{"title":"“You can't really turn it off”: The police “sixth sense” as cultural schema","authors":"Holly Campeau, Laura D. Keesman","doi":"10.1111/socf.13018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.13018","url":null,"abstract":"A variety of concepts in the policing literature denote a so‐called “sixth sense” that police officers claim to possess. “Intuition,” “suspicion,” or “common sense” all specify a tacit knowledge said to heighten an officer's sensitivity to danger and potential suspects. This paper argues this type of knowledge exemplifies the application of “cultural schema” (DiMaggio, 1997): a shared knowledge structure that allows people to respond to environmental stimuli in ways that render their lives more predictable. We combine two case studies—one in Canada, the other in the Netherlands—which include ethnographic field notes and 199 interviews with police officers, to reconsider the police sixth sense in light of theoretical and empirical advances in cultural sociology and cognition research. This paper further discusses the benefit of studying this sixth sense itself as a form of cultural knowledge—that is, as “police culture”—to improve our understanding of cultural resources most or least compatible with emerging police reforms.","PeriodicalId":21904,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Forum","volume":"120 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142182213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Old wine in new wineskins: Christian nationalism, authoritarianism, and the problem of essentialism in explanations of religiopolitical conflict","authors":"Jesse Smith","doi":"10.1111/socf.13014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.13014","url":null,"abstract":"In 2001, John Levi Martin published a critique of authoritarianism scholarship, arguing that it was marred by fundamental biases of tautology, selective interpretation, and overtheorization of some research subjects but neglect of others. Drawing from this critique, I argue that Christian nationalism scholarship in sociology operates as a variant of authoritarianism research, exhibiting similar claims, strengths, and shortcomings. In a short span of time, the Christian nationalism research agenda has come to dominate the sociological study of religion and enjoyed a high profile in public discourse, presumably due to its relevance to matters of acute political concern. However, this literature interprets empirical results based on unverified assumptions of essentially authoritarian goals and motivations while ignoring plausible alternative explanations. It further neglects respondents who are low on Christian nationalism measures, despite evidence that these respondents play a role in religiopolitical conflict. The result is an essentialist account of Christian nationalism that is politically resonant but theoretically problematic. I propose that these issues can be addressed by a shift away from essentialist and toward social models of belief systems, which offer important advantages: greater consistency with current theories of political polarization, a stronger sociological element, and less susceptibility to researcher bias.","PeriodicalId":21904,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Forum","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141929771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"I read banned books","authors":"Joel Best","doi":"10.1111/socf.13010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.13010","url":null,"abstract":"Sociologists should encourage dissenting voices about public issues.","PeriodicalId":21904,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Forum","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141585317","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The promise of public sociology in India: Looking at Burawoy and beyond","authors":"Anushka Sinha, Aditya Raj","doi":"10.1111/socf.13011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.13011","url":null,"abstract":"The trajectory of the academic discipline of sociology is an attestation to the quest for civility and sociability. We believe that the promise of public sociology will rejuvenate scholars to commit to better engagement with one another and with the public. We situate and draw from the scholarly contributions of Michael Burawoy to reflect on sociology's longstanding critical imagination, hoping that the world could be different. We place ourselves on the continuum of what is and what ought to be for better lived experiences and a sustainable planet. We draw from the work of sociologists in India, which continues to guide us to amplify the voices of the unheard and the issues of public concern. To be inclusive, sustainable, democratic, and humane, we need to move beyond structurally ingrained processes within academia and make bridges that are open to all. The deliberation furthered in this paper will encourage young scholars to be more concerned for engaging multiple publics and, thereby, help the discipline of sociology itself.","PeriodicalId":21904,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Forum","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141567683","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cross‐national governmental treatment toward atheists since 1816","authors":"Justin Huft, Ben Fields","doi":"10.1111/socf.13009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.13009","url":null,"abstract":"As the atheist population grows globally, understanding how governments treat the growing population is vital. Two theories, group threat theory (GTT) and world society theory (WST), offer differing predictions. GTT suggests increasing atheists may face unfavorable treatment because religious groups perceive them as a threat. Conversely, WST proposes that a more interconnected world culture advances secularism, which promotes positive treatment for atheists. This study explores the interplay between these theories and sheds light on how governments treat atheists across countries. Utilizing a comprehensive panel dataset spanning nearly 200 years, we investigate governmental treatment toward atheists, analyzing data from diverse countries and tracking changes over time. Our results reveal that as the proportion of atheists increases, their treatment by governments becomes more favorable, challenging the tenets of GTT. We also find that embeddedness in political or economic networks is related to more favorable treatment of atheists.","PeriodicalId":21904,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Forum","volume":"2015 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141567684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Syllabus as argument in an era of politicized pedagogy","authors":"Michael L. Dougherty","doi":"10.1111/socf.13008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.13008","url":null,"abstract":"The traditional character of higher education in the US is under assault. The broad, intellectual focus on the liberal arts and its concomitant values of academic freedom and academic governance are giving way to an over‐managed vocational institution that prioritizes ambience over integrity and credentialism over citizenship. In this milieu, sociologists should use the classroom as an opportunity to model the explanatory power of the discipline by structuring our syllabi to make a point. I refer to this approach as <jats:italic>syllabus‐as‐argument</jats:italic>, which I contrast with the traditional organizational logic of <jats:italic>syllabus‐as‐survey</jats:italic>—configuring a syllabus to provide an overview of a given topic, theme or field. Where the chief criterion of success for the syllabus as survey is comprehensiveness, the syllabus as argument strives for convincingness. I draw from two courses to exemplify this approach. The first is a senior seminar in environmental sociology, which I have reworked into a course explaining the intractability of the climate crisis. The second is a general education course in community sociology that I remade to explain the links between growing inequality and deteriorating democracy in the US.","PeriodicalId":21904,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Forum","volume":"111 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141524169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beyond the protest paradigm: Four types of news coverage and America's most prominent social movement organizations","authors":"Edwin Amenta, Neal Caren, Weijun Yuan","doi":"10.1111/socf.13006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.13006","url":null,"abstract":"What determines the quality of coverage received by social movement organizations when they appear extensively in the news? Research on the news coverage of social movement organizations is dominated by case studies supporting the “protest paradigm,” which argues that journalists portray movement activists trivially and negatively when covering protest. However, movement organizations often make long‐running news for many different reasons, mainly not protest. We argue that some of this extensive news will lead to worse coverage—in terms of substance and sentiment—notably when the main action covered involves violence. Extensive coverage centered on other actions, however, notably politically assertive action, will tend to produce “good news” in these dimensions. We analyze the news of the twentieth century's 100 most‐covered U.S. movement organizations in their biggest news year in four national newspapers. Topic models indicate that these organizations were mainly covered for actions other than nonviolent protest, including politically assertive action, strikes, civic action, investigations, trials, and violence. Natural language processing analyses and hand‐coding show that their news also varied widely in sentiment and substance. Employing qualitative comparative analyses, we find that the main action behind news strongly influences its quality, and there may be several news paradigms for movement organizations.","PeriodicalId":21904,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Forum","volume":"68 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141190257","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The social life of climate projects","authors":"Malcolm Araos, Ankit Bhardwaj, Eric Klinenberg","doi":"10.1111/socf.12995","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12995","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21904,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Forum","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140883370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sociology and the climate crisis: A momentum surge and the roots run deep","authors":"Andrew Jorgenson","doi":"10.1111/socf.12994","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12994","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21904,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Forum","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140799653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sayyid Qutb: An intellectual biography By GiedreŠabasevičiūtė, Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. 2021. pp. 274","authors":"James L. Nolan","doi":"10.1111/socf.12993","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12993","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21904,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Forum","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140566434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}