Everyday Sociology Blog

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Magical Thinking vs. Sociological Reasoning

By Karen Sternheimer

A student of a colleague had failed a course after rarely attending and not completing several assignments. The ones he did complete were poorly done; he did not see the instructor in office hours despite repeated invitations to talk about improving his grade during the course. He earned 25 out of 100 points in the course, and perhaps unsurprisingly, an F.

But to my colleague’s surprise, the student emailed after seeing his final grade, asking if there was any way he could earn a C in the course (which typically requires 70%, well above his 25%). Maybe the instructor added incorrectly?

Why is the World so Screwed Up?

By Peter Kaufman

The title of this post may seem like a rhetorical question but I am actually quite earnest in asking it. Each day, we hear about countless instances of greed, hatred, violence, and destruction, and all of the pain, suffering, and sorrow that ensues. Although the ubiquity of these problems makes them seem so normal and ordinary that we may not even question them, I don’t think it’s possible to be a sociologist without wondering why these horrible social ills exist.  

The list of “screwed up” things is a bit overwhelming to comprehend because there are so many problems affecting so many different people, places, and things. As sociologists, we often look to patterns and trends as a way to analyze and understand what exactly is going on in the world. But with this seemingly never-ending list of atrocities, it may seem fruitless to try to identify a single contributing factor to all of society’s collective dilemmas. 

Debates Surrounding Gentrification

By Teresa Irene Gonzales

Recently a friend asked me if gentrification is ever a good thing. The question arose from a conversation regarding the ongoing gentrification of the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago; a place where I grew up and where much of my family still lives. In answering the question, I realized that sociology helps to both make sense of this changing neighborhood and also consider how Pilsen relates to other communities across the U.S. that are also dealing with the effects of gentrification.

Telephone Etiquette and Social Change

By Karen Sternheimer

In the second grade, I remember seeing a film in school about how to appropriately answer the telephone. This was way before cell phones came on the market and the phone we learned to answer was presumably the family’s main phone line.

I can still recall some of the lessons. Be polite—say hello first, and allow the caller to introduce himself or herself. If they do not do so after the hello, it is okay to say “who’s calling, please?” The answerer was never to pick up the phone and say “who’s this!?!” as it would sound rude. Interrupting was very bad; instead we should each take turns talking and listening. One was never to hang up without saying goodbye and we were told to be sure that the other party had heard that we were ending the call and said goodbye in response. When in doubt, we were taught, be as polite as possible.

As we were children, and thus considered vulnerable to callers, we were told not to reveal our names or whether our parents were home. If a caller asked for a parent who was not home (yes, it was more acceptable to leave kids home alone then), we were told to say that they could not come to the phone right now and ask to take a message, all while remaining polite. When making calls, we were to politely ask to speak to the person we were calling (“May I please speak with Jane?”), not to call too early or too late, and certainly never during dinner time.

Engendering Sex and Gender

By Sally Raskoff

In sociology, and some other social sciences, we take a close look at sex and gender and identify how those concepts are quite different even though society conflates them together.

Sex, being the more biological dimension of body type differences, and gender, the more social construction linked to identity and social roles, both define us as individuals and both are built into the very fabric of human societies.

In our society, we have long had the assumption that sex has only two categories, male and female, and upon that we build gender into two categories, men and women. Biology informed us that those two sex categories are the way it is. Since we put sex and gender together, our society then has traditionally recognized only those two genders.

Sports and Socio-Economic Status: More than Talent Required

By Colby King and Jakari Griffith, Bridgewater State University

Colby King is an Assistant Professor of Sociology; Jakari Griffith is an Assistant Professor of Management

Recently, Pittsburgh Pirates star center fielder Andrew McCutchen shared a great essay  on The Players’ Tribune in which he reflects on his path to the pros. In the essay, he responds to the drama surrounding the Jackie Robinson West Little League baseball team, which won the Little League World Series and then had their title taken away for having players on the team who lived outside of their geographic area. The emphasis of his essay  is a critique of what McCutchen, who was raised by a poor family in Fort Meade, Florida, sees as a broader problem: the cost and difficulties that talented kids from poor families face as they hope to be discovered by scouts.