New and Noteworthy

After the Child Tax Credit’s historic expansion ended in December, board member Jacob Otis helps us think about what’s next reviewing research on the history of the Child Tax Credit and how it supports families.

Worth a (Look), Sociologically Speaking

Board member S Ericson writes up a data visualization from Benjamin Elbers in Socius showing trends in residential segregation over the past thirty years. Elbers shows that segregation is going down, overall, but is increasing between some racial groups.

Backstage with TSP

I had the pleasure of announcing in this week’s meeting agenda that one of our fearless leaders, Doug Hartmann, is bringing bagels to our board meeting today. (We may be happily munching away on them as you read this). One of the things we missed most about going virtual during covid was the opportunity to gather together in-person not only to get work done but also to be in community with one another. As with all things covid, we aren’t sure what’s next but we feel grateful that, for the time being, we feel safe to be together and carefully lower our masks to take bites of our bagels!

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ blog spotlights student Tibisay Navarro-Mana.

Council on Contemporary Families’ blog posted writing from Naomi Lightman and Anthony Kevins, sharing their research on how family policy changes might decrease inequalities in unpaid care work.

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New and Noteworthy

Board member Daniel Cueto-Villalobos wrote up new research from Samuel Perry and colleagues that explores the relationship between White Christian nationalism and denial of anti-Black discrimination and racial injustice.

Worth a (Watch), Sociologically Speaking

Isabel Arriagada created a short and informative video that summarizes this piece from Jillian LaBranche on how the meaning of diamonds is intertwined with their place in global conflict (Just in time for Valentine’s Day <3).

Backstage with TSP

This week we reincorporated “archive pitches” into the regular business of our board meetings. With an archive pitch, board members search through the (literally) thousands of posts on our pages and find a piece that connects with a current event, news story, or something on their mind. We promote these archive pitches on the site and social media and use them as springboards for new ideas. Our archive pitches are both useful reminders of how extensive and useful our backlog is and motivation to write something new when one of us discovers that we don’t actually have anything on (insert important and timely issue).

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

Council on Contemporary Families’ blog posted a piece from Shannon Cavanaugh covering research showing that women are less likely to initiate romantic contact online but have more success when they do

For the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ (CHGS) blog Remco Ensel wrote on “The Betrayal of Anne Frank”: Genocide research in the time of mass media and Kurt Borchard explained the significance of The COPE Visitor Center in Laos

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Board member Mason Jones wrote up research from Vicki Lens that shows that, in family law court rooms, low-income moms face expectations of what “good mothers” do that do not acknowledge the structural barriers they face when parenting.

Worth a Read, Sociologically Speaking

Board member Jake Otis rounded up social science research that places the current wave of labor strikes in context.

Backstage with TSP

This week we turned our focus to writing and will discuss the first chapter of Becker’s classic Writing for Social Scientists. It’s an excellent book and the first chapter got me thinking about vulnerability and shame in the writing process. Becker does a great job of articulating that part of what makes writing so difficult is that we have to be vulnerable. When we write we are putting ourselves out there. We worry about getting it right at TSP. We worry that maybe we aren’t quite capturing what the author meant by that phrase, or maybe we don’t really understand the complex statistical technique used in that exciting new article, so maybe we shouldn’t write about it for the site. But we do anyway, in part, because we have the advantage of being really close to why writing in spite of fear matters. We hope our writing helps bring social scientific findings to a a public that would otherwise not have access to them. Having such a lofty vision means that the stakes can feel really high at times but it also helps motivate us to work together to get words on the (digital) page.

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

Council for Contemporary Families’ blog re-posted a piece from Tyler Jamison on the skills needed to break-up a partnership with care.

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New and Noteworthy

Board member Jake Otis covered new research from Daniel Meyer and Yoona Kim that found that most noncustodial parents are actually satisfied with the child support system, especially if they know the name of a child care worker they can call with questions.

Worth a Read, Sociologically Speaking

Our Hannah Schwendeman rounded-up research on the challenges of mothering in poverty, particularly given the limitations and stigma associated with the welfare system in the United States.

Citings and Sightings

Minnesota Public Radio’s Angela Davis spoke with sociologist (and UMN alum) Amy Blackstone about why more people are choosing not to have children.

Backstage with TSP

As always, we’re working on some super-secret projects behind the scenes that we’re not quite ready to announce yet. What we can say is one of our initiatives this semester involves connecting current board members with TSP alums. We’re excited to help build connections based on shared interests and expertise. A strength of ours has always been our amazing graduate board and it is a credit to our longevity that we can now create a network that links board members past and present and across career stages!

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ contributor Henning Schroeder wrote on how controversy in France demonstrates increasing European obsession with flags as nationalist symbols.

Also for CHGS, Catherine Guisan wrote about why we should all care about the shuttering of two Russian NGOS that documented human rights abuses. Meyer Weinshel wrote on Holocaust remembrance day on how the end of the Holocaust was not immediate but, rather, long and uncertain.

Judith R. Smith wrote for the Council on Contemporary Families’ blog on the often-overlooked experiences of older mothers parenting difficult adult children.

Monte Bute wrote for his blog, backstage sociologist, on how his brushes with mortality inspire him to seek new homes for his expansive book collection.

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It’s the start of a new semester here in Minnesota (where, at the time of writing, it is a balmy one degree) and we’re back to share the latest social science writing from our grad board, partner, and community pages.

New and Noteworthy

We shared writing from our own Doug Hartmann, published in the Winter 2022 issue of Footnotes, on what community-engaged research is and how it can provide meaning, and challenges, to sociologists.

Worth a (Look), Sociologically Speaking

Over at Sociological Images Evan Stewart covers the persistent drop in self-reported happiness in the General Social Survey and the potential for both policy (and personal) solutions to improve subjective well being.

Citings and Sightings

Amanda Mull interviewed sociologist Daniel Schneider, who studies precarious and unpredictable work schedules, for the Atlantic on “How Omicron is Making America’s Bad Jobs Even Worse.”

Backstage with TSP

At the request of our graduate board, this semester we’re focusing some of our meetings on writing. As both academics and folks interested in connecting scientific findings with a larger public, we wear a lot of “writing hats” at TSP. Over the course of the semester we hope that talking together about writing will help us think about our collective work at TSP, exploring how to better engage in writing as communication and writing as a collaborative process. If you have a favorite piece on sociological writing, send it our way at tsp@contexts.org.

More from our Partner and Community Pages

The Council on Contemporary Families’ blog shared Dominique C. Hill‘s writing A Black Girl’s Crown Changes the Game, exploring how her participants defined black girlhood.

Kennedy Kneller wrote for Engaging Sports on how the backyard ice rink shatters the myth of Canadian hockey as underpinned by community and collective identity.

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Matthew Valasik and Shannon E. Reid wrote a policy brief for our partner Contexts, on the unequal treatment of far rights groups under the law and the potential for gang statutes to enable intervention and prevention of far-right violence.

Worth a Read, Sociologically Speaking

Irmak Karademir Hazir offered some important findings from her study on how parents of toddler-aged children differ in their understandings of what “good feeding” is according to social class for our partner Council on Contemporary Families.

Backstage with TSP

Today we had our TSP end-of-semester celebration. We handed out our Best of 2021 awards, and a few tokens of appreciation for our hard-working board members. This party is always a nice opportunity to take a break from the flurry of last minute tasks and take a moment to connect and celebrate our collective accomplishments.

Over the next few weeks we plan to take some time away to rest, reflect, and spend time with those important to us. You’ll see us less here as we post our Best of 2021 features over at the site. We hope this time away will offer some inspiration for writing and coverage in the new year (both for us and for you, dear reader).

More from our Partner and Community Pages

Our friend and colleague Edgar Campos wrote for the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ blog on Olympic Boycotts and the Politics of the Label “Genocide”

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Michael A. Garcia, Rachel Donnelly, and Debra Umberson wrote for the Council on Contemporary Families’ blog on their recent research on racial disparities in loss of a family member and how this inequities contributes to racial disadvantage in health and well-being.

Worth a Watch, Sociologically Speaking

Today is Human Rights Day, the perfect occasion to watch this short video created by Isabel Arriagada summarizing writing from Brooke Chambers‘ on the United Nations’ role in global human rights.

Citings and Sightings

On National Public Radio’s All Things Considered host Mary Louis Kelley spoke with sociologist Gretchen Sisson on why the choice pregnant people considering adoption face is perhaps best thought of as a choice between adoption and parenting rather than a choice between abortion and parenting.

Sisson was also quoted in this Vox article that covered why adoption is not a replacement for abortion rights.

Backstage with TSP

This week for the first time we assigned a board member to write up a data visualization from Socius. In the coming weeks, we’re excited to publish this piece, offering some context for one of the short data visualizations that Socius publishes. We (along with our friends over at Soc Images) know how important and impactful seeing sociological concepts represented visually can be for readers. We are also excited that this is something we’re able to do because of Socius’ commitment to open access and creative commons licensing.

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

R Spiker and Rin Reczek wrote for Contexts on what we’ve missed about socioeconomic disparities and LGB people and what new survey data and analysis can tell us

Brian Ellison of the Black Man Project shares his photo essay on Contexts exploring African-American masculinity for young boys and men

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Board member Daniel Cueto-Villalobos covers research from Angela S. García on the importance of local policy context for the political participation of undocumented immigrants.

Worth a Read, Sociologically Speaking

As the Supreme Court hears arguments in a case that threatens to overturn abortion protections, we recommend reading this piece from Allison Nobles about abortion providers before Roe v. Wade.

Citings and Sightings

Daniel Pearson interviews Elijah Anderson for the Philadelphia Inquirer about what his research can tell us about race and urban spaces.

Backstage with TSP

This week, we prepared nominations for our annual “Best of TSP” awards. We use these awards, voted on by our board, to highlight the best content from our site as we transition into a new year (and new semester). It’s a nice opportunity to reflect on all that we have accomplished over the last year and highlight the contributions of our board members. Look out for some “Best of” content over the coming weeks, and drop us a line at tsp@contexts.org or @thesocietypages if you have a piece you think should be considered.

More from Our Partner and Community Pages

Over at Contexts Genesis Fuentes interviews Marcus Bullock on how his experience in the criminal justice system connects to his entrepreneurship

Dan Cassino and Yasemin Besen-Cassino discuss their book Gender Threat: American Masculinity in the Face of Change at Council on Contemporary Families’ blog

A backstage sociologist shares a favorite poem

At Engaging Sports Joseph M. Bradley discusses how the rivalry between the Scottish football clubs the Rangers and Celtic connects to historical memory

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Board member Mason Jones covered research from Sarah Adeyinka-Skold on how location limits the options of college-educated women dating online, with women of color facing particular challenges finding potential partners that shared their educational and racial background.

Citings and Sightings

Erin Cech wrote for the Atlantic on her research on the “passion principle,” the idea that you love your job, ignores the structural conditions that both place some workers at financial risk and make work feel like drudgery.

Backstage with TSP

This week we were excited to launch a new video format, created by board member Isabel Arriagada. This format pairs summaries of TSP pieces with video imagery in a short and accessible way. This video comes just in time for Thanksgiving, covering research on conflict and family meals. We look forward to seeing where this format takes us, and encourage you to take a watch and share the video on social media if you feel so inclined.

More from Our Partners and Community Pages

We shared our piece on inequality and access to mental health care services over at the World Suffering blog.

The Council on Contemporary Families’ blog reposted Tony Silva’s piece from The Conversation on why some straight men have sex with other men, emphasizing the distinctions between sexual identity and sexual behavior.

Mr. Jones: Bringing the Horrors of the Holodomor to the Screen at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ blog.

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Out today board member Jake Otis covers research from Lindsay Bullinger and colleagues documenting how, although arrests and reports for domestic violence decreased during the covid-19 lockdown in Chicago, police calls increased

Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)

At the Everyday Sociology blog Colby King writes on #striketober, offering a sociological perspective on the wave of labor strikes across the country.

Backstage with TSP

Last week we welcomed Walt Jacobs to our board meeting. We continued our conversation on first-person sociology, with Walt sharing how his life story and experience drew him to research on the places and institutions he inhabited using, for instance, auto-ethnographical methods to examine teaching and digital literacy. Speaking with Walt, we were reminded of the power of the personal perspective he brings to his writing with us, whether at Dispaches from a Dean or the Wonderful/Wretched series. As we look towards the future of our site, we are thinking of ways to incorporate this voice into the content we produce and post.

More from Our Partners and Community Pages

Over at the Council on Contemporary Families‘ blog Priya Fielding-Singh writes on her research on nutritional inequality and why we need to move beyond conversations centered solely on food access and consider the meaning of food for families, due out in book form next week.

The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ blog covered Divide Up Those in Darkness from the Ones Who Walk in Light, an exhibit of Professor David Feinberg’s art currently on display at University of Minnesota’s Katherine E. Nash Gallery

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