Untitled Flashcards Set

SOCIOLOGY 101 WEEK 3 2025: Section Reading Guide

The readings this week key to the idea of ‘social facts’ or ‘social forces’ that was covered in Lecture 2. They show how sociologists might investigate the ways in which that society shapes our individual choices and behaviors – even when we feel we are choosing something freely like a new puppy or a name for our child. This is why there are trends and aggregate patterns that tag to demographics, race, class etc.

Herzog (2006): Dog Breed Fads

This is not a great paper, but it is kind of interesting all the same!

1. What are some of the other fads and fashions we can study?

   1. Baby names, changes in female ideal body types, makeup aesthetics, clothing styles, popular diets, TikTok trends, or music trends (raunchy samples)

2. What was the data source and method in this paper that was used to identify dog breed fads? What might be problematic about using this source? (ie. What might be excluded?).

   1. This paper uses AKC (American Kennel Club) registration data for recognized breeds from 1946 to 2003 (about 48 million puppy registrations) to analyze annual registration trends depending on breed and identify “boom-bust” patterns

   2. Issues: 

      1. A lot of purebred dogs aren’t registered w the AKC because they’re privately bred and some popular breeds actually aren’t recognized by the AKC (like the American Pitbull Terrier)

      2. Newer breeds (recently recognized breeds) might have misleadingly low registration numbers

      3. AKC also isn’t the only registry so the data may not capture the full trend of the US

3. “Dog breed fads are explained by Hollywood movies and visibility in popular culture”. Locate some evidence supporting and challenging this claim.

   1. Support: The 1985 release of 101 Dalmatians spiked Dalmation registrations from 8,170 puppies to 43,816 by 1993 (which was followed by a substantial 97% decline)

   2. Challenge: Media influence isn’t always the primary factor that drives owners to get a specific breed. Dog owners may also be influenced by factors like class imitation or breed-specific behavioral traits

4. The paper refers to an ‘information cascade’ as a way to explain a fad. What is this? Can you think of other examples from social life where this might take place? Have you ever made a lazy decision that might be explained in this way?

   1. Definition: An information cascade is when people are uncertain about something and base their decisions on the choices of others (the collective) instead of their own independent judgement. This is why fads rise and fall rapidly since collective decisions are precarious and prone to reversal when new info emerges.

   2. Examples: 

      1. Social media trends

      2. Makeup aesthetics = I think the transition from this sort of eccentric 2020 makeup to this “clean girl” makeup trend (which is starting to lose a little traction) was started by celebrities like Hailey Bieber and once the aesthetic received her endorsement, others started following

   3. Personal example: I bought the miu miu glasses because influencers like Hailey Bieber and other micro influencers were wearing them

Lieberson and Bell (1992) Baby Names 

This is a well-known paper also looking at how ‘free’ individual choices are to some extent structured by social forces.

1. Why do sociologists like looking at names rather than others things people choose like fashion or cars?

   1. Names are probs useful to sociologists since they’re chosen independently of economic factors (no material constraint) so they are a “pure” cultural choice. Unlike fashion or cars, names aren’t constrained by affordability or availability–they reflect social trends, cultural preferences, and identity independent of material wealth.

      1. Also, names are pretty well documented publicly and can reveal patterns of social stratification since they’re a unique cultural marker.

2. The paper explores several factors that shape naming choices and make them in effect socially patterned. What were some of the patterns relating to:

• Gender > some names are mostly associated w gender and trends can shift over time to reflect evolving gender norms (historically boy names like Jordan or Taylor have become more popular with girls)

• Education/social class > higher-income and more educated parents often prefer more distinct or “elite” names (from literature or rare variants of names). More common or traditional names are preferred by less-educated or working class parents

• Race > Names often reflect cultural and racial identity. For example, African American families may choose Afrocentric or unique names as a form of cultural expression while white families may favor names with traditional Anglo-Saxon or biblical roots

• Time > Trends are time-sensitive. For example, names like Jennifer and Jason were popular in the 80s but have declined since then. Time also influences how “dated” some names feel which affects their subsequent use in later generations

3. What else could sociologists study that is socially structured but where money is not a constraint on choice even if there is advertising and social pressure?

   1. Religious practices + affiliations (reflect cultural and social norms more than financial barriers)

   2. Hobbies and leisure activities (for ex, a preference for yoga or running marathons indicates social patterns and isn’t too tied to economic constraints)

   3. Dietary habits (not diets, but choices like becoming vegetarian or vegan reflect social norms and identity at a relatively inexpensive cost)

4. Before the section ask your parents why they named you the way they did. Try to make a mental note of the reasons they invoke. It is unlikely they will say “we were doing what everyone else was doing”. So, what reasons do they give?

   1. Mom just said that I was named after Sophia Loren (italian actress) but I think that’s probs bullshit because my name is spelled with an “f”--she probably didn’t want to say “I liked the name Sophia but I wanted to be different so I used an alternative spelling” but fair enough.

SOC 101 WEEK 4 READING GUIDE 

Thompson  

Thompson 1967: E.P. Thompson (1924-1933) was a British historian famous for his contributions to social and labor history, as well as his support and criticism of Marxism and Communism. His most famous book, The Makings of the English Working Class (1963), argued that class be redefined as something that can change throughout history as society changes, rather than as a fixed social fact.  This paper taps into multiple themes discussed in the lecture on the transition to modernity. Thompson uses discourse/content analysis and historical methods to look at how time is socially constructed and how this construction changed as society moved from a traditional structure to that of modernity ie the ‘transition to modernity’ in the West. He is not particularly interested in the ‘discourse’ itself as the object of inquiry, but rather uses it as a way to tap into changing concepts of time and time use. It is also an example of comparative and historical sociology. It looks at what changed over time in past centuries (the ‘historical’) by comparing two different points in time and seeing differences (the comparative). 

1. What is Thompson’s main research question? ie. what is he ‘asking’ even if he does not put this into words at any point as an explicit question?  

• Thompson is asking how time has become socially constructed and how the meaning of time has shifted with industrialization. He looks into the transition from task-oriented, pre-industrial ideas of time to modern, regimented time that’s associated with industrial capitalism.

• How did the concept of time change from being based on natural, social rhythms to a structured, commodified governing body that disciplines labor

  • “If the transition to mature industrial society entailed a severe restructuring of work habits–new disciplines, incentives, and a new human nature upon which these incentives could bite effectively–how far is this related to changes in the inward notion of time?” (57) > inward apprehension of time

2. According to Thompson, how did the concept of time change from pre-modern, traditional societies to modern societies? 

   • In pre-modern societies, time was measured via natural cycles like sun movement, agricultural rhythms, and social interactions. With the rise of industrialization, time became more standardized and was then regulated by clocks and changed into an economic resource that workers had to “sell” for wages. Time shifted from being embedded in nature and communal life to being externally imposed and structured. > task orientation

   • Irregular and seasonal notions of time (no dreams of mastering, using up, or saving time > not seen as a scarce resource) 

   • Shifting between intense labor and idleness

     1. “It is well known that among primitive peoples the measurement of time is commonly related to familiar processes in the cycle of work or of domestic chores” (58)

3. How does Thompson describe the pre-modern conception of time? What was time related to or described as?  

   • Pre-modern time was task-oriented and flexible in that people structured their day around activities like farming, fishing, or religious observances rather than precise hours. Time was described in relation to tasks (“the frying of a locust” = a brief moment or “a rice-cooking” = half an hour) (59)

4. How does Thompson characterize time in modernity? What connections does Thompson make between a person’s inward conception of time and the Industrial Revolution?  

   • Thompson says that in modernity, time has become a lot more disciplined, segmented, and regulated by the clock. Industrialization caused a shift from task-based labor to timed labor, meaning workers had to conform to externally imposed schedules rather than natural rhythms (this shift was essential for factory efficiency) 

     1. “Time is now currency: it is not passed but spent” (61) and “The employer must use the time of his labour, and see it is not wasted: not the task but the value of time when reduced to money is dominant” (62)

5. Identify the ways that Thompson argues new labor habits were formed and time-discipline was imposed through the process of industrialization. (Hint: look for a list near the end of the paper)  

   • Thompson says time-discipline was enforced through the following mechanisms (68):

     1. Strict work schedules

     2. Factory bells and time clocks

     3. Division and synchronization of labor

     4. Monetary incentives and penalties for being late (time-sheet, time-keeper)

     5. Religious and moral arguments that link time discipline with virtue

     6. Education systems teaching children time management

6. What sources does Thompson use in this study to locate discourse on time?  (eg. diaries……what else?) 

   • He uses diaries, literary works (like Chaucer and Hardy), religious texts, economic records (tax documents), civil and penal code, and historical accounts of labor practices

     1. Discourse analysis > historical analysis

Liu et al. 

Liu et al. 2010: Liu and her co-authors are quantitative sociologists, and they’ve identified a research puzzle - why autism diagnoses have been on the rise in the last 20 years. It this because there is more autism about than before? Or is something else going on? Their aim in this paper is to identify a causal pathway that illuminates this puzzle. Again, don’t worry too much about the specifics of the statistical modeling they employ to answer these questions – you are not supposed to be an expert on these methods. Focus on the broader research methods and concepts. We are using this reading as an example of quantitative sociology engaged in hypothesis testing etc. 

**For the Liu et al. 2010 reading, please read pp. 1387-1399, skim the methods section from pp. 1399-1405 (don’t worry if you don’t understand all the statistical modeling and fixed effects information!), and then read the rest of the article. We are looking for you to understand the narrative gist of the explanation and the method. 

1. Why do the authors say autism is an interesting developmental disorder for looking at social dynamics and diagnosis?  Ie. What is it about autism that makes it ideal for pinpointing a social process?

   • The authors say this because autism lacks a definitive biological marker, so the diagnosis heavily relies on social recognition, awareness, and interpretation of symptoms. Also, the rise in autism diagnosis suggests a social rather than purely biological cause. 

     1. "As there are no definitive biological markers for the vast majority of cases, diagnosis relies on the recognition of a range of behavioral symptoms that vary greatly from case to case" (1388)​

2. What do the authors believe is main mechanism behind increased diagnoses in autism? This is somewhat buried in the paper.  Hint: we also found this with dog breeds and baby names. Summarize the causal pathway that is implicit in the paper with a simple narrative starting “A parent is worried about their child. It is behaving strangely. Next they…….Then…….They find out……. Etc.  

   • The authors say the main mechanism behind increased autism diagnoses is social influence and information diffusion. Parents learn about autism from other parents and this can lead to increased diagnosis rates in geographic clusters. 

   • Causal pathway:

     1. Parent worried about their kid’s behavior

     2. They talk to another parent (neighbor, same school district) who has a child with autism

     3. Parent A learns about symptoms and diagnostic pathways

     4. Parent A seeks a specialist who’s more likely to diagnose autism

     5. Diagnosis leads to access to specialized services

   • Information cascade

3. What are the contending explanations for the clustering of autism diagnoses? How are these eliminated or made to look problematic by the authors? 

   • Some people point to environmental toxicants to explain clustering autism diagnoses > authors rule this out because cases cluster in areas with diverse environmental conditions

   • Others suggest autism can be virally transmitted > autism is not an infectious disease

   • Residential sorting (where people choose to live in neighborhoods that best match their desired characteristics like income, lifestyle, or political views) > authors controlled for this and found this phenomenon was not the primary driver

     1. Concomitant (correlation between variables even if you don’t know they’re causal)

     2. Level of diagnosis may also depend on school district

4. Let’s consider some wider contexts (i) Are there any specific features of autism that permit the social process identified here to fall into place? Hint: Would we find the came clustering for a diagnosis of ‘broken leg’? (ii) Are there any features of the US health care system and orientation towards health that facilitate this pattern? Hint: Imagine a society where you have to report to only one doctor as determined by the government. (iii) What incentives and benefits (financial, psychological, social) might facilitate the emergence of the pattern identified? 

   • Autism lends itself to this social process unlike a broken leg because symptoms of autism are pretty ambiguous and open to interpretation (a broken leg is objectively visible and has clear, objective causes and symptoms)

   • The US healthcare system may facilitate this pattern since multiple providers and decentralized services create opportunities for social influence to shape our diagnostic pathways.

     1. Doctor to doctor hopping w money and health insurance for desired diagnosis

   • Incentives like financial, educational, and therapeutic benefits drive this pattern

     1. Psychological = no uncertainty after diagnosis

Final discussion question: Both papers illustrate the 'social construction of reality”. What exactly is the reality being constructed in each case? To what extent is the construction “all in the mind” versus “an objectively observable social fact with real world consequences for people and institutions”. 

• Thompson and Liu both illustrate how social facts shape our reality, but in different ways:

  • Thompson reveals how time itself–something we assume to be a neutral, natural phenomenon–is actually socially constructed. The transition from task-oriented labor to industrial time-discipline was not just a shift in work organization, but a larger transformation of how individuals internally experienced time. This change did not just take place in the mind, but had material consequences: industrial capitalism depended on labor regulation so the construction of time as a quantifiable and disciplined entity became embedded in economic structures, legal frameworks, and cultural expectations. 

  • Liu showed how the increasing popularity of autism diagnoses is (in part) a socially constructed phenomenon. While autism is a legit neurological condition, the clustering of diagnoses emerges from social facts (specifically how autism awareness diffuses within communities). Parental awareness of symptoms, access to diagnostic resources, and the incentives associated with an autism label shape the conditions under which children are diagnosed. This change is not just “in the mind” (like Thompson’s time-discipline), but has institutional consequences that affect medical classifications, funding allocations, and educational policies

• Social construction does not mean fictional, but rather that certain aspects of reality like time or medical diagnoses are altered by human interaction, historical processes, and institutional reinforcement (and these constructions have tangible, systemic effects). 

Sociology 101 Section Reading Guide Week 5 

Pager & Shepard (2008) 

This reading is an example of a ‘review essay’. This genre of academic work is not considered ‘original research’ that finds out new things or makes a new theoretical argument (the most prestigious kind of output). But it does require a comprehensive knowledge of a field, the ability to organize the literature of that field, and then communicate in simple ways to a wider audience in sociology – the audience of non-specialists who might be looking for a quick introduction to an issue. Such items are very useful and, like this one, are often highly cited for this reason. 

1. According to the authors, many scholars give discrimination a two-part definition. What are the two parts of discrimination and what does each part refer to? [Clue: both begin with the letter D]. Can we think of any real-world examples for each part? 

• Differential treatment = when individuals are treated unequally on account of their race

  • A manager rejects a job candidate based on their race

• Disparate impact = when individuals are treated equally according to set rules and procedures, but the rules are constructed in a way that favors members of one group over another

  • A standardized test for job promotions that disproportionately disqualifies racial minorities on account of historical inequalities in education access

2. What are the three factors that cause discrimination? Can you provide some examples?  

•  Intrapsychic (individual) factors = prejudice, stereotypes, and biases held by people (like employers who may unconsciously favor candidates of their own race)

  • Store clerk who follows Black customers around due to racial stereotypes

• Organizational factors = the ways in which workplace rules and institutional practices let bias influence outcomes (informal hiring networks that favor white applicants)

  • A company may rely on employee referrals for hiring which can reproduce a predominantly white workforce

• Structural and societal factors = broader societal conditions that maintain racial inequalities > legacy of historical redlining (continues to affect home ownership rates)

  • Educational funding based on property taxes > disadvantages historically segregated Black neighborhoods

3. What are some of the methods used to investigate discrimination? Who do we ask? What do we do?  Try to identify the methods talked about in the reading.

• Perceptions of Discrimination Surveys = asking individuals (minorities mostly) about their experiences with discrimination in employment, housing, and daily life

• Audit studies (field experiments) = using matched individuals of different races to apply for jobs, housing, or loans to measure differential treatment

• Legal studies = examining formal complaints and lawsuits about discrimination in workplaces, housing, and consumer interactions

• Statistical analyses = comparing outcomes (think wage differences, hiring rates, etc.) while controlling for other factors to isolate racial disparities

  • Example studies

    • 2001 survey finds that over one third of Black respondents reported being passed over for a job due to race

    • 2004 audit study shows that resumes w traditionally white-sounding names like Emily and Greg received 50% more callbacks than identical resumes w Black-sounding names (Lakisha or Jamal)

4. What are the domains in which racial discrimination takes place according to the article? Give a quick example for each. 

•  Employment = Black applicants are less likely to be hired even w identical qualifications

  • Study finds that white applicants w criminal record are more likely to get a callback than Black applicants without one

• Housing = Minorities face rental and mortgage discrimination

  • Paired testers show that landlords are more likely to offer apartments to white tenants than Black or Hispanic tenants

• Credit Markets = Minority borrowers receive worse loan terms and higher rejection rates

  • Even w the same credit score Black borrowers receive higher interest rates on loans

• Consumer Markets = Black and Hispanic customers are charged higher prices for goods and services

  • Car dealerships have been found to give worse financing deals to Black buyers

Shearing and Stenning (1995) 

This paper tries to expand and extend the ideas about social control in modernity developed by Michel Foucault as set out in the lecture on power. Remember many of these were focused on discipline, surveillance, space, soul training, and body control. The paper also picks up on the point that if people are getting what they want they are not necessarily free from power. Rather ‘power’ shapes what we ‘want’ in the first place (through desire, common sense, ideology). This in turn shapes how we behave – typically to conform. This well-known example is effective precisely because we think that Disneyland is ‘fun’ and so ‘free from power’, unlike say a factory or a prison. 

1. What is different about the objective of control in private and for-profit environments in contrast to the prison that Foucault studied. Can you think of other examples? 

•  Unlike prisons where control is coercive, private institutions like Disneyland use subtle, voluntary participation in control mechanisms

  • The principle of control in Disney World is achieved through environmental design, surveillance, and continuous instruction that guide visitors without clear coercion

  • You also get this kind of control in shopping malls and airports, where movement is subtly guided

2. What are some of the techniques of control used by Disneyland? 

•  Physical Design = barriers and walkways subtly direct movement

  • Rides have designated entrances and exits + waiting lines to ensure that guests move in a controlled, orderly fashion

• Surveillance = employees and cameras monitor behavior

• Instruction and socialization = signs, music, and costumed employees reinforce desired behavior

• Embedded norms = customers follow rules because they perceive them as “natural” and enjoyable

3. In the lecture, we stressed that power is not always about A dominating B against their will with force, violence and pain. What is the role/attitude of the customer/consumer here? Does this mean they are not subject to power? 

•  Customers believe they’re freely choosing their actions, but in reality their choices are shaped by pre-structured options

  • Visitors willingly conform because they perceive control as part o the fun experience rather than coercion

  • Power shapes desires which makes people complicit in their own control

    • Visitors queue for rides without complaining (for the most part) as they accept wait times as part of the Disney experience

4. Can you think of ways in which Yale operates like Disneyland? Can you think of other places you have been where you have been controlled in these subtle ways?  

• Physical Design = campus layout subtly directs student movement (especially in OC > designed inefficient walkways that intersect in a lot of places to encourage students to run into each other and spend more time walking around between classes)

• Surveillance = security cameras, yale police, student ID access to buildings

• Cultural norms = social pressure enforces study habits, ways of dressing, and participation in school traditions

• Other places in general: airports (movement regulated by security checkpoints, designated paths, and boarding procedures), shopping malls (store layouts and background music influence spending habits), gyms (mirrors + social expectations encourage members to work hard, dress appropriately, etc.)

  Sociology 101: Reading Guide for Section Preparation Week Six 

  Scott, S. 2009. “Swimming Pool”

  The paper explores the social order of the swimming pool. It is situated in the symbolic interactionist paradigm, which was discussed in class.  Notice how it makes the familiar strange. This is really important to understanding a setting. Often something important is hiding in plain sight as we just think it is normal or natural …. we are part of the same culture. Another thing to note about this paper is that it is an example of zero-budget research. We don’t always need big grants to do interesting sociology.

  1. Go back to your lecture notes. What is the perspective on the symbolic interactionist (SI) paradigm on the organization of social life and its solution to the “problem of social order” (discussed in the lecture)? What is the vision of people here? What is the vision of the way that the problem of social order is solved?

     • SI paradigm views social life as a negotiated order where people construct and maintain social norms via interaction. SI perspective applied to the swimming pool where swimmers and other pool-goers collectively uphold this social order through tacit agreements rather than formal rules 

       1. Micro-level interaction, negotiable (bottom up creation)

       2. Agentic and processual nature of society

  2. This paper illustrates the ‘ethnographic method’. So what exactly did Scott do to study the swimming pool?

     1. Scott engaged in participant observation at the pool and systematically recorded behaviors, interactions, and deviations from expected norms. She used field notes and drew from symbolic interactionist theories to analyze the unspoken rules that govern pool behavior

        1. Retrospective ethnography (auto-ethnography)

  3. What are the three norms organizing behavior in the pool?

  1. Respect for personal space: swimmers maintain this illusion of individualism by avoiding physical contact and minimizing eye contact > reinforces the idea that each person is doing their own thing rather than engaging in a collective experience

  2. Respect of disciplinary regimes: swimmers follow this self-imposed discipline when it comes to exercise routines and through this, they recognize that each individual has their own goals and fitness agenda

  3. Desexualization of encounters: even though swimmers are near-naked, they behave as if they’re in a nonsexualized space, avoiding overtly noticing or acknowledging each other’s bodies. 

  4. On page 134 the author mentions ‘civil inattention”. What is this? 

     1. The act of avoiding direct eye contact and minimizing interaction w others in public spaces (think elevators). At the pool, this is evident in how swimmers briefly acknowledge each other with fleeting glances before looking away, signaling that they may recognize the presence of others but pose no threat.

  5. The author identifies and illustrates some deviant acts in the pool setting. This is a useful methodological tool as rule breaking can highlight the taken for granted norms of a setting. What are forms of deviance that are discussed? Can you find any examples? What happens when a person is deviant?

     1. Violating personal space: swimmers breaking proximity rules by overtaking too closely or swimming too close to others are met with glares and social disapproval.

     2. Ignoring lane etiquette: swimmers moving in the wrong direction or monopolizing space (swimming in the middle of the lane) is met with eye rolls or passive-aggressive lane blocking.

     3. Disregarding the desexualization norm: flirting, staring, or commenting on another swimmer’s body is met with discomfort and avoidance, reinforcing this idea that the pool is a nonsexual place

        1. When a person deviates from these norms, they’re met with subtle but effective social sanctions (disapproving looks or a collective cold shoulder) rather than direct confrontation

  6. What is the role of the lifeguards? How much work do they do to ensure there is social order? 

     1. Lifeguards are present to enforce safety, but do not intervene in social norm violations for the most part. Their authority is largely symbolic–swimmers regulate themselves via internalized discipline and mutual social control. Lifeguards only step in for overt disruptions (like rough play with children). 

  General Discussion Points to Prepare

  7. Can you think of a time when you were in a swimming pool and someone violated the social order? What happened to them?

     1. Excessive splashing, swimming slow in faster lane, horseplay, etc.

  8. Can you think of another setting where the interaction norms are context specific? Can you specify those norms to your Section? (e.g. Toads, dining halls, classical music concerts, funerals – think about uses of the body, deviant acts, preferred forms of sociability). Can you identify a behavior that would be expected/normal/appropriate in one setting that might be insensitive/threatening/clueless in another? Come to Section with some examples you can put forward.

     1. Libraries > operate on norms of civil inattention and non-intrusion where people are expected to respect others’ need for quiet focus. Loud conversations, playing music w/o headphones, or taking up too much space could be considered a deviant act (met with hushed reprimands or staff intervention).

  Desmond 2012 “Evictions”

  Sociologist Desmond’s work on eviction is famous. His book “Evicted” followed several of his ethnographic subjects. It was on the New York Times bestseller list for non-Fiction. This reading keys to our lecture on “Poverty” and – roughly- illustrates the theme of the ‘poverty trap’ – that very poor people get stuck in bad situations and can’t get out of them – whereas a big injection of cash for a better rental apartment in a better area, a car that can get you to a decent job, paying off debt that holds you back would let them change their lives permanently.

  1. What is the social process that Desmond tried to understand? What kind of data did Desmond gather/what kinds of methods did he use? (Hint: this was ‘mixed methods’ research so he did more than one thing)

     1. Desmond tries to understand eviction as a mechanism that perpetuates poverty (he also wants to see how it disproportionately affects Black women). He used mixed methods research, combining the following:

        1. Statistical analysis of eviction records > examined Milwaukee court records from 2003-2007 and tracked eviction rates + identified patterns across demographics

        2. Surveys > conducted in Milwaukee eviction courts to gather first hand accounts from tenants

        3. Ethnographic fieldwork > Lived in high-eviction areas, documented tenants’ struggles, landlord behavior, and cascading effects of eviction

  2. What patterns (i.e. ‘social facts’ indicating external and constraining social forces on life chances) does Desmond identify from his statistical data? (Hint: There is a handy summary section on these findings indicating risks of eviction for different social groups.)

     1. Eviction is highly gendered in the sense that women, especially Black women, face eviction at higher rates than men

     2. Neighborhood concentration (evictions disproportionately happen in predominantly Black, high-poverty neighborhoods)

     3. Eviction rates are higher than formal homelessness statistics suggest (many evicted people cycle through unstable housing rather than entering shelters)

  3. What kind of social mechanisms/structural factors/behaviors on the ground explain the statistical patterns Desmond found – notably that the risk of eviction was more for certain kinds of person more than others? Put another way – what are the risk factors and causes of eviction?

     1. Gender and race: Black women, particularly single mothers, are more likely to be evicted than any other group (similar to how incarceration disproport affects Black men)

     2. Lack of housing assistance: most evicted tenants sspend over half of their income on rent which leaves little room for financial setbacks

     3. Employment instability: low-wage jobs with unpredictable hours make it difficult for tenants to keep up w rent

  4. An eviction can trigger more disadvantage. We call this a ‘cascade effect’ as one thing leads to another. What often happens after an eviction that makes things worse for the evicted person?

     1. Job loss – Many evicted individuals struggle to maintain employment due to housing instability.

     2. Poorer housing options – Eviction records make it harder to secure decent housing, often forcing tenants into worse conditions​.

     3. Family separation – Parents risk losing custody of their children due to unstable living situations​.

  General Discussion Point to Prepare: In light of this paper what policies would help reduce eviction? Can we do anything other than hand out large sums of cash to help people get out of the poverty trap?

  • Universal right to legal representation in eviction court – Tenants with lawyers are far less likely to be evicted​.

  • Stronger tenant protections – Limits on how quickly landlords can evict tenants, more protections against arbitrary rent hikes.

  • Expanded rental assistance – Subsidizing rents to keep families in stable housing.

  Rivera (2012) – Recruiters to Elite Firms

  
  

  This well-known paper speaks to the issue of cultural consumption and stratification. This is an influential field in sociology that we did not cover in the lecture. It turns Marx on his head, saying consumption not production is where class differences are generated. The basic argument is that what you ‘consume’ as a form of pleasure or recreation is more than fun – it might in fact impact your life chances. This reading was selected for SOCY 101 as it is excellent sociology, and also because it seems immediately relevant for many Yale students who will be seeking employment at elite firms as they graduate. Rivera draws on Bourdieu’s ideas about taste and cultural capital, suggesting that seemingly irrelevant extracurricular leisure activities and preferences play major roles in shaping life chances. I had a Senior Essay student looking at this topic. She discovered that many Yale students already know much of what is in this paper as part of their Yale socialization. They cultivate travel, hobbies and interests etc. so as to have talking points and ‘fit in’ at job interviews. 

  1. Recruiters are called ‘gatekeepers’. What does this term (widespread in sociology) mean? Can you think of other people who are ‘gatekeepers’ in the social world? 

     • Gatekeepers = refers to individuals or institutions that control access to resources, opportunities, or positions of power. In hiring processes at elite firms, recruiters act as gatekeepers by selecting candidates who fit in in terms of skills, cultural background, and social norms

       • Recruiters don’t just assess qualifications but look for “cultural fit” > they prefer individuals who share similar leisure activities, mannerisms, and lifestyles as existing employees

     • Examples of gatekeepers in the social world:

       • College admissions officers

       • Editors and publishers

       • Film and music producers

       • Medical professionals (to an extent ish cuz they have access to specialized treatments and procedures)

  2. What kind of cultural tastes and activities did the recruiters prefer? How did they talk about/justify using these criteria in selecting successful candidates? 

     • Recruiters in elite firms valued cultural markers associated w the white upper/middle class (sports (lacrosse, squash, crew), classical music, and heigh leisure pursuits like fine dining and travel)

     • Justified criteria by arguing they were selecting candidates who would “fit in” w the firm’s culture and be enjoyable colleagues outside of work. They also spoke about selecting candidates as if they were picking friends or social club members rather than evaluating professional competence

       • One recruiter said no to a candidate w a strong academic record bc his ECs didn’t align w the firm culture. Said smt like “I’m looking at the interests—lacrosse, squash, crew—I’m sort of giving him a personality type here, and I don’t think he’s going to fit in well here"​ > demonstrates cultural capital plays a big role in hiring

     • Concerted cultivation > parenting style where parents actively help their children develop their talents and skills via organized activities 

  3. The paper captures something of what sociologists call ‘homosocial reproduction’ and the ways that social advantage compounds. The word ‘homosocial’ often refers to men reproducing male values in male environments (eg. golf club, locker room). But here it broadly refers to ‘similar social’ which is implicitly contrasted to ‘culturally diverse, plural, multiple’.  What evidence is in the paper that this is more than just a case of white males recruiting white males to elite jobs?

     • Paper acknowledges that elite firms historically favored white males, but Rivera’s findings suggest that the hiring process is shaped more by shared cultural backgrounds than via explicit racial or gender bias

       • Firms actively sought surface-level demographic diversity (hiring women and non-white candidates) but they still had to have a deeper homogeneity remained a requirement

       • Women and non-white candidates who attended elite universities and participated in elite leisure activities were seen as “good fits”

  4. Why might upper class students be advantaged relative to middle class and lower class students in the process of cultural matching? Collect some of the reasons that are given near the end of the paper.

     1. Upper-class students have been socialized from an early age into the leisure activities and cultural tastes that elite firms value

        1. Their parents invest in ECs that signal high status (private school sports, music lessons, international travel)

        2. Middle and lower class students often focus on academic achievement rather than cultivating this elite persona = less competitive in cultural matching

  5. Issue to think about for class discussion. Do you have any cultural interests, achievements or hobbies that you think might impress recruiters? What things that you like/ activities might you not disclose? Have you taken advantage of Yale to learn a new ‘upper class’ hobby or skill that might impress a recruiter, a law school etc.

  Westbrook & Schilt (2014) – Trans Anxieties

  Trans issues are a major source of controversy regarding themes of equity, access, fairness and safety. The paper is useful as it shows these can be a ‘bigger’ or ‘smaller’ social issue depending on the environment or social space that is being debated. 

  1. Why is it that in common sense thinking, sex and gender kind of ‘go together’? How are these two concepts in fact different?

     1. People believe sex and gender are naturally linked bc of long standing cultural and scientific narratives that define gender based on biological characteristics like chromosomes, reproductive organs, and hormones

        1. Authors argue that gender is a social construct bc it varies across contexts while sex is framed as a biological fact

  2. What are the different levels at which “determining gender” may happen? Why do the authors propose “determining gender” as an umbrella term beyond face-to-face interactions? Hint look at page 36.

     1. Authors introduce “determining gender” as an umbrella term encompassing different ways people decide who belongs to a particular gender category

        1. Face to face interactions = when ppl encounter each other they make gender attributions based on visual and behavioral cues

        2. Legal and policy decisions = institutions set explicit rules like requiring genital surgery for changing legal gender markers

        3. Imagined interactions = ppl envision hypothetical scenarios involving transgender individuals, often in ways that may generate fear or anxiety 

  3. Trans-people cause more anxiety in some spaces and contexts than others. Skim through the paper. (a) What kinds of spaces generate more anxiety – those that are already sex/gender mixed or those that are sex/gender segregated?  (b) What are some of the lower v. higher anxiety examples given in the paper?  (c) Who seems to generate more anxiety: the former man who becomes a woman, or a former woman who becomes a man? (d) Where (social spaces, scenarios) do they generate anxieties? 

     1. Gender-segregated spaces like bathrooms, sports teams, and prisons, generate the most anxiety because they enforce rigid male-female distinctions. Spaces that are already gender-mixed like workplaces tend to be less controversial

        1. Higher-anxiety spaces: Women’s bathrooms, women’s sports, and women’s shelters

        2. Lower-anxiety spaces: Co-ed workplaces, mixed-gender social settings

     2. Who generates more anxiety = trans women (male at birth but identify as female) generate more social anxiety than trans men. Authors argue this is due to cultural narratives that depict women as vulnerable and men as potentially dangerous

  4. Think for class discussion: At the moment two major trans anxieties are about (i) trans women who compete in women’s sport; and (ii) trans women in women’s prisons. What seems to be driving these anxieties? What are the ‘negative scenarios’ that are often invoked regarding these? Do you see a solution that makes everyone happy?

  Armstrong et. al 2012 – Hookup Sex

  In the lecture we discussed hooking up culture and sex surveys. So this paper kills two birds with one stone. Perhaps the findings will also be relevant to your own college experiences.

  1. People tend to think of sexual activities and orgasm as purely physical, biological phenomena. In what way would Armstrong et. al. argue that these are actually social facts?

     1. Armstrong argues that while orgasm and sexual pleasure involve biological responses, they’re also shaped by social contexts > men report higher rates of orgasm than women in casual hookups, but this gap decreases in committed relationships

        1. Social scripts rather than biology alone shape sexual experiences

  2. The authors note that the participants of their study used in the statistical analysis were all college students, self-reported being heterosexual and were mostly women. How could you critique their sampling methods, measures and questions? (put another way – if you were a lawyer trying to take down this research how would you pick holes in it?) How generalizable are the findings to other colleges? 

     1. Study relies on self-reported survey data from college students who identify as heterosexual and are mostly women. This limits generalizability bc:

        1. Excludes non-hetero individuals

        2. Focuses on specific college demographic that may not reflect broader sexual norms

        3. Relies on self-reported experiences which can be biased by memory or social desirability

  3. “Good sex is a social accomplishment”. What evidence is given in the paper for this view?

     1. Authors argue that satisfying sexual experiences aren’t just about physical pleasure, but mutual understanding, communication, and cultural norms

        1. Women are more likely to orgasm in relationships where they feel comfortable communicating their needs >> good sex requires negotiating and learning
           

SOC101 Reading Guide Week 8

Gibson 2008: 

This reading taps the lecture theme of behaviors in public among strangers – something that is pivotal to urban social life. Being a sociologist can make tedious everyday experiences like waiting for a train far more interesting that you might think. You can sit back and figure out what is going on to maintain the social order. Here we have a nice example of zero budget observational sociology looking at interactions in public. Researching this paper cost $0. All that was needed was some time and a sociological imagination. 

1. This paper is not an ‘ethnography’ in the strict sense of the word. Yet it has many similarities with the symbolic interactionist tradition. What are these?

   1. Gibson’s work aligns with symbolic interactionism by analyzing how individuals construct and maintain social order through small, everyday interactions. The paper explores the tacit rules governing line formation, a concept reminiscent of Goffman’s work on interaction order (p. 208).

   2. The study focuses on the ‘morphogenetic history’ of lines, showing how behaviors accumulate and create structured patterns, much like symbolic interactionism’s emphasis on meaning-making in social settings (p. 211).

2. What are the rules people follow to form lines (even if they don’t actually ‘know’ these in any conscious way – what we call ‘tacit knowledge’)?

   1. The primary rule is ‘curvital conformity,’ where newcomers extend the existing line’s trajectory (p. 217).

   2. The ‘greater distance constraint’ ensures that people join at the rear to maintain order (p. 216).

   3. ‘Successor nonvisibility’ dictates that newcomers should avoid standing directly within the field of vision of the person in front of them (p. 218).

3. What makes ‘trouble’ for a line and generates disruptions to the local production of social order that might need ‘repair’?

   1. Groups joining at once can create confusion about the correct trajectory, leading to ‘mutant’ or split lines (p. 221).

   2. A person standing out of line can cause divergence, requiring later joiners to ‘ratify’ or ignore the deviation, which can permanently alter the line’s shape (p. 222).

   3. Physical obstacles such as walls or pillars can necessitate turns, creating segmentation in the line (p. 223).

4. What where the methods used here? What methods were not used but could have been to provide extra information on what is going on?

   1. Gibson conducted observational research at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, relying on field notes and photographs (p. 214).

   2. While effective, additional methods could include interviews to explore conscious awareness of line-forming norms, or video recordings for more precise analysis of positioning dynamics (p. 215).

Homans 1958:

In the lecture we mentioned that George Homans and exchange theory sought to make sociology more ‘scientific’, cumulative and to identify basic ‘laws’ of social life. They hated philosophical humanism and its influence on social theory leading to ‘vague’ concepts and ‘endless debates’ that – in their opinion- were ‘going nowhere’. This classic paper is the foundational statement for this radical perspective. Homans argues that society is made up of lots of ‘exchanges’ in which people give something and gain something. These are a kind of atom of social life.

1. In lecture, we talked about how sociology tends to become enamored with other disciplines, and seeks to model itself after those it idolizes. In Homans’ paper, what discipline(s) does he say sociology should model itself after?

   1. Homans argues that sociology should align with behavioral psychology and economics to establish universal social ‘laws’ (p. 598).

   2. He emphasizes operant conditioning from psychology and the principles of cost-benefit analysis from economics to explain social interactions (p. 599).

2. According to Homans what simple lessons/analogies link a pigeon pecking at corn and people in interactions?

   1. Just as a pigeon pecks a target to receive food, human interactions follow reinforcement principles: people engage in behaviors that provide rewards (p. 598).

   2. Social interactions involve costs and benefits, where individuals adjust their actions based on the rewards they receive, mirroring Skinner’s operant conditioning (p. 599).

3. Near the end of the paper Homans talks about the work of Blau in a bureaucracy. What was the exchange relationship going on there that became a stable social pattern? 

   1. In bureaucracies, informal exchanges occur where employees provide extra effort or favors to superiors in exchange for leniency or other non-monetary rewards (p. 601).

   2. This exchange pattern becomes stable over time, forming predictable social structures (p. 602).

4. What seem to be the favorite items of vocabulary for Homans when it comes to describing human action and social structure? You should be able to note about a dozen that keep popping up as you read the paper. Pretend you are AI and generate a Homans-sounding statement using these that you can read to your section.

   1. Key vocabulary includes: exchange, reinforcement, cost, reward, value, equilibrium, profit, conformity, deviance, social control, influence, interaction, and stability (p. 600-604).

   2. "In any social interaction, the frequency of exchange is a function of perceived rewards minus incurred costs. The more an individual conforms to group norms, the greater the reinforcement they receive, leading to equilibrium. However, if costs exceed value, deviation emerges, necessitating social control mechanisms to restore stability."