Latest articles from sociology lens

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Organizations & Work

"Deserving" and "Undeserving" Welfare

Over a decade since the 1996 welfare reform bill, welfare is in the news again.  The latest controversy is over laws that seek to limit what welfare recipients can spend money on.  This comes shortly after state legislatures passed laws to require drug testing of welfare recipients.  These new laws are not a direct attack on what remains of anti-poverty programs in America.  Instead, these initiatives allow for both a deserving and an undeserving poor.  A moral evaluation of the...

Gender & Sexuality / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture

Gender and Race Politics in the Discourse of Mothering

Mothering has been in the news lately. TIME Magazine’s cover story on breastfeeding in May caused quite a stir; so did Anne-Marie Slaughter’s piece for the Atlantic, which discussed the difficulty women face when trying to balance work and family. TIME’s piece points to the increasing pressure on women to do everything right when it comes to being a mom: The rise in attachment parenting (even in a watered-down form) places great responsibility on women to do all they can,...

Gender & Sexuality / Sociology of Culture

Embodied Pregnancy and Weight Loss Fads

It often seems like we are bombarded with the words “diet,”  “new weight loss regimen,” or “loose ten pounds instantly” when channel surfing or catching up with current events. As record high temperatures continue to be registered across the country, the media is not reluctant to remind us that fewer clothes and “summer bodies” require that extra twenty minutes on the treadmill, or even a whole new diet regimen. I am a big advocate for a healthy lifestyle and live...

Class & Stratification / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture

Battle Hymn of the Steriotype Mother

I’ve been meaning to do a blog on Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (BHTM) by Amy Chua for the past year, but to be honest I was hoping to stay above the fray.  Alas, time has come to add my two cents into the blogosphere….                       BHTM is “a satirical memoir” (p. 234) by Yale law professor Amy Chua, which chronicles her adventures in raising her half-Jewish, half-Chinese daughters...

Sociology Compass Issues

Sexing Up the Sex Ed Classroom?

  In her Sociology Compass article, Sexuality Education in the United States: Shared Cultural Ideas Across the Political Divide, Jessica Fields maps the terrain of sexuality education in the United States. While many people believe that debates about sexuality education polarize into two approaches (one favoring an abstinence based approach and the other favoring a more comprehensive based approach), Fields shows that both “camps” want to regulate adolescent sexuality and protect teenagers from the dangers of sexual activity and desire...

Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Deinstitutionalization and the Criminal Justice System: An Unfortunate Correlation

Starting in the 1950s, the United States began to engage in the deinstitutionalization of state mental institutions. This involved removing severely mentally ill patients from public psychiatric hospitals, diverting new mentally ill patients away from such hospitals, and implementing community-based services. Originally triggered by the introduction of the first effective antipsychotic medication, Chlorpromazine (AKA Thorazine), in 1955 and helped along by the enactment of federal Medicaid and Medicare in 1965, deinstitutionalization has brought about a huge reduction in the number...

Feminist Theory / Gender & Sexuality / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

The Attack on Anita Sarkeesian: From Media Analysis to Anti-Feminism and Online Harassment

AUTHOR’S WARNING: This post, and especially the links leading from it, contains images and language that some readers may find offensive or unsettling. Anita Sarkeesian is clever, eloquent, and seemingly fearless, but the recent fame she has achieved is not entirely pleasant. With a B.A. in communications from California State University, Northridge and a Master’s degree in social and political thought from York University, Sarkeesian is thoroughly knowledgeable and aptly qualified for her role as media critic and feminist activist....

Sociology of Culture / Sociology of the Family

Why Sociologists Should Be Critical of the New Family Structure Study

An article in Social Science Research is causing quite a stir among sociologists, and is sure to fuel the flames of the debate surrounding gay marriage. Mark Regenerus, sociologist at UT Austin, has just published results from the New Family Structure Study (also see his Slate article). He suggests that children raised in heterosexual intact families fare better than children raised by gays and lesbians. This goes against previous research which indicated the opposite: that children of gay and lesbian...

Social Movements / Social Change

Clipping Colorism at the Knees

“Mr. Leighton, Mr. Leighton! So-and-So said a bad word.” This is how my day has stared for the past two weeks.  Like many sociology graduate students, my department does not offer summer funding so I’m forced to find it on my own.  This summer, I am a Summer PALS (Play and Learn Sessions) Director in Maui. The work is hard, the hours are long, and the children are challenging, but through this experience I am able to hear the stories...

Science & Technology / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Just a Flash in the Pan?: Institutional Fads and the Medicalization of Addiction

In popular culture, fads are common occurrences that follow a relatively basic trajectory.  That is, cultural fads typically materialize, become increasingly popular, and then fade away almost as quickly as they appeared (Best 2006).  From American Idol to zoot suits, fads associated with pop culture rapidly rise and promptly plummet before being replaced by a new trend that is ultimately destined to follow a similar path.  This cycle of emerging, surging, and purging is not, however, limited only to relatively...

Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

The Law & Social Movements: Six Months after SOPA & PIPA

Six months ago today the U.S. Congress was in the midst of a debate over legislation that would fundamentally alter the relationship between the state, intellectual property holders, and the Internet. In opposition to the legislation, known as SOPA (House version) and PIPA (Senate version), thousands of web sites – including major sites such as Wikipedia and reddit.com – voluntarily blacked themselves out in protest. A closer examination of this incident and events that have transpired since provides insight into how...

Political & Economic Sociology

The Soda Ban and Sociology

In the past few weeks, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made national headlines with his proposal to ban large sized sodas at restaurants, theaters, stadiums, delicatessens and food carts.  The proposal aims to encourage people to drink less of the obesity-causing sugary drinks.  The immediate reaction in the media was not kind.  Those on the political right attacked the ban as an assault on personal freedom.  Even those associated with the left, like comedian Jon Stewart lambasted the...

Social Movements / Social Change / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Culture

The Power of Comedy

Mark Twain once said “that the human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.” Even if this is an exaggeration, it might explain our love for humor, specifically the art of comedy. Humor allows people to approach sensitive issues. No one is better at this than the Stand-up Comic.  The Comic’s job is to create, sustain, and guide the audience throughout their performance. In doing so, the comic touches on material that is taboo to the...

Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Windmills on Lanai: Qui Bono?

Hawaii is strapped for energy.  Most of the State’s energy comes from foreign oil, and Hawaii spends 8% of its GDP on oil and the island that uses the most energy (Oahu) has the fewest sustainable sources.  (In Kihei, Maui, Gas is $4.86 for regular.)  Other islands have had limited success with solar and small scale windfarms, but a new proposal calls for a large wind farm on the island of Lanai. The company that owns Lanai has proposed a 12,800 acre windmill...

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Local Level Immigration Control: A Necessity or a Justification for Discrimination?

On May 10th, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County.  The suit alleges that the man who claims to be “America’s toughest sheriff” has propagated a culture of discrimination against Hispanics and Latinos during his time in office.  More specifically, it is argued in the lawsuit that Arpaio’s office has consistently permitted the violation of the civil rights of Hispanics and Latinos in its quest to crackdown on illegal immigration.  It...

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Social Movements / Social Change

Austerity and the Double-Movement

After the French elected Socialist Francois Hollande in a rebuke of austerity policies gripping Europe, news headlines issued reports of worried markets.  The fear, among some, is that the new president would act in such a way, or more precisely that the public was acting in such a way that, would spook markets.  Some economists, most notably Princeton professor and Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman, have argued against austerity in favor of government stimulus to push economic demand and growth. ...