tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55125072501282250472024-03-13T14:10:39.149-07:00Elements of Sociologyfor sociology students everywhereElements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-59936660240259406532009-02-25T07:55:00.000-08:002009-02-25T08:02:17.955-08:00Playing Gender Cards<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="font-family: times new roman;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cbdonovan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:smarttagtype style="font-family: times new roman;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype style="font-family: times new roman;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">I did policy debate in high school and a little bit in college. The activity – at least when I was doing it – rested on the ability to organize and present evidence for and against different arguments. We referred to this evidence as “cards.” In the 1970’s quotations from newspapers and journals were physically cut out of a photocopy of the original and taped to an index card. By the time I was involved in the activity, we would put 3-5 “cards” – or bits of evidence – on standard sized paper. Now, I assume, a lot of debate evidence is kept on laptops.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br />Last year when I delivered my presentation on gender, socialization, and the dearth of women in the top positions in science and math I felt a little bit like I was in a debate round, reading through my cards. I had so many quotations I wanted to share, but there was simply too much text on the PowerPoint slides and too much on-screen reading required of the students.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Today, I’m going to try to use few slides, but I want to make the information available to pursue at your leisure. Please note that many of these quotations are taken from the popular press (Time and New York Times). They refer to actual studies and experiences, but more persuasive evidence will be found in the actual studies themselves (appearing in specialized sociology and education journals).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">So, here are the gender “cards” from last year. Please don’t challenge me to a debate – although I still get an occasional “talks too fast” on my course evaluations, I’m certainly out-of-practice for the oratorical rigors of academic debate!</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]--></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">Differential Access and Support Explains Sex Differences in Science and Math</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“Measures of gender differences in such areas as verbal, mathematical, and spatial abilities have changed over time showing virtually no differences at the present time. While contestations remain in the research over explanations for the source of any differences in performance, the far greater explanatory power lies in differential access and support.” (Statement of the American Sociological Association Council on the Causes of Gender Differences in Science and Math Career Achievement: Harvard’s Lawrence Summers and the Ensuing Public Debate February 28, 2005)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">Assumptions and stereotypes explain sex differences, not innate ability</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Studies show that social and cultural assumptions and stereotypes about differences in women's and men's abilities are the cause of noticeable differences in their interests and performance. Not surprisingly, therefore, such assumptions also have a larger impact on judgments about people's potential job performance and success. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">. . .</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Studies also show that peer pressures to conform to stereotypical behavior and exposure to popular media affect women’s and men’s choices and opportunities in the occupational world. These changeable social factors, not innate biological differences, provide the most powerful explanation for the continuing gap between women's abilities and their occupational attainments.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">(Statement of the American Sociological Association Council on the Causes of Gender Differences in Science and Math Career Achievement: Harvard’s Lawrence Summers and the Ensuing Public Debate February 28, 2005)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">Decades of research point to social structure – not innate biological differences – as the key explanatory variable accounting for sex differences in math and science</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Sociological research provides ample empirical evidence of the importance of social phenomena in creating the gender gap in science and math achievement at the highest levels and, therefore, why it is a social problem. . . . . As real structural opportunities have opened to women, as a result of legal challenges and other social pressures for change, they have demonstrated increased interest in, and rapidly joined, fields from which they had been excluded.
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Decades of social-scientific research provide a solid base of empirical knowledge about the power of unequal opportunities, limitations in access to formal and informal training, a lack of social and domestic supports, and lowered expectations about women's capacity to achieve that sap their educational and professional confidence. (Statement of the American Sociological Association Council on the Causes of Gender Differences in Science and Math Career Achievement: Harvard’s Lawrence Summers and the Ensuing Public Debate February 28, 2005)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">Cross-Cultural Evidence Supports Social Explanations for Sex-Differences in Science Performance</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“One of the sharpest retorts to Summers comes from a man, Burton Richter, a Nobel Prize winner and former director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, who notes that in 2003-04, girls in England ‘Presidents of universities,’ Richter snapped, ‘should not use their mouths before their brains.’” (Keay Davidson, The San Francisco Chronicle, “Harvard President Under Microscope,” January 31, 2005, A4.) outperformed boys in the highest levels of math and physics tests.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">Group Abilities Change Over Time</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“Critics say Summers ignored overwhelming evidence that such difficulties are caused by social factors. . . They note that boys’ and girls’ average test scores are the same, and that gender differences in scores have converged over the past few decades -- a convergence that no one suggests is due to a sudden transmutation of women’s DNA.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">(Keay Davidson, The San Francisco Chronicle, “Harvard President Under Microscope,” January 31, 2005, A4.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">Gender Socialization Shapes Math Education</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“But there are other possibilities [for the relative dearth of women in top science positions] we should consider first. One of them is the damage done by the idea that there is something wrong about a girl or woman who is really good at math. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">(Cornelia Dean, “For Some Girls, the Problem With Math Is that They’re Good at It.” New York Times, Feb. 1, 2005, pg. 3.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">Women are Discouraged from Math Education</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">I first encountered this thinking as a seventh grader who was scarred for life when my class in an experimental state school for brainiacs was given a mathematics aptitude test. The results were posted and everyone found out I had scored several years ahead of the next brightest kid. A girl really good in math! What a freak! I resolved then and there on a career in journalism.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Cornelia Dean, “For Some Girls, the Problem With Math Is that They’re Good at It.” New York Times, Feb. 1, 2005, pg. 3.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">Saying Girls are Bad at Math Creates a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“She [3rd grade daughter] came home and said to me, ‘I can’t do math.’ So I told her, ‘Sorry, but no daughter of mine is allowed to say that.’ We looked at her problems and she became thrilled to see that she could do them. Now imagine what might have happened if I had agreed with her, and said, ‘Yes, girls intrinsically aren’t very good at math.’ (Astrophysicist Wendy Freedman quoted in Cornelia Dean, “For Some Girls, the Problem With Math Is that They’re Good at It.” New York Times, Feb. 1, 2005, pg. 3.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p face="times new roman" style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">An Example of Discrimination & Social Closure</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Lillian Pierce was Princeton’s valedictorian when she graduated in 2002 and received her master's in math from <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Oxford</st1:place></st1:city> as a Rhodes scholar. Now back at <st1:place st="on">Princeton</st1:place>, she's studying for her Ph.D. Even with that sterling resume, she says, "I myself have experienced behavior that is hard to explain in terms of anything but discrimination: senior male mathematicians ignoring my presence when I'm introduced to them or suggesting point-blank that I pursue another career, such as medicine." </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Barbara Kantrowitz, “Sex and Science” Newsweek, Jan 31, 2005, pg. 36</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">An Example of Discrimination & Social Closure</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">She says too many of her female friends “drop out of graduate programs simply because they’re disillusioned with the environment, not because they can't handle the math.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Barbara Kantrowitz, “Sex and Science” Newsweek, Jan 31, 2005, pg. 36</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">A Final Example of Discrimination & Social Closure</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">“Another friend, graduating as a math major, was advised not to bother applying for a graduate research assistantship because they were not given to women. She eventually earned a doctorate in math, but one of her early forays into the job market ended abruptly when she was told she should stay home with her husband rather than seek employment out of town.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">(Cornelia Dean, “For Some Girls, the Problem With Math Is that They’re Good at It.” New York Times, Feb. 1, 2005, pg. 3.)
<br />
<br />~ Brian</span> </p> Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-46496264267125491382009-02-15T07:22:00.000-08:002009-02-16T06:06:06.804-08:00One Minute Social Capital<span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">In this video, I attempt to explain Bourdieu's concept of social capital in about a minute. Obviously, I left a lot out, but hopefully this sparks your interest in learning more. By the phrase "we think we have friends," I am referring to the idea that agents often "misrecognize" the forms of capital that they possess. This is not to say that people don't have authentic friendships, only that we let the "authenticity" blind us to the social purposes of our friends and friend networks.</span></span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1tPQ-xOLSSE&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1tPQ-xOLSSE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-83329351701207024562009-02-11T14:58:00.000-08:002009-02-13T10:40:53.666-08:0025 Random Things about Sociology (part 1)<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:times new roman;">This list is inspired by a current phenomenon on Facebook, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/fashion/05things.html">"25 Random Things" request</a>. I wrote about seven of these. The Discussion Section instructors helped with the rest. If you're enrolled in Elements of Sociology this semester, (most of) this list could help you on the first exam.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span> <ol style="margin-top: 0in; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:times new roman;" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Sociologists balance ideas and evidence.<span style=""> </span>Sociologists have ideas about society that they test with numerical data, observation, and other forms of evidence.<span style=""> </span>Our theories about the social world inform our data analysis, and our data sharpens our theories.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Both Durkheim and Marx argue that societies go through different stages of evolution.<span style=""> </span>For Durkheim, societies evolve from primitive (mechanical solidarity; low division of labor) to modern (organic solidarity; high division of labor).<span style=""> </span>For Marx, societies evolve from feudalism, to capitalism, to the final stages of socialism/communism.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Like all natural disasters, the <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city> heat wave of 1995 wasn’t simply about bad weather.<span style=""> </span>It affected some Chicagoans and not others.<span style=""> </span>Sociologists want to know why.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">William Julius Wilson has published a series of influential books about urban poverty, including <i style="">The Declining Significance of Race</i>, <i style="">The Truly Disadvantaged</i>, <i style="">When Work Disappears</i>, and <i style="">The Bridge Over the Racial Divide</i>. </span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">According to Durkheim, the phenomenon of suicide is shaped by social forces: how connected one is to groups (social integration) and the level of structure in one’s life (social regulation).</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu presents a powerful critique and analysis of snobbery.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Rebecca Moore points out that the people of Jonestown were not just being paranoid; government agencies, journalists, and the Concerned Relatives posed a legitimate threat to their settlement.<span style=""> </span>This emphasis on the normality of the people at Jonestown places <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Moore</st1:place></st1:city> within the 2<sup>nd</sup> wave of discourse on Jonestown.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">One experiences “anomie” if they’re disconnected from social bonds.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">A community might have mechanical solidarity when everyone performs the same job, while they would have organic solidarity when everyone relied on each other to perform a different role in society.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Sociologists critique common sense, or doxa, to see whether commonly held theories about how society works are based in evidence.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Most sociologists work within the conflict perspective, meaning that they focus on how different groups in society compete for resources and how inequality is reproduced.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Eric Klinenberg used multiple research methods (statistical analysis, ethnographic observation, and document analysis) in his study of the 1995 <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city> heat wave.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Mitchell Dunier illustrates how informal economies can rise in the inner city and give meaning to people's lives. Further, it is a classic example of how large structural forces outside of most people’s control strongly affect the way people navigate the world.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">The problem of urban poverty illustrates the incredibly complicated way that class and race intertwine. Sociology gives the most comprehensive account of urban poverty because it takes race, class and other inequalities into account.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Durkheim and Marx can be used to examine the same phenomenon in different ways. Social theories are tools that allow us to look at things through different lenses. There is no official sociology narrative. <span style=""> </span>Rather, we have competing and complimenting theories that attempt to explain the world in various ways.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">For Durkheim, crime is productive because it reinforces the collective conscience of the social group, reminding the group of its rules, values, and norms.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Marx's theory of history is that class conflict is the driving engine of history. Other scholars would also include race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and religion (among others) as categories of conflict that have been historically important.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Sociology doesn't study suicide out of sheer morbid curiosity. Rather, it is a clear example of a social phenomenon that has largely been characterized as a psychological problem. </span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;"><i style="">Sidewalk</i> is endorsed by Spike Lee, perhaps making it the coolest sociology book you will ever read.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">You can use sociology to understand social problems and (hopefully) how to fix them.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Consensus perspective views society held together by common productive experiences, beliefs, and values</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Bourdieu would say that when it comes to making distinctions, or displaying "taste," what matters is who is making the distinction rather than what the object (art, music, wine, etc.) of distinction is. Those with symbolic power define the dominant cultural code.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">If a person has agency, they have the ability to make changes in their lives.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Sociologists often scrutinize common sense, or doxa, to see whether commonly held ideas about how society fits the evidence about how society works.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;">Most sociologists work within the conflict perspective, meaning that they focus on how different groups in society compete for resources and how inequality is reproduced.</span></li></ol> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:";font-size:12;" ></span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-17265039143744078782009-01-28T06:11:00.000-08:002009-02-11T15:10:24.718-08:00Emile on the Prairie<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">These are two short videos that describe Emile Durkheim's distinction between organic and mechanical solidarity. I argue that you can find elements of both in Walnut Grove.</span></span><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/M58ofEgo0sQ&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/M58ofEgo0sQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QshF2FhW7cg&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QshF2FhW7cg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-67840256381326024472008-04-30T16:09:00.001-07:002008-07-05T08:12:22.405-07:00Richard Ofshe & “The West Memphis Three”<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">In the final minutes of today’s movie, sociologist Richard Ofshe testified on behalf of Jessie Misskelley, one of the teens accused of murdering the three boys.<span style=""> </span>Misskelley’s defense team hired Richard Ofshe to examine the interrogation transcript and, drawing on his considerable expertise in false memory syndrome and false confession, he testified that Jessie Misskelley offered a false confession resulting from a manipulative interrogation.<span style=""> </span>Ofshe suggested that a psychologically coercive interrogation led Misskelley to confess to something he didn’t do.<span style=""> </span>On the stand, he pointed to inconsistencies in Misskelley testimony and areas where the police were feeding him the answers that they wanted to hear. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">If you’re enrolled in our Blackboard site, you can access an excerpt from his testimony as the top item in our Course Documents folder, or you can read his full testimony here:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.wm3.org/live/trialshearings/documents.php?docid=103">http://www.wm3.org/live/trialshearings/documents.php?docid=103</a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Your GTA will show the final 40 minutes of the film focusing on the joint trial of Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols.<span style=""> </span>There’s a lot left out, but you should be able to get the main outlines of the case and the central defense and prosecution strategies.<span style=""> </span>Like the McMartin preschool case, the story of the West Memphis Three brings together some of the sociological themes and ideas we’ve covered so far: class inequality, cultural capital, labeling, media hegemony, and moral panic.<span style=""> </span>Just as there are some people who insist that McMartin <b style="">was</b> a hotbed of santanism, some still insist on the guilt of Misskelley, Baldwin, and Echols.<span style=""> </span>It’s safe to say that a consensus has grown over the last 15 years that they’re innocent, and most of the web resources will reflect that view. <span style=""> </span>For an update on the case, you can read the article from the Economist (April 19, 2008) located in our Course Documents folder.<span style=""> </span>There are plenty of online resources as well: <span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.wm3.org/live/faq/faq.php">http://www.wm3.org/live/faq/faq.php</a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/memphis/index_1.html">http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/memphis/index_1.html</a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_3">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_3</a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:12;" >-- Brian</span></span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-68981100285197139542008-04-15T08:31:00.000-07:002008-04-15T10:11:06.237-07:00“Sociologist in Chief?” Where Do I Vote?<span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p style="font-family: times new roman;"></o:p><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The President-Elect of the </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.asanet.org/">American Sociological Association</a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> is </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/People/Faculty/pcollins.htm">Patricia Hill Collins</a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, social theorist extraordinaire and author of the now-classic <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Black-Feminist-Thought-Consciousness-Empowerment/dp/0415924847"><span style="font-style: italic;">Black Feminist Thought</span></a>. Attaining presidency of the ASA places one atop of the sociology hierarchy, but “Sociologist in Chief” sounds much more important, much weightier.</span></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">On “Meet the Press,” political consultant <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Shrum">Bob Shrum</a> gave voice to the idea of a “Sociologist in Chief,” but suggested that presidential hopefuls should avoid running for that particular post. In a discussion about Barack Obama’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/us/politics/12campaign.html">controversial comment</a> about “bitter” working-class Pennsylvanians who embrace religion and guns,<span style=""> </span>James Carville opined: “I have eight guns myself. <span style=""> </span>I’m hardly bitter about things.” <span style=""> </span>Bob Shrum responded, “Well, he’s not running for sociologist in chief, he’s running for president. So I think he wishes he hadn’t said it quite this way.”<span style=""> </span>Later Shrum said “People go with sociology, and he shouldn’t be a sociologist. . . . sociology says that when people are in distress, when they’re economically deprived, they, they hold onto the things in their lives that give them some sense of security and identity. <span style=""> </span>That’s faith, that can be hunting, that can be all of those things.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">(“Meet the Press,” NBC News Transcripts, April 13, 2008, via Lexis/Nexis)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Obviously, there are better places in the blogosphere to debate and discuss the presidential race. <span style=""> </span>Here, I only want to point to Shrum’s perception of sociology and its social role. <span style=""> </span>On a show like this, it’s impossible to explore ideas with any serious depth, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by a phrase like “sociology says that . . .” but it was still a little bit jarring to hear on a Sunday morning.<span style=""> </span>But Shrum’s overbroad statement might be correct to the extent that sociologists universally believe (based on research from multiple angles) that economic deprivation does <i style="">something</i>.<span style=""> </span>More importantly, I would expect most sociologists think that poverty and income inequality are important things to study and understand. <span style=""> </span>We can all agree on that simple proposition, even if the line “sociology says that” generally suggests a false uniformity of thought amongst sociologists. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Personally, I’d love for more politicians to don their sociology cap and address the major fault lines of inequality in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> and (where appropriate) around the globe. <span style=""> </span>Maybe we don’t need a Sociologist in Chief; maybe we need more “chiefs” who are sociologists.<span style=""> </span>But I’ll be the first one at the voting booth if we do, indeed, decide to elect a Sociologist in Chief.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:12;" >-- Brian</span></span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-53275481213822672702008-04-10T20:12:00.001-07:002008-04-10T20:37:16.374-07:00PoMo and Talk Show: The Jerry Springer Opera<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R_7Xt3KSqeI/AAAAAAAAAEk/ZhqYvgLXzOU/s1600-h/jerry-springer-the-opera-25919.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187821003678591458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R_7Xt3KSqeI/AAAAAAAAAEk/ZhqYvgLXzOU/s400/jerry-springer-the-opera-25919.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The last time I was in Britain (January 2005) the BBC was set to televise the latest smash hit from London's famous West End theatre district. No, it wasn't another adaptation of Noel Coward or Ibsen, nor was it an updated twist on a Shakespearean classic. It was, in fact, <a href="http://www.jerryspringertheopera.com/"><em>Jerry Springer: The Opera</em></a><em>.<br /></em><br />You may be scratching your head at the seemingly odd juxtaposition of "high brow" opera with the lowest of "low brow" talk shows, but I urge you to keep in mind the characteristics of postmodern art we have been discussing the past couple of weeks. Art forms in the postmodern vein blur the lines between high and low subject matter, they display as sense of playfulness, they mix genres, and seemingly everyday items are elevated to artistic subject matter. In this way, I argue <em>Jerry Springer: The Opera</em> represents a quintessentially postmodern approach to artistic performance.<br /><br />This is not to say it was aired without protest. In fact, the BBC received its highest number of complaints ever even BEFORE the show was broadcast. While extremely foul language and sexually explicit content were the main objections given in complaints, as a sociologist I have to wonder what else might have been going on. After all, the BBC regularly airs full nudity in mainstream shows and is very accommodating of foul language, and the British tabloid media is world-renowned for the "trashiness" of its content. What else then was going on? Did the blending of high and low, the stretching of comfortable divisions between what was art and what was trash, the blurring of boundaries, touch a raw nerve with the British public? What differences might there have been between those who embraced talk show opera and those who dismissed it? Did they have different levels of education, different class backgrounds, different levels of cultural capital?<br /><br />For those of you who are curious, <em>Jerry Springer: The Opera</em> made its debut State-side in Chicago in 2007. It played last January at New York's Carnegie Hall with the esteemed actor Harvey Keitel in the lead role, and is currently in production in numerous cities across the US. As an opera, it was fair, but I wish I'd seen <a href="http://www.batboy.co.uk/"><em>Bat Boy: The Musical</em> </a>instead...<br />--Gabriella SmithElements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-35462137110633480072008-04-02T13:34:00.000-07:002008-04-02T13:40:52.999-07:00Talk Show Lost at Sea!!!Since we've all been reading Gamson's "Freaks Talk Back," we've seen numerous examples of talk show formulas, how they're created, and arguments about both their exploitative and democratic qualities. On a lighter note, I've posted a link to a clip from the HBO sketch comedy show "Mr. Show" that parodies the Springer-esque talk show style. Although it's intended as humor, it hyperbolizes some of the content of these shows that some would argue are already endeavors in hyperbole. Enjoy the clip, and try to make the connection between the parody and your reading this week.<br />--Brian Meier <br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/N__UBXS_o7U&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/N__UBXS_o7U&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><em></em>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-63821330832495714162008-03-11T15:24:00.001-07:002008-03-11T15:25:37.800-07:00Boys Beware!<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Some of you have asked me about where I found the “Boys Beware” video, the 1960s instructional movie warning boys about the supposed dangers of predatory homosexuals. <span style=""> </span>Boys Beware is archived at the <a href="http://www.archive.org/">Internet Archive</a> in the Prelinger Collection. <span style=""> </span>It’s available in multiple downloading formats, or you can watch on the website.<span style=""> </span>Also look for “Girls Beware!” and “What About School Spirit?” (filmed at Lawrence High in the 1950s).<span style=""> </span>I posted a version of the Monday’s video material on youtube:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tFPfycMoTWU"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tFPfycMoTWU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object></span></p> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:12;" >Here’s the description: This video offers snapshots of three sexual regimes in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> history pertaining to male-male intimacy and gay identity. The first two clips show a stereotype of men who have sex with other men as "pansies" and "fairies," but it's not necessarily a demeaning one. The crowd is laughing with them as much as they're laughing at them. The fairies' performance receives giant applause from the hip <st1:place st="on">Greenwich Village</st1:place> crowd. Jay (Tony Jowitt) and Nasa (the irrepressible Clara Bow) enter the night club because they're fascinated by the edgy scene, not because they hate gays (in fact, "gay" is not a commonly used term to describe men who have sex with other men at this point in history). As George Chauncey explains in Gay New York (1994), the public fascination with "gay" men (the so-called "pansy craze") turned to hostility during the 1930s. The second clip represents the solidification of anti-gay hostility after World War II, including the medicalization of same-sex desire, the conflation of pederasty and homosexuality, and other closet-constructing public opinions. The final clip represents the post-Stonewall celebration of gay pride. Chauncey's research suggests that the first and last clips have more in common despite their historical distance. The history of gay liberation in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> is not a linear one, and this history shows that fascination and public acceptance can turn to intolerance and hostility if we're not careful.<br />-- Brian<br /></span></span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-2402068735879056722008-03-11T12:03:00.000-07:002008-03-11T12:06:19.931-07:00Brian’s Reflections on Exam #1<span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" >In a giant class like ours, it’s difficult for me to give personalized feedback on your exam.<span style=""> </span>I don’t want to spend too much of tomorrow’s session talking about the last exam, so I thought that I’d talk about a few of the questions that gave people problems.<span style=""> </span>In this discussion, please recognize that I’m sharing some of the blame.<span style=""> </span>I’m not going to change the grading scale or give credit for incorrect answers to the difficult questions, but if a large percentage of the class misses a question I’m more than willing to admit that the question should have been clearer and/or my instruction should match the exam question more closely.<span style=""> </span>With that said, let’s look at a few of the questions: </span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b style="">Question 43: </b>In the lecture on Structure and Agency, I described the relationship between these two forces as “dialectic.”<span style=""> </span>You know it’s not “doxic” or “paradoxic.”<span style=""> </span>If you got this wrong, odds are you answered “oppositional.”<span style=""> </span>I can see why there’s confusion.<span style=""> </span>A dialectic relationship is oppositional to a point (in its original Hegelian formulation: thesis + antithesis = synthesis).<span style=""> </span>The reason why it’s better to think of structure/agency as dialectical rather than oppositional is because the capacity for agency <i style="">depends on</i> social structural arrangements.<span style=""> </span>Likewise, through the exercise of human agency, we can alter social structures.<span style=""> </span>There’s a back and forth quality to this (admittedly abstract) relationship.<span style=""> </span>The quotes from William Sewell Jr. suggest how an agent’s “schema” (or worldview) depends on resources (a specific social structural relationship in the economy, law, etc.).<span style=""> </span>I’ll admit that the question was a bit unfair given the close semantic relationship between “dialectic” and “oppositional,” but good job to those who answered “dialectic.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b style="">Question 33: </b>“A convenience store clerk who suddenly wins $23 million dollars in the lottery.<span style=""> </span>Where would Bourdieu place this person on the following map of social space?”<span style=""> </span>I thought this would be an easy one.<span style=""> </span>Upon reflection, I think students over-thought it, or it relied on (unshared) assumptions about occupations.<span style=""> </span>Convenience store clerks (like Apu from The Simpsons) start with low cultural and economic capital, but the lottery winning will increase the individual’s economic capital (but not necessarily their cultural capital).<span style=""> </span>The correct answer was B – low cultural capital / high economic capital.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b style="">Question 48: </b>“All of following emerged as opponents of the People Temple EXCEPT” This question was definitely detail-oriented and (arguably) nit-picky.<span style=""> </span>The correct answer is Annie Moore, the nurse who stayed with Jones until the very end. Phil Tracy and Lester Kinsolving were journalists trying to expose Jim Jones.<span style=""> </span>Grace Stoen was a high-level defector who helped start “the Concerned Relatives,” and whose child was at the center of the Jonestown custody battle.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-size:12;">-- Brian</span></span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-15950299002046154892008-03-10T13:49:00.001-07:002008-03-10T14:00:56.527-07:00The Washington Post Printed It So It Must Be True...Women Are Biologically Inferior<div><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/29/AR2008022902992_pf.html">Charlotte Allen</a>, from The Washington Post, should start looking for another job. Or maybe she should start writing her own obituary. On March 2, Allen catalyzes a blogosphere backlash to her infamous article “We Scream, We Swoon, How Dumb Can We Get?” In it, she argues that women are the weaker sex, the stupid sex, the dim half of our population, citing such “convincing” evidence as Obama rallying, Hillary’s presidential campaign, recent bestselling chick lit, Grey’s Anatomy, bad driving, oh…and the female ability to score lower on standardized visuospatial tests (i.e., the ground for math, science, and philosophy). So I guess that proves it—The Washington Post printed it, so it must be true!<br /><br />Too bad Allen didn’t do any research or even utilize the internet to find at least one study to disprove her outlandish observations. But I guess we shouldn’t really criticize Allen anyway, since she is one of the many dim-witted women out there (strange, seeing that she graduated from both Stanford and Harvard). She herself admits to being a “classic case of female mental deficiencies,” claiming, “I can’t add two and two (well, I can, but then what?). I don’t even know how many pairs of shoes I own. I have coasted through life and academia on the basis of an excellent memory and superior verbal skills, two areas where researchers agree, women consistently outpace men.” What’s more, all of the brilliant women throughout history, according to Allen, must be outliers. Sure, they can do their jobs well, but they’re just the exception, not the norm. And the rest of us…well, Allen lays it out plainly. We should just “relax, enjoy the innate abilities most of us possess (as well as the ones fewer of us possess) and revel in the things most important to life at which nearly all of us excel: tenderness toward children and men and the weak and the ability to make a house a home…Then we could shriek and swoon and gossip and read chick lit to our hearts’ content and not mind the fact that way deep down, we are…kind of dim.”<br /><br />It’s no surprise that the backlash happened (and is still going strong). Apparently women (and men) took offense to females being portrayed as vaginas that were really just brain cell black holes (<a href="http://feministing.com/archives/008709">The Washington Post: Bitches Ain’t Shit</a>). Bloggers were quick to note that Allen supports the right-wing anti-feminist Independent Women’s Forum (who, according to <a href="http://silence-is-betrayal.blogspot.com/2008/03/i-hate-charlotte-allen.html">Sara Gwin</a> on Silence is Betrayal: A Feminist Blog, want women to be more like the virginal, less intelligent 1950s housewife). That earlier in her career she claimed that to solve women’s financial problems, women just need to get some husbands and all will be fine. So, knowing some of her biases, why did Allen write this? Was it a joke? An attempt to be loud and proud about the innate inferiority of being a woman? No. Allen claims it was to give an accurate picture of how stupid females really can be.<br /><br />Let’s imagine for a minute that everything Allen says about women is true—that actual research has confirmed it. Now, imagine if instead of writing about women, we wrote about another group like blacks, gays, or Jews. Maybe we could write an article about how Africa is doomed because it’s full of black people trying to rule themselves, how the Jews deserved a genocide, or how gay people really don’t merit rights because such and such study proves that they are psychologically deranged beyond the help of medication and intervention. These would be too offensive to print, too costly to imagine the lawsuit or drop in credibility and readership. But write an offensive article about women and it’s okay. Why? <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR2008030603240.html">Katha Pollitt</a>, whose response to Allen was published in the Washington Post March 7, claims that “misogyny is the last acceptable prejudice.” And worse, The Washington Post—overwhelmingly dominated by white males—allowed it to be published. The editorial board probably didn’t even think twice about how it feeds into the sexism of our culture, how it unfairly condemns women to nothing more than the sex destined to relegate themselves to childcare, assisting men, and home decorating. Or maybe they did think twice about it and still said, “Okay, we’ll publish this article because we really need women to give in to the virginal mothering image, patriarchal authority, and accept that this is the greatest aspiration women will ever have.” <a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R9WhBvCahEI/AAAAAAAAAEU/hW3f0z6HT7k/s1600-h/convenience+bag.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5176220397910787138" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R9WhBvCahEI/AAAAAAAAAEU/hW3f0z6HT7k/s320/convenience+bag.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Makes you kind of sick, doesn't it. </div><div><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R9WhBvCahEI/AAAAAAAAAEU/hW3f0z6HT7k/s1600-h/convenience+bag.jpg"></a> </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Ada Van Roekel-Hughes</div>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-6422286354649418472008-02-28T08:24:00.000-08:002008-02-29T22:01:47.819-08:00Now Playing!<a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R8bh_qXdHNI/AAAAAAAAAEM/xmWUyEvPLRo/s1600-h/heat+wave.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5172069705902267602" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left; width: 195px; height: 130px;" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R8bh_qXdHNI/AAAAAAAAAEM/xmWUyEvPLRo/s320/heat+wave.jpg" border="0" height="165" width="208" /></a> For those of you who think sociology is just in the books and articles assigned for you to read, think again. Sociological topics and reports are now being transformed into plays! A rare occurrence, yet it seems that the effects of dangerous weather have come to grab our attention. Sure, we all <em>heard</em> about Hurricane Katrina and the 3 feet of snow that fell this winter, but we <em>read</em> about the Chicago Heat Wave in 1995 just weeks ago.<br /><br /><div>If you’re planning on visiting Chicago over Spring Break, why not stop by and see the new play adapted from Eric Klinenberg’s book? Too afraid it will be like studying on your day off? Well, not really. Steven Simoncic (screenplay writer) claims that his adaptation is “unique in that it uses nonfiction reporting as a jumping-off point for fictional dramatization.” Simoncic claims “I didn’t want to put Mayor Daley on stage. I imagined ordinary characters and moments that might be happening at City Hall in the middle of the bureaucracy” (<a href="http://www.timeout.com/chicago/articles/theater/26691/death-warmed-over">Time Out Chicago Review</a>). Afraid it’s just going to be a couple people on stage, pretending to be hot? Not likely. A diverse company of actors, the visual spectacles on stage, and the “sonic environment” created to mimic the heat wave is designed to present a provocative look at Chicago in crisis. After all, Klinenberg’s book gives us an image of how Chicago’s racial fault lines crack, so it can’t be that boring.<br /><br />Best of all, Heat Wave retains the complexity of the event and the diverse interpretations of what happened. <a href="http://www.sociology.northwestern.edu/faculty/nielsen/home.html">Laura Beth Neilsen</a>, legal scholar and blogger on <a href="http://controllingauthority.wordpress.com/">Controlling Authority</a>, gives it “two thumbs up!”</div>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-56270703157346873312008-02-27T08:06:00.000-08:002008-02-27T08:13:57.631-08:00Bourdieu on Bookshelves<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R8WKvKXdHMI/AAAAAAAAAEE/tlOMcbAxQOE/s1600-h/bourdieu+bookshelf.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R8WKvKXdHMI/AAAAAAAAAEE/tlOMcbAxQOE/s400/bourdieu+bookshelf.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171692289946098882" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p style="font-family: times new roman;"> </o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><blockquote><span style="font-size:100%;">"In fact, the position of the different fractions ranked according to their interest in the different types of reading-matter tends to correspond to their position when ranked according to volume of cultural capital as one moves towards the rarer types of reading, which are known to be those most linked to educational level and highest in the hierarchy of cultural legitimacy." (Bourdieu, <span style="font-style: italic;">Distinction</span>, page 116)</span></blockquote><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">In this morning’s edition of <a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/">insidehighered.com</a>, Scott McLemee has <a href="http://insidehighered.com/views/2008/02/27/mclemee">an article about professors’ bookshelves</a>. <span style=""> </span>I read the article as an affirmation of Bourdieu’s insights about the centrality of cultural capital and the display of markers of our cultural knowledge. <span style=""> </span>He quotes journalist Ezra Klein as saying “Bookshelves are not for displaying books you’ve read.<span style=""> </span>Those books go in your office, or near your bed, or on your Facebook profile. Rather, the books on your shelves are there to convey <i>the type of person you would like to be</i>. I am the type of person who would read long biographies of Lyndon Johnson, despite not being the type of person who has read any long biographies of Lyndon Johnson. I am the type of person who is very interested in a history of the Reformation, but am not, as it happens, the type of person with the time to read 900 pages on the subject.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Although I’ve read plenty of Bourdieu, and although I realize that I’m caught in these webs of cultural capital acquisition and exchange just as much anyone else, I try to rise above it by only having books on my shelf that I’ve read or intend to read in the next year.<span style=""> </span>But, now that I think about it, all of my books about Jonestown, and all of my books about movie stars from the 1920’s and 30’s, are at home. <span style=""> </span>Could Bourdieu explain this shelving choice?<span style=""> </span>Maybe I don’t want my colleagues to think that I’m obsessed with a so-called “death cult” when they walk into my office? <span style=""> </span>Maybe I want to convey the impression that I just don’t have time for Jean Harlow or Greta Garbo (because I’m thinking about sociology <i style="">all the time</i>)?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">But enough about me – what does your bookshelf say about YOU?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:12;" >-- Brian</span></span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-48923211220390837892008-02-24T09:00:00.001-08:002008-02-24T09:00:44.574-08:00Durkheim in the New York Times<span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p style="font-family: times new roman;"></o:p><span style="font-family: times new roman;">The New York Times published </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/us/19suicide.html">an article</a><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> last week noting rising suicide rates among the middle-aged. Today in the letters-to-the-editor section, a number of letter-writers shared their thoughts about the article. Jack D. Spiro, a rabbi from </span><st1:place style="font-family: times new roman;" st="on"><st1:city st="on">Richmond</st1:City> <st1:state st="on">Virginia</st1:State></st1:place><span style="font-family: times new roman;">, obviously paid attention in his introductory sociology class. Here’s </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/opinion/l24suicide.html">what he wrote:</a></span> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: navy;">As a rabbi in one congregation for 25 years and as a professor of a course on death for the last 30 years, I have observed this gloom (or sadness, ennui, feeling of emptiness) in this age group. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: navy;">It is not so much the means as it is the psychosocial and spiritual condition of boomers — what Émile Durkheim described in his 1897 pioneering book on suicide as anomie, referring to a lack of regulation or a breakdown of norms. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: navy;">To quote one statement from his writings, “Man is the more vulnerable to self-destruction the more he is detached from any collectivity.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: navy;">Anomie as a cause of suicide is rare when human beings share their lives in intimate connection with others, when there is a sense of mutual interdependence in the human community. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: navy;">The breakdown of personal relationships has been a major cause of depression and anomie among boomers. With the impermanence of friendships, unremitting mobility, job insecurities and the breakdown of the family structure, it should not be surprising that the suicide rate in this age group has increased. </span></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">The observation about the “impermanence of friendships” is well-supported by <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-06-22-friendship_x.htm">recent sociological research</a> (see the full study <a href="http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/June06ASRFeature.pdf">here</a>).</span></p> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: times new roman;">-- Brian</span></span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-92189548565034636912008-02-19T16:24:00.000-08:002008-02-19T16:27:21.229-08:00Thoughts on Our First Exam<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">I’ve received a couple of questions from student that I’ll answer here:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Question: I was wondering what reading materials are going to be on the exam? Up to what day? </span><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: times new roman;font-size:130%;" >The exam covers material up until the 20th. There will be a question or two based on the most recent reading.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Question: I wanted to know if we have to know the names of the people in the readings other than Sidewalk. I also wanted to know will the test be more on the readings or the lectures. </span><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: times new roman;font-size:130%;" >Yes, you should know the names of the key people surrounding the Jonestown tragedy, but I won’t ask any questions about specific people in Heat Wave. The exam will cover the reading and lecture on about a 50-50 basis, with the more difficult questions coming from the reading.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Why Details Are Important</span><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">I think dates, places, and names are important for understanding the conceptual and analytical elements of the course material. At the end of the course, I’d ideally like you to retain general sociological concepts and conceptual frameworks that speak to the first two learning goals of the course (being able to see the connection between social forces and our everyday lives and gaining 21st century information literacy). In other words, I’d rather you walk away with “the concept of social solidarity is important for understanding inequalities in contemporary America” in your head than “a lot of poor people died in the Chicago heat wave because they had no friends or family.” But, the only way to make a case for the first, more abstract, concept is to reference real-life evidence like the statistics & evidence Klinenberg uses. I think you’re more likely to hold onto the theoretical and conceptual ideas if you have examples you can reference. In this way, I think of names, dates, and places as “mental coat hangers” on which we hang more elaborate ideas. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Also, I think it’s important to know details instead of just concepts because it allows you to argue more effectively in civil society. Here’s an example of what I mean by that: let’s say you’re at a local bar and someone next to you starts yapping about how religion is the root of all suicide terrorism in the world and if we just ban Islam we’ll all be safe. To counter this, you could respond with: “That’s not true, there’s this one terrorist group in Sri Lanka that uses suicide terror tactics, and they’re secular and they have secular goals. In fact, the forms of terror that seem the most irrational (like suicide attacks) often involve more of a rational personal and political calculation than you’re comment seemed to suggest. There’s this professor at the University of Chicago that wrote a book about this. You’re totally wrong.” That’s persuasive, but not as compelling as this: “That’s not true the Tamil Tigers from Sri Lanka use suicide terror tactics and they’re a secular Marxist organization. Robert Pape, University of Chicago political scientist, analyzed over 400 suicide terror attacks and found that suicide attacks often involve more of a rational personal and political calculation than you’re comment seemed to suggest. You’re totally wrong.” The second line is much more persuasive (although both responses risk a physical confrontation with this hypothetical person).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Details are important because they’re the building blocks of general, abstract, and conceptual arguments. Therefore, you can expect some straightforward fact-based questions. I also ask this style of question because it measures whether or not, and how closely, the test-taker read the reading. That said, I won’t ask an absurdly detailed question. I might ask “about how many people died in Jonestown? 400? 700? 900? 1,400?” but I won’t ask “exactly how many people died in Jonestown?”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">In general, it’s good to read the material with an eye for detail, but some details are just too nit-picky to be included on the exam. The trick is being able to distinguish the two. For instance, I might ask “Who is Tim Stoen?” because he was a semi-major figure in Peoples Temple, is discussed in both Jonestown readings, and I talked about him (albeit, very briefly) class. I wouldn’t, however, ask “Who’s Jack Beam?” even though his name is probably mentioned in at least one of the readings. There will be some fact & detail oriented questions to see if you’re reading the material, but I’ll also ask plenty of questions that have more of a theoretical angle to them (“Which of the following scenarios illustrates Durkheim’s idea of ‘organic solidarity?’”).</span></span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-51960814180088417532008-02-16T10:58:00.000-08:002008-02-16T12:06:59.411-08:00Elements of Bourdieu: Three VideosDistinctions Create Class Boundaries<br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FBn28iNcpBA&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FBn28iNcpBA&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Jackson Pollock's Social Capital<br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ND7UgjXHenY&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ND7UgjXHenY&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Distinctions Have Consequences<br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/R8u7Ev52cX0&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/R8u7Ev52cX0&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-60882148440312326462008-02-15T17:22:00.000-08:002008-02-15T17:31:45.617-08:00Race & Class in Trading Places<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eWC9dDdqYzM&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eWC9dDdqYzM&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-43433263813620770462008-02-12T16:45:00.000-08:002008-02-12T17:30:26.622-08:00Sex Education Policies Incite Protest<span style="font-family:times new roman;">Last week a blog at </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/actnow/?pid=282431">The Nation</a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> caught my eye because the town of St. Louis was mentioned in the title. It tells the story (albeit lacking in much detail) of two eighth grade girls who were suspended because they protested their school's abstinence-only sex education policy by decorating tank tops with condoms and the words "Safe sex or no sex!" </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/02/07/sczesny.teens.suspended.KMOV">Here's</a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> a CNN video news story about what happened.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The government-supported program of abstinence-only sex education has surfaced in the news recently, and its effectiveness has come under fire. According to </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/stateevaluations/index.htm">Advocates for Youth</a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, a group concerned with the sexual health of young people, pregnancy rates among teens in the United States have been declining since the early 1990's, but our country still has one of the highest teen birth rates and rates of sexually transmitted infections in the industrialized world.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Their investigation of abstinence-only education programs in the U.S. over the last five years came to the conclusion that there are "few short-term benefits and no lasting, positive impact," and in comparison to comprehensive sex education programs, they found that "regardless of which program was implemented in the seventh and eighth grades, sexual attitudes, intentions, and behaviors were similar by the end of the 10th grade." Additionally, researchers found abstinence-only sex education was associated with a resistance to using any form of contraception, putting them at risk for sexually transmitted infections making pregnancy when they decide to become sexually active a real possibility.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Importantly, the </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.teenpregnancy.org/press/pdf/abstinence_04_07.pdf">National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy</a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> also evaluated abstinence-only sex education programs and found that "the vast majority of the public does not see</span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> abstinence and contraception as an either/or proposition—they want teens to be informed of</span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> both." According to an </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/impactabstinence.pdf">April 2007 report</a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> about abstinence education programs, $87.5 million is put into them annually, a mix of federal and state funding.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">So, I've thrown some facts, opinions and studies at you. But what does this all mean? If we could have a discussion about this, I would point it in the direction of asking these specific questions:</span><br /><ul style="font-family:times new roman;"><li>If these studies are true and abstinence education programs <span style="font-style: italic;">aren't</span> making a difference, why are we still using them?</li><li>What does it say about the culture of the United States surrounding sexuality (and specifically teen sexuality) that in some states abstinence is the only formal education students receive?</li><li>What is it about teen sexuality that scares people? Can we boil it down to an aversion to teen pregnancy or is something else going on here?</li></ul><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Thanks to Ada Van Roekel-Hughes for her help in finding some info online!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">--Brittany Hanstad</span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-88681662322376654722008-02-04T17:16:00.000-08:002008-02-04T18:13:56.468-08:00Dirt Cookie, Anyone?<div><br /><br /></div><div>Did anyone see the Kansas City Star's "Haitis Poor Eating Cookies Made of Dirt" on Tuesday the 29th (available from <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/466837.html">http://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/466837.html</a>)? The article revealed a poor Haitian family eating dirt cookies because they couldn't afford anything else. Those poor children, eating dirt!! How could this happen? What has this world come to?</div><div> </div><div>But what the article didn't explicate was that the situation in Haiti is due to larger social forces...</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>Here's a quick article summary:</div><div> </div><div>Haiti's dire economic conditions are causing the poor to rely on some unconventional food choices. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, food prices are up as much as 40 percent on some Carribbean islands due to the flood and crop damage from the 2007 hurricane season. At the market, "Two cups of rice [a daily food staple] now sell for 60 cents, up 10 cents from December and 50 percent from a year ago. Beans, condensed milk and fruit have gone up at a similar rate." But with rising food prices, what are the poor able to afford to eat? The answer has come in a traditional remedy for an enduring hunger problem: dirt cookies. Haitians can purchase dried yellow dirt from the local market--dirt which is prized as an antacid and source of calcium--for about $5.00, up by $1.50 a year ago. The dirt, mixed with salt and vegetable shortening and left to dry under the sun, is enough to make 100 cookies and costs much less than a bowl of rice.</div><div><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R6fDseySDnI/AAAAAAAAAD8/wCRlsvzZYgQ/s1600-h/dirt+cookies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163310666749185650" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R6fDseySDnI/AAAAAAAAAD8/wCRlsvzZYgQ/s320/dirt+cookies.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div> </div><div>Here's what else to think about:<br /></div><div>Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Almost 80 percent of its population lives below the poverty line. Today, the country is vulnerable to extensive deforestation, soil erosion, and inadequate supplies of clean water. It not only faces growing environmental cocners, but suffers from trade deficits, higher inflation than similar low-income countries, and a lack of investment due to insecurity and limited infrastructure.</div><div><br /><br /></div><div>Haiti's position in the world shows us the inequality that exists between the Developed and Less Developed Countries. When industrialization was taking place in the Developed Countries, it was often at the expense of their colonies, who have since been unable to industrialize themselves thanks to imperialism. These social causes have been the topic of much inquiries in sociology. For example, Immanuel Wallerstein (World Systems Theory) has written extensively about the social causes of unequal development and the history of colonialism. Further, Dependency Theory (see Andre Gunder Frank and Eduardo Galliano) claims that the Developed World was able to industrialize due to the exploitation of the Less Developed. Both theories are a criticism to Rostow's Modernization Thesis, claiming that all countries pass through key stages of development and that Less Developed Countries just haven't made it there yet.</div><div><br /><br /></div><div>What the KC Star article seemed to skip over was that macro-social policies and and macro-social causes--like development--have profound effects at the individual level. In this case, it's food choices (or lack thereof). So pass the dirt cookies.</div><div> </div><div>Ada Van Roekel-Hughes/ Robert Hughes; Soc 104 GTAs</div><div> </div><div><br /><br /></div><div></div><div><br /><br /></div><div></div>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-61504912079805228602008-02-03T12:18:00.000-08:002008-02-03T13:16:20.968-08:00The Sociology of 'Hooking Up'<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Kathleen A. Bogle, a sociologist at LaSalle University, recently published a book called </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.nyupress.org/books/Hooking_Up-products_id-5166.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Her research is a qualitative study of college students at two universities in the eastern part of the United States--one large public university and one small Roman Catholic school.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If you follow this </span></span><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/01/29/hookups"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">link</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, you'll find an interview with Bogle in which she answers some questions about the implications of her research findings as well as the limitations of her study and whether it can be generalized to other universities or the general population.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I'd like to focus on two related points from the interview: first, Bogle discusses how she found that "students tend to overestimate what their peers are doing" as far as their sex lives, and second, that this culture of hooking up is seen as more beneficial for men than women.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The first issue relates directly to social norms. Bogle's research shows that college students look to other people who are largely the same age and status to make decisions about how they should act.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This concept also ties in to the gendered double standard of player/slut Bogle mentions. If male students look around and see their male peers hooking up and reaping rewards for doing so, they're likely to follow suit if it's something they want. Females, however, might think twice about hooking up after overhearing or being apart of discussions in the dining hall about how so-and-so from the 5th floor sleeps around. If this discussion is laced with negative connotations, the female student may even feel guilty for wanting to hook up. This is one of the reasons Bogle claims women benefit less than men from hook up culture.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If men and women are socialized to believe that it's okay for males to hook up without being harshly judged on "how often they hook up, who they hook up with, how far they go sexually during a hook up, and how they dress when they out on a night where hooking up may happen" whereas this is a constant danger for females, then hook up culture certainly seems like a better deal for the male population.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Thoughts?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Thanks to Brian for the link!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Brittany Hanstad, GTA</span></span></div>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-22207052755833457462008-01-29T07:34:00.000-08:002008-01-29T15:39:44.182-08:00Solidarity & Electronic Dance Music Culture<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R59KEOySDiI/AAAAAAAAADU/j0sF3vaunL8/s1600-h/durkheim+as+raver.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 309px; height: 353px;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R59KEOySDiI/AAAAAAAAADU/j0sF3vaunL8/s400/durkheim+as+raver.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160925134538804770" border="0" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">I talked about social solidarity on Monday in class, and so I was excited to see the new issue of <i style=""><a href="http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-0253&site=1">The<span style="font-style: normal;"> </span>Sociological Quarterly</a></i> in my mailbox today with an article titled “Solidarity and Drug Use in the Electronic Dance Music Scene” by sociologists Philip Kavanaugh and <a href="http://www.udel.edu/soc/tammya/">Tammy Anderson</a>.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">In fact, some of it perfectly supplements Monday’s lecture: “<i style="">Solidarity</i> generally refers to the degree or type of integration in a society or within a social group.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Initially discussed by Durkheim, solidarity is defined by personal attachments within one’s primary group (such as the family), as well as emotionally strong bonds to larger, more complex social groups” (Kavanaugh & Anderson, pg. 184). </span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">They cite two of Durkheim’s books in the bibliography.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Kavanaugh and Anderson explored the electronic dance music subculture in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:city>, interviewed about 50 participants in the city’s rave scene, and conducted ethnographic observation at 33 late-night dance events.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Characteristically, these parties entail DJs playing some form of electronic dance music like house, trance, or drum-and-bass.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Party-goers dance all night in a high-energy environment fueled by psychedelics and amphetamines.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">The researchers wanted to discern the role of drugs in creating solidarity among ravers and clubbers.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Their research confronts two common viewpoints about the role of drugs in dance music culture.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">The first (articulated by both party-goers and some researchers) avoids the e-lephant in the room and insists that other subcultural factors create solidarity (“it’s all about the music and the lifestyle”).</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">In fact, one of the first sociological books on underground electronic dance music culture (Sarah Thorton’s <i style="">Club Cultures</i>) oddly ignored the centrality of ecstasy (or MDMA) in the rave and club scene, instead focusing on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLUR">PLUR ethos</a> and subcultural hierarchy as the central social glue of the subculture. </span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">The second perspective views the camaraderie found at these parties as just a “synthetic byproduct resulting from the pharmacological properties of ecstasy” (pg. 184).</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">In other words, the second perspective considers the appearance of solidarity as a drug-produced illusion.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Kavanaugh and Anderson suggest that both of these viewpoints are too simplistic.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">From their research, they created about 600 pages of field notes and 750 pages of interview transcripts.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Analyzing these data, they argue that there are two broad dimensions of solidarity: social-affective and behavioral-organizational.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Social-affective solidarity was built “in the moment” by creating shared experiences (pg. 189).</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">They write “Here, drug use played an important role, as it allowed participants to develop a personal and social identity defined against their mainstream parent culture, and participate in an affectively meaningful social group that was uniquely ‘their own’” (pg. 190).</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Behavioral-organizational solidarity was generated through the common experiences of party-goers.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">This tracks somewhat with Durkheim’s notion of mechanical solidarity.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Through shared experiences, like dancing until 4 in the morning, the subculture develops behavioral-organizational solidarity.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">They show up to the same events, they visit the same websites, they’re similarly affected by the enforcement of drug laws, and so on.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Drug use plays a role in sustaining this form of solidarity as well.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">But can’t drug use wreck solidarity just as easily as it can build it?</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Yes.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">The authors include an extensive discussion about the role of drugs in eroding solidarity, and they refer to this process as “detachment.”</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">More and more participants start abusing cocaine and methamphetamines, the crime associated with illegal drug markets starts to seep into club culture, and older members of the scene become disillusioned and leave.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Taken together, the relationship between drugs and social solidarity within the electronic dance music scene is much more nuanced and multifaceted than other studies have suggested.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Their study is informed by sociological theory and rooted in empirical findings, and so the authors avoid both clichés that tend to dominate representations of electronic dance music culture: ravers and clubbers as a collection of alienated drugged-out kids, and raves as utopian and spiritual countercultural spaces where youth culture achieves true freedom from mainstream society.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">They challenge both of these stereotypes, yet find a bit of truth in them as well.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Along the way, we learn that Durkheim’s notion of social solidarity isn’t just an artifact of 19<sup>th</sup> century sociology, but it’s relevant for understanding the diversity and complexity of our modern age.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">If you’re interested in reading this article, go to the <a href="http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First">KU Library Catalog</a>, type “sociological quarterly” in the search field and select “journal articles” next to “search by.”</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Select the third choice (“Blackwell Synergy”) and you’ll find the article in the first 2008 edition.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <span style="">-- Brian </span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-12062827490616874592008-01-24T07:43:00.000-08:002008-01-24T08:26:03.327-08:00Theme #3 (this time with more zombies)<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Occasionally, I’ll use the blog to clarify a point in lecture. During our first class session, I noted that a central theme of sociological inquiry is the disruption of “doxa.” We know something is “doxic” or taken-for-granted when in response to “why are you doing that?” we say “because that’s just how you do it,” “that’s just what’s done” or “that’s just the way it is.” Our doxa allows us to drive on the right side of the road without really thinking about it every time we start our car. It also guides practices of greater social consequence like voting, dating, and job hunting. If we can shine a light on social processes most people don’t think about, or think about in a particularly narrow way, we will be in a better position to solve society’s core problems (or at least understand what they are). </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">In <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shaun_of_the_dead/">Shaun of the Dead</a> zombies take over <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city> and slowly turn other people into zombies. Eventually, the whole town is full of zombies except Shaun and a handful of others. They become responsible for doing whatever it is to kill all the zombies or to de-zombify them. The sociologist sees him or herself as a bit like Shaun. We see ourselves as pointing out the zombie threat that no one else sees or pays attention to, and we’re trying to snap people, organizations, and institutions out of their zombie-like tendencies and trajectories. By uncovering the doxic or taken-for-granted, sociologists try to wake people up out of their normal ways of thinking and behaving. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The other side of this analogy is that if you’re a zombie, being a zombie seems like a fine thing to be. You don’t even know you’re a zombie, really, you’re just doing your thing, eating brains, grunting at other zombies, hanging out at graveyards. Sociologists don’t point blame at the individual zombies. We’re more concerned with group-level zombie production, believing that if we can generate another perspective - someone from the outside with different information [research] and different ideas or arguments regarding that information [theory] - we can snap out of it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Someone can probably point to an alternative linguistic history, but my understanding is that the term “doxa” came into vogue in American sociology after the translation of Pierre Bourdieu’s Outline of a Theory of Practice in the 1970s. Here’s a reproduction of the diagram from that book. I’m a “visual learner,” so I find pictures and diagrams of abstract ideas immensely helpful. Maybe you do, too.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">-- Brian</span></p><p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R5i2f-ySDgI/AAAAAAAAADE/AAwTBV5iovQ/s1600-h/doxa.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R5i2f-ySDgI/AAAAAAAAADE/AAwTBV5iovQ/s400/doxa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159074033698999810" border="0" /></a></p><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R5iybuySDfI/AAAAAAAAAC8/66d99vGYTZU/s1600-h/doxa.jpg"><br /></a>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-48941978291103746742008-01-24T07:40:00.000-08:002008-01-24T08:27:31.692-08:00That Crazy Diagram<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R5ix2-ySDeI/AAAAAAAAAC0/thHBbrOgGio/s1600-h/104+Core+categories+chart.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_vLaV09DSMFo/R5ix2-ySDeI/AAAAAAAAAC0/thHBbrOgGio/s400/104+Core+categories+chart.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159068931277852130" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:12;" >During our first class session, I discussed the difficulty of covering the <a href="http://www.asanet.org/cs/root/leftnav/sections/overview">44 recognized subfields</a> of American sociology in 30 or so class sessions.<span style=""> </span>I talked about how I’ve organized the course around the <a href="http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/Task_Force_on_Specialties.pdf">16 “core categories”</a> designated by the <a href="http://www.asanet.org/">American Sociological Association</a> in 2005. <span style=""> </span>This diagram is just to give you a sense of how I’ve organized the class given the breadth of sociology (“we study groups!”). <span style=""> </span>I certainly don’t expect you to memorize this, and this won’t appear on the first exam.<br /><br />-- Brian<br /><br /></span></span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-85150549676339882612008-01-17T07:21:00.000-08:002008-01-17T07:24:10.620-08:00The Final Will Not Be Cumulative<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Are there any other course-related questions I can answer here before our class officially starts on Wednesday? Just create a Blogger account and post a comment or question.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">-- Brian</span></span>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512507250128225047.post-88745622411224536992008-01-14T05:07:00.000-08:002008-01-14T05:09:13.755-08:00Don’t Fear the Google<span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p style="font-family: times new roman;"></o:p><span style="font-family: times new roman;">I found </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article3182091.ece">this article</a><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> in the </span><i style="font-family: times new roman;">Times</i><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> of </span><st1:city style="font-family: times new roman;" st="on">London</st1:City><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> online this morning about </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://brabazon.net/">Tara Barbazon</a><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> at the </span><st1:place style="font-family: times new roman;" st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:placename st="on">Brighton</st1:PlaceName></st1:place><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> who believes that “easy access to information has dulled students’ sense of curiosity and is stifling debate.” This, of course, is an empirical question. Has Google damped curiosity and debate? Do Google-users debate less vigorously and show less intellectual curiosity than non-Google users? In the 1970s’ and ‘80s, were the late night dorm debates and discussions just </span><i style="font-family: times new roman;">rockin’</i><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> because no one could appeal to a common authority like Wikipedia or find additional information through Google? I don’t think so, but it’s something that can be empirically studied, and I would want to look at those studies before making bold pronouncements like “Google is white bread for the mind.” Barbazon is a professor of media studies who has written books like </span><i style="font-family: times new roman;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/University-Google-Education-Post-Information/dp/075467097X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200314992&sr=1-1">University of Google</a></i><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> and </span><i style="font-family: times new roman;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Hemlock-Internet-Education-Poisoning/dp/086840781X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200314911&sr=8-5">Digital Hemlock: Internet Education and the Poisoning of Teaching</a></i><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> that are critical of the new information age, distance learning, and tech trends in higher education. There are legions of social scientists concerned about information overload, information literacy, and the effect of the Internet on knowledge production and reception. In fact, the </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.citasa.org/">Communication and Information Technology</a><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> section of the American Sociological Association is one of the fastest growing groups within American sociology, expanding tremendously in the last five years.</span></span> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">My first impulse is to brand Barbazon as a <a href="http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/luddite">luddite</a>.<span style=""> </span>Instead, I’ll merely point out that I found her university homepage, information about her scholarship and teaching, and all of her books online using – you guessed it – Google.</span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">-- Brian</span></p>Elements of Sociologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641896051995123634noreply@blogger.com3