Eldad Levy in OpenDemocracy on Violence in Mexican Society

UT Austin sociology doctoral student Eldad Levy has written an op-ed for OpenDemocracy on the effects of violence in Mexican society.

He writes:

After Syria, Mexico is today the most violent country in the world. What is worse: Mexico is falling apart as a political community. For over a decade now, as a result of the drug wars, Mexico has been systematically disintegrating as a territorial sovereign state in many parts of the country. Poverty, impunity and the ensuing violence are tearing apart any remnants of a sense of social solidarity. […]

The neoliberalization of the Mexican economy has not only failed miserably in bringing prosperity to the population, it has also failed in terms of much simpler standards such as economic growth: since 2000, Mexico has grown on average at a yearly rate of 2%. While President Trump is fond of focusing his rhetoric against trade with Mexico, the Free Trade Agreement has been a disaster for the Mexican working class and the farmers.

Read more from Eldad at OpenDemocracy in both English and Spanish.


Eldad Levy is a graduate student in the department of sociology at UT Austin. His research interests are social movements, Latin American societies, and political violence.

UT Austin Sociology at ASA 2018!

The annual meeting of the American Sociological Association is here, with a strong showing from scholars from the UT Austin sociology department. For quick reference, we compiled a list of presentations, talks, discussions, and more featuring our own UT Austin sociologists:

Saturday, August 11th:

8:30 to 10:10am, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 406

Emily Paine: “Embodied Disruption: Sorting Out Gender and Nonconformity in the Doctor’s Office”

8:30 to 10:10am, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 405

Robert Ressler: “Can Community Nonprofits Help Children from Diverse Families Learn on a National Scale?”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, Franklin Hall 9

Sharmila Rudrappa: “Reading Stuart Hall in (New) Times of Ultra-Right Nationalism”

10:30 to 11:30am, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 5, Salon G

Yiwen Wang: “Family SES and Depression among College Students in China: Mediating Effects of Self-efficacy and Interpersonal Relationships”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, Franklin Hall 6

Amanda Bosky, Chandra Muller, Eric Grodsky, and John Robert Warren: “Preparing Students for an Advancing Economy: Academic Preparation and Exposure to Bad Occupations at Midlife”

2:30 to 3:30pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 5, Salon C

Jamie O’Quinn: “Responsibilizing Girls’ Sexualities: U.S. Child Marriage, Sexual Violence, and the Neoliberal State”

2:30 to 4:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 5, Salon G 

Bola Sohn, “How Asian Americans Shape their Pathway Frame at the Intersection of Race, Class, and Social Capital”

2:30 to 4:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, Franklin Hall 2

Ori Swed, John Sibley Butler, and Connor Sheehan: “The Digital Divide and Veterans’ Health: Differences in Self-reported Health by Internet Usage”

4:30 to 6:10pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 113C

“Shaping and Informing Public Conversations by Sharing Your Scholarship”

UT Panelist: Sharmila Rudrappa

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Sunday, August 12th:

8:30 to 9:30am, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 5, Salon G

Aida Villanueva and Maria Carolina Mota Pereira Aragao: “Girls’ Domestic and Care Work in Brazil: Educational Consequences and Connections to Mothers’ Work”

8:30 to 10:10am, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 104B

Nino Bariola: “The Peruvian Foodie Crowd and the Fields of Ethical Consumption”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 406

Eldad J. Levy: “Heroes, Villains, and Legacies of Modernization: Transforming Mexican Nationalism”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 113C

Michael Garcia: “Marital Strain and Psychological Distress in Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples”

12:30 to 1:30pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 5, Salon G

Ari Adut: “Publicity and Common Knowledge”

12:30 to 2:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 405

Ken-Hou Lin and Megan Tobias Neely: “American Life in Debt”

2:30 to 4:10pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 104A

Koit Hung: “Private Troubles, Public Secrets: The Self-representation in Help-seeking Posts on Facebook”

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Monday, August 13th:

8:30 to 10:10am, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 404

Elizabeth Cozzolino: “Litigating Relationships: Gendered Conflicts in Child Support Court”

8:30 to 10:10am, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 111B

Corinne Reczek, Alexandra Kissling, Lauren Elizabeth Gebhardt-Kram, and Debra Umberson: Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Spouses as the ‘Strong Arm’ of Health Care”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 111A

Shannon Malone Gonzalez, Katie Rogers, Jamie O’Quinn, Erika Slaymaker, and Jax J. Gonzalez: “Graduate Student Workshop on Collective Organizing”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 105AB

Mark Hayward: “Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health and Mortality”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 411

Maricarmen Hernandez: “Displaced into Toxicity: An Account of Unequal Toxic Exposures in the Latin American City”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 113C

Daniel Fridman: “Valuation and Meanings of Money in Psychoanalytical Treatment in Argentina”

10:30 to 11:30am, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 113A

Marta Ascherio: “Sanctuary Policies and Crime: A County-level Investigation”

2:30 to 4:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 413

Ori Swed, Thomas Crosbie, Jae Kwon, and Bryan Feldscher: “The Corporate War Dead: New Perspectives on the Demographics of American and British Contractors”

2:30 to 4:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, Franklin Hall 5

Shannon Malone Gonzalez: “Black Girls and the Talk: Policing, Parenting, and the (re)Production of Hegemonic Illegibility”

2:30 to 4:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 414

Christine Williams: “The Deserving Professional: Instability and Inequality in the Oil and Gas Industry”

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Tuesday, August 14th:

8:30 to 10:10am, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 107AB

Celeste Curington, Jennifer Hickes Lundquist, and Ken-Hou Lin: “Reinforcing the Boundaires of Whiteness and Blackness: The Racial Preferences of Multiracial Online Daters”

8:30 to 10:10am, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 105AB

Sarah Brayne: “Technologies of Crime Prediction: Comparing the Reception of Big Data Analytics in Policing and Courts”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 105AB

Rachel Donnelly: “How Precarious Employment in Midlife Shapes Health”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, Franklin Hall 6

“Is the Sociology of Mental Health at a Crossroads? Some Historical Reflections and Where We Go from Here”

UT Panelists: Debra Umberson, Tetyana Putrovska

10:30am to 12:10pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 104B

Jennifer Karas Montez, Mark Hayward, and Anna Zajacova: “Educational Disparities in Adult Health: U.S. States as Institutional Actors on the Association”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 414

Pamela Paxton, Nicholas Reith, Melanie Hughes, and Wade Cole: “Entering World Society: A Research Note on Measurement and Statistical Modeling”

10:30am to 12:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 5, Salon H

Jess Goldstein-Kral: “Transgender Theory, Queer Measurements, Cisgender Subjects: Discordant Perceptions of Gender and Marital Quality”

Katie Rogers: “Breaking the Grass Ceiling: Colorblind Discourses of Diversity, Professionalism, and Morality in U.S. Legal Cannabis”

12:30 to 2:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 409

Karen Lee: “Multi-Group Attitudes towards Contemporary Black Political Action”

Abigail Weitzman, Leticia Marteleto, and Raquel Coutinho: “Socioeconomic Status and Risk Perceptions: Evidence from the Zika Epidemic in Brazil”

12:30 to 2:10pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 104B

Andrew Krebs: “Boundary Spanners’ Burden: Exploring the Perspectives of Psychiatric Treatment Providers Working in Texas Jails”

2:30 to 4:10pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Level 100, 113B

Lilla Pivnick: ” Using Twitter to Investigate Gendered Job-related Stress among U.S. Teachers”