Contexts

sociology for the public

Fall 2013

Volume: 12 | Number: 4

This issue covers gated communities in Puerto Rico, Golden Gate suicides in San Francisco, and affirmative action as a gateway to admission in higher education. Also: competition in girl’s soccer, media coverage of Whitney Houston and Lance Armstrong, and the links between HIV and gender violence in South Africa.

Memes

The funny cat pictures and viral videos known as "internet memes" fill our inboxes and social media sites. Scholar Alice Marwick provides an overview of memes, a history of the term and its overall significance. Read More

Tiger Girls On The Soccer Field

Scholar Hilary Levey Friedman investigates how parental decisions result in different classed forms of femininity for girls who learn to be either “graceful girls” through dance, “aggressive girls” through soccer, or “pink warrior girls” through chess. She finds that parents higher up in the hierarchy of the middle class promote a more aggressive femininity, and we see this with both soccer and chess. Read More

Tiger Moms vs. Real Moms

Youjin OhToday, it seems like the only way to raise successful, accomplished, well-behaved children is through extreme parenting. Yale … Read More

Do fences make the best neighbors?

Do fences make the best neighbors? In our cover story, Zaire Dinzey-Flores takes us to Puerto Rico, where the island’s gated communities sort and segregate … Read More