Dunce Caps and Jump Suits: Discipline and Policing in Schools

Amber Powell and Ryan Larson on November 19, 2015
School Resource Officers are a common site on today's public and private campuses. Photo: Donald Lee Pardue, Flickr.
School Resource Officers are a common site on today’s public and private campuses. Photo: Donald Lee Pardue, Flickr.

The recent physical altercation between a police officer and a young black female student at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina raised questions about the role of disciplinary sanctions and law enforcement in schools. Since the 1990s, schools, particularly inner-city schools, have become increasingly criminalized, as school officials view students as suspects.

The criminalization of students includes the formalization of punishment through “zero tolerance” policies, the transfer of disciplinary discretion among teachers and school officials to disciplinary codes, and the integration of criminal justice technologies and personnel. Schools often replace traditional modes of school punishment with arrests and court referrals, and control students through security measures like metal detectors and on-campus police officers.
School Resource Officers (SROs), law enforcement officers stationed in a particular school or school district, are a central part of this trend. The number of SROs has increased over the past 12 years, but systematic studies offer no evidence that schools with SROs have better safety records. On the contrary, long-term studies show that more crimes involving drugs and weapons are recorded after schools add SROs. SROs are also associated with higher levels of student arrests for lower-level delinquent acts (e.g., disorderly conduct), suggesting that SROs may bring behavior that was once dealt with by the school (“in house”) into the criminal justice system. This “SRO effect” is exacerbated in schools characterized by higher levels of economic disadvantage.
African Americans and other minority students are affected disproportionately, both because SROs and other criminal justice tools are concentrated in urban schools and because minority students, even when controlling for differential behavior, are punished at higher rates than their white peers. Current research suggests that schools’ rising criminal justice apparatus does little to quell violence, but may unintentionally result in more black students experiencing the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

Prescription Drug Use on the Rise

Caty Taborda on November 11, 2015
Taki Steve, Flickr CC.
Taki Steve, Flickr CC.

A study published earlier this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that over half of adults in the United States use prescription drugs, and as many as 15% of adults report using more than five prescription drugs each month. Recent coverage of these findings at NPR explores how increases in obesity and obesity-related illnesses may contribute to the increase in prescription drug use. Several sociological studies provide other potential explanations, including the increasing influence that pharmaceutical companies have over the doctor-patient relationship.

Though physicians are the ultimate gatekeepers for prescription drugs, the pharmaceutical industry drastically shapes prescription drug use. Through internal research studies and trials, pharmaceutical companies produce new knowledge about illnesses and treatment options. Pharmaceutical companies can even play an increasing role in medicalization—the process of constructing issues as specifically medical problems. By promoting the idea that something is a medical problem, pharmaceutical companies then offer a solution. Pharmaceutical salespeople aggressively promote their wares to clinicians, even promoting the off-label use of drugs to increase distribution.
Direct-to-consumer advertising may also lead to increase prescription drug use. Patients who see such ads may be more likely to self-diagnose and directly request drugs, and patients who request medication (whether a specific drug or just drug treatment in general) are more likely to be prescribed medication. Despite the potential for over-prescribing, direct-to-consumer advertising also encourages positive interactions between patients and physicians by providing patients with more information about current and undiagnosed conditions.

Fantasy Sports and the Culture of Fandom

Evan Stewart and Alex Snidarich on October 29, 2015
Fantasy sports have gained coverage as a sport of their own.
Fantasy sports have gained coverage as a sport of their own.

You’ve probably seen more than an ad or two this fall for DraftKings or FanDuel, two massive online fantasy sports websites valued at over $1 billion each. Since 2009, the number of fantasy sports players has doubled, and, as of August, 56.8 million participated in the United States and Canada (according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association). It’s not all fun and games, though. The New York Attorney general launched an investigation into these sites, and a recent feature in The New York Times highlights how deep the rabbit hole goes for illegal online gambling on fantasy sports. It is easy to focus on scandalous stories of crime rings, big winnings, and crushing losses, but these sites are not just about gaming the system. Sociologists emphasize that they are also powerful social communities driven by cultures of masculinity and fandom.

Eric Leifer argues that the history of sports fandom in the U.S. is place- and team-based—fans supported the team in their town or region as a marker of community membership. Fantasy leagues and social media challenged this by shifting the focus from entire teams to individual athletes’ performance.
Sociologists, especially, focus on the racialized and gendered nature of sport-based communities. Members often forge strong social ties in male-dominated spaces that emphasize knowledge and expertise, and the groups can privilege racial stereotypes and racialized assumptions about athletic performance.
Fantasy sites (and the betting that ensues on them) are in line with other case studies that show how online socialization is not “less real” or consequential than offline social interaction—both teach everything from harmless play to deviant behavior. We see the power of online interaction in everything from hackers developing their own open-source political theory to online peers teaching others how to download music for free and sport message boards reinforcing racial stereotypes.
Of course, gambling is tied up in these social structures. While American society has “medicalized” compulsive gambling, treating it as an individual and treatable problem, more recent work shows how social environments create what gamblers want most: a chance to be in the “zone” and play for long periods of time. The strong communal aspect of fantasy sports websites makes them a perfect space for sustained play.

#ShoutYourAbortion Shouts Back at Stigma

Amber Powell and Jacqui Frost on October 26, 2015
Twitter screenshot.
Twitter screenshot.

In the ongoing battles around whether to defund Planned Parenthood, Lindy West and Amelia Bonow created the Twitter hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion to encourage women to share their abortion stories, express their experiences, and recognize the stigma that often silences women who have an abortion. Consequently, many have criticized the hashtag and attacked the women involved. Supporters of #ShoutYourAbortion argue that sharing real women’s stories on social media produces cultural change around an issue surrounded by legal rhetoric. Sociological research details why women have generally felt compelled to stay silent about having abortions and the potential benefits of speaking up.

Many women believe that disclosing their abortion experiences will lead to negative responses from relatives and friends, due to widely held norms of femininity and motherhood that assert women are “natural nurturers” and the idea that having an abortion negates those qualities. In a classic study of pro-life and pro-choice activists, Kristin Luker notes that abortion is often seen as a “referendum on the place and meaning of motherhood.” For pro-life activists, terminating a pregnancy may be the ultimate example of being a “bad mother.” Rather than face anticipated judgment and condemnation around moral codes of appropriate feminine behavior, women then choose to conceal their procedures.
A major source of stress and frustration women experience centers on the gendered imbalance of responsibility for contraception and abortion decisions. Research finds that women are often expected be responsible for providing or taking contraception, but are heavily criticized when they take responsibility by choosing to have an abortion. Thus, Sally Brown argues, where women are held responsible for reproductive decisions, “decision making, if ‘decisions’ happen at all, is bound up with notions of hegemonic masculine and feminine roles.”
Stigma, however, does not reduce the likelihood that a woman will have an abortion. Cockrill and Nack write that even women who “believe abortion is morally wrong and that women who have abortions are careless and irresponsible will still have abortions.” Instead, the primary consequences of abortion stigma are decreased mental and physical health, strained relationships, and loss of social status. Spaces of affirmation and support like the #ShoutYourAbortion campaign allow women to engage in “collective stigma management,” offering a supportive network where their public presence can work to change social attitudes and shatter the silence surrounding abortion experiences.

Mass Incarceration’s Challenges for Black America: Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Edition

Amber Joy Powell on October 19, 2015
Coates' latest book reflects on race and the justice system. Click for publisher site.
Coates’ latest book reflects on race and the justice system. Click for publisher site.

In The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration” details the historical development of the carceral state, its consequences on current and formerly imprisoned black Americans, and the unique challenges families face during their absences and returns. Coates cites and interviews several prominent sociologists for their insight into the carceral state’s repercussions for black Americans specifically. We rounded up some of their best work on the topic.

The 1970s saw increasing unemployment and concentrated poverty. Legislators developed “tough on crime” policies that resulted in the start of a massive increase in the number of incarcerated individuals in jails and prisons. Increases in incarceration, however, do not appear to have had a significant effect on decreasing crime rates.
Mass imprisonment has a wide range of collateral consequences. Those who serve time face health risks, familial struggles, and barriers to employment before and after they are released.

Corporate Deviance

Ryan Larson and Amber Powell on October 6, 2015
spatz_2011, Flickr CC
spatz_2011, Flickr CC

Volkswagen’s CEO, Martin Winterkorn, recently stepped down amid a scandal over manipulated emissions tests. Researchers at West Virginia University found that VW diesel models used “defeat devices” that activated emission control systems only when being tested—that’s how they dodged emissions standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. To what extent is Winterkorn responsible for this corporate skullduggery? And does the use of these devices constitute a “crime”?

Classic theories about corporate scandal stress “amoral calculus,” where individual decision makers of an organization weigh the costs and benefits of their actions. One example is the Ford Pinto debacle, when the company failed to recall Pintos with defective gas tanks because its “internal ‘cost-benefit analysis’” indicated the financial costs of a recall outweighed the potential cost of human lives (Dowie 1977). The media often responds to these corporate scandals by labeling white-collar criminals “bad apples,” shifting the public’s attention to the guilt of individual decision makers while hiding the social context that shapes norms within organizations
Sociologists show risky decision making stems from the “normalization of deviance” within an organization. Conforming to the culture, work group members can redefine deviant actions as normal or commonplace. In the Ford Pinto case, fuel tank ruptures were categorized as acceptable risk due to prevailing safety priorities and long-standing industry norms. In the Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster, escalating levels of technical failure were redefined as normal and acceptable due to increased bureaucratic pressures, NASA’s cultural understandings of risk acceptance, and high levels of organizational secrecy.
Other scholarship suggests that the Volkswagen emission fraud will not be labeled as criminal. Our definitions of what is criminal reflect societal beliefs rather than the “objective” dangers and risks posed to us. As such, we tend to emphasize poor or petty “street crime” while downplaying the acts of elites and corporations, or “white collar crime.” These corporate acts, however, result in serious harm and often parallel (or exceed) the harm caused by “street crime”. Fudging emission performance, however, might be defined as “corporate non-compliance,” rather than a criminal act. Subsequently, some of the costs, both physical and social, of corporate crime can go unnoticed.

Catholic Culture and the Papal Politics of Social Justice

Jack Delehanty on October 5, 2015
Elvert Barnes, Flickr CC
Elvert Barnes, Flickr CC

Since his election in March 2013, Pope Francis has gained attention for his efforts to refocus the Catholic Church on issues of social justice. His recent visit to the U.S. was met with acclaim from religious leaders and political liberals, but also sparked consternation among cultural and political conservatives. U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), a Catholic himself, boycotted Francis’s address to Congress and accused him of adopting “socialist talking points presented to guilt people into leftist politics.”

The cultural divisions within American Catholicism exposed by Pope Francis’s visit are not new. While Gosar may be more vocal than most conservative Catholics, his protest reveals a split between interpretations of the Catholic faith that have been simmering for generations.

Mary Ellen Konieczny shows that the narratives American Catholics use to construct their religious identities have profound political consequences. Some congregations use the language of community to structure their worship, while others structure their activities around the concept of family. In parishes where community talk is dominant, social justice is usually the focus of ministry, but in congregations where family is the main narrative, concerns about personal and sexual morality get more attention. Neither model is more Catholic than the other: both types of congregations draw upon doctrines and use ritual practices central to the Catholic tradition. Hence, the variation Konieczny observes has less to do with texts or doctrines than with the ways people interact in group settings.

The ideological divide in Catholicism also has historical roots in the relationships between the papacy and states. Gene Burns argues that as European states liberalized in the 19th century, Popes struggled to retain political influence for the church. Attempts to engage questions of poverty were seen as intrusions into government affairs, but through discussions of personal morality, the Church could carve out a space where its authority still dominated. As a result, the Church’s ideological emphases turned toward sexual morality and family issues, while sociopolitical concerns grew peripheral.
The postwar period saw a revitalization of Catholic religious activity in the politics of economic justice. Jose Casanova shows how the Solidarity movement in Poland and letter-writing campaigns among American nuns after Vatican II helped to steer church activity back toward social justice work, and John O’Brien charts the influence of labor activist-priest George G. Higgins on Catholic social thought in the 20th century.

Pope Francis’s return to social justice issues does not necessarily make him a “liberal” pope. We might better view him as interested in returning the Catholic church to a language of social justice, firmly rooted in Church history, despite being obscured by previous Popes’ focus on other issues.

A “Blank Space” for Women in Music?

Jacqui Frost on September 30, 2015
Right: Taylor Swfit performing. Right: Ryan Adams performing. “Taylor Swift 007” by GabboT is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. “Ryan Adams, Clapham Common, Calling Festival, London” by Drew de F Fawkes is licensed under CC BY 2.0)

In 2019, after this post was published, Ryan Adams was accused of engaging in a pattern of manipulative behavior including verbal, emotional, and sexual harassment. You can read more of this coverage here.  (Updated, October 26, 2022)

The release of Ryan Adams’ cover of Taylor Swift’s 1989 resulted in a media frenzy about which album is “better” and who deserves credit for the “depth and complexity” that many say Adams brought to Swift’s poppier original. Some reviews argue Adams “vindicated” Taylor Swift as an artist; others argue that emotional depth was already present in Swift’s songwriting and reviews of Adams’ cover operate under gendered understandings of emotions and legitimacy in pop music. Many publications that reviewed Adams’ version did not review Swift’s original. Ironically, the albums will be competing for a Grammy this year, and many think Adams will take it over Swift. Sociological studies of popular music show how gender affects who gets credit for creativity in the industry.

Research finds that male musicians, regardless of genre, are more likely to receive critical recognition and be “consecrated” into the popular music canon. Women are less likely to be seen as “legitimate” artists and are more often judged on their emotional authenticity and connections with “more” legitimate, male artists. Further, newspapers and music critics are more likely to cover music written and produced by male artists.
Style doesn’t stem from the artist’s creative mind alone. Musical genres are gendered, as well as raced and classed. Industry norms require women and men to adopt different styles depending on the music genre in which they work. For example, women are more often expected to be sexual and/or emotional in their presentation of self and their music.

For more on gender in culture industries, check out this Discovery on fashion design.

Refugees and Social Instability

Evan Stewart and Miray Philips on September 24, 2015
Click for full poem.
Click for full poem.

Europe is facing a major refugee crisis. Some nations welcome refugees, some do not. Much of the media attention is focused on how these countries are dealing with large populations fleeing from Syria. There is ongoing debate as to whether the Syrians fleeing war are “migrants” or “refugees”. We usually think “migrants” move for economic reasons, while “refugees” move during temporary political crises. Social science on the motives and meaning of migration shows a clear difference in why these two groups travel, but also how the places where they move can blur the lines between them.

Syria has faced civil unrest since 2011, when civilians took to the streets to protest against Bashar Al Assad’s regime. The unrest escalated quickly to a civil war with a total of 220,000 deaths as of January 2015. Approximately 4,000,000 Syrians have been displaced. This has ignited international conversation on the future of Syria and its refugees.

Refugees have a distinct set of reasons for leaving their home countries. In many cases, they are highly skilled workers forced out by extreme violence and social instability. They are more likely to request asylum from countries that have passed domestic refugee laws or ratified more human rights treaties than countries that are economically affluent.

Refugees are looking for a society in which to build a new life, but public policy in destination nations shapes those cultural opportunities. Receiving countries often have their own foreign policy interests at heart when they decide to accept some people as refugees and deny others as migrants. These labels affect future outcomes. Studies of second-generation migrants show that they do better in countries that have many different ways to integrate new-comers, including cultural, economic, and social supports.

The Social Life of Autism and ASD

Sarah Catherine Billups on September 21, 2015
Hepingting, Flickr CC
Hepingting, Flickr CC

Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are the umbrella terms for a broad range of complex disorders of brain development. They have been the center of national concern and even political debate as diagnoses become more frequent. Since the symptoms of autism and ASD are based on a range of behavioral indicators, diagnosis is not straightforward. Instead, ASD is a clear example of how social factors shape the way we understand disease and medicine. The cause of autism remains unknown, but diagnosis has risen with changes in diagnostic criteria, increased awareness, and more reliance on families for treatment.

Gil Eyal argues that autism was a rare disorder in the era of mental institutions, where children were simply deemed “mentally retarded” and separated from families. Changes since the ‘70s have meant mental healthcare is no longer mostly addressed in large, hospital-like institutions, but through a network of local therapeutic services that have created new opportunities for parents to interact with therapists and take part in diagnosis and treatment. This new social arrangement has increased practitioners’ trust in parents’ experiences and helped create a new category of mental illness.
Increased visibility and information about autism comes with more and more diagnosed cases. Parents have become “experts” at identifying symptoms of autism in their own children when they see other kids with a diagnosis. Thus children living in wealthy communities or very close to a child diagnosed with autism are more likely to be diagnosed with autism or ASD. Children can’t “catch” autism, but the diffusion of information about symptoms through social networks increases the chances of diagnosis.
The ambiguity of identifying, diagnosing, and treating autism often takes a toll on parents. As if on a perpetual rollercoaster, they feel stressed not knowing what to expect from a child’s day-to-day behavior. Mothers sometimes blame themselves for their child’s disorder.

…mothers were experiencing feelings associated with ambiguous loss [which] revealed frequent expressions of conflicting or contradictory emotions and ideas about the child and about ASDs, confusion about the child’s and their own future, and alterations between hope and hopelessness, feeling in control and feeling helpless. (O’Brien 140)

Although genetic studies of autism are inconclusive, genetic testing for autism in embryos is often framed as essential for responsible parenting. As a result, mothers carry great responsibility for birthing children with autism and risk considering their children “disabled” before they even enter the world. Much of the autism and ASD advocacy revolves around curing autism, rather than promoting the well-being of affected families and children, and this marginalizes autistic individuals by presuming that genetic material measures a person’s potential value to society by indicating whether they are “normal” or “disabled.” Not all people with autism appreciate the framing of autism as a disease that needs a cure, and instead these people advocate for respect of neurodiversity.

For more, see “Learning to See the Spectrum,” about Eyal’s AJS article and Girl w/ Pen’s “Autism and Neurodiversity.”