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going wisdom on cohabitation was that marriages preceded by living together were more likely to fall apart—that news is out of date.”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.

Last Week’s Roundup

Sign Up for Inbox Delivery of the Roundup

Our Latest Book

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.

Last Week’s Roundup

Sign Up for Inbox Delivery of the Roundup

Our Latest Book

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...

With all of the attention (rightfully) focused on the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision, we’re a bit worried that the ruling about health care policy–one of the signature programs of Obama’s Presidency–may have gotten a bit lost in the blogosphere. Fortunately, our friends at Scholar’s Strategy Network have been on top of it. You can find links to all of their most recent commentaries and interviews here. If your time is limited, here’s a few to look at:

“A Turning Point for Health Care – and Its GOP Opponents,” OpEd, New York Times, June 25, 2015.
Theda Skocpol, Harvard University, and Lawrence R. Jacobs, Humphrey School, University of Minnesota

“The ACA Has Survived Yet Again. Now What?” OpEd, American Prospect, June 29, 2015.
Jacob S. Hacker, Yale University

“ObamaCare Stands, Now Focus Shifts to Costs,” by Christopher Cheney, Health Leaders Media, July 1, 2015.
Theda Skocpol, Harvard University

Since last we met…

In Case You Missed It:

“Same-Sex, Different Attitudes,” by Kathy Hull. A historical look at the push for marriage equality and the shifts in Americans’ attitudes toward civil rights for gays and lesbians.

“The Return of the Confederate Flag,” by C.N. Le. A 2008 piece examines the resurgence of the Confederate Flag and considers its changing meanings in changing macro-level contexts.

There’s Research on That!

“How Misdemeanors Maintain Inequality,” by Evan Stewart. Research shows that “misdemeanor justice” has a lot of unintended consequences.

Office Hours Podcast:

“Greta Krippner on the Politics of Financial Crisis,” with Erik Kojola. Discussing how the American economy became dangerously dependent on credit and speculation.

Discoveries:

“Political Power and Protest Can Undermine Crime,” by Evan Stewart. New Social Problems research shows that when protest leads to accrued political power, crime goes down in previously underserved communities. more...

Sociological snacks, academic dishonesty, perceptions of illegal immigration, incarcerated parents, the crime drop, exacerbating the education gap with Adderral, and when we care about economic inequality, all this week on The Society Pages. Also, be sure to check out our topics pages for Gender, Culture, Inequality, Race, Crime, Politics, and Teaching to get our graduate board’s latest picks from around the web!

Office Hours podcast:

“Michaela DeSoucey on Food and Cultural Authenticity,” with Matt Gunther. DeSoucey joins to discuss her work on food, culture, consumption, and politics.

Give Methods a Chance podcast:

“Shamus Khan on Historical Data,” with Kyle Green. The author of The Practice of Research, Shamus Khan says, “I love very micro-level analyses where you can see what one person is doing or what is happening on the ground…

“Chris Uggen on Academic Dishonesty and Public Sociology,” with Sarah Esther Lageson. Our co-editor Chris Uggen takes the mic to discuss recent sociology headlines around data and ethics.

Discoveries: (formerly The Reading List)

sar”Proving Perception Trumps Reality in Immigration Debates,” by Ryan Larson. New research in Social Problems teases out perceived threat as a driver of isolationist opinions.

Clippings: (formerly Citings & Sightings)

“Black Communities Hit Hard When Government Shrinks,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. When government jobs go away, so do economic mobility opportunities for black communities, says Jennifer Laird.

“Economic Recovery Highlights Economic Inequality,” by Caty Taborda. Sociologist Leslie McCall offers the NYTimes an explanation for why worries over inequality are higher after the Great Recession. more...

As summer starts, sociology blossoms! There’s a new issue of Contexts magazine (all content is available for free from SAGE publications for 30 days!), new podcast episodes, and more for your summer reading list.

There’s Research on That!

“Pew Compiles Data on Pew Composition,” by Jack Delehanty. Are Americans becoming less religious or less organized when it comes to religion and spirituality? Delehanty looks to research from Richard Madsen, Michael Hout and Claude Fischer, Joseph O’Brian Baker and Buster Smith, and Chaeyoon Lim, Carol Ann MacGregor, and Robert D. Putnam.

The Editors’ Desk

“Grandmothers on the World Stage,” by Doug Hartmann. The Atlantic wonders if women like Hillary Clinton find age an advantage in politics, playing what they call “the granny card.”

Office Hours Podcast

“Susan Terrio on Children in U.S. Immigration Custody,” with Lisa Gulya. Discussing Terrio’s new book, Whose Child Am I? more...