RU021315Not at all spooky, but always “soc-y.”

There’s Research on That!

Justifying Our Love,” by Jacqui Frost. Americans love love, even when it hurts. How have love and culture mingled to create modern “love”? Frost brings research from Eva Illouz, Ann Swidler, Francesca Cancian, and Anthony Giddens.

Vexed by Vaccination Refusals,” by Caty Taborda. Research on distrust of science and vaccinations, as well as network ties that spread medical knowledge—and sometimes skew it along the way.

The Editors’ Desk:

The New Yorker: Champion of Serious Sociology,” by Doug Hartmann. Admiring the work of Kelefa Sanneh, Jill Lepore, and Adam Gopnik, who are all bringing sociology’s big ideas to the Big Apple.

Give Methods a Chance:

Amy Schalet on In-Depth Interviews,” with Kyle Green. A leading sociologist on the methodology behind a time-consuming, but very rewarding, research technique.

Citings & Sightings:

Books Behind Bars: College Courses in Prisons,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Using reading for rehabilitation.

Could Porn Lead to Sex Trafficking?” by Caty Taborda. One researcher argues a correlation between consumption of pornography and demand for sex trafficking.

The Anti-Vaxxer Vote,” by Caty Taborda. Does vaccination refusal break along party lines?

Cheats in Cleats,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. When sports scandals break, are they amplified by public notions of sport as an almost sacred space?

Workplaces May Create Inequalities at Home,” by Caty Taborda. Bringing work home has more than one meaning.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Valentine’s Day Fact Sheet on Healthy Sex,” by Adina Nack.

Scholars Strategy Network:

Schools Adopting Digital Tools Without Evidence that They Boost Student Achievement,” by Patricia Burch, Annalee Good, Caroly J. Heinrich, and Chandi Wagner.

A Few from the Community Pages:

RU020515This week on The Society Pages:

There’s Research on That!

Curbing Police Profiteering,” by Ryan Larson. New policies put the brakes on civil forfeiture. With research from Eric Blumenson, Eva Nilsen, John L. Worrall, and others.

Parents Prepping Kids for Racism,” by Lisa Gulya and Alex Manning. The NYTimes’ Charles Blow and NYC Mayor Bill deBlasio aren’t the only Americans who talk with their kids about expecting and reacting to discrimination. Research from Diane Hughes, Patricia Hill Collins, Cady Berkel, and Stephanie I. Coard.

The Reading List:

The Social Costs of Punishment, from Prisoners to Pupils,” by Jacqui Frost. Brea Perry and Edward Morris show how school suspensions lower all students’ achievement, even those who aren’t suspended.

Citings & Sightings:

2014: When Social Media Changed Sports Culture,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Dave Zirin on public pressures to address concussions and crimes, citing Harry Edwards from UC-Berkeley.

What Doulas Do,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. The social role and medical mediation work of doulas, citing Lisa Hall.

The Political and Cultural Problem of Paid Leave,” by Jack Delahanty. The NYTimes’ Upshot blog looks to Ruth Milkman‘s research on policies for working parents.

Scholars Strategy Network:

Learning about Commonalities Can Improve Student-Teacher Relationships and Boost Achievement,” by Hunter Gehlbach.

Council on Contemporary Families:

The Gender Pay Gap by Race and Ethnicity,” by Sarah Jane Glynn and Jane Ferrell.

A Few from the Community Pages:

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RU013015This week has seen the beginning of the new semester at the University of Minnesota and new additions to our TSP graduate editorial board. Be sure to follow these up-and-comers as they begin to report and shape sociology in the public sphere!

The Editors’ Desk:

Public Criminology and the Social Media Echo Chamber,” by Chris Uggen. How Uggen approaches public appearances and truly translating sociology for different audiences.

There’s Research on That!

Taking Stock of Torture,” by Evan Stewart. When it comes to interrogation techniques, the choice to use torture has little to do with proven outcomes. Stewart looks to research by Randall Collins, Jared Del Rosso, John Hagan, Gabrielle Ferrales, Guillermina Jasso, and Diane Vaughan.

The Reading List:

Active Learning and STEM Success,” by Amy August. New research from Scott Freeman and his colleagues compare the outcomes of teaching techniques, and Nobel Prize winning physicist Carl Wieman says, “Sounds about right.” (I’m paraphrasing here…)

Citings & Sightings:

Trial Hype: The Different Allures of the Tsarnaev and Hernandez Cases,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Northeastern University’s Jack Levin on how trials attract attention in specific ways.

Modeling: A Tough Job at Any Size,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. Sociologist Amanda Czerniawski has walked a mile—or at least a runway—in those shoes.

A Sociology of Celebrity Sanctions,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. UT-Austin prof Ari Adut chimes in on when corporate interests start taking an interest in celebrity crimes.

Women at the Top Find the View Depressing,” by Caty Taborda. Tetyana Pudrovska shares findings from her research on highly successful women.

Twitter Tension?” by Sarah Catherine Billups. When it comes to social media, it’s not all bad news, says sociologist Dhiraj Murthy in Smithsonian Magazine.

Give Methods a Chance Podcast:

David Knoke on Network Analysis,” with Sarah Esther Lageson.

Scholars Strategy Network:

Targeting Muslims in the Name of National Security,” by Saher Selod.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Child-Rearing Norms and Practices in Contemporary American Families,” by Sandra Hofferth.

The Youth and Beauty Mystique: Its Costs for Women and Men,” by Stephanie Coontz.

A Few from the Community Pages:

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RU012215 tintedWhat’s been happening in these here Society Pages? Good thing you asked!

There’s Research on That!

The Second Sex and Second-Class Citizenship, by Anne Kaduk. Pregnancy discrimination: There’s Research on That! Kaduk draws on articles from Reginald Byron, Vincent Roscigno, Jeanne Flavin, Lynn Paltrow, Stephen Benard, and Shelley J. Correll.

The Reading List:

Gay Marriage and God’s Gender, by Jack Delehanty. Research from Andrew Whitehead shows individuals’ ideas of a gendered god influence their opinions on marriage equality.

Individualism Increases Religious Pluralism, by Evan Stewart. In Sociological Science, Michael Hout and Claude S. Fischer revisit earlier data and try to explain religious disaffiliation.

Office Hours Podcast:

David Pellow on Nonhuman Members of the Community, with Erik Kojola. Pellow discusses his latest book, Total Liberation!, and how it helps us rethink who “counts” in community.

Give Methods a Chance Podcast:

Audrey Kobayashi on Focus Groups, Transnationalism, and Citizenship, with Kyle Green. Kobayashi joins the GMAC discussion to stump for the utility of focus groups.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Are African Americans Living the Dream 50 Years After Passage of the Civil Rights Act? by Velma McBride Murry and Na Liu. Data on education, wealth, income, health, and a variety of other measures paint a picture of persistent inequities.

Latinas Mystiques, by Lorena Garcia. Latina Americans are caught between expectations that hide the social forces restricting their opportunities.

Lesbian Mystiques, by Judith A. Howard. Even as prejudice and ignorance decline, discrimination remains a hurdle.

Scholars Strategy Network:

How New Digital Technologies Make It Possible To Privatize Censorship and Manipulate Citizen-Users, by Rex Troumbley. The consequences of “soft” technologies of control.

How U.S. Higher Education Promotes Inequality—And What Can Be Done To Broaden Access and Graduation, by Suzanne Mettler. Offering concrete ideas for policy change.

A Few from the Community Pages:

Our new book has arrived! We hope you’ll check out Owned, our look at the new sociology of debt.

sociologylens

To close out the week of “Best ofs,” here are some 2014 faves from Sociology Lens:

  1. Goffman and the Web” Isigiura
  2. Old Enough to Know Better: The Decline of Deviance in the Young” Roger Tyers
  3. Valentine’s Day and the Sociological Power of Love” Scarlett Brown

Girl w PenThey’ve got pens (and keyboards), and they’re not afraid to use them! Here are a few of our favorites from TSP’s community page Girl w/ Pen! in 2014:

  1. Violence and Masculinity Threat,” Tristan Bridges and CJ Pascoe
  2. Hookups: Commuters Who Don’t, Women Who Do,” Virginia Rutter
  3. Life Goal: Make My Dad a Hard Core Feminist,” Karlyn Crowley

Screen Shot 2015-01-12 at 1.46.52 PMContinuing to roll out our choices for the Best of 2014 on TSP, today we’re highlighting the best of the Scholars’ Strategy Network:

  1. The Downsides of Excluding Millions of Immigrants from Health Reform, by Heide Castañeda.
  2. How Better U.S. Food Policies Could Foster Improved Health, Safer Jobs, and a More Sustainable Environment, by Nicholas Freudenberg.
  3. How “Gentrification” in American Cities Maintains Racial Inequality and Segregation, by Jackelyn Hwang.

soc images headerSocImages continued to #breaktheinternet harder than any Kardashian could hope in 2014. Here are a few of the biggest stories that should make it into your afternoon reading:

  1. #InstagrammingAfrica: The Narcissism of Global Voluntourism. Lauren Kascak and Sayantani DasGupta.
  2. When Force Is Hardest to Justify, Victims of Police Violence Are Most Likely to Be Black. Lisa Wade.
  3. How to Change the World, One Shrug at a Time. Lisa Wade.

cyborgology headerTa-da! Again, through no scientific process—unless you count some triangulation of popularity per Google Analytics, being published in 2014, and home office favorite-choosing as “science”—here are our choices for the best of Cyborgology, 2014:

  1. What Was Ello? Nathan Jurgenson
  2. Causes and Consequences of the Duckface. Jenny Davis.
  3. An Attempt at a Precise & Substantive Definition of “Neoliberalism” (Plus Some Thoughts on Algorithms). Robin James.

Ru011215Oh, it’s time! Since we last checked in, TSP has been abuzz, taking on topics from the sociology of protest photos to the construction of consent, how to best build a diverse coalition, and the glorious launch of our latest podcast, “Give Methods a Chance”! Here’s the news you need to know (and some stuff that’s just plain interesting):

Features:

The Social Construction of Consent,” by Jill D. Weinberg. You can’t get to “yes” without first asking a question.

Between Protestors and Police: How a Photojournalist Got ‘The Shot’,” by Josh Page. Oakland photographer Noah Berger talks exclusively to TSP about catching a shot that went viral. Related: “‘I Can Breathe’ and the Occasional Fear of Photographing Protest,” by Steven W. Thrasher on the Contexts blog.

There’s Research on That!

New Tech Gifts Bring Festive Firewalls,” by Evan Stewart.”

The Reading List:

Shared Values and Common Dreams,” by Erik Kojola.

First Comes Love, Then Comes… Union Membership?” by Anne Kaduk.

Seeing Gentrification Using Google Street View,” by Stephen Suh.

Praying Away Group Difference,” by Jack Delehanty.

Citings & Sightings:

Suicide and the Loss of Employment and Identity,” by Erik Kojola.

Office Hours Podcast:

Tim Pippert on Diversity in College Recruitment Brochures,” with Matt Gunther.

Give Methods a Chance Podcast:

Deborah Carr on Longitudinal Studies,” with Sarah Esther Lageson.

Francesca Polletta on Coding Stories and Studying Online Forums,” with Kyle Green.

The Editors’ Desk:

“Best of… 2014”—Council on Contemporary Families Edition.

“Best of… 2014”—Contexts Blog Edition.

Methods are Beautiful,” by Chris Uggen.

“Best of… 2014”—Grad Board Edition.

Scholars Strategy Network:

Are Americans Really Anti-Intellectual?” by Aaron S. Lecklider.

Helping the Growing Ranks of Poor Immigrants Living in America’s Suburbs,” by Els de Graauw, Shannon Gleeson, and Irene Bloemraad.

The Roots of Multicultural Diversity in Revolutionary America,” by Ben Railton.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Lesbian Mystiques,” by Judith A. Howard.

Greater Acceptance, Persisting Antipathy: Catholic and Jewish Americans Since the Civil Rights Era,” by Jerry Park, Joshua Tom, and Brita Andercheck.

A Few from the Community Pages:

The Last Roundup

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Our Latest BookOwned, on the emerging sociology of debt, is now available from W.W. Norton & Co.