Reading Characters, People, and PropertiesIn this piece, I reflect on superhero comic books I rea... more Reading Characters, People, and PropertiesIn this piece, I reflect on superhero comic books I read in my childhood and adolescence, noting that as I collected and read stories featuring the character known as the Silver Surfer, I slowly began to realize that the character’s traits, as established in the first comic in which he appeared, seemed to change in comics published later. In searching for explanations for these changes, I began to pay attention to a comic’s credits, recognizing that different writers and artists understood the character in different ways and often felt no obligation to maintain a consistent approach. I eventually realized that a comic’s credits sometimes misrepresented the labor invested by each of the story’s creators. This long process led to an ongoing interest—in both my writing and teaching—in the ways that our interpretation of a story and its characters can be enriched by understanding the conditions under which it was produced.Books of the HeartWhat ...
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United Stat... more Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. Smokeless tobacco (SLT) is primarily used by younger, rural males and often in the presence of other males. This formative study examined how hegemonic masculinity and male norms can lead to initiation and continued use of SLT by rural adolescent males and females. Survey data collected from high school sophomores in 4 rural high schools (n = 293) explores perceptions of masculinity and male norms' contribution to SLT uptake and use. About 22.5% of total sample reported lifetime use (34.4% male, 13.7% female), 10.9% reported past-month use (20.0% male, 4.2% female). Logistic regressions show a one-unit increase in adherence to traditional perceptions of masculinity more than doubled the odds of ever using SLT and significantly increased odds of 30-day use. Having male household family members who uses SLT significantly increased the odds of lifetime and 30-day SLT use for both genders, while having male family members who smoke cigarettes was not a significant correlate. Recognition of health warnings on SLT packaging was negatively associated with SLT use for both genders. Implications for inclusion of masculinity and male role models in SLT prevention intervention strategies are discussed.
While tobacco use nationwide is declining, smokeless tobacco (SLT) use remains steady, particular... more While tobacco use nationwide is declining, smokeless tobacco (SLT) use remains steady, particularly among men in rural areas. Despite the harms of SLT, researchers know little about what initiates and sustains this use. In this study, we argue that SLT persistence is encouraged by its salience as an emblem of rural manhood. Based on interviews with 64 male and 19 female rural high school students we find that SLT symbolizes rural masculinity, and that many boys “spit and dip” to perform their status as rural men. We specify several peer, family, and community mechanisms that undergird this process. Finally, we discuss implications for men’s health research and intervention efforts.
Misalignment of educational and career goals (i.e., educational aspirations expressed are inadequ... more Misalignment of educational and career goals (i.e., educational aspirations expressed are inadequate for attaining one's desired occupation) is associated with lower educational attainment and a lack of college readiness, and may contribute to persistent educational and employment disparities. Drawing on data from 249 sixth graders in low-income schools, this research examines misalignment between educational and career aspirations across racial and ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Findings indicate that students in low-income schools aspire to middle and upper middle class careers, but sometimes lack an understanding of the educational degrees required to achieve their goals. Latinos are significantly more likely than other groups to report misaligned aspirations, as are students in the free and reduced lunch program and those without a college-educated parent. Consequently, early gaps in misaligned career and educational goals for disadvantaged students may set them on a trajectory that perpetuates educational and occupational inequalities in this population. We discuss the programmatic implications of these findings in light of the elevated college and career planning needs of students traditionally underrepresented in higher education.
Much of the discourse surrounding national intercity passenger rail service in the United States ... more Much of the discourse surrounding national intercity passenger rail service in the United States revolves around why it has lagged so far behind European and Asian counterparts. However, a more interesting question might be why it has survived despite competition from faster, more nimble transport modes, discriminatory public policy, and the ascension of neoliberal discourse hostile to public endeavor. This paper uses the concept of durability in actor-network theory to offer some insights into how the system has achieved a remarkable but problematic stability, and how that durability relates to an imagined role for national intercity passenger rail in a future of increasingly constrained material resources. This paper also demonstrates the application of actor-network theory (ANT) in a way that can serve as a useful introduction to and template for the use of that methodology.
Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science+Bu... more Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self-archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to selfarchive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com".
The overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system is well documented, but r... more The overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system is well documented, but researchers know less about the mechanisms that produce these disparities. In this paper, we focus on an understudied point of contact between youth and the criminal justice system: intake diversion. Based on a multivariate analysis of court records, we find that racial disparities in diversion are strongly mediated by family structure. We suggest that assumptions about the role of family in the completion of diversion requirements create indirect disadvantages by race. Specifically, African American youths are denied diversion opportunities largely because they disproportionately live in alternative family arrangements. Importantly, however, our analysis also reveals that such assumptions about family are incorrect. Family structure in our data has no relationship to the successful completion of diversion. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for understanding institutionalized racial disadvantage in juvenile justice.
School disciplinary processes are an important mechanism of inequality in education. Most prior r... more School disciplinary processes are an important mechanism of inequality in education. Most prior research in this area focuses on the significantly higher rates of punishment among African American boys, but in this article, we turn our attention to the discipline of African American girls. Using advanced multilevel models and a longitudinal data set of detailed school discipline records, we analyze interactions between race and gender on office referrals. The results show troubling and significant disparities in the punishment of African American girls. Controlling for background variables, black girls are three times more likely than white girls to receive an office referral; this difference is substantially wider than the gap between black boys and white boys. Moreover, black girls receive disproportionate referrals for infractions such as disruptive behavior, dress code violations, disobedience, and aggressive behavior. We argue that these infractions are subjective and influence...
This article reviews popular and social scientific perspectives on the academic gender gap in edu... more This article reviews popular and social scientific perspectives on the academic gender gap in education, specifically the finding that boys underperform compared to girls. The article highlights the utility of sociology in analyzing the gender gap and in guiding how educators respond to students' gender. It suggests that contemporary gender theories 'doing gender' and 'hegemonic masculinity' offer the best lenses through which to view academic gender differences. These perspectives can frame boys' academic troubles as an important social problem, but one that is rooted in the social construction of masculinity rather than institutional discrimination against boys.
This article reviews popular and social scientific perspectives on the academic gender gap in edu... more This article reviews popular and social scientific perspectives on the academic gender gap in education, specifically the finding that boys underperform compared to girls. The article highlights the utility of sociology in analyzing the gender gap and in guiding how educators respond to students' gender. It suggests that contemporary gender theories 'doing gender' and 'hegemonic masculinity' offer the best lenses through which to view academic gender differences. These perspectives can frame boys' academic troubles as an important social problem, but one that is rooted in the social construction of masculinity rather than institutional discrimination against boys.
The overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system is well documented, but r... more The overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system is well documented, but researchers know less about the mechanisms that produce these disparities. In this paper, we focus on an understudied point of contact between youth and the criminal justice system: intake diversion. Based on a multivariate analysis of court records, we find that racial disparities in diversion are strongly mediated by family structure. We suggest that assumptions about the role of family in the completion of diversion requirements create indirect disadvantages by race. Specifically, African American youths are denied diversion opportunities largely because they disproportionately live in alternative family arrangements. Importantly, however, our analysis also reveals that such assumptions about family are incorrect. Family structure in our data has no relationship to the successful completion of diversion. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for understanding institutionalized racial disadvantage in juvenile justice.
An influential literature in criminology has identified indirect “collateral consequences” of mas... more An influential literature in criminology has identified indirect “collateral consequences” of mass imprisonment. We extend this criminological perspective to the context of the U.S. education system, conceptualizing exclusionary discipline practices (i.e., out-of-school suspension) as a manifestation of intensified social control in schools. Similar to patterns of family and community decline associated with mass incarceration, we theorize that exclusionary discipline policies have indirect adverse effects on non-suspended students in punitive schools. Using a large hierarchical and longitudinal dataset consisting of student and school records, we examine the effect of suspension on reading and math achievement. Our findings suggest that higher levels of exclusionary discipline within schools over time generate collateral damage, negatively affecting the academic achievement of non-suspended students in punitive contexts. This effect is strongest in schools with high levels of exclu...
This paper examines low-income white rural teenagers' management of race and class-based inequali... more This paper examines low-income white rural teenagers' management of race and class-based inequality. It analyzes how these teenagers constructed boundaries to distinguish themselves from outsiders, but also to distinguish themselves from the local abject category of ''rutter.'' The findings reveal hidden interconnections between race and class in interactional practice, and highlight local processes of differentiation through which actors attempt to deflect stigma and attain credibility. The paper discusses how interactional mechanisms such as ''internal othering'' and ''stigma-theory'' bolster race and class credibility, but reproduce inequality.
Reading Characters, People, and PropertiesIn this piece, I reflect on superhero comic books I rea... more Reading Characters, People, and PropertiesIn this piece, I reflect on superhero comic books I read in my childhood and adolescence, noting that as I collected and read stories featuring the character known as the Silver Surfer, I slowly began to realize that the character’s traits, as established in the first comic in which he appeared, seemed to change in comics published later. In searching for explanations for these changes, I began to pay attention to a comic’s credits, recognizing that different writers and artists understood the character in different ways and often felt no obligation to maintain a consistent approach. I eventually realized that a comic’s credits sometimes misrepresented the labor invested by each of the story’s creators. This long process led to an ongoing interest—in both my writing and teaching—in the ways that our interpretation of a story and its characters can be enriched by understanding the conditions under which it was produced.Books of the HeartWhat ...
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United Stat... more Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. Smokeless tobacco (SLT) is primarily used by younger, rural males and often in the presence of other males. This formative study examined how hegemonic masculinity and male norms can lead to initiation and continued use of SLT by rural adolescent males and females. Survey data collected from high school sophomores in 4 rural high schools (n = 293) explores perceptions of masculinity and male norms' contribution to SLT uptake and use. About 22.5% of total sample reported lifetime use (34.4% male, 13.7% female), 10.9% reported past-month use (20.0% male, 4.2% female). Logistic regressions show a one-unit increase in adherence to traditional perceptions of masculinity more than doubled the odds of ever using SLT and significantly increased odds of 30-day use. Having male household family members who uses SLT significantly increased the odds of lifetime and 30-day SLT use for both genders, while having male family members who smoke cigarettes was not a significant correlate. Recognition of health warnings on SLT packaging was negatively associated with SLT use for both genders. Implications for inclusion of masculinity and male role models in SLT prevention intervention strategies are discussed.
While tobacco use nationwide is declining, smokeless tobacco (SLT) use remains steady, particular... more While tobacco use nationwide is declining, smokeless tobacco (SLT) use remains steady, particularly among men in rural areas. Despite the harms of SLT, researchers know little about what initiates and sustains this use. In this study, we argue that SLT persistence is encouraged by its salience as an emblem of rural manhood. Based on interviews with 64 male and 19 female rural high school students we find that SLT symbolizes rural masculinity, and that many boys “spit and dip” to perform their status as rural men. We specify several peer, family, and community mechanisms that undergird this process. Finally, we discuss implications for men’s health research and intervention efforts.
Misalignment of educational and career goals (i.e., educational aspirations expressed are inadequ... more Misalignment of educational and career goals (i.e., educational aspirations expressed are inadequate for attaining one's desired occupation) is associated with lower educational attainment and a lack of college readiness, and may contribute to persistent educational and employment disparities. Drawing on data from 249 sixth graders in low-income schools, this research examines misalignment between educational and career aspirations across racial and ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Findings indicate that students in low-income schools aspire to middle and upper middle class careers, but sometimes lack an understanding of the educational degrees required to achieve their goals. Latinos are significantly more likely than other groups to report misaligned aspirations, as are students in the free and reduced lunch program and those without a college-educated parent. Consequently, early gaps in misaligned career and educational goals for disadvantaged students may set them on a trajectory that perpetuates educational and occupational inequalities in this population. We discuss the programmatic implications of these findings in light of the elevated college and career planning needs of students traditionally underrepresented in higher education.
Much of the discourse surrounding national intercity passenger rail service in the United States ... more Much of the discourse surrounding national intercity passenger rail service in the United States revolves around why it has lagged so far behind European and Asian counterparts. However, a more interesting question might be why it has survived despite competition from faster, more nimble transport modes, discriminatory public policy, and the ascension of neoliberal discourse hostile to public endeavor. This paper uses the concept of durability in actor-network theory to offer some insights into how the system has achieved a remarkable but problematic stability, and how that durability relates to an imagined role for national intercity passenger rail in a future of increasingly constrained material resources. This paper also demonstrates the application of actor-network theory (ANT) in a way that can serve as a useful introduction to and template for the use of that methodology.
Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science+Bu... more Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self-archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to selfarchive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com".
The overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system is well documented, but r... more The overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system is well documented, but researchers know less about the mechanisms that produce these disparities. In this paper, we focus on an understudied point of contact between youth and the criminal justice system: intake diversion. Based on a multivariate analysis of court records, we find that racial disparities in diversion are strongly mediated by family structure. We suggest that assumptions about the role of family in the completion of diversion requirements create indirect disadvantages by race. Specifically, African American youths are denied diversion opportunities largely because they disproportionately live in alternative family arrangements. Importantly, however, our analysis also reveals that such assumptions about family are incorrect. Family structure in our data has no relationship to the successful completion of diversion. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for understanding institutionalized racial disadvantage in juvenile justice.
School disciplinary processes are an important mechanism of inequality in education. Most prior r... more School disciplinary processes are an important mechanism of inequality in education. Most prior research in this area focuses on the significantly higher rates of punishment among African American boys, but in this article, we turn our attention to the discipline of African American girls. Using advanced multilevel models and a longitudinal data set of detailed school discipline records, we analyze interactions between race and gender on office referrals. The results show troubling and significant disparities in the punishment of African American girls. Controlling for background variables, black girls are three times more likely than white girls to receive an office referral; this difference is substantially wider than the gap between black boys and white boys. Moreover, black girls receive disproportionate referrals for infractions such as disruptive behavior, dress code violations, disobedience, and aggressive behavior. We argue that these infractions are subjective and influence...
This article reviews popular and social scientific perspectives on the academic gender gap in edu... more This article reviews popular and social scientific perspectives on the academic gender gap in education, specifically the finding that boys underperform compared to girls. The article highlights the utility of sociology in analyzing the gender gap and in guiding how educators respond to students' gender. It suggests that contemporary gender theories 'doing gender' and 'hegemonic masculinity' offer the best lenses through which to view academic gender differences. These perspectives can frame boys' academic troubles as an important social problem, but one that is rooted in the social construction of masculinity rather than institutional discrimination against boys.
This article reviews popular and social scientific perspectives on the academic gender gap in edu... more This article reviews popular and social scientific perspectives on the academic gender gap in education, specifically the finding that boys underperform compared to girls. The article highlights the utility of sociology in analyzing the gender gap and in guiding how educators respond to students' gender. It suggests that contemporary gender theories 'doing gender' and 'hegemonic masculinity' offer the best lenses through which to view academic gender differences. These perspectives can frame boys' academic troubles as an important social problem, but one that is rooted in the social construction of masculinity rather than institutional discrimination against boys.
The overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system is well documented, but r... more The overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system is well documented, but researchers know less about the mechanisms that produce these disparities. In this paper, we focus on an understudied point of contact between youth and the criminal justice system: intake diversion. Based on a multivariate analysis of court records, we find that racial disparities in diversion are strongly mediated by family structure. We suggest that assumptions about the role of family in the completion of diversion requirements create indirect disadvantages by race. Specifically, African American youths are denied diversion opportunities largely because they disproportionately live in alternative family arrangements. Importantly, however, our analysis also reveals that such assumptions about family are incorrect. Family structure in our data has no relationship to the successful completion of diversion. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for understanding institutionalized racial disadvantage in juvenile justice.
An influential literature in criminology has identified indirect “collateral consequences” of mas... more An influential literature in criminology has identified indirect “collateral consequences” of mass imprisonment. We extend this criminological perspective to the context of the U.S. education system, conceptualizing exclusionary discipline practices (i.e., out-of-school suspension) as a manifestation of intensified social control in schools. Similar to patterns of family and community decline associated with mass incarceration, we theorize that exclusionary discipline policies have indirect adverse effects on non-suspended students in punitive schools. Using a large hierarchical and longitudinal dataset consisting of student and school records, we examine the effect of suspension on reading and math achievement. Our findings suggest that higher levels of exclusionary discipline within schools over time generate collateral damage, negatively affecting the academic achievement of non-suspended students in punitive contexts. This effect is strongest in schools with high levels of exclu...
This paper examines low-income white rural teenagers' management of race and class-based inequali... more This paper examines low-income white rural teenagers' management of race and class-based inequality. It analyzes how these teenagers constructed boundaries to distinguish themselves from outsiders, but also to distinguish themselves from the local abject category of ''rutter.'' The findings reveal hidden interconnections between race and class in interactional practice, and highlight local processes of differentiation through which actors attempt to deflect stigma and attain credibility. The paper discusses how interactional mechanisms such as ''internal othering'' and ''stigma-theory'' bolster race and class credibility, but reproduce inequality.
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institutionalized racial disadvantage in juvenile justice.
institutionalized racial disadvantage in juvenile justice.