Showing papers in "Review of Sociology in 2014"

Endogenous Selection Bias: The Problem of Conditioning on a Collider Variable

Abstract: Endogenous selection bias is a central problem for causal inference. Recognizing the problem, however, can be difficult in practice. This article introduces a purely graphical way of characterizing endogenous selection bias and of understanding its consequences (Hernan et al. 2004). We use causal graphs (direct acyclic graphs, or DAGs) to highlight that endogenous selection bias stems from conditioning (e.g., controlling, stratifying, or selecting) on a so-called collider variable, i.e., a variable that is itself caused by two other variables, one that is (or is associated with) the treatment and another that is (or is associated with) the outcome. Endogenous selection bias can result from direct conditioning on the outcome variable, a post-outcome variable, a post-treatment variable, and even a pre-treatment variable. We highlight the difference between endogenous selection bias, common-cause confounding, and overcontrol bias and discuss numerous examples from social stratification, cultural sociology, s...

Where, When, Why, and For Whom Do Residential Contexts Matter? Moving Away from the Dichotomous Understanding of Neighborhood Effects

Abstract: The literature on neighborhood effects frequently is evaluated or interpreted in relation to the question, “Do neighborhoods matter?” We argue that this question has had a disproportionate influence on the field and does not align with the complexity of theoretical models of neighborhood effects or empirical findings that have arisen from the literature. In this article, we focus on empirical work that considers how different dimensions of individuals' residential contexts become salient in their lives, how contexts influence individuals' lives over different timeframes, how individuals are affected by social processes operating at different scales, and how residential contexts influence the lives of individuals in heterogeneous ways. In other words, we review research that examines where, when, why, and for whom do residential contexts matter. Using the large literature on neighborhoods and educational and cognitive outcomes as an example, the research we review suggests that any attempt to reduce the li...

Measurement Equivalence in Cross-National Research

Abstract: Determining whether people in certain countries score differently in measurements of interest or whether concepts relate differently to each other across nations can indisputably assist in testing theories and advancing our sociological knowledge. However, meaningful comparisons of means or relationships between constructs within and across nations require equivalent measurements of these constructs. This is especially true for subjective attributes such as values, attitudes, opinions, or behavior. In this review, we first discuss the concept of cross-group measurement equivalence, look at possible sources of nonequivalence, and suggest ways to prevent it. Next, we examine the social science methodological literature for ways to empirically test for measurement equivalence. Finally, we consider what may be done when equivalence is not supported by the data and conclude with a review of recent developments that offer exciting directions and solutions for future research in cross-national measurement equiva...

60 Years After Brown: Trends and Consequences of School Segregation

Abstract: Since the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, researchers and policy makers have paid close attention to trends in school segregation. Here we review the evidence regarding trends and consequences of both racial and economic school segregation since Brown. The evidence suggests that the most significant declines in black-white school segregation occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s. There is disagreement about the direction of more recent trends in racial segregation, largely driven by how one defines and measures segregation. Depending on the definition used, segregation has either increased substantially or changed little, although there are important differences in the trends across regions, racial groups, and institutional levels. Limited evidence on school economic segregation makes documenting trends difficult, but students appear to be more segregated by income across schools and districts today than in 1990. We also discuss the role of desegregation litigation, demogra...

Ethnic Diversity and Its Effects on Social Cohesion

Abstract: Recent years have seen a sharp increase in empirical studies on the constrict claim: the hypothesized detrimental effect of ethnic diversity on most if not all aspects of social cohesion. Studies have scrutinized effects of different measures of ethnic heterogeneity in different geographical areas on different forms of social cohesion. The result has been a cacophony of empirical findings. We explicate mechanisms likely to underlie the negative relationship between ethnic heterogeneity and social cohesion: the homophily principle, feelings of anomie, group threat, and social disorganization. Guided by a clear conceptual framework, we structure the empirical results of 90 recent studies and observe three patterns. We find that (a) there is consistent support for the constrict claim for aspects of social cohesion that are spatially bounded to neighborhoods, (b) support for the constrict claim is more common in the United States than in other countries, and (c) ethnic diversity is not related to less interet...

Digital Footprints: Opportunities and Challenges for Online Social Research

Abstract: Online interaction is now a regular part of daily life for a demographically diverse population of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. These interactions generate fine-grained time-stamped records of human behavior and social interaction at the level of individual events, yet are global in scale, allowing researchers to address fundamental questions about social identity, status, conflict, cooperation, collective action, and diffusion, both by using observational data and by conducting in vivo field experiments. This unprecedented opportunity comes with a number of methodological challenges, including generalizing observations to the offline world, protecting individual privacy, and solving the logistical challenges posed by “big data” and web-based experiments. We review current advances in online social research and critically assess the theoretical and methodological opportunities and limitations. [J]ust as the invention of the telescope revolutionized the study of the heavens, so too by renderin...

Making Sense of Culture

Abstract: I present a brief review of problems in the sociological study of culture, followed by an integrated, interdisciplinary view of culture that eschews extreme contextualism and other orthodoxies. Culture is defined as the conjugate product of two reciprocal, componential processes. The first is a dynamically stable process of collectively made, reproduced, and unevenly shared knowledge structures that are informational and meaningful, internally embodied, and externally represented and that provide predictability, coordination equilibria, continuity, and meaning in human actions and interactions. The second is a pragmatic component of culture that grounds the first, and it has its own rules of usage and a pragmatically derived structure of practical knowledge. I also offer an account of change and draw on knowledge activation theory in exploring the microdynamics of cultural practice and propose the concept of cultural configuration as a better way of studying cultural practice in highly heterogeneous moder...

Incarceration, prisoner reentry, and communities

Abstract: Since the mid-1970s, the United States has experienced an enormous rise in incarceration and accompanying increases in returning prisoners and in postrelease community correctional supervision. Poor urban communities are disproportionately impacted by these phenomena. This review focuses on two complementary questions regarding incarceration, prisoner reentry, and communities: (a) whether and how mass incarceration has affected the social and economic structure of American communities, and (b) how residential neighborhoods affect the social and economic reintegration of returning prisoners. These two questions can be seen as part of a dynamic process involving a pernicious feedback loop in which mass incarceration undermines the structure and social organization of some communities, thus creating more criminogenic environments for returning prisoners and further diminishing their prospects for successful reentry and reintegration.

The One Percent

Abstract: Recent protest movements brought attention to the one percent, a segment of the population that is critical to understanding inequality and social mobility but that attracts relatively little research attention. In this article, I survey current research on the one percent in the United States. I distinguish income from wealth and show that both are very concentrated but that the concentration of wealth, particularly financial wealth, is extremely high. I describe the demographic traits and finances of households who are in the one percent and discuss how these have changed in the past decade. I review literature that explains rising top incomes, and I propose that future research will usefully concentrate more on top wealth owners and on the demographic and life course processes that underlie income and wealth concentration. I conclude by speculating about why Americans are so tolerant of resource concentration.

The Political Mobilization of Firms and Industries

Abstract: Corporate political activity is both a long-standing preoccupation and an area of innovation for sociologists. We examine the limitations of investigating business unity without focusing directly on processes and outcomes and then review studies of five types of business political action that offer lenses into corporate power in the United States: engagement in electoral politics, direct corporate lobbying, collective action through associations and coalitions, business campaigns in civil society, and political aspects of corporate responsibility. Through these avenues, we highlight four shifts since the 1970s: (a) increasing fragmentation of capitalist interests, (b) closer attention to links between business lobbying and firms' social embeddedness, (c) a turn away from the assumption that money buys political victories, and (d) new avenues of covert corporate influence. This body of research has reinvigorated the classic elitist/pluralist debate while also raising novel questions about how business acto...

Warmth of the Welcome: Attitudes toward Immigrants and Immigration Policy.

Abstract: Natives' attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy are important factors in the context of reception of immigrants since they contribute to a warm or chilly welcome, which potentially shapes immigrant and ethnic identities and inter-group relations. Public opinion polls show a recent "warming" of Americans' traditional ambivalence about immigration. Empirical research on attitudes toward immigrants and racial groups formed by recent waves of immigrants resonate with the dynamic nature of Blumer's (1958) theory of prejudice as a sense of relative group position. To better understand this dynamism, research that intentionally contrasts study sites on conflict and contact conditions and the presence of absence of symbolic politics, as well as research with different native-born racial and ethnic groups, would reveal a broader range of natives' attitude formation processes and the role they play in immigrant reception.

Data Visualization in Sociology

Abstract: Visualizing data is central to social scientific work. Despite a promising early beginning, sociology has lagged in the use of visual tools. We review the history and current state of visualization in sociology. Using examples throughout, we discuss recent developments in ways of seeing raw data and presenting the results of statistical modeling. We make a general distinction between those methods and tools designed to help explore data sets and those designed to help present results to others. We argue that recent advances should be seen as part of a broader shift toward easier sharing of code and data both between researchers and with wider publics, and we encourage practitioners and publishers to work toward a higher and more consistent standard for the graphical display of sociological insights.

Social Isolation in America

Abstract: We offer a new measure for social isolation for contemporary society, where opportunities for making connections with others have become ubiquitous. We develop this measure after reviewing previous research on social isolation that we segment into two perspectives. On the one side, isolation has been studied as a negative outcome of processes related to modernization; on the other side, isolation has been studied as a structural position potentially capable of delivering positive returns. Although academic interest in isolation is long-standing, recent years have seen an explosion of research on the topic. We explore the connection between this explosion and new social media and highlight a division within the literature between researchers who see new social media as creating more feelings of isolation and others who think that the jury is still out. In the final section of the article, we offer our novel conceptual framework for studying isolation.

Intergenerational Mobility and Inequality: The Latin American Case*

Abstract: Prompted by new data and a renewed concern about equality of opportunity, the study of intergenerational mobility has flourished in Latin America in the past decade. Although analysis is still restricted to a handful of countries, one conclusion appears clear: Intergenerational income mobility is weaker in Latin America than in industrial countries and is characterized by “persistence at the top,” a pattern consistent with the high levels of economic concentration in the region. However, social class mobility in Latin America does not differ from that in the industrialized world. This essay reviews two generations of mobility research since the 1960s, takes stock of current findings on economic and class mobility in Latin America, examines the linkages between mobility and macro-level factors, and engages a new literature on equality of opportunity. I suggest that the comparative understanding of mobility in Latin America can inform and inspire research in the industrialized world.

Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries

Abstract: The study of transitions to adulthood in developing countries merits a review that considers new developments affecting specific spheres of life. High unemployment rates in certain job markets, new health vulnerabilities, and modified preferences regarding marriage types, all within a framework of poverty, manifest in a world in which fewer certainties result in new ways of experiencing the transition to adulthood. The objective of this article is to review recent literature on interactions among the spheres of school, work, sexuality, family formation, health, political expression, and citizenship of adolescents and young adults in developing countries. Scholars are identifying diverse life paths and observing transitions to adulthood at different ages and modalities within the same society.

Race, Ethnicity, and the Changing Context of Childbearing in the United States

Abstract: In what ways do childbearing patterns in the contemporary United States vary for white, black, and Hispanic women? Why do these differences exist? Although completed family size is currently similar for white and black women, and only modestly larger for Hispanic women, we highlight persistent differences across groups with respect to the timing of childbearing, the relationship context of childbearing, and the extent to which births are intended. We next evaluate key explanations for these differences. Guided by a proximate determinants approach, we focus here on patterns of sexual activity, contraceptive use, and postconception outcomes such as abortion and changes in mothers' relationship status. We find contraceptive use to be a particularly important contributor to racial and ethnic differences in childbearing, yet reasons for varying contraception use itself remain insufficiently understood. We end by reflecting on promising directions for further research.

Intersectionality and the Sociology of HIV/AIDS: Past, Present, and Future Research Directions

Abstract: This review focuses on three topics that have dominated the sociological literature on HIV/AIDS in the United States: (a) the demographics of the epidemic and the dynamics of structural-, neighborhood-, and individual-level risk; (b) the lived experiences of HIV-positive people; and (c) the collective response to HIV/AIDS through community-based services, political activism and social movements, and public policy. Sociologists have pursued inquiry in all of these areas and have often advanced the implicit and explicit use of approaches that reveal the epidemic's embedded power relations. Previous research and the dynamics of the epidemic suggest a fundamental argument: HIV/AIDS is an epidemic of intersectional inequality that is fueled by racial, gender, class, and sexual inequities at the macro-structural, meso-institutional, and micro-interpersonal levels. These inequalities significantly shape the likelihood of exposure to the virus; the realities of living with the infection; and medical, programmatic...

Immigrants and African Americans

Abstract: We examine how recent immigration to the United States has affected African Americans. We first review the research on the growing diversity within the black population, driven largely by the presence of black immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa. As their children and grandchildren come of age, relations between immigrants and African Americans are complicated by the fact that a growing portion of the African American community has origins in both groups. We then review literature on both new destinations and established gateway cities to illustrate the patterns of cooperation, competition, and avoidance between immigrants of diverse races and African Americans in neighborhoods, the labor market, and politics. We explore the implications of the population's increasing racial diversity owing to immigration for policies that aim to promote racial equality but that are framed in terms of diversity. We conclude with suggestions for new areas of research.

Caste in Contemporary India: Flexibility and Persistence

Abstract: The caste system, its salient characteristics, and its subtle and more obvious transformations, coupled with its persistence and pervasiveness, have been central to studies of Indian society. This review provides a specific view of caste and its transformations with an emphasis on the socioeconomic or labor market dimension. Such a perspective is particularly crucial as one of the distinctive features of caste is the inheritance of occupations. A major argument of modernization has been the increasing movement away from occupational inheritance. This review traces the limited support for the “Orientalist” view of caste as essentially unchanging and focuses on the fluid nature of caste and its transformation in the economic domain.

Hispanics in Metropolitan America: New Realities and Old Debates

Abstract: Since 1980, Latinos have participated in an unprecedented geographic dispersal that altered the ethno-racial contours of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas throughout the nation. After summarizing recent trends in spatial distribution, we review scholarship about trends in residential segregation, the rise of multiethnic neighborhoods, and residential mobility. New trends, notably the emergence of hypersegregation and rising segregation levels in several places, call into question earlier views about the inevitability of Hispanics' spatial assimilation, as do studies that examine direct links between individual mobility and locational attainment. The growing support for the tenets of the place stratification model suggests that Hispanic origin is becoming a racial marker. Following a brief review of social and economic correlates of Hispanics' residential makeover, we conclude by discussing opportunities for future research, emphasizing the importance of dynamic assessments that consider the new conto...

The Sociology of Empires, Colonies, and Postcolonialism

Abstract: Sociologists are adding specific disciplinary accents to the burgeoning literature in colonial, imperial, and postcolonial studies. They have been especially keen to add explanatory accounts to the historical literature on empires. Starting in the 1950s, sociologists pioneered the study of colonies as historical formations. Against traditional anthropological approaches, sociologists insisted on studying colonizer and colonized in their dynamic interactions, asking how both groups were being transformed. Like contemporary postcolonial scholars, sociologists began asking in the 1950s how metropoles were being remade by overseas colonialism and colonial immigration. Echoing discussions in the 1950s among sociologists working in the colonies, current discussions of postcolonial sociology question the applicability of Western social scientific concepts and theories to the global South and ask how sociology itself has been shaped by empire. Current sociological research on empires focuses on six sets of causal...

Taxes and Fiscal Sociology

Abstract: This article reviews recent research in fiscal sociology. We specifically examine contributions to the study of taxation that illuminate core issues in the sociology of contemporary capitalism, including the causes of poverty and inequality in rich countries and of inequality between rich and poor countries. Research on developed countries suggests that tax policy changes are important for explaining rising income inequality, tax policies may structure durable inequalities of race and gender, and earnings-conditional tax subsidies may alleviate poverty more effectively and with less stigma than means-tested social spending. Scholars also find the most generous welfare states rely the most heavily on regressive taxes, although there is disagreement over how this association arises. Comparative research on developing countries shows consumption taxes are more conducive to growth than taxes on income, tax-financed spending benefits growth if it is spent on productive investments, and taxation strengthened de...

Gender and Urban Space

Abstract: Applying a gender perspective to cities reveals how spatial structure and social structure are mutually constitutive This article reviews the ways cities have reflected and reinforced gender relations in the United States from the turn of the twentieth century to the present First, I discuss ways in which women in industrial cities challenged the ideology of separate spheres Next, I suggest that the post–World War II city was shaped by an era of high patriarchy similar to the architectural high modernism of the same era, and in the third section, I explore how that urban structure limited women's opportunities outside the home In the fourth part, I examine changes in the concept of gender as it expanded beyond masculine and feminine categories to include lesbians, gays, and transgender individuals The article ends with a review of how women's and gay rights movements, gentrification, and planning practices have shaped a more gender-neutral contemporary metropolis

Somebody's children or nobody's children? How the sociological perspective could enliven research on foster care

Abstract: Social scientists have long been concerned about how the fortunes of parents affect their children, with acute interest in the most marginalized children. Yet little sociological research considers children in foster care. In this review, we take a three-pronged approach to show why this inattention is problematic. First, we provide overviews of the history of the foster care system and how children end up in foster care, as well as an estimate of how many children ever enter foster care. Second, we review research on the factors that shape the risk of foster care placement and foster care caseloads and how foster care affects children. We close by discussing how a sociological perspective and methodological orientation—ranging from ethnographic observation to longitudinal mixed methods research, demographic methods, and experimental studies—can foster new knowledge around the foster care system and the families it affects.

When) Do Organizations Have Social Capital

Abstract: Interorganizational relationships connect people affiliated with organizations rather than corporate actors themselves. The managers and owners of organizations therefore do not always control these connections and consequently often cannot profit from them. We discuss the circumstances under which individuals (versus organizations) own these relationships (and therefore also the social capital generated by them). Three factors increase the odds of individual ownership: (a) the extent to which the resources valued by alters belong to the individual (rather than the organization), (b) the degree to which alters feel greater indebtedness to the individual than to the organization, and (c) the extent to which relationships involve emotional attachment. We discuss the implications of the locus of ownership, argue that these distinctions can help explain many results that appear inconsistent on the surface, and call for future research to pay closer attention to these issues.

Political Parties and the Sociological Imagination: Past, Present, and Future Directions

Abstract: The classical sociology of parties was born alongside parties themselves. It explored their dynamic interrelationships with states and society, as well as the tensions inherent in the fact that parties are simultaneously representatives and power seekers. Despite these rich foundations, from the 1960s the sociological approach came to be narrowly identified with a one-dimensional conception of parties, and political sociologists focused their attention elsewhere. This review contributes to efforts that began in the 1990s to reclaim the political party as a full-fledged sociological object. To this end, we track the hourglass-shaped trajectory of the sociology of parties: from broad Marxian and Weberian roots, to narrowing and near-eclipse after the 1960s, to a reemergence that reclaims the breadth of the classical traditions. We conclude by suggesting six lines of inquiry that we believe would be fruitful, emphasizing both classical concerns that deserve more attention and innovative approaches that point...

A Critical Overview of Migration and Development: The Latin American Challenge

Abstract: There is an intense ongoing debate on migration and development in Latin America. This article offers a critical overview of the main perspectives surrounding the Latin American debate across the social sciences. A brief historical background is provided, followed by a characterization of the three main paradigms prevailing in the region: the dominant perspective, grounded in modernization and neoliberal principles; the southern perspective, which has growing influence in the region and is rooted in the Latin American development school; and the transnational approach, which stands in between the first two paradigms and is circumscribed to a meso-level of analysis. The final section highlights five cutting-edge topics that have emerged in the region's scholarship. The article emphasizes the specificity and the main contributions made by Latin American scholars to understanding and demystifying the complex relationship between migration, development, and human rights.

Movilidad Intergeneracional y Desigualdad: El Caso Latinoamericano*

Abstract: El estudio de la movilidad ha cobrado importancia en la ultima decada en Latinoamerica, empujado por la reciente disponibilidad de datos y por una renovada preocupacion por la igualdad de oportunidades. Aunque el analisis de la movilidad aun esta restringido a pocos paises de la regi on, una conclusion es clara: La movilidad intergeneracional de ingresos es menor en America Latina que en paises industrializados, y se caracteriza por la "persistencia de la elite", un patron consistente con la gran concentracion de ingresos en la region. Sin embargo, la movilidad de clases en Latinoamerica no difiere significativamente del mundo industrializado. Este ensayo revisa dos generaciones de estudios de movilidad en Latinoamerica desde los 1960s, evalua hallazgos recientes sobre movilidad economica y de clases, examina la relacion entre factores macro-estructurales y movilidad, y considera la reciente literatura sobre igualdad de oportunidades. El articulo sugiere que el analisis comparativo de la movilidad en Amer...

A Comparative View of Ethnicity and Political Engagement

Abstract: This article reviews approaches to ethnicity and political engagement, with particular emphasis on Western Europe. It argues that studies were at first marked by a structuralist approach and later turned to a more culturalist understanding of ethnic mobilization. Also, owing to increased labor migration after World War II, researchers shifted their attention from ethnic separatism to the ethnic identifications and mobilizations of migrants. While the political mobilization around (or based on) ethnicity was long seen as a disruptive factor within states, then also as a resource or barrier for migrant political involvement within national contexts, it is now studied under the auspices of increasing transnationalism, too. Simultaneously, religion, and especially Islam (in the European context), has come to be seen as one of the most important markers of identity and difference in European societies. This article's theoretical reflections concentrate on the juxtaposition of these two developments—increasing ...

Transiciones a la Vida Adulta en Países en Desarrollo

Abstract: El estudio sobre las transiciones a la vida adulta que realizan los jovenes en paises en desarrollo amerita una revision por los nuevos acontecimientos que afectan los distintos ambitos de la vida. Los cambios recientes en los mercados laborales con altas tasas de desocupacion, las nuevas vulnerabilidades de la salud, las modificaciones en las preferencias sobre las formas de union, en un marco de situaciones de pobreza, manifiestan un mundo con menos certidumbres que deriva en nuevas maneras de experimentar el paso a la adultez. El objetivo del articulo es realizar una revision de la literatura reciente sobre la interaccion entre escolaridad y mundo del trabajo, sexualidad y formacion familiar, estado de salud, y expresion politica y ciudadania de los adolescentes y jovenes de paies en desarrollo. Se ha encontrado que existe una gran diversificacion de trayectorias y las transiciones ocurren en diferentes edades y modalidades en una misma sociedad.