2013-01-09T08:42:52-05:00

Last updated on: January 9, 2013 at 8:42 am   By

Ever since I met Martin Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology, at his home near Philadelphia last fall to discuss what movement for positive sociology might look like, I’ve been pondering: What unique opportunities exist to build a new positive sociology movement focusing on human flourishing and the common good? How can positive sociology build on the successes and shortcomings of positive psychology? What are the next steps in launching in a positive sociology movement? To delve into... Read more

2013-01-05T22:49:14-05:00

Last updated on: January 5, 2013 at 10:49 pm   By

Like many people I am still attempting to make sense of the Newtown shootings. The biggest arguments seem to be over the need for gun control. But there is so much more to this tragedy and our condition of violence that needs to be considered. I wish that I had the time to think more about this issue and put together a better organized post, but right now I just have some random thoughts about this situation. The suicide of... Read more

2013-01-02T15:09:55-05:00

Last updated on: January 2, 2013 at 3:09 pm   By

“Would you please tell me how you got invited to stay in a 13th monastery in Italy?” a friend recently queried me. With the decline of vocations to the religious life in the West, few of us have ever seen inside the walls of a convent or monastery, so my recent stay with the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara piqued the curiosity of my friends from all religious backgrounds. My curiosity about monastic life started after reading... Read more

2013-01-01T21:40:03-05:00

Last updated on: January 1, 2013 at 9:40 pm   By

About every 3 years or so, a collegiate parachurch ministry called Intervarsity Christian Fellowship holds a national week-long conference named after its original meeting place, Urbana. I was reminded that the next meeting would take place this winter break. It also helped remind me of some news pieces I had been meaning to read on how young Asian American evangelicals (like the ones who will attend Urbana 2012) think about race. In referring to young Asian American evangelicals it’s important... Read more

2012-12-28T13:32:11-05:00

Last updated on: December 28, 2012 at 1:32 pm   By

In preparing my classes for this coming semester, I reviewed one of the best known studies in social psychology studies—Festinger and Carlsmith’s $1/$20 study, and I was struck, yet again, by its wide ranging implications, including how we should get our children to go to church. The study illustrates the principles of cognitive dissonance, and it found that peoples’ enjoyment of an experience is influenced by the benefits and costs associated with that experience, but not always in ways that... Read more

2012-12-25T17:47:55-05:00

Last updated on: December 25, 2012 at 5:47 pm   By

From Rome, December 25th, 2012 Have you ever wondered what Christmas liturgy at the St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican might be like? It follows the exact same structure as any other Mass, but nearly all the prayers are said in Latin, a breathtaking Schola of boys and men leads the singing, and the thousands of faithful who have traveled over many miles and waited many hours in line to get in maintain a reverent silence in the most grand... Read more

2012-12-22T20:57:18-05:00

Last updated on: December 22, 2012 at 8:57 pm   By

  “…claims that Asian American students were as well qualified but less likely than whites to gain entry to the elite schools set in motion a tedious debate over the definition of ‘excellence,’ ‘merit,’ and ‘diversity.’” When do you think this was written? Would you believe it was 1992 when this first appeared in Dr. Dana Takagi’s Retreat From Race: Asian American Admissions and Racial Politics (p. 176)? This award-winning work chronicled the affirmative action and racial preference debates taking... Read more

2012-12-15T23:26:15-05:00

Last updated on: December 15, 2012 at 11:26 pm   By

          Recently much has been made at this time of year of what has been called the “War on Christmas.” Given the relevance of this topic, allow me to share some of my research published in 2010 that provides insight about this potential war. I cannot find the article online but you can look it up [Review of Religious Research 52(2):159-171] at a local university library.             My original purpose was to argue that possession of religious animosity is... Read more

2012-12-11T11:22:49-05:00

Last updated on: December 11, 2012 at 11:22 am   By

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the stereotypes that we place on one another, and the implications of those stereotypes, particularly along gendered lines.  (Jerry’s recent post reminds us, however, that issues of race & gender are deeply intertwined).  As the macro-level, I know about the destructive nature of many of dominant stereotypes that exist in our society.  But at a personal level, it is often difficult for me to know how to respond to gendered stereotypes.    ... Read more

2012-12-07T15:31:09-05:00

Last updated on: December 7, 2012 at 3:31 pm   By

Last spring UCLA was the site of a YouTube rant by a former student who was white non-Hispanic, about “Asians in the library” including her version of “Asian speak”- sociologists call this and other derogatory verbage against a group ethnophaulisms. Much of the work on the sociology of race focuses on the influence of the dominant group over subordinate groups; in the case of the US it usually refers to the influence of white non-Hispanics over non-whites. The Alexandra Wallace... Read more

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