Hello, everyone, and happy summer! Things have been heating up at TSP headquarters, and we’re back with a look at the latest in social science research. Our team is also gearing up for ASA 2016 next month, and we hope to see many of you there!

Discoveries

“Faith in Fellow Citizens” by Evan Stewart. New research from Daniel Olson and Miao Li finds the relationship between religiosity and trust across nations isn’t quite what we would expect.

White Papers

Clippings

“Counseling Callbacks Skewed by Race, Class, and Gender” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Heather Kugelmass talks to The Atlantic about inequality in therapy.

“Swipe Right for Sociology” by Kat Albrecht. Jessica Carbino talks Tinder and the sociology behind the swipes for Los Angeles Magazine.

“The ‘Model Minority’ Is a Harmful Stereotype, Too” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Adia Harvey Wingfield explains how excellence can isolate in The Atlantic.

There’s Research on That!

“Affirmative Action, College Admissions, and the Debunked ‘Mismatch’ Hypothesis” by Neeraj Rajasekar. In light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Fisher v. University of Texas-Austin, research shows Affirmative Action helps, not hurts, racial minority groups.

“The Point of Unicorns” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Remember that prehistoric “Siberian Unicorn” discovered earlier this year? While archeologists comb the fossil record, sociologists are unpacking all our other paranormal beliefs.

From Our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network

How To Break America’s Logjam on Guns and Gun Violence by Philip J. Cook and Kristin Goss

Challenges and Opportunities for Efforts To Build Academic Ties Between the United States and Mexico by Beverly Barrett

How the Reproductive Justice Movement Benefits Latinas by Rocio Garcia

Why Regulation Is Necessary and Proper for a Well-Functioning Democracy and Market Economy by Michael Lipsky

Stabilization and Equity—Responses to Urban Fiscal Crisis In Flint, Michigan, and Beyond by Ashley E. Nickels

Why the Time Is Right To Expand the National School Lunch Program To Higher Education by Sara Goldrick-Rab, Katharine Broton, and Emily Brunjes Colo

Why There Are No Quick Economic Fixes for Women in Developing Countries by Barbara J. Risman and William J. Scarborough

Contexts

Letta Page and Syed Ali review Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg

Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Laura Tach, Kathryn Edin, and Jennifer Sykes explain how the Earned Income Tax Credit is a hand up for lower-income families

Paula England and Eliza Brown ask who has how many sexual partners and whether those patterns vary by sexual orientation

Hello and happy Friday everyone! We here at TSP HQ are wrapping up another great semester with research on binge drinking, collective mourning, and ex-felon employment. While we will remain hard at work bringing you all the best in sociological research over the summer, we are going to scale back our Roundups to once a month until September. So, you won’t hear from us again until June but be sure to keep stopping by to check out what we are up to in the interim!

There’s Research on That!:

“When Fans Cry: Why We Mourn the Loss of Celebrities” by Amber Joy Powell. “People mourn the death of celebrities who hold connections to emotional events; that is, people do not solely grieve the loss of that celebrity, but also the loss of the memories associated with that celebrity.”

Discoveries:

“Binge Drinking on the Bubble,” by Ryan Larson. Peer pressure can create a potent pull to binge drink, but only for those with a medium genetic propensity.

Clippings:

“Ex-felon Employment,” by Ryan Larson. NPR talks to Devah Pager about how felons fare when they gain employment.

Give Methods a Chance:

“Madison Van Oort on Discourse Analysis & Studying Commercials,” with Kyle Green. Kyle and Madison chat about their collaborative work on the ways commercials employ the crisis of masculinity to sell products.

From Our Partners:

Contexts:

“The Converging Gender Wage Gap, 1980-2012,” by Craig Upright.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Why is Pay for Caregiving Work So Low?” by Paula England.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“What We Know – And Need to Learn – About Progress Against Sex Discrimination in Education,” by Celene Reynolds.

And a Few From the Community Pages:

• Families As They Really Are wishes everyone a Happy Feminist Mother’s Day!
• Sociology Lens talks corruption and responsibility in recognition.
• Cyborgology reflects on the ‘technique’ of blackface and gendered bodyhacking.
• Sociological Images asks why the media genders marital unhappiness and shows how racial wealth gaps effect the next generation.

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Big things are happening at TSP this week! Our latest volume, Assigned: Life With Gender (edited by Lisa Wade!), is now available along with cutting edge work over on TROT and a new Office Hours podcast to enjoy!

There’s Research on That!:

Clippings:

Discoveries:

“Smart Whites Less Racist in Principle, Not Necessarily Policy” by Amber Joy Powell. New work from Geoffrey T. Wodtke finds high verbal ability helps people talk the talk, but walking the walk is another story.

Office Hours:

From Our Partners:

Contexts:

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Optimism about families beyond the way we never were” by Braxton Jones. Good news troubles the myth of the “traditional” family.

Scholars Strategy Network:

And a Few from the Community Pages:

• Sociological Images asks why aren’t there more women in politics?
• Families As They Really Are talks bathroom bills.
• Cyborology looks at live tweeting and who owns Washington Park?
• Feminist Reflections reviews debates over sex ed.

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It is officially spring here in Minneapolis, but the erratic weather has not rained out our research roundup! Be sure to stop by and check out our latest.

There’s Research on That!:

“Spring Cleaning,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. On the sociological significance of dust and who is responsible for getting rid of it.

“Rural, White Women Getting Sicker, Dying Quicker,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. How stress and timing of childbirth disproportionately affect poor white women.

Clippings:

“Why Pay Inequality is So Stubborn,” by Allison Nobles. “Unfortunately, while a small number of women moving into top positions may help those below, when large numbers of women enter traditionally male-dominated fields, the results are not so rosy. Why? Women’s work simply isn’t valued as highly as men’s.”

From Our Partners:

Contexts:

“Microscopic Hair Comparison and the Sociology of Science,” by Simon A. Cole and Troy Duster.

“Germany Avoids Going Gray,” by Carrie Clarady.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“The Way We Still Never Were,” by Stephanie Coontz. Be sure to check out Coontz’s substantially revised and updated edition of The Way We Never Were.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

• Sociological Images illustrates global wealth inequality and explores race-based activism on college campuses.
• Families As They Really Are asks if government marriage education programs promote gender equality.
• Cyborology reports on the art of Fuller House.
• Feminist Reflections reflects on the inclusion of new gendered language in the dictionary.

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Hello, everyone, and happy NOT Tax Day! With a brief respite from the primary election news cycle this week, we at TSP have been rounding up research on everything from harm reduction to hookup culture. Enjoy!

The Editors’ Desk

“Larry Jacobs’ Public Scholarship.” Chris Uggen highlights Jacobs as a model for research and media outreach.

There’s Research on That!:

“Bringing Harm Reduction to America’s Heroin Problem” by Austin Jenkins and Allison Nobles. Research shows how new approaches to drug treatment increase safety and lower stigma.

Clippings:

“Corporate Diversity Won’t Solve Income Inequality” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Kevin Leicht explains why in an in The Atlantic.

“Tall, Thin, and Raking It In” by Allison Nobles. Amy Blackstone talks to Broadly about pay gaps and personal appearance.

From our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network:

“Can Universities Maintain Diversity without Directly Considering Race in Admissions?” Mark C. Long investigates alternatives to affirmative action and finds a few hazards along the way.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“The Date’s Not Dead” by Arielle Kuperberg and Joseph E. Padgett. New research shows hookup culture is popular on college campuses, but so is more traditional dating. Tinder hasn’t trumped it all!

Contexts:

“Shallow, Self-Absorbed, and Aggressively Competitive ‘Primates’.” Myra Marx Ferree talks ethnographic methods while reviewing Primates of Park Avenue. 

And a Few from the Community Pages:

• Feminist Reflections looks at the gender gap in traffic.
• Sociological Images reflects on what makes art popular. Maybe it’s just familiar?
• Cyborgology looks ahead to Theorizing the Web 2016 with a paper preview!

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After wrapping up a public talk Thursday night, I was delighted to see political scientist Larry Jacobs smiling down from the screen above. On-deck as the next speaker in the series, Professor Jacobs has taught me a great deal about public scholarship. He’s in the news these days for Fed Power: How Finance Wins (with Desmond King), but he’s written powerfully and well on numerous hot-button topics as health care reform (with Theda Skocpol), public deliberation, democratic responsiveness, and US foreign policy.

There are infinite ways to be a public scholar, but Larry Jacobs’ example is instructive. How did he become such a welcome and trusted voice? Well…

(1) He is active and effective in engaging local as well as national and international audiences.

(2) Although he clearly has political views, Larry takes pains to offer a fair-minded perspective.

(3) Similarly, as a center director and leader of our local Scholars Strategy Network chapter, he invites speakers who don’t always agree with him (or with our faculty, or University administration, or each other).

(4) He is a prolific and respected national academic expert in particular specialties, but he has also developed the command and authority to speak to a broad set of public concerns.

(5) After cataloging these attributes, it almost seems redundant to note his boundless energy and willingness to make himself available on short notice.

With regard to the latter point, his advice for me was something of a paradox. When I asked how I could improve in on-camera interviews, he just said, “slow down, don’t rush, and have a nice conversation.”

Hello and happy Friday! We’ve got a little bit of everything for you this week, from gender segregation in the workplace, to white evangelical Christians and their voting habits, to data activism and the Panama Papers. Enjoy!

There’s Research on That!:

“Colorism and Divisions Among Black Women,” by Amber Joy Powell. How casting for the new Nina Simone biopic highlights the consequences of colorism.

Discoveries:

“Trickle-Down Gender Parity?” by Allison Nobles. When women are employed in upper level positions, what happens to the women left near the bottom?

Clippings:

“A-Ok-Cupid,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Sociologist Michael Rosenfeld dispels negative assumptions about online dating.

From our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network:

“Why America’s White Evangelical Christians Turn Out at High Rates in Midterm Elections,” by Lydia Bean.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“How is Celebrity Intimate Partner Violence Covered? Race and Gender Patterns Abound,” by Molly McNulty.

Contexts:

“Talking Happiness, Security, and Counterinsurgency with Laleh Khalili,” by Steven Thrasher.

“The Paper Ceiling,” by Brittany Dernberger.

“How to End Institutional Racism,” by the Contexts Grad Team.

“The Unborn and the Undead.” Viewpoints by Susan Markens, Katrina Kimport, Drew Halfmann, Kimala Price, and Deana A. Rohlinger.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

• Education and Society talks activist burnout and the culture of martyrdom.
• Sociological Images covers the history of homesickness and the whiteness of opioid addiction discourse.
• Cyborgology reflects on the Panama Papers and data activism and why we should wait for drones.

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No foolin’ from us today, there is just a lot of great new content over on TSP this week! From family policy to freegans, we’ve got you covered.

The Editors’ Desk:

“The Politics of Poverty Policy“. Doug Hartmann highlights new work from the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality.

There’s Research on That!:

“The Social Ties of Terrorism” by Evan Stewart. In the face of recent tragedies, social science helps us make sense of the motives and methods behind terror.

Discoveries:

“Freegan Foragers’ Moral Mission” by Sarah Catherine Billups. New research from Alex Barnard digs into dumpster diving.

Clippings:

Give Methods a Chance:

This week Kyle Green talks to R. Tyson Smith about ethnography

From Our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network:

Council on Contemporary Families:

Contexts:

“#callmecaitlyn and contemporary trans* visibility” by D’Lane Compton and Tristan Bridges. “The public celebration and recognition of transgender people is a start, but it has not yet been matched by achievements in gender equality and diversity.”

And a Few from the Community Pages:

• Sociology Lens shows how study abroad could make students go green
• Sociological Images looks at charismatic leaders and where the wild quakes are.

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Our friends over at the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality are at it again—this time with a special, election-year issue focused on the positions of the various parties and presidential candidates on the issues of poverty, mobility, and inequality in contemporary American society. While these topics may not be as popular, provocative, or controversial as others which have dominated campaign coverage so far, this attention to social stratification and public policy—especially for those on the bottom end of our socio-economic system—is basic, bread-and-butter stuff for any sociologically-inclined reader or researcher.

Three pieces in particular caught our attention. The first two, written by Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Harry J. Holzer, actually work best as a paired set. Each provides a short synopsis of how Republicans and Democrats, respectively, think about the challenges of poverty reduction in the United States. Holzer’s take on the Democrat approach doesn’t have a lot of surprises, though you can be the judge of how the various points of emphasis he lays out have played out in the Democratic primaries of late, especially considering that Holzer is the former Chief Economist of Bill Clinton’s labor department and advisor to the Hillary Clinton campaign. (“The views expressed,” he writes in a wry footnote, “are strictly my own.”) And while you might not agree with Holtz-Eakin’s reframing of poverty as a problem of “self-sufficiency,” I find it refreshing to hear a conservative both acknowledge the depth of the policy challenge as well as put social scientific research and data at the foundation of a prospective policy agenda.

The other piece I’d really recommend is Jeff Manza and Clem Brooks‘ article “Why Aren’t Americans Angrier about Rising Inequality?” The question comes from the realization that in spite of four decades of rising income and wealth disparities along with “stagnating or even declining real wages,” General Social Survey data suggests that Americans are not nearly so concerned (or at least, are much less outraged) than we might expect. Manza and Brooks believe this disconnect is “an important, yet under-acknowledged, challenge for scholars seeking to understand the politics of risking inequality in the United States.” They go on to suggest that the persistent strength of optimistic beliefs about opportunity and mobility is a key reason explaining why Democratic politicians have such difficulty getting public traction beyond their party base.While these topics may not be as popular, provocative, or controversial as others which have dominated campaign coverage so far, this attention to social stratification and public policy—especially for those on the bottom end of our socio-economic system—is basic, bread-and-butter stuff for any sociologically-inclined reader or researcher.

With the benefit of observing the last few months of presidential campaigning on both the Right and the Left, I’m wondering if perhaps these discontents aren’t quite as absent or one-sided as it once might have seemed, expressing themselves in the political arena more than public opinion polling. In a topsy-turvy political era, where anger is becoming all the rage, this possibility makes me think that we will need to be careful what we wish for when it comes to public attention to and partisan packaging of public policies affecting our economic systems and social hierarchies.

Hello from Chicago! The TSP crew is in the Windy City this weekend for the Midwest Sociological Association’s 2016 meeting, but not to worry, we took a quick break from the panels and presentations to round up our latest coverage for you.

The Editors’ Desk:

“Race, Resentment, Rage,” by Doug Hartmann. Doug reflects on some of the larger racial contexts surrounding the rise of Trump.

There’s Research on That!:

“FBiPhone and Coders’ Free Speech,” by Jacqui Frost. On whether or not code is speech and the very real consequences of what it can say.

Clippings:

“A Decade of Housing Occupation in Turin’s Olympic Village,” by Allison Nobles.  Sergio Scamuzzi talks to The Guardian about what becomes of Olympic villages once the games ends.

From Our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network:

“Measuring The Social Impact of Mass Imprisonment on America’s Black and White Families and Communities,” by Hedwig Lee, Tyler McCormick, Margaret T. Hicken, and Christopher Wildeman.

“Winning Public Arguments About Renewable Energy,” by Johannes Urpelainen.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“This is for All the Single People,” by Braxton Jones.

Contexts:

“How to Do Ethnography Right.” Syed Ali and Phil Cohen organize a special forum on best practices and important debates among ethnographers.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

• Feminist Reflections visualizes time use research.
• Cyborgology talks technology and Louis C.K. and debates whether or not Trump is a troll.
• Sociological Images introduces Super Sunday.

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