By Karen Sternheimer
When I was in high school, I watched Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Years later, I didn’t remember much about the movie, other than the computer Hal’s monotone voice when speaking to Dave, the astronaut, who must “kill” Hal to save himself after Hal killed the rest of the crew.
By Monica Radu
Motherhood comes with a whole set of cultural expectations about what it should look like, feel like, and even who is seen as a “typical” mom. I was reminded of this recently during a quick doorstep conversation with a delivery driver. I mentioned how much I rely on their services with four little ones at home, and she said, “Oh, wow. You don’t look like you have four kids.”
I think it was meant as a compliment; I’m pretty sure it was. But it stuck with me. Not because I was offended, but because it made me think about what we expect motherhood to look like.
Continue reading ““You Don’t Look Like You Have Four Kids:” Challenging What We Think Motherhood Should Look Like”By Karen Sternheimer
A recent Gallup Poll found that the number of American adults who report being alcohol drinkers has fallen to an all-time low in the poll’s 86-year history. Just 54 percent responded that they drink alcohol on occasion, down from recent highs of 67 percent (2022 and 2010), and the all-time high of 71 percent (1976-1978).
I wrote about alcohol consumption for the Everyday Sociology Blog’s inaugural post in 2007, and thought it would be interesting to revisit the topic and consider what changes may have taken place in the past 18 years that might help us explain the decline.
Continue reading “Drinks, Anyone? Revisited”
By Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Professor Emerita, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, associate faculty at Royal Roads University (Canada), and Director of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue
One of the concepts Erving Goffman wrote about was “impression management.” He was interested in the control people have over what others learn about them. Sometimes the impression one gives is quite different from the reality, and often that’s deliberate. Let me give an example, describing something from Goffman’s life. He has often been said to have been a “loner.” While it is true that he never co-authored a publication, there is a difference between publishing and more informal collaborations.
Continue reading “Impressions of Goffman”
By Alyssa Lyons
When my daughter, my partner, and I walked into the large high school gymnasium that crisp fall Saturday, we were immediately overwhelmed. It was our very first high school fair, and my eighth-grade daughter was exploring her options. As we walked around the gym, we were surrounded by schools. Glossy brochures, shiny leaflets, and nifty swag adorned the tables as eager school representatives regaled us with dizzying statistics of high school graduation rates, college attendance, and career and internship prospects.
While my family’s focus was on exploring different high schools in New York City, the sociologist in me couldn’t help but notice we were standing in the middle of a veritable marketplace with each school selling us its wares. Schools were competing against one another in real-time. Families were potential customers shopping around for a quality education. Each high school emphasized one selling point in particular: how their school would help prepare my daughter for the working world. In other words, how they would best prepare my daughter to be a worker in the labor market.
Continue reading “From the Inside Out: Education is Still Big Business”
By Karen Sternheimer
According to a recently published study of older adults at risk for cognitive decline, increased social engagement was one of four factors that led to cognitive improvement during a two-year period (the others were exercise, healthy diet, and cognitive challenges). In other words, beyond physical and mental exercise, we need “social exercise” too.
The experimental group in this study not only had a structured exercise program and diet to follow, but they also had to participate in mandatory social activities. “Socializing is one of the best ways to keep your brain young,” an NPR story on this study concludes. But why?
By Karen Sternheimer
Do you remember your first taste of pizza? I don’t because I’ve been eating it all my life, as you probably have been too. Pizza is practically universal food; it’s one of those words that remains the same in multiple languages, although pronunciations might vary a bit.
Why is pizza something you can find nearly anywhere in the (industrialized) world? Yes, it tastes good, it can be portable, and sold by the slice. It’s a food with just a few ingredients that is relatively cheap and easy to produce. But it also teaches us about globalization and the way in which commerce and culture cross borders.
By Karen Sternheimer
Recently, I took a hiking trip to the Alps, spending time in Chamonix, France, and Courmayeur, Italy. These two alpine towns are connected by a tunnel through Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps. The tunnel is just over 7 miles, and it took us less than an hour to get from town to town by bus.
And yet, when some acquaintances heard that we were in Italy and France, they asked if we went to Rome (about 500 miles from Courmayeur) or Paris (about 425 miles from Chamonix) and were perplexed when we said no.
Continue reading “Understanding Social Construction: What Makes a Country a Country?”
By Karen Sternheimer
A common question that comes up in my research methods class has to do with conducting research on topics that we are interested in, and maybe even groups that we are part of. Can we do research on issues close to our experience while still maintaining objectivity, or does our membership in a group mean that we are “biased?”
First, a note on terminology. Objectivity means that we are “faithful to the facts,” as this article on researcher objectivity points out. It doesn’t mean we don’t have related experiences or points of view, but instead that we are able to set those aside when evaluating our findings and be open to being wrong, or at least that others’ experiences might differ greatly from our own.
Continue reading “Drawing the Line Between Research and “Me Search””
By Karen Sternheimer
I had a really cool social studies teacher in high school, and he taught a sociology class as an elective. I didn’t take it. Why?
It could have been the age-old “didn’t fit my schedule” or someone mentioned it was “hard.” I took his psychology class instead, maybe because I thought I knew something about psychology (I didn’t) or thought it might be easy (it wasn’t).
Continue reading “Getting into Sociology: Advice for High School Students”