Hello everyone! Our new graduate editorial board is settled in and doing big things at TSP this week. We launched a new topic tab devoted to covering health and medicine, TROT is back on the beat, and our newest members are already hard at work to bring you the latest in great social science.

The Editors’ Desk:

“Health Page Can’t Wait!” Chris Uggen introduces our newest topic page curated by Sarah Catherine Billups and Caty Taborda.

Office Hours Interview:

Peter Hall on Sociological Memoir with Matt Gunther. Peter M. Hall looks at the way personal memories help us understand place and history.

There’s Research on That!:

“The Social Life of Autism and ASD” by Sarah Catherine Billups. Social networks don’t just spread germs, they also help us make sense of sickness.

“Refugees and Social Instability” by Evan Stewart and Miray Philips. In the wake of Syria, we look to the social science on why refugees move and how they settle in.

Clippings:

“Civil Rights for the Poor” by Neeraj Rajasekar. New work by Doug Massey and Robert Putnam featured in The Atlantic. 

From Our Partners:

Contexts:

“Online Friends Affect Relationship Status” by Joanna Pepin. Social networks shape the way you look at your spouse.
“Kids and Community Violence” by Megan Wilhelm. How do kids cope with trouble in the neighborhood?
“Marrying Social Activism and Spiritual Seeking” by Eve Fox. Interview with Elizabeth Lesser on the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies. 

Council on Contemporary Families:

What Happens When Couples Marry after the First Baby? by Kelly Musick and Katherine Michelmore. Unlike earlier research, not divorce!

And a Few From the Community Pages:

• Families as They Really Are fills us in on the state of affordable child care.
• Education and Society looks at new research by Jonathan Pryor on the experiences of transgender college students.
• Cyborgology weighs in on recent debates over online advertising, saying “Full Communism is the Ultimate Ad Blocker“

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We’ve always wanted to build up our TSP offerings on health and society. So we’re delighted to announce a new health tab, curated by the high-powered team of Caty Taborda and Sarah Catherine Billups. Like our topics pages on crime, politics, gender, race, inequality, and culture, our health tab will pull together in-house content as well as work from our community pages and partners like the Scholars Strategy Network and Council on Contemporary Families.

Since we’re just getting rolling, it is a perfect time to pitch us with ideas for feature articles, roundtables, or podcast interviews on health and medicine. Given the vibrancy of scholarship in the area, look for more health and society content on both our main page and an upcoming TSP volume.

Hey everyone! Check out what’s new (and not as new but still timely) on TSP this week. Our grad board is hard at work putting together some great new pieces, so be sure to keep checking back!

Discoveries and There’s Research on That!:

Still reeling from the Republican debate Wednesday night? These oldies but goodies from our grad board are sure to pique your interest.

“Caught in the Culture Wars Crossfire” by Jack Delehanty. Delia Baldassarri and Amir Goldberg find that many American voters are choosing an “alternative” to the standard Democrat-Republican divide.

Jacqui Frost highlights research on the politics of reproductive rights, a hot topic in the debates, in “Religion, Reproduction, and the Supreme Court.”

Also, check out our Roundtable, “Is the (Tea) Party Over?,” by Jack Delehanty and Erik Kojola. They talk to Meghan Burke, Robert Horwitz, Ruth Braunstein, and Andrew Perrin about the continued influence of the Tea Party.

Clippings:

“Good Morning God, Good Night Moon,” by Caty Taborda. Bradley R.E. Wright and colleagues use an app to track the ways in which spiritual awareness fluctuates throughout the day.

“Buying a Viral Speech,” by Caty Taborda. Panicking about the speech you are supposed to give at your friend’s wedding? Now you can hire someone else to do it. Lisa Wade from Soc Images comments on the growing business of “toast whispering.”

From Our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network: 

“What Happens When Women Planning Abortions View Ultrasounds?” by Katrina Kimport.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Health Care is a Family Stressor – So There’s Good News,” by Philip Cohen.

And a Few From the Community Pages:

• Education and Society interviews Kelly Nielsen and Nicole Deterding on the value of community college.
• Feminist Reflections charts Twitter activity surrounding the refugee crisis
• Girl w/Pen! talks Kim Davis and anti-gay politics.
• Cyborgology stands with Ahmed Mohamed and reflects on the changing needs of Intro to Soc students.
• Sociological Images critiques sexism in Disney movies and media coverage of violence against police.

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Hello, folks! Evan here, co-graduate editor for TSP along with Jacqui Frost. We’ll be bringing you the weekly roundup this semester. As classes start up and a new graduate editorial board rolls in here at the site, here’s a look at what we’ve been up to since ASA 2015.

Discoveries:

“E-I-T-C, Find Out What It Means to Me” by Lisa Gulya. Jennifer Sykes, Katrin Križ, Kathryn Edin, and Sarah Halpern-Meekin show how a small tax break is a big step toward giving low income families a sense of control.

There’s Research on That!:

The recent hubbub over marriage licenses for same-sex couples and a certain county clerk had us had us cheering “#TROT!” Check out “Marriage, Inequality, and Bureaucracy: The Devil’s in the DMV?”

Office Hours Interview:

Allison Pugh on The Tumbleweed Society with Lisa Gulya. Allison Pugh looks at how winds of change from the workforce blow into our personal lives.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“The Role of Racial Tensions in State Decisions To Cut Back Welfare” by Hana Brown.

“The Evidence Shows that ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws Undermine Law Enforcement and Public Safety” by Robert J. Spitzer.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Gender Revolution and the Restabilization of Family Life,” by Frances Goldscheider.

Contexts:

Q&A with ASA President Paula England on her 2015 Presidential Address: “Sometimes the Social Becomes Personal: Gender, Class, and Sexualities.”

“Foreclosing on Diversity” by Angie O’Brien. New research in American Sociological Review shows how banks bolstered racial separation by foreclosing in communities of color.

“Saving Our Kids.” Sean McElwee sets the record straight by reviewing a reviewer of Robert Putnam’s Our Kids. 

Highlights from the Community Pages:

• Families as They Really Are talks overprotective parenting as the school year starts up.
• Sociological Images rounds up August posts and looks at research on what creeps us out.
• Cyborgology has thoughts on public scholarship from ASA15 and the politics of hacking.
• Thick Culture looks at trends in citizen journalism with grad board member Ryan Larson.

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Hellllllooooo, Chicago! Here’s what TSP’s been up to this week—some excellent reads as sociology converges on the Windy City. Be sure to say hi to our grad board members and editors as we make the rounds, and watch our Twitter for some live-tweeted-panels courtesy @EvanStewart23 (with Jacqui Frost, our graduate editor).

There’s Research on That!

“We All Live with the Effects of School Segregation,” Evan Stewart with research by Gary Orfield, Susan E. Eaton, Grace Kao, Daniel T. Lichter, Domenico Parisi, and more.

Discoveries:

“Freshman 15 or Family-First 50? College and Family Sequencing Affect Obesity.” Sarah Catherine Billups sums up Journal of Health and Social Behavior research from Miech, Shanahan, Boardman, and Bauldry.

Clippings:

“‘Moving to Opportunity’ After Katrina.” Billups shares some sociological highlights from a New Yorker article on mobility and displacement in New Orleans. Featuring David Kirk, Patrick Sharkey, Stefanie DeLuca, and Corina Graif.

Contexts Magazine:

“Bathroom Battlegrounds and Penis Panics,” Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook. How transgender rights legislation got framed as “bathroom bills,” with seemingly everyone trying to mark their territory.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“The Downside of Separating ‘Good’ Undocumented Immigrants from ‘Bad’ Criminals,” by Abigail Andrews. “As long as protection seems conditional on quiet and deferential personal conduct, any approach that divides undocumented migrants into good versus bad categories reinforces secondary status for all.”

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Getting Current on Cohabitation,” by Virginia Rutter. “Fifteen years ago, the going wisdom on cohabitation was that marriages preceded by living together were more likely to fall apart—that news is out of date.”

A Few From the Community Pages:

• On Sociological Images, a new Yale project parses Americans’ opinions on climate change and research shows college students believe in the benefits of diversity while also touting “color-blindness”.
• Families As They Really Are shares 5 ways professors can help single mother students.
• Feminist Reflections on graphic art and social change.

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Check out Getting Culture (just $15!)

Now available! With Getting Culture, the fifth in our series of paperback readers with W.W. Norton & Co., it feels like we’ve really hit our stride. The new volume features work on the “stuff” of religion, fast fashion and global production, musical tastes, same-sex marriage, and so much more—all bolstered and rounded out by “TSP tie-ins” that bring readers to the site for interactive content and a discussion questions and activities section for reading groups. Oh, and it’s only $15. Stop by Norton’s booth at the ASA conference or check out our series online. We’re awfully proud.

Also, if you’ve already picked up a copy, be sure to log on to thesocietypages.org/culture for links and additional content. Our TSP topic page on culture continues to be updated weekly, so you can always get your culture, culture, culture there, too!

Since last we met… Our new book arrived! Check out Getting Culture (just $15!), then read on for the rest of this week’s fresh sociology.

The Editors’ Desk:

“Back to School Research,” by Doug Hartmann and Chris Uggen. Some of the fresh sociology research on education and learning as featured on TSP, its partner sites, and its Community Page blogs.

Discoveries:

“Policy Changes that Help Reduce Murder Rates,” by Ryan Larson. Patricia L. McCall and Jonathan R. Brauer‘s new research shows that welfare might not stop homicide, but increased social support certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Clippings:

“More than 9 to 5,” by Caty Taborda. Randolph Cantrell on trends in juggling multiple jobs.

“Are Behavioral Issues Black and White?” by Caty Taborda. David Ramey on finding that race affects how schoolkids are punished.

“Cougars: Literal Mountain Lions,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. Milaine Alarie and Jason Carmichael on the myth of the wealthy older woman making prey out of 20-somethings.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“U.S. Latinos Care About Many Issues Beyond Immigration,” by Stella M. Rouse. When it comes to voter priorities, for Latinos, immigration only makes the top three.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Overwork May Explain 10% of Men’s Wage Advantage Over Women,” by Youngjoo Cha. Some of the wage gap owes to men’s taking on extra hours.

The Community Pages:

• Sociological Images on churches and arson, trophy hunting, and the cartography of cursing.
• Families As They Really Are on how it’s inequality, not family structure, that replicates poverty.
• Cyborgology on #BlackLivesMatter as a society-level hack.

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That collective sigh you hear isn’t just kids and college students bemoaning the start of a new school year. The chorus is rounded out by professors and researchers tanned from fieldwork (or, more likely, pale and blinking after emerging from weeks in libraries). Luckily, all their hard work means we have lots of new research on education to share as we, collectively, head back to our campuses and classrooms. Here’s a taste of what our prolific friends at the TSP Community Page Education & Society have published recently:

• How Multiracial College Students Cope: A summary of new research by Samuel D. Museus, Susan A. Lambe Sariñana, and Tasha Kawamata Ryan.
• Improving Support for College Students with Disabilities: A summary of new research by Barbara Hong.
• Good Guidance Increases the Numbers of College-Bound Kids: A summary of new research by Megan M. Holland.
• Do Your Kindergarten Readiness Beliefs Match What Teachers Measure? A summary of research by Jaime Puccioni.

They also provide links to the following articles about education and school:

• Choosing A Major: Dollars and Sense?
• Why Historically Black Colleges and Universities Remain Vital in U.S. Higher Education
• Why the U.S. Should Improve Support for Colleges and Universities Serving Hispanic Students

Elsewhere on TSP, don’t miss our topics page for “Teaching” and our blog, Teaching TSP. You might also enjoy Sociological Images for Instructors, including course guides and collections alongside recommended class readings; Contexts pieces including “How Students Experience Desegregation Efforts” and “Academic Doping?“‘; and our Discoveries—summaries of recent research published in sociology and social science journals—on education and collegiate life, including “Not So Different: Color-Blindness and Diversity,” “The Social Costs of Punishment, From Prisoners to Pupils,” “Active Learning and STEM Success,” and “Second-Generation Schooling: Good News for Girls.”

Since last we met…

Features:

“Commemorating 50 Years Since the Voting Rights Act… By Restricting Voting Rights,” Ryan D. King and Vincent Roscigno. How landmark legislation is being eroded, to the detriment of participatory democracy.

There’s Research on That!

“A Hate Crime By Any Other Name,” Ryan Larson. Whether we call a domestic attack a hate crime or terrorism has implications for and is shaped by public perception.

“Social Boundaries and Music Streaming,” Evan Stewart. By TROT-ifying Spotify data, we see how musical preferences are reinforced and reshaped. more...

Since last we met…

There’s Research on That!

“Caitlyn Jenner: Public Opinion, Celebrity Status, and Identity,” by Sarah Catherine Billups and Caty Taborda.

“Marriage, Inequality, and Bureaucracy: The Devil’s in the DMV?” by Evan Stewart.

The Editors’ Desk

“SSN on SCOTUS Health Care Decision,” by Doug Hartmann.

Discoveries

“Not So Different: Color-Blindness and Diversity,” by Stephen Suh. more...