sunday morning sociology, unstable attitudes edition

The NYT reports on survey evidence showing that Donald Trump’s nomination led to a big shift in religious voters’ willingness to forgive past transgressions (and, more generally, that partisans follow cues from their leaders more than we sometimes think). 

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, a few articles feature discussions of how malleable our stated opinions are (or aren’t.)

Inequality

• Leslie McCall and Jennifer Richeson report a survey experiment on how information about rising inequality makes Americans (a bit) less likely to believe economic success is earned through individual effort.
• The Boston Review looks at three books on inequality (Dream Hoarders, Toxic Inequality, and White Working Class) and notes that none emphasize a key reducer of inequality elsewhere: strong unions.
• The New Yorker reviews The Economy, a new, high profile, and free introductory economics textbook. Its first chapter? Inequality.

Race and Racism

• The NYT Magazine takes a deep dive into the resegregation of schools in Jefferson County through an Alabama town’s appropriately named attempt to “secede.”
• “Through the banning of subreddits which engaged in racism and fat-shaming, Reddit was able to reduce the prevalence of such behavior on the site.”
• “few groups need intersectionality more than aggrieved white men and the professional intellectual class seeking to understand how they elected Donald Trump President of the United States of America.” – Tressie MC being brilliant as always.

Higher Education

• Programs pushing women into STEM may backfire because the real problem is STEM fields pushing women out.
• Elite universities emphasize “independence” in ways that alienate students from poor families.
• “Michelle was sentenced in a courtroom to serve X years, but we decided — unilaterally — that it should be X years plus no Harvard,” – On Harvard’s rejection of Michelle Jones, and what it can tell us about prison, the limits of redemption, and the academy.

Tech

• BoingBoing covers Sarah Brayne’s work on predictive policing and big data.
• Unions are coming to Silicon Valley – or, more precisely, to the contractors that drive the shuttles and staff the cafeterias.

Climate Change

• Historian Naomi Oreskes recommends five books on the politics of climate change.
• Living through extreme weather doesn’t change your attitude towards climate change policies.