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ASA 2012, Aug 17-20: “Real Utopias”–UT SOC Presenters and Participants

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“Real Utopias”

American Sociological Association 2012 Annual Meeting

August 17-20   ·   Denver, CO

Colorado Convention Center & Hyatt Regency

~ The University of Texas at Austin Program ~

Fri 8/17     Sat 8/18     Sun 8/19     Mon 8/20

Friday, August 17

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Jacqueline L. Angel
Section on Aging and the Life Course Invited Session. What’s In a Name? Perspectives on the Sociology of Age, Aging, and the Life Course
Unit: Section Invited
Fri, Aug 17 – 4:30pm – 6:10pm
Panelist

Travis Beaver
Table 14. Culture, Politics, and Collective Action
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Culture / Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtables
Fri, Aug 17 – 4:30pm – 6:10pm
Presenter: Roller Derby Revolution: Sport as a Social Movement

Mounira Maya Charrad
Contemporary Sociology Editorial Board
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Role: Participant

Robert Crosnoe
Section on Children and Youth Business Meeting
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 3:30pm – 4:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant

Carmen Marie Gutierrez
Table 02. Incarceration, Parole, and Treatment Interventions
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Crime, Law and Deviance / Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Roundtables
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 4:30pm – 6:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Dually Deviant: A Weberian and Durkheimian Perspective on the Reproductive Rights of Incarcerated Women

Mark D. Hayward
Section on Aging and the Life Course Business Meeting
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 3:30pm – 4:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant

Nicolette Denise Manglos
Section on Altruism, Morality and Social Solidarity Paper Session. Altruism, Morality and Social Solidarity: Envisioning Utopias
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Altruism, Morality and Social Solidarity / Altruism, Morality and Social Solidarity: Envisioning Utopias
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Haitian and Ghanaian Liturgy and Prayer as Constitutive-ends Practices

Michael Jason McFarland
Section on Aging and the Life Course Business Meeting
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 3:30pm – 4:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant

Megan Tobias Neely
Table 09. Employment and Gender
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Global and Transnational Sociology / Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Presenter on individual submission: Women Political Executives on Women’s Rights: A Shifting Framework

Pamela Jane Neumann
Regular Session. Development and Gender
Unit: Development and Gender
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Empowerment Paradox: Volunteer Mothering as Community Participation in Nicaragua

Evangeleen Pattison
Regular Session. Inequalities in College Access and Completion
Unit: Higher Education, Sociology of.
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Changes in Ascribed and Achieved Advantage in American Higher Education

Pamela M. Paxton
Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Paper Session. Gender, Globalization, and Transnationalism
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Global and Transnational Sociology / Gender, Globalization, and Transnationalism
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Transnational Women’s Activism and the Global Diffusion of Gender Quotas

Catherine E. Ross
Table 05. Families across the Life Course
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Aging and the Life Course / Section on Aging and the Life Course Roundtables
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: Preferences for Remarriage among the Widowed and Divorced

Sharmila Rudrappa
Contexts Editorial Board
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 4:30pm – 6:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant
Section on Asia and Asian America Invited Session. Asia and Migration: New Directions in the New Global Economy
Unit: Section Invited
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Gay Dads and Indian Surrogates

Connor Sheehan
Table 19. Drugs and Drug Use
Unit: Open Refereed Roundtables
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Drug Prevalence Differentials in Violent Deaths

Angela R. Stroud
Table 03. Inequality and Crime
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Crime, Law and Deviance / Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Roundtables
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 4:30pm – 6:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Is Concealed Handgun Licensing Motivated by Fear of Crime?

Debra Umberson
Section on Aging and the Life Course Business Meeting
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 3:30pm – 4:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant

Andres Villarreal
American Sociological Review Editorial Board
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Role: Participant

Michael P. Young
2013 W.E.B. Dubois Award for Distinguished Scholarship Selection Committee
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Role: Participant

Alumni

Sinikka Elliott (PhD, 2008)
Regular Session. Food and Agriculture
Unit: Food and Agriculture
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: Bringing Sociology to the Table: A Case for a Sociological Approach to the “Obesity Epidemic”

ChangHwan Kim (PhD, 2008)
Section on Methodology Paper Session. Open Topic 1
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Methodology / Open Topic (2 sessions)
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 4:30pm – 6:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Do Proxy Responders Report Earnings Accurately? Gender and Marital Status Effects of Proxy Responses

Jenny Trinitapoli (PhD, 2009)
Regular Session. Kinship and Pathways of Support
Unit: Family and Kinship
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: Sibling Support among Young Adults in Malawi

Sara Yeatman (PhD, 2008)
Regular Session. Kinship and Pathways of Support
Unit: Family and Kinship
Scheduled Time: Fri, Aug 17 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Sibling Support among Young Adults in Malawi

Saturday, August 18

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Lady Anima Adjepong
Table 07. Table 32. Sport and Sport Cultures
Unit: Open Refereed Roundtables
Sat, Aug 18 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Presenter: Play-forms of Association: An Examination of How Women’s Rugby Teams Develop Sociability and Organic Solidarity

Jacqueline L. Angel
Section on Sociology of Population Paper Session. Disciplines and Demography: Finding the Sociology in Population Processes
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Population / Disciplines and Demography: Finding the Sociology in Population Processes
Sat, Aug 18 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter: Contextualizing Financial Strain in the Older Latino Population

Ronald J. Angel
Journal of Health and Social Behavior Editorial Board
Unit: Meetings
Sat, Aug 18 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Participant

Julie Anne Beicken
Table 04. Medicine and Health
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Science, Knowledge and Technology / Section on Science, Knowledge and Technology Roundtables
Sat, Aug 18 – 8:30am – 9:30am
Presenter: Scientific Knowledge Production and the Creation of “Feeblemindedness”: A Foucauldian Approach to the Eugenics Movement

Dustin C. Brown
Regular Session. Biosociology/Biosocial Interaction
Unit: Biosociology/Biosocial Interaction
Sat, Aug 18 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Presenter: Does Marriage Lower Biological Risk among Older Adults?

Shannon Cavanagh
Social Psychology Quarterly Editorial Board
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Role: Participant

Mounira Maya Charrad
Section on Political Sociology Invited Session. Is There a Politics of Law or a Legality of Politics?
Unit: Section Invited
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Session Submission Role: Panelist

Wenhong Chen
Table 05. Politics
Unit: Open Refereed Roundtables
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Media Use and Civic Engagement in Western China

Robert Crosnoe
Sociology of Education Editorial Board
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 12:30pm – 2:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant

Carlos Diaz-Venegas
Section on Sociology of Population Paper Session. Disciplines and Demography: Finding the Sociology in Population Processes
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Population / Disciplines and Demography: Finding the Sociology in Population Processes
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: Contextualizing Financial Strain in the Older Latino Population

Mark D. Hayward
Journal of Health and Social Behavior Editorial Board
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Role: Participant
Regular Session. Biosociology/Biosocial Interaction
Unit: Biosociology/Biosocial Interaction
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Does Marriage Lower Biological Risk among Older Adults?

Robert A. Hummer
Journal of Health and Social Behavior Editorial Board
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Role: Participant

Hortencia Jimenez
Section on Latino/a Sociology Business Meeting
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 1:30pm – 2:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant

David Michael McClendon
Section on Sociology of Population Paper Session. Population, Environment, and Context
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Population / Population, Environment, and Context
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 12:30pm – 2:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Where It’s Easier Being Blue: The Second Demographic Transition and IVF Utilization in the United States

Michael Jason McFarland
Regular Session. Biosociology/Biosocial Interaction
Unit: Biosociology/Biosocial Interaction
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Does Marriage Lower Biological Risk among Older Adults?

Christian Luis Paredes
Section on Human Rights Paper Session. Human Rights of Migrants
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Human Rights / Human Rights of Migrants
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 12:30pm – 2:10pm
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Coercive Immigration Enforcement and Bureaucratic Ideology

Pamela M. Paxton
Regular Session. Cross-National Sociology
Unit: Cross-National Sociology
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 12:30pm – 2:10pm
Session Submission Role: Session Organizer

Catherine Riegle-Crumb
Sociology of Education Editorial Board
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 12:30pm – 2:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant

Bryan Rees Roberts
Section on Community and Urban Sociology Invited Session. Utopia or Dystopia? Comparing Cities in the Global North/Global South
Unit: Section Invited
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Session Submission Role: Panelist

Keith D. Robinson
Sociology of Education Editorial Board
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 12:30pm – 2:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant

Nestor P. Rodriguez
Section on Human Rights Paper Session. Human Rights of Migrants
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Human Rights / Human Rights of Migrants
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 12:30pm – 2:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Coercive Immigration Enforcement and Bureaucratic Ideology

Dara Renee Shifrer
Regular Session. Social Psychology
Unit: Social Psychology
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: A Mixed Methods Study of How Socioeconomic Status is Associated with Adolescents’ Sense of Control
Section on Social Psychology Paper Session. Social Psychology and Inequality
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Social Psychology / Open Topic on Social Psychology (2 sessions)
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Regional Differences in Adolescents’ Locus of Control: Social Disadvantage or Cultural Exceptionalism?

Robert Sitko
Regular Session. Consumption and Economic Inequality
Unit: Consumers and Consumption
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Session Submission Role: Presider

Amanda Jean Stevenson
Table 03. Inequality
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Population / Section on Sociology of Population Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Presenter on individual submission: The Effect of First Interbirth Interval on Women’s Poverty at Midlife

Mary Esther Sullivan
Table 02. Housing and Inequality
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Community and Urban Sociology / Section on Community and Urban Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Presenter on individual submission: Informal Development in Low-income Communities: Housing Conditions and Self-help Strategies in Informal Subdivisions in Texas

April M. Sutton
Section on Social Psychology Paper Session. Social Psychology and Inequality
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Social Psychology / Open Topic on Social Psychology (2 sessions)
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Regional Differences in Adolescents’ Locus of Control: Social Disadvantage or Cultural Exceptionalism?

Margaret Tate
Regular Session. Visual Sociology
Unit: Visual Sociology
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 12:30pm – 2:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Representing Social Invisibility: Aesthetics of the Ghostly in Rebecca Belmore’s Named and Unnamed

Debra Umberson
Journal of Health and Social Behavior Editorial Board
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Role: Participant
Professional Development Workshop. ASA Editors Offer Insights and Advice on Writing and Submitting Articles
Unit: Professional Workshop
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Session Submission Role: Panelist

Christine L. Williams
Regular Session. Consumption and Economic Inequality
Unit: Consumers and Consumption
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Session Submission Role: Session Organizer

Alumni

ChangHwan Kim (PhD, 2008)
Regular Session. Asians and Asian Americans: Economic and Educational Processes
Unit: Asians and Asian Americans
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Are Asian American Women Advantaged? Labor Market Performances of College Educated Female Workers

Jennifer Karas Montez (PhD, 2011)
Section on Sociology of Population Paper Session. Disciplines and Demography: Finding the Sociology in Population Processes
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Population / Disciplines and Demography: Finding the Sociology in Population Processes
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: How do Parents’ and One’s Own Education Accumulate to Shape Adult Health?

Wei Zhang (PhD, 2008)
Regular Session. Asians and Asian Americans: Economic and Educational Processes
Unit: Asians and Asian Americans
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Discrimination and Psychological Distress among Asian Americans: Exploring the Moderating Effect of Education
Table 02. Mental Health of Asians and Asian Americans
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Mental Health / Section on Sociology of Mental Health Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Sat, Aug 18 – 10:30am – 11:30am
Session Submission Role: Table Presider
Presenter on individual submission: English Proficiency and Psychological Distress among Latinos and Asian Americans

Sunday, August 19

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Ellyn Margaret Arevalo
Table 10. Relationships and Sex Among Young Adults
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on the Sociology of the Family / Section on the Sociology of the Family Roundtables (one-hour)
Sun, Aug 19 – 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Presenter: Relationship Formation Processes Among Emerging Adult Men and Women

Kathleen H. Averett
Section on Sex and Gender Paper Session. Youth and Children Transgressing Gender Boundaries
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sex and Gender / Youth and Children Transgressing Gender Boundaries
Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter: Anxious Publics, Disruptive Bodies: The Case of the Transgender Girl Scout

Sergio Antonio Cabrera
Regular Session. Consumer Citizenship
Unit: Consumers and Consumption
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 4:30pm – 6:10pm
Session Submission Role: Presider

Ben Carrington
Section on Sex and Gender Invited Session. The State of Masculinities Studies: Current Trends and Future Directions
Unit: Section Invited
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Session Submission Role: Panelist

Shannon Cavanagh
Section on the Sociology of the Family Paper Session. Family Structure and Children’s Well-being
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on the Sociology of the Family / Family Structure and Children’s Well-Being
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Family Trajectories and School Readiness in the United States and the United Kingdom

Mounira Maya Charrad
Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology Council and Business Meeting
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Role: Participant
Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology Paper Session. Modernity Reconfigured: Post-colonial Theory and Comparative-Historical Sociology
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology / Modernity Reconfigured: Postcolonial Theory and Comparative-Historical Sociology
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Modernity, Islam and Gender: Post-colonial Perspectives

Gloria Gonzalez-Lopez
Policy and Research Workshop. New Ethical Challenges in Qualitative Research (sponsored by the Committee on Professional Ethics)
Unit: Research/Policy Workshop
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Role: Co-Leader

Katherine Christine Jensen
Research Poster Session. Communicating Sociology
Unit / Sub Unit: Poster Presentations / Communicating Sociology
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Lessons from the Spatial Margins in Argentine Memory-making: Sites of Memory in Buenos Aires

Amy C. Lodge
Section on Medical Sociology Paper Session. Social Networks, Social Support, and Health Across the Life Span
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Medical Sociology / Social Networks, Social Support, and Health Across the Life Span
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: Parenthood and Physical Activity across the Life Course: How do Gender and Race Matter?

Nicolette Denise Manglos
Theory Section Invited Session. Agency or Personhood?
Unit: Section Invited
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Session Submission Role: Panelist

Catherine McNamee
Table 14. Marriage Values and the Value of Marriage
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on the Sociology of the Family / Section on the Sociology of the Family Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Presenter on individual submission: Race-ethnic Differences at Remarriage and the Role of Pro-nuptial Values

Chandra Muller
Table 03. Cultural and Sociopolitical Representations
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Disability and Society / Section on Disability and Society Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 9:30am
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Racial Minorities in High School Disproportionately Labeled with Learning Disabilities

Christian Paredes

Section on International Migration Paper Session. Migrating People, Migrating Culture
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on International Migration / Migrating People, Migrating Culture
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Using Media in Foreign Languages: an Analysis of Cultural Proximity and Cosmopolitanism in Austin, Texas

Pamela M. Paxton
Regular Session. Social Capital, Trust, and Well-being
Unit: Social Capital
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Do Social Connections Create Trust? A Longitudinal Analysis

Mark D. Regnerus
Table 10. Relationships and Sex Among Young Adults
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on the Sociology of the Family / Section on the Sociology of the Family Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Relationship Formation Processes Among Emerging Adult Men and Women

Catherine Riegle-Crumb
Section on Sociology of Education Paper Session. Gender Differences in Education
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Education / Open Topic on Sociology of Education (6 sessions)
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Session Submission Role: Presider

Brandon Andrew Robinson
Table 03. Sexuality, Health, and Meaning-Making
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Sexualities / Section on Sociology of Sexualities Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 9:30am
Presenter on individual submission: In Defense of Barebacking and Sexual Risk Taking: Weberian Perspective on Rationalization, Discipline, and Disenchantment

Dara Renee Shifrer
Section on Medical Sociology Paper Session. The Causes and Consequences Illness-related Stigma
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Medical Sociology / The Causes and Consequences Illness-related Stigma
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Stigma of a Label: Educational Expectations for High School Students Labeled with a Learning Disability
Table 03. Cultural and Sociopolitical Representations
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Disability and Society / Section on Disability and Society Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 9:30am
Presenter on individual submission: Racial Minorities in High School Disproportionately Labeled with Learning Disabilities

Katie Sobering
Table 15. Service Work
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Organizations, Occupation and Work / Section on Organizations, Occupation and Work Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Presenter on individual submission: From Worker to Worker-owner: A New Theater of Service Work

Emily Jane Spangenberg
Table 13. Resource Use, Governance, and Social Inequality
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Environment and Technology / Section on Environment and Technology Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Presenter on individual submission: The “Sick Poor” and the “Healthy Professional”: Environmental Health Discourse in Abra Pampa, Argentina

April M. Sutton
Section on Sociology of Education Paper Session. Gender Differences in Education
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Education / Open Topic on Sociology of Education (6 sessions)
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Gender Differences in Postsecondary Matriculation: Rurality, the Local Labor Economy, and Gender Role Socialization

Debra Umberson
Section on Medical Sociology Paper Session. Social Networks, Social Support, and Health Across the Life Span
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Medical Sociology / Social Networks, Social Support, and Health Across the Life Span
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Marital Status, Marital Transitions, and Alcohol Use: A Mixed-methods Study

Christine L. Williams
Author Meets Critics Session. Framed by Gender: How Gender Inequality Persists in the Modern World (Oxford University Press, 2011) by Cecilia Ridgeway
Unit: Author Meets Critics
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Session Submission Role: Critic
Regular Session. Consumer Citizenship
Unit: Consumers and Consumption
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 4:30pm – 6:10pm
Session Submission Role: Session Organizer

Amina Zarrugh
Table 15. Politics and Civic Engagement
Unit: Open Refereed Roundtables
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Session Submission Role: Table Presider
Presenter on individual submission: Participant Propriety: A Case for the Study of the Body in Social Movement Organizations

Alumni

Nicole Angotti (PhD, 2010)
Regular Session. Social Dimensions of AIDS
Unit: AIDS, Social Dimensions of
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Struggle Against AIDS as Discursive Object: Institutionalization and the Rise of Bio-medicine in Malawi 1999-2009

Anna Strassmann Mueller (PhD, 2011)
Section on Medical Sociology Paper Session. Social Networks, Social Support, and Health Across the Life Span
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Medical Sociology / Social Networks, Social Support, and Health Across the Life Span
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: Are Suicidal Behaviors Contagious in Adolescence? Understanding the Role of Selection in Suicide Imitation

Corinne Reczek (PhD, 2011)
Section on Medical Sociology Paper Session. Social Networks, Social Support, and Health Across the Life Span
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Medical Sociology / Social Networks, Social Support, and Health Across the Life Span
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: Marital Status, Marital Transitions, and Alcohol Use: A Mixed-methods Study

Sara Yeatman (PhD, 2008)
Regular Session. Social Dimensions of AIDS
Unit: AIDS, Social Dimensions of
Scheduled Time: Sun, Aug 19 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Struggle Against AIDS as Discursive Object: Institutionalization and the Rise of Bio-medicine in Malawi 1999-2009

Monday, August 20

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Julie Anne Beicken
Section on Sociology of Education Paper Session. Race, Ethnicity, and Nativity in Education: Social Psychological Mechanisms
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Education / Open Topic on Sociology of Education
Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter, Winners and Losers: Teachers’ Perceptions of the Children of Immigrants

Sarah F. Blanchard
Section on Sociology of Education Paper Session. Race, Ethnicity, and Nativity in Education: Social Psychological Mechanisms
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Education / Open Topic on Sociology of Education
Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter, Winners and Losers: Teachers’ Perceptions of the Children of Immigrants

Maryann Bylander
Section on International Migration Paper Session. Transnationalism and Development Issues
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on International Migration / Transnationalism and Development Issues
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: Until I Go to Thailand: A Culture of Migration among Rural Cambodian Youth
Table 03. Issues in Migration
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Development / Section on Sociology of Development Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 9:30am
Presenter on individual submission: Migration and the Expansion of Micro-credit in Cambodia

Sergio Antonio Cabrera
Regular Session. Consumer Identities
Unit: Consumers and Consumption
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Role: Presider

Ben Carrington
Regular Session. Cultural Studies
Unit: Cultural Studies
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Session Submission Roles: Presider, Session Organizer

Mounira Maya Charrad
Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology Paper Session. Revolutions “New” and “Old”
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology / Revolutions “New” and “Old”
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Roles: Presider, Session Organizer

Wenhong Chen
Table 15. Stress, Coping, Social Status and Health
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Medical Sociology / Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Help or Hurt? Unsolicited Job Information and Receivers’ Psychological Distress

Robert Crosnoe
Section on Sociology of Education Business Meeting
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 11:30am – 12:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant

Molly Dondero
Table 08. Language
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on International Migration / Section on International Migration Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Presenter on individual submission: Language Use at Work and Earnings of Immigrants in the United States

Jeong Ha Hyun
Regular Session. Religion: Conflict and Resolution I
Unit: Religion
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: The Mode of Modern State Power Operations on Religious Minorities: Violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt

Melissa H. Humphries
Table 08. Immigrant Children, Education, and Their Outcomes
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Education / Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 10:30am – 11:30am
Presenter on individual submission: The Political Socialization of Adolescent Children of Immigrants: The Roles of Schooling and Family

Chandra Muller
Regular Session. Gender in Science and Academia
Unit: Gender and Work
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Inequality in Academic Salaries: How Gender Matters in the University
Section on Sociology of Education Business Meeting
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 11:30am – 12:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant
Table 08. Immigrant Children, Education, and Their Outcomes
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Education / Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 10:30am – 11:30am
Non-Presenter on individual submission: The Political Socialization of Adolescent Children of Immigrants: The Roles of Schooling and Family

Kate C. Prickett
Regular Session. Interactions between Work and Family
Unit: Family and Work
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 12:30pm – 2:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: (Un)Employment and Parental Time Use: Does Education Matter?

Kelly Raley
Regular Session. Gender in Science and Academia
Unit: Gender and Work
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Inequality in Academic Salaries: How Gender Matters in the University

Catherine Riegle-Crumb
Regular Session. Patterns and Consequences of College Sorting
Unit: Higher Education, Sociology of.
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Session Submission Role: Discussant

Sharmila Rudrappa
Table 09. South Asian and Muslim American Identities
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on International Migration / Section on International Migration Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Session Submission Role: Table Presider

Dara Renee Shifrer
Regular Session. Gender in Science and Academia
Unit: Gender and Work
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Inequality in Academic Salaries: How Gender Matters in the University

Ori Swed
Regular Session. Militarization and Governance
Unit: Peace and Conflict
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 10:30am – 12:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: The Arab Spring and the Role of the Military: Coercion and Diffusion through Arms Sales

Mieke Beth Thomeer
Table 08. Racial and Ethnic Relations and Health
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Medical Sociology / Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Race and Gender Differences in Nursing Home Admissions and Discharges

M. Christine Wheatley
Regular Session. Political Sociology I: Immigration, Trafficking, and Deportation: The Politics of Voluntary and Involuntary Migration
Unit: Political Sociology
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: Removal as Disposal? Deportation and the Value of Non-citizen Life
Section on International Migration Business Meeting
Unit: Meetings
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 1:30pm – 2:10pm
Session Submission Role: Participant

Christine L. Williams
Author Meets Critics Session. Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children, and Consumer Culture (University of California Press, 2009) by Allison J. Pugh
Unit: Author Meets Critics
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 12:30pm – 2:10pm
Session Submission Role: Critic
Regular Session. Consumer Identities
Unit: Consumers and Consumption
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Session Submission Role: Session Organizer

Alumni

Erin R. Hamilton (PhD, 2008)
Table 03. Issues in Migration
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Sociology of Development / Section on Sociology of Development Roundtables (one-hour)
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 9:30am
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Migration and the Expansion of Micro-credit in Cambodia

Ryan Kelly Masters (PhD, 2011)
Regular Session. Mortality
Unit: Mortality
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Temporal Changes in Socio-economic Gradients of “Preventable” Mortality: A Test of Fundamental Cause Theory

Jennifer Karas Montez (PhD, 2011)
Regular Session. Health Policy
Unit: Health Policy
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 12:30pm – 2:10pm
Non-Presenter on individual submission: Socio-economic Inequalities in Health Among Older Adults: Implications for the Retirement Age Debate

Anna Strassmann Mueller (PhD, 2011)
Regular Session. Gender in Science and Academia
Unit: Gender and Work
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 2:30pm – 4:10pm
Presenter on individual submission: Inequality in Academic Salaries: How Gender Matters in the University

Hyeyoung Woo (PhD, 2008)
Table 15. Stress, Coping, Social Status and Health
Unit / Sub Unit: Section on Medical Sociology / Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables
Scheduled Time: Mon, Aug 20 – 8:30am – 10:10am
Presenter on individual submission: Predictive Strength of Self-rated Health on Mortality Risk Across Racial and Ethnic Groups

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Globalization and Development, Political Sociology, Sociological Theory, Work, Occupations and Organizations

‘The Problem of Democracy Today’ – Cornelius Castoriadis

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An interesting speech given in Athens in 1989, six months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, by Cornelius Castoriadis, founder of Socialisme ou Barbarie (1948-65). Mention of sociologist Lewis Mumford. Some tidbits:

‘We must return to the original meaning of the word “democracy.” Democracy does not mean human rights, does not mean lack of censorship, does not mean elections of any kind. All this is very nice, but it’s just second- or third-degree consequences of democracy.’

‘There is a famous phrase of Plato, in the Laws, if I remember correctly, where he is discussing the ideal dimensions of a city and says that the ideal dimensions as regards population (not territory) is the number of people who, gathered in one place, are able to hear an orator speaking.’

‘If factories and public services manage to function, it’s because employees violate to a large extent the regulations in order to be able to do their jobs. This is proven by the fact that one of the most effective forms of strike is what is called in French ‘zeal strike’: the employees begin to apply the regulations to the letter, and this can make everything collapse in an hour.’

‘…[I]n ancient democracy, as people had nothing else to do…they had this political passion, while ourselves…all we seek from the state is to consolidate our delights.’

Read more here.

Sociology of Education, Uncategorized, University of Texas at Austin Sociology

Developing Course Goals and Objectives

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Sociology Assistant Instructor David Glisch-Sanchez offered an informative session Monday on how to assess student learning in the classroom.

First, there are different types of learning, from memorization and understanding to evaluation and creating something new based on knowledge gained. It is important for teachers to design activities and measurement criteria that target a variety of these types of learning.

Second, there is also variety in terms of objects learned, from facts and concepts to self-reflection and critique of one’s approach toward the facts and concepts themselves. There are many pedagogical tools, from choice-based exams to open-ended research projects, that can assess these levels of knowledge acquired through the course, each with their own pros and cons.

David also talked about the importance of specifying and clarifying course objectives at the beginning of and throughout the course. Regardless of what assessment criteria teachers use, it is important expectations be set and made explicit if not as ultimate learning goals, then as check-points for students.

‘What do I know?’ ‘What do I want to know?’ and ‘What did I learn?’ are three useful general questions teachers should pose to students, and keep in mind as they continue to improve their courses.

Below are some resources toward this end teachers can consult:

‘Helping Students Do Well in Class: GAMES’ by Dr Marilla D Svinicki

Exam Writing Guidelines from Instructional Assessment Resources, UT-Austin

Developing Course Goals and Objectives by David Glisch-Sanchez

Political Sociology, Sociological Theory, Sociology of Religion, Uncategorized

Beyond the Cosmopolis: A Summary of Étienne Balibar’s ‘Cosmopolitanism and Secularism’

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The honeymoon is long over, philosopher Étienne Balibar says in ‘Cosmopolitanism and Secularism: Controversial Legacies and Prospective Interrogations,’ between cosmopolitanism and secularism, and perhaps the taken-for-granted marriage of the two attitudes of liberal nation-states was not so legitimate to begin with.

Witness for instance the heated debates on universal human rights versus respect for cultural, religious difference (Islam), or the severe silencing of foreign, ‘outside’ influence in the interest of economic and ‘humanistic’ policies (the Eastern bloc, China). Have we reached an ideological antinomy and practical impasse? What will be the legacy of globalization in the XXI century?

Balibar insists, first, in order to extricate ourselves from sinking deeper into this mire, we rethink the opposition and antagonism between the secular and the sacred. Secularism, in a self-legitimizing gesture to adjudicate among all forms of recognized expressions on a bias separating politics and religion (and also the public and the private), institutes itself foremost as a theology of the Law. Instead, Balibar calls for a ‘secularization of secularism’ itself where legal systems play a self-critical role but cannot be the sole decisive agents in the arena of national and international relations.

Further, Balibar invokes the proliferation of assemblages and re-assemblages of ‘new religions’ and ‘new traditions’ such as liberation theology, Islamic feminism, stewardship ecology etc that would liberate and harness in new ways the reformatory and revolutionary energies that have become trapped and forgotten in current rigidified, codified, normalized, routinized everyday practices–akin to a sublimation of libido–and as such subject to performative critiques.

Thus, rather than the cosmopolitical, Balibar hopes to call for a ‘planetary construction of the universal,’ around an axis of the imminently reversible poles of the secular and the sacred, beyond the deadlock of cosmopolitanism and secularism.

Uncategorized

Etienne Balibar Talk Today

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Étienne Balibar will be speaking today at the Student Activity Center, on ‘Cosmopolitanism and Secularism: Controversial Legacies and Prospective Interrogations.’ The event is part of a symposium ‘Sacred and Secular Politics’ organized by the Center for European Studies et al, open to the public. I encourage everyone to go. Details here. Post to follow.

The leading contemporary Marxist theorist, Balibar was born in 1942 and a student of Louis Althusser, co-authoring Reading Capital with his mentor. He teaches at Paris X.

Political Sociology, Race and Ethnicity, Uncategorized, University of Texas at Austin Sociology

The Lost Battalion: Sociology Professor Establishes New Scholarship in Honor of Father’s Legacy

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Lost BatallionTexans proudly “remember the Alamo,” but few remember the importance of the Battle for the Lost Battalion. Arthur Sakamoto, professor of sociology and Population Research Center affiliate at The University of Texas at Austin, wants to change that.

In honor of the Japanese American soldiers of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team who fought in the bloody World War II battle-including his own father-Sakamoto is starting an undergraduate scholarship called the Battle for the Lost Battalion Scholarship Fund.

The Lost Battalion, also known as the “Alamo” Regiment for its lineage that traces back to the Texas Revolution, was a battalion of 275 soldiers from Texas. Trapped behind enemy lines on a steep ridge in the forest east of Biffontaine, France, they were cut off from the rest of their regiment and completely surrounded by Germans.

The 442nd was charged with the mission to rescue the cut-off battalion, even though they had just spent the entire previous week fighting to free two nearby towns. Engaged in the heaviest fighting they had seen in the war, the soldiers battled the elements as well as the Germans; dense fog and very dark nights prevented the men from seeing even twenty feet ahead of them. Rainfall, snow, cold, mud, and fatigue, plagued them as they slowly crept closer to the German frontlines.

When they could inch no closer, there was nothing left to do but charge up steep slopes, shouting, firing from the hip, and lobbing hand grenades into enemy dugouts Finally, the 442 soldiers broke the German defenses, allowing them to reach the 141st, rescuing 211 Texas soldiers at the cost of 800 Japanese American casualties in just 5 days.

“Since I was young I have heard the battle mentioned by members of my family because my father fought in it,” Sakamoto says. “For its size and length of service, the 442nd is the most highly decorated unit in U.S. military history.  [Yet] the 442nd does not seem to be as widely known as it once was.”

Lost BatallionSakamoto hopes this scholarship will once again raise awareness and respect for the Japanese American men who faithfully, and voluntarily served their country in a time when their family and friends were rounded up and placed in internment camps despite their American citizenship-their only crime being their physical likeness and extended familial ties to the enemy.

“We just wanted to join to prove that we are loyal Americans,” one veteran of the 442nd recently told NBC cameras during a recent news segment on the regiment, echoing a line from the Japanese American creed: Although some individuals may discriminate against me, I shall never become bitter or lose faith, for I know that such persons are not representative of the majority of the American people.

The bravery of the 442nd not only saved the lives of captured American soldiers, but as news of their heroism spread, it helped Japanese Americans to begin to gain acceptance as full-fledged Americans. In 1963, the soldiers of the 442nd were named “Honorary Texans” by the Texas state legislature for their actions.

L&L Cover

 

During a widely publicized ceremony in 1946, President Harry S. Truman stood outside in the rain to welcome the returning heroes of the 442nd, saying “You’ve fought not only the enemy, but you’ve fought prejudice, and you’ve won.  Keep up that fight, and we’ll continue to win to make this Great Republic stand for just what its Constitution says that it stands for, the welfare of all the people, all the time….”

“What the Battle for the Lost Battalion helped to do was to sear into the national psyche the enduring American truth that all U.S. citizens are equal under the law regardless of their race,” Sakamoto says.

In order to promote a greater awareness of this momentous battle in American history, Sakamoto and The University of Texas at Austin are seeking to honor the valor and sacrifices of the brave Japanese American soldiers of the 442nd through the establishment of the Battle for the Lost Battalion Scholarship Fund.

Sakamoto’s hope is that the scholarship will become operational by 2014, which will be the 70th anniversary of the battle. The goal is to raise $25,000 for an endowment, whose income will be used to support scholarships for deserving undergraduate students in the College of Liberal Arts.

To learn more about supporting the Battle for the Lost Battalion Scholarship Fund please contact Professor Arthur Sakamoto , (512) 232-6338 or Assistant Dean Kathleen Aronson , Office of Development at the College of Liberal Arts at  (512) 475-9763.

Top image: Army portrait of Arthur Sakamoto Sr.
MIddle image: Arthur Sakamoto Sr. in the foreground holding a book
Bottom image: 442nd Regimental Combat Team Patch

Courtesy of Molly Wahlberg

Demography, Race and Ethnicity, Sociology of Education

Educational Disadvantages Associated with Race Still Persist in Brazil Despite Improvements, New Study Shows

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Despite notable improvements in educational levels and opportunity during the past three decades, disadvantages associated with race still persist in Brazil, according to new research at The University of Texas at Austin.

Although educational advantages for white over black and pardo (mixed-race) adolescents declined considerably in Brazil, the gap is still significant, with whites completing nearly one year more of education.

Sociologist and Population Research Center affiliate Leticia Marteleto investigated educational inequalities using the nationally representative data from Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios from 1982 to 2007. Her findings will be published in the February issue of the journal Demography.

“Although the educational advantage of whites has persisted over this period, I found that the significance of race as it relates to education has changed in important ways,” Marteleto said.

By 2007, adolescents who identified themselves as blacks and pardos became more similar in their education levels, whereas in the past blacks had greater disadvantages, according to the study. Marteleto tested two possible explanations for this shift: structural changes in income levels and parents’ education, and shifts in racial classification.

Her findings suggest the educational gap has closed in part because of the large gains in family resources among black adolescents and a shift in racial labeling.

In 1982 only 13.2 percent of adolescents who identified themselves as black had finished primary school by ages 17 and 18, compared with 21.5 percent of their pardo peers. In 2007, the gap for primary school completion had disappeared.

The second potential explanation for the closing educational gap between pardo and black Brazilians is a shift in racial identity. Children of college-educated black fathers and mothers have a greater probability of being identified by their family as black in 2007, while in 1982 these associations were still considered negative. This seems to explain — at least in part  — some of the increases in the educational attainment of those identified as black in relation to pardo, since highly educated Brazilians now have a disproportionately higher likelihood of identifying their children as black rather than either white or pardo.

Marteleto said the current debate about recent race-based affirmative action policies being implemented in Brazilian universities has engaged its population at a national level and can offer valuable insights to the literatures of educational opportunity and race everywhere.

“My research shows that educational disadvantages have recently assumed a dichotomous nature based on black and white in Brazil,” Marteleto said. “While in the United States the growth in racial and ethnic diversity has led researchers to speculate that the black-white dichotomy is losing its salience for social inequalities — and that the country will soon resemble Brazil as a result of racial mixing — Brazil seems to be headed in the opposite direction, at least in regard to racial inequalities in education.”

For more information, contact: Michelle Bryant, College of Liberal Arts, 512-232-4730;  Leticia Marteleto, Department of Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, 512-471-8302.

Uncategorized

What Makes People Give?

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During the “season of giving,” calls for donations are as plentiful as candy canes and eggnog. From bell-ringing Santas to toy donation drives, generous Americans make it the most wonderful time of the year for many charities.

What motivates this outpouring of good will? Americans donated nearly $300 billion in 2011, surpassing the gross domestic product of all but 33 countries in the world, according to a 2010 report by the Giving USA Foundation. Though the tradition of giving has existed for centuries, researchers have only begun to explore this question in the past 20 years.

At the forefront of this burgeoning field of study, social scientists at The University of Texas at Austin are examining the many reasons why some people give and some don’t.

Pamela Paxton, professor of sociology and government, studies how individual characteristics and social forces affect generosity.

With a $148,000 grant from the Science of Generosity Initiative at the University of Notre Dame, sociologist Pamela Paxton, the Centennial Commission Professor of the Liberal Arts, is breaking new ground in the science of giving. Using data from two cross-national surveys, she’s examining how the social, economic and political structures of nations affect generosity. She is among the first social scientists to look at both the personal factors and larger societal forces that drive generosity.

Although she recently embarked on this study in 2010, she has preliminary results that suggest three factors influence our charitable impulses: Resources, opportunity and social norms. Paxton speculates the surge in giving during the holidays comes from an abundance of opportunities to get involved.

“Being asked to donate and volunteer makes a big difference,” said Paxton, professor of sociology and research affiliate in the Population Research Center and the Department of Government. People are also more likely to give because the social norm of giving is more pronounced during this time of year.”

The social pressure to give is especially prominant among people with money and education.

“Well educated people are more likely to acquire the civic skills necessary to volunteer, and they’re more informed about social issues like poverty,” she said. “Social networks are also very important. If you’re surrounded by people who donate and volunteer, you’re more likely to do the same.”

It may come to no surprise that religious people are more involved in philanthropic activities, yet research shows that even nonreligious people are more prone to giving back if they live in communities where many people attend religious services.

“Social networks matter – even if you’re not involved in church or a philanthropic group,” Paxton said. When we’re surrounded by a social network of civic-minded people, we’re more likely to volunteer because of increased recruitment and motivation. We might see these processes when a friend asks if we’d like to help out at a homeless shelter, or if we hear about a church food drive from an acquaintance.”

Researchers have long questioned the existence of altruism, arguing that if people “feel good” after giving or volunteering, it cannot be truly altruistic behavior. Yet Paxton isn’t interested in weighing in on the debate.

“Whether altruism exists doesn’t matter to me,” Paxton said. “What does interest me is the fact that generosity and altruism are central to a well functioning society. I don’t think you have to answer this question in a philosophical sense to understand the causes and consequences of generosity.”

Learning by example

Whether anyone can truly be selfless remains a mystery. However, Marlone Henderson, assistant professor of psychology, found that when people see others demonstrating altruistic acts, they are more inspired to get off the couch and into the soup kitchen.

Over the course of five studies, Henderson and his research team looked at the ways people are motivated to give their time and money to a charitable cause. Respondents were more motivated to give to a cause, he found, when they learned of others helping the less fortunate in different countries.

“When people learn about others who are going outside their own communities to help people in need – standing little to gain – they are reminded of their own apathy,” Henderson said. “But rather than feeling guilty, they see these programs as glowing examples of good will.”As part of the study, the 626 respondents were given descriptions of university student civic groups that help disadvantaged children in a school mentoring program. The programs are fictitious, however the respondents believed them to be real and were prepared to donate money at the end of the study.

Watch Marlone Henderson, assistant professor of psychology, discussing the many factors that motivate people to give in this Knowledge Matters video.

Variations of the programs included volunteers helping children in various countries or assisting children in their respective countries. After viewing the programs’ websites, which included photos of volunteers with the children, the participants reported an increased interest in contributing to the programs helping children overseas.

“One of my favorite examples is a line from ‘Batman Begins’ when Bruce Wayne says, ‘People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy,'” Henderson said. “Although he’s talking about motivating himself to put on his bat outfit, the message is broader than that. We need something to shake us out of this apathy – and when we hear about something that’s different than what we’re used to, that motivates us to get involved and help.”

In another study, Henderson looked at how people decide to contribute to fund-raising campaigns. One of the most powerful factors that drives people to donate, he says, is the amount of money the campaign has already raised.

An image from Henderson’s study showing a fictitious student volunteer program involving Chinese students helping children in Beijing.

When soliciting donations, charitable organizations need to consider how much their constituants care about the cause. If they’re reaching out to people who already care, it’s important to emphasize what needs to be done to accomplish a goal, Henderson said.
In a series of studies of 1462 participants, Henderson and his team manipulated audience identification by describing the beneficiaries of a shared goal in distancing terms such as “they” or “them” or in close terms such as “we” and “us.” After the respondents were informed of how much money was still needed for a cause they cared about, donations almost doubled.

“When people hear about how much more is needed they’re more compelled to jump in and get involved, so this effort they care about doesn’t sink,” Henderson said.
However, he advises fundraisers to do the opposite when targeting those who aren’t particularly invested in the cause.

“The best way to motivate new people is to point out what others have done,” Henderson said. “When people see that a charity has already raised a good chunk of money – they’re likely to say, ‘Wow – people really care about this! Maybe I should care too.'”
To measure the effectiveness of this strategy, the researchers drafted a letter citing the success of a fundraising campaign. They found the donations more than tripled after the respondents, who didn’t identify with the cause, read the letter.

So what does this mean for civic groups, nonprofits and charitable organizations hoping to increase donations? Henderson said he hopes insights from his studies will help fundraisers craft better campaigns and tug at the heartstrings with greater precision. By showing examples of people demonstrating altruistic acts in foreign countries, or communicating a sense of urgency with their constituents, they can significantly expand their circle of potential donors.

Why study generosity?

Aside from philanthropic groups rallying for donors, what can be gained from these studies? For Paxton, the importance of this area of research is learning how to make the world work a little bit better.

“Social scientists often focus on social problems,” Paxton said. “But it’s nice for me to come in to work and focus on a social good. Personally, I enjoy this research because if we can increase a social good, it could potentially help a number of social problems at once.”
To help a new generation of generosity scholars learn about the broad causes of generosity around the world, Paxton is teaching a freshman signature course in the School of Undergraduate Studies during the 2012-13 academic year. Using a $100,000 gift, provided to the university by an anonymous foundation, students will decide how to allocate the money to a charitable organization of their choice. Since the challenge will be to decide where to give the money, Paxton will teach techniques to evaluate the effectiveness of charitable programming.

“This class has the potential to change their lives,” Paxton said. “It’s going to make students think about philanthropy at an early age. And they have the opportunity through this class to give a substantial amount of money to a good cause.”
From donating a sizable gift to a struggling nonprofit to dropping off a couple of soup cans at a food drive, any act of good will contributes to a well-functioning society. And people need to realize they don’t have to wait until the holidays to start giving back.
“During this time of year people are put on waiting lists to help out at soup kitchens,” Paxton said. “It’s great that philanthropy is pronounced during the holidays, but volunteering and giving is needed all year long.”

Courtesy of Jessica Sinn, College of Liberal Arts

Uncategorized

Letisha Brown wins Outstanding Paper Award at NASSS

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Graduate student Letisha Brown received the Barbara A. Brown Outstanding Student Paper Award in the master’s students section of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, for her paper “The Spectacle of Blackness: Race, Representation and the Black Female Athlete.”

The NASSS annual conference titled “Revolutionary Sporting Bodies: Technologies in Practice” this year took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Papers winning the award are typically published in the flagship journal of NASSS, the Sociology of Sport Journal, and many former winners have gone on to become leading figures in the sociology of sport.

Kudos to Letisha!

Austin, Crime, Law and Deviance, Sociological Theory, University of Texas at Austin Sociology

Addenda errata, or, Toward a sociology without society

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In ‘What’s in an Error? A Lévy Walk from Astronomy to the Social Sciences’ Isaac talked about how it was really error, or more precisely, the idea and observation that errors in natural scientific experiments and measurements seem to exhibit certain repeatable properties, or laws, that formed the foundation of the study of probability and statistics. Only against a background of noise, variance and aberrations was a concept of normal (eg average man), as well as the idea of truth as non-error, able to emerge and take shape. Versions of these concepts remain central to the social sciences from the 18th century to this day.

Alex Weinreb brought up the point that the rise of statistics and its incorporation into social studies were coeval with the relative geographic immobility of people in the 18th century. What struck me was how much statistical sociology is tied to criminology since its inception. Adolphe Quetelet, the founder of statistical sociology, was a criminologist and used his method primarily to study crime causation. Even the Lévy walk was a mathematical concept, I believe, first developed out of practical application to track down prison escapees within certain calculated perimeters. Given its strong ties to Staatswissenschaft, the emergence of social statistics seems to go hand in hand with that of governance and social control, policy and police–hence the centrality of the normal-pathological distinction.

Nonetheless, the historical contingency of something doesn’t necessarily invalidate its internal consistency. Statistics does describe something, and presents reality, at least in part, in certain ways. Amanda’s presentation outlined some of these principles or consistencies and addressed the utilities and limitations, risks and yields, of a number of statistical models (eg instrumental variables). Alex pointed out that current multilevel nonlinear social statistical models even seem to vindicate many previous, non-statistics-based sociological observations. The underlying assumption in the debate on merits of statistics-based sociology versus those of non-statistics-based sociology is interesting, in that proponents typically put forth that what can’t be empirically verified can’t be included as true, while opponents counter what’s true often lies beyond empirical verification itself. The positions perhaps are not so contradictory as they seem, for there is a supposition common to both, and that is, large-scale phenomena are necessarily somehow more complex than small-scale phenomena (if the distinction of large and small even holds). Here, the statistician’s or (for the lack of a better term) ‘positive sociologist’s’ role becomes merely one of delimitation, whereas that of the ‘critical sociologist’ becomes one of extension of epistemic scope. Expansion and edification are not mutually exclusive.

Perhaps it is this very assumption that needs questioning. Is it really easier to predict the motion of a cell or atom than it is to predict how someone or group will behave? Physics has shown us that the opposite can actually be the case. Large-scale phenomena, as such, are to a far extent stable and relatively easily predictable; it’s when we get down to the micro- and nano-levels of reality that laws collapse and things become very uncertain. Light may be both particle and wave, and yet this keyboard on which I’m typing, I’m fairly certain, won’t suddenly turn into a dove and fly away.

Sociologist Jean Baudrillard once said that knowledge is a high-definition screen onto which the low-definition image that is reality is projected. What may this mean for the sociological apparatus? How may the relation between theory and evidence, knowledge and object, itself be re-conceived within the field? Amidst such questions, Isaac’s and Amanda’s talks remind us of a level of reflexivity that is both essential and useful to the practice and imagination of sociology.