Office Hours

This episode we talk with Robert Sampson [1] about his new book, Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect [2]. In the face of globalization and the widespread belief that the “world is flat,” Sampson shows how the world is actually very uneven, and that local communities make a great difference in how people live their lives across a wide range of phenomenon, from homicide and child health, to leadership networks, teenage pregnancy, altruism, and home foreclosures. Download Office Hours #47 [3]. [1] http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/soc/faculty/sampson/ [2] http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo5514383.html [3] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH47_Sampson.mp3

This episode we catch up with Gregory Hooks [1] and Brian McQueen [2] about their article, American Exceptionalism Revisited [3], winner of the ASA Political Sociology section Best Article award [4]. Our conversation touches upon racial migration, defense spending, and how the post-World War II era was a critical juncture in the American social welfare state. Download Office Hours #46 [5] [1] http://libarts.wsu.edu/soc/people/ghooks/ [2] http://www.uiu.edu/facultystaff/facultyprofiles/liberalarts.html [3] http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0003122410363566 [4] http://www2.asanet.org/sectionpolitic/AandH.html [5] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH46_Hooks_McQueen.mp3

This week we talk with Eric Klinenberg [1] about his new book, Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone [2]. Also be sure to check out Klinenberg's New York Times article, One's a Crowd [3]. Download Office Hours #45 [4] [1] http://www.ericklinenberg.com/ [2] http://www.amazon.com/Going-Solo-Extraordinary-Surprising-Appeal/dp/1594203229 [3] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/living-alone-means-being-social.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all [4] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH45_Klinenberg.mp3

This week we talk with Amy Finnegan [1] about Uganda and Invisible Children's Kony 2012 [2] campaign. For the past dozen years, Finnegan has been teaching and doing research in Uganda. In particular, Finnegan has studied the relationship between outside groups like Invisible Children and local Ugandan activists. How are campaigns like Kony 2012 received in Uganda? And do they help or hurt the cause of indigenous Ugandan activists? Listen up to find out. UPDATE: Since recording this interview, Finnegan and other academics have gone the extra mile to get information out to the public about the context and current events in Uganda---as well as how to talk, teach, and do something about it---at their new website, MakingSenseofKony.org [3]. Please do check it out! Download Office Hours #44 [4] [1] http://www.r.umn.edu/academics-research/cli/people/amy-finnegan/ [2] http://www.kony2012.com/ [3] http://MakingSenseofKony.org [4] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH44_Finnegan.mp3

This episode we talk with Douglas Arnold [1], McKnight Presidential Professor of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota. Professor Arnold is active in the movement to boycott Elsevier [2] for charging exorbitantly high prices, supporting measures such as SOPA, PIPA, and until last week [3], the Research Works Act, as well as for the publisher’s many ethical lapses [4]. We discuss the start of the movement [5], the movement’s tactics, why this movement took hold in mathematics, in particular, and why those in other fields—such as the social sciences—should pay attention and join in. Links discussed in the episode: thecostofknowledge.com [6] Arnold’s “More reasons to support the Elsevier boycott” [7] Statement of Purpose [8] (PDF) arXiv.org [9] Download Office Hours #43 [10]. [1] http://umn.edu/~arnold [2] http://thecostofknowledge.com [3] http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/intro.cws_home/newmessagerwa [4] http://umn.edu/~arnold/reasons.html [5] http://gowers.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/elsevier-my-part-in-its-downfall/ [6] http://thecostofknowledge.com [7] http://umn.edu/~arnold/reasons.html [8] http://gowers.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/elsevierstatementfinal.pdf [9] http://arxiv.org [10] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH43_Arnold.mp3

This episode is the first Drop In: a new, shorter style of Office Hours episodes that we'll be mixing into the podcast every so often alongside our longer episodes. Our first Drop In guest, Matt Snodgrass, discusses his recent Criminology article, Does the Time Cause the Crime? [1] Download Office Hours #42 [2] [1] http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2011.00254.x [2] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH42_Snodgrass.mp3

In this epsiode, we talk with Neal Caren [1] and Sarah Gaby [2] about their research on the Occupy Movement’s presence on social networking sites. Topics include the methodological promises and challenges of studying popular sites like Facebook as well as the potential of online social networking for fostering social change. This conversation was part of a Roundtable discussion on The Society Pages on social scientists studying social movements [3]. Download Office Hours #41 [4]. [1] http://www.unc.edu/~ncaren/ [2] http://sociology.unc.edu/people/graduate-students/sarah-gaby [3] https://thesocietypages.org/roundtables/social-movements/ [4] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH41_Caren_Gaby.mp3

In this episode we discuss the social science of political humor with Heather LaMarre [1]. This conversation is part of our latest Roundtable [2]. Download Office Hours #40 [3]. [1] http://sjmc.umn.edu/people/profile.php?UID=hlamarre [2] https://thesocietypages.org/roundtables/humor/ [3] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH40_LaMarre.mp3

This episode we talk with Robert Agnew [1] about his new article, Dire forecast: A theoretical model of the impact of climate change on crime [2]. Professor Agnew argues that climate change may become one of the biggest drivers behind rising crime rates in the 21st century. Download Office Hours #39 [3]. [1] http://www.sociology.emory.edu/bagnew/ [2] http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1362480611416843 [3] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH39_Agnew.mp3

This week we thought we'd dig back into the Office Hours archives a bit and revisit an interview [1] we did with Theda Skocpol [2] from 2009 on media, the Internet, and civic participation in the 2008 election. A few years later, we'reright in the middle of another election cycle and questions about the impact of traditional media and online social media are as pertinent as ever, so we thought it'd be a good time to think back to a time when a younger Barack Obama was striding into office with the promise of a new post-partisan era of American political engagement... If you're interested in what Skocpol has been up to in the time since this interview, check out her new book, The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism [3]. Download Office Hours #38 [4] [1] https://thesocietypages.org/officehours/2009/08/31/free-riders-loudmouths-obama-and-political-participation/ [2] http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/soc/faculty/skocpol/ [3] http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Politics/AmericanPolitics/?view=usa&ci=9780199832637 [4] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH38_Skocpol.mp3

This episode we speak with Doug Hartmann and Chris Uggen, the dynamic duo behind our very own website, The Society Pages. Big things are happening at TSP and Chris and Doug are here to give us the scoop on the new features on the way in the coming weeks and months, such as The Reading List [1], more Special Features [2], and our exciting new collaboration with W.W. Norton [3]. Download Office Hours #37 [4]. [1] https://thesocietypages.org/reading-list/ [2] https://thesocietypages.org/specials/documentaries/ [3] http://wwnorton.com [4] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH37_Uggmann.mp3

[caption id="attachment_454" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Baby Marx in production"] [1][/caption]This week we talk with Bartholomew Ryan from the Walker Art Center [2] and co-curator of the Baby Marx [3] exhibition. We chat about what happens when you combine social theorists, puppetry, and a trip to Occupy Wall Street [4]. Download Office Hours #36 [5]. [1] https://thesocietypages.org/officehours/files/2011/11/babymarx_photo.jpg [2] http://www.walkerart.org/ [3] http://calendar.walkerart.org/canopy.wac?id=6241 [4] http://blogs.walkerart.org/visualarts/2011/11/01/occupy-wall-street-baby-marx-pedro-reyes/ [5] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH36_Ryan.mp3

This week we talk with Gary Alan Fine. We discuss his recent article in Contexts, Uncertain Knowledge [1], on how rumors shape our world and explain why some people still think we have a Kenyan President. Office Hours #35 [2]. [1] http://contexts.org/articles/summer-2011/uncertain-knowledge/ [2] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH35_Fine.mp3

Today we talk with Joe Soss [1], author of the forthcoming book, Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race [2], co-authored with Richard C. Fording and Sanford F. Schram. Soss traces the major changes and continuities in welfare provision and poverty governance in the United States over the past 40 years, and the racial, political, and economic factors in creating these policies. Download Office Hours #34 [3]. [1] http://www.hhh.umn.edu/people/jsoss/ [2] http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo12120768.html [3] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH34_Soss.mp3

This week we talk with Corey Shdaimah [1], author of Negotiating Justice: Progressive Lawyering, Low-Income Clients, and the Quest for Social Change [2]. Shdaimah examines how the themes central to progressive lawyering—autonomy, collaboration, transformation, and social change—look on the ground, in the legal services office. We discuss the ethnographic methods she used for this research, and how lawyers and clients navigate their relationships with one another. Download Office Hours #33 [3] [1] http://www.ssw.umaryland.edu/faculty_and_research/bios/shdaimah/index.htm [2] http://nyupress.org/books/book-details.aspx?bookId=1609 [3] http://files.thesocietypages.org/downloads/OH33_Shdaimah.mp3