Archive: Nov 2022

New and Noteworthy

We write up new research from Alexandra Murphy and colleagues showing that one in four Americans struggle to secure safe and reliable transportation and impoverished Americans are more likely to experience transportation insecurity.

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

Conflict constructively contributes to community life according to Evelyn Perry for Contexts. Perry draws on her ethnographic experience in one of the few economically and racially mixed neighborhoods in the city of Milwaukee to show how differences do produce confrontations between neighbors but residents are able to continually re-negotiate their sense of order together.

Citings & Sightings

Is vandalism an effective tactic for environmentalism? Dana Fisher spoke with ABC about how younger activists are adoption confrontational tactics because of they perceive a lack of progress on environmental goals.

From the Archives

Next week many Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving. Friends and families gathering can bring tough conversations. Check out this piece from the TSP board with some social science perspectives on the value of talking and listening (especially to those we disagree with), plus a visual roundup of research on how family meals are a site of conflict, as well as companionship.

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

Doug Meyer wrote for Council on Contemporary Families’ blog on how his new book, Violent Differences, explores the significance of race for queer men’s experiences of sexual assault.

Last Week’s Roundup

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TSP Edited Volumes

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

Last Week’s Roundup

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TSP Edited Volumes

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.

Last Week’s Roundup

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TSP Edited Volumes

Image Attribution

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.