Showing papers in "American Sociological Review in 2016"
TL;DR: Using an interrupted time series design, this article analyzed how one of the most publicized cases of police violence against an unarmed black man, the beating of Frank Jude, affected police-related 911 calls.
Abstract: High-profile cases of police violence—disproportionately experienced by black men—may present a serious threat to public safety if they lower citizen crime reporting. Using an interrupted time series design, this study analyzes how one of Milwaukee’s most publicized cases of police violence against an unarmed black man, the beating of Frank Jude, affected police-related 911 calls. Controlling for crime, prior call patterns, and several neighborhood characteristics, we find that residents of Milwaukee’s neighborhoods, especially residents of black neighborhoods, were far less likely to report crime after Jude’s beating was broadcast. The effect lasted for over a year and resulted in a total net loss of approximately 22,200 calls for service. Other local and national cases of police violence against unarmed black men also had a significant impact on citizen crime reporting in Milwaukee. Police misconduct can powerfully suppress one of the most basic forms of civic engagement: calling 911 for matters of pers...
337 citations
TL;DR: The authors conducted a resume audit study to examine the effect of social class signals on entry into large U.S. law firms and found that higher-class male applicants received significantly more callbacks than lower-class applicants.
Abstract: Research on the mechanisms that reproduce social class advantages in the United States focuses primarily on formal schooling and pays less attention to social class discrimination in labor markets. We conducted a resume audit study to examine the effect of social class signals on entry into large U.S. law firms. We sent applications from fictitious students at selective but non-elite law schools to 316 law firm offices in 14 cities, randomly assigning signals of social class background and gender to otherwise identical resumes. Higher-class male applicants received significantly more callbacks than did higher-class women, lower-class women, and lower-class men. A survey experiment and interviews with lawyers at large firms suggest that, relative to lower-class applicants, higher-class candidates are seen as better fits with the elite culture and clientele of large law firms. But, although higher-class men receive a corresponding overall boost in evaluations, higher-class women do not, because they face a ...
224 citations
TL;DR: Despite the relevance of nationalism for politics and intergroup relations, sociologists have devoted surprisingly little attention to the phenomenon in the United States, and historians and politi... as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Despite the relevance of nationalism for politics and intergroup relations, sociologists have devoted surprisingly little attention to the phenomenon in the United States, and historians and politi...
214 citations
TL;DR: Findings reveal the imprint of early disadvantage on health decades later and suggest greater attention to resources, even during midlife, can interrupt the chain of risks.
Abstract: Drawing from cumulative inequality theory, we examine the relationship between childhood disadvantage and health problems in adulthood. Using two waves of data from Midlife Development in the United States, we investigate whether childhood disadvantage is associated with adult disadvantage, including fewer social resources, and the effect of lifelong disadvantage on health problems measured at the baseline survey and a 10-year follow-up. Findings reveal that childhood socioeconomic disadvantage and frequent abuse by parents are generally associated with fewer adult social resources and more lifestyle risks. Health problems, in turn, are affected by childhood disadvantage and by lifestyle risks, especially smoking and obesity. Not only was early disadvantage related to health problems at the baseline survey, but childhood socioeconomic disadvantage and frequent abuse also were related to the development of new health problems at the follow-up survey. These findings reveal the imprint of early disadvantage on health decades later and suggest greater attention to resources, even during midlife, can interrupt the chain of risks.
213 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors test a central theoretical assumption of stress process and job strain models, namely that increases in employees' control and support at work should promote well-being.
Abstract: This study tests a central theoretical assumption of stress process and job strain models, namely that increases in employees’ control and support at work should promote well-being. To do so, we us...
185 citations
TL;DR: This article found that mothers report less happiness, more stress, and greater fatigue in time with children than fathers, and their greater fatigue is not explained by mediating factors such as the quality and quantity of sleep and leisure, activity type, or solo parenting.
Abstract: The shift towards more time-intensive and child-centered parenting in the U.S. is widely assumed to be positively linked to healthy child development, but implications for adult well-being are less clear. We go beyond prior work on parenthood and well-being to assess the multidimensional nature of mothers' and fathers' subjective well-being in time with children. Our emphasis on parenting (activities) as opposed to parenthood (status) draws attention to how the nature and context of time use contribute to differences in parents' happiness, meaning, sadness, stress, and fatigue. We posit that time with children may elicit more positive and negative feelings than time without children, particularly among mothers, whose greater investments in childrearing may be associated with more strain but also more meaning. Relying on nationally representative time diary data from the 2010 well-being module of the American Time Use Survey (N = 23,282), we find that parents consistently report more positive affect in time with children than without. Mothers report less happiness, more stress, and greater fatigue (but not more meaning) in time with children than fathers, and their greater fatigue is not explained by mediating factors such as the quality and quantity of sleep and leisure, activity type, or solo parenting.
182 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used unconditional quantile regression models with person-fixed fixed coefficients to compare the size of the penalty for motherhood between more and less advantaged women.
Abstract: Motherhood reduces women’s wages. But does the size of this penalty differ between more and less advantaged women? To answer this, we use unconditional quantile regression models with person-fixed ...
177 citations
TL;DR: The field experiment shows that skills underutilization is as scarring for workers as a year of unemployment, but that there are limited penalties for workers with histories of temporary agency employment and the survey experiment reveals that employers’ perceptions of workers’ competence and commitment mediate these effects.
Abstract: Millions of workers are employed in positions that deviate from the full-time, standard employment relationship or work in jobs that are mismatched with their skills, education, or experience. Yet, little is known about how employers evaluate workers who have experienced these employment arrangements, limiting our knowledge about how part-time work, temporary agency employment, and skills underutilization affect workers' labor market opportunities. Drawing on original field and survey experiment data, I examine three questions: (1) What are the consequences of having a nonstandard or mismatched employment history for workers' labor market opportunities? (2) Are the effects of nonstandard or mismatched employment histories different for men and women? and (3) What are the mechanisms linking nonstandard or mismatched employment histories to labor market outcomes? The field experiment shows that skills underutilization is as scarring for workers as a year of unemployment, but that there are limited penalties for workers with histories of temporary agency employment. Additionally, although men are penalized for part-time employment histories, women face no penalty for part-time work. The survey experiment reveals that employers' perceptions of workers' competence and commitment mediate these effects. These findings shed light on the consequences of changing employment relations for the distribution of labor market opportunities in the "new economy."
156 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how class origin shapes earnings in higher professional and managerial employment, taking advantage of newly released data in Britain's Labour Force Survey, they examined the...
Abstract: This article demonstrates how class origin shapes earnings in higher professional and managerial employment. Taking advantage of newly released data in Britain’s Labour Force Survey, we examine the...
154 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined income segregation between neighborhoods over the past several decades and found that income segregation increased only among families with children, while income segregation among childless households changed little and is half as large as among households with children.
Abstract: Past research shows that income segregation between neighborhoods increased over the past several decades. In this article, I reexamine income segregation from 1990 to 2010 in the 100 largest metropolitan areas, and I find that income segregation increased only among families with children. Among childless households—two-thirds of the population—income segregation changed little and is half as large as among households with children. I examine two factors that may account for these differences by household composition. First, I find that increasing income inequality, identified by past research as a driver of income segregation, was a much more powerful predictor of income segregation among families with children, among whom income inequality has risen more. Second, I find that local school options, delineated by school district boundaries, contribute to higher segregation among households with children compared to households without. Rising income inequality provided high-income households more resources...
127 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated how social identities shape the racial labels chosen by biracial individuals in the United States, and disentangled how gender, socioeconomic status, and religious identity influenced racial labeling decisions.
Abstract: Racial attachments are understood to be socially constructed and endogenous to gender, socioeconomic, and religious identities. Yet we know surprisingly little about the effect of such identities on the particular racial labels that individuals self-select. In this article, I investigate how social identities shape the racial labels chosen by biracial individuals in the United States, a rapidly growing population who have multiple labeling options. Examining national surveys of more than 37,000 respondents of Latino-white, Asian-white, and black-white parentage, I disentangle how gender, socioeconomic status, and religious identity influence racial labeling decisions. Across biracial subgroups and net of all other influences, economic affluence and Jewish identity predict whiter self-identification, whereas belonging to a religion more commonly associated with racial minorities is associated with a minority identification. Gender, however, is the single best predictor of identification, with biracial wome...
TL;DR: In this article, a synthesis of two lines of sociological research on boundary spanning in cultural production and consumption is proposed, which allows consideration of orientations on two dimensions of cultural preference: variety and typicality.
Abstract: We propose a synthesis of two lines of sociological research on boundary spanning in cultural production and consumption. One, research on cultural omnivorousness, analyzes choice by heterogeneous audiences facing an array of crisp cultural offerings. The other, research on categories in markets, analyzes reactions by homogeneous audiences to objects that vary in the degree to which they conform to categorical codes. We develop a model of heterogeneous audiences evaluating objects that vary in typicality. This allows consideration of orientations on two dimensions of cultural preference: variety and typicality. We propose a novel analytic framework to map consumption behavior in these two dimensions. We argue that one audience type, those who value variety and typicality, are especially resistant to objects that span boundaries. We test this argument in an analysis of two large-scale datasets of reviews of films and restaurants.
TL;DR: A recurring theme in sociological research is the tradeoff between fitting in and standing out as mentioned in this paper, and prior work examining this tension tends to take either a structural or a cultural perspective.
Abstract: A recurring theme in sociological research is the tradeoff between fitting in and standing out. Prior work examining this tension tends to take either a structural or a cultural perspective. We fus...
TL;DR: In this paper, tax returns for all million-dollar income-earners in the United States over 13 years, tracking the states from which millionaires file their taxes, were used to understand the social consequences of progressive taxation.
Abstract: A growing number of U.S. states have adopted “millionaire taxes” on top income-earners. This increases the progressivity of state tax systems, but it raises concerns about tax flight: elites migrating from high-tax to low-tax states, draining state revenues, and undermining redistributive social policies. Are top income-earners “transitory millionaires” searching for lower-tax places to live? Or are they “embedded elites” who are reluctant to migrate away from places where they have been highly successful? This question is central to understanding the social consequences of progressive taxation. We draw on administrative tax returns for all million-dollar income-earners in the United States over 13 years, tracking the states from which millionaires file their taxes. Our dataset contains 45 million tax records and provides census-scale panel data on top income-earners. We advance two core analyses: (1) state-to-state migration of millionaires over the long-term, and (2) a sharply-focused discontinuity anal...
TL;DR: Despite a large literature investigating how spouses' earnings and division of labor relate to their risk of divorce, findings remain mixed and conclusions elusive as mentioned in this paper, and core unresolved questions are (1)
Abstract: Despite a large literature investigating how spouses’ earnings and division of labor relate to their risk of divorce, findings remain mixed and conclusions elusive. Core unresolved questions are (1...
TL;DR: This article investigated the relationship between migration and native populations' decreasing support for redistributive policies and found that native-born populations become more reluctant to support welfare programs when the proportion of foreigners at the regional level increases.
Abstract: In recent years, several international-comparative studies have analyzed the relationship between migration and native populations’ decreasing support for redistributive policies. However, these studies use cross-sectional designs and aggregate the number of foreign-born residents at the national level. Both aspects are theoretically and methodologically problematic. We address these shortcomings by investigating cross-sectional as well as longitudinal effects in the case of Germany, using a combination of individual- and regional-level data for several time points from 1994 to 2010. Our results suggest that native-born populations become more reluctant to support welfare programs when the proportion of foreigners at the regional level increases. This effect is particularly strong in the initial phase of immigration, and it is further moderated by the economic context: the higher the unemployment rate, the more negative is the effect of foreigners on natives’ attitude toward providing welfare.
TL;DR: In this paper, a new Durkheimian framework for unsupervised suicide analysis is proposed, which is based on the work of the authors of this paper. But, several enduring issues limit the utility of his insights.
Abstract: Despite the profound impact Durkheim’s Suicide has had on the social sciences, several enduring issues limit the utility of his insights. With this study, we offer a new Durkheimian framework for u...
TL;DR: This paper examined the passage of municipal ordinances prohibiting gas development using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in New York State and found that local action against fracking depended on multiple conceptions of the shale gas industry.
Abstract: What drives local decisions to prohibit industrial land uses? This study examines the passage of municipal ordinances prohibiting gas development using hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in New York State. I argue that local action against fracking depended on multiple conceptions of the shale gas industry. Matching these alternative conceptions with prevailing spatial models of public response to industrial land uses—“not in my backyard,” “not in anyone’s backyard,” and “please in my backyard”—improves our understanding of where local contention might emerge and how it contributes to policy change. Results from event history and logistic regression analyses show, first, that communities lying above favorable areas of the shale did not pass anti-fracking laws because opposition to fracking was counteracted by significant local support for development. Fracking bans passed primarily in a geographic sweet spot on the periphery of targeted regions, where little or no compelling economic interest in developmen...
TL;DR: In this article, a generalization of affect control theory (BayesACT) is proposed to better account for the dynamic fluctuation of identity meanings for self and other duri...
Abstract: Drawing on Bayesian probability theory, we propose a generalization of affect control theory (BayesACT) that better accounts for the dynamic fluctuation of identity meanings for self and other duri...
TL;DR: This paper found that gay men face a wage gap, whereas lesbian women earn higher wages than similar heterosexual women, however, analyses rarely consider bisexu cation and sexual orientation and earnings.
Abstract: Most analyses of sexual orientation and earnings find that gay men face a wage gap, whereas lesbian women earn higher wages than similar heterosexual women. However, analyses rarely consider bisexu...
TL;DR: Using the historical case of organized crime in Chicago and a unique relational database coded from more than 5,000 pages of archival documents, the web of multiplex relationships among bootleggers, politicians, union members, businessmen, families, and friends is mapped.
Abstract: Bureaucratic and patrimonial theories of organized crime tend to miss the history and mobility of crime groups integrating into and organizing with legitimate society. The network property of multiplexity—when more than one type of relationship exists between a pair of actors—offers a theoretical and empirical inroad to analyzing overlapping relationships of seemingly disparate social spheres. Using the historical case of organized crime in Chicago and a unique relational database coded from more than 5,000 pages of archival documents, we map the web of multiplex relationships among bootleggers, politicians, union members, businessmen, families, and friends. We analyze the overlap of criminal, personal, and legitimate networks containing 1,030 individuals and 3,726 mutual dyads between them. Multiplexity is rare in these data: only 10 percent of the mutual dyads contain multiplex ties. However, results from bivariate exponential random graph models demonstrate that multiplexity is a relevant structural pr...
TL;DR: The authors argue that tactical innovation occurs as a response to changes external to movements, such as police repression and shifts in political authority, or is due to internal changes external or internal to movements.
Abstract: Social movement researchers argue that tactical innovation occurs as a response to changes external to movements, such as police repression and shifts in political authority, or is due to internal ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a new way to understand community-based organizations' political role in poor neighborhoods: CBOs as nonelected neighborhood representatives, superseded elected politicians as the legitimate representatives of poor urban neighborhoods.
Abstract: In an era of public-private partnerships, what role do nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs) play in urban governance? Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Boston, this article presents a new way to understand CBOs’ political role in poor neighborhoods: CBOs as nonelected neighborhood representatives. Over the course of four years, I followed nine CBOs in six Boston neighborhoods as they planned community development projects. The CBOs in my study superseded elected politicians as the legitimate representatives of poor urban neighborhoods. Private funders and government agencies legitimated CBO leaders’ claims and treated them as the preferred representatives of neighborhoods’ interests. Elected district representatives, by contrast, exhibited limited influence over resources and were rarely involved in community development decision-making. By reconsidering CBOs’ political role in urban neighborhoods, this study uncovers a consequential realignment of urban political representation. It also iden...
TL;DR: Using IPUMS data for five decennial years between 1970 and 2010, the authors delineate and compare the trends and sources of the racial pay gap among men and women in the U.S. labor force.
Abstract: Using IPUMS data for five decennial years between 1970 and 2010, we delineate and compare the trends and sources of the racial pay gap among men and women in the U.S. labor force. Decomposition of ...
TL;DR: The financial crisis of 2007 to 2009 was marked by widespread fraud in the mortgage securitization industry as mentioned in this paper, and most of the largest mortgage originators and mortgage-backed securities issuers and unde...
Abstract: The financial crisis of 2007 to 2009 was marked by widespread fraud in the mortgage securitization industry. Most of the largest mortgage originators and mortgage-backed securities issuers and unde...
TL;DR: The authors show that children are separated from their families and placed into foster care far more frequently in states with extensive and punitive criminal justice systems than in States with broad and generous welfare programs, suggesting that large welfare bureaucracies interact with welfare program enrollment to create opportunities for the surveillance of families.
Abstract: This study shows that state efforts at child protection are structured by the policy regimes in which they are enmeshed. Using administrative data on child protection, criminal justice, and social welfare interventions, I show that children are separated from their families and placed into foster care far more frequently in states with extensive and punitive criminal justice systems than in states with broad and generous welfare programs. However, large welfare bureaucracies interact with welfare program enrollment to create opportunities for the surveillance of families, suggesting that extensive and administratively complex welfare states engage in “soft” social control through the surveillance and regulation of family behavior. The article further shows that institutionalization, a particularly restrictive form of foster care placement, is least common in states with broad and generous welfare regimes and generally more common under punitive regimes. Taken together, these findings show that policy regi...
TL;DR: This article used a nationally representative conjoint survey experiment to explore whether and how immigrants' mobility gains shape native-born white citizens' perceptions of symbolic belonging, finding that white natives are generally open to structural relationships with immigrant-origin individuals (e.g., friends and neighbors), with the exception of black immigrants and natives, and undocumented immigrants.
Abstract: Assimilation is theorized as a multi-stage process where the structural mobility of immigrants and their descendants ultimately leads to established and immigrant-origin populations developing a subjective sense of social similarity with one another, an outcome I term symbolic belonging. Yet existing work offers little systematic evidence as to whether and how immigrants’ gains—in terms of language ability, socioeconomic status, neighborhood integration, or intermarriage—cause changes in the perceptions of the native-born U.S. population. I use a nationally representative conjoint survey experiment to explore whether and how immigrants’ mobility gains shape native-born white citizens’ perceptions of symbolic belonging. I find that white natives are generally open to structural relationships with immigrant-origin individuals (e.g., friends and neighbors), with the exception of black immigrants and natives, and undocumented immigrants. Yet, white Americans simultaneously view all non-white people, regardles...
TL;DR: A quantitative index of ethnic distinctiveness of first names is created and the consequences of ethnic-sounding names for the occupational achievement of the adult children of European immigrants are shown.
Abstract: Taking advantage of historical census records that include full first and last names, we apply a new approach to measuring the effect of cultural assimilation on economic success for the children of the last great wave of immigrants to the United States. We created a quantitative index of ethnic distinctiveness of first names and show the consequences of ethnic-sounding names for the occupational achievement of the adult children of European migrants. We find a consistent tendency for the children of Irish, Italian, German, and Polish immigrants with more "American"-sounding names to have higher occupational achievement. About one-third of this effect appears to be due to social class differences in name-giving, and the remaining two-thirds to signaling effects of the names themselves. An exception is found for Russian, predominantly Jewish, immigrants, where we find a positive effect of ethnic naming on occupational achievement. The divergent effects of our new measure of cultural assimilation, sometimes hurting and sometimes helping, lend historical empirical support to more recent theories of the advantages of different paths to assimilation. The effects of first names are robust to controls for the ethnic recognizability of last names, suggesting that immigrants' success depended on being perceived as making an effort to assimilate rather than hiding one's origins.
TL;DR: The authors argue for the importance of both direct and indirect effects of social constraints on outcomes, and explore two empirical cases involving how gender and class structure sexualities affect individuals' outcomes, showing that young men engage in same-sex relations less than women.
Abstract: All sociologists recognize that social constraints affect individuals’ outcomes. These effects are sometimes relatively direct. Other times constraints affect outcomes indirectly, first influencing individuals’ personal characteristics, which then affect their outcomes. In the latter case, the social becomes personal, and personal characteristics that are carried across situations (e.g., skills, habits, identities, worldviews, preferences, or values) affect individuals’ outcomes. I argue here for the importance of both direct and indirect effects of constraints on outcomes. I disagree with the tendency among sociologists to avoid views highlighting the role of personal characteristics because of the perception—incorrect in my view—that these explanations “blame the victim” and ignore constraints. To illustrate the importance of both types of mechanisms, I explore two empirical cases involving how gender and class structure sexualities. First, I show that young men engage in same-sex relations less than wo...
TL;DR: The authors propose a modified "articulation" model of parties, emphasizing parties' role in assembling and naturalizing political coalitions within structural constraints, and show that underlying social structures and institutions did not affect labor party support as expected.
Abstract: Why is there no labor party in the United States? This question has had deep implications for U.S. politics and social policy. Existing explanations use “reflection” models of parties, whereby parties reflect preexisting cleavages or institutional arrangements. But a comparison with Canada, whose political terrain was supposedly more favorable to labor parties, challenges reflection models. Newly compiled electoral data show that underlying social structures and institutions did not affect labor party support as expected: support was similar in both countries prior to the 1930s, then diverged. To explain this, I propose a modified “articulation” model of parties, emphasizing parties’ role in assembling and naturalizing political coalitions within structural constraints. In both cases, ruling party responses to labor and agrarian unrest during the Great Depression determined which among a range of possible political alliances actually emerged. In the United States, FDR used the crisis to mobilize new const...