University of California Press Blog » Sociology

Notes from the Third General Assembly: A Look Back at Occupy’s Origins

ssilverman — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 22:12:45 +0000

To mark the 2nd anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, we’re revisiting the origins of the General Assembly with this excerpt from Nathan Schneider’s Thank You, Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse. The book is an up-close, inside account of OWS’s first year in New York City, written by one of the first reporters [more...]

Greetings from ASA

ssilverman — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 18:52:08 +0000

Judith A. Levine at ASA

Greetings from the American Sociological Association’s Annual Meeting in New York! At left, Judith A. Levine poses at the UC Press booth with her new book, Ain’t No Trust, which explores issues of trust and distrust among low-income women in the U.S.—at work, around childcare, in their relationships, and with [more...]

John Iceland Studies the Growing Issue of Economic Insecurity

ssilverman — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 22:49:45 +0000

Despite some signs that the economy is getting better, poverty is still a persistent threat for the majority of Americans, a new study by the AP has found. Survey data showed that 4 in 5 adults have struggled with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives. It also found [more...]

Soccer, Dance, or Chess: How After-School Activities Shape Gender Roles

ssilverman — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 21:19:35 +0000

Today in The Atlantic, Hilary Levey Friedman writes about the gendered notions that influence parents’ choice of after-school activities for their girls. If you’ve ever wondered about how your daughter’s extracurriculars can shape her path later in life, take a look at the study.

The article is adapted from Friedman’s new book, Playing to Win: Raising [more...]

UC Press Podcast: Teardown

ssilverman — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:40:36 +0000

Last week’s news that Detroit will default on $2 billion of debt has left many wondering what will happen to cities in similar financial distress, and to the nation’s economy as a whole. Gordon Young’s new memoir, Teardown, offers a unique perspective from inside one such city: Flint, Michigan. The birthplace of General Motors, Flint once boasted one of the [more...]

New UC Press Author Asks: Who Profits From Poverty?

ssilverman — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:39:13 +0000

Ananya Roy and her colleagues at the #GlobalPOV Project, an initiative of UC Berkeley’s Blum Center for Developing Economies, have just released a stunning new illustrated video that explores the business of poverty. Roy is the author of Encountering Poverty (forthcoming from UC Press), a path-breaking book that will consolidate a new field of inquiry: global poverty studies.

Watch the [more...]

Why the World Needs Benchwarmers

ssilverman — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:54:32 +0000

Harvard sociologist Hilary Levey Friedman, author of the forthcoming book Playing to Win: Raising Children in a Competitive Culture, is now a featured blogger at Psychology Today. Her first installment, “Qualities of the B (aka Bench-Warming) Player” talks about why it may be more advantageous for a child to be a benchwarmer than a star [more...]

Sheryl Sandberg and Jody Williams: A Study in Contrasts

ssilverman — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 01:08:52 +0000

What do Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams have in common? According to a recent article in Foreign Policy Journal, “two remarkable women have been in the news promoting their books. [Sandberg's ubiquitous Lean In and Williams' recent UC Press book, My Name Is Jody Williams] Both women are brilliant, hardworking, dedicated, focused [more...]

When Breast Isn’t Best: Spiked Reviews Bottled Up

ssilverman — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:26:29 +0000

In the wake of Mayor Bloomberg’s decision last summer to remove formula samples from the diaper bags given to new mothers in New York City, the breast vs. bottle feeding debate is more contentious than ever.

The Spiked Review of Books recently took up this issue in a review of Suzanne’s Barston’s new book, Bottled Up: How [more...]

Among Murderers: Prisoners Respond to Sabine Heinlein

ssilverman — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:08:06 +0000

Sabine Heinlein sent a finished copy of her book, Among Murderers, to Richie, an interviewee serving time at Attica prison. He then passed it around to friends and fellow cellblock-mates. Two of them were so moved by her research on the struggle to navigate life after a murder conviction, they felt compelled to write responses to Heinlein.

Below are [more...]