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.
Continue reading “sunday morning sociology, economic indicators edition”
Keeping up with the literature can seem like a full time job. In this post, I want to introduce two technological tools that can help you keep tabs on what’s happening in the research literature and in the broader public conversation: table of contents (TOC) emails and RSS readers.
Continue reading “keeping up with jones et al: toc emails and rss readers”
One of my most strongly-held positions is that language matters. It gives voice and form to our ideas and thoughts, and in turn it shapes those ideas and thoughts as well.
So I appreciated when Daniel Laurison recently asked this question on twitter
Serious question about thoughtful language for talking about the set of people who are not white men. I’ve seen compelling critiques of phrasing like “women and people of color” on the basis that it syntactically (grammatically? linguistically?) implies that those don’t overlap.
— Daniel Laurison (@Daniel_Laurison) October 21, 2018
especially since it was a question I’d found myself asking a little while ago too
I’m also trying to think through why I don’t have strong feelings about the phrasing “women and people of color.”
I don’t use it, because I hear and want to respect the thoughts of people who find that phrasing erasing. but I don’t totally get it, tbh.
— meritocracy killjoy (@polumechanos) January 26, 2018
Despite my strong feelings about the use of language, I don’t have particularly strong feelings about the phrase “women and people of color.” But especially as a Black woman, “listen to Black women” is a guiding ethos for me, so I take seriously when Black women say they don’t like the phrase.
Continue reading “reconsidering the use of “women and people of color””
*cross-posted at parenthoodphd.com*
Last week, I took my son to the doctor for his 15-month check-up. I tried to keep my son entertained while the nurse went through the standard battery of questions, entering my answers on her laptop:
Is he in a rear-facing car seat? Yes.
Are there smoke detectors in the home? Yes.
Does anyone in the house smoke cigarettes? No.
Is he exposed to wood smoke? No.
Is he still breastfeeding? Yes.
Does he drink cow’s milk, too? Yes.
But then she followed up with one that required more brainpower.
Does he drink whole milk or two percent?
If I had been on my A-game, I probably would’ve gone with the “right” answer (whole milk). But I was trying to keep my son from catapulting himself off the exam table, so I went with distracted honesty: “Uh, a mix of both.”
Continue reading ““whole milk or two-percent?” mommy shaming in the doctor’s office”
Continue reading “sunday morning sociology, bringing “bringing back in” back in edition”
As sociologists, many of us are deeply involved in work on politically-relevant issues in our professional lives, but we hesitate to bring them into our personal worlds. It can be daunting to confront your most stubborn relatives or involve the family members who still think you’re a psychologist. Still, there is a lot to be gained from engaging the people you care for the most on topics related to your version of sociology. Changing hearts and minds isn’t impossible and bringing more of your political academic ideologies to Facebook is one way to do that. To help you, I offer my guiding principles for political Facebook engagement.
Continue reading “a guide to politics, sociology, and facebook”
Rebecca Solnit has a new essay in The Guardian about the recent IPCC climate change report. The report itself paints a grim picture, and warns us that the time is running very short to prevent catastrophic levels of global warming. Solnit argues that we must resist the urge to despair, to give up – an urge nicely exemplified by a recent NHTSA report arguing against increasing fuel efficiency standards on the assumption that four degrees Celsius worth of warming was inevitable and that US fuel emissions would only be a small contribution to that catastrophe, so why bother? Solnit, in contrast, counsels hope:
The future hasn’t already been decided. That is, climate change is an inescapable present and future reality, but the point of the IPCC report is that there is still a chance to seize the best-case scenario rather than surrender to the worst. Natan Sharansky, who spent nine years in a gulag for his work with Soviet dissident Andrei Sarkovsky, recalls his mentor saying, “They want us to believe there’s no chance of success. But whether or not there’s hope for change is not the question. If you want to be a free person, you don’t stand up for human rights because it will work, but because it is right. We must continue living as decent people.” Right now living as decent people means every one of us with resources taking serious climate action, or stepping up what we’re already doing.
