Everyday Sociology Blog

Becoming a Group Member

By Karen Sternheimer

I have recently become a member of a group, joining my local trail running community. The process of joining a new group got me thinking about the sociological processes involved in becoming a member of a group, a long tradition in sociology. Understanding that we are more than just individuals navigating the world around us is a core component of the sociological imagination.

Sociologists spend a lot of time thinking about social groups; it is the foundation of the discipline, and some of the most seminal work in sociology is all about the significance of the groups to which we belong. Emile Durkheim was interested in social cohesion and how connected we are to the society around us, as well as how we divide up tasks among social groups—his focus in The Division of Labor in Society. Most introduction to sociology books will have a chapter on groups, sometimes small or large if the book focuses on organizations. Max Weber’s focus on bureaucracy highlights the way that power and authority is transmitted through large-scale organizations.

Racing to Win: Running and the Looking Glass Self

By Karen Sternheimer

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently ran my first  trail race. I entered a local 22k race, also called a “heavy half;” at 14.5 miles and more than 2,300 feet of elevation gain, the race is longer than a half marathon (13.1 miles), and the elevation puts the “climb factor” at 19 percent. This means the course requires the same amount of energy as a flat run of about 17 miles.

I felt physically prepared to run this race; I had a plan, and it was a course that I am very familiar with, so I had a good idea of what to expect. The biggest unknown for me was the impact of the other participants, reminding me of Charles Horton Cooley’s concept of the “looking glass self.”

Trying New Things, Part II: Solo Running as a Social Act

By Karen Sternheimer

During the stay-at-home days of the pandemic, like many others, I got into running. I had run decades in the past but had mostly set it aside when my knees always seemed to be sore. But in 2020, when COVID closed my local gym and pool, a nearby hill served as my primary cardio workout. I’d run up and down this hill for an hour or more at a time, and I had built a surprising amount of endurance, much more than I ever had when I was younger. And my knees didn’t hurt.

I love this hill: it is challenging, scenic, and quiet. While harder on the body than the cardio machines in the gym, there is no waiting for a machine to free up, and no pressure to finish a workout because someone else is waiting. No social comparison when someone next to you goes much faster and harder.

The Case for Heartbreak Workplace Support

By Stacy Torres

Recovering from my own recent romantic breakups, I drew comfort from seeing one of the hardest working women in Hollywood take a break.

This spring as I walked to my office across the street from San Francisco’s Chase Center, Jennifer Lopez’s sparkling visage peered confidently from a giant advertisement for an upcoming show. Hours later, she canceled her summer tour amid poor ticket sales and rumors of marital problems with husband Ben Affleck, "taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends," according to Live Nation’s announcement. By summer’s end, J.Lo had filed for divorce on their two-year anniversary.

Most of us nurse our mangled hearts in private—for me, preferably while swaddled in a warm blanket—not under a celebrity microscope. But we should also have access to leave and other workplace support during relationship crisis or dissolution.

Trying New Things: Sociology and Social Challenges

By Karen Sternheimer

I have been encouraging a family member who recently experienced the death of a partner to try some new social activities—not necessarily to “meet someone,” but to find new interests and stay busy in the face of grief. This of course, isn’t easy to do, and a somewhat mundane experience—swimming in a different pool than I am accustomed to swimming at—highlighted how sociology can help us understand why trying new things can be so difficult.

Role Conflict: Social Contact with your Doctor

By Karen Sternheimer

Sociologists are very interested in the social roles that we take on as part of our daily lives. Our roles provide us with social scripts—ways of behaving in particular situations that are consistent with these roles.

Take going to the doctor’s office. As a patient, you will likely be asked to wait when you arrive, provide personal information about your bodily functions and your insurance. When you are called into an examination room, you might be asked to remove parts of your clothing, answer more personal questions, and undergo medical measurements.

Challenging Stereotypes in Unscripted Love Tales: A Reality Check through Symbolic Interactionism

By Dr. Monica Radu, Associate Professor of Sociology Department of Criminal Justice, Social Work, & Sociology, Southeast Missouri State University, [email protected]

The rise of reality TV has been nothing short of a cultural phenomenon, captivating audiences worldwide, including sociologists (like myself) who find themselves drawn to the intriguing social dynamics portrayed on these shows. So, what's the fuss all about? Why do sociologists, in particular, enjoy the reality TV craze?

Many reality shows serve as unintentional social experiments, placing individuals in unfamiliar and often challenging situations. Sociologists are keen to study how participants navigate these scenarios, unraveling insights into human decision-making, adaptation to change, and the impact of external pressures on behavior.

Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis

By Wayne Martin Mellinger

Everyday talk-in-interaction is the medium through which our identities are enacted and our relationships are negotiated. It is often through situated activities such as talk that the practical problems of our lives get resolved, the tasks of our workplaces get completed, and the business of society gets managed. Talk-in-interaction is a fundamental mechanism through which culture is enacted, providing the very infrastructure of social institutions. Everyday talk-in-interaction is indeed the fundamental site of human sociality.

Conversation Analysis (CA) is an approach to studying everyday social interactions which focuses on how participants in a conversation collaboratively build meaning and organize their interactions through verbal and non-verbal behaviors. It closely analyses the moment-by-moment unfolding of social life through close examination of ordinary social interactions. These fine-grained studies, now done in a wide variety of social situations and institutional settings, are revealing the basic structures of interaction as experienced in concrete instances of social life.

AI and Sociology

By Jonathan Wynn

My inbox received two very kind and curious emails from students this semester. One was to our listserv, expressing remorse and solidarity for someone who had a death in the family. The second was a note of gratitude for my teaching this semester. The instincts behind were kind. Both students wanted to share meaningful feelings with our community in the first case, and with me in the second. They were interesting because they were both written entirely by AI.

Smoking, Travel, and Culture Shock

By Karen Sternheimer

As a kid in the 1970s and 1980s, I remember waiting to be seated at a restaurant. There were occasionally vending machines for candy, gum, and even cigarettes in the waiting area. While cigarette vending machines were apparently only banned in 2010 (except in adults-only venues), I don’t remember seeing a single machine for decades.

That is, until I visited Germany recently. We stayed in an apartment-style hotel, run by someone who also operated a bar on the first floor. When we stepped in the bar to check in, I noticed a cigarette vending machine. Oh wow, I thought, hadn’t seen one of those in years! But it was in a bar, after all, and I didn’t think much of it.