Dis/articulation offers critical insight into exclusionary practices embedded in global commodity... more Dis/articulation offers critical insight into exclusionary practices embedded in global commodity chains. In Fiji, powerful actors engage in dis/articulation strategies to limit access to kava consumption domestically while ensuring its availability to Western audiences. Repurposing colonial rhetoric associated with Fijian kava consumption, state officials and lead firms portray kava as over-consumed, unhealthy and harmful in relation to Indigenous Fijians who are its primary producers, harvesters and domestic consumer base. These same actors (e.g. state officials and lead firms) promote kava to Western markets, publicizing it as healthful and beneficial to primarily white consumers. Their marketing and promotional efforts perpetuate colonial tropes and racialized discourses in an effort to simultaneously decrease value domestically (via downgrading) and increase value abroad (via upgrading). This study advances our understanding of the lesser-known historical and relational dimensions of race in global commodity chains.
Scholars contend that craft spirit makers communicate authenticity by emphasizing their passion f... more Scholars contend that craft spirit makers communicate authenticity by emphasizing their passion for and commitment to tradition and by downplaying self-interest and profit. However, the presence of large corporations has made it more difficult for consumers to distinguish "true" artisanal values and methods from imitators. The lucrative craft spirit market has exposed the susceptibility of authenticity, which is often thought to be a distinguishing feature between craft and industrial firms. Drawing on the analysis of semi-structured interviews with distillers and craft industry actors, fieldwork at craft distilleries and state alcohol commission meetings, and the content of company materials, we explore how, and, with what consequence, distillers account for and respond to the obstacles associated with authenticity. In navigating internal and external constraints, distillers are forced to make accommodations that comply with consumer expectations and regulatory policies. As we show, assumptions about authenticity and craft as "good" inhibit craft distillers' creativity and hamper their ability to express an authentic identity on their own terms.
Early sociological scholarship such as ) The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, discussed immi... more Early sociological scholarship such as ) The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, discussed immigrant families in terms of the experiences of male workers and married men who left their families behind. The focus steadily expanded, with researchers recognizing the heterogeneity of migratory movements. This welcome development shed light on the complexity of family arrangements as well as on the racialized dimensions of the immigration system. Most analyses of immigrant families, however, continue to use normative definitions of the nuclear family and to overlook the intersection of sexuality and migration . Immigrant families have been traditionally defined as families that have one or more members -perhaps only one or both members of the couple, adult siblings, or cousins, and all, a few, or none of the children -who moved from another country. Another definition of the immigrant family relates to migration decisions and processes: Some immigrate, some stay in the sending country, some come and go, and others return temporarily. The multilocal and multinational immigrant family has become more frequent in a world of transnational mobility and communications. For labor immigrants, a flexible location for the family is also stimulated by policies that are often restrictive in relation to family reunification and legalization . Members come or stay behind, remittances flow, and the family overarches two parts of the world. Yet others define an immigrant family as one where everyone in the family is an immigrant. This is the most restrictive characterization and is probably less useful methodologically because fewer families meet this definition. Each of these definitions
Asexuality challenges the socially constructed idea that sexual attraction and desire are essenti... more Asexuality challenges the socially constructed idea that sexual attraction and desire are essential aspects of human nature. Because of social norms and expectations around having sex, getting married, and having children, asexual identity can be a particularly isolating and misunderstood experience. Nonetheless, asexuality questions social hierarchies of romantic relationships and family formation, and thus has important and unique sociological implications.
Marriage equality is the movement advocating for same-sex marriage, the legal union of two people... more Marriage equality is the movement advocating for same-sex marriage, the legal union of two people of the same birth sex or gender identity. Theoretically, in places with full marriage equality, identical rights and responsibilities are afforded same-sex and heterosexual married couples. The term "gay marriage" is sometimes used to refer to same-sex marriage, although not everyone is necessarily gay; for example, one or both partners may identify as bisexual or pansexual. Other terminology includes "marriage for same-sex couples." Civil unions, which are distinct from marriage but offer some protections, are a common form of recognition for same-sex couples. In the late 1980s and early 1990s governments and territories around the world began to legally acknowledge same-sex relationships. There are 32 countries where same-sex marriage is legal (as of March 2023). Among conservative religious and social groups especially, same-sex marriage is often interpreted as an attack on the primacy and "naturalness" of the heterosexual family and married bond that is assumed to underpin a stable society. Full marriage equality was achieved in the USA on June 26, 2015, with the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.
Abortion is one of the most contested social issues in the USA. In recent history there have been... more Abortion is one of the most contested social issues in the USA. In recent history there have been three periods of high social movement activity: the physician antiabortion movement of the mid-nineteenth century; the abortion rights reform/repeal movement of the 1960s; and the 1973-2022 Roe era after the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973, a landmark piece of legislation that made access to an abortion a federal right in the USA. The Roe decision served as the catalyst for the two modern social movements most identified with the issue of abortion: the pro-life movement and the pro-choice movement. We are now living in a post-Roe world. The constitutional right to abortion ended with the Supreme Court ruling in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade. This entry summarizes the study of movements supporting and opposing abortion rights as considered by sociologists and other social scientists, predominantly in the USA, with some attention to the changing international dimensions of this debate.
Redefinition of Femininity and Masculinity Early cultural feminists sought to reclaim and reformu... more Redefinition of Femininity and Masculinity Early cultural feminists sought to reclaim and reformulate definitions of femininity and masculinity through recognizing and celebrating women's unique characteristics, arguing that women are inherently nurturing, kind, gentle, egalitarian, and nonviolent. These tenets can be traced back to the first wave of feminism. Scholars such as Jane Addams and Charlotte Perkins Gilman stressed the superiority of women's values, particularly compassion and pacifism, believing that these would overcome masculine qualities of selfishness, violence, and lack of selfcontrol. This was also a means of challenging the dominant cultural discourse that women were inferior and subservient to men. Efforts at fighting women's subordination included working for women's suffrage, the right to free expression, and the uplift and empowerment of poor and working-class women. The decline of this early stage of cultural feminism has been attributed to World War I and societal rejection of these early feminists' opposition to the war. Cultural feminism re-emerged during the second wave of feminism in the early 1970s, and is closely associated with the radical feminist movement. Radical feminism directly challenges biological definitions of male and female while actively working toward eliminating women's oppression. Meanwhile, cultural feminists focus on the differences between genders as its foundation, while placing woman at the center. They see women's liberation as occurring through the rejection of society's conception of woman because this is based on a male model of understanding. During a time period when some other branches of feminism were rejecting
Authenticity is a critical feature of a brand's quality, integrity, and reputation. Scholars main... more Authenticity is a critical feature of a brand's quality, integrity, and reputation. Scholars maintain that craft companies face a legitimacy crisis after an acquisition because customers question the brand's authenticity. Significantly less is known about fan loyalty after a buyout. This article tracks the strategies and conditions that enable the extension of authenticity in the move from a craft to a corporate identity. Qualitative case study analysis indicates that consumers are pursuing new contexts to signal superiority and accrue cultural capital. Producer-consumer relations, what I call artisan kinship and craft celebrity, allow for the affirmation of uniqueness and attainment of status. Evolving trends in the procurement and display of cachet have created opportunities for entrepreneurs to avoid criticism of inauthentic behavior.
Hailed by fans and critics as "Mexico's Mother," and later "Mexico's Grandmother," the actor Sara... more Hailed by fans and critics as "Mexico's Mother," and later "Mexico's Grandmother," the actor Sara García exemplified the sentimental attributes associated with notions of womanhood. As Mexico's mother par excellence, García created multigenerational portrayals that introduced audiences to a martyr-like maternal figure: the madre abnegada (selfless mother). This essay examines the origin, diffusion, and popularity of this uniquely Mexican subjectivity. Drawing on poetry, song lyrics, movie reviews, and an analysis of the film Mi madrecita (1940), the essay argues that, in combination with emerging priorities of writers and directors, García's fashioning of the madre abnegada tapped into and vitalized the sentimental relationship between mother and child and between nation and citizen. In theorizing these relations, the essay introduces the term national maternal as a means of capturing the gendered, raced, classed, spiritual, and patriotic dynamics through which notions of motherhood in Mexico were structured. The national maternal rose to prominence as women and progressive leaders challenged exacting patriarchal family arrangements.
This article examines the evolution of tequila's reputation – from lowbrow to high class – in Mex... more This article examines the evolution of tequila's reputation – from lowbrow to high class – in Mexico and the United States. Analyzing the content of novels, magazines, newspapers , ads, and song lyrics, it argues that the current cachet associated with tequila was influenced by a range of historical, political, and economic circumstances within and between Mexico and the United States. Specifically, transformations took place in three key phases including tequila's: (1) increasing ties to national identity in Mexico; (2) changing perception – moving from feared to fun – in the United States; and (3) gaining of state-backed support and legislative protection. In explaining the shifting patterns of prestige, the roles of transnational circuits of consumption and production merit closer analysis in understanding the relations that shape cultural fields.
This article examines the evolution of tequila's reputation – from lowbrow to high class – in Mex... more This article examines the evolution of tequila's reputation – from lowbrow to high class – in Mexico and the United States. Analyzing the content of novels, magazines, newspapers , ads, and song lyrics, it argues that the current cachet associated with tequila was influenced by a range of historical, political, and economic circumstances within and between Mexico and the United States. Specifically, transformations took place in three key phases including tequila's: (1) increasing ties to national identity in Mexico; (2) changing perception – moving from feared to fun – in the United States; and (3) gaining of state-backed support and legislative protection. In explaining the shifting patterns of prestige, the roles of transnational circuits of consumption and production merit closer analysis in understanding the relations that shape cultural fields.
Dis/articulation offers critical insight into exclusionary practices embedded in global commodity... more Dis/articulation offers critical insight into exclusionary practices embedded in global commodity chains. In Fiji, powerful actors engage in dis/articulation strategies to limit access to kava consumption domestically while ensuring its availability to Western audiences. Repurposing colonial rhetoric associated with Fijian kava consumption, state officials and lead firms portray kava as over-consumed, unhealthy and harmful in relation to Indigenous Fijians who are its primary producers, harvesters and domestic consumer base. These same actors (e.g. state officials and lead firms) promote kava to Western markets, publicizing it as healthful and beneficial to primarily white consumers. Their marketing and promotional efforts perpetuate colonial tropes and racialized discourses in an effort to simultaneously decrease value domestically (via downgrading) and increase value abroad (via upgrading). This study advances our understanding of the lesser-known historical and relational dimensions of race in global commodity chains.
Scholars contend that craft spirit makers communicate authenticity by emphasizing their passion f... more Scholars contend that craft spirit makers communicate authenticity by emphasizing their passion for and commitment to tradition and by downplaying self-interest and profit. However, the presence of large corporations has made it more difficult for consumers to distinguish "true" artisanal values and methods from imitators. The lucrative craft spirit market has exposed the susceptibility of authenticity, which is often thought to be a distinguishing feature between craft and industrial firms. Drawing on the analysis of semi-structured interviews with distillers and craft industry actors, fieldwork at craft distilleries and state alcohol commission meetings, and the content of company materials, we explore how, and, with what consequence, distillers account for and respond to the obstacles associated with authenticity. In navigating internal and external constraints, distillers are forced to make accommodations that comply with consumer expectations and regulatory policies. As we show, assumptions about authenticity and craft as "good" inhibit craft distillers' creativity and hamper their ability to express an authentic identity on their own terms.
Early sociological scholarship such as ) The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, discussed immi... more Early sociological scholarship such as ) The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, discussed immigrant families in terms of the experiences of male workers and married men who left their families behind. The focus steadily expanded, with researchers recognizing the heterogeneity of migratory movements. This welcome development shed light on the complexity of family arrangements as well as on the racialized dimensions of the immigration system. Most analyses of immigrant families, however, continue to use normative definitions of the nuclear family and to overlook the intersection of sexuality and migration . Immigrant families have been traditionally defined as families that have one or more members -perhaps only one or both members of the couple, adult siblings, or cousins, and all, a few, or none of the children -who moved from another country. Another definition of the immigrant family relates to migration decisions and processes: Some immigrate, some stay in the sending country, some come and go, and others return temporarily. The multilocal and multinational immigrant family has become more frequent in a world of transnational mobility and communications. For labor immigrants, a flexible location for the family is also stimulated by policies that are often restrictive in relation to family reunification and legalization . Members come or stay behind, remittances flow, and the family overarches two parts of the world. Yet others define an immigrant family as one where everyone in the family is an immigrant. This is the most restrictive characterization and is probably less useful methodologically because fewer families meet this definition. Each of these definitions
Asexuality challenges the socially constructed idea that sexual attraction and desire are essenti... more Asexuality challenges the socially constructed idea that sexual attraction and desire are essential aspects of human nature. Because of social norms and expectations around having sex, getting married, and having children, asexual identity can be a particularly isolating and misunderstood experience. Nonetheless, asexuality questions social hierarchies of romantic relationships and family formation, and thus has important and unique sociological implications.
Marriage equality is the movement advocating for same-sex marriage, the legal union of two people... more Marriage equality is the movement advocating for same-sex marriage, the legal union of two people of the same birth sex or gender identity. Theoretically, in places with full marriage equality, identical rights and responsibilities are afforded same-sex and heterosexual married couples. The term "gay marriage" is sometimes used to refer to same-sex marriage, although not everyone is necessarily gay; for example, one or both partners may identify as bisexual or pansexual. Other terminology includes "marriage for same-sex couples." Civil unions, which are distinct from marriage but offer some protections, are a common form of recognition for same-sex couples. In the late 1980s and early 1990s governments and territories around the world began to legally acknowledge same-sex relationships. There are 32 countries where same-sex marriage is legal (as of March 2023). Among conservative religious and social groups especially, same-sex marriage is often interpreted as an attack on the primacy and "naturalness" of the heterosexual family and married bond that is assumed to underpin a stable society. Full marriage equality was achieved in the USA on June 26, 2015, with the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.
Abortion is one of the most contested social issues in the USA. In recent history there have been... more Abortion is one of the most contested social issues in the USA. In recent history there have been three periods of high social movement activity: the physician antiabortion movement of the mid-nineteenth century; the abortion rights reform/repeal movement of the 1960s; and the 1973-2022 Roe era after the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973, a landmark piece of legislation that made access to an abortion a federal right in the USA. The Roe decision served as the catalyst for the two modern social movements most identified with the issue of abortion: the pro-life movement and the pro-choice movement. We are now living in a post-Roe world. The constitutional right to abortion ended with the Supreme Court ruling in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade. This entry summarizes the study of movements supporting and opposing abortion rights as considered by sociologists and other social scientists, predominantly in the USA, with some attention to the changing international dimensions of this debate.
Redefinition of Femininity and Masculinity Early cultural feminists sought to reclaim and reformu... more Redefinition of Femininity and Masculinity Early cultural feminists sought to reclaim and reformulate definitions of femininity and masculinity through recognizing and celebrating women's unique characteristics, arguing that women are inherently nurturing, kind, gentle, egalitarian, and nonviolent. These tenets can be traced back to the first wave of feminism. Scholars such as Jane Addams and Charlotte Perkins Gilman stressed the superiority of women's values, particularly compassion and pacifism, believing that these would overcome masculine qualities of selfishness, violence, and lack of selfcontrol. This was also a means of challenging the dominant cultural discourse that women were inferior and subservient to men. Efforts at fighting women's subordination included working for women's suffrage, the right to free expression, and the uplift and empowerment of poor and working-class women. The decline of this early stage of cultural feminism has been attributed to World War I and societal rejection of these early feminists' opposition to the war. Cultural feminism re-emerged during the second wave of feminism in the early 1970s, and is closely associated with the radical feminist movement. Radical feminism directly challenges biological definitions of male and female while actively working toward eliminating women's oppression. Meanwhile, cultural feminists focus on the differences between genders as its foundation, while placing woman at the center. They see women's liberation as occurring through the rejection of society's conception of woman because this is based on a male model of understanding. During a time period when some other branches of feminism were rejecting
Authenticity is a critical feature of a brand's quality, integrity, and reputation. Scholars main... more Authenticity is a critical feature of a brand's quality, integrity, and reputation. Scholars maintain that craft companies face a legitimacy crisis after an acquisition because customers question the brand's authenticity. Significantly less is known about fan loyalty after a buyout. This article tracks the strategies and conditions that enable the extension of authenticity in the move from a craft to a corporate identity. Qualitative case study analysis indicates that consumers are pursuing new contexts to signal superiority and accrue cultural capital. Producer-consumer relations, what I call artisan kinship and craft celebrity, allow for the affirmation of uniqueness and attainment of status. Evolving trends in the procurement and display of cachet have created opportunities for entrepreneurs to avoid criticism of inauthentic behavior.
Hailed by fans and critics as "Mexico's Mother," and later "Mexico's Grandmother," the actor Sara... more Hailed by fans and critics as "Mexico's Mother," and later "Mexico's Grandmother," the actor Sara García exemplified the sentimental attributes associated with notions of womanhood. As Mexico's mother par excellence, García created multigenerational portrayals that introduced audiences to a martyr-like maternal figure: the madre abnegada (selfless mother). This essay examines the origin, diffusion, and popularity of this uniquely Mexican subjectivity. Drawing on poetry, song lyrics, movie reviews, and an analysis of the film Mi madrecita (1940), the essay argues that, in combination with emerging priorities of writers and directors, García's fashioning of the madre abnegada tapped into and vitalized the sentimental relationship between mother and child and between nation and citizen. In theorizing these relations, the essay introduces the term national maternal as a means of capturing the gendered, raced, classed, spiritual, and patriotic dynamics through which notions of motherhood in Mexico were structured. The national maternal rose to prominence as women and progressive leaders challenged exacting patriarchal family arrangements.
This article examines the evolution of tequila's reputation – from lowbrow to high class – in Mex... more This article examines the evolution of tequila's reputation – from lowbrow to high class – in Mexico and the United States. Analyzing the content of novels, magazines, newspapers , ads, and song lyrics, it argues that the current cachet associated with tequila was influenced by a range of historical, political, and economic circumstances within and between Mexico and the United States. Specifically, transformations took place in three key phases including tequila's: (1) increasing ties to national identity in Mexico; (2) changing perception – moving from feared to fun – in the United States; and (3) gaining of state-backed support and legislative protection. In explaining the shifting patterns of prestige, the roles of transnational circuits of consumption and production merit closer analysis in understanding the relations that shape cultural fields.
This article examines the evolution of tequila's reputation – from lowbrow to high class – in Mex... more This article examines the evolution of tequila's reputation – from lowbrow to high class – in Mexico and the United States. Analyzing the content of novels, magazines, newspapers , ads, and song lyrics, it argues that the current cachet associated with tequila was influenced by a range of historical, political, and economic circumstances within and between Mexico and the United States. Specifically, transformations took place in three key phases including tequila's: (1) increasing ties to national identity in Mexico; (2) changing perception – moving from feared to fun – in the United States; and (3) gaining of state-backed support and legislative protection. In explaining the shifting patterns of prestige, the roles of transnational circuits of consumption and production merit closer analysis in understanding the relations that shape cultural fields.
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