Friday Roundup

Features:

“Deep Play and Flying Rats, with Colin Jerolmack,” by Kyle Green. The contingent relationships between people and pigeons. Oh, and the Million Dollar Pigeon Race.

Citings & Sightings:

“Colbert: If Hispanics Identify as White, GOP’s Alright,” by Kat Albrecht. In a recent wørd segment, the Colbert Report highlighted sociological research on changing racial identifications.

There’s Research on That!

“Why Students Don’t Sweat Sweatshops,” by Jacqui Frost. Remember the uproar over sweatshop labor that led to the rise of brands like American Apparel? Why hasn’t it taken hold with similar reports about today’s iPhones, Nikes, and other items? more...

Features:

“Coded Chaos and Anonymous, with Gabriella Coleman,” by Kyle Green. Anonymous and the contested space of the Internet.

Citings & Sightings:

“Under God or Over It? New Data on Religion and Politics,” by Evan Stewart. Americans are now slightly more trusting of atheists, but they’re still not rushing to elect one.

“Can a Rise in Rape Reports Be Good?” by Molly Goin. Unlike other crime numbers, when rape stats go up, it might mean a city’s doing something right.

There’s Research on That!

“Mass Shootings and the ‘Man’ifesto,” by Evan Stewart. “Mass shootings are rare, but the culture that creates them is not.” more...

Semesters come and go, but The Society Pages, much like the rest of society, keeps on keeping on, summer, spring, winter, or fall. Last week we finished up delivering the content for our next TSP volume (Owned, a look at the new sociology of debt), this week we’ll have our editorial “Retreat to Move Forward” (h/t “30 Rock,” though without the Six Sigma), and next week we’ll deliver the content for the fifth TSP volume, a culture reader. Last week also saw the arrival of the latest issue of the ASA’s Contexts magazine, with all content available online for free for the first time ever. Like anyone, when we’re mired in this much work, it’s often hard to see the milestones as true achievements or notice the big picture project that’s getting accomplished day by day. To that end, let me be the first to say congratulations to The Society Pages on its first five books, its first two years, and its tremendous achievements in using sociology to contextualize the news.

Contexts Magazine:

Spring 2014 includes “The Terrorists Next Door,” “Little Free Libraries,” Ruling Out Rape,” and “Working Class Growing Pains,” among much other great scholarship. Click through to read and share the full issue!

There’s Research on That!

“Mass Shootings and the ‘Man’ifesto,” by Evan Stewart. “Mass shootings are rare, but the culture that creates them is not.”

“How to Give Birth the ‘Right’ Way,” by Jacqui Frost. On the medicalization of childbirth, safety, and social control. more...

What’s new at “online sociology’s place to be” (yes, someone great said that about TSP; yes, we’re still proud).

Roundtable:

“The Enduring Effects of Online Mugshots,” by Sarah Lageson. We look to Danielle Dirks, Travis Linneman, Naomi Sugie, and Kate West to talk privacy and information in the age of the viral mugshot. No, we did not check to see if they have online mugshots.

There’s Research on That!

“#BringBackOurGirls Needs More than a Media Boost,” by Molly Goin. Slacktivists can still put a spotlight on an issue, but the international community has to rely on hostage-taking data for more concrete action.

“Michael Sam, Sport, and Sexuality,” by Stephen Suh. Even in professional contact sports, sexuality’s taking a backseat to talent. OR: That time ESPN reporters saw an interracial gay kiss live on camera and commented only on the excitement of athletes’ families. more...

In which a commenter uses the excellent phrase “The Oppression Olympics,” photographs challenge our understanding of things like what an execution or a fetus “is,” and we learn how blind people conceptualize race and fashion people conceptualize time. Somewhere in there, we found the time to throw a big ol’ party. Nice work, TSP!

Features:

“All Together, Now: Producing Fashion at the Global Level,” by Claudio E. Benzecry. Following the globalized production of a shoe gives us a glimpse into the timetables that get us fast fashion and fresh fish.

Office Hours:

“Osagie Obosagie on Race and (Color)Blindness,” with Sarah Lageson. Fascinating research helps us see different aspects of social and legal discrimination.

“Lane Kenworthy on Inequality and Social Policy,” with Evan Stewart. What social scientists can do to contribute to political debates and help raise equality.

The Editors’ Desk:

“History, Race, and the NBA,” by Doug Hartmann. Is the NBA just a *touch* too proud of itself for doing the right thing? more...

Cinco de Mayo should bring about excitement, as should “May the Fourth Be with You” and May Day, for that matter. But around here, they’re signaling the winding down of a semester and the ramping up of all those projects shunted aside when professors and students are too busy in classrooms to tie up the loose ends on their dissertations and articles and books (oh my!). The good news is that this brings a bumper crop of great material for TSP, too, and we have lots of great articles coming your way in the next few weeks—so long as we manage to get our next two book manuscripts to press! In the meantime, here’s what’s going on across our (luckily) vast site.

The Editors’ Desk:

“Donald Sterling Sociology,” by Doug Hartmann. “I still have no idea how this guy was set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the NAACP in L.A.” more...

Pretense: Dropped.

That’s right, we’re just going with it. I sometimes don’t have time to do the Roundup on Fridays, but I know you, the adoring TSP public, need to know! Hence, most likely the Friday Roundup will continue on Mondays for a bit, but hey, sometimes I’ll mix it up. Isn’t that what good Internetz users do? Wait. I’ve gotta go check with the hip kids…

Here’s what’s happened on TSP in the last week!

Brilliance: Also Dropped.

Features:

“Music and the Quest for a Tribe, with Jenn Lena,” by Sarah Lageson. From rockabilly kids to dubsteppers and punks, finding our musical tribe can be a key part of creating identity. more...

Sometimes, it turns out to be Monday.

But there’s still great stuff to read from last week!

Office Hours:

“Matt Wray on the ‘Suicide Belt’,” with Scott DeMuth. A podcast on the wide swath of the Western U.S. where suicides cluster.

There’s Research on That:

“On Heartbleed and Hackers,” by Evan Stewart. What sociologists know about the subcultures and criminal habitus of the hacker.

Citings & Sightings:

“Young Girls Consider Sexual Violence Normal,” by Kat Albrecht. #EverydaySexism in full effect. more...

A tag-cloud for this week’s roundup might be astounding and jarring, since it runs the gamut from candy and cohabitation to affirmative action revision, diversity trends among the powerful, community health centers in Texas, and 20 years of remembrance in Rwanda. Herewith: what we’ve been up to this week.

Features:

“Trends at the Top: The New CEOs Revisited,” by Richie Zweigenhaft and Bill Domhoff. A look at who’s sitting in the corner office—or just outside it, nose pressed to the glass—reveals a new trend in diversity.

“How Recent Immigration Complicates Our Racial Justice Policies,” by Asad L. Asad. Should affirmative action be reformed to include newer, but still marginalized, groups within the U.S.?

Office Hours:

“Samira Kawash on Candy,” with Kyle Green. The self-proclaimed @candyprofessor joins us for a look at the rise and fall and rise and fall—oh god, is this a sugar high?—of candy’s rep in American culture. more...

What’s up with what’s up on The Society Pages this week:

Features:

“Health, Science, and Shared Disparities with Brian Southwell,” by Sarah Lageson. Social networks may be great for getting the word out, but that’s highly dependent on the network. more...