Midwest Sociology

Discoveries
Is Calculus Integral?

by Jean Marie Maier

The Tea Party is More Complicated Than You Think

Kristin Haltinner, “Right-Wing Ideologies and Ideological Diversity in the Tea Party,” The Sociological Quarterly, 2018

The Tea Party, a conservative political movement that emerged in 2009 in the United States and exists under the umbrella of the Republican Party, generally opposes excessive taxation and government intervention in the private sector. New research from Kristin Haltinner

How Transracial Adoptees Combat Mistaken Identities

Devon R. Goss, “People’s Heads Do Not Even Go There: Public Perceptions to Transracial Familial Intimacy,” The Sociological Quarterly, 2018 Racial diversity within American families has steadily increased since the mid-20th century. But norms are not changing as quickly as demographics. Individuals still question when children do not look like their caretakers (see Babysitting While […]

Perceptions of Immigrant Illegality

René D. Flores and Ariela Schachter, “Who Are the “Illegals”? The Social Construction of Illegality in the United States,” American Sociological Review, 2018 Recent politics on immigration reflect understandings of citizenship and ideas of what types of groups “belong” in American society. Even if immigrants have legal residency status, they may still be perceived as […]

The TANF Tinkle Test

Eric Bjorklund, Andrew P. Davis, and Jessica Pfaffendorf, “Urine or You’re Out: Racialized Economic Threat and the Determinants of Welfare Drug Testing Policy in the United States, 2009–2015,” The Sociological Quarterly, 2018 For a long time, individuals and organizations have drawn stark lines between the “deserving” and the “undeserving” poor. Over the past 40 years, […]

Xenophobia and Punitive Attitudes

Joseph O. Baker, David Cañarte, and L. Edward Day, “Race, Xenophobia, and Punitiveness Among the American Public,” The Sociological Quarterly, 2018 Social scientists have long considered how negative stereotypes about racial and ethnic minorities relate to Americans’ opinions about state policies, such as social spending, education, and the criminal justice system. Recent research by Joseph […]

"Meet the Midwest!" Seeing "Colorblind Racism" with Dr. Burke

In this issue of “Meet the Midwest!” we spoke with Dr. Meghan Burke from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, IL. We discuss racial attitudes and colorblind racism in this political moment where race is an important driver of partisan, ideological debate. Dr Burke studies racial discourses, structural racism, and the relationships between racial ideologies and…

Spelling Bees to Secure Straight "A's"

Pawan Dhingra, “What Asian Americans Really Care About When They Say They Care About Education,” The Sociological Quarterly, 2018 Research shows that Asian-American immigrants’ children are often successful in school. Some researchers suggest that Asian-Americans’ cultural or religious beliefs drive this success, while others suggest Asian-American immigrants promote their children’s education because many Asian-American parents […]