health

A military cemetery. Photo by Pixabay under Pexels license.

Memorial Day Shout Out to the Silent Ranks from Sociological Images on Memorial Day and the significance of how the mothers of U.S. service members during the war on terrorism, who, along with other family members, form the “silent ranks” providing crucial homefront support despite the largely gendered expectations and limited recognition they receive.

Shifting Memories and Meanings of Pearl Harbor by Jillian LaBranche writes on how iconic events like Pearl Harbor shape American identity and understanding of current events, with collective memories constructed and evolving through social institutions and contemporary interests.

Indirect Effects of Combat on Veterans’ Health by Allison Nobles on research by Jason Schnittker, looking into the new policy on how Veterans Affairs now lets veterans seek non-VA care to reduce long wait times. Research shows veterans’ poor health is more linked to difficulties in civilian life, social relationships, and smoking than direct combat injuries or PTSD, highlighting the need for comprehensive support.

The Marks of War by Letta Page covers the work of Jason Deitch, a UC-Berkeley PhD and veteran, who collaborated with the California State Library and others on the “War Ink” project, interviewing tattooed veterans to share their stories and emotions through their tattoos, aiming to bridge the gap between veterans and their communities and reduce their isolation.

A Black woman walking on a sidewalk. Photo by Ono Kosuki under Pexels license.

Black History Month was expanded in 1976 upon the historical precedence of “Negro History Week” in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, the second Black American to receive a Ph.D. from Havard (with the first Black American being W.E.B. Du Bois). In honor of Black History Month, here are a few pieces from The Society Pages and our partners over the last year:

Contexts

• Black Sociology: A Primer by Melissa C. Brown covers the history, key figures, and evolution of Black Sociology. 
• The Struggle for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Memory by Hajar Yazdiha on her new book on political misappropriations of Dr. King’s memory and legacy.
• Intensive Motherwork: Racism and Black Women’s Mothering by Mia Brantley on her recent study on the stories of Black mothers and their experiences of racism while mothering.

Council on Contemporary Families

• The Burdens of Mothering for Black Women by Mia Brantley on her research with mothers on their children’s experiences of anti-Black racism. 
• *No more in the Shadows: Race, Family Structure, and Black Families by Deadric T. Williams and Virginia Rutter writes on family structure and race. 

The Society Pages

• Rethinking the Rooney Rule: The NFL’s Commitment to Failing Black Coaches by Nadia Jackson-Fitch on the NFL’s diversity rule for interviewing and hiring coaches. 
• Black Interim Head Coaches in the NFL by Marissa Kiss, Earl Smith, and Angela J. Hattery on racism and the hiring of Black NFL coaches.  
• Separate, Unequal, and Denied: The Double Discrimination of Black Disabled Students by Eleanor Nickel on the effects of race and ability being discriminated against in primary and secondary schools.
• A TSP classic by Amber Powell and Caity Curry on some early Black Women’s contributions to sociology.
• And lastly another piece by Amber Powell on colorism and division among Black women.

Two people wearing jeans and white T-shirts holding hands. Photo by cottonbro studios from Pexels under Pexels license.

Here are some recent pieces on love, relationships, dating expectations, and more on Valentine’s Day from us and our partners.

• what the golden bachelor gets right about older adult dating by Lauren Harris on ABC’s The Golden Bachelor and older adult dating.
• Roses are Red, Violets are Blue: Online Dating May Have a Gendered View by Nicole Schmitgen on a recent study by Lauren Harris on dating sites and older adults.
• Love Behind Bars by Isabel Arriagada writes up how people who are incarcerated and their loved ones face challenges within their relationships.
• National Spouses Day is Next Week…. Feeling Any Pressure? A Fact Sheet on Prospects for Marriage in Contemporary America by Daniel Carlson and Stephanie Coontz have some great statistics to refer to at Valentine’s Day Dinner tonight.
• Visual Soc: Mining Love by Isabel Arriagada and Jillian LaBranche explains some of the complexities of increased diamond sales during this time of year.
• Celebrating Valentine’s Day in Japan by Gwen Sharp explores the reversed gendered expectations in Japan (I pointed this out to my partner).
• Hoping for a Valentine’s Day date? Stop waiting to be asked! by Shannon Cavanagh covers some research on initiating contact of potential suitors.
• Gender, Bodies, and the Valentine’s Day Script by Isabel Arriagada and Allison Nobles on media-fueled expectations of how a Valentine’s Day should go down.
• Happy Valentine’s Day, Sociology Lovers! by Lisa Wade compiles posts from Valentine’s Day past.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all our new and old readers from TSP!

A large city at night, with colorful lights illuminating the cityscape. Photo by Wolfram from Pexels under Pexels license.

From Hollywood actors to community activists and literary writers, Asian Americans have been gaining increasing visibility on public platforms. However, given that Asian Americans come from over 20 ethnic and national groups, there is variety and diversity in history, language, culture, and experience that the umbrella term “Asian American” cannot encompass. Over time, in fact, Asian Americans have been lumped into a monolithic culture and stereotypes typically associated with East Asians, erasing the diversity that is a crucial part of Asian America. 

What does it mean to be “Asian American” in the United States? How are Asian Americans defying, redefining, and embracing this ambiguous and monolithic label? 

Immigration and Asian Americans

Asian Americans and their immigration to the United States have always been an important part of the history of the United States. Ethnic groups like Chinese and Japanese Americans have been around since the gold rush and sugarcane fields of Hawaii respectively. Other groups, especially Southeast Asian refugees, came to the United States as a result of colonialism and war. It is important to acknowledge how these different histories compose and have shaped Asian American identities, cultures, and communities.

• Lee, Erika. 2015. “A Part and Apart: Asian American and Immigration History.” Journal of American Ethnic History 34(4):28–42. 
• Lee, Erika. 2016. The Making of Asian America: A History. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Panethnicity

Panethnicity refers to any collective identity built across ethnic boundaries and differences (Okamoto and Mora 2014). For Asian Americans, panethnicity was created as a political identity for activism and solidarity among Asian-origin peoples in the face of a deeply racialized United States. In more recent decades, “Asian American” has become an identity for Asian Americans to share in panethnic cultural histories, activities, and media. However, it has also become an identity forced upon Asian-origin peoples, where entities like the government group all Asian-origin ethnicities under this broad umbrella term to distinguish them from both White people and other people of color.

• Lee, Jess. 2019. “Many dimensions of Asian American pan‐ethnicity.” Sociology Compass 13(12). 

• Nakano, Dana Y. 2013. “An interlocking panethnicity: The negotiation of multiple identities among Asian American social movement leaders.” Sociological Perspectives 56(4):569-595.

• Okamoto, Dina G. 2014. Redefining race: Asian American panethnicity and shifting ethnic boundaries. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

• Okamoto, Dina, and G. Cristina Mora. 2014. “Panethnicity.” Annual Review of Sociology 40:219-239.Espiritu, Yen Le. 1992. Asian American panethnicity: Bridging institutions and identities. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

The Monolithic “Asian American” – Commonalities and Variations

In recent decades, “Asian American” as a panethnic category has also become a point of contention for people who are categorized and racialized as such. Many ethnic groups, like South Asian ethnic groups, feel unrepresented in an umbrella category that seems to predominantly reflect East Asian culture, values, experiences, and socio-cultural status. An example of this is the “model minority” stereotype, which upholds Asian Americans as hard-working and high achieving in comparison to other racial minority groups, and yet still inferior and a threat to White people (Kim 1999). However, the model minority is often in reference to East Asians (although depending on the context this can also include Asian Indians and Vietnamese), ignoring the disparities many Asian Americans like South and Southeast Asians experience.

As a result, there have been calls to disaggregate, or break down, Asian Americans by ethnic groups because of how this monolithic racial label camouflages the vast differences and inequities between Asian American groups. Examples include the income gaps between groups like Chinese Americans and Nepalese Americans, and even within ethnic groups, like Chinese Americans, there are vastly different and unequal experiences. 

• Kibria, Nadia. 1998. “The contested meanings of ‘Asian American’: Racial dilemmas in the contemporary US.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 21(5), 939-958.
• Lee, Jennifer, and Karthick Ramakrishnan. 2020. “Who counts as Asian.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 43(10):1733-1756.
• Tsuda, Takeyuki. 2022. “I Don’t Feel Very Asian American”: Why Aren’t Japanese Americans More Panethnic?” Sociological Inquiry 92: 919-942. 
• Yamashita, Liann. 2022. ““I just couldn’t relate to that Asian American narrative”: How Southeast Asian Americans reconsider panethnicity.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 8(2):250-266

Xenophobia and Anti-Asian Racism

Asian Americans continue to face xenophobic sentiments in a country where, no matter who is included or how long their family has been in the US, they are treated as foreigners (Tuan 1998). Even when praised as “model minorities” who “made it” compared to other minority groups, this valorized position can quickly crumble beneath them. The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of anti-Asian hate that followed is an example of Asian Americans’ tenuous position in the racialized hierarchy of the United States. 

• Kim, Claire Jean. 1999. “The Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans.” Politics & Society 27(1):105-138. 
• Kim, Nadia. 2007. “Asian Americans’ experiences of “race” and racism.” In Handbooks of the Sociology of Racial and Ethnic Relations, pp. 131-144. Boston, MA: Springer US.
• Tessler, Hannah, Meera Choi, and Grace Kao. 2020. “The anxiety of being Asian American: Hate crimes and negative biases during the COVID-19 pandemic.” American Journal of Criminal Justice 45:636-646.
• Tuan, Mia. 1998. Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites? The Asian Ethnic Experience Today. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 

Originally published March 30, 2022.

Today “help wanted” signs are commonplace; restaurants, shops, and cafes have temporarily closed or have cut back on hours due to staffing shortages. “Nobody wants to work,” the message goes. Some businesses now offer higher wages, benefits, and other incentives to draw in low-wage workers. All the same, “the great resignation” has been met with alarm across the country, from the halls of Congress to the ivory tower.

In America, where work is seen as virtuous, widespread resignations are certainly surprising.  How does so many are walking away from their jobs differ from what we’ve observed in the past, particularly in terms of frustrations about labor instability, declining benefits, and job insecurity? Sociological research on work, precarity, expectations, and emotions provides cultural context on the specificity and significance of “the great resignation.”

Individualism and Work

The importance of individualism in American culture is clear in the workplace. Unlike after World War II, when strong labor unions and a broad safety net ensured reliable work and ample benefits (for mostly white workers), instability and precarity are hallmarks of today’s workplace. A pro-work, individualist ethos values individual’s flexibility, adaptability, and “hustle.” When workers are laid off due to shifting market forces and the profit motives of corporate executives, workers internalize the blame. Instead of blaming executives for prioritizing stock prices over workers, or organizing to demand more job security, the cultural emphasis on individual responsibility encourages workers to devote their energy into improving themselves and making themselves more attractive for the jobs that are available.

• Robert N. Bellah. 1985. “The Pursuit of Happiness” and “Culture and Conversation: The Historical.” Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Richard Sennett. 2000. The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
• Lester Spence. 2015. Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics. Brooklyn, NY: Punctum Books.

Expectations and Experiences

For many, the pandemic offered a brief glimpse into a different world of work with healthier work-life balance and temporary (if meaningful) government assistance. Why and how have American workers come to expect unpredictable work conditions and meager benefits? The bipartisan, neoliberal consensus that took hold in the latter part of the twentieth century saw a reduction in government intervention into the social sphere. At the same time, a bipartisan pro-business political agenda reshaped how workers thought of themselves and their employers. Workers became individualistic actors or “companies of one” who looked out for themselves and their own interests instead of fighting for improved conditions. Today’s “precariat” – the broad class of workers facing unstable and precarious work – weather instability by expecting little from employers or the government while demanding more of themselves.

• Wendy Brown. 2017. Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution. Princeton, NJ: Zone Books.
• Carrie M. Lane. 2011. A Company of One Insecurity, Independence, and the New World of White-Collar Unemployment. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
• Devika Narayan. 2022. “Manufacturing Managerial Compliance: How Firms Align Managers With Corporate Interest. Work, Employment & Society, Forthcoming. 
• Guy Standing. 2011. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. London: Bloomsbury Press.

Generational Changes

Researchers have identified generational differences in expectations of work. Survey data shows that Baby Boomers experience greater difficulty with workplace instability and the emerging individualist ethos. On the other hand, younger generations – more accustomed to this precarity – manage the tumult with greater skill. These generational disparities in how insecurity is perceived have real implications for worker well-being and family dynamics.

• Sarah Burgard, Jennie Brand, James House. 2009. “Perceived Job Insecurity and Worker Health in the United States.” Social Science and Medicine 69(5): 777–​785.
• Erin Kelly, Phyllis Moen, J. Michael Oakes, Wen Fan, Cassandra Okechukwu, Kelly Davis. 2014. “Changing Work and Work-​ Family Conflict: Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network.” American Sociological Review 79(3): 485–​516.
• Jack Lam, Phyllis Moen, Shi-Rong Lee, and Orfeu Buxton. 2016. “Boomer and Gen X Managers and Employees at Risk: Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network Study.” Pp. 51-73 in Beyond the Cubicle: Job Insecurity, Intimacy, and the Flexible Self. New York: Oxford University Press.

Emotions

Scholars have also examined the central role emotions play in setting expectations of work and employers, as well as the broad realm of “emotional management” industries that help make uncertainty bearable for workers. Instead of improving workplace conditions for workers, these “emotional management” industries provide “self-care” resources that put the burden of managing the despair and anxiety of employment uncertainty on employees themselves, rather than companies.

• Barbara Ehrenreich. 2010. Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World. London: Granta Books.
• Eva Illouz. Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism. 2007. Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA: Polity.

Mother’s day is a good opportunity to surprise your mom with breakfast in bed, flowers, or a gift. It’s also a good opportunity to reflect on the challenges of motherhood, particularly in the United States, and consider how both individual and social change can help all mothers continue to thrive. We’ve rounded up some TSP classics, and some great scholarship on motherhood we haven’t covered, that puts contemporary motherhood in context.

Moms do More at Home

Although gender norms in the United States have changed considerably over the past half century, moms are still primarily responsible for raising children. Most moms are expected to figure out how to balance full-time work and motherhood. Moms must make it work when these responsibilities conflict, like when the covid-19 pandemic shut down public schools, leaving millions of children without daytime care. 

• Should Caring for Kids Be a Social Responsibility? There’s Research on That
• Best of 2020: Caring is Work There’s Research on That
• Why American Mothers are the Most Stressed, Clippings 

Although ostensibly gender norms are changing in heterosexual couples, mothers spend more time caring for children and doing housework than their male partners, even when both partners work outside of the home. The “second shift” of work that moms do at home includes the “cognitive labor” of managing and scheduling family members’ time. For instance, scheduling vacations, or doctors appointments for family members. 

• Gendering Vacation, There’s Research on That
• The Mental Labor of Working Mothers, Clippings 

Mothering Intensively and Alone

In the absence of public support for parenthood, It is particularly challenging for low-income moms to handle the responsibility of motherhood. The problem is not only that welfare support and childcare provisions are extremely limited in the United States; making matters worse, American culture tends to blame low income moms for their poverty and heavily scrutinizes the parenting decisions of poor moms put in tough positions and struggling to make ends meet for their families.

• Mothering Without a (Social) Safety Net, There’s Research on That
• The Politics of Blaming Single Mothers for Poverty, Clippings 

Another factor that makes parenting challenging for all moms are beliefs “ideal motherhood.”  Mothers are expected to mother “intensively,” devoting considerable time, energy, money, and emotion to their children. Although some parents wax nostalgic about their own childhoods, when they played independently with neighborhood children until the streetlights came on, or were “latch-key” kids free to play video games or watch television until their parents returned from work, they are now investing considerable amounts of time and energy in packed schedules of activities for their children and discipline through negotiation.

• Intensive Mothering and Fathering are the New Norm, Discoveries
• The Problems with Intensive Parenting, Clippings 
• The Time Trials of Good Parents, Clippings 

Diverse Moms, Different Experiences

Sociological research has also shown that “intensive mothering” and a focus on nuclear two-parent households may not accurately reflect the experiences of all mothers. For instance, Patricia Hill Collins talks about “collective mothering,” or how Black women rely on communities of caregivers and the work of “other moms” to help raise their children in a hostile society. Dawn Marie Dow also emphasizes that black motherhood is not necessarily incompatible with professional responsibilities, and black mothers have long had to balance work outside of their own home with the responsibilities of motherhood.

• Collective Mothering, Clippings 
• Dawn Marie Dow. 2019. Mothering While Black: Boundaries and Burdens of Middle-Class Parenthood. Oakland, California: University of California Press.
• Riché J. Daniel Barnes. 2016. Raising the Race: Black Career Women Redefine Marriage, Motherhood, and Community. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.

Sociological research also shows that for some moms, the expectations that the institutions of social life have for “good motherhood” don’t fit with their reality. They experience challenging situations that require them to, for instance, prioritize the safety of their children or make tough decisions about what expenses they can cover for their child. Some moms use “inventive mothering” to figure out how to meet their children’s basic needs for, for instance, diapers. Disabled moms and black moms are particularly vulnerable to being seen as “risky” for failing to live up to the ideals of motherhood, experiencing increased surveillance and punishment from doctors’ offices, schools, and child welfare workers. 

• Policing Mothers with Disabilities, Discoveries
• Good Moms, Biased Judges, and a Questionabel Court, Discoveries
• What’s Best for Kids? Parents, Instructors, and Physical Discipline Discoveries,
• Diaper Desperation, Discoveries
• Morality and Maybe-Moms, Discoveries
• Sinikka Elliot, Rachel Powell, and Joslyn Brenton. 2015. “Being a Good Mom: Low-Income, Black Single Mothers Negotiate Intensive Mothering.” Journal of Family Issues 36(3):351–70.
• Kelley Fong. 2020. “Getting Eyes in the Home: Child Protective Services Investigations and State Surveillance of Family Life.” American Sociological Review 85(4):610–38. 

Black mothers, in particular, worry about the safety of their children in a world that often views black children as a threat, particularly black boys. Black mothers’ worry about their children experiencing racism can negatively impact their health. Cynthia G. Colen and colleagues found that children’s experiences of discrimination harmed black mother’s health. 

• How Discrimination Harms Mother’s Health, Discoveries
• How Black Mothers Struggle to Navigate “Thug” Imagery, Discoveries

Gendered expectations of women also create challenges for women who cannot or do not want to become mothers. Women that experience infertility experience stigma, or the sense that there is something marked or discrediting about them that contributes to others’ negative perception of them. Women who are “childfree by choice” also experience stigma. 

• Social Experiences of Infertility, There’s Research on That
• Opting In and Out of Motherhood, There’s Research on That

Political and Personal Solutions?

Policy changes could ease some of the challenges mothers face. For instance, research shows that there is a smaller “happiness gap” between parents and non-parents in countries with more generous public support for raising children. Mothers also feel less guilt in countries with better social and economic support for parenthood. More generous welfare provisions could help working-class moms better meet their children’s basic needs. 

• Should Caring for Kids Be a Social Responsibility? There’s Research on That

Within families, couples can work towards greater equality of responsibilities. However, studies show that most young people still expect mothers to do the majority of housework and childcare. Even when young women anticipate having more gender equality in household labor, actually implementing more egalitarian schedules proves difficult, particularly for working-class women. 

• Annie McConnon, Allegra J. Midgette, and Clare Conry-Murray. 2022. “Mother Like Mothers and Work Like Fathers: US Heterosexual College Students’ Assumptions About Who Should Meet Childcare and Housework Demands.” Sex Roles 86(1–2):49–66.
• Amanda J. Miller and Daniel L. Carlson. 2016. “Great Expectations? Working- and Middle-Class Cohabitors’ Expected and Actual Divisions of Housework.” Journal of Marriage and Family 78(2):346–63. 

Today “help wanted” signs are commonplace; restaurants, shops, and cafes have temporarily closed or have cut back on hours due to staffing shortages. “Nobody wants to work,” the message goes. Some businesses now offer higher wages, benefits, and other incentives to draw in low-wage workers. All the same, “the great resignation” has been met with alarm across the country, from the halls of Congress to the ivory tower.

In America, where work is seen as virtuous, widespread resignations are certainly surprising.  How does so many are walking away from their jobs differ from what we’ve observed in the past, particularly in terms of frustrations about labor instability, declining benefits, and job insecurity? Sociological research on work, precarity, expectations, and emotions provides cultural context on the specificity and significance of “the great resignation.”

Individualism and Work

The importance of individualism in American culture is clear in the workplace. Unlike after World War II, when strong labor unions and a broad safety net ensured reliable work and ample benefits (for mostly white workers), instability and precarity are hallmarks of today’s workplace. A pro-work, individualist ethos values individual’s flexibility, adaptability, and “hustle.” When workers are laid off due to shifting market forces and the profit motives of corporate executives, workers internalize the blame. Instead of blaming executives for prioritizing stock prices over workers, or organizing to demand more job security, the cultural emphasis on individual responsibility encourages workers to devote their energy into improving themselves and making themselves more attractive for the jobs that are available.

• Robert N. Bellah. 1985. “The Pursuit of Happiness” and “Culture and Conversation: The Historical.” Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Richard Sennett. 2000. The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
• Lester Spence. 2015. Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics. Brooklyn, NY: Punctum Books.

Expectations and Experiences

For many, the pandemic offered a brief glimpse into a different world of work with healthier work-life balance and temporary (if meaningful) government assistance. Why and how have American workers come to expect unpredictable work conditions and meager benefits? The bipartisan, neoliberal consensus that took hold in the latter part of the twentieth century saw a reduction in government intervention into the social sphere. At the same time, a bipartisan pro-business political agenda reshaped how workers thought of themselves and their employers. Workers became individualistic actors or “companies of one” who looked out for themselves and their own interests instead of fighting for improved conditions. Today’s “precariat” – the broad class of workers facing unstable and precarious work – weather instability by expecting little from employers or the government while demanding more of themselves.

• Wendy Brown. 2017. Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution. Princeton, NJ: Zone Books.
• Carrie M. Lane. 2011. A Company of One Insecurity, Independence, and the New World of White-Collar Unemployment. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
• Devika Narayan. 2022. “Manufacturing Managerial Compliance: How Firms Align Managers With Corporate Interest. Work, Employment & Society, Forthcoming. 
• Guy Standing. 2011. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. London: Bloomsbury Press.

Generational Changes

Researchers have identified generational differences in expectations of work. Survey data shows that Baby Boomers experience greater difficulty with workplace instability and the emerging individualist ethos. On the other hand, younger generations – more accustomed to this precarity – manage the tumult with greater skill. These generational disparities in how insecurity is perceived have real implications for worker well-being and family dynamics.

• Sarah Burgard, Jennie Brand, James House. 2009. “Perceived Job Insecurity and Worker Health in the United States.” Social Science and Medicine 69(5): 777–​785.
• Erin Kelly, Phyllis Moen, J. Michael Oakes, Wen Fan, Cassandra Okechukwu, Kelly Davis. 2014. “Changing Work and Work-​ Family Conflict: Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network.” American Sociological Review 79(3): 485–​516.
• Jack Lam, Phyllis Moen, Shi-Rong Lee, and Orfeu Buxton. 2016. “Boomer and Gen X Managers and Employees at Risk: Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network Study.” Pp. 51-73 in Beyond the Cubicle: Job Insecurity, Intimacy, and the Flexible Self. New York: Oxford University Press.

Emotions

Scholars have also examined the central role emotions play in setting expectations of work and employers, as well as the broad realm of “emotional management” industries that help make uncertainty bearable for workers. Instead of improving workplace conditions for workers, these “emotional management” industries provide “self-care” resources that put the burden of managing the despair and anxiety of employment uncertainty on employees themselves, rather than companies.

• Barbara Ehrenreich. 2010. Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World. London: Granta Books.
• Eva Illouz. Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism. 2007. Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA: Polity.

The impact of COVID-19 on parents and children has forced us to reconsider how the U.S. approaches traditional welfare supports. A major change that parents saw in July 2021 under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was the increase in value of their child tax credit (CTC) and a monthly payout of half that child CTC – with $300 paid for each child under 6 years and $250 paid for each child 6-17 years each month. Furthermore, the threshold for receiving the CTC was considerably raised – temporarily lifting millions of children above the poverty line. ‘Incrementally revolutionary’ for social welfare in the U.S., the extension and expansion of the CTC hads the potential to strengthen the social safety net and have a broad social impact.  Now that expansions to the CTC have rolled back, what do we know about CTC and how a more permanent expansion could support families?

Passed into law with bipartisan support in 1997, the CTC originally served as a tax break to middle class taxpayers. In 2001 and then 2008 the CTC was then made refundable and more accessible to lower income families.  Since the passage of the ARPA in 2021, the CTC is now more accessible and relatively generous than many other forms of welfare.

• Ethan J. Evans. Evans, E. J. (2021). Boosting Health through the Tax Code: 2021 Tax Credit Reforms. Health & Social Work, 46(4), 247-249.

In measuring the social impact of the CTC, researchers have published ample evidence of this worthwhile investment. A nation-wide study found that when parents received the CTC their children were less likely to be physically injured and had less behavioral problems. Because children living in poverty are up to nine times more likely to fall victim to maltreatment and suffer from poor overall health, the CTC provides additional economic stability to lower-income parents. 

• Whitney L. Rostad, Joanne Klevens, Katie A. Ports, and Derek C. Ford. 2020. Impact of the United States federal child tax credit on childhood injuries and behavior problems. Children and youth services review 109: 104718.
• A. J. Sedlak, J. Mettenburg, J., M. Basena, I. Petta, I., K. McPherson, K., A. Green, A., & Li, Spencer Li.. 2(2010). Fourth national incidence study of child abuse and neglect (NIS–4): Report to congress. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
• Aislinn Conrad-Hiebner and Elizabeth Byram (2020). The temporal impact of economic insecurity on child maltreatment: A systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 21(1): 157–178. 
• David Walsh, Gerry McCartney, Michael Smith, and Gillian Armour. 2019. Relationship between childhood socioeconomic position and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs): A systematic review. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 73(12):1087–1093.
• Rosana E. Norman, Munkhtsetseg Byambaa, Rumna De, Alexander Butchart, James Scott, and Theo Vos. 2019. The long-term health consequences of child physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Medicine (9): e1001349.

International programs similar to the CTC have found that increased payments were associated with lower levels of ADHD, physical aggression, maternal depression, and better emotional/anxiety scores among children. Experts in the U.S. have predicted that an increased investment in the CTC would have similar individual and social health impacts, remove millions of impoverished children out of poverty, and save billions of dollars in future. 

• Kevin Milligan and M. Stabile 2011. Do child tax benefits affect the well-being of children? Evidence from Canadian child benefit expansions. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 3(3):175-205.
• Steven Pressman. 2011. Policies to reduce child poverty: Child allowances versus tax exemptions for children. Journal of Economic Issues 45(2): 323-332.

Today, with COVID-19 spurring conversations and the realization that U.S. welfare is in need of an update, policy makers have a “charcuterie board” of welfare reform choices.  Of the more savory variety there are work-oriented programs which would moderately decrease poverty and decrease unemployment.  Then there are some sweeter options that would dramatically reduce poverty, but increase unemployment. Arraying these options, a nationwide, interdisciplinary committee of experts have made four recommendations based on changes in unemployment and child poverty.  Regardless of different policy member’s palate preferences, increasing the CTC would both decrease poverty among families by over 9% and decrease unemployment by over half a million jobs – a sweet and savory option. 

• Greg J. Duncan. 2021. A roadmap to reducing child poverty. Academic Pediatrics 21(8): S97-S101.

On December 15th, 2021, the monthly CTC payments directed to parents expired.  In other words, parents in dire straits are no longer receiving necessary financial support.  Congressional debate on the Build Back Better bill (BBB), which could extend the CTC, provide universal pre-K education, national paid leave for caregiving or illness, and other social investments, has languished. However, for a brief period, we saw evidence of the power of expansion of welfare provisions like the CTC.

Originally published April 12, 2021

Scientific developments in the field of epigenetics have called attention to intergenerational transfers of trauma. We know now that traumatic experiences can be passed down through the genes— to children, and even grandchildren, of the survivors of horrific experiences like the Holocaust or American slavery. Sociology can help show how past trauma is passed down through social ties, and about its effects on current health and wellbeing. These social consequences of trauma could be even more powerful than the genetic impacts, affecting group dynamics, identity, history, and culture. In addition to what is passed down, sociological research also provides examples of how groups are managing these social effects, in both helpful and harmful ways. 

Cultural Trauma and Group Identity

Cultural sociologists assert that in addition to individual bodily and psychiatric trauma, there is also collective “cultural trauma” when groups experience horrific events. This collective trauma compounds and complicates individual effects. In order for the process of cultural trauma to occur, the group must first recognize that a great evil has been done to them, and construct a cohesive and shared narrative that includes perpetration and victimhood. Then this narrative becomes incorporated into that group’s collective memory as an enduring aspect of their identity, like the Holocaust has been for Jews or collective memory of slavery for Black Americans.

• Jeffrey C. Alexander. 2012. Trauma: A Social Theory. Cambridge, U.K.: Polity Press.
• Jeffrey C. Alexander, Ron Eyerman, Bernhard Giesen, Neil J. Smelser, and Piotr Sztompka. 2004. Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Both perpetrators and victims of violence must contend with the horrific event in some way, as it is now permanently associated with their group. This can occur either through avoidance of the difficult past, or stigma management practices like acknowledgment, denial, and silencing.

• Joachim J. Savelsberg. 2020. “Writing Biography in the Face of Cultural Trauma: Nazi Descent and the Management of Spoiled Identities.” American Journal of Cultural Sociology.

Cultural Trauma and Group Conflict: Violence Begets Violence

Sometimes, this cultural trauma process results in further violence. As the group comes to understand the harms they have suffered and assign responsibility, they can seek violent retaliation against the offending perpetrators. Examples include the bombing of Pearl Harbor (and subsequent Japanese internment and Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings), and the 9/11 attacks leading to the U.S. War on Terror. In ex-Yugoslavia, ancient collective memories were stoked and reconstructed by elites to provoke inter-ethnic violence that led to ten years of war, genocide, and ethnic cleansing. In Hawai’i, Irwin and Umemoto trace the emotional and psychological effects of violent colonial subjugation, such as distress, outrage, and depression, to contemporary violence among Pacific Islander youth.

• Katherine Irwin and Karen Umemoto. 2016. Jacked Up and Unjust: Pacific Islander Teens Confront Violent Legacies. University of California Press.
• Monika Palmberger. 2016. How Generations Remember: Conflicting Histories and Shared Memories in Post-War Bosnia and Herzegovina. Basingstroke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Sue Grand and Jill Salberg. 2017. Trans-generational Trauma and the Other: Dialogues Across History and Difference. New York: Routledge.

Memory Work: Social Solidarity and Empowerment

Sociological research also provides examples of people “making sense” of difficult pasts by doing “memory work,” which can include art, music, and other cultural production. For example, second-generation Sikhs in the U.S. are using internet spaces to challenge dominant narratives of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence in India, contributing to group solidarity, resilience, and identity within their communities here in the U.S. Similarly, the children of Vietnamese refugees are using graphic novels and hip-hop music to articulate how the Vietnam War contributes to current struggles in the Vietnamese community. This shared understanding and validation then empower communities to fight for recognition and social justice. 

• Ana Ros. 2012. The Post-Dictatorship Generation in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay: Collective Memory and Cultural Production. First edition. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Long Bui. 2016. “The Refugee Repertoire: Performing and Staging the Postmemories of Violence.” MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States 41(3):112–32.
• Shruti Devgan. 2018. “A Haunted Generation Remembers.” Contexts 17(4):36–41.

When a group experiences a horrific event, the social effects live on to future generations. Understanding these effects is crucial for developing solutions to group suffering moving forward. Going through the cultural trauma process is necessary to overcome difficult pasts, but it is critical that this process occurs in a way that promotes justice and peace rather than further violence.

Originally posted November 14, 2019

As we prepare for Thanksgiving, many people look forward to sharing a warm meal with their family and friends. Others dread the holiday, gearing up to argue with their relatives or answer nosey questions. TSP has written about the political minefield that holiday meals can be in the past. This year we want to point out that the roots of difficult dinners actually run deep in everyday family mealtime. Thanksgiving, like any family mealtime, has the potential for conflict. 

Scholars have documented how important meal time can be for families in terms of cultivating relationships and family intimacy. However, they also show that despite widespread belief that families should share “happy meals” together, meals can be emotionally painful and difficult for some families and family members.

• Ann Meier and Kelly Musick. 2014. “Variation in Associations Between Family Dinners and Adolescent Well‐Being.” Journal of Marriage and Family 76(1):13–23.
• Richard Wilk. 2010. “Power at the Table: Food Fights and Happy Meals.” Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies 10(6):428–36.

Disagreements between parents and children arise at mealtime, in part, because of the meal itself. Some caregivers go to battle with “picky eaters.” Migrant parents struggle to pass cultural food traditions to children born in the United States. Low income parents worry that their children will not like or eat the food they can afford.

• Jayne A. Fulkerson, Mary Story, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, and Sarah Rydell. 2008. “Family Meals: Perceptions of Benefits and Challenges among Parents of 8- to 10-Year-Old Children.” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 108(4):706–9.
• Sarah Bowen, Joslyn Brenton, and Sinikka Elliott. 2019. Pressure Cooker: Why Home Cooking Won’t Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do about It. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Family meals also reproduce conflict between heterosexual partners. Buying, preparing, and serving food are important ways that women fulfill gendered expectations. At family meal-times men continue to do less work but hold more power about how and when dinner is served.

• Marjorie L. DeVault, 1991. Feeding the Family: The Social Organization of Caring as Gendered Work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Kate Cairns and Josée Johnston. 2015. Food and Femininity. London; New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Thanksgiving, or any big holiday meal, can involve disagreements. However, that is not altogether surprising considering that everyday family meals are full of conflicts and tension.