What’s that? You needed two weeks’ worth of sociology after you noticed soc is so hot even Stephen Colbert’s getting on the bandwagon? Oh, we’ve got you.

Features:

“Violence and the Transformation of Ethno-Racial Categories in Rwanda,” by Marie Berry. Perpetrators of genocide rely on division, hardening ethno-racial classifications like “Hutu” and “Tutsi” as resentments and violence build.

“The Homoegenization of Asian Beauty,”  by C.N. Le. Watching one culture converge on an ideal of beauty, Le shows a process at work around the world.

Editors’ Desk:

“The Sociological Foundations of Coates’s “Case for Reparations,” by Rahsaan Mahadeo and Doug Hartmann.

“Word Choice and the World Cup,” by Doug Hartmann. Sharing his smarts with a local paper makes our editor in chief realize how easy it is to slip into academic jargon.

“Welcoming the Council on Contemporary Families,” by Chris Uggen. A fabulous new addition to TSP’s partners, the CCF joins up with a new platform page and a new blog, “Families As They Really Are.”

Citings & Sightings:

“Abortion and Cinematic Calamity,” by Lisa Gulya. By some estimates, about 42 million abortions are provided worldwide each year. In the movies, that usually means the patient will lose love, self-respect, sanity, and even her life.

“Capital Punishment, Public Opinion, And Who Should Suffer,” by Kat Albrecht. Do we change execution methods to prevent the condemned or the witnesses from suffering?

Reading List:

“Taking the Pulse of the Primary Care System,” by Amy August. New JAMA research shows discrimination in the scheduling and treatment of Medicaid patients.

“‘Inclusionary Discrimination’: Family Policing of Interracial Couples,” by Stephen Suh. Brazil’s reputation as a “racial democracy” is dinged as researchers find family reactions to interracial couples as strong, but differently expressed, as those found in the U.S.

Teaching TSP:

“The Danger of a Single Story,” by Kristin Haltinner. An exercise tailored for service and non-service learning courses to help foster critical thinking skills and an eye for the socially constructed… everything.

There’s Research on That!

“Italy and the GDP: When Markets Meet Morality,” by Evan Stewart. Why the black market counts for Italians.

“Waitlists and Worse: Rebuilding VA Health Care,” by Amy August. Scheduling is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to structural problems with the delivery of health care at the Veteran’s Association.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“How Passers-by and Policymakers View Beggars in American Communities,” by Shai Dromi. For more, listen to our interview with photographer Tom Stone about his “American Outsiders” project.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Really? Work Lowers People’s Stress Levels,” by Sarah Damaske. For more, see Virginia Rutter’s “Stress Is Not About You.”

A Few From the Community Pages:

• Sociological Images on “voluntourism” and the #overseas #selfie, as well as a reimagining of Barbie—what if it’s not her “perfection” that irks us, but her unapologetic confidence? Even more interesting, what if Barbie feels pressured to keep up with beauty standards, too? Anthropomorphism and a perfect illustration of the sociological imagination. (See also: “Is sociology ruining your fun?“)
• Public Criminology on schools and safety.
• ThickCulture inside the GOP’s “Latino Problem” (Stephen Colbert brings out some sociology to take a gander at this question, too!).
• Cyborgology on Autism and the Internet (for more, see our Reading List, “Learning to See the Spectrum“).