While the pains of eviction have been felt broadly across the U.S. in recent years, Matthew Desmond (American Journal of of Sociology, August 2012) shows that women in poor, predominantly African American neighborhoods have taken the hardest hit.

Analyzing Milwaukee County records from 2003 to 2007, Desmond found that, even before the recession, half of all evictions occurred in predominantly black, impoverished, inner-city neighborhoods. Women in these neighborhoods were disproportionately affected: they accounted for just 9.6% of Milwaukee’s total population, but 30% of all evictions.

Based on surveys and ethnographic research, Desmond argues that both structural factors (falling incomes relative to rising housing costs) and gendered responses in the face of impending eviction (for example, women may try to reach out to personal networks for help, but these personal networks may offer fewer resources) contribute to black women’s disproportionate eviction rates.

Even so, from the start, women in these neighborhoods face an unequal risk for eviction simply because they are more likely to sign rental agreements: criminal convictions increasingly bar African American men from the rental process. Eviction and conviction are, thus, intertwined forces that restrict housing options for African Americans.

The basketball court, like other sporting venues, is supposed to be a place for meritocratic values: success is determined not by skin, but by skill. In a recent journal article (Ethnic & Racial Studies, June 2012), however, Kathleen S. Yep contends that race continues to matter in elite-level sports, even if prevailing beliefs suggest otherwise.

Implementing historical data analysis and in-depth qualitative interviews with former non-white “barnstorming circuit” basketball players, Yep argues that media portrayals of today’s non-white NBA players largely echo those from the 1930s. One possible example is the trifecta of Demarcus Cousins (portrayed as the hotheaded and volatile black threat), John Wall (the skilled and coachable black hero), and Jeremy Lin (the hard-working Asian American novelty act). While all joined the NBA in 2010, the words used to describe them are remarkably similar to those used 70+ years ago for teams such as the Harlem Globetrotters (the black threat), the Bearded Aces (the white hero), and the Hong Wah Kues (Asian American novelty act). Though some black players, like Wall, are now elevated to hero status because of their superb skill and work ethic, not all non-white players are viewed as quite as deserving. Such disparities, Yep insists, are a sign of the contradictions inherent in a sporting world that pushes the rhetoric of liberal multiculturalism while still relying on discourses of white supremacy.

Sports are making plenty of headlines this year, so we were caught by this experiment that assesses how newspaper readers evaluate the validity of reporting based on the race and gender of the reporter. Turns out readers are more likely to trust while males in nearly all sports categories, except for gymnastics (a traditionally female sport). Football provided one surprise: the authors expected this sport, with its predominantly African American players, to correlate with favorable ratings for black reporters, but again, white males were the most trusted scribes.

School counselors take note: the effects of a breakup can be more detrimental to teens than we may think. In this recent Criminology piece, Matthew Larson and Gary Sweeten (August 2012) offer another angle on the effects of teenage broken hearts. Using National Longitudinal Study of Youth data, Larson and Sweeten find that a romantic breakup is directly related to a range of negative outcomes. Young men (aged 12-16) who experience a breakup show an increase in criminal offending and substance use, while young women go straight for the substances, particularly in the form of binge-drinking.

Digging a bit deeper, the authors believe the loss of love results in the loss of relationships, which may lead to negative behavior—ideas stemming from classical criminological strain and informal social control theories. The gender difference, speculate the authors, may derive from a tendency for young women to resort to coping strategies that are more likely to be damaging to themselves, not to others.

One final caveat? Larson and Sweeten find that the negative criminal effects of breakups can be alleviated by one thing: entering a new relationship. Oh, to be young and in (and out of and in again) love.

Reaching back to Lincoln for its title, psychologist Steven Pinker’s text is an accessible starting point for those interested in long-term declines in violence and homicide, from tribal warfare and Medieval murders to today.

As Democrats and Republicans debate tax cuts yet again, this policy paper provides a bit of historical perspective. “The Reagan tax cut of 1981 remains the largest tax cut in U.S. history, but its significance is more political than fiscal,” writes the author. She goes on to outline the tradeoffs between taxes and spending that occur when one or the other is augmented and how voter preferences change as each is highlighted in political messages.

With President Obama’s executive order to allow hundreds of thousands of young, otherwise undocumented immigrants immigrants to remain in the country indefinitely, this research brief which reviews how the politics of U.S. immigration policy have unfolded in the past decade is particularly useful. Examining all 363 immigration-related Congressional votes, Fennelly concludes, “The big picture is one of little substantive action, but lots of symbolic gestures meant to signal each party’s position and to stymie efforts by the other party.”

The title says it all. In this 2011 piece, Vincent J. Roscigno considers dominant and emerging strands of research into power and its myriad dynamics, creating a synthetic theoretical way to conceive of the one thing all these candidates, bureaucrats, and grassroots groups are fighting for—and how it might be useful, should they achieve it.

While Nathan Palmer’s Sociological Sounds strives to provide a great start for those hoping to bring music into their classrooms, this article explores why that’s such a good idea in the first place using a thorough literature review to consider questions from the basic (“What is Music, Sociologically Speaking?”) to the functional (“How do Individuals and Groups Use Music?”).

A recent Cyborgology post got us thinking about NASCAR, one of the biggest sports in America. Commenter and RAND scholar David Ronfeldt points us to his own 2000 piece in the online peer-reviewed journal First Monday (“Social Science at 190MPH“) for a look at complexity theory, social network analysis, and game theory on the track, while Chris Uggen suggests this ASQ article about competitive crowding and risk taking at work in the straightaway.