Roundup

RU021315Not at all spooky, but always “soc-y.”

There’s Research on That!

Justifying Our Love,” by Jacqui Frost. Americans love love, even when it hurts. How have love and culture mingled to create modern “love”? Frost brings research from Eva Illouz, Ann Swidler, Francesca Cancian, and Anthony Giddens.

Vexed by Vaccination Refusals,” by Caty Taborda. Research on distrust of science and vaccinations, as well as network ties that spread medical knowledge—and sometimes skew it along the way.

The Editors’ Desk:

The New Yorker: Champion of Serious Sociology,” by Doug Hartmann. Admiring the work of Kelefa Sanneh, Jill Lepore, and Adam Gopnik, who are all bringing sociology’s big ideas to the Big Apple.

Give Methods a Chance:

Amy Schalet on In-Depth Interviews,” with Kyle Green. A leading sociologist on the methodology behind a time-consuming, but very rewarding, research technique.

Citings & Sightings:

Books Behind Bars: College Courses in Prisons,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Using reading for rehabilitation.

Could Porn Lead to Sex Trafficking?” by Caty Taborda. One researcher argues a correlation between consumption of pornography and demand for sex trafficking.

The Anti-Vaxxer Vote,” by Caty Taborda. Does vaccination refusal break along party lines?

Cheats in Cleats,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. When sports scandals break, are they amplified by public notions of sport as an almost sacred space?

Workplaces May Create Inequalities at Home,” by Caty Taborda. Bringing work home has more than one meaning.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Valentine’s Day Fact Sheet on Healthy Sex,” by Adina Nack.

Scholars Strategy Network:

Schools Adopting Digital Tools Without Evidence that They Boost Student Achievement,” by Patricia Burch, Annalee Good, Caroly J. Heinrich, and Chandi Wagner.

A Few from the Community Pages:

RU020515This week on The Society Pages:

There’s Research on That!

Curbing Police Profiteering,” by Ryan Larson. New policies put the brakes on civil forfeiture. With research from Eric Blumenson, Eva Nilsen, John L. Worrall, and others.

Parents Prepping Kids for Racism,” by Lisa Gulya and Alex Manning. The NYTimes’ Charles Blow and NYC Mayor Bill deBlasio aren’t the only Americans who talk with their kids about expecting and reacting to discrimination. Research from Diane Hughes, Patricia Hill Collins, Cady Berkel, and Stephanie I. Coard.

The Reading List:

The Social Costs of Punishment, from Prisoners to Pupils,” by Jacqui Frost. Brea Perry and Edward Morris show how school suspensions lower all students’ achievement, even those who aren’t suspended.

Citings & Sightings:

2014: When Social Media Changed Sports Culture,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Dave Zirin on public pressures to address concussions and crimes, citing Harry Edwards from UC-Berkeley.

What Doulas Do,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. The social role and medical mediation work of doulas, citing Lisa Hall.

The Political and Cultural Problem of Paid Leave,” by Jack Delahanty. The NYTimes’ Upshot blog looks to Ruth Milkman‘s research on policies for working parents.

Scholars Strategy Network:

Learning about Commonalities Can Improve Student-Teacher Relationships and Boost Achievement,” by Hunter Gehlbach.

Council on Contemporary Families:

The Gender Pay Gap by Race and Ethnicity,” by Sarah Jane Glynn and Jane Ferrell.

A Few from the Community Pages:

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RU013015This week has seen the beginning of the new semester at the University of Minnesota and new additions to our TSP graduate editorial board. Be sure to follow these up-and-comers as they begin to report and shape sociology in the public sphere!

The Editors’ Desk:

Public Criminology and the Social Media Echo Chamber,” by Chris Uggen. How Uggen approaches public appearances and truly translating sociology for different audiences.

There’s Research on That!

Taking Stock of Torture,” by Evan Stewart. When it comes to interrogation techniques, the choice to use torture has little to do with proven outcomes. Stewart looks to research by Randall Collins, Jared Del Rosso, John Hagan, Gabrielle Ferrales, Guillermina Jasso, and Diane Vaughan.

The Reading List:

Active Learning and STEM Success,” by Amy August. New research from Scott Freeman and his colleagues compare the outcomes of teaching techniques, and Nobel Prize winning physicist Carl Wieman says, “Sounds about right.” (I’m paraphrasing here…)

Citings & Sightings:

Trial Hype: The Different Allures of the Tsarnaev and Hernandez Cases,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Northeastern University’s Jack Levin on how trials attract attention in specific ways.

Modeling: A Tough Job at Any Size,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. Sociologist Amanda Czerniawski has walked a mile—or at least a runway—in those shoes.

A Sociology of Celebrity Sanctions,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. UT-Austin prof Ari Adut chimes in on when corporate interests start taking an interest in celebrity crimes.

Women at the Top Find the View Depressing,” by Caty Taborda. Tetyana Pudrovska shares findings from her research on highly successful women.

Twitter Tension?” by Sarah Catherine Billups. When it comes to social media, it’s not all bad news, says sociologist Dhiraj Murthy in Smithsonian Magazine.

Give Methods a Chance Podcast:

David Knoke on Network Analysis,” with Sarah Esther Lageson.

Scholars Strategy Network:

Targeting Muslims in the Name of National Security,” by Saher Selod.

Council on Contemporary Families:

Child-Rearing Norms and Practices in Contemporary American Families,” by Sandra Hofferth.

The Youth and Beauty Mystique: Its Costs for Women and Men,” by Stephanie Coontz.

A Few from the Community Pages:

Our Latest Book!

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The Last Roundup!

RU012215 tintedWhat’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:

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

Ru011215Oh, 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...

RU120214Without fail, the world keeps moving, and, as we like to say here at TSP, “We will do sociology to it.” Here’s how we’ve been putting those sociological imaginations to work since the last Roundup!

Features:

“Racism Retriggered,” by Jennifer D. Carlson. How disproportionate contact with the criminal justice system translates to fewer concealed pistol licenses being issued to African Americans.

The Editors’ Desk:

Race and the Regulation of Voting,” by Doug Hartmann. When co-editor Chris Uggen’s research informs the NYTimes, Doug’s on the case.

Ferguson, the Morning After,” by Doug Hartmann. When facts feel futile.

Ferguson and Football,” by Doug Hartmann. The St. Louis Rams’ “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” entry to their Sunday Football game brings up sport and political protest, as well as the formal and informal policing of black men’s bodies.

There’s Research on That!:

Volunteer Work: Getting the Gift to Keep on Giving,” by Jacqui Frost. You really shouldn’t swing a turkey, but if you did…

Veterans’ Day and the Challenges of Civilian Life,” by Evan Stewart. Research on soldiers’ reintegration after service, from social benefits to institutional challenges. more...

RU111014And here we thought it was just impolite to point at others… Since the last roundup, we weathered #pointergate, talked about bodies, learned that heterosexual marriages really are getting more egalitarian, and chatted up Michael Burawoy, that pioneering public sociologist. Binge read or save for the week, all we ask is that you share. TSP is free and accessible, and we want the whole world to put on their SocGoggles!

Features:

Troubling Bodies with Natalie Boero, C.J. Pascoe, and Abigail Saguy,” by Kyle Green. Too fat, too thin, unhealthy, brawny, boney, slutty, boyish, zaftig, and puny. Our societies have a lot to say about bodies; sociologists have a few comments of their own.

There’s Research on That!

#pointergate, Moral Panic, and Online Protest,” by Jack Delahanty. Media goes for sensationalism and social media allows marginalized groups to have bigger voices. Somewhere in the middle, a Minneapolis police group got the “outrage” they wanted and a backlash they didn’t expect.

Harassment Online and On the Street,” by Evan Stewart. Bullying, cat-calling, and the policing of norms and hierarchies—how discrimination and power combine in routine harassment. more...

RU102714Ooh, it’s almost Halloween! That means it’s time to for a few classics, including the annual holiday roundup from Sociological Images. Here’s what we’ve been up to this week:

Office Hours Podcasts:

Michael Burawoy on Global Social Movements,” with Matt Gunther.

There’s Research on That!

Gender Pay Gaps: The Silicon Ceiling?” by Anne Kaduk.

Citings & Sightings:

NFL’s Domestic Abuse Prevention Team Drafts Sociologist Beth Richie,” by Amy August.

Scholars Strategy Network:

How To Increase Voter Turnout in Communities Where People Have Not Usually Participated in Elections,” by Melissa R. Michelson.

Teaching TSP:

Politics and Power, A Classroom Exercise.” Related, “Power, Sociologically Speaking,” by Vincent J. Roscigno.

A Few from The Community Pages:

Last Week’s Roundup

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Ru102214A week’s worth of sociology, at your fingertips! It must be the future.

Features:

‘Technological Optimism’: Egg-Freezing a Better Deal for Companies than for Women,” by Rene Almeling, Joanna Radin, and Sarah S. Richardson.

Teaching TSP:

Desistance and Reentry: An activity for the LCD classroom.”

Citings & Sightings:

Ebola Scares: When Panic is a Pathogen,” by Evan Stewart.

Pushing Secret Service Director Off the Glass Cliff?” by Matt Gunther.

There’s Research on That!

Tax Haven Mavens,” Erik Kojola.

Tactical Textbooks: The Politics of Teaching History,” by Jack Delahanty.

Linking Up with New Social Networks,” by Evan Stewart. more...

RU101414Just a taste of what we’ve been cooking up at The Society Pages!

In Case You Missed It:

Same-Sex, Different Attitudes,” by Kathy Hull. With the recent SCOTUS demurral, it’s worth a look at the lightning fast change in Americans’ approval of same-sex marriage; this article is just six months old, and the numbers have already shifted.

Roundtables:

Re-evaluating the ‘Culture of Poverty’ with Mark Gould, Kaaryn Gustafson, and Mario Luis Small,” by Stephen Suh and Kia Heise. Sixties-era rhetoric still affects black Americans.

There’s Research on That!

Fast Food Strikes Bring Everyone to the Table,” by Erik Kojola.

Think Fast: Policing, Race, and Implicit Bias,” by Richie Lenne.

Falling Poverty Rates Leave US Hungry for More,” by Jacqui Frost.

Growing and Granting Genius,” by Evan Stewart.

Rockefellers Less Loyal to Oil,” by Erik Kojola.

Atheist Church: A Predictable Paradox,” by Jacqui Frost.

Back in Living Color? Diversity on TV,” by Stephen Suh. more...