Friday Roundup

Hello hello! This week we have a slew of great new stuff on a wide array of current events, including diversity at the Oscars, environmental inequality in Flint, and working family policies across the country. Be sure to stop by or see below for more!

The Editors’ Desk:

“Religion and U.S. Elections: #TSP Politics.” This week, we highlight a classic white paper from our Politics volume by Joe Gerteis on the ties between religion and political power.

There’s Research on That!:

“There’s Something in the Water,” by Sarah Catherine Billups and Caty Taborda. Sociological research shows how the Flint water crisis is no fluke. more...

Good morning! As we head into the Nevada caucuses this weekend and next week, TSP has a host of great research coverage on current political issues. Check out our politics page for more!

The Editors’ Desk:

“Beyonce is Black: Did You Know?” Whaaaaat? Doug Hartmann looks at the sociology behind SNL’s latest.

“Racial Minority Presidential Candidates: #TSPpolitics.” Our first volume, The Social Side of Politics, sheds light on the 2016 primaries.

There’s Research on That!:

“How ‘Banning the Box’ Helps in Offender Reentry.” With bipartisan support for criminal justice reform brewing, Amber Joy Powell looks at research on why “Ban the Box” may work.

“Rape as a Weapon of War” by Miray Philips. Research shows how sexual violence is also a social force.

Discoveries:

“Gasland and Anti-Fracking Movements” by Jack Delehanty. New research highlights how a documentary can mobilize the masses.

Clippings:

“Coates: Poverty Is a Black and White Issue” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Work from Patrick Sharkey, Robert Sampson, and others shows how poverty works different across racial groups.

“A Potential Dark Side to Iran’s ‘White Marriages’” by Allison Nobles. As marriage norms change worldwide, Payvand and the BBC look at the costs and benefits of cohabitation in places like Iran.

From Our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network:

Contexts:

“Online Dating Choices, Constrained” by Joanna Pepin. New research from Jennifer Lundquist and Ken-Hou Lin looks at racial preferences in online dating across sexualities.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

• Cyborgology on Apple’s encryption fight with the U.S. Government
• ThickCulture on this year’s strange soccer season 
• Education and Society looks at how Color-Blind Classrooms Socialize Students to Disregard History

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Happy February and happy Friday, everyone!  From family leave policy to the facts behind the latest Netflix drama, we have a feast of new sociology to kick off your weekend.

The Editors’ Desk:

“Sociologists Writing and Being Read.” Doug Hartmann looks at public sociology in The New Yorker and The Atlantic this week.

There’s Research on That!

“Un-Making a Murderer Still Leaves a Mark.” While we all start armchair law school with Netflix’s Making a Murderer, Ryan Larson looks at the social science of exoneration.

Discoveries:

“Bilingual Benefits Vary by Gender” by Allison Nobles. New research from Jennifer C. Lee and Sarah J. Hatteberg shows how the stigma of speaking Spanish affects Latino men and Latina women differently.

Clippings:

“Policies to Support Working Parents” by Amber Powell. Michael Kimmel writes in Fast Company about how corporations can live out their “family first” ideals.

Give Methods a Chance:

C.J. Pascoe on Ethnographic Research. This week’s podcast discusses the joys of being an ethnographer, the difficulties of accessing youth culture, and how entering a school allowed a more nuanced understanding of contemporary masculinity.

From Our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network:

“The Downside of Urban Growth By Undemocratic Means.” Michael Peter Smith shows how cities turn to private boards to fix their infrastructure, and how this can undermine voters’ voices.

Contexts:

“A Gap Between Soc Classrooms and the Field.“Andrew Lindner looks at a gap in teaching and research citations that shows we may not always practice what we preach.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

• Families as They Really Are says Americans put too much weight in romantic love.
• Feminist Reflections looks at bringing theatre into the sociology classroom.

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Good morning! This week at TSP we extend a hearty welcome to Sociology Toolbox—a new community page courtesy of Todd Beer at Lake Forest College. Check it out and have a look at what else we’ve been up to below!

The Editors’ Desk

There’s Research on That!:

“AirBnb’s Anti-Black Problem” by Aisha Upton. Research shows how the popular app fits into a long history of racialized housing discrimination.

“Incarcerated Women in a Double Bind” by Allison Nobles. The U.S. criminal justice system made a big shift from rehabilitation to “tough on crime” in the last 40 years, but it looks like women still get the worst of both worlds.

Discoveries:

Give Methods a Chance:

The team is back for the new year and talking through research with discussion groups with Alejandro Baer.

From Our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network:

And a Few from our Community Pages:

• The new Sociology Toolbox breaks down the data on police killings and race.
• Feminist Reflections scrapes movie websites to look at inequality in Hollywood.
• Cyborgology offers a critical take on big data that raises big questions about what we research and why.

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Hello again everyone! This week we have a roundup of both classic older pieces and some great new ones. See below for sociological insights into everything from lottery tickets, to MLK day, to racial diversity on TV.

Clippings:

“Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.” by Hollie Nyseth Brehm. On Monday, Americans will celebrate the life of MLK, Jr., but this classic Clipping explains how the ways MLK is remembered and celebrated are often contested.

Discoveries:

“Talking Trash: High-Status Explanations for Watching Low-Brow TV,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. It’s awards season, meaning that many of us are reflecting on the movies and TV shows, both good and bad, we watched over the last year. This piece from last year might help you defend some of your choices…

There’s Research on That!:

“Back in Living Color? Diversity on TV,” by Stephen Suh. Awards season also all too often reveals the underlying racial and gender dynamics that play out in the entertainment industry. Check out this great piece for research on racial diversity in American television.

From Our Partners:

Contexts:

“Before You Buy Your Lottery Ticket, Consider This,” by Kasey Henricks.

“Who Thinks Sex with Same-Sex Partners is ‘Wrong’?” by Jessie Ford and Paula England.

“Suicide’s Gender Divide,” by Lucia Lykke.

Also, check out Context’s first “Ask a Sociologist,” with Jennifer Lee.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“How to Break America’s Logjam on Guns and Gun Violence,” by Philip J. Cook and Kristin Goss.

And a Few from our Community Pages:

• Feminist Reflections reflects on women’s graffiti and men’s grooming.
• Sociological Lens reviews Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men.
• Cyborgology talks robocalls, algorithmic writing, and the radical promise of the rustbelt.

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Hello again everyone and Happy New Year! We are slowly easing into the new year with a roundup of all the TSP posts that were voted Best of 2015, along with a few new pieces from our community pages that might pique your interest.

Best of 2015!

Best TROT!: “Is #MasculinitySoFragile?” by Allison Nobles and Aisha Upton.

Best Discovery: “The KKK’s Living Legacy,” by Evan Stewart.

Best Office Hours: “David Pellow on Nonhuman Members of the Community,” with Erik Kojola.

Best Clipping: “Women at the Top Find the View Depressing,” by Caty Taborda.

From Our Partners:

Contexts:

“Protest Works,” by Melissa Brown. How social movements can effect social outcomes.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

• Feminist Reflections on family work policies and David Bowie.
• Cyborgology talks Jedi mind tricks, how fashion bias reproduces racism, and why the DNC can shut down a campaign.
• Families As They Really Are corrects assumptions about the correlation between housework and sex.
• Sociological Lens attempts to measure happiness.

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Hello, everyone! As the semester winds down at TSP, we are gearing up to announce our Best Posts Of 2015! Keep an eye on the site around the end of December to see which social science stories made a splash this year. For now, here is a list of the latest to tide us all over.

Clippings:

“What ‘Chi-Raq’ Gets Wrong About Gangs In Chicago” by Eamon Whalen. Jason Harrington talks about the changing social structure of gang violence in the New York Times

From Our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network:

“What Public Housing Officials Can Teach Us about Overcoming Racial Discrimination.” Katherine Levine Einstein shares her surprising research on low rates of racial discrimination in public housing.

Contexts:

“7 things maps tell us about neighborhoods.” Rose Malinowski Weingartner reviews new research mapping everything from grocery stores to gender differences in the way kids travel.

“Unemployment and Well-Being” by Lucia Lykke. New work from Calvo, Mair, and Sarkisian shows how high national unemployment hurts everyone.

“Mumbai Sleeping.” Dhruv Dhawan offers a documentary photo essay on the sociology of sleep.

And A Few From The Community Pages:

• In the wake of anti-immigrant rhetoric, ThickCulture asks how much support an American National Front party would actually get
• Sociological Images looks at race, residence, and which children get asthma.
• Girl w/Pen talks about the real relationship between religion and abortion politics.

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Hello there! The semester may be winding down, but that has not stopped us from producing some great content this week. Come check it out!

There’s Research on That!:

“Corporate Denial of Climate Change Risks,” by Erik Kojola. Research finds that everything from corporate greed to everyday anxieties helps fuels climate change denial.

Discoveries:

“Constrained Classroom Choices,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. “School choice seems to simply reinforce existing gaps: those likely to benefit from school choice are already privileged enough to transfer schools.”

Clippings:

“Can Conservatives Get Climate Change?” by Neeraj Rajasekar.  Riley Dunlap and Aaron McCright talk to The Huffington Post. 

From Our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network:

“Community Environmental Projects as a Gateway to Greater Citizen Participation,” by Dana R. Fisher.

Contexts:

Editors Syed Ali and Phil Cohen preview the new issue in Science and Politics.

But wait – there’s more! Check out two new Viewpoints pieces that feature multiple scholars on the same issue.

“It’s High Time.” Craig Reinarman, Wendy Chapkis, and Jake Browne on legalizing marijuana.

“Black and Blue.” Shehzad Nadeem, Sudhir Venkatesh, Laurence Ralph, Elliott Currie, and Katherine Beckett on police violence.

Also, don’t miss…

“Strike Days for Public Sector Workers in Quebec,” by Avi Goldberg.

“Book Gift Ideas” from the Contexts grad team.

And A Few From The Community Pages:

• Give Methods a Chance talks quantitative data analysis.
• Cyborgology is all about twitter this week – on how its makes us feel bad and the tweetability of Trump.
• Sociological Images looks at wealth inequality and the business of buyouts.
• Sociological Lens on profiting from precarity.

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Hello! It’s TSP. We were wondering if after all these days you’d like to see … our latest coverage of work in sociology!

Discoveries:

“(Re)Locating Recidivism” by Ryan Larson. New research from David S. Kirk shows how natural disasters can also make natural experiments in neighborhood composition.

Office Hours:

“Andrew Perrin on American Political Publics.” Jack Delehanty talks with Andrew Perrin about his new book, American Democracy: From Tocqueville to Town Halls to Twitter.

Clippings:

From Our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network:

“The Roots and Impact of Outrage-Mongering in U.S. Political Opinion Media.” Sarah Sobieraj and Jeffrey M. Berry discuss their research on when and why political media gets mad.

Contexts:

Contexts rolls out the Fall 2015 Table of Contents, free to read for the first month!

“Context is Everything.” Joshua Page talks to New York Times food critic Pete Wells

And a Few From the Community Pages:

• It’s all about the internet this week, with Cyborgology examining white supremacy and Girl w/ Pen looking at masculinity in online spaces.
• Sociological Images talks Millennials and tolerance and brings back the Black Friday posts

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Well, folks, it has been a bit of a rough week here at TSP with bad news abroad and at home. We’re thankful to be here doing what we do, though, and we’re glad to be able to share it with you. Here’s a look at what we were up to on the site this week.

The Editors’ Desk:

“Refugee Realities” Doug Hartmann rounds up work on refugees from across TSP.

There’s Research on That!:

“Dunce Caps and Jump Suits: Discipline and Policing in Schools.” Amber Powell and Ryan Larson look at the research on what happens when we treat students like suspects.

Discoveries:

 Clippings:

From Our Partners:

Scholars Strategy Network:

“How the Privatization of “GED” High School Equivalency Degrees Has Created New Roadblocks for the Poor” by Janet Page-Reeves. Research shows that private education services might turn GEDs to GE-Don’ts.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“What Helps Women Entrepreneurs Flourish?” Sarah Thébaud shows us how good family policy supports entrepreneurs just as much as employees.

Contexts:

“Six Lessons of Suicide Bombers” by Robert J. Brym. A classic Contexts piece re-posted in light of last week’s tragic events in Paris.

“Not a Snowball’s Chance for Science.” Research from Dana R. Fisher, Joseph Waggle, and Lorien Jasny looks at the echo chamber on climate science.

And a Few from the Community Pages:

• Cyborgology on everything from normal terror to Taco Bell.
• Sociology Lens asks big questions about piracy and 3D printing
• Families as they Really Are looks at how we live now

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