice.

Worth a (Watch), Sociologically Speaking

Isabel Arriagada created a short and informative video that summarizes this piece from Jillian LaBranche on how the meaning of diamonds is intertwined with their place in global conflict (Just in time for Valentine’s Day <3).

Backstage with TSP

This week we reincorporated “archive pitches” into the regular business of our board meetings. With an archive pitch, board members search through the (literally) thousands of posts on our pages and find a piece that connects with a current event, news story, or something on their mind. We promote these archive pitches on the site and social media and use them as springboards for new ideas. Our archive pitches are both useful reminders of how extensive and useful our backlog is and motivation to write something new when one of us discovers that we don’t actually have anything on (insert important and timely issue).

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

Council on Contemporary Families’ blog posted a piece from Shannon Cavanaugh covering research showing that women are less likely to initiate romantic contact online but have more success when they do

For the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ (CHGS) blog Remco Ensel wrote on “The Betrayal of Anne Frank”: Genocide research in the time of mass media and Kurt Borchard explained the significance of The COPE Visitor Center in Laos

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New and Noteworthy

Board member Mason Jones wrote up research from Vicki Lens that shows that, in family law court rooms, low-income moms face expectations of what “good mothers” do that do not acknowledge the structural barriers they face when parenting.

Worth a Read, Sociologically Speaking

Board member Jake Otis rounded up social science research that places the current wave of labor strikes in context.

Backstage with TSP

This week we turned our focus to writing and will discuss the first chapter of Becker’s classic Writing for Social Scientists. It’s an excellent book and the first chapter got me thinking about vulnerability and shame in the writing process. Becker does a great job of articulating that part of what makes writing so difficult is that we have to be vulnerable. When we write we are putting ourselves out there. We worry about getting it right at TSP. We worry that maybe we aren’t quite capturing what the author meant by that phrase, or maybe we don’t really understand the complex statistical technique used in that exciting new article, so maybe we shouldn’t write about it for the site. But we do anyway, in part, because we have the advantage of being really close to why writing in spite of fear matters. We hope our writing helps bring social scientific findings to a a public that would otherwise not have access to them. Having such a lofty vision means that the stakes can feel really high at times but it also helps motivate us to work together to get words on the (digital) page.

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

Council for Contemporary Families’ blog re-posted a piece from Tyler Jamison on the skills needed to break-up a partnership with care.

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It’s the start of a new semester here in Minnesota (where, at the time of writing, it is a balmy one degree) and we’re back to share the latest social science writing from our grad board, partner, and community pages.

New and Noteworthy

We shared writing from our own Doug Hartmann, published in the Winter 2022 issue of Footnotes, on what community-engaged research is and how it can provide meaning, and challenges, to sociologists.

Worth a (Look), Sociologically Speaking

Over at Sociological Images Evan Stewart covers the persistent drop in self-reported happiness in the General Social Survey and the potential for both policy (and personal) solutions to improve subjective well being.

Citings and Sightings

Amanda Mull interviewed sociologist Daniel Schneider, who studies precarious and unpredictable work schedules, for the Atlantic on “How Omicron is Making America’s Bad Jobs Even Worse.”

Backstage with TSP

At the request of our graduate board, this semester we’re focusing some of our meetings on writing. As both academics and folks interested in connecting scientific findings with a larger public, we wear a lot of “writing hats” at TSP. Over the course of the semester we hope that talking together about writing will help us think about our collective work at TSP, exploring how to better engage in writing as communication and writing as a collaborative process. If you have a favorite piece on sociological writing, send it our way at tsp@contexts.org.

More from our Partner and Community Pages

The Council on Contemporary Families’ blog shared Dominique C. Hill‘s writing A Black Girl’s Crown Changes the Game, exploring how her participants defined black girlhood.

Kennedy Kneller wrote for Engaging Sports on how the backyard ice rink shatters the myth of Canadian hockey as underpinned by community and collective identity.

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New and Noteworthy

Matthew Valasik and Shannon E. Reid wrote a policy brief for our partner Contexts, on the unequal treatment of far rights groups under the law and the potential for gang statutes to enable intervention and prevention of far-right violence.

Worth a Read, Sociologically Speaking

Irmak Karademir Hazir offered some important findings from her study on how parents of toddler-aged children differ in their understandings of what “good feeding” is according to social class for our partner Council on Contemporary Families.

Backstage with TSP

Today we had our TSP end-of-semester celebration. We handed out our Best of 2021 awards, and a few tokens of appreciation for our hard-working board members. This party is always a nice opportunity to take a break from the flurry of last minute tasks and take a moment to connect and celebrate our collective accomplishments.

Over the next few weeks we plan to take some time away to rest, reflect, and spend time with those important to us. You’ll see us less here as we post our Best of 2021 features over at the site. We hope this time away will offer some inspiration for writing and coverage in the new year (both for us and for you, dear reader).

More from our Partner and Community Pages

Our friend and colleague Edgar Campos wrote for the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ blog on Olympic Boycotts and the Politics of the Label “Genocide”

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New and Noteworthy

Michael A. Garcia, Rachel Donnelly, and Debra Umberson wrote for the Council on Contemporary Families’ blog on their recent research on racial disparities in loss of a family member and how this inequities contributes to racial disadvantage in health and well-being.

Worth a Watch, Sociologically Speaking

Today is Human Rights Day, the perfect occasion to watch this short video created by Isabel Arriagada summarizing writing from Brooke Chambers‘ on the United Nations’ role in global human rights.

Citings and Sightings

On National Public Radio’s All Things Considered host Mary Louis Kelley spoke with sociologist Gretchen Sisson on why the choice pregnant people considering adoption face is perhaps best thought of as a choice between adoption and parenting rather than a choice between abortion and parenting.

Sisson was also quoted in this Vox article that covered why adoption is not a replacement for abortion rights.

Backstage with TSP

This week for the first time we assigned a board member to write up a data visualization from Socius. In the coming weeks, we’re excited to publish this piece, offering some context for one of the short data visualizations that Socius publishes. We (along with our friends over at Soc Images) know how important and impactful seeing sociological concepts represented visually can be for readers. We are also excited that this is something we’re able to do because of Socius’ commitment to open access and creative commons licensing.

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

R Spiker and Rin Reczek wrote for Contexts on what we’ve missed about socioeconomic disparities and LGB people and what new survey data and analysis can tell us

Brian Ellison of the Black Man Project shares his photo essay on Contexts exploring African-American masculinity for young boys and men

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New and Noteworthy

Board member Daniel Cueto-Villalobos covers research from Angela S. García on the importance of local policy context for the political participation of undocumented immigrants.

Worth a Read, Sociologically Speaking

As the Supreme Court hears arguments in a case that threatens to overturn abortion protections, we recommend reading this piece from Allison Nobles about abortion providers before Roe v. Wade.

Citings and Sightings

Daniel Pearson interviews Elijah Anderson for the Philadelphia Inquirer about what his research can tell us about race and urban spaces.

Backstage with TSP

This week, we prepared nominations for our annual “Best of TSP” awards. We use these awards, voted on by our board, to highlight the best content from our site as we transition into a new year (and new semester). It’s a nice opportunity to reflect on all that we have accomplished over the last year and highlight the contributions of our board members. Look out for some “Best of” content over the coming weeks, and drop us a line at tsp@contexts.org or @thesocietypages if you have a piece you think should be considered.

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

Over at Contexts Genesis Fuentes interviews Marcus Bullock on how his experience in the criminal justice system connects to his entrepreneurship

Dan Cassino and Yasemin Besen-Cassino discuss their book Gender Threat: American Masculinity in the Face of Change at Council on Contemporary Families’ blog

A backstage sociologist shares a favorite poem

At Engaging Sports Joseph M. Bradley discusses how the rivalry between the Scottish football clubs the Rangers and Celtic connects to historical memory

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New and Noteworthy

Out today board member Jake Otis covers research from Lindsay Bullinger and colleagues documenting how, although arrests and reports for domestic violence decreased during the covid-19 lockdown in Chicago, police calls increased

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

At the Everyday Sociology blog Colby King writes on #striketober, offering a sociological perspective on the wave of labor strikes across the country.

Backstage with TSP

Last week we welcomed Walt Jacobs to our board meeting. We continued our conversation on first-person sociology, with Walt sharing how his life story and experience drew him to research on the places and institutions he inhabited using, for instance, auto-ethnographical methods to examine teaching and digital literacy. Speaking with Walt, we were reminded of the power of the personal perspective he brings to his writing with us, whether at Dispaches from a Dean or the Wonderful/Wretched series. As we look towards the future of our site, we are thinking of ways to incorporate this voice into the content we produce and post.

More from Our Partners and Community Pages

Over at the Council on Contemporary Families‘ blog Priya Fielding-Singh writes on her research on nutritional inequality and why we need to move beyond conversations centered solely on food access and consider the meaning of food for families, due out in book form next week.

The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ blog covered Divide Up Those in Darkness from the Ones Who Walk in Light, an exhibit of Professor David Feinberg’s art currently on display at University of Minnesota’s Katherine E. Nash Gallery

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New and Noteworthy

We cover new research from Orlaith Heymann and colleagues on how people access risk and safety when seeking abortions– even after overcoming legal and economic barriers

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

Over at our partner Council on Contemporary Families’s blog Sara Yeatman and Emily Smith-Greenaway discuss their research on women’s responses, both negative and positive, to unexpected pregnancies.

Citings & Sightings

Sociologist Louise Seamster was on the Ezra Klein show this week, in conversation with Tressie McMillan Cottom, discussing how student loans and higher ed contribute to the racial wealth gap.

Backstage with TSP

This week, we welcome Walt Jacobs to our board meeting. Last week, in preparation, we read Walt’s preface to Sparked, and discussed how and why to do first-person writing for a social science audience. This conversation gave board members the space to think about how to balance our emotion and values with the demands of social scientific research.

Tonight, Walt will be in conversation with our own Doug Hartmann, as well as Bianet Castellanos, discussing Sparked as part of the University of Minnesota’s public life project. We’d love to see (and hear from you) there. More info and registration here.

More from Our Partners and Community Pages

Give Theory a Chance spoke with Dr. Christopher R. Matthews about the work of Nick Crossley. Give the podcast(s) a listen!

Over at Contexts’ blog David Burley spoke about the potential (and necessity) of training our sociology students to lead the fight against climate change.

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New and Noteworthy

Over the weekend Social Forces published Mariana Amorim‘s work with the Alaska Permanent Fund data, showing that low and middle-income parents increase spending on their kids when given no-strings-attached money.

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

We rounded up research on the consequences of thinking about childcare as an individual family’s responsibility as democrats continue to hammer out the details of an infrastructure plan that will likely not include paid family leave.

Citings & Sightings

Council on Contemporary Families reposted Stacy Torres’ USA Today essay on how her experiences with hospice care at the end of her father’s life opened up her eyes to the weight of “administrative burdens” on folks navigating the healthcare system.

Backstage with TSP

Last week the board discussed the introduction to friend of the site Lisa Wade’s new introduction to sociology textbook Terrible, Magnificent Sociology. We used this as a jumping off point to discuss the relationship between emancipatory sociology and sociology as the pursuit of social facts, what that means for teaching, and how we can incorporate that into the public sociology work we do here at TSP. Going “back to the basics” was helpful for us, particularly as we have undergraduate board members and board members from outside the discipline.

More from Our Partners and Community Pages

Read Rabble Rouser get the Boot! at a backstage sociologist.

Contexts’ blog posted a 2018 interview of California Supreme Court Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar by Jeannine Bell.

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New and Noteworthy

Board member Daniel Cueto-Villalobos wrote on new research from Patricia Homan and Amy Burdette on how belonging to a sexist religious community can harm women’s health and wellbeing.

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

Richard J. Petts, Trenton D. Mize, and Gayle Kaufman wrote for the Council on Contemporary Families about the importance of designing paid parental leave policies that reduce the stigma, reflecting on research about the benefits of parental leave and their own study on how supportive leave policies can reduce penalties associated with leave-taking.

Backstage with TSP

This year we have rebooted our “media beat.” Led by intrepid new board member, S, each week during our board meetings we share coverage of sociologists and sociology in mainstream news outlets. In the past we have shared content like this on the site (most recently in our Clippings format). We know we gain valuable perspective when we better see how “the other” understands the work that social scientists are doing in the world. This knowledge helps guide our thinking about how to make the information and content we share more approachable and relevant for our audience.

More from Our Partners and Community Pages

Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Manuel Pastor write about place-based racial identities and shared futures for the Contexts’ blog.

Meyer Weinshel shared the history and significance of the Kindertransport movement of Jewish children from Nazi Germany during World War II for the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ blog.

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