Summary: What marks the difference between a “hustler,” the street-wise entrepreneur kings of the underworld, and the “crackhead,” the universally-reviled junkies blamed for an astonishing plethora of social ills? For those involved in the crack cocaine economy, it’s a question of central importance. To find out how these boundaries are created and maintained, Copes, Hochstetler, and Williams interviewed men convicted of violent street crimes to “explore how they distance themselves from those exhibiting distasteful
symptoms of crack addiction.” They find that those attempting to be “hustlers” put great effort into constructing an identity that separates them in every way from the lesser crackheads. The findings contribute to an understanding of how offenders shape conceptions of themselves and others, as well as everyday street interactions.

Summary: Supporting the troops has become ubiquitous. Gone are the contentious relations between Vietnam-era protesters and returning troops, as accusations of murder have given way to “support the troops, bring them home” bumper stickers. Coy, Woehrle, and Maney look at how peace movements have “developed an elaborated ‘discourse of betrayal’ by redefining what it means to support the troops.” By employing “proactive, anticipatory discourses,” the peace movement has attempted to side-step questions of patriotism by a redefinition of what it means to truly support the troops. The article demonstrates that movement discourses and rhetoric are simultaneously stable and flexible, and are highly influenced by contemporary politics and cultural constraints.

Summary: Many drug and alcohol treatment programs, as well as prison rehabilitation programs, are centered on the healing power of spirituality. Yet sociologists studying the life course usually emphasize the impact of other factors on delinquency, such as “marital attachment and job stability, or the criminality of the individual’s social ties. ” In this study, the authors follow over 150 people for 21 years to see what factors have the most influence on their criminality and find that religious belief and commitment had very little effect on criminal behavior.

Summary: From Kanye to the Ivory Tower, our society has fiercly debated what went wrong in New Orleans in the immediate period after hurricane Katrina, especially as to why the evacuation was handled so poorly and resulted in so many problems. Some, like Mr. West, blame poor decision-making and lack of aid on the part of the federal government, while other commentators argue that the poor have an excessive dependency on the government. These “welfare dependency theorists” argue that “a dependency-induced ‘mentality of helplessness’” prevalent amongst New Orleans residents was responsible for hampering the evacuation. To test the latter theory, Timothy Brezina used survey data to examine the characteristics of those New Orleanians who were trapped in the city after the hurricane. His findings indicate that, contrary to the claims of the welfare dependency theorists, over half of these New Orleanians were employed full time before Katrina hit and many showed great initiative after the storm. Multiple other factors the welfare dependency theorists would predict also did not hold true, suggesting the fault of the evacuations does not lie with the residents of New Orleans.

Summary: There’s nothing really inherently wrong with the oft-maligned pigeon, at least not when compared with any other bird. Rather, the problem seems to be that they just don’t know when to stay out of our way. In trying to discover why the pigeon became such a hated animal, Colin Jerolmack looked at New York Times articles from 1851 to 2006 (as well as supplementary articles from other papers) and found that because of our societal disctinction between nature and culture, animals are “out of place” (and therefore a problem) when “they are perceived to transgress spaces designated for human habitation.” While it’s usually framed as a health issue, the real problem seems to be that pigeon’s don’t understand they are to stay out of spaces designed for human use. As such, the term “rat with wings” neatly encapsulates the way modern Americans have come to view the pigeon.

Summary: Ever wonder why the kid who gets beaten up for his love of chess keeps coming back to the game that is the source of his grief? Antony J. Puddephatt thinks the answer lies in examining amatuer chess as a “greedy instituion” that works through five elements ((1) isolation from competing social spheres; (2) encapsulation within a symbolic status structure; (3) a collective feeling of elite status; (4) trials of worthiness; and (5) prestructured ritual) to foster commitment amongst players.

Summary: This article deals with two “puzzling paradoxes.” The first is the simultaneous absence and presence of attitude polarization; the notion that global attitude polarization if rare, yet pundits typically describe it as commonplace. The second is the simultaneous presence and absence of social polarization; while individuals typically have very little difference in attitude from those that make up their social/interpersonal networks, their larger networks are nonetheless characterized by considerable differences in attitude. These paradoxes are resolved through the understanding of a few key concepts. The first is what the authors term “take off” issues: those issues that for a very short period demand attention and appaear to radically polarize the populus, such as the Iraq war or  stem cell research. It is also essential to understand that not only may  people have conflicting views and opinions  in their own thoughts, people are highly selective in the issues they discuss with others. As such, people are much less likely to discuss “takeoff” issues with those whose opinions they are unfamiliar with or knowingly opposed to. In combination, these factors explain why people see so little polarization in their day-to-day lives, et hear so much about the polarized world they live in from television commentators.

Summary: Florida law allows judges to withhold adjudication of quilt for people found guilty of a felony and sentenced to probation. In effect, these individual’s records do not reflect the felony at all; they lose no civil rights and may lawfully claim they have enevr been convicted of a felony. To test the power of the felony label, the authors looked at nearly 96,000 felony cases in Florida and compared those who were given adjudication and those who were not. Their study finds that those who receive the formal label of felon are significantly more likely to commit another crime in the next two years that those who do not, even when controlling for multiple location characteristics (crime rate, relative poverty rate, etc.). The effect of the label is found to be stronger for whites and females, as well as those who had reached the age of 30 with no prior convictions. The authors point to ways in which the judicious use of the adjucation process can reduce harm not only at the individual level, but at the societal level as well.

Summary: This article tests the hypothesis that the number of Conservative Protestant congregations per 1,000 non-Hispanic whites is directly associated with the level of residential segregation between whites and blacks. The author finds that levels of segregation correspond positively with the presence of Conservative Protestant congregations and is consistnet across a variety of both urban and rural locales. Blanchard (the author) argues that this takes place not simply because of racial intolerance (though he admits this may have some impact in these congregations), but rather because of the closed nature of these groups and a strong focus on in-group relationships. Unlike other major Christian denominations, Conservative Protestans eschew programs and services that reach out to non-members and instead emphasize in-groupt ties and relationships. Furthermore, while other churches may serve as the meeting point for different races and thus act as a springboard toward integration, the closed nature of Conservative Protestant congregations serves to strengthen, not weaken, excisting social cleavages.