Annex Sociology Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Punishment in the Admissions Scandal (Fred Wherry) Sep 25, 2019

Show notes

Felicity Huffman got 14 days of jail for bribing to get her children into college. The gang gets together with Fred Wherry (Princeton University) to reflect on the punishment and how elite college admissions work.

Frederick Wherry is a Professor of Sociology at Princeton University. His new book (with Kristin Seefeldt and Anthony Alvarez) is Credit Where It's Due: Rethinking Financial Citizenship with the Russell Sage Foundation.

Photo Credit

By Angela George, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Neurosociology (Rengin Firat) Sep 23, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, we learn about neurosociology from Rengin Firat of the University of California, Riverside. In her own work, Professor Firat uses brain scans to understand more emotional or visceral dimensions of social class, race, ethnicity, group cohesion, loneliness, agency, and other major concepts of interest to sociologists. She discusses ideas about the role of emotion in social and moral life, and other ways that the human brain's workings influence how society operates.

Rengin Firat is an Assistant Professor of Sociology from the University of California, Riverside. She recently published “Opening the “Black Box”: Functions of the Frontal Lobes and Their Implications for Sociology” in Frontiers in Sociology and "A Novel Measure of Moral Boundaries: Testing Perceived In-group/Out-group Value Differences in a Midwestern Sample" in Socius.

Criticizing Lana Del Rey (Rachel Skaggs) Sep 20, 2019

Show notes

Lana Del Rey's new album has received praise, but her negative reaction to a mixed review on NPR recently made news. We discuss the tightrope of criticizing popular artists, the role of persona in artistic production, and the finer details of criticizing celebrities' work.

In addition to in-house expert Gabriel Rossman (UCLA), author of the acclaimed Climbing the Charts: What Radio Airplay Tells Us about the Diffusion of Innovation (Princeton University Press), this episode also features Rachel Skaggs, who has recently published research on country music songwriting.

Rachel Skaggs is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Ohio State University. She recently published “Socializing Rejection and Failure in Artistic Occupational Communities” in Work and Occupations, and will soon publish “Harmonizing Small Group Cohesion and Status in Creative Collaborations: How Songwriters Facilitate and Manipulate the Co-Writing Process.” in Social Psychology Quarterly.

Country Music Songwriting (Rachel Skaggs) Sep 18, 2019

Show notes

Rachel Skaggs (Ohio State University) is a sociologist of culture who studies creative professions. In this episode, we discuss her participant observation research on country music songwriting. She deserves the role that accepting failure, collaboration, and learning to deal with gatekeepers shape careers.

Rachel Skaggs is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Ohio State University. She recently published "Socializing Rejection and Failure in Artistic Occupational Communities” in Work and Occupations, and will soon publish "Harmonizing Small Group Cohesion and Status in Creative Collaborations: How Songwriters Facilitate and Manipulate the Co-Writing Process." in Social Psychology Quarterly.

Photo Credit

By Jamie - https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiecat/2721617713/, CC BY 2.0, Link

Family Estrangement May 16, 2019

Show notes

On today’s episode of The Annex Sociology Podcast, the group discusses family estrangement. They get into the specificities of gender differences and degrees of estrangement. Kristina challenges the idea of parenting perceptions versus children’s parenting perceptions. Gabriel discusses that in American culture in which individualism is achieved, that may be a factor to family estrangement. Kristina and Gabriel get to the bottom of families unifying in ritualistic ways to ostracize certain family members. Leslie questions if family estrangement is a form of deviance. Joe leaves off the podcast questioning the aftermath of family estrangement and how resilience is exercised.

Discussants

Kristina Scharp is an Assistant Professor of Communications at the University of Washington. Her forthcoming articles include "Making Meaning of the Parent-Child Relationship: A Dialogic Analysis of Parent-Initiated Estrangement Narratives" in the Journal of Family Communication, and "'You're Not Welcome Here': A Grounded Theory of Family Distancing" in Communication Research.

Joseph Nathan Cohen co-hosts The Annex and directs the Sociocast Project. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York, Queens College. He wrote Financial Crisis in American Households: The Basic Expenses That Bankrupt the Middle Class (2017, Praeger) and co-authored Global Capitalism: A Sociological Perspective (2010, Polity). Twitter: @jncohen

Leslie Hinkson co-hosts The Annex. She is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University. Her recent book is Subprime Health: Debt and Race in U.S. Medicine(2017 University of Minnesota Press).

Gabriel Rossman co-hosts The Annex. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He wrote Climbing the Charts: What Radio Airplay Tells Us about the Diffusion of Innovation(2015, Princeton) Twitter: @GabrielRossman

Author-Nominated Peer Review May 15, 2019

Show notes

Recent research suggests that author-nominated peer reviewers are more likely to give favorable reviews. The decision has led Swiss National Science Foundation to stop considering these reviewers. Should we do this more broadly?

Discussants

Kristina Scharp is an Assistant Professor of Communications at the University of Washington. Her forthcoming articles include "Making Meaning of the Parent-Child Relationship: A Dialogic Analysis of Parent-Initiated Estrangement Narratives" in the Journal of Family Communication, and "'You're Not Welcome Here': A Grounded Theory of Family Distancing" in Communication Research.

Joseph Nathan Cohen co-hosts The Annex and directs the Sociocast Project. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York, Queens College. He wrote Financial Crisis in American Households: The Basic Expenses That Bankrupt the Middle Class (2017, Praeger) and co-authored Global Capitalism: A Sociological Perspective (2010, Polity). Twitter: @jncohen

Leslie Hinkson co-hosts The Annex. She is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University. Her recent book is Subprime Health: Debt and Race in U.S. Medicine(2017 University of Minnesota Press).

Gabriel Rossman co-hosts The Annex. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He wrote Climbing the Charts: What Radio Airplay Tells Us about the Diffusion of Innovation(2015, Princeton) Twitter: @GabrielRossman

Photo Credit

By Airman 1st Class Ashley Gardner - https://www.dvidshub.net/image/979502/resilient-airmen-brave-rapids, Public Domain, Link

Upper-Middle Class American Parenting May 14, 2019

Show notes

The Annex Sociology Podcast examines an article in the New York Times Upshot’ discussing a high intensity parenting style.

Discussants

Kristina Scharp is an Assistant Professor of Communications at the University of Washington. Her forthcoming articles include "Making Meaning of the Parent-Child Relationship: A Dialogic Analysis of Parent-Initiated Estrangement Narratives" in the Journal of Family Communication, and "'You're Not Welcome Here': A Grounded Theory of Family Distancing" in Communication Research.

Photo Credit

CC by Terence Faircloth (https://www.flickr.com/photos/atelier_tee/2827121200)

Chase Tweets Financial Advice May 10, 2019

Show notes

A discussion about a backfired tweet from Chase bank, which seemed to blame people's economic problems on irresponsible spending. The Tweet was picked up by Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, whose earlier academic findings are among the strongest refutation of the views underlying Chase's tweet.

Discussants

Michelle Silver is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Health and Society. She recently published Retirement and Discontents: Why We Won't Stop Working, Even If We Can (Columbia University).

Gabriel Rossman co-hosts The Annex. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He wrote Climbing the Charts: What Radio Airplay Tells Us about the Diffusion of Innovation(2015, Princeton) Twitter: @GabrielRossman

The Pressure to Go Partisan May 09, 2019

Show notes

We discuss a recent article in Cognition, linking partisan affiliation and public trust. We ask whether its findings help cast light on the pressure to go partisan when doing public sociology.