TSP’s Weekly Soc Roundup: April 10, 2015

As always, we’ve got a little something for everyone… dive in!

Feature:

“Can We Race Together? An Autopsy,” by Ellen Berrey. Starbucks’ Race Together program sure seemed to unite people, but not necessarily around the need to abandon social constructions of race.

The Reading List:

“Caught in the Culture Wars’ Crossfire,” by Jack Delehanty.

There’s Research on That!

“Rights and Rights: Religion at Work,” by Jacqui Frost and Evan Stewart. “Restoring Religious Freedom Acts” affect the rights and freedoms of more than business owners and LGBTQ customers. Frost and Stewart look to scholars Amy Adamczyk and Cassady Pitt; Penny Edgell, Joseph Gerteis, and Douglas Hartmann (hey! We know that guy!); András Tilcsik; Michael Wallace, Bradley R. E. Wright, and Allen Hyde; and Bradley R. E. Wright, Michael Wallace, John Bailey, and Allen Hyde.

Citings & Sightings:

“XXX’d Out: What if Porn Disappeared,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. Sociologist Chauntelle Tibbals, author of the forthcoming book Exposure: A Sociologist Explores Sex, Society and Adult Entertainment, on why shutting down mainstream porn would harm performers.

“Parenting: QT Better than OT,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. Melissa Milkie and Kei Nomaguchi share the findings of their recent study with the Washington Post: “I could literally show you 20 charts, and 19 of them would show no relationship between the amount of parents’ time and children’s outcomes… Nada. Zippo,” says Milkie.

“Spitting and Suspicion,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. On the racialization of low-level crimes in a large midwestern city (hey! We know that city!) with Nancy Heitzeg and community consultant William W. Smith IV.

“Toking While Black,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Sociologist Pamela E. Oliver on the larger patterns that have resulted in disproportionate drug arrests of African Americans even in states with legalized marijuana.

“For Gay Black Men, Negative Stereotypes May Have One Positive Consequence,” by Caty Taborda. When David Pedulla‘s research team sent out resumes for identical job candidates and descriptions of jobs they were perfect for, but manipulated whether their hobbies suggested they were gay, gay black men won out. Why?

“An Eye-Clopening Workforce Trend,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. As small-staff shops move to having the same workers open and close the store, wociologist Gerhard Bosch tells the New York Times about the European Union’s required 11-hour rest period between shifts.

“Money Talks,” by Jack Delehanty. New apps for payments and money transfers are nice and easy, but the record of your spending might say more about you than you’d like.

Give Methods a Chance Podcast:

“Keith N. Hampton on Visual Content Analysis of Urban Space,” with Kyle Green:

“I think the biggest strength is that this is truly the only way to do a longitudinal study of public space. We can hang out in a public space for months, or maybe even a year, but doing that for two or three decades is simply impossible. So, for any large scale, longitudinal study of urban public spaces, I think this is probably the only method that is available to us.”

“Daniel Sui on the Methodological Advantages and Limitations of Big Data,” with Sarah Shannon:

“In terms of the applications of big data, it is limited by only your imagination. That is why big data has attracted interest by industry, government agencies all over the world, and, of course, academics and scholarly researchers.”

The Editors’ Desk:

“Holy Week, Hoops, and Hoosier State Law,” by Doug Hartmann. Last week, the eyes of the nation were on Indiana for two reasons: the contentious “Restoring Religious Freedom Act” and the NCAA Men’s March Madness basketball tournament. Turns out, that’s not such a surprising cross-over (even if Wal-Mart and NASCAR’s calls for repeal of the law may have been).