sunday morning sociology, unpopular policies edition

Separating immigrant children from their parents is one of the most unpopular policies ever polled. More from John Sides at the Washington Post here.

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.

sunday morning sociology, the rent is too damned high edition

“Minimum Wages Can’t Pay for a 2-Bedroom Apartment Anywhere.” City Lab reports on new data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

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.

of laptops and lectures: report on a middle path

In this post, I’m going to tell you about my solution to the laptops-in-lecture problem, and how it played out in a recent large (~100 person) lecture course. Tl;dr: don’t ban laptops outright, instead create a zone in the classroom where students are allowed to use laptops for note-taking only.

sunday morning sociology, light edition

I made my first chart in R! pic.twitter.com/wTkN9cb1vl

— Joanna Pepin (@CoffeeBaseball) June 10, 2018

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, we haven’t got too much in our queue. So post your favorite links from the last weeks in the comments! Or, alternatively, enjoy a lazy Sunday.

Etc.

• Manisha Claire, writing at the excellent JStor Daily blog, discusses how food writers tried to make salads “manly AF” in the mid-20th century.
• On the politics of bad municipal development policy, especially payoffs to lure jobs.
• “Racism as we understand it now, as a socio-political order based on the permanent hierarchy of particular groups, developed as an attempt to resolve the fundamental contradiction between professing liberty and upholding slavery.” Jamelle Bouie looks at the Enlightenment and race.

 

about taking criticism

A PDF version of this post is available at SocArXiv

How do you respond when someone criticizes you? What if you think that criticism is unfair or inappropriate? What if you think the critic has a good point and it makes you feel really bad about yourself? This essay is about constructive ways for responding to criticism about how your style as a person of power or privilege may be hurting others in your teaching or advising. Along the way it addresses the broader problems of taking criticism in general and of cultural differences in interaction styles. The punchline is about trying to be who you are (no personality transplants) in a way that respects both yourself and others and helps make your environment feel inclusive for more marginalized people.

Many professors think that it is important for students to be able to take academic criticism as a normal part of learning to be an academic, but are nevertheless outraged at anyone expecting them to take criticism about the way they give criticism to others, if you follow my point. Many people view themselves as pro-feminist pro-minority pro-queer liberal social justice advocates and are deeply hurt and offended at being told that their personal style or comments are viewed by others as domineering or racist or sexist or homophobic or classist or patronizing or demeaning.

asa social media soiree (15th annual blog party, rebranded!)

I am delighted to announce the continuation of a now venerable tradition: the ASA blogger party! This year, we’ve decided to update the name to reflect the Death of Blogs and the shifting of sociological conversations to a wider range of social media (read: Twitter). Whatever our technological affordances, we still enjoy a good pint! Details:

The 15th Annual ASA Social Media Soiree

Monday, Aug 13th from 4pm to 7pm

McGillin’s Olde Ale House, 1310 Drury St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
(Just a couple blocks South of the Convention Center.)

Come join us! As Tina put it, “All blog writers, commenters, and readers are welcome, as are folks-who-used-to-write-but-don’t-so-much-anymore-you-know-how-it-goes, lurkers, tweeters, and assorted people who simply would like to come. Please recall that well-behaved sociology faculty will generously purchase a beverage or two for a thirsty graduate student. We may be awkward, but we don’t need to be that awkward.”

sunday morning sociology, college housing edition

Robert Kelchen shows that less than half of college students – even among just first-years attending 4-year colleges – live in on campus housing.

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.