Volume 43 • Number 2 • February 2015 Back to Sweet Home Chicago William T. Bielby, Vegas.) The Great Recession took suburbs. Gentrification continues inside University of Illinois, Chicago a toll on Chicago in the years since apace in every direction from the Come on we last met there. It is smaller, Loop, while leap frogging African Oh baby don’t you want to go experiencing a population loss of American communities. New immi- 3 COSSA Modernizes its Come on 200,000 between 2000 and 2010, grant gateways in the suburbs pro- Governance System Oh baby don’t you want to go and the recovery has been less vide new avenues for social mobility Back to that same old place robust than in other large cities. It for some, but poverty is growing The revision of the bylaws Sweet home Chicago is also more unequal than it was 13 faster in Chicago suburbs than in seeks to comply, streamline, years ago. Tremendous wealth has any other region of the state. and simplify. he Annual been generated Mayor Emanuel and the TMeeting was in the booming Neo-Liberal Turn 5 Connecting Students first held in technology and with Careers Chicago in 1919, professional and In 2011 Rahm Emanuel suc- and we’ve met at ceeded Richard Daley as mayor. That SUNY Potsdam professor financial services “that same old may or may not have been the end provides tips, suggestions, sectors, with pre- place” a total of of the Chicago machine domina- and resources to integrate dictable impacts 14 times, most tion of city politics, but it certainly into your sociology on wealth recently in 2002. marked a neoliberal turn. Rahm has department. concentra- (Chicago was tion, economic the well-earned nickname of “Mayor to have been the site of the 2011 vitality, and conspicuous con- 1%.” He grew up in the affluent Choosing ASA’s Slate of 5 meeting until labor issues at the sumption in the city’s affluent North Shore suburb of Wilmette and Candidates Hilton resulted in a move to Las neighborhoods and North Shore Continued on Page 8 Before names end up on the ballot there is a rigorous selection process. 7 Updating the U.S. Reflections on the Recipients Constitution as a Class Activity Charlie Hebdo Massacre of 2015 ASA Want to insert human rights Erik Olin Wright, University of killed 12 people. “What terrible Awards lessons into your classroom? Wisconsin-Madison events,” I wrote in my travel journal. Have students tackle he American Sociological n the second week of January 2015, I had heard of Charlie Hebdo, but updating the constitution. had not been aware of its place in TAssociation proudly announces II traveled to Paris to give a lecture the recipients of the major awards at a research institute and partici- France as a real political-cultural Get to Know ASA Staff institution: biting, irreverent satire, for 2015. These outstanding scholars 9 pate in a meeting of the scientific will be recognized at the 2015 Find out who is behind criticism through mockery. Some council of the International Panel Annual Meeting Awards Ceremony those e-mails and answering of the senior editors who were on Social Progress, a new orga- on Sunday, August 23, at 4:30 your questions. nization roughly modeled on the murdered were icons in the world of intellectuals in Paris. France, more p.m. The Awards Ceremony will Intergovernmental Panel on Climate immediately precede the formal Change. Its goal is to produce a than almost any other place I know of, reveres its serious intellectu- address of the ASA President Paula massive report on the global status England. All registrants are invited of progress on the many dimensions als. In addition to being a terrible loss, the political ramifications are to attend an Honorary Reception of social justice by 2017. The council immediately following the address consists of social scientists from also unsettling. In France right- wing forces have been gaining to congratulate President England around the world, including many and the award recipients. economists as well as some sociolo- strength around hyper-nationalist ideologies, and one of the ideologi- The ASA awards are conferred on From the Executive Officer .................2 gists. I had anticipated a typical, sociologists for outstanding publica- interesting academic trip; it turned cal anchors of this political current Science Policy .........................................3 is Islamophobia intertwined with tions and achievements in the schol- out to be much more intense than I arship, teaching, and the practice ASA Forum ............................................ 10 racism. These killings, and the imagined. of sociology. Award recipients are Announcements ................................. 10 I arrived in Paris the day after subsequent hostage situation that occurred while I was in Paris, are selected by committees appointed Obituaries .............................................. 14 two masked gunmen armed with likely to intensify this. by the ASA Committee on assault rifles forced their way into Committees and the ASA Council. the offices of the French satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, and Continued on Page 6 Continued on Page 4 footnotes • February 2015 To view the online version, visit <www.asanet.org/footnotes/feb15/index.html> 1 American Sociological Association footnotes.asanet.org from the executive officer Communicating Social Science Let me tell you a story… few weeks ago, an ASA staff will be. We see this today in the triggers neurons in the brain that tists as social workers who are not Amember was telling me about debate surrounding the vaccination revive past experiences. A child scientists and not equal in stature to his recent trip to visit his in-laws. of children. reading the Harry Potter series is physical and life science researchers. They are semi-retired not merely reading about wizards However, even without overcoming What’s a scientist to snow birds who spend the going to school, rather they are the basic identity problem, once do? winter in the California reflecting on and learning about social science research is presented desert—basking in the Appealing to people’s good overcoming evil through reli- to the public beginning with a blue skies and warmth. His father emotions has been used ance on friendship, education, and metaphor or story the acceptance in-law is a successful entrepreneur to bludgeon political opponents— perseverance. Using Mar’s analysis level changes. with an advanced degree in the Presidents Reagan and George W. as a foundation, scientists should Sociological research can lead to physical sciences. While sitting on Bush were masters at this. (See consider “showing instead of telling” a better understanding of the world his porch, enjoying a drink, he told Drew Weston’s The Political Brain: when initiating a presentation based in which we live and the social my colleague about the ways of The Role of Emotion in Deciding the on their expertise. ramifications of human behavior. the world and defended as truths Fate of the Nation). Policies rooted This does not mean scientists It often leads scientists to argue numerous myths that have been in emotion, like mandatory mini- should consult with the university’s for social change. Arguing for debunked by scientists related to mum sentencing or drug testing Creative Writing Department prior social change, however, generates poverty, vaccines, climate change, welfare recipients, have become the to releasing research to the public. an emotional response from those etc. My colleague attempted to law across the country even though Ummm, well, maybe we should. many people in the society who fear refute his father in-law’s claims with scientific experts state that they are According to the FrameWorks change. As a result we often feel like research but this further strength- ineffective. Institute--a we are pulling an obstinate mule ened the father in-law’s insistence (You add to Washington, down a path. and only made the conversation this list.) scientists should consider DC, com- Moving forward more awkward. As his brief story Scientists “showing instead of telling” when munication in our nation’s Let’s consider new ways we can concluded, my colleague asked me, initiating a presentation based on think tank “Why is it that when I tried to use capitol often that designs, use our research and that commu- lament that their expertise. nicate scientific knowledge to the scientific fact to refute a myth, my conducts, and father in-law’s opinion became more there is a “war publishes com- public—incorporating narratives entrenched?” on science” and munications (i.e., stories!) or metaphors is likely that scientists research to further public under- to be just a start. Science isn’t accu- Been there, done that, you’ll (social scientists included) and their standing of social issues—simply mulated stories, but stories can help say expertise is not being heard. I would incorporating a metaphor into the frame scientific facts in meaningful We’ve all been there, and we argue that scientists are not losing description of one’s research can ways. If we do this we can be better know the answer (from research): a “war on science” rather they are help it be received better by the prepared for those conversations confirmation bias. In 1979, losing a communications war. public. For example, instead of on a desert porch, at a backyard Stanford University psycholo- So, how should scientists com- saying “recent research identifies barbeque, and at a holiday din- gists Charles Lord, Lee Ross, and municate? Scientists need to do why there is an increased recidivism ner, or for those policy discussions Mark Lepper (psycnet.apa.org/ a better job of separating their rate among felons in urban areas”, in the local government centers, psycinfo/1981-05421-001) showed professional identity from an issue a scientist might say “like the last state capital buildings, and during empirically that our beliefs shape they want to discuss.