Pluralistic Collapse: the “Oil Spill” Model of Mass Opinion Polarization

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Pluralistic Collapse: the “Oil Spill” Model of Mass Opinion Polarization ASRXXX10.1177/0003122420922989American Sociological ReviewDellaPosta 922989research-article2020 American Sociological Review 2020, Vol. 85(3) 507 –536 Pluralistic Collapse: The “Oil © American Sociological Association 2020 https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122420922989DOI: 10.1177/0003122420922989 Spill” Model of Mass Opinion journals.sagepub.com/home/asr Polarization Daniel DellaPostaa Abstract Despite widespread feeling that public opinion in the United States has become dramatically polarized along political lines, empirical support for such a pattern is surprisingly elusive. Reporting little evidence of mass polarization, previous studies assume polarization is evidenced via the amplification of existing political alignments. This article considers a different pathway: polarization occurring via social, cultural, and political alignments coming to encompass an increasingly diverse array of opinions and attitudes. The study uses 44 years of data from the General Social Survey representing opinions and attitudes across a wide array of domains as elements in an evolving belief network. Analyses of this network produce evidence that mass polarization has increased via a process of belief consolidation, entailing the collapse of previously cross-cutting alignments, thus creating increasingly broad and encompassing clusters organized around cohesive packages of beliefs. Further, the increasing salience of political ideology and partisanship only partly explains this trend. The structure of U.S. opinion has shifted in ways suggesting troubling implications for proponents of political and social pluralism. Keywords political polarization, public opinion, belief networks, political pluralism Social and political theorists have long argued prevent disagreement in one arena from esca- that differentiated societies are best able to lating into all-out (metaphorical or literal) integrate diverse interests when relying on a warfare. As long as opinion cleavages remain foundation of cross-cutting social and political cross-cutting rather than all-encompassing, cleavages (Blau and Schwartz 1984; Dahl pluralistic disagreement should channel social 1961; Durkheim 1933; Lipset 1963; Simmel conflict toward mutual tolerance (Stouffer 1955; Truman 1951). Unlike stultifying mono- 1955), political forbearance (Levitsky and cultures built on public consensus (Arendt Ziblatt 2018), and other liberal ends. 1968), cross-cutting lines of conflict and dis- agreement found in pluralistic societies embed individuals in overlapping groups (Baldassarri aPennsylvania State University and Diani 2007; Centola 2015; Mutz 2002). Even if people fight over differing views on Corresponding Author: taxation, they may still agree on issues of for- Daniel DellaPosta, 503 Oswald Tower, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, eign policy or overlap in religious views; PA 16802 these areas of agreement are thought to Email: [email protected] 508 American Sociological Review 85(3) Against this backdrop, recent decades have they have? Why, in other words, does polari- brought mounting concern among social sci- zation appear as such a salient social fact entists, journalists, policymakers, and the gen- despite its apparent absence in the U.S. eral public that the pluralistic structure of U.S. population? politics has turned to all-encompassing con- Previous studies suggest the gap between flict between increasingly polarized camps. In popular and scholarly consensus could be due their provocatively titled book How Democra- to the tendency for media reports to pay selec- cies Die, Levitsky and Ziblatt (2018) frame tive attention to polarized “hot-button” issues polarization as a fundamental problem for like abortion (Baldassarri and Bearman 2007; U.S. democracy—not merely a nuisance but a DiMaggio et al. 1996; Evans 2003); outsized potentially existential threat. Such alarmism is focus on political elites who have become not uncommon in mainstream discourse. Yet increasingly partisan and polarized them- despite the common belief that the United selves (Hetherington 2001); social sorting States has become dramatically more politi- leading to a sense of political homogeneity in cally polarized, social-scientific support for our personal networks (Baldassarri and Bear- such a pattern has been surprisingly elusive. man 2007; Cowan and Baldassarri 2018; Del- In the rarefied air of the U.S. Congress, laPosta, Shi, and Macy 2015); or increasing there is clear evidence that the Democratic geographic polarization in which regions and and Republican parties have moved far apart locales increasingly feature one-party domi- in recent decades (Andris et al. 2015; Lee nance even when elections split evenly at the 2009; Moody and Mucha 2013; Poole and national level (Bishop 2008; but see Abrams Rosenthal 1984). In the broader public, adher- and Fiorina 2012). ents of the two major political parties have become increasingly distinct, as Democrats Measuring Polarization have become more consistently liberal and Republicans more reliably conservative (Bal- Nevertheless, although many scholars have dassarri and Gelman 2008). However, critiqued the lack of a clear index of polariza- although people have become better sorted by tion in previous work (e.g., Fiorina and party and political ideology, public attitudes Abrams 2008), less attention has been paid to on most political issues seem to have remained the ubiquity of a particular (and implicit) unpolarized to a remarkable degree (DiMag- model of how polarization would appear in gio, Evans, and Bryson 1996; Evans 2003; population-level survey data. The common Fiorina 2004; Hill and Tausanovitch 2015). empirical strategy in prior research is to select Although knowing someone’s political and analyze a limited set of survey questions party or self-described ideology allows us to on political issues, focusing on questions the predict their attitudes with increased accu- researcher identifies as most politically rele- racy, these attitudes themselves have not vant (e.g., opinions on abortion, climate become much more strongly aligned with change, taxation, or foreign policy). By select- other attitudes, as we would expect in a world ing on an issue’s already-established political of mass polarization (Baldassarri and Gelman relevance, however, the researcher implicitly 2008; Fiorina and Abrams 2008; Fischer and assumes that polarization occurs via height- Mattson 2009; Park 2018).1 Unlike the politi- ened alignment along existing lines of politi- cal elite, the broader public is composed of cal debate, akin to a fence the researcher can large numbers of “ideological innocents” observe getting taller over time. (Converse 1964; Kinder and Kalmoe 2017) But what if polarization is less like a fence who espouse cross-cutting and often incon- getting taller over time and more like an oil sistent beliefs across political issues. This spill that spreads from its source to gradually raises the question: If opinions have not taint more and more previously “apolitical” become markedly more polarized, why is it so attitudes, opinions, and preferences? DellaPosta widely believed—and so easy to intuit—that and colleagues (2015) show that even many DellaPosta 509 initially apolitical lifestyle characteristics, from to analyze how these cultural elements cohere musical taste to belief in astrology, can become into a broader structure of meaning (DiMag- politicized as signals for deeper beliefs and gio 2011:287; see also Lizardo 2014; Mohr preferences—a tendency most saliently cap- and White 2008; Pachucki and Breiger 2010; tured in the popular image of the “latte liberal” Vilhena et al. 2014). (see also Hetherington and Weiler 2018; Mutz This conceptual approach dovetails with and Rao 2018; Shi et al. 2017). classic work on beliefs and opinions (e.g., This suggests a different answer to the Converse 1964) in which the meaning and puzzle posed at the outset: rather than height- importance of a particular belief derives from ened alignment across already-politicized its relationships to other beliefs (for some opinion dimensions, the crux of contempo- recent examples, see Baldassarri and Gold- rary polarization might lie in the increased berg 2014; Boutyline and Vaisey 2017; Fried- breadth of opinions and preferences that have kin et al. 2016). Whereas recent work typically come to be associated with political identities conceives of polarization as increasing and beliefs. This broadening of opinion align- extremism on issues (e.g., DiMaggio et al. ment to encompass areas typically thought of 1996) or heightened alignment across pairs of as nonpolitical would not be picked up in issues (e.g., Baldassarri and Gelman 2008), studies that only consider polarization along the belief network approach recasts polariza- existing lines of political debate. However, tion as a particular structure of opinion. the widespread impression that polarization Scholars of public opinion have long rec- has dramatically increased may reflect real ognized the importance of belief structure, politicization of an increasingly diverse span meaning an ordered arrangement of beliefs of beliefs and preferences that once cut across such that holding one belief implies holding (or lay apart from) ideological divides. other beliefs (Kinder and Kalmoe 2017:13; see also Converse 1964). However, recent research on polarization conceptualizes struc- Belief Network Analysis ture in terms of pairwise relationships among Rather than focusing on a selected subset of beliefs, ignoring the larger
Recommended publications
  • Theorizing Moral Cognition: Culture in Action, Situations, and Relationships
    UCLA UCLA Previously Published Works Title Theorizing Moral Cognition: Culture in Action, Situations, and Relationships Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3xm4m3mw Author Luft, Aliza Publication Date 2020 DOI 10.1177/2378023120916125 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California SRDXXX10.1177/2378023120916125SociusLuft 916125research-article2020 Original Article Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World Volume 6: 1 –15 © The Author(s) 2020 Theorizing Moral Cognition: Culture in Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions Action, Situations, and Relationships DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023120916125 10.1177/2378023120916125 srd.sagepub.com Aliza Luft1 Abstract Dual-process theories of morality are approaches to moral cognition that stress the varying significance of emotion and deliberation in shaping judgments of action. Sociological research that builds on these ideas considers how cross- cultural variation alters judgments, with important consequences for what is and is not considered moral behavior. Yet lacking from these approaches is the notion that, depending on the situation and relationship, the same behavior by the same person can be considered more or less moral. The author reviews recent trends in sociological theorizing about morality and calls attention to the neglect of situational variations and social perceptions as mediating influences on judgment. She then analyzes the moral machine experiment to demonstrate how situations and relationships inform moral cognition. Finally, the author suggests that we can extend contemporary trends in the sociology of morality by connecting culture in thinking about action to culture in thinking about people. Keywords cognition, culture, morality, perception, situations Preface As I write, there are places in the world where there aren’t enough hospital beds or respirators to allow all patients to This paper is about moral judgments in challenging and receive adequate medical care.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond Social Class and Status. the Network Embeddedness of Music Consumption
    PRZEGLĄD SOCJOLOGICZNY 2019 68(2): 81–105 ISSN 0033-2356; e-ISSN 2450-9351 https://doi.org/10.26485/PS/2019/68.2/4 Michał Cebula University of Wrocław BEYOND SOCIAL CLASS AND STATUS. THE NETWORK EMbEDDEDNESS OF MUSIC CONSUMPTION Abstract The relationship between stratification and music consumption patterns has become a vibrant field of study in recent years, not only in the sociology of music but also in sociology tout court. It is widely accepted that musical consumption is undergoing profound change, from a tight correspondence between social positions and tastes (the homology argument) to an omnivore- univore model marked by a greater diversity of preferences among those in higher social strata. What is less understood in both frameworks is how musical consumption is related to an individual’s social networks, net of other structural variables (e.g. class or status). Drawing on original quantitative data collected by the author, the paper tries to establish, first, whether diversity of personal networks is conducive to greater heterogeneity in musical preferences and knowledge, and second, what role “weak” and “strong” ties play. It is confirmed that people whose networks are richer in weak connections are more likely to be omnivores while this is not true in the case of strong ties. Some possible explanations of the findings, as well as directions of future studies, are outlined. Keywords: omnivorousness, musical tastes, social network, social capital, stratification of culture PhD, Department of Consumer Behaviour, Institute of Sociology; e-mail: [email protected]; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6086-2233 82 MIChał CEbuLa INTRODUCTION answering the question “What is sociological about music?” Roy and Dowd [2010] make a point that music is a mode of interaction that expresses and con- stitutes social relations (of different kinds: subcultures, organizations, classes, even nations) with the context-specific intersubjective meanings it delivers and sustains.
    [Show full text]
  • Globalization, World Culture and the Sociology of Taste: Patterns of Cultural Choice in Cross-National Perspective
    Globalization, World Culture And The Sociology Of Taste: Patterns Of Cultural Choice In Cross-National Perspective Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Lizardo, Omar Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 27/09/2021 11:28:29 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/193871 1 GLOBALIZATION, WORLD CULTURE AND THE SOCIOLOGY OF TASTE: PATTERNS OF CULTURAL CHOICE IN CROSS-NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE By Omar Lizardo _________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For The Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College University of Arizona 2006 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Omar Lizardo entitled Globalization, World Culture And The Sociology Of Taste: Patterns Of Cultural Choice In Cross-National Perspective and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 08/18/06 Ronald L. Breiger _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 08/18/06 Kieran Healy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 08/18/06 Erin Leahey Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae
    DANIEL ESCHER www.danielescher.com Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame 810 Flanner Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 (206) 437-0191 mobile [email protected] EDUCATION Ph.D. 2015, University of Notre Dame, Sociology Unmoving People, Removing Mountains: Coal Mining, Cultural Matching, and Micro- mobilization in Central Appalachia Rory McVeigh (chair), Omar Lizardo, Terry McDonnell, Lyn Spillman, and Kraig Beyerlein M.A. 2011, University of Notre Dame, Sociology. Exams: Social Movements, Religion M.Div. 2009, Princeton Theological Seminary, Religion & Society B.A. 2005, University of Washington, cum laude, Spanish and International Studies, with College Honors, Phi Beta Kappa EMPLOYMENT 2015–16 Postdoctoral fellow, College of Arts & Letters, University of Notre Dame RESEARCH INTERESTS Environmental sociology, collective behavior and social movements, cultural sociology, organizations PUBLICATIONS Peer Reviewed 2013 “How Does Religion Promote Forgiveness? Linking Beliefs, Orientations, and Practices.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 52 (1): 100–19. doi:10.1111/jssr.12012. Under Review “How Cultural Matching Shapes Micro-mobilization: The Fight against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining.” Coal is Our Heart and Soul: Inaction in an Environmental Crisis. Book manuscript. “The Effect of Discouraging Network Ties on Political Action,” with Kraig Beyerlein. GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS 2014 Dissertation Research Improvement Grant—National Science Foundation, grant no. SES- 1409581 ($12,000) 2011–14 Graduate Research Fellowship—National
    [Show full text]
  • Kevin A. Estep
    Estep CV, 8/2017 KEVIN A. ESTEP Department of Cultural and Social Studies Creighton University 2500 California Plaza , Creighton Hall Ste 424 Omaha, NE 68178 [email protected] EDUCATION Ph.D. 2017, University of Notre Dame, Sociology Dissertation: “Opting Out: How Political Context, Political Ideology, and Individualistic Parenting Contribute to Vaccine Refusal in California, 2000-2015” Committee: Rory McVeigh (chair), Kraig Beyerlein, Omar Lizardo, and Erin McDonnell M.A. 2013, University of Notre Dame, Sociology. Thesis: “Constructing a Language Problem” M.Ed. 2009, University of Oklahoma, Adult and Higher Education B.S. 2003, University of Oklahoma, Zoology ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT 2017-present Assistant Professor in Health Administration and Policy Department of Cultural and Social Studies Creighton University PUBLICATIONS Estep, Kevin. 2017. “Constructing a Language Problem: Status-based Power Devaluation and the Threat of Immigrant Inclusion.” Sociological Perspectives. —Best Graduate Student Paper (Cristina Maria Riegos Award)—ASA Latina/o Sociology Section —Outstanding Graduate Student Paper (Jeanine Becker Award)— Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame Estep, Kevin. 2017. Review of To Care for Creation: The Emergence of the Religious Environmental Movement by Stephen Ellingson. Mobilization: An International Quarterly 22(2). McVeigh, Rory, Bryant Crubaugh, and Kevin Estep. 2017. “Plausibility Structures, Status Threats, and the Establishment of Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers.” American Journal of Sociology. 1 Estep
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Revision, Reclassification, and Refrigerators* Forthcoming In
    Revision, Reclassification, and Refrigerators* Forthcoming in Sociological Forum Terence E. McDonnell1 Associate Professor of Sociology University of Notre Dame Dustin S. Stoltz2 Assistant Professor of Sociology and Cognitive Science Lehigh University Marshall A. Taylor3 Assistant Professor of Sociology New Mexico State University Acknowledgements: We’d like to thank the University of Virginia’s Sociological Workshop on Aesthetics, Meaning, and Power (especially Fiona Rose Greenland, Isaac Reed, Adam Slez, and Natalie Aviles), the University of Notre Dame’s Culture Workshop (especially David Gibson and Ann Mische) for their excellent feedback and suggestions. This paper has also benefited from conversations with Erin Metz McDonnell, Jennifer Lena, and Michael Wood. Extra special thanks to special issue editors Karen Cerulo and Vanina Leschziner for their leadership. * A replication repository for this paper is available at: https://github.com/Marshall-Soc/rrr 1 Terence E. McDonnell, 4060 Jenkins Nanovic Hall, Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame ([email protected]). ORCID: 0000-0002-7944-9200. 2 Dustin S. Stoltz, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Lehigh University ([email protected]). ORCID: 0000-0002-4774-0765. 3 Marshall A. Taylor, 292B Science Hall, Department of Sociology, New Mexico State University ([email protected]). ORCID: 0000-0002-7440-0723. 1 Abstract Current debates about cultural change question how and how often change in personal culture happens. Is personal culture stable, or under constant revision through interaction with the environment? While recent empirical work finds attitudes are remarkably stable, this paper argues that typifications—how material tokens are classified as a particular mental type by individuals— are more open to transformation as a result of the fundamentally fuzzy nature of classifying.
    [Show full text]
  • Annette-Lareau-CV-November 2020 0.Pdf
    November 2020 Curriculum Vitae Annette Lareau Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor in the Social Sciences Department of Sociology University of Pennsylvania 3718 Locust Walk, McNeil Building, Ste. 113 Philadelphia, PA 19104-6299 215 898-3515 (phone) 215 573-2081 (fax) Email: [email protected] EDUCATION 1984 Ph.D., Sociology, University of California, Berkeley 1978 M.A., Sociology, University of California, Berkeley 1974 B.A., Sociology, with Highest honors, University of California, Santa Cruz PUBLICATIONS: BOOKS In press Listening to People: A Practical Guide to Interviews, Participant-Observation, Data Analysis, and Writing It All Up. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2011 Unequal Childhoods: Race, Class, and Family Life. Second Edition. A Decade Later. University of California Press. [2011/2003] Translated into Chinese, Korean, and Spanish. Reprinted (selections): American Families (Ed. By Stephanie Coontz, Routledge, 2008, 400-417. 2000 [1989] Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education, Second Edition, Lanham, MD, Rowan and Littlefield. PUBLICATIONS: EDITED BOOKS 2018 Ritual, Emotion, Violence: Studies on the Micro-Sociology of Randall Collins. (Edited by Elliot Weininger, Annette Lareau, and Omar Lizardo). New York: Routledge. 2014 Choosing Homes, Choosing Schools. (Edited by Annette Lareau and Kimberly Goyette.) New York: The Russell Sage Foundation. 2009 Educational Research on Trial. (Edited by Pamela Barnhouse Walters, Annette Lareau, and Sherri Ranis). New York: Routledge 2008 Social Class: How Does it Work? (Edited by Annette Lareau and Dalton Conley). New York: The Russell Sage Foundation. 1996 Journeys Through Ethnography: Realistic Accounts of Field Research, (Edited by Annette Lareau and Jeff Shultz) Boulder, CO.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gendered Effect of Authority Positions in the Workplace on Taste in Clothing and Food
    SPXXXX10.1177/0731121414556545Sociological PerspectivesWillekens and Lievens 556545research-article2014 Gendered Work and Culture Sociological Perspectives 2015, Vol. 58(1) 78 –96 Boundary Tastes at Work: The © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: Gendered Effect of Authority sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0731121414556545 Positions in the Workplace on spx.sagepub.com Taste in Clothing and Food Mart Willekens1 and John Lievens1 Abstract In this article, we test three hypotheses about the gendered effect of authority positions in the workplace on tastes in the areas of food and clothing. We use the micro-interactionist model of Randall Collins to formulate new hypotheses on the development of aesthetic and practical taste patterns, as described by Pierre Bourdieu. This leads to the following hypotheses: (1) people in superordinate positions will develop more aesthetic tastes; (2) men in subordinate positions will develop more practical tastes; and (3) women in subordinate positions will develop more aesthetic tastes. Our results show that there is a significant effect of being in a superordinate position on food preferences but not on clothing preferences. Among people in subordinate positions, women score higher than men on a fashion taste in clothing, lower on practical taste in clothing, and lower on a conventional taste in food. Keywords food preferences, clothing preferences, gender, authority positions Introduction Ever since the “cultural turn” in social sciences, the study of social stratification has embraced the areas of consumption and lifestyle in their research programs. Economic differences are no longer seen as a sufficient paradigm to analyze the development of stratified groups in society. Other cultural (or symbolic) resources have to be taken into account as well (Ray and Sayer 1999).
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae Of
    December 29, 2019 J CURRICULUM VITA RORY M. MCVEIGH Higher Education 1996 Ph.D. Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 1993 M.A. Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 1991 B.A. Sociology, The University of Arizona, Summa Cum Laude. Academic Positions 2017- Nancy Reeves Dreux Chair in Sociology 2015- Co-Editor, American Sociological Review 2009-2017 Professor of Sociology. University of Notre Dame. 2009- Director, Center for the Study of Social Movements. 2011- Co-editor, Mobilizing Idea (a blog publishing interdisciplinary perspectives on social movements and social change) 2007-2016 Chair, Department of Sociology. University of Notre Dame. 2008-2015 Editor, Mobilization: The International Quarterly Review of Social Movement Research. 2005-2009 Associate Professor of Sociology. University of Notre Dame. 2005-2007 Director of Graduate Studies. Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame. 2002-2005 Assistant Professor of Sociology. University of Notre Dame. 1997-2002 Assistant Professor of Sociology. Skidmore College. 1996-1997 Lecturer. Department of Sociology. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Books 2019 McVeigh, Rory and Kevin Estep. The Politics of Losing: Trump, the Klan, and the Mainstreaming of Resentment. New York: Columbia University Press. Pre-release reviews: Publishers Weekly (2018) Kirkus Review of Books (2018). Post-release Reviews: Perspectives on Politics 18: 271 (2020) Choice August (2019) Contemporary Sociology 2: 115-188 (2020) Mobilization
    [Show full text]
  • Margaret Frye
    PROMOTION RECOMMENDATION The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Margaret Frye, assistant professor of sociology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, is recommended for promotion to associate professor of sociology, with tenure, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Academic Degrees: Ph.D. 2013 Sociology and Demography, University of California, Berkeley M.A. 2010 Sociology, University of California, Berkeley M.A. 2008 Demography, University of California, Berkeley B.A. 2006 Environmental Studies, Brown University Professional Record: 2018- Assistant Professor of Sociology; Faculty Associate, Population Studies Center; Faculty Associate, African Studies Center, University of Michigan 2015-2018 Assistant Professor of Sociology; Faculty Affiliate Office of Population Research, Princeton University 2017-2018 Fulbright Fellowship in Uganda 2013-2015 Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University 2013-2015 Successful Societies Global Scholar, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Summary of Evaluation: Teaching: Professor Frye has developed an intensive student-centered approach to teaching statistics for social science while also teaching her students coding. This has been a significant contribution to the sociology curriculum. Her substantive courses on gender and sexuality at the undergrad and graduate level have all been very well received. She is also an outstanding mentor. She is mentoring both early- and late-stage graduate students, collaborating and co- authoring with them. She also mentors students and junior scholars from and in Uganda, where she does her fieldwork. Research: Professor Frye’s larger portfolio of research has reconnected social demography to culture. Her research demonstrates that cultural narratives about imagined futures, aspirations, and the proper sequencing of life events affect people’s life outcomes and maintain structural barriers to mobility.
    [Show full text]
  • Sociology of Emotions American Sociological Association
    Volume 31 Issue 2 Summer 2018 Sociology of Emotions American Sociological Association MISSION: The ASA Section on Sociology of Emotions brings together social and behavioral scientists in order to promote the general development of the study of emotions through the exchange of ideas, theory, research, and teaching. Scholars from a variety of backgrounds are members of this section, and collectively encourage the study of emotions in everyday social life. Substantive topics of investigation include: the expression and experience of emotions, emotions in social interaction, identity and emotions, emotions in historical perspective, the cross-cultural study of emotions, emotions and violence, and the traditions of theory and research in the area of emotions. CONTENT From the Chair’s Desk: Jessica Collett 1-2 From the Chair’s Desk 3 Section Officers & Greetings fellow Emotions Section Members! Section Committees I cannot believe it has been six months since our last 4 -6 New Work in newsletter and that my term as section chair is Emotions nearing its end. The past year has flown by! I want to begin by congratulating our recently 6 Call for Submissions elected officers. Alison Bianchi (Iowa) will become Social Media Update our chair-elect at the meetings this August, as Lisa Walker (UNC-Charlotte) takes over as chair, and 7-8 Section Award Amelia Blume will step down as newsletter editor as Winners she takes on the role of graduate student 9-10 This Year at ASA representative for the section (see our call for a new newsletter editor or editorial team on pg. 12). I wish 11 Membership Benefits our current graduate student representative, & Information Elizabeth Culatta, the best of luck as she transitions into her tenure-track position at Augusta University.
    [Show full text]
  • Michael Strand CV
    Last Updated: 9/25/16 Brandeis University Phone: (781) 736-7581 Michael Strand Department of Sociology [email protected] Pearlman 201, MS 071 http://www.michaelstrand.net Waltham, MA 02453 Education University of Notre Dame Ph.D., Sociology 2013 Dissertation: “A Genealogy of Social Justice: Britain, 1834-1914” M.A., Sociology 2008 University of Wyoming B.A. History and Philosophy 2006 Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude Employment Brandeis University 2015-present, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology Bowling Green State University 2013-2015, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology University of Notre Dame 2007-2013, Graduate Assistant, Department of Sociology Publications Journal Articles Michael Strand. (forthcoming). “Historicizing Social Inequality: A Victorian Archive for Contemporary Moral Discourse.” American Journal of Cultural Sociology. Michael Strand and Omar Lizardo. (forthcoming). “The Hysteresis Effect: Theorizing Mismatch in Action.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour Brandon Vaidyanathan, Michael Strand*, Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick and Thomas Buschman. (2016). “Causality in American Sociology: An Empirical Assessment and Critique.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 46: 3-26. Michael Strand. (2015). “The Genesis and Structure of Moral Universalism: * Equal first author with Vaidyanathan Social Justice in Victorian Britain, 1834-1901.” Theory and Society 44: 537-573. Michael Strand and Omar Lizardo. (2015). “Beyond World Images: Belief as Embodied Action in the World.” Sociological Theory 33: 44-70. Michael Strand. (2014). “Authenticity as a Form of Worth.” Journal for Cultural Research 18: 60-77. Lyn Spillman and Michael Strand. (2013). “Interest-Oriented Action.” Annual Review of Sociology 39: 85-104. Michael Strand. (2011). “Where Do Classifications Come From?” Theory and Society 40: 273-313.† Omar Lizardo and Michael Strand.
    [Show full text]