Looking to bring in the new year with some sociological perspective? We’ve got you covered. This week we’ve got some great new pieces and some of our best from over the year.

Office Hours:

*~* Best of 2017 *~*
Lisa Wade on American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus,” with Amber Joy Powell and Allison Nobles. Voted best podcast of 2017 by the TSP board, in this episode we talked with Wade about the complexities involved in navigating the ‘hookup culture’ found on college campuses.

Discoveries:

Shining a Light on Lower Crime in Brazil,” by Caity Curry. New research in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology finds that electricity policies in areas that previously had little to no access to electricity can be an essential tool for crime control.

*~* Best of 2017 *~*
Minority Men doing ‘Women’s Work’,” by Allison Nobles. Research in The Sociological Quarterly finds that all groups of racial minority men are more likely than white men to work in female-dominated jobs.

Clippings:

Promoting Women Reduces Sexual Harassment,” by Natalie Alteri. Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev tell the Harvard Business Review that more women in leadership roles is vital to remedying sexual harassment culture in the workplace.

From Our Partners:

Sociological Images:

Listen Up! Great Social Science Podcasts,” by Evan Stewart.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

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Looking for some reading material for your winter break? You’ve come to the right place. We’ve got some great new pieces this week, as well as a new issue from Contexts and a brand new TSP volume, Give Methods a Chance. We’ll also be rolling out our *Best of 2017* over the next few weeks, so you can catch up on all the great posts from the year. Enjoy!

There’s Research on That!:

Navigating Multiracial Identities,” by Allison Nobles and Amber Joy Powell. The latest royal wedding announcement got us thinking about the complexities of being multiracial in an increasingly diverse global world.

*~* Best of 2017 *~*
Revisiting Rape Culture as Survivors Say ‘Me Too’,” by Amber Joy Powell. In the midst of over 500,000 women and men saying #MeToo, we highlighted research on the causes and consequences of rape culture in the United States.

Discoveries:

Showing Off Your Sacred Side,” by Evan Stewart. New research in Sociological Science finds that Muslim women who have children aren’t necessarily more religious, but they are more likely to signal their religiosity to others in public.

Clippings:

Why Athletic Scandals Seem Standard in Higher Education,” by Jean Marie DeOrnellas. In a guest post for SalonRick Eckstein argues that problems with the NCAA are a symptom of larger problems with corporatizing higher education in the U.S.

From Our Partners:

Contexts:

Check out the Fall 2017 Table of Contents and see below for the first pieces to go online.

Race, Class, and the Framing of Drug Epidemics,” by Rebecca Tiger.

Segregation in Social Networks on Facebook,” by Bas Hofstra, Rense Corten, Frank van Tubergen, and Nicole Ellison.

Closeted Womanhood,” by Ellie Malmrose.

Crime is Even Lower in Diverse Immigrant Neighborhoods,” by Hannah Kleman.

Social Studies MN:

Who Puts Politics on TV?” by Allison J. Steinke.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

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Welcome back everyone. This week we’ve got new pieces on tax reform and inequality, whiteness on American television, and sexual harassment in sports media. See below for that and more from this week at TSP.

There’s Research on That!:

Why Tax Reform Matters for Inequality,” by Jean Marie DeOrnellas. The tax bill is still under discussion by Congress, so we rounded up research on how tax policy affects the structure of social inequality in America.

Discoveries:

Dance, Authenticity, and Multiculturalism,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. New research in Sociology of Race and Ethnicity reveals the complexities of dancing as an expression of ethnic identity.

Clippings:

How Whiteness Shapes the Stories We See on TV,” by Jacqui Frost. The Washington Post talks to Darnell Hunt about the ways people of color are represented in the shows we watch.

Social Movement Pathways to Power,” by Lucas Lynch. In a recent New York Times piece, Kenneth T. Andrews argues that social movements can bring about change through exercising different types of power.

From Our Partners:

Sociological Images:

What Drives Conspiracy Theories?,” by Evan Stewart.

How Hate Hangs On,” by Evan Stewart.

Contexts:

Hope in the Sweatshops of Buenos Aires,” by Matías Dewey, Katherine Walker, and Sarah Pabst.

Get Tough on the Huddled Masses,” by Polina Zvavitch.

Of Porn and Prayer,” by Brittany Dernberger.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Women’s Sexual Lives May Not Be About What We Think: Pragmatism in Women’s Infidelity,” by Alicia Walker.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

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The end of the year is getting closer, and we’ve been in a reflective mood at TSP this week. We’ve got some thoughts on the history of American individualism by editor Doug Hartmann over at The Editors’ Desk, a roundup of research on rapid attitudinal changes toward LGBTQ rights, and some historical examples of why it’s important to worry about normalizing white nationalism.

The Editors’ Desk:

Self-Reliance and the ‘Least of These’,” by Doug Hartmann. Reflecting on what he’s thankful for this season and what he’s hopeful for in the years to come, Doug talks Little House on the Prairie, American individualism, and being grateful for our communities.

There’s Research on That!:

Organizational Harassment and a Culture of Secrecy,” by Isabel Arriagada. Social science research explores the social dynamics of sexual harassment in the workplace and the conditions that prevent reporting.

Progress and Uncertainty for LGBTQ Communities,” by Allison Nobles and Caity Curry. Research on past shifts in attitudes towards same-sex relationships provide insight on what the future may hold for the LGBTQ community.

Discoveries:

Cracking Jokes and Dealing Drugs,” by Caity Curry. New research in Criminology finds that drug dealers often use wit as a way to mitigate the riskiness of their occupation.

Clippings:

How the Average Joe Helped Crime Control,” by Isabel Arriagada.  Patrick Sharkey and doctoral students Gerard Torrats-Espinoza and Delaram Takyar talk to the New York Times about how community groups are connected to lower crime rates.

What Makes Dad Do the Dishes?” by Natalie Alteri. Slate published an article by Jill Yavorsky who explains six major factors that contribute to a more equal sharing of household responsibilities.

How Dual-Earners Make it Work,” by Allison Nobles. The BBC talked to Phyllis Moen about balancing work and life in a dual-earner relationship.

From Our Partners:

Sociological Images:

Why We Worry About Normalizing White Nationalism,” by Evan Stewart.

When Social Class Chooses Your College Major,” by Jacqui Frost.

Council on Contemporary Families:

DACA Decision, ‘A very painful thing’,” by Tasia Clemons.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

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Photo by Lorie Shaull, Flickr CC

Thanksgiving break once again provided me with some time for reflection mingled in with all the feasting and football. This year I found myself dwelling upon two rather random bits of reading I had come upon in earlier in the month. One was the reviews of a new biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, she of “Little House on the Prairie” fame. The other was a small series of confessions on my social media feed from sociologists who “admitted” to being fascinated with or even inspired by Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead in adolescence. Both Wilder and Rand, their stories and the worldviews embedded in them, have long held sway over me and (I think) many Midwestern, middle class folks like me.

When many of my ilk and generation think of “Little House,” they recall the 1970s NBC television series featuring Melissa Gilbert as the young Laura and Michael Landon as “Pa.” But for me it is the books. I remember my second grade teacher, Miss Froemsdorf, reading through the series to us in afternoon break times and study halls. In my faded, fuzzy, and probably totally erroneous memory, it seems like my classmates and I spent the entirety of our primary years at Trinity Lutheran listening to the stories from Little House in the Big Woods onward.

Was that even possible? Could we possibly have devoted that much classroom time to listening to these books rather than studying multiplication tables or learning to read and write? Probably not, but my recollection reflects as much on the power of the stories as the accuracy of memory. And indeed what captured my imagination and thus represents such an essential aspect of my elementary school education was Pa’s restlessness, his relentless (if often ill-fated) desire for land of his own, his drive for independence–and the almost complete and utter devotion of his wife and girls to the cause. This was the freedom and self-reliance I was learning to revere. The pioneering, frontier spirit made manifest. American individualism at its finest. 

I didn’t really read and engage the works of Ayn Rand until the summers of my early college years. This was when “objectivism” was experiencing one of its periodic renaissances among conservative students on campus during the Reagan era. Remember the Oliver Stone movie “Wall Street?” “Greed is good,” Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko told us. By then, I was a bit more inclined to be critical. Still, it wasn’t hard for me to see the appeal, to see how that self-reliant worldview –buttressed by Rand with an unrelenting celebration of the magic of markets and overt attacks on the state–would speak to my grade school self, my inherited midwestern German Lutheran sensibilities.

How to make sense of these works and ideas now? First and most important is to point out all that is missing from these romanticized visions of America and social life more generally: the institutional and technological complexities of modern society; the power of industry (especially railroads and banks and other titans of industry in “using” settlers to create towns and tame land that they knew was not fit for farming); the government role in regulating–and indeed making–markets; cities, technology, supply chains. And this is not to mention poverty and inequality, the dispossession and near extermination of Natives Americans, the great violence of the military, and the realities of hard lives full of death, disease, debt, devastations of all kinds for the masses. I’m talking, in short, of the invisibility of all things sociological.

That said, those of us who care about “the social” need to remember the deep, enduring appeal of these books and stories. Limited and problematic as they may be, stories about families like the Ingalls or of Howard Roarch or Horatio Alger embody in narrative form the core values and beliefs of vast swaths of our citizens and the nation itself. They are the vehicles by which the values of self-reliance and competition and individual responsibility have been inculcated in so many of us, and become such a deep, enduring part of our selves. In fact, I realize now that a great deal of my intellectual development in college and then graduate school was unlearning (or at least complicating) the intuitive logic of these ideas, remaking my own intuitive, organic sensibilities and beliefs.

I pondered these themes over a weekend where I heard and saw friends all over the country posting thoughts about “being thankful” and “feeling blessed.” Yes, yes–such sentiments are appropriate. But thankful for what and blessed by whom? Is it ourselves, our individual selves? Perhaps. For many Americans, such sentiments also go to some larger, less easy to explain force or powers. Again, fine as far as it goes. But gratitude is also, I’m convinced (and I think we too often neglect to realize or acknowledge this), about us as communities. All of us have tons of support and assistance from others along the pathways of our lives. We don’t do it on our own. Ever. There are many others around us, upon whom each of us depends and relies.  We should be thankful for and feel blessed by all of these folks, and of the communities in which we are all embedded.

And thinking about others brings me to one other point. It also gets me thinking about those of us in America and all over the world who haven’t been so blessed or so lucky. What do we think of them? Do we turn a blind eye? Do we blame them for their own misfortune, or even for other problems in our communities? Too often, I’m afraid that’s exactly what we do. I wish we could do better. And I wonder whether an understanding of thankfulness more attentive to others might not also help make us feel thankful but act in more generous and compassionate ways to others, towards those whom our religious icons have often called “the least of these.” 

There is an episode in one of the recent reviews of the Ingalls biography where either Laura or her daughter Rose (who did so much to bring the Little House books to fruition) bring an interviewer down to the fruit cellar of their farm house to show them all of the produce that has been bottled and canned and put away for the winter. “This,” they tell the interviewer, “is all the welfare we need.” I am convinced the Ingalls women totally believed this–and believed that canned food for the winter is all anyone else needed or could ask for as well. Heck, this is a family who suffered through and saw many family and friends die difficult deaths of famine and disease; this was a family who even believed that a plague of grasshoppers who destroyed their crops in the 1930s was divine retribution for the New Deal. They lived their self-reliance. However, I also believe it doesn’t have to be that way. I believe that we, together, can do better.

In other words, I ended my weekend thinking not about being thankful as an individual, but rather by looking for hope for our collective lives together.

Welcome back! We’ve got a great roundup for you this week, with new research on the ways national conflicts shape beliefs about immigration, social science on the relationship between wealth and well-being, and some answers to the age-old question — pen or iPad?

There’s Research on That!:

Wealth and Well-Being,” by Allison Nobles. Social science shows that the GOP’s new tax plan risks widening already significant wealth and income gaps in the U.S.

Pen or iPad? Taking Notes in a Digital Age,” by Jean Marie DeOrnellas. Ever wondered whether taking notes by hand really makes a difference?

Discoveries:

Historical Conflict, Modern Xenophobia,” by Brooke Chambers. New research in Social Forces finds that nations with high levels of past territorial loss or conflict are more likely to base their national identity around a shared ethnicity, rather than shared citizenship.

Clippings:

Safe Spaces and Political Identities on Campus,” by Nahrissa Rush. Jeffrey Kidder discusses conservative criticisms of liberal “safe spaces” with the Washington Post and what these critiques illustrate about conservative identity.

‘Masculinity Threats’ and Mass Shootings,” by Nahrissa Rush. In a recent article for QuartzTristan Bridges and Tara Leigh Tober reflect on the ways American masculinity help explain the prevalence of mass shootings in the U.S.

From Our Partners:

Sociological Images:

What’s Trending? A Rise in STDs,” by Evan Stewart.

Contexts:

Durkheim Lives!” by the Contexts’ Editors.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Millennials Changing Binaries (in more ways than one, of course),” by Braxton Jones.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

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Hello and happy Friday! This week we’ve got new pieces on poverty penalties in the penal system, the benefits of DACA, and CrossFit bodies in a bodyless world. See below for that and other great new stuff from around the site this week.

There’s Research on That!:

Poverty Penalties in the U.S. Penal System,” by Isabel Arriagada. Research demonstrates the far-reaching consequences of the penal system’s money leveraging strategies.

Understanding Debates about DACA,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Research shows that repealing DACA will have adverse impacts on recipients’ health and well-being.

Discoveries:

Disability, Support, and Strain in Intimate Relationships,” by Jean Marie DeOrnellas. New research in Journal of Health and Social Behavior finds that men and women navigate disability in intimate relationships differently.

Clippings:

Just How Violent is the United States?” by Caity Curry. The Washington Post talks to Kieran Healy about how rates of violence vary across social contexts.

Shifting Standards in Campus Sexual Assault Cases,” by Jean Marie DeOrnellasMiriam Gleckman-Krut and Nicole Bedera explain controversies over who gets to define campus rape in the New York Times.

From Our Partners:

Sociological Images:

Thank You, Angela Robinson: A Review Of Professor Marston and The Wonder Women,” by Mimi Schippers.

When Home is Where the Hazards Are,” by Evan Stewart.

Contexts:

Google Searches Show More Worry Over Gay Men and Boys than Over Gay Women and Girls,” by Emma Mishel and Mónica L. Caudillo.

Where Punishment and Pregnancy Meet,” by Megan Comfort.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Segregation by Sexuality in the United States,” by Braxton Jones.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

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It’s getting colder out there, which means it’s time to grab a warm beverage and snuggle up with some good sociology. You BYOB, and we’ll bring the sociology. This week we’ve got new sociological takes on rape culture in the United States, research on the ways gerrymandering disrupts democracy, and the history of how the census shaped Hispanic ethnicity.

There’s Research on That!:

Revisiting Rape Culture as Survivors Say ‘Me Too’,” by Amber Joy Powell. In the midst of over 500,000 women and men saying #MeToo, we round up research on the causes and consequences of rape culture in the United States.

Does Gerrymandering Disrupt American Democracy?” by Caity Curry. As we await a final decision on Gill v. Whitford, social scientists show how gerrymandering has real consequences for racial inequalities and representation in the United States.

The Global Nuances of Nationalism,” by Brooke Chambers. Sociological research helps explain how nationalism develops differently from one country to the next.

Discoveries:

In Modern Relationships, Equality Can Mean Many Things,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. New research in American Journal of Sociology finds three different understandings of egalitarianism among European couples.

Clippings:

How the Census Shaped Hispanic Ethnicity,” by Isabel Arriagada. NPR’s Code Switch talks to Cristina Mora about the complicated history behind the term “Hispanic.”

The History of Racial Protest and Public Backlash in Sports,” by Lucas Lynch. The Guardian talks to our very own Doug Hartmann about what happens when sports and politics mix.

Sociology in Action: Encore Careers for Baby Boomers,” by Natalie Alteri. Phyllis Moen tells the Star Tribune about her new Advanced Careers Initiative to support boomers who are navigating retirement.

From Our Partners:

Sociological Images:

Why Witchcraft Appeals to Marginalized Groups,” by Allison Nobles and Jacqui Frost.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Women Who Cheat on Their Romantic Partners: An Interview with Alicia Walker,” by Arielle Kuperberg.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

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Hello hello! Friday the 13th got you looking over your shoulder? Don’t worry, sociology’s got your back. This week we’ve got new sociological takes on why we honor indigenous peoples’ day, how stereotypes discredit children’s testimonies, and problems with public perceptions of ‘sociological gobbledygook.’

There’s Research on That!:

Why We Honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” by Allison Nobles. Social science research helps us understand the underlying gender and racial components of colonial settlement in the United States.

‘Sociological Gobbledygook’ and Public Distrust of Social Science Experts,” by Isabel Arriagada. In light of Chief Justice John Roberts’ comments about “sociological gobbledygook,” we rounded up research on public distrust of social science.

Discoveries:

How Stereotypes Discredit Children’s Testimonies,” by Allison Nobles. New research in Gender & Society finds that children of color confront cultural narratives that have the potential to produce unjust outcomes in the courtroom.

Clippings:

Linking Christian Nationalism and Intolerance,” by Jean Marie DeOrnellas.  ThinkProgess talked to numerous sociologists about the ways Christian nationalism interacts with other ideologies.

Do Americans Care About Income Inequality?” by Nahrissa Rush. The Washington Post draws on a report from Leslie McCall and Jennifer A. Richeson that knowledge of inequality leads many Americans to develop skepticism about economic opportunity.

From Our Partners:

Sociological Images:

Representing Race in Fashion Media,” by Alyssa Scull.

A Bipartisan Pay Gap in Presidential Administrations,” by Evan Stewart.

Bias and Opportunity for Immigrants in the Legal Profession,” by Alisha Kirchoff and Vitor Martins Dias.

Contexts:

When the U.S. Sneezes, Puerto Rico Already has a Cold,” by Fernando I. Rivera and Elizabeth Aranda.

Seven Things Social Science Tells Us About Natural Disasters,” by Hannah Cash, Kelsey Drotning, and Paige Miller.

Social Studies MN:

The Political Divide Between Immigrants and Refugees,” by Lucas Lynch.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Families and DACA,” by Luilly Gonzalez.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

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Happy Friday all. This week we’ve got new pieces on the varied meanings of nostalgia, the problems with media discourse surrounding mass shootings, and new data on racial biases in policing.

There’s Research on That!:

Mass Shootings and the Media,” by Amber Joy Powell. In light of yet another horrifying mass shooting, we look to research on how social contexts influence how the media frames these violent events.

Nostalgia Is Not What It Used to Be,” by Yagmur Karakaya and Jacqui Frost. Rapid technological changes have many looking to the past, and while social science research on nostalgia warns against idealizing the past, it also points to varied uses and meanings of nostalgia over time.

Clippings:

Preserving the Purpose of NFL Protests,” by Jean Marie DeOrnellasRashawn Ray and Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve remind us that the NFL protests stem from racial biases in policing.

When Think Tanks Tank Research,” by Evan StewartNPR talks to Thomas Medvetz about partisan interests and organizational conflict in think tanks.

Sociological Images

Thoughts, Prayers, and Political Skeptics,” by Evan Stewart

Contexts:

Black Lives and Police Tactics Matter,” by Rory Kramer, Brianna Remster, and Camille Z. Charles.

And a Few from our Community Pages:

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