The Challenges of Doing Research while Social Distancing

On May 18, 2020October 9, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, COVID-19, Karen Sternheimer, Statistics and Methods5 Comments

By Karen Sternheimer

A group of my colleagues have started a support group for qualitative researchers, called “Ethnographers in Exile.” After spending a year securing a field site and getting Institutional Review Board approval to do an ethnography in an emergency room, one colleague found that his research could not go forward under the current circumstances, with no timeline for his project to begin any time soon.

Ethnography involves immersing one’s self in the lived experience of the group that you are studying and being present to observe interactions and ask questions that might come up in the course of our participants’ day-to-day lives. Ethnographers observe the tempo of interactions, what happens when seemingly nothing is happening, and ultimately try and learn what it is like to be a member of a particular group.

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Are Social Bubbles a New Form of Segregation?

On May 13, 2020October 9, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, Cities and Urbanization, Class and Stratification, COVID-19, Jonathan WynnLeave a comment

By Jonathan Wynn

Are we moving from "social distancing" to "social bubbles?" What are the factors and consequences involved in such a move?

Based on the TV show Lost, I used to ask my Introduction to Sociology students (back in the before times) what characteristics they would want their fellow castaways to behold. What kinds of skills would you hope people in your group would have on your beautiful-yet-isolated island?

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Race, Class, Work, and Health

On May 6, 2020October 9, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, Class and Stratification, COVID-19, Janis Prince Inniss, Race and Ethnicity1 Comment

By Janis Prince Inniss

Five young men and one woman who look like they’re in their mid-twenties clustered around blue plastic trays and carts. I’ve never seen that sort of cart before, but otherwise it looked like any other day outside of the Walmart I have been going to for the last 19 years. This was bizarre because we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic!

I was blown away by how normal everything looked outside the store—but also horrified. None of the five store employees wore gloves or masks, and none was maintaining any physical distance from the other as they chatted. Personally concerning was when one of the young men approached my car—too close for my comfort—to confirm my name for the grocery pick-up order. What about the 6 feet rule we should maintain between ourselves and others, recommended by the CDC?

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When Back Stage becomes Front Stage: Goffman’s Dramaturgy in the Age of Teleconferencing

On May 4, 2020October 21, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, COVID-19, Karen Sternheimer, Theory3 Comments

By Karen Sternheimer

Several years ago, I blogged about the age of social media might have blurred Erving Goffman’s “front stage” and “back stage” distinctions. As I teach, attend meetings, and “visit” with family members via teleconferencing, I have been thinking about what actually constitutes “back stage” today.

Erving Goffman wrote in his book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life that “back regions are typically out of bounds to members of the audience” (p. 124). That was in 1959, when he could not have foreseen that we would have the technology to share audio and video with hundreds of people at a time from a device that could fit in the palm of our hands.

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Stay at Home and Formal Social Control

On April 27, 2020October 9, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, COVID-19, Crime and Deviance, Karen Sternheimer2 Comments

By Karen Sternheimer

The COVID-19 crisis has led to an unprecedented experience for many people around the world: formal orders to stay at home and the closure of businesses deemed non-essential. The closure of businesses has created an economic crisis too, as more than 25 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits between mid-March and mid-April.

Protesters have held rallies to end these orders, arguing, among other things, that the orders are an overreach of government and that their individual rights are being taken away. This post is not about whether the stay at home orders or the protesters are right or wrong—it is about reactions to formal social control.

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I Miss People

On April 20, 2020October 9, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, COVID-191 Comment

By Jenell Paris

Professor of Anthropology, Messiah College

Editor’s note: Many of us are going through a similar transition as the author describes below. What can we learn about the importance of social interaction through this experience? Is it similar to or different from yours? How might situations like the one we are experiencing now create more family conflict? How might social isolation impact older adults and those who live alone differently?

“Stay Home.” I am, and I will. I thought I knew what I was in for — kids off school for a good while and my college classes shifted online. What I didn’t anticipate was how much I’d miss people, including the ones I don’t like, and the ones I don’t even know. This became clear as soon as I started spending day after day with my cats.

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Fear, Race and the “Yellow Peril”

On April 9, 2020October 9, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, COVID-19, Myron Strong, Race and Ethnicity4 Comments

By Myron Strong

As the globe grapples with COVID-19, violent attacks on Asians and Asian Americans continue to climb. There are continuing horror stories coming from the United States, Europe, and Australia: stories of people irrationally screaming profanities, telling them to go back to China and news reports of Asian and Asian Americans violently attacked. As a matter of fact, NBC news reported that there were over 650 racist attacks against Asian Americans last week alone.

The anti-Asian racism demonstrates how history can inform our understanding and interpretation of the outbreak in China. The messages attached to the COVID-19 virus have a history.

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Boy Rides Dog and Other Impacts of COVID-19

On April 8, 2020October 9, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, Class and Stratification, COVID-19, Janis Prince Inniss1 Comment

By Janis Prince Inniss

A boy of about seven years stood with one foot on each side of a little dog and slowly sat on him for about five seconds. The dog does not seem to have been injured from his stint as a pony, probably because the child is relatively light and because this pose was only held for a short time.

Stunning as this sight was, I guess such are the pastimes of bored children as week one of being at home came to an end. I saw this scene from what I refer to as my sociology window: It’s a window in the front of my home, facing the street—about 10 feet from the sidewalk—with nothing obstructing my view of all that occurs on either side on most of the block.

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Ideology and the Grocery Store

On April 1, 2020October 9, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, COVID-19, Karen Sternheimer, Theory4 Comments

By Karen Sternheimer

In recent weeks, grocery shortages have been common around the country as people stock up in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I have had a hard time finding staples like garlic, potatoes, and dry beans at my usual local grocery store. What can the concept of ideology teach us about the run on food and paper products?

Ideology is a system of beliefs that appear normal and natural to a particular group. Rather than a fancy way of saying “idea,” ideology is a grouping of ideas that seem unquestionable and are often taken for granted. These systems of beliefs that we live within often seem to be “human nature” and beyond the need to think about critically.

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