A weekly link round-up of sociological work – work by sociologists, referencing sociologists, or just of interest to sociologists. This scatterplot feature is co-produced with Mike Bader.
This week features many links to other great blogs. Rumors of the death of blogs are greatly exaggerated!
Sociology of Science
- As we March for Science(!), let’s remember that some of our sciences are not doing so well. Example: the science of eating.
- On diversity in political science: “if the discipline can celebrate white mediocrity, it should be able to do the same with non-white mediocrity”.
- “I want the work we do to live inside reasonable boundaries, and still to be enough.” On the productivity cult in academia and its mental health consequences (one of a series of posts in response to the suicide of Will Moore).
- Posting Open Access versions of papers may reduce gender bias in citations. One more reason to support SocArXiv!
- How do you persuade skeptical parents to vaccinate their children? The mixed results of studies testing fear-based vs. mythbusting approaches.
Work and Inequality
- The humans behind Google’s artificial intelligence are taking a huge paycut. One of many examples of the tensions surrounding “contractors” vs. “employees” in tech (see also: Uber).
- Anti-union is pro-Trump, even at the Ivy League.
- The many politics of universal basic incomes.
Sociology of Law
- What is a juvenile defense lawyer to do when the company that owns TASER sets the terms to obtain discovery documents?
- A straightforward explanation of the legal issues involved in the courts’ injunction against sanctuary city penalties.
Economic Sociology
- Sociologist Filiz Garip on trade and aid as immigration policy.
- Economist debate and find some consensus on trade, technology, and jobs.
- “Abortion is an economic issue.”
Urban Sociology
- An amazing un-narrated documentary of the LA Riots, great for teaching undergrads, nearly all of whom were born after(!) the riots.
- School choice leads to wealth segregation (citing several sociologists including Ann Owens, Sean Reardon, and Sal Saporito).
Etc.
- “Build a Better Monster: Morality, Machine Learning, and Mass Surveillance.” A fascinating talk, here’s one teaser:
Every time we went to the supermarket, my mom would give me a quarter to play Pac Man. As a good socialist kid, I thought the goal of the game was to help Pac Man, who was stranded in a maze and needed to find his friends, who were looking for him.
My games didn’t last very long.
The correct way to play Pac Man, of course, is to consume as much as possible while running from the ghosts that relentlessly pursue you. This was a valuable early lesson in what it means to be an American.
