Wow, what a week for my TSP co-publisher and partner in public engagement Chris Uggen!

It started on Tuesday at the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Barrett. There, Senator Durbin called out Barrett’s contrasting positions on gun rights relative to (racialized) felon disenfranchisement. The senator raised Uggen’s classic AJS article (with Angela Behrens & Jeff Manza) as well as his Sentencing Project report with former TSP board members Ryan Larson and Sarah Shannon (48 seconds into this clip).

Then, on Wednesday Professor Uggen and his research team—including University of Minnesota sociology major and McNair scholar Arleth Pulido-Nava—released a new national Sentencing Project report. I won’t attempt to document its contents here. However, if you listen to CBS national radio or read the New York Times, you may know a bit about it already. And here’s Uggen’s own initial gloss:

As a researcher I’ve tracked the flurry of legal changes to restore the vote in recent years, so I was disappointed to find that 5.2 million citizens remain disenfranchised — three quarters of whom live and work alongside us in our communities. Disenfranchisement amplifies the effects of racial disparities in law enforcement and the courts, diluting the political voices of communities of color. Re-enfranchising these citizens would reduce such disparities, extend democracy, respond to public sentiment, accord with international standards, enhance public safety, and put to rest the prospect and practice of bringing ‘unlawful voting’ charges against citizens in a democracy. We cannot take these extreme voting restrictions for granted or accept them as part of the ‘furniture in the room.’

Finally, and just in case you didn’t realize how big of a deal my TSP partner is:  a group called “Academic Influence” released a top-ten list of influential criminologists that had Uggen ranked at #3!

As his longtime collaborator and current department chair, I questioned why Uggen wasn’t in the gold or silver spots, and considered asking our staff if we should look into their impact metrics and, perhaps, ask for a recount. But Chris, in his typical Minnesota fashion demurred, saying that the only thing he knows for sure is that he’s “overrated.” I know we’re not supposed to brag, Chris, but I doubt that. Keep up the great work—you are a leader and inspiration to us all.

This week we roundup research on legitimate violence by the state, and share exciting posts from our partner and community pages.

There’s Research on That:

“Can Your Country Be a Criminal?” by Jillian LaBranche. We round up research on legitimated violence by the state, including changes in what kind of violence is considered legal or not.

From Our Partners:

Contexts:

“Battling for Native American Lands (A Policy Brief)” by Timothy Evans.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“What’s the Role of Child Protective Services? New Study Points to Parallels with Policing?” by Virginia Rutter

From Our Community Pages:

• Engaging Sports explores the challenges of being a basketball fan amid the Black Lives Matter movement and a global pandemic

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We’re back! This week we share new research on how CPS assistance expands surveillance of marginalized families, and share a post from The Conversation on the limits of empathy for bridging political divides.

Discoveries:

“How CPS Assistance Expands Surveillance of Marginalized Families” by Mahala Miller. New research shows that CPS resources prompt administrators to report families, even if they don’t believe abuse has occurred, expanding surveillance into the homes of many poor and/or families of color.

Special Features:

“Bridging America’s Divides Requires a Willingness to Work Together Without Becoming Friends First” by Francesca Polleta. We repost this piece from The Conversation that considers how a willingness to tolerate and cooperate with others is more important than empathy for working together amid political disagreement and crisis.

From Our Partners:

Contexts:

“Are Google Searches Different in States with More Trump Supporters? A Look at Searches About Gender, Race, and Sexuality” by Elizabeth Balzac, Paula England, and Andrew Levine.

Sociological Images:

“Is Knowing Half the Battle?” by Evan Stewart.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“A Pandemic Home Tour, Part I: Identities and Intimate Interactions in Bedrooms and Home Offices” by Michelle Janning.

From Our Community Pages:

• The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies examines ,through a photo essay from the ground in Minneapolis, how Black Lives Matter unites people of all races, religions, gender, identities, and ages in protest.

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Welcome back! This week we feature two new installments each in our Wonderful/Wretched series on racial dynamics in the Twin Cities and in the podcast series, Give Theory A Chance. We also bring you pieces examining how men’s share of housework and childcare has changed since the pandemic and how English soccer teams have gotten involved in Black activism.

Special Features:

“Wonderful/Wretched Memories of Racial Dynamics in the Twin Cities, Minnesota” by Walter R. Jacobs. In this series, social scientists with ties to the Twin Cities share their stories and reflections about experiencing race in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.”

• “Start the Conversation” by Jocelyn Gutzman
• “Everybody’s Going Uptown” by Rodolfo Aguilar

From Our Partners:

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Men pick up (some) of the slack at home: New national survey on the pandemic at home” by Virginia Rutter.

From Our Community Pages:

• Engaging Sports examines English soccer’s support for the Black Lives Matter movement and the fight against global racial injustice.
• In its latest podcasts, Give Theory a Chance interviews Saida Grundy about the influence of W.E.B. DuBois on sociology and her work and Shamus Khan on teaching the canon.

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Welcome back! This week we bring you a new installment in our Wonderful/Wretched series on racial dynamics in the Twin Cities along with an analysis of the role social trust may play in combating the pandemic. We also feature an interview with Editor Doug Hartmann about athlete activism and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Special Features:

“Wonderful/Wretched Memories of Racial Dynamics in the Twin Cities, Minnesota” by Walter R. Jacobs. In this series, social scientists with ties to the Twin Cities share their stories and reflections about experiencing race in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.”

• “Bless Me with a Name” by Özlem Ersin
• “In Transit” by Thomas X. Sarmiento

In “Power of Social Trust and the Pandemic,” Ron Anderson explores how the social forces of trust and solidarity may influence peoples’ beliefs, attitudes and social relationships in the time of COVID-19.

Editors’ Desk:

We repost “Athlete Activism from Black Power in 1968 to Black Lives Matter: An Interview with Douglas Hartmann,” by Estelle Brun, a Research Assistant at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS). Hartmann discusses the parallels between two eras of powerful sports protest.

From Our Partners:

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Will COVID-19 Push Women Out of the Labor Force?” by Barbara Risman.

Contexts:

“Vaccines, Masks, and Routine Disruptions during COVID-19” by Rashawn Ray and Fabio Rojas.

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This interview originally appeared in the in July 2020 Sport and Geopolitics Program of the Geopolitical Sports Observatory.

THE SEPARATION BETWEEN SPORTS AND POLITICS?

American presidents have often been labeled as “Sport Presidents” (Green and Hartmann 2012), utilising sport to benefit their image and popularity.

IRIS: How can the myth of “sports and politics don’t mix” be explained?

DR HARTMANN: I think it starts from our idealised conception of both sports and politics, idealised in the sense of their stereotypical definitions and commonsense cultural conceptions. On the athletic front, we think of sport generally as a very pure, safe and even positive, unifying kind of space or social force. For some people, it’s not idealised but more just a matter of entertainment or distraction from other things. The biggest idea is that sport is supposed to be somehow special, separate and distinct from everything else in our regular social lives, and that we have to protect that. On the politics side, I think a lot of people, in the United States at least, think of politics as dirty, complicated and inherently contested and conflicted. You can see almost right away that these two don’t go together very well. And, in fact, much of this modern thing we now call sport was built around this distinction, the idea or ideology, the mythology of sport being sacred, progressive and safe from other things, explicitly in contrast to their idea of the dirty complicated politics of the real world; from its inception, the sporting establishment has wanted it to be sanitized or safe from that.

The reason we sometimes call it a myth is that, in reality, sport and politics are deeply, almost inherently and always intertwined. Often, we don’t recognize this because some of what we scholars would say is political isn’t constructed or understood as political by those who are doing the actual talk about sports and politics in society. Some of the best examples would be around nationalism and the use of flags and anthems in ceremonies that celebrate the nation-state in athletic arenas. While many participants just think of this as normal or typical and not particularly controversial (and thus not “political”), from an analytic point of view, this can be seen as a kind of politics, a politics of culture and symbolism used to celebrate and reinforce certain notions of nation and identity. Because so many people agree with the messages, or just take them for granted or even ignore them, it seems harmless or apolitical even though its political content and function are pretty overt when you think about it. And so there, I think, is kind of the root of the challenge—that, on the one hand, sports and politics are always intermingled in many ways that we often can’t see or aren’t aware of, but that we think they shouldn’t be both because of our conception of sport as a special place and politics as a problematic one.The root of the challenge is that, on the one hand, sports and politics are always intermingled in many ways that we often can’t see, but that we think they shouldn’t be because of our conception of sport as a special place and politics as a problematic one.

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Hello, hello! This week we bring you a new installment in our Wonderful/Wretched series on racial dynamics in the Twin Cities along with sociological research exploring how social and genetic factors combine to influence educational attainment. We also share two #TSPClassics: the first rounds up research on abortion providers in the pre-Roe v. Wade era, while the second explores heterosexual attitudes towards same-sex relationships.

Special Features:

“Wonderful/Wretched Memories of Racial Dynamics in the Twin Cities, Minnesota” by Walter R. Jacobs. In this series, social scientists with ties to the Twin Cities share their stories and reflections about experiencing race in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.”

• “Rethinking Minnesota Nice” by Danielle Lavin-Loucks

If you are a social scientist who also has ties to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul but now lives elsewhere, we’d love to include your stories as a component of this collective action. Stories from White social scientists as well as from social scientists of color are welcome, as we aspire to document the full range of experiences of the racial dynamics of the Twin Cities. Please send your reflections to Walt Jacobs at walt.jacobs@sjsu.edu by July 10.

Discoveries:

“How Genes and Gender Influence Educational Attainment” by Amy August. New research examines the interplay between genes and the environment to help us understand how gender inequalities in educational outcomes have changed over time.

From Our Partners:

Council on Contemporary Families:

“How Can Colleges Define Consent and Reduce Unwanted Sex? No easy answers here.” by Virginia Rutter.

#TSPClassics Collection:

With the Supreme Court’s decision this week to strike down a Louisiana law restricting abortion, we bring back “Abortion Providers before Roe v. Wade,” a TROT by Allison Nobles that rounds up historical research on abortion providers before abortion was legal in the United States.

And, as Pride month draws to a close, we share “Acceptance vs. Advocacy of LGBTQ Rights” by Isabel Arriagada. This piece recalls a Los Angeles Times op-ed in which sociologist Amin Ghaziani explains that heterosexuals are often willing to extend ‘formal rights’ to gay couples, but they are less willing to demonstrate political engagement or material support.

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Welcome Back! This week we bring you three new installments in our Wonderful/Wretched series on racial dynamics in the Twin Cities. We also share two #TSPClassics highlighting LGBTQ issues: one focuses on partnering in rural communities, while the other explores the rise in acceptance of same-sex sexuality worldwide.

Special Features:

“Wonderful/Wretched Memories of Racial Dynamics in the Twin Cities, Minnesota” by Walter R. Jacobs. In this series, social scientists with ties to the Twin Cities share their stories and reflections about experiencing race in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.”

• “The Sound of the Police” by Jerry Shannon and Sarah Shannon
• “Minnesota’s First Posthumous Pardon” by Garrick Percival
• “Black Life and Death in Minnesota” by Wendy Thompson Taiwo

If you are a social scientist who also has ties to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul but now lives elsewhere, we’d love to include your stories as a component of this collective action. Stories from White social scientists as well as from social scientists of color are welcome, as we aspire to document the full range of experiences of the racial dynamics of the Twin Cities. Please send your reflections to Walt Jacobs at walt.jacobs@sjsu.edu.

From Our Partners:

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Nell Frizzell on Her Forthcoming Book “The Panic Years” by Kimberly McErlean.

Sociological Images:

“The Hidden Cost of Your New Wardrobe” by Graham Nielsen.

“Racism & Hate Crimes in a Pandemic” by Kayla Preston.

From Our Community Pages:

• The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies suggests that we’d be better off to give back some of the gifts passed down by our nation’s Founding Fathers.

#TSPClassics Collection:

We bring back “Queer in the Country,” a TROT by Sarah Catherine Billups which rounds up research on the identity formation, visibility, and health outcomes of LGBTQ individuals in rural areas.

We also share a Special Feature by Louisa L. Roberts, called “Attitudes toward Gay and Lesbian People Have Grown More Accepting around the World. Why? And What Obstacles Remain?.” Roberts examines changing global attitudes towards same-sex sexuality.

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Happy Friday! This week we add three more special features to our Wonderful/Wretched series on racial dynamics in the Twin Cities. We also bring you a special feature investigating changes in public opinion about the Black Lives Matter movement, an interview with a prominent Harvard sociologist, and an examination of trends in happiness.

Special Features:

“Wonderful/Wretched Memories of Racial Dynamics in the Twin Cities, Minnesota” by Walter R. Jacobs. In this series, social scientists with ties to the Twin Cities share their stories and reflections about experiencing race in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.”

• “My Beautiful, Broken Minnesota” by Rachel Raimist
• “In This Country” by Catherine Ceniza Choy
• “Reflections on an Exceptional State” by Richard Lee

If you are a social scientist who also has ties to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul but now lives elsewhere, we’d love to include your stories as a component of this collective action. Stories from White social scientists as well as from social scientists of color are welcome, as we aspire to document the full range of experiences of the racial dynamics of the Twin Cities. Please send your reflections to Walt Jacobs at walt.jacobs@sjsu.edu.

In “Protests and Pandemic Jolt Public Opinion,” Ron Anderson examines the factors contributing to dizzying shifts in American attitudes toward the Black Lives Matter movement.

“The Fire This Time,” a reprint from the Harvard Gazette by staff writer Christina Pazzanese, features a deep and wide-ranging interview with sociologist Lawrence D. Bobo about police killings of black men, racial bigotry, and violence.

From Our Partners:

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Challenges Facing Cohabiting Couples Differ from those of Married Couples in this Crisis” by Amanda Miller and Sharon Sassler.

Sociological Images:

“What’s Trending? The Happiness Drop” by Evan Stewart.

Contexts:

“Police Officers Need Liability Insurance” by Rarkimm Fields.

“#courageisbeautiful but PPE is Better: White Supremacy, Racial Capitalism, and COVID-19” by Jean Beaman and Catherine J. Taylor.

“Intimacy on the Mats and in the Surf” by Kyle Green and Clifton Evers.

From Our Community Pages:

• The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies reflects on visiting The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam as an American.
• Feminist Reflections examines queerness in horror films.

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Welcome back! This week we bring you a series of special features showcasing reflections on racial dynamics in the Twin Cities and a special feature unpacking the potential benefits and challenges of requiring police officers to carry their own misconduct insurance.

Special Features:

“Wonderful/Wretched Memories of Racial Dynamics in the Twin Cities, Minnesota” by Walter R. Jacobs. In this series, social scientists with ties to the Twin Cities share their stories and reflections about experiencing race in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.”

• “Blackasotan Identity Lanes” by Walter R. Jacobs
• “A Letter to an Old Friend about Race” by Darren Wheelock
• “Will Words Lead to Action?” by Marcia Williams

If you are a social scientist who also has ties to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul but now lives elsewhere, we’d love to include your stories as a component of this collective action. Stories from White social scientists as well as from social scientists of color are welcome, as we aspire to document the full range of experiences of the racial dynamics of the Twin Cities. Please send your reflections to Walt Jacobs at walt.jacobs@sjsu.edu.

In “How Individual Professional Liability Insurance Could Reform US Policing,” Stephen Wulff shows how police misconduct insurance would work in practice, and explains why more routinely holding individual officers financially accountable for their misconduct could reduce undue police violence.

From Our Partners:

Contexts:

“Discrimination Affects Generations” by Kelsey Drotning.

“Gender Sucks for You and Me” by Sydney Yarbrough.

“Racial Disparities in Job Seeking” by Natasha Chhabra.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Uber-Rich Parents and Their Fixers May Be Just the Tip of the Iceberg. Turns Out It’s Hard for Teachers to Resist Pushy Parents” by Virginia Rutter.

Sociological Images:

“Viral Votes & Activism in the New Public Sphere” by Evan Stewart and Bob Rice.

“Party Affiliation in a Pandemic” by Ron Anderson.

From Our Community Pages:

The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies discusses the need to dismantle white supremacy and reexamines the play Biedermann and the Arsonists as a parable of the complacency and cowardice of the common man.

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