Recently, while on vacation at the beach with my family, I encountered my sister-in-law, niece and nephew in the middle of the Game of Life.” I cracked up when I found out that my 9-year old nephew was a doctor living in a mansion who had made extra money by finding buried treasure and suing someone, but my 7-year old niece was a hairdresser who lived in a double-wide trailer, had a large family (including several grandchildren) but practically no... Read more
With the start of the new semester comes the renewed search for interesting examples to provoke good conversation in the classroom on race, class, and gender. One of the persistent themes in contemporary sociology of race research is the manifold meanings of the term “Asian.” What is “Asian” anyway? And by extension what is “Asian American?” I published a paper a few years ago where I explored this very question with undergraduates I met at several universities. They explained to... Read more
Last week, I organized a panel at the Association for the Sociology of Religion to discuss Susan Crawford Sullivan‘s new book Living Faith: Everyday Religion and Mothers in Poverty?, University of Chicago Press, 2011). Here are my brief comments. “Jamila. Age 28, Black, single. Two children ages 5 and 7 months. Raised Catholic (graduated from Catholic school); now attends Mass occasionally with her mother. Sends her daughter to Mass every week with her mother. On welfare, living in a family shelter. Lenora, age... Read more
Just days ago, on August 15th, immigration policy in the United States experienced a significant change. For undocumented immigrants under 30 who came to the United States as children, the Department of Homeland Security will now accept applications for two year stays in the country. It is expected that about 1 million people will apply this year by the deadline six months away, although in a report released August 14th by the Pew Hispanic Center, it is estimated that up... Read more
The recent event involving the killing of Sikh Americans in their house of worship (gurdwara) struck a deep chord for many. Shortly after, some news outlets reported on the burning of a mosque in Joplin, MO. And about a week later the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) released this brief detailing that these events were only 2 of 9 between the beginning of August and the 15th. I include a snapshot of these events for readers who don’t have... Read more
Stupid is as Stupid does. I have to thank Forrest Gump for that line. Over the past couple of weeks I have had a couple of occasions to remember this line. First there was Adam Smith. No I am not talking about the famous economic philosopher. I am talking about the former CFO at Vante. You may know him better as the Chick-Fil-A bully. Here is one report about his antics and subsequent firing http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/adam-smith-chick-fil-a-drive-bully_n_1735357.html. Now I have to say... Read more
Part 3 in a Series on Personhood My previous posts examined the concept of the person as distinct from the individual, and the philosophical field known as personalism. This post takes up more directly the question: What difference does our understanding of the person make for social science research? Although numerous authors have contributed to the personalist tradition, here I focus on writings by the Polish phenomenologist Karol Wojytla, and his concept of human action as participation. Who was Karol... Read more
Part 2 in a Series on Personhood. As a graduate student in sociology looking for a middle way between liberal individualism and authoritarian collectivism, I first encountered what I now know forms part of a philosophical tradition called personalism when I read philosopher Jacques Maritain’s book Integral Humanism. Just as Max Weber feared that increased rationalization would lead to disenchantment with the world, I started studying sociology because I cared about social inequalities and social injustices, but the more educated... Read more
As the summer months come to a close, students and teachers alike are gearing up to start back to school. August is the month that I often hear colleagues and students lament that the summer just is not long enough. While professors do work over the summer, many of us get a break from the heavy teaching loads we carry during the academic year. The start of a school year is a good time to reflect on why it is... Read more
We get comfortable with the way things have been. Change does not come easy for most of us. But to expect things to stay the way they have been sets us up for nasty surprises. Those of us in academia would do well to remember this. Over the past couple of weeks I have been considering some of the changes occurring to the institutions of higher education. I do not have solutions to these potential changes but those of... Read more
Black, White and Gray
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