Clippings

Clippings – April 29th, 2024 TSP Media Report

Mallory Harrington on April 29, 2024

Erin Cech (Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan) and Elana Goldenkoff (Doctoral Candidate in Movement Science at the University of Michigan) wrote an article for The Conversation assessing how prepared engineers are to face ethical dilemmas regarding AI. They discuss how engineers often are aware of ethical dilemmas, but feel unprepared to deal with them and how ethics training is often placed on the backburner in STEM education. However, engineers who do receive ethics training “were 30% more likely to have noticed an ethical issue in their workplace and 52% more likely to have taken action.”

The Times Union interviewed Richard Ocejo (Professor of Sociology at John Jay College) on his new book Sixty Miles Upriver: Gentrification and Race in a Small American City, which tells the story of how “the people who were gentrified out of [New York City] are threatening the very environment they sought in this small river city [Newburgh].” The book emphasizes how racial demographics and racialization factor into the speed of gentrification of cities.

Robert Bullard (Distinguished Professor and Director of the Robert D. Bullard Center for Climate and Environmental Justice at Texas Southern University) recently won a TIME Earth Award in recognition of his work in environmental justice. “My sociology has taught me that it is not enough to gather the data, do the science, and write the books in order to get transformative change. In order for us to solve this climate crisis…we must marry [our data] with action,” Bullard said in his acceptance speech. “I am optimistic. I do have faith. But as my grandmother told me, faith without work is death. We are a live movement.”

Stephanie Alice Baker (Senior Lecturer in Sociology at City University of London) wrote an article for The Conversation on how wellness influencers are contributing to misleading information about birth control on social media sites. Baker describes how “the pill has been re-framed from a source of liberation to harmful by some female wellness influencers” who tend to prioritize “native expertise – knowledge derived from intuition and experience rather than professionals.”

Clippings – April 1st, 2024 TSP Media Report

Mallory Harrington on April 1, 2024

Caitlyn Collins (Associate Professor of Sociology at Washington University in St. Louis) recently appeared on The Ezra Klein Show to discuss how national policies, social support, and culture affect experiences of parenthood. Collins describes how work-family policies in Sweden and the United States affect how we think about parenting, clashes between the roles of worker and parent for Americans, and more.

Christina Cross (Assistant Professor of Sociology at Harvard) was recently accused of plagiarism in an anonymous, bad-faith complaint. The complaint focuses on instances of boilerplate descriptions of datasets and instances where scholars are cited, but not quoted. This accusation–the fourth in a series of complaints against Black women at Harvard who study race or social justice–has been amplified by conservative activist Christopher Rufo as part of a broader campaign against critical race scholarship and DEI efforts. Plagiarism expert Jonathan Bailey reviewed the allegations and found no issue. However, Bailey is concerned with the “weaponization of plagiarism” (using allegations of plagiarism to address political or social grievances). In support of Cross, the ASA denounced the anonymous complaint: “These false claims of plagiarism are a political attack that exploits the gap between the normal scientific process and the public’s understanding of that process. These actors also appear to be working to undermine faith in the research process and delegitimize academic knowledge by attacking racial diversity and the inclusion of highly qualified Black faculty and leaders in colleges and universities.” This story was covered by The Harvard Crimson.

The New York Times recently reviewed Amin Ghaziani’s (Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia) new book, Long Live Queer Nightlife: How the Closing of Gay Bars Sparked a Revolution. Ghaziani recounts the gay bar “closure epidemic” and the rise of a re-imagined queer nightlife, built upon ad hoc club nights and underground parties.

Clippings – March 25th, 2024 TSP Media Report

Mallory Harrington on March 25, 2024

Zeynep Tufekci (Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton) wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in response to the media frenzy surrounding Kate Middleton’s disappearance from the public eye for an unspecified surgery. Tufekci compares the public response to prior treatment of Meghan Markle, highlighting the double standards and arguing that “trapping women in constraining public roles, pitting them against one another and reducing them to symbols of virtue or vice is a powerful and politically expedient distraction” but is harmful all around.

Anna Mueller (Associate Professor of Sociology at Indiana University) and Seth Abrutyn’s (Assistant Professor of Sociolgoy at the University of British Columbia) upcoming book Life Under Pressure: The Social Roots of Youth Suicide and What to Do About Them examines a high-income community’s experiences with youth suicide clusters. Mueller and Abrutyn found that students in the community faced intense academic pressure and that “fear of failing to meet expectations had a negative impact on their mental health.” This story was covered by Mirage News.

DW – South Africa ran a story on how US fundamentalist Christian churches are promoting negative sentiments against LGBTQ+ people and abortion rights in Africa. Haley McEwen (Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Gothenburg) commented that “US Christian right-wing groups have been very active in the US foreign policy since the early 2000s,” promoting “family-friendly agendas” and funding homegrown African organizations with aligning political agendas.

South African sociologist Edward Webster (Founder of the Society, Work & Politics Institute at the University of Witwatersrand) recently passed away at the age of 81. In a profile of his life and work, Michael Burawoy (Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley) wrote that Webster’s sociological practice is marked by “the intimate connection between his academic and his public lives: the one inseparable from the other. The Webster windmill takes in the winds of change—social, political, and economic winds—and turns them into a prodigious intellectual engagement.”

The New York Times ran a story discussing the upcoming election in Russia. Greg Yudin (Professor of Political Philosophy at The Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences and Visiting Research Scholar at Princeton) commented that anxieties and uncertainties over the war are drawing voters to Vladimir Putin: “There are fears about what will happen if we don’t win: We will be humiliated, everyone will be prosecuted, we will have to pay huge reparations — and basically put under foreign control. These fears are fueled by Putin, who has also positioned himself as the only one who can end the war.”

Clippings – March 5th, 2024 TSP Media Report

Mallory Harrington on March 5, 2024

The Cut interviewed Gretchen Sisson (Sociologist at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the University of California San Francisco) about her new book Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood, which highlights experiences of birthmothers in the adoption industry. Sisson describes how many birthmothers want to become parents, but participate in adoption for financial reasons: “We have to understand adoption largely as a product of inequity and poverty, and that is a fundamental understanding that we just don’t have in this country,” Sisson says.

The Conversation interviewed Elijah Anderson (Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Yale) about W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study and its continued relevance “to the dire circumstances of the [Philadelphia]’s impoverished population of today.”

Eric Klinenberg (Professor of Social Science and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at NYU) appeared on Plain English with Derek Thompson to discuss the “hanging out crisis” (the decline in face-to-face interactions), the importance of social infrastructure, and why “aloneness isn’t always loneliness.”

Robert Bullard (Distinguished Professor and Director of the Robert D. Bullard Center for Climate and Environmental Justice at Texas Southern University) appeared on Living on Earth to discuss how an elevated highway has caused destructive flooding in Shiloh, Alabama. “This is one of the worst cases of environmental racism that I have seen in the 40 years that I’ve worked on this. … If you look at the damage that has been caused over the last six years, you can see the drainage systems are pointed like cannons into the community. It’s almost as if the state is saying “We want you out of here. And if you don’t leave, we’re gonna drown you. We’re gonna drive you out.” Bullard discussed how pollution, vulnerabilities to climate change, and vulnerabilities to harmful infrastructure are racially segregated. This story was picked up by Inside Climate News.

Clippings – February 26th, 2024 TSP Media Report

Mallory Harrington on February 26, 2024

Eric Klinenberg (Professor of Social Science and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at NYU) appeared on MSNBC’s Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast and in The New Yorker to discuss his new book 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed. Klinenberg described learning through examining crises, enduring effects of the pandemic (a “societal version of long COVID”), and various experiences of New York residents in 2020. “You know, as a sociologist, I think of crises as doing for me what a particle accelerator does for a physicist,” Klinenberg stated. “It’s like it speeds up things that are always happening and makes you able to perceive conditions that you otherwise can’t see.”

Elizabeth Wrigley-Field (Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Director of the Minnesota Population Center at the University of Minnesota) was quoted in the StarTribune following new research by Wrigley-Field and colleagues that suggests ‘excess deaths’ (the number of deaths over the average expected deaths in a time period) during the pandemic were driven by COVID. “If these excess natural cause deaths had nothing to do with COVID, you would probably see them happening throughout this period, irrespective of when the COVID waves are,” said Wrigley-Field. The research suggests that the death toll from COVID exceeds the official tally. This research was also covered by WebMD, The Guardian, and MPR News.

Emine Fidan Elcioglu (Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto) was interviewed by The Trace about her research examining a southwest border militia group that supplied information on migration routes to the U.S. Border Patrol with the goal of decreasing migration. She found that the group’s gun culture bolstered recruitment, morale, and participation. “Guns can become a gateway for people to get involved in other forms — and much more extremist forms — of politics,” Elcioglu stated. “Guns can become sort of a way to pull them in and radicalize them on issues beyond just guns.”

Recent calls for a nationwide caste census to collect caste data (last collected in 1931) have sparked controversy in India. In an interview with IndiaSpend, Surinder S. Jodhka (Professor of Sociology at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi) emphasized that caste is a crucial indicator of social exclusion. “In order to engage with these issues in a democratic society, we need empirical evidence. Unless there are political mobilizations, systems do not open up. It can also fossilise caste identities,” Jodka stated. “The objective of caste census should not be to reinforce caste-based identity or an identity-based imagination of our future. It should be made a part of a narrative around socioeconomic lives. Eventually, the hope is that once there is a level playing field, we can explore transforming identities into citizenship-based social life where everyone feels that they are equal to others. This requires evidence and data.”

Clippings – February 19th, 2024 TSP Media Report

Mallory Harrington on February 19, 2024

Scott Schieman (Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto) wrote an article for The Conversation on how accurately the ‘unhappy worker’ narrative reflects American workplace satisfaction. Schieman identified “perception glitches” (the difference between how people felt about their own job and how people believe most American workers feel about their jobs) in job satisfaction, stress, compensation, management-employee relationships, and putting in ‘above-and-beyond’ effort. Schieman’s research suggests an “everything is terrible, but I’m fine” mindset, both “ch

Boris Kagarlitsky (prominent Russian sociologist and editor in chief of the Marxist online publication Rabkor) was recently sentenced to five years in prison for criticizing the war in Ukraine. Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s director for Russia, characterized the sentence as an “abuse of vague anti-terrorism legislation,” commenting that “by targeting Boris Kagarlitsky, a distinguished sociologist known for his critical stance against government policies, the Russian authorities are showing, once again, their relentless assault on all forms of dissent.” This story was covered by The Washington Post.

Christina Ciocca Eller (Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Studies at Harvard) recently published a study modeling a new potential rating system for U.S. higher education institutions. “Essentially, the [current] rankings don’t account for anything that happens after students walk through the college gates,” Eller argues. Eller’s proposed system focuses instead on the equalizing effect of colleges (how much schools are “leveling the playing field” across students). This story was covered by The Harvard Gazette.

Tina Fetner (Professor of Sociology at McMaster University) recently released a new book, Sex in Canada: The Who, Why, When, and How of Getting Down Up North. As the first national survey of sexual behavior of the general population of Canada, Fetner’s work fills a gap in national research. “If we move away from the taboos and shame, we can see that our sexual behaviour is much like any other social behaviour,” Fetner commented. “It is shaped by social norms, regulated by social institutions, and influenced by our cultures.” This story was covered by Brighter World and Vancourver is Awesome.

Clippings – February 12th, 2024 TSP Media Report

Mallory Harrington on February 12, 2024

Chicago Magazine interviewed Eric Klinenberg (Professor of Social Science and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University) about his new book, 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed. The book–a “social autopsy”–focuses on New York City in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and examines how institutions broke down during the crisis. “Societies reveal themselves when they’re under threat,” Klinenberg said. “You can see who we are and what we value, whose lives matter and whose don’t.”

Jonathan Wynn (Professor of Sociology at UMass Amherst) and Daniel Skinner (Associate Professor of Health Policy at Ohio University) recently wrote a piece for The Conversation on the “paradox of medically overserved communities.” For urban, non-profit hospitals, mission statements usually include providing a benefit to the local community; however, people living around these hospitals tend to have worse health in comparison to the broader city population.

Paul Spoonley (Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Massey University) appeared on AM to comment on New Zealand’s aging population and low fertility rates. Spoonley noted that by the 2030s, 1 in 4 people will be over the age of 65 and that care for an older population will place fiscal strain on the government. This story was covered by Newshub.

Lindsey D. Cameron (Assistant Professor of Management, Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania), Curtis K. Chan (Professor of Management and Organization at Boston College), and Michel Anteby (Professor of Management and Organizations, Sociology at Boston University) wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review on how gig workers respond to employers labeling them as “heroes.” They interviewed Instacart workers in 2020, after the company launched a “Household Heroes” marketing campaign. While some workers “readily embraced the hero label and viewed their work as resoundingly worthy,” others rejected the label and viewed the label as exploitative and manipulative. Most workers struggled “to reconcile the banality of grocery shopping with the idea that they were doing moral work.” Cameron, Chan, and Anteby warn companies that “moralizing jobs” to increase motivation can backfire.

Clippings – January 29th TSP Media Report

Mallory Harrington on January 29, 2024

The Miami Times highlighted Out of Hiding: Extremist White Supremacy and How it Can Be Stopped, a new book by Kathleen Blee (Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh), Robert Futrell (Professor of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas), and Pete Simi (Professor of Sociology at Chapman University), which details how white supremacist ideas become mainstream. “As history shows,“ the authors wrote, “extreme white supremacist culture resonates over time as people seek scapegoats to explain threats they perceive to their power and privileges, or to explain their failings.”

The New York Times recently interviewed Christopher Bader, Professor of Sociology at Chapman University and principal investigator on the Chapman Survey of American Fears. Bader described that the leading fear among Americans is government corruption, with 60% of Americans–both progressives and conservatives–fearing corrupt government officials.

French farmers are currently mobilizing to resist increasing diesel prices and environmental constraints. However, unlike recent protests in France, the efforts have so far been met with tolerance from politicians and law enforcement. Sociologist Bertrand Hervieu noted that there is a high degree of goodwill between the government and farmers; they have a close daily working relationship and agriculture is a part of the French identity. This story was covered by Actual News Magazine.

Clippings – December 4th TSP Media Report

Mallory Harrington on December 4, 2023

Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. has proposed a plan to remove “Principles of Sociology” as an option to fulfill the social science course requirement at public universities. Sociology department heads at 10 universities signed a letter objecting to the plan. Alison Cares (Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Central Florida) commented: “It’s really important for students to understand that human behavior is not just a factor of individual level characteristics, right? That there are larger social structures at play.” The final vote on the plan will take place in January. This story was covered by Tampa Bay Times and Inside Higher Education.

Via ASA) Christopher P. Scheitle (Associate Professor of Sociology at West Virginia University) wrote an article for The Conversation about religious diversity in science, focusing on the experiences of religious graduate students in scientific fields. Many religious students describe their academic programs as having a culture of “assumed atheism” and feel the need to conceal their beliefs. Religious students also tend to place more importance on family lives and children, and are less likely to pursue demanding research-focused tenure track positions.

Smithsonian Magazine ran an article featuring new research showing that life expectancy across the U.S. fell from 2019 to 2021 and that women now live 5.8 years longer than men. The report notes that gender disparities in Covid-19 deaths and fatal opioid overdoses contribute to this gap. “These trends should be a wake-up call that we can’t coast along toward better and longer lives,” commented Philip Cohen (Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland). “We need real, substantial and sustained attention to public health and health care in this country–and we need it yesterday.” NBC News reported that the U.S. has begun to rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic, but is lagging behind other wealthy nations. Ryan Masters (Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado) commented: “To see an increase now in 2022 is great…but it’s coming a year later than what other comparable countries experienced and it’s only marginally scratching the surface of improving mortality conditions for Americans.”

Meduza ran a story on political repression, featuring the expertise of Jennifer Earl (Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware). Earl uses a broad definition of repression that includes actions by both governments and private entities that “raise the costs” of organizing or “actually constrain or influence the ability to act.” Earl also notes the importance of looking at a government’s administrative capacity to understand repression: “The more administrative capacity you have, the [more] quickly that can turn into repressive capacity, whether you’re a democracy or an authoritarian state.”

El País ran a story highlighting the Wall Evidence Project, which has been documenting the graffiti and inscriptions left by the Russian military in occupied areas of Ukraine since February of 2022. Analyzing the graffiti as a reflection of the author’s state of mind, Anna Samchuck (Sociologist in the Methodology and Methods of Sociological Research Department at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv) described three common themes: 1) assumptions that Russia and Ukraine are separate nations; 2) fears of death; and 3) a desire to dominate Ukraine.

How Sociology Can Contribute to Public Policy

Neeraj Rajasekar on March 23, 2017

As discussed in a recent piece in The New York Times, economists have had an influential role in 20th century social and economic policy. Economics research has been instrumental in many policy decisions, from education to health care, and this continues today. As writer Neil Irwin suggests, however, other social science fields might also have the tools necessary to assist policymakers, and one of those disciplines could be sociology.

Some of the social forces and dynamics that economists study, such as wages and employment, can be understood more thoroughly when you also consider the sociological angle. Jobs are about more than paychecks for many people, acting as a source of identity and purpose. As sociologist Herbert Gans explains, “Unemployment isn’t just losing wages, it’s losing dignity and self-respect and a feeling of usefulness.” Research by Ofer Sharone shows that unemployed white-collar workers saw their inability to land a job as an indication of their self-worth. When they got rejected, they gave up more quickly. This phenomenon helps explain why the economy never fully recovered the jobs lost in 2008 — people didn’t feel confident about trying to find another job. Similarly, Jennifer M Silva finds that, for some young working class adults, past economic milestones such as buying a house or getting a job feel out of reach in today’s world, creating a sense of economic precariousness.

Another issue that sociologists can contribute to are poverty and housing. Sociologist Matthew Desmond’s book Evicted adds another layer to a discussion that has traditionally focused on subsidies, incentives, and lending. Evicted talks about how the cyclical struggle people in poverty face goes beyond dollars, and involved issues of stigma, discrimination, and unequal access to resources. These ideas may not normally be something policymakers focus on, especially when you consider that economists have been the primary go-to social scientists. But other fields could help add nuance to the conversation, which could lead to more comprehensive policy. Michele Lamont states that because of the influence that economics has, policymakers may find that “the only questions worth asking are the questions that economists are equipped to answer … That’s not to take anything away from what they do … It’s just that many of the answers they give are very partial.”

sociology