Welcome back! During the past two cataclysmic weeks, sociologists have been working to process the horrific murder of George Floyd. Some have channeled their thoughts and emotions into the pieces featured here on TSP. These include research examining the experiences with and attitudes towards police among Black residents of North Minneapolis, an analysis of how social movements like the recent protests for justice generate social consensus, and advice for educators working to make the world a more just and democratic place.

Discoveries:

Service and Social Class in College Students’ Plans” by Jean Marie Maier explores how participants in programs like Teach for America and Peace Corps differ by social class in their motivations for joining.

Public Assistance Provides Food and Shelter” by Allison Nobles. New research examines the relationship between cash assistance and food insecurity and student homelessness.

Teaching TSP:

Online Learning On the Fly, Lessons from Minnesota by Jillian LaBranche. A graduate-level “Teaching Sociology” course reports on how the mid-semester transition to online learning impacted the workload of teaching assistants.

Special Features:

Legal Estrangement and Police Reform in Minneapolis.” Michelle Phelps, Amber Joy Powell, and Christopher Robertson trace the process of police reform through the eyes of the local police, professionals and activists involved in reform, and residents in North Minneapolis, the residential community most impacted by high rates of poverty, racial segregation, street crime, and police contact.

From Our Partners:

Council on Contemporary Families:

When “Helicopters” Go to School: Who Gets Rescued and Who Gets Left Behind?” by Jessica McCrory Calarco.

Can This Time at Home Help Your Marriage?” by Barbara Risman.

Sociological Images:

Conflict Brings Us Together” by Evan Stewart.

From Our Community Pages:

Dispatches from a Dean suggests tangible steps that we can take as social scientists and educators to contribute to solutions to social problems.

Cyborgology examines the social psychology of “Zoom fatigue” and the risks and challenges of online sex work.

Sociological Toolbox explains how the disproportionate use of lethal force by police officers against Blacks is measured and provides actionable steps that antiracists can take to further social equity.

The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies explores how a genocide’s number of casualties is used in debates over true victimhood and recaps an interview with Ran Zwigenberg about survivor politics, the gendered dimensions of social work, praxis of care, and the notion of social trauma.

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