What’s been happening in these here Society Pages? Good thing you asked!

There’s Research on That!

The Second Sex and Second-Class Citizenship, by Anne Kaduk. Pregnancy discrimination: There’s Research on That! Kaduk draws on articles from Reginald Byron, Vincent Roscigno, Jeanne Flavin, Lynn Paltrow, Stephen Benard, and Shelley J. Correll.

The Reading List:

Gay Marriage and God’s Gender, by Jack Delehanty. Research from Andrew Whitehead shows individuals’ ideas of a gendered god influence their opinions on marriage equality.

Individualism Increases Religious Pluralism, by Evan Stewart. In Sociological Science, Michael Hout and Claude S. Fischer revisit earlier data and try to explain religious disaffiliation.

Office Hours Podcast:

David Pellow on Nonhuman Members of the Community, with Erik Kojola. Pellow discusses his latest book, Total Liberation!, and how it helps us rethink who “counts” in community.

Give Methods a Chance Podcast:

Audrey Kobayashi on Focus Groups, Transnationalism, and Citizenship, with Kyle Green. Kobayashi joins the GMAC discussion to stump for the utility of focus groups.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Are African Americans Living the Dream 50 Years After Passage of the Civil Rights Act? by Velma McBride Murry and Na Liu. Data on education, wealth, income, health, and a variety of other measures paint a picture of persistent inequities.

Latinas Mystiques, by Lorena Garcia. Latina Americans are caught between expectations that hide the social forces restricting their opportunities.

Lesbian Mystiques, by Judith A. Howard. Even as prejudice and ignorance decline, discrimination remains a hurdle.

Scholars Strategy Network:

How New Digital Technologies Make It Possible To Privatize Censorship and Manipulate Citizen-Users, by Rex Troumbley. The consequences of “soft” technologies of control.

How U.S. Higher Education Promotes Inequality—And What Can Be Done To Broaden Access and Graduation, by Suzanne Mettler. Offering concrete ideas for policy change.

A Few from the Community Pages:

• On the Contexts blog, Matthew W. Hughey talks about the whiteness of Award Season, Jessie Ford and Paula England share new data on college sexual assaults, and Josh Page considers the politics and passion behind police unions’ protests.
• Girl w/ Pen‘s Deborah Siegel writes about raising boy/girl twins and Catherine Connell puts her pen to work looking at the pride and professionalism of LGBTQ teachers.
• Nathan Palmer of Sociology Source explains why he thinks sociology needs to be taught differently, but knows he needs to teach it differently.
• Sociological Images sets their sights on Eric Schlosser’s short video on the working conditions of U.S. agriculture; lays out 5 reasons gendered products (while occasionally hilarious) are a real problem; and word use in the State of the Union. Oh, and dog movies? They prove a point by powerfully influencing dog ownership.

Our new book has arrived! We hope you’ll check out Owned, our look at the new sociology of debt.

You know he was a sociology major, right? I’m referring, of course, to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights leader whose legacy we Americans celebrate with a national holiday every year this very day. While I know that sociologists are wont to heroize individuals, I still can’t help but think that we don’t do enough to claim King’s legacy for our field. Its not his scholarship I am thinking of. It is King’s whole way of thinking about society, morality, power, and social change that clearly comes from his engagement with the traditions and theories of our discipline as well as his commitment to social action informed by that knowledge and insight. How to pay tribute and cultivate those connections? Here’s a few ideas:

1. See the motion picture “Selma.” I finally went to see the movie last night with my family. While the portrayal of LBJ’s relationship to King and the Civil Rights movement may not be entirely historically accurate, I felt the film captured the sociological essence of the struggle, tactics, and vision of which King was such a central part. There were also great scenes capturing aspects of the movement that sociologists have been at the forefront of researching and analyzing: organizational dynamics and conflicts; the tensions between instrumental politics and moral imperatives; the role of the media; and the discipline, training, courage, and conviction required for non-violent protest. And I’m no movie critic, but I thought the story-telling and cinematography was powerful. I can’t believe the picture didn’t receive more recognition from the Academy awards crowd.

2. Reflect on Colorblind Dreams and Racial Realities. You’ll probably hear or read some snippet of MLK’s famous “I Have a Dream Speech” today. (If not, here’s one YouTube link to the address.) I think this is the perfect moment for each and every one of us to reflect upon our colorblind ideals and how they stack up against the realities of race in contemporary America–and what kinds of action this may or may not prompt. On our home page today, we’re re-running a piece TSP blogger C.N. Le wrote on race, politics, and colorblindness on MLK day a few years back. Give it a read. You may not agree with all the points, but I bet it will get you thinking in a sociological fashion.

3. Re-read King’s Challenge to Social Scientists. In September 1967 when he was still only 38 years old, King was invited to give a “Distinguished Address” at the American Psychological Association’s annual conference in Washington, DC. The full text of his speech, which didn’t appear until after his shocking assassination, can be found here. The first part of the speech is a poignant reminder of the nature and urgency of culture and society in the late 1960s. However, what I find most provocative and inspirational is the last part where King suggests that social scientists–whom he addresses as “concerned friends of good will”–can make their greatest contribution to transforming society simply by “tell(ing) it like it is.”

To close out the week of “Best ofs,” here are some 2014 faves from Sociology Lens:

1. “Goffman and the Web” Isigiura
2. “Old Enough to Know Better: The Decline of Deviance in the Young” Roger Tyers
3. “Valentine’s Day and the Sociological Power of Love” Scarlett Brown

They’ve got pens (and keyboards), and they’re not afraid to use them! Here are a few of our favorites from TSP’s community page Girl w/ Pen! in 2014:

1. “Violence and Masculinity Threat,” Tristan Bridges and CJ Pascoe
2. “Hookups: Commuters Who Don’t, Women Who Do,” Virginia Rutter
3. “Life Goal: Make My Dad a Hard Core Feminist,” Karlyn Crowley

Continuing to roll out our choices for the Best of 2014 on TSP, today we’re highlighting the best of the Scholars’ Strategy Network:

1. The Downsides of Excluding Millions of Immigrants from Health Reform, by Heide Castañeda.
2. How Better U.S. Food Policies Could Foster Improved Health, Safer Jobs, and a More Sustainable Environment, by Nicholas Freudenberg.
3. How “Gentrification” in American Cities Maintains Racial Inequality and Segregation, by Jackelyn Hwang.

SocImages continued to #breaktheinternet harder than any Kardashian could hope in 2014. Here are a few of the biggest stories that should make it into your afternoon reading:

1. #InstagrammingAfrica: The Narcissism of Global Voluntourism. Lauren Kascak and Sayantani DasGupta.
2. When Force Is Hardest to Justify, Victims of Police Violence Are Most Likely to Be Black. Lisa Wade.
3. How to Change the World, One Shrug at a Time. Lisa Wade.

Ta-da! Again, through no scientific process—unless you count some triangulation of popularity per Google Analytics, being published in 2014, and home office favorite-choosing as “science”—here are our choices for the best of Cyborgology, 2014:

1. What Was Ello? Nathan Jurgenson
2. Causes and Consequences of the Duckface. Jenny Davis.
3. An Attempt at a Precise & Substantive Definition of “Neoliberalism” (Plus Some Thoughts on Algorithms). Robin James.

Oh, it’s time! Since we last checked in, TSP has been abuzz, taking on topics from the sociology of protest photos to the construction of consent, how to best build a diverse coalition, and the glorious launch of our latest podcast, “Give Methods a Chance”! Here’s the news you need to know (and some stuff that’s just plain interesting):

Features:

“The Social Construction of Consent,” by Jill D. Weinberg. You can’t get to “yes” without first asking a question.

“Between Protestors and Police: How a Photojournalist Got ‘The Shot’,” by Josh Page. Oakland photographer Noah Berger talks exclusively to TSP about catching a shot that went viral. Related: “‘I Can Breathe’ and the Occasional Fear of Photographing Protest,” by Steven W. Thrasher on the Contexts blog. more...

The Council on Contemporary Families is TSP’s newest partner, but they’re already knocking it out of the park with great information and straightforward facts on American families today. Here are three of their biggest hits from 2014:

1) “Homesick Kids and Helicopter Parents,” by Susan Matt. Lately there’s been a lot of talk about the “boomerang generation,” so coddled by their hovering parents as kids that they are practically destined to come back home, a soft, unprepared generation not yet ready for adulthood. Weber State University historian Susan Matt checks the facts.

2) “In School, Good Looks Help and Good Looks Hurt (But They Mostly Help),” by Rachel A. Gordon and Robert Crosnoe. Picking up on the authors Wiley-Blackwell monograph, this article takes a second look at good looks, finding another form of inequality.

3) “Really? Work Lowers People’s Stress Levels,” by Sarah Damaske. The author of For the Family?, Damaske steps back to explain a consistent finding: people who work have better mental and physical health than their non-working peers, and the news is even better for women (how often does a sociologist get to say that?).

To continue honoring the best and most widely disseminated posts on TSP in 2014, we’re moving first into our partner sites. Here are the thought-provoking blockbusters from the editors of Contexts Magazine, the public outreach journal of the American Sociological Society, hosted here online at TSP:

1) “‘I Can Breathe’: The Occasional Fear of Covering Protests,” by Steven Thrasher. A Contexts board member, Thrasher is a professional journalist and photographer with a sociological lens like no other.

2) “Contexts Quicklit: 11 Recent Sociological Findings on Race and the Criminal Justice System,” by Lucia Lykke. University of Maryland grad student Lykke gives a rundown of some of the important numbers for placing today’s widespread protests in, well, context.

3) “Sociology’s Irrelevance in the News,” by Syed Ali. Co-editor Ali largely agrees with Orlando Patterson that sociology, as a discipline, has excused itself from much of the news and offers way to get back in the mix.