It’s the Fi-nal Roundup! Of the year…

And it’s going to be a short one, given travel and a luckily contained but still exciting house fire early this morning. All’s well, but such things do tend to cut into the time available for waxing poetic (or waxing anything, for that matter). A programming note: on January 1st, we will share our most-trafficked post from each section of the site as its own sort of Annual Roundup. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, here’s what was going on in The Society Pages this week.

Office Hours:

“Shadd Maruna and Fergus McNeill on The Road from Crime,” by Sarah Lageson. In which two criminologists become documentarians, learning about intention, method, and medium along The Road from Crime.

Editors’ Desk:

“Whither Whiteness?” by Doug Hartmann. In which our editor considers the coming shift to an American minority-majority and wonders if it’ll change white privilege.

Reading List:

“What Stringer Bell Can Teach Us about Gangs,” by Erin Hoekstra. In which James Densley finds gangs don’t want a loose cannon—a reputation for measured violence is much more valuable.

Teaching TSP:

“Teaching with Toys,” by Hollie Nyselth Brehm. In which the author shares an assignment to help students sniff out class, gender, and other dimensions of play on a field trip to the toy store.

Citings & Sightings:

“Bystander Journalism?” by Erin Hoekstra. In which the bystander effect goes high tech.

“November Media Award for Measured Social Science,” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. In which NPR takes top honors for a story on a decades-old sociological experiment… and why we cramp up our hands writing holiday cards.

A Few from the Community Pages:

This week, I’m only including those posts that dealt with issues brought up in the wake of the tragic killings in Newtown, CT on December 14. This is important, thoughtful content, presented without my own commentary (beyond the “important, thoughtful” bit, naturally).

• Public Criminology. “A Broader-Based Response to Shootings,” by Chris Uggen. “A Father’s Grief and Grace in Newtown,” by Michelle Inderbitzen. (Previously: “Okay, Violence Is Down, But Have Mass Shootings Increased?” by Chris Uggen).
• Sociological Images. “The Transformative Potential of Technology,” by Lisa Wade and Gwen Sharp. “Masculinity, Mental Illness, and Guns: A Lethal Equation?” by Michael Kimmel. “Guns for Christmas,” by Lisa Wade. “Gun Ownership and Political Affiliation,” by Gwen Sharp. “Whose Lives End by Gun?” by Lisa Wade. “Assault Deaths in the U.S.,” by Kieran Healy. “Public Opinion on Gun Control,” by Lisa Wade. “The Existential Fallout After Newtown,” by Jooyoung Lee.
• Sociology Lens. “Addressing Issues of Masculinity in the Wake of the Newtown Tragedy,” by Cheryl Llewellyn.
• Cyborgology. “Tech Isn’t Neutral, And Guns Cause Tragedies,” by PJ Rey.

Avoiding the Holiday Slide

I’ve now ostensibly spent over half my wee life in college. First, as an undergrad, then a grad student, then some more undergrad, staff time, and now as a sort of academia groupie (let’s just say I loiter around a sociology department more often than some find “normal”). And yet, this is the first time in all those years that I’ve really felt the “holiday slide.” My brain essentially tried to go on vacation, starting the day before Thanksgiving (for our international readers, this year’s Thanksgiving was on Nov. 22). I’ve fought back valiantly, but not nearly so valiantly as our authors and grad students, who continue creating great work week after week—undeterred, like the post office, by rain, sleet, or the allure of two weeks without writing an exam, a recommendation letter, a grant application, a survey, or a holiday card. Here’s what they were up to this week.

Features:

“The Crime of Genocide,” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. In which the author discusses the preconditions and perpetrators of genocide—why, despite cries of “Never Again!” these mass crimes happen, again and again.

“Beyond the Pop Psychology of White Identity and Racism: Deconstructing Racial Dualities,” by Matthew W. Hughey. In which the author looks at a white antiracist group and a white supremacist group and finds a surprising commonality in their construction of their own white identities.

The Editors’ Desk:

“Demolition Derby and the Social Construction of Injury,” by Chris Uggen. In which we learn that some things make no sense without sociology… like how 10% of those involved in car accidents will develop chronic pain, but fewer than 7.5% of demolition derby drivers will ever report even mild chronic injury.

Citings & Sightings:

“Halving it All,” by Lisa Gulya. In which sociologist Michael Kimmel takes down the “war on men,” pointing out: “Equality sucks when you’ve been on top—and men have been on top for so long we think it’s a level playing field.”

“Desegregating the Toy Store,” by Andrew Wiebe. In which a Swedish toy company “reverses” genders in its holiday catalog, and Sociological Images’ Lisa Wade wonders: progress or publicity stunt?

“Assessing Brown v. Board of Education,” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. In which The Atlantic checks in on the success of this landmark case, as supervised, desegregated districts drop to  just 268.

“Class War in the Toy Store,” by Andrew Wiebe. In which we see kids aren’t just learning gender, but class norms through their playthings.

Reading List:

“When the World is Watching,” by Shannon Golden. In which Ursula Daxecker finds the most monitored elections in developing democracies are also the most likely to lead to violence and unrest.

Teaching TSP:

“Intelligence Squared Debates as a Teaching Tool,” by Kyle Green. In which a sociological research methods instructor shares a way to keep students analyzing smart, easily accessible debates, even after hotly contested political races are over.

A Few from the Community Pages:

• Sociological Images. This week Soc Images set off a debate with “A Balanced Look at Female Genital ‘Mutilation,’” checked in on regional support for same-sex marriage, and invited Sociology Lens’s Cheryl Llwellyn to share a shorter version of her three-part essay on “Women, Sexuality, and the HPV Vaccine.”
• Graphic Sociology. Laura Noren examines an award-winning interactive visualization created by Jan Willem Tulp for the Eyeo Festival at Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center (the challenge was to visualize Census 2010 data without using a map). Noren ends on a manifesto of sorts: “Graphic Sociology exists in part to find a way to keep social scientists motivated to produce higher quality infographics and data visualizations… But the blog is equally good for sharing a social scientific perspective with computer scientists and designers who are ahead of us …There is a way to bring the strengths of these fields together in a meaningful, positive way. We are not there yet.”
• Cyborgology. The blog goes tongue-in-cheek on Google’s representation without taxation (companies are people, too!), explores the unexplored in the “uncanny valley” (and explains Masahiro Mori’s notion that “as non-human objects approach a human likeness they start, for lack of a better phrase, to really creep us the hell out”), and shows us the Pinterest-to-Prison Pipeline.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“Who Pays America’s Taxes?” by Alexander Hertel-Fernandez and Vanessa Williamson. An excellent question.

“The Futility and High Cost of Criminalizing Marijuana Use,” by Katherine Beckett. A brilliant criminologist wonders why we pursue such dim drug policies.

Can. You. Dig it?

No, there aren’t a lot of reasons to reference “The Warriors” on the Editors’ Desk. I could spin some, sure: it’s a cool cultural relic; the various gangs all try on personality and self through costume and affiliation; it involves crime, deviance, and social movements, etc. But really, I just wanted to ask Cyrus’s great rhetorical question, “Can you dig it?” Just as the Moon Runners and the Van Courtland Rangers can come together, so, too, do educators, researchers, policy makers, students, and wonderfully interested and curious people from the public here on TSP. And we definitely dig it. After the clip, check out some of this week’s latest and greatest from around the site. Hope you have as much fun reading it as we do making it.

Citings & Sightings:

“Halving it All,” by Lisa Gulya. In which sociologist Michael Kimmel takes to CNN.com to rebut the latest in “war on men” rhetoric.

“Supersize and Unionize,” by Andrew Wiebe. In which the New York Times takes notice of Fast Food Forward, a movement to unionize low-wage workers.

Reading List:

“Big Contradictions,” by Kia Heise. In which Laura Backstrom looks at two reality TV shows to get at the differences in presentations of body size—and blame—in popular media.

Teaching TSP:

“Guest-Speaker-Tweeter,” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. In which educator Mary Chayko invites Cyborgology’s Nathan Jurgenson to join her class as a guest-tweeter and shares her classroom social media use policy in the comments.

A Few from the Community Pages:

• Public Criminology. In “Crime, Community, and Clostridium Difficile,” Chris Uggen is inspired by a lecture on bacterial balance (and a—pulls necktie—difficile problem in society), while Michelle Inderbitzen presents a word cloud created out of the reactions her students—both those who are prisoners at the Oregon State Penitentiary and those who are enrolled at Oregon State University—had to a semester studying together.
• Cyborgology. This week the cyborgs have cooked up some suggestions for that end-of-year op-ed you still need to crank out (oh, and you will need to get cranky before you start writing…), consider why our online past feels so haunting, and both clarify and complicate notions of hypervisibility and invisibility in the realm of social media.
• Sociological Images. Soc Images picks up a chilling graph created by Neal Caren (soc grads, avert your gaze!) from Scatterplot, celebrates Noam Chomsky’s birthday, sees actual life stories behind birth rate declines, and asks the always pertinent question, “What Happened to the Oldsmobile?” No really, why’s it so old and decrepit and what? That’s not what they were saying? Ohhhh.
• Backstage Sociology. The return of Monte Bute! Bute links to a radio interview extolling the achievements of his radical institution, Metro State University.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“The Prospects for Reducing Poverty Are Dismal—Unless America’s Leaders Change Course,” by Sheldon Danziger. Why doesn’t a rising tide lift all boats in today’s economy?

“Beyond Class War: Americans Want Government to Promote Equal Opportunity,” by Lawrence R. Jacobs. Americans hold tight to the conflicting values of individualism and interdependence; they hope, idealistically, for a country in which everyone earn and achieve, but they also clearly understand that the playing field is far from level.

Good Advice

So, this week, I heard an interesting piece of advice for writers, and it’s been knocking around in my head. Here’s the thing: it’s great, pithy advice. And it’s obviously sexist. So here’s the adaptation at which I’ve grudgingly arrived: “When writing an essay, think of it like shorts. You want ’em long enough to cover the business, and short enough to keep things interesting.”

No matter how dumb the set up, the point is still well taken, and it’s one we employ rigorously on The Society Pages. This is an independent online publication—theoretically, we have all the room in the world and no one to tell us we have to rein it in. Letting ourselves and our authors ramble too freely would, however, defeat the point. Thus, I’m happy to present a set of well honed, concise articles from this past week. You’ll get a tour of what’s on the minds of social scientists, hopefully stripped of unnecessary jargon and pointless pontificating (my intro aside).

Features:

“Puerto Rico: 51st State or Harbinger of U.S. Decline?” by José Rámón Sánchez. In which Sánchez takes a closer look at the much-heralded “statehood vote” in Puerto Rico and finds it’s not so much about statehood as economic woes.

Office Hours:

“Law Enforcement and Science with David Harris,” by Sarah Lageson. In which law professor David Harris discusses why law enforcement agencies are so reluctant to adopt and refine scientific techniques, and what social scientists can do about it.

Reading List:

“How Did We Get So Thirsty?” by Kyle Green. In which a researcher sets out to learn why everyone on campus is hauling around a water bottle.

Citings & Sightings:

“Reciprocation Rules,” by Letta Page. In which a behavioral psychologist explains why a sociologist got 200 Christmas cards from people he didn’t know.

“Sport—and Self—Performance,” by Letta Page. In which an educational psychologist explains his proposal to let student-athletes study being athletes with a sports performance major.

“Food Stamp Challenge,” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. In which living meme Cory Booker challenges himself to live on food stamps for a week and scholars point out the real challenge is getting others to realize the importance of food stamps and dangers of poverty in the first place.

“Savage Love, Social Science,” by Letta Page. In which Eric Klinenberg helps Dan Savage assure an advice-seeker that he’s not alone in going solo.

Teaching TSP:

“The Road from Crime (Film),” by Kia Heise. In which Heise recommends a new Scottish documentary for use in criminology and intro to sociology courses as a “compelling and passionate discussion about what offenders need to become ex-offenders.”

A Few from the Community Pages:

• Sociological Images. Rounding up the month is a big job for this prolific blog, but somebody (hint: Lisa Wade) has to do it—and point out the many illustrious media hits the blog and its brilliant authors got by sharing their sociological imagination with journalists.
• Cyborgology. Guest author Mary Chayko, author of Superconnected, invites Cyborgology cyborg Nathan Jurgenson to guest-tweet her class, Doug Hill looks at capitalism through Hollywood films, Jenny Davis writes that it might be game over in Syria (if interest convergence theory and an Internet blackout are any indication), and Jurgenson and Whitney Erin Boesel both consider the legacy of high school before Facebook.
• Thick Culture. Jose Marichal takes up a great Washington Post visualization of U.S. tax rates and wonders if the top income bracket should return to 90% (where it was in those prosperous ’50s).

Scholars Strategy Network:

“How the Veterans Administration Became a Leader in American Health Care,” by Colin D. Moore. The nation’s largest health care provider isn’t a private hospital network or an insurance company—it’s the V.A, which serves 8.3 million every year.

“Will State and Local Crackdowns Prevent Immigrants from Fitting in to American Society?” by Helen B. Morrow. “Tough” local laws, like those instituted in Arizona and Texas, are meant to take on illegal immigration at the borders. But they also stymie assimilation, increase fear, and let non-citizens feels like non-humans.

Living in the past!

A vegetarian, I can’t blame tryptophan. Thus, it must be some sort of “tater-drunk hangover”—or a strong desire not to step on Chris’s excellent post from yesterday—that brings this Friday Roundup on a Saturday. Let’s all just pretend it’s yesterday and enjoy what The Society Pages offered up in a cornucopia (Smörgåsbord?) of social science goodness this week.

The Editors’ Desk:

“Guest Post: Foreign Aid to Local NGOs—Good Intentions, Bad Policy,” by Kendra Dupuy, James Ron, and Aseem Prakash for OpenDemocracy.net. In which political scientists consider the local-level involvement of international NGOs.

“Design Time,” by Chris Uggen. In which our editor notes that inspiration needn’t be plagiarism (just don’t claim you wrote “Don’t Stop Believin'”).

Citings & Sightings:

“Half a Million Held Back,” by Letta Page. In which U of M research explores the timing and geographic distribution of grade school “retentions.”

“September and October Media Awards for Measured Social Science,” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. In which we continue to catch up with belated awards, drawing attention to excellent pieces from the Wall Street Journal (looking at the “missing prisoner” problem in survey research) and TIME’s online Health and Family section (which wondered why a presidential candidate would link single moms to gun violence).

“Miracles,” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. In which Christmas miracles are real for a growing number of Americans of all religious (or non-religious) inclinations.

Teaching TSP:

“American Immigration,” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. In which a TSP roundtable and a PBS quiz on immigration are employed to get students grappling with immigration’s complexities.

Contexts:

The latest issue of Contexts (the American Sociological Association’s public outreach journal) is now available, and many of its pieces are online. Here are a few to whet your appetite for the full issue.

• “The (Mis)Education of Monica and Karen,” by Laura Hamilton and Elizabeth A. Armstrong.
• Viewpoints: “The Education Assembly Line,” by Johann N. Neem, Brenda Forster, Sheila Slaughter, Richard Vedder, Tressie McMillan Cottom, and Sara Goldrick-Rab (edited by Syed F. Ali).
• In Brief: “Science Skeptics,” by Jessica Streeter.

A Few from the Community Pages:

• Graphic Sociology. In two related posts, Laura Noren first looks at the evolution of stem and leaf diagrams, then considers—and discards them—as she works to refine the best way to present information on email patterns. Our favorite part, though, is her hidden advice for writers, which jibes so well with Chris Uggen’s thoughts above.
• Sociological Images. Everyone gets excited for Soc Images’ archives posts, and this week brought us two: Thanksgiving and Black Friday. But that’s not all the trusty team cooked up: Jay Livingston wondered what Durkheim would think of the Macy’s parade, while Lisa Wade took over the Internet with a cross-posted piece on the surprising gender politics of doll houses and the provocative “Colonial Circus,” on the augmented bodies of “giraffe-necked women.” As always, if you click through, be prepared for hours of distracting, fascinating reading.
• Public Criminology. In two short pieces this week, Michelle Inderbitzen first paused to give thanks, then to wonder about a judge’s intention in sentencing a teen to, umm, ten years of church.
• Cyborgology. They might be cyborgs. Seriously, how else to explain the consistent output of serious think-pieces, coupled with the glory of David Banks’ secret birthday GIFt party? Click on over to learn about “Bio-Paleo Machines” and Fringe Festival favorite “R.U.X.” Happy birthday, @da_banks.

On the road again…

Greetings from Chicago, temporary TSP HQ! As dear Doug is off electrifying the Fargo-Moorhead area with his insights into Midnight Basketball and its neoliberal underpinnings, Chris and I are in the City of Broad Shoulders attempting to, I suppose, look broad (posture helps) at the American Society of Criminology meetings. We’re all dumbstruck at the presence of Stephen Pinker and have seen standing room only attendance at many sessions, even when wonderful restaurants and great sights tempt from just outside the conference hotel. At meetings like these, we get a certain jolt of rededication to TSP, meeting with authors as excited about open-access, de-jargon-ified (I’m an editor, let’s call that a word now) social science as we are. Here’s hoping for many very busy Friday Roundups to come, building on the conversations we’re all having on the road.

Roundtables

“American Immigration and Forgetting,” by Stephen Suh. In which Yen Le Espiritu, Katherine Fennelly, and Douglas S. Massey discuss the trajectory of immigration in the U.S. and how it became a non-issue in the 2012 election.

Citings & Sightings

“Changing China,” by Andrew Wiebe. In which UC Irvine’s Wang Feng talks to the Voice of America about the voices of China.

A Few from the Community Pages

• Sociological Images. Soc Images took on gender in many forms this week, from “Gender in the Hidden Curriculum” to an exploration of American masculinity and Bronies and, of course, reactions to Honda’s new lady-mobile. For another look at masculinity, check out Sociological Lens’s piece on American sport and the construction of “maleness” here.
• Cyborgology. This week, the prolific team at Cyborgology gave us David Banks’s beautiful “Time Traveling in Troy, NY,” Jenny Davis’s edits to her own previous post on pure dualism and pure integration, and Sarah Wanenchak on “Political Change and the Augmented Public” (hint: the moral authority of numbers remains, perhaps even more powerfully in the digital age).
• New Books in Sociology. No, you won’t get audiobooks, but you’ll get a great interview with the author of Racecraft and have a better notion of whether you’d like to pick up a copy. We’re in the “pro” camp.

Scholars Strategy Network

“The Uneven Presence of Women and Minorities in America’s State Legislatures and Why It Matters,” by Beth Reingold. Women are 51% of the U.S. population, but shy of 20% in the Congress and representing at lower state and local rates. What gives?

“Time Does Not Heal All Wounds: Psychological Problems for Poor Mothers Five Years after Hurricane Katrina,” by Elizabeth Fussell, Jean E. Rhodes, and Mary C. Waters. Uses pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans as a case study in long term disaster effects.

Election? Where?

After last week’s flurry of activity, perhaps a rush to get information to our eager readership (indulge me here) before the American general election that’s now just a few days past (unless you happen to live in Florida), things at The Society Pages have returned to a more reasonable, measured pace. That isn’t, however, to say we’ve gone slack; indeed, this week has brought a broad look at the underpinnings of and possible challenges to power, alongside thoughtful teaching activities and solid advice on just what color tracksuit your dog or cat might require. There’s a lot going on—have a look!

Features:

“Power, Sociologically Speaking,” by Vincent J. Roscigno. In which the author reveals power’s institutional practices, cultural supports, and alternative routes.

Editors’ Desk:

“(Reading) Listomania,” by Chris Uggen. In which the editor explains the process behind our popular Reading List and wonders why anyone would join “Team That Other Guy.”

Citings & Sightings:

“The Island of Life,” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. In which our graduate student editor reads the New York Times, discovers her lifelong purpose, and buys a plane ticket to Ikaria.

Teaching TSP:

“Using Political Commentaries to Teach Contentious Issues–Marriage Amendment Activity,” by Kia Heise. In which a Sociology of Family instructor brings a political hot potato into her classroom and lives to tell the tale.

“Sociology in the News,” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. In which Brehm demonstrates one way to get a classroom thinking like our Citings & Sightings team.

A Few from the Community Pages:

• Sociological Images. Lisa Wade shows how even pets and cars need to be color-coded, while Gwen Sharp updates the map of marriage equality after Tuesday’s election and shares a treasure trove of Vintage Anti-Suffrage Postcards showing just how dangerous women voters could be (as one organization put it this year, “The 19th [amendment] gets you 20 [women in Congress]).
• ThickCulture. Jose Marichal and Rahuldeep Gill talk about the presidential debates, while Kenneth M. Kambara makes his electoral college predictions (for the record, a 294-244 Obama win, with an unlikely chance for a 279-259 Romney victory).
• Graphic Sociology. Laura Noren reviews infographic wunderkind Nathan Yau’s Visualize This and analyzes what works and what does not in a New York Times graphic showing the evolution of political attitudes from 2004-2012.
• Sociology Lens. The Wiley Blackwell Community Page updates its look at gender, sexuality, and the HPV vaccine with Part II.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“Time Does Not Heal All Wounds: Psychological Problems for Poor Mothers Five Years After Hurricane Katrina,” by Elizabeth Fussell, Jean E. Rhodes, and Mary C. Waters. Looking at the long term effects of natural disaster.

“Why Does U.S. Politics Tilt Toward the Wealthy?” by Lisa Disch. The 2012 campaign cycle is estimated to have cost nearly $6 trillion across all races. Do you need money to hold power?

Say, Can I Offer You Some Social Science?

As The Society Pages’ associate editor, I’m in a position to see nearly all of the fantastic content that comes across our transom every day, but it’s recently been pointed out that we don’t offer a super simple way for readers to do the same. To that end, I present the first of our (hopefully) weekly Friday Roundups.

This week, we’ve seen a lot of new work, much of it dealing with next week’s U.S. general election, but with some “palate cleansers,” too. Here are all of this week’s articles from across TSP’s departments, as well as a few highlights from our Community Pages.

Features:

“The Social Significance of Barack Obama, Revisited,” by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Joe R. Feagin, Enid Logan, and Josh Pacewicz. In which four scholars reflect on and update their thoughts on Barack Obama just before the 2008 election.

“Surfing and My Mindset,” by Jennifer Lee. In which a surfing sociologist considers the role of mindset and gender in her own expectations of wave-riding prowess.

“Movements+Elections=Democracy,” by Steven Buechler. In which the author considers social movement theory, movements in action, and how democracy and activism are mutually reinforcing forces.

“Social Fact: Those Who Can, Vote?” by Debby Carr. In which American voter registration and voter turnout are examined along age, race, and educational lines.

Editors’ Desk:

“Tired of Politics?” by Doug Hartmann. In which political fatigue spurs Hartmann to get a little philosophical.

Citings&Sightings

“July & August Media Awards for Measured Social Science,” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. In which we relive summer with some great social scientific reporting.

“Living Despite Capitalism,” by Erin Hoekstra. In which alternative economies and crowdfunding illustrate responses to recession.

“War in the Windy City,” by Andrew Wiebe. In which Sudhir Venkatesh recommends strategies to curb the rising murder rate in Chicago.

Reading List:

“Ain’t Too Posh to Push,” by Sarah Shannon. In which we recommend Louise Marie Roth and Megan Henley’s new article on who really gets C-sections.

Teaching TSP:

“Racist Halloween Costumes,” by Meghan Krausch. In which an instructor shares lessons—and candy—with an undergraduate sociology class.

A Few from the Community Pages:

• Sociological Images. As always, SocImages brings insight, humor, and sociological imagination to a wide range of topics. This week, I recommend “Who’s Reporting the News?” which breaks down reporting by journalists’ race and ethnicity; the site’s annual “Sexy What!?” roundup of Halloween costumes; and a treasure trove of other holiday-themed articles, “From Our Archives: Halloween.” Finally, Caroline Heldman cross-posts the incredibly important “Rape and Other ‘Gifts from God’.”
• Cyborgology. Spurring talk in social and Social circles, Whitney Erin Boesel and Nathan Jurgenson discuss the big differences a lower-case “s” can make, while David Banks dresses up Cyborgology as LiveJournal for Halloween (and gets a comment from his mom in the process) and Jurgenson further refines the definition of his term “digital dualism.”
• Graphic Sociology. Laura Norén discusses the post-Sandy NYC Subway Map.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“Why Are Mitt Romney and the Republicans Trying To Kill America’s Wind and Solar Power Industries?” by Eban Goodstein. Where will environmental policy go from here?

“Young Americans Face Clear Choices in the 2012 Elections,” by Richard F. Doner. Laying out stark party differences on issues most directly related to young people.

“Democrats, Republicans, and the Prospects for Women Candidates in Election 2012,” by Karen Beckwith. Congress is 17% female—can we do better?

“I am a blogger no longer.” That’s what Marc Ambinder wrote last fall in announcing that he was leaving the Atlantic Monthly.com to become the White House correspondent for the National Journal.

The announcement made waves on the Internet because he is one of the first and most successful electronically-based political reporters the web has ever known.

Ambinder described blogging as an “ego-intensive” process where one has to put one’s self in the narrative even when doing straight reporting of the news. Ambinder set this in contrast to good print journalism which he described as “ego-free,” “let[ting] the story and the reporting process… unfold without a reporter’s insecurities or parochial concerns intervening.”

Even more to the core of his frustration were concerns about writing and editing: “I loved the freedom to write about whatever I wanted but I missed the discipline of learning to write about what needed to be written. I loved the light editorial touch of blogging but I missed the heavy hand of an editor who tells you something sucks and tells you to go back and rewrite it.”

What editors wouldn’t love to hear that? But Ambinder’s post and his job change also got us thinking about was how, in the social sciences, we don’t just have editors, we have a whole community of scholars who contribute to our thinking, who review our work, and who confirm and help disseminate our ideas and information.

The community-driven, collaborative nature of the scientific process can be cumbersome and time-consuming—basically, it’s on the other end of the spectrum of blogging. That’s often frustrating, especially when we think we have something of real value to contribute to public discussion and debate right now (!).  It all takes a lot of time and rarely culminates in definitive conclusions or easy answers. But it’s what we do and what (we believe) our communities need. When it works, it sings; its value is obvious, immediate, palpable.