Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sociology

Looking for internships related to sociology

flying_trapeze — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:00:29 -0800

Is there a resource for finding research positions in the social sciences? I'm about to finish my second year in school, transferring likely in the fall (the precise school and location, still unknown). I've just declared a sociology major, and am very, very interested in doing research. Or at least helping someone do theirs.
Now is the time that everyone seems to be getting internships, and while I've been looking, I haven't been able to find one related to sociology. I'd preferable like to find one as a research assistant on a project. I'd ask my school for help guiding me, but they largely focus on opportunities present in the city I currently am in, where I don't plan on being this summer. Are there resources or websites specifically related to the social sciences and research intern/assistant positions?

Who are the students from east Asia?

Nomyte — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 17:12:52 -0800

I don't know how else to phrase this maladroit and overlong "question," but… who are the foreign undergraduate and graduate students? My undergraduate institution says that our student body self-reports as about one fifth Asian. I've had Asian roommates, classmates, and labmates all through undergrad, and now have Asian coworkers, supervisors, colleagues, and collaborators. I can distinguish Mandarin from Cantonese and Korean. I studied Japanese as a foreign language. I have some superficial awareness of traditional holidays, common attitudes and beliefs, and that sort of thing, mostly acquired through the popular media and therefore highly suspect.

I have very little insight into the life experience of students and coworkers who come to the US from various countries in east Asia. This is primarily because the things I'm curious about are somewhat private and maybe a little taboo.

Let's take a couple things: how does grad school in the US fit into the life of a student from an east Asian country? I'm surrounded by US-born grad students and know that some go back immediately after undergrad, others return after a few years, some are career changers or non-traditional students, etc. I have no such intuitions about foreign students. Some are funded directly by their countries, I gather? I've met a disproportional number of older female Asian students: coincidence? trend? Is it typical to start families in the US? A number of my acquaintances seem to have left families and young children behind in their home countries. How common is that?

Another bundle of questions: many students from countries in east Asia are late-life English learners. What sorts of support networks do they create? What sorts of resources do students use to cope with the foreign-language environment? What sort of collaborative strategies do students often use?

Getting to an even more sensitive subject, there's the issue of class. Some of my grad student acquaintances from Korea literally come from Gangnam, which I gather is sort of like the Hamptons. Do foreign grad students from east Asian countries primarily come from well-to-do families? Do they come from their countries' high-profile institutions? (For comparison, most of my Russian grad students acquaintances definitely do.)

So, basically, I want something like a sociological account of the graduate educational exchange between the US and China/Korea/Taiwan/Japan/SEA countries. I realize that this is an enormous and complicated topic, that human experience comes in a dazzling array of varieties, and that generalizations can be hopelessly inaccurate. I'm trying to develop intuitions that might serve as points of departure, not stereotypes.

Are there collections of first-hand accounts I could read? Sociological accounts or ethnographies of the lives of Asian grad students (something like this)? What options do I have short of interrogating my Asian friends? If you came to the US from your home country in east Asia to study, have you written about it? Many thanks for your patience with my idle curiosity.

Day in The Life of a professor or research scientist

marsbar77 — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:11:40 -0800

I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on the daily experience of a university researcher in either psychology or the basic sciences as well as a meta-review of the job as a whole. Specifically:
What was the path to employment like for you?
What skills- both practical and interpersonal- would you say are important to doing your job well? What factors contribute to your success?
What are some challenges or drawbacks of life as a PA? ( Please be specific if at all possible)
What opportunities would you say there are for growth/advancement?
These are just general guidelines. Feel free to ( and in fact I would ask you to) to speak to your individual experience and add whatever two cents you may have. This started as an assignment, yes, but I'm also genuinely interested in making an informed decision about my future. Thanks everyone!

Thesis argument about cultural contact zones

marsbar77 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 13:44:22 -0800

Hi Mefites! So I'm wondering if anyone can help me in finding something to argue in a 5-6 page paper regarding 'cultural contact zones' in Orwell's essay ' A Passage to India'. Specifically, "the concept of a “contact zone” emphasizes how subjects are constituted in and by their relations to each other, usually involving conditions of coercion, inequality, and conflict. It treats the relations among colonizers and colonized not in terms of separateness but in terms of interaction and interlocking understandings and practices, often within radically asymmetrical relations of power." ( this is part of the prompt). Any suggestions? I'm usually a fairly competent writer but am having trouble here. I've managed to come up with several philosophical 'nuggets' to argue, but I doubt these can be the basis of a well-fleshed-out essay
These are
- Imperialism as a battle of masculinities
- The loss of concrete identity and subsequent adoption of an 'identity of ideas'
-The elephant as a symbol for the passionate and untamable mystique of the eastern empire
This is what I have so far. Whatever anyone can chime in with would be amazing!

Middle of What?

Wretch729 — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:51:52 -0800

How have sociologists and/or economists historically defined or measured "middle class" in the United States or the developed world generally? I mean over the last 100-200 years. I see this question but that's not what I'm asking. I don't mean this question as an opinion poll, I mean what objective measures have social scientists used to define "middle class" and how have those measures changed over time? I'm curious if measures have evolved in an analgous way to, for example, the "market basket" of goods chosen to make up the consumer price index. I think I'm looking for a quantitative answer but perhaps a qualitative one in the form of "the ability to sustainably afford xyz list of goods and services" would suffice.

Breaking Societal Norms: The quintessential sociology assignment. Help!

unmouton88 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:01:40 -0800

I am taking a very new, unique class this semester at my university, which has a final project related to "breaking social norms." The teacher implied the project should most likely have some videotaping or physical results, and manipulate social norms for a better/more positive outcome. Sky is the limit on this project, there are very few guidelines and boundaries, and I'm not sure where to go with it. Suggestions? So, this class is, humorously enough, not a sociology class. Most of us know very little about social norms and their implications, beyond the things we don't think about. (I eat with a fork, I don't walk around pants-less in public, etc.) I believe the key here is a "positive outcome" or "doing good" when breaking these norms. As a side note, this is a group project. So we have a bit of manpower. We can also involve family and friends. Some of my ideas include:

1) Possibly getting in touch with a nursing home, interviewing some lonely/older inhabitants, and posting Bios about them around campus. With pre-addressed, stamped envelopes with anonymous notecards and a prompt to write a kind/conversational note or a thank you. (These would be screened by me/my group, not sent straight to the recipient. Similar premise to the Secret Book.) This would break the societal norm we have of not valuing our elderly in Western culture. (Read a NY Times article about this.) These would be provided to the resident after screening, at the end of the project.

2) Going to an airport an encouraging weary travelers to clear the snow off of other people's cars, or a whole parking lot, etc. I feel it would be breaking a societal norm to really ask anyone to do anything selfless, especially without an already existing relationship. (I have ready studies that show that human beings value and/or are more comfortable with selfishness than selflessness.) Problem is, this is weather dependent, and it's been a dry winter.

These are just a few I thought of, and I worry about the red tape associated to #1 and #2. (Getting a foot in the door at a nursing home, the right to release a brief bio on a poster, etc. Standing around at an airport? Super questionable these days.)

Can you guys think of anything that could work for the basic premise? Feel free to ignore mine and go totally off the wall-- I have a tendency to think "inside the box" a lot. I like boundaries, and this project has very few. Thanks for any help you can offer!

Recommend me books on critical / (post) marxist spatial theory

FuckingAwesome — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:20:12 -0800

I am interested in critical theoretical and marxist spatial theory, please recommend me some books that provide a good overview or introduction to this area! Thanks!

Forgotten Sociology Book Review in the New Yorker

slowlikemolasses — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 16:13:36 -0800

Would you please help me remember either this event, book, or article? I read a book review in the New Yorker, from somewhere between 2005 and 2007, about sociology. I'm not sure if it was the main element in the book or if it stuck in my mind because of its shear strangeness, but I remember a discussion of a book that is a collection of written accounts by people on the day of a coronation or other public ceremony in London. I've looked up coronations from the last couple centuries, but I haven't found the specific event.

One of the accounts was of a couple meeting in a subway station, then having sex in a hotel as the procession past. There were other descriptions of the accounts, but this is the only one I've been able to remember.

History of Sociology of Religion; Why Bellah Doesn't (Much) Cite Eliade

ibmcginty — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:52:25 -0800

Why does Mircea Eliade get short shrift in Robert N. Bellah's Religion in Human Evolution? Am just starting in on Religion in Human Evolution, and I notice that Bellah scarcely cites Eliade, even in his discussion of bridging the divide between "the sacred in contrast to the profane" (that exact phrase). Later on Bellah cites him, on the beliefs of one particular group, then explains that Eliade's views have been "demolished" by later scholarship.

I wasn't surprised to see, say, Jung without all that many citations in the index. But I'd thought that Eliade was kinda the go-to guy on this sort of thing. Is it that Eliade fits more into philosophy or cultural history as opposed to Bellah's background in sociology? Is it that Eliade has fallen out of favor, or that I was overestimating his influence? Is it that Bellah just doesn't happen to agree with Eliade?

(As you can see, there's an awful lot I don't know about sociology & philosophy of religion; if there's a general resource you think would be of use to me in learning about these things, I'd be grateful for that, too).

Help me understand Henri Lefebvre's book, The Production of Space

FuckingAwesome — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 03:07:10 -0800

Help me understand Henri Lefebvre's book, The Production of Space I have just started reading this book and am finding it incredibly dense and inaccessible. Can anyone point me to a summary of his ideas (ideally something akin to Sparknotes) that I can read alongside the text itself? Thanks.

Remind me

Postroad — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:50:53 -0800

Looking to find either the author's name or his article. Trying to locate the article or the author of a piece that gave a listing (ab out 25 items) of those things that All humans in All places and All times have in shared in common since they are human traits or needs. Examples: happiness, fear, etc.

I think the article might have been by a sociologist, and I know it is cited sometimes to show our inter-connectedness, via culture and/or evolution

Is there a science of division?

philipy — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:52:56 -0800

Is there a science of division? (i.e. Models of the phenomenon that communities often split into two blocs with some degree of mutual antagonism. And/or empirical data that such models could be compared against.) Interesting models and data would give insight into questions like:

- Is this really a common phenomenon? Or just something we tend to notice, but which is not any more or less common than other patterns?

- Why usually just two big blocs, with maybe a few smaller ones? Why not other kinds of distribution?

- Are there circumstances that would tend to give rise to this?

- Is it something that occurs more in Western culture than other cultures?

- What is the life cycle of the pattern? How does it typically form, evolve and dissipate over time?

- What factors determine the degree of antagonism between the groups?

As you might guess, the question was raised in my mind by current US politics, and specifically a recent Mefi thread that mentioned the Median Voter Theorem. But the kind of "science" I'd like to hear about would be much broader than politics in modern democracies.

It might for example encompass the Protestant/Catholic or Sunni/Shia dviide in past centuries, tribal divisions in Rwanda, or for that matter Emacs vs Vi and Mac vs PC culture wars.

An example of the kind of thing I'd find interesting are complex systems models of urban segregation, which try to explain some ways that people can end up clustering physically. I'm envisaging that there might be similar models that try to model "clustering mentally".

Any models or data that give insights into the kind of questions above would be great though.

Help me find a recent article/blog about people behaving like corporations?

idontlikewords — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 09:11:03 -0800

I read (and failed to bookmark) an article or blog post a week or two ago that drew parallels between the idea of "corporate personhood" and the "quantify everything, optimize your own happiness" ethos shared by many young people today. Basically the gist of it was that many people were emulating corporate "persons" rather than real people as role models. Can you help me find it?

Finding interesting soc/psych research to discuss

LSK — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 22:43:29 -0800

A group of friends and I, all recent college graduates, have decided to meet weekly to discuss interesting recent sociology and psychology research. How would we go about finding it outside of ScienceDaily, and - more importantly - how can we access it now that we're all without database access?

Why do people upload old 3d party stuff to YouTube?

AgentRocket — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:30:22 -0800

Why (not how, why) do people upload old third-party content to youtube? Has anything been written on the subject? In a fit of distraction yesterday, I was thinking about the show Punky Brewster, and that reminded me of the Saturday morning cartoon. "I wonder if there are any clips of that on YouTube," I thought. Yes, there are. In fact, it looks like you watch just about the whole series, and it was all carefully uploaded by one super-fan user. Then I thought about a commercial for Little Boppers that I used to like. Was that on there? Yes, yes it is. No matter what I seem to search for, as random and niche it may be, I find it. And I am very happy for it.

All this got me thinking - who would spend the time to upload this stuff, and what do they get out of it? I know you can make a little bit by sticking ads over content, but these don't seem to have them. And the playcount is so low on most that it probably wouldn't make anything anyway. Are they just superfans who want the world to be able to see all of "Glomer Punks Out" or that old Dollar Days supermarket ad from 1988? And if so, are there just that many different kinds of fans (of old garage bands, of car commercials, of VH1 specials, etc.) that spend the time to do it?

It seems like this is a strange enough hobby/activity that somebody would have considered it and written about "superuploaders". But Google has not found me anything. So AskMe, can you tell me any personal stories or point me to any writing about what possesses people to spend the time to digitize, edit, and upload so much old content (seemingly for free)?

Psychology of core belief changes

j03 — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 01:37:27 -0800

Have you or someone you have known ever radically changed a core belief system? How and why does deep psychological change occur? I am looking for anecdotes of personal change, studies in psychological and sociological scientific literature and books or news articles featuring people who have made fundamental changes in the way they think about people and the world we live in.

For Example:

Pro-Choice to Pro-Life
Liberal to Conservative
Neo-Nazi to.. non-racist
Coke to Pepsi
Strict Disciplinarian to laissez-faire parenting
Anti-Death Penalty to Pro-Death Penalty

or vice-versa.

Especially interested in the how. What lead up to the change and what tipping-point if any caused it to occur.

How to a influence and achieve organizational change?

meta.mark — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:06:30 -0800

How do you help guide others to recognize, accept, and work towards a unified vision resulting in orgazational change? In any business, revenue and cash flow are both critical to a company's success. Both are also the result of cooperation from multiple departments such as R&D, production, operations, sales and marketing, shipping, etc.

But often times, each department can lose sight of what is important and "work hard on the wrong things". This results in an internal struggle that cripples an organizations ability to grow.

How can someone, who is not neccessarily an executive, influence each respective department to achieve organizational change - I.e. "work hard on the right things"?

Morality as social norms?

Pants! — Sat, 12 May 2012 08:56:35 -0800

Are there any books that discuss morals as a kind of social norm?

Is is this thing on?

Infinity_8 — Tue, 01 May 2012 05:20:46 -0800

Why do people say "is is" when they mean "is?" I'm an amateur sociologist and linguist (ok, an actor) who enjoys thinking about why people talk the way they do. About the time that the use of "uptalk" was becoming prevalent? So that people would keep paying attention to you? Because they might think you were asking them a question? I noticed that there was a smaller group of talkers who were also saying "is is" when "is" would have been sufficient. I've asked people about it over the years and many have professed not to have noticed it at all. Others have defended it as proper English. (What it is, is I know that there are proper uses of "is is," but I'm not talking about those.)

I hear it in both professional and non-professional talkers, so I'm preconditioned to doubt that it's a form of hemming and hawing or a replacement for "um." Also, people frequently say it very slowly and solemnly as if they believe they're adding emphasis and sounding sage (while to me it has the opposite effect.)

It seems be becoming more widespread, or at least, I'll be surprised if lots of people hereabouts say they've never heard it.

So the question is, has a proper linguist made a study of this? Is there a term for this? I have my own theory as to why it's done but would like to hear what other people think before I put it out there...if, in fact, anybody's noticed it.

What it means to be a man?

nurgle — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:08:45 -0800

What are some changing trends in how masculinity is defined? I am researching masculinity in popular culture. I specifically want to know what the general consensus is on how masculinity is defined in pop culture, and how it has changed over recent years (the last two decades or so). I'm having trouble finding reliable sources/articles... most stuff seems to be bias-laden drivel. Can anyone help point me in the right direction?

Culture and groupthink.

espada0 — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 08:00:35 -0800

Is there a cultural dynamic to groupthink? Take any two cultures that have markedly different values and norms when it comes to social interaction, in a groupthink situation, given that both groups are dealing with the exact same problem/crisis, would both groups come to a decision that reflects their cultural background (in other words, having a "cultural signature")?

Of course I realise that regardless of differing cultural backgrounds any two groups would arrive at different decisions, I just want to know whether if those differing decisions are affected by the cultural upbringing of the individuals involved.

What makes modern-day countercultures tick?

scrm — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 07:09:19 -0800

I'm looking for a crash-course in modern-day counter-cultures around the world that have come about as a response to a crisis of capitalism or materialism. For example the recent Occupy movement but also more nascent and lesser known ones. Typical traits of these movements might include: internet-enabled, anti-censorship, an emphasis on spirituality, artistic creativity, social and environmental awareness and peaceful protest.

Specifically I'd like to understand what worked in building and spreading these movements, what didn't, and why. Can you think of any resources - authors, sociologists, articles, websites - that are essential to understanding these topics (and preferably can be digested quickly).

Thanks!

Clever anonymous survey handout

tapesonthefloor — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 07:58:25 -0800

Does anyone remember a group survey print-off designed to be left out to anonymously collect opinion? It was a graphic design/sociology piece, and it made the blog rounds a couple years ago... The design was simple, clean, all in black, and intended to be printed on a white sheet. It was divided into quadrants (though my recollection is hazy), and allowed passers-by or meeting attendees to fill in with a pencil (with little "meeple" icons?) which quadrant (and thus which survey item) they most agreed with, heat map-style.

(As an aside, we are calling those "heat map surveys," right?)

Its design was intended to demonstrate how a simple survey may be performed in person while providing anonymity and minimizing "interviewer effects" and other interfering phenomena.

One of you still has this sheet (or its designer) on the tip of your brain. I know it. My foogle-gu is simply failing me on this one.

Thank you.

What are the best books for a beginner interested in learning about sociology?

Loto — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 06:06:55 -0800

What are the best books for a beginner interested in learning about sociology? My lovely girlfriend is in graduate school for sociology, a subject which she is deeply passionate about. I'd like to be able to understand broadly the subject and the vernacular of the field so that when she goes off on a school-related rant I can at least have a chance of keeping up. Are there any good survey books or papers available that I could pick up? I work full-time and am in graduate school part-time for a different subject so conciseness would be helpful as I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to this.

What are some non-academic jobs in the social sciences?

asnider — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:04:41 -0800

Non-academic careers/jobs in the social sciences? I am currently pursuing a master's degree. It is an interdisciplinary degree program, but my particular research interests most closely align with sociology, if placing them within a disciplinary boundary will help you in providing me with answers.

I do not foresee myself becoming an academic (even though I may eventually pursue a doctorate in social sciences (professional program, rather than PhD)), but I don't want to completely abandon my research interests when I graduate.

What are some non-academic careers in the social sciences? I am working right now, but not in my field. Due to the nature of my degree program, I am able to work full-time while pursuing my education and could possibly even transition into a field that is more related to my degree if the opportunity presents itself.

My question, then, has two parts:

What are some non-academic careers in the social sciences?

How might I begin transitioning into such careers while my master's degree is still a work in progress?

Note that my current job is pretty stable and I am fairly happy with it; transitioning into something else is not necessarily an immediate priority, so feel free to suggest long-term strategies as well as shorter term ones.