Pacific Standard March-April 2013 Cover

The Melting-Pot Gazette

alhambra

Seventeen people squeeze around a dark wood table in a low, redbrick office building on the outskirts of Los Angeles, picking at a potluck dinner of fried chicken, pad thai, and Cherry Coke. The group is as oddly matched as the menu. There’s Eric Sunada, an engineer who also runs a small environmental non-profit. Kerrie Gutierrez, an instructional aide and mother of five. Joe Soong, an analyst for the Los Angeles Police Department. But they do have one thing in common: They are all newly minted journalists, contributors to a novel kind of local news outlet in the ethnically fractured, ... Read More

The Great White Hoax

Chael-Sonnen

Chael Sonnen spent most of his fighting career as a marginally above average fighter with a bombastic personality and tragicomic penchant for losing big fights in the most embarrassing fashion possible. However, thanks to a depleted pool of contenders in the UFC’s middleweight division and some well-timed wins, he earned a shot at reigning champion and pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva that was scheduled for August of 2010. What followed was straight out of a certain political strategist’s playbook. In the lead up to the fight, Sonnen claimed that Portuguese, Silva’s native ... Read More

Sociologists and The End of Sleep

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The past week has seen a flurry of attention around the latest purported wonder drug, Modafinil, which claims to make sleeping basically optional, with no ill effects. Just pop one, and two hours of sleep is plenty—with no headaches, "sleep debt," hangover feeling, withdrawal, post-dopamine crash (as with that other common sleep-avoidance drug, speed) and little addiction risk. Stuff like this is the dry straw of punditry: There's virtually nothing about Modafinil's off-label use that doesn't invite speculation, and no way to disprove that speculation in the short term. Will not having to ... Read More

UK Study of Racial Discrimination Curiously Racial

A study of bias in immigration policy by researchers at the UK's Bristol University concludes that treatment of immigrants by the British visa system and the British media "exhibits features of institutionalized racism that implicitly invokes shared whiteness as a basis of racialized inclusion." If true—that whites have an easier time applying for UK residence than anyone else does, and newspapers treat immigrants as ethnically distinct—that's important, but less-than-shocking news. From there however, things get odd. A useful summary at phys.org, which reported the study, ... Read More

Life Expectancy, the Anti-Vaccine Movement, and How Individuals Started to Take Credit for Growing Old

Longer life expectancy is one of the hallmarks of modern American life -- one of those facts that seems to have bearing on just about everything. It challenges our social insurance programs, alters our labor force dynamics, and, when paired with the phenomenon of low birth rates, generally gives demographers a headache. But of course, it's also a wonderful triumph! And it gives us a big reason to pat ourselves on the back as a society. The question is: whose back do we pat? And how do we understand our own role as individuals in the story? In the Journal of Social History, Helen Zoe Veit ... Read More

Children’s Books Increasingly Ignore Natural World

Picture an illustrated children’s book — one that has won a prestigious award — and your mind conjures up images of furry animals, puffy clouds, and eager boys and girls enjoying adventures in the wild. In fact, our kids are entering a much different world in their earliest literary experiences — one in which nature plays an increasingly minor role. That’s the conclusion of a newly published study, which suggests these books reflect our growing estrangement from the natural environment. A group of researchers led by University of Nebraska-Lincoln sociologist J. Allen Williams ... Read More

The Sociology of Avatar, The X Files and The Simpsons

Homer Simpson Marches on Washington

After watching the premiere episode of House, I confidently predicted the Fox medical drama would be dead on arrival. I was certain the viewing public would not respond to a program based around such a cold, arrogant character. And the questions it posed — Is there a God? Does anyone ever tell the whole truth, even to himself? In the end, don't we always choose self-interest over altruism? — were not ones the American Idol crowd was especially interested in contemplating. I gave it six weeks, eight tops. House is now in its sixth season and remains among the 10 most-watched programs in ... Read More

Home Libraries Provide Huge Educational Advantage

In an era of electronic entertainment, the term “home library” increasingly has the word “video” in the middle. But before parents start giving away books to clear shelf space for DVDs, they’ll want to consider the results of a comprehensive new study (PDF). After examining statistics from 27 nations, a group of researchers found the presence of book-lined shelves in the home — and the intellectual environment those volumes reflect — gives children an enormous advantage in school. “Home library size has a very substantial effect on educational attainment, even adjusting ... Read More