Author Archives: tanasti

Wednesday, May 20th 2015: David Luben presents “The Reterritorialization of the Elite: Global Social Scenes and Finance Flows”

Please join us tomorrow, Wednesday May 20th from 4:30-5:50 present his work “The Reterritorialization of the Elite: Global Social Scenes and Finance Flows”, which he is co-authoring with Ashley Mears at Boston University.

Food will be provided! Hope to see you there!

Abstract

This article presents data on the reterritorialization of global economic elites and expands the dominant framework of global cities when considering flows of finance capital. Based on two ethnographies of highly mobile business elites, in the VIP party circuit and the financial conference circuit, we show how global capital flows move through social networks forged and maintained in temporary social scenes that exist far beyond the well-studied urban centers of financial industries. We document how finance networks are established through embodied practices and social rituals linked across the seemingly peripheral locales of Cannes, the Hamptons, Miami, and Las Vegas, zones of both work and “play” that make up “entertainment circuits,” and are central to global business communities. In these circuits, social capital accumulation manifests in two forms, tie formation and tie strengthening, both of which are central to elites’ business ventures. These global networks and related interactions of economic elites serve as mechanisms for social closure in the development of relationships, deals, and markets. The findings suggest that extra-boardroom interactions by participants in far-flung locales and in alternate circuits are crucial to the understanding of elites, their relationships, and business practices. Implications include the consideration of non-traditional geographies, related networks, and interactions therein as objects of study.

For an advance copy of the paper, please contact Theresa Anasti at tanasti@uchicago.edu. For access concerns, please contact Brian Tuohy at btuohy@uchicago.edu.

Wednesday, April 22nd: Gordon C.C. Douglas, Post-Doc at New York University presents: “Methodological Considerations for a Cultural Sociology of Urban Planning”

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Please join us April 22nd, 1126 E. 59th Street, Rm 401, 4:30-5:50, for the second City, Society and Space workshop of the quarter! We are excited to have Gordon C.C. Douglas (2014 PhD) Post-Doc at the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University present his recent work: “Methodological Considerations for a Cultural Sociology of Urban Planning”, a discussion of some of his recent qualitative work in progress.

As usual, food and drink will be provided!

The abstract for the talk is below:

“This talk, building out of a couple of projects-in-progress, will focus on exploring two elements of classical Chicago urban sociology that might fruitfully be connected, debated, and revived: the explicit sociological analysis of urban planning, and the tradition of naturalistic and “journalistic” research and reportage. Sociological scholarship on urban planning, policy, development, and design has been central yet sporadic in urban sociology and has not been effectively codified. Meanwhile, the empirical art of what Robert Park called “nosing around,” and what I expand to mean the walking of a city or neighborhood, talking to informants, observing, understanding, and reporting cultural phenomena, has new relevance as qualitative methodologists speak up for the unique advantages of their trade (rather than washing them over with quantitative language) and recognize the importance of public communication. Posing several studies of my own as cases for brief analysis and discussion, I will consider the potential advantages and disadvantages of an adaptive, story-driven, naturalistic approach to a cultural sociology of urban planning. I hope to provoke discussion not only of the epistemological importance of the sociology of planning per se, but of the controversial methodological standing of a more “journalistic” form of sociological reportage and the potential value (and pitfalls) of bringing such an approach to the study of urban planning, policy, and development.”

(In lieu of a paper version of the talk itself, Gordon will provide an example of one of the studies he will pose as a case of qualitative research on the cultures of urban planning, a previously unpublished chapter from his forthcoming book, as well as the methods appendix from that study.)

For an advance copy of the chapter, please contact Theresa Anasti at tanasti@uchicago.edu.

Wednesday, April 8th: Robert C. Smith, Professor of Political Science at CUNY presents: ‘Horatio Alger Lives in Brooklyn, But Check His Papers… And Give Him DACA’

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Please join us April 8th, 1126 E. 59th Street, Rm 401, for the first City, Society and Space workshop of the quarter! We are excited to have Robert C. Smith, Professor of Political Science at CUNY present his recent work: “Horatio Alger Lives in Brooklyn, But Check His Papers… And Give Him DACA”, a culmination of data and analysis stemming from the New York Children of Mexican Immigrants (NYCOMP) project.

As usual, food and drink will be provided!

The abstract for the talk is below:

This talk will 1) present findings from the two decade long year ethnographic New York Children of Mexican Immigrants Project (NYCOMP), which will appear in the author’s forthcoming book, Horatio Alger Lives in Brooklyn, But Check His Papers (California) and 2) briefly introduce the Deferred Action Access Project, a large service, evaluation and long term research project for which the author is Lead. The book documents the long term trajectories of incorporation of children of Mexican immigrants in New York, both documented and undocumented, over many years. The main finding is that legal or US citizen children of Mexican immigrants in New York are at least modestly upwardly mobile, and many more so, but those who lack legal status become stuck. The book documents how undocumented status imbricates itself into daily life, derailing upward mobility, and fostering larger inequality. From a policy perceptive, I frame this maintenance of long term undocumented status as a natural experiment with undocumented children, producing negative outcomes American claims to want to avoid. The Deferred Action Access Project is a concrete intervention that seeks to address this lack of legal status by supporting at least 1000 new applications for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program among Mexicans in New York. This part of the talk discusses DACA’s benefits and limits to address the problems analyzed in Horatio Alger.

Wednesday, March 4th: Micere Keels, Assistant Professor in Department of Comparative Human Development Presents: ‘School Choice and Social Network Dispersion: Community Cohesion in the Shifting Landscape Choice Schools’

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Please join us TOMORROW, March 4th from 4:30-5:50pm in SS 401 to hear Micere Keels, Assistant Professor in the Department of Comparative Human Development at Chicago, present her talk ‘School Choice and Social Network Dispersion: Community Cohesion in the Shifting Landscape Choice Schools‘. An abstract for the talk is below.

Food will be provided, we hope to see you there!

Abstract:

Given the spread of public school choice it is an important moment to examine the research evidence that can provide insight into what increasing school choice may mean for the community building functions of schools. Many argue that increasing school choice has contributed to urban neighborhood revitalization by allowing families to separate their neighborhood of residence from their school of attendance. However, increasing school choice also allows gentrifiers to by-pass the neighborhood school. City-wide data is used to examine the effects of gentrification on neighborhood public schools. Data from one revitalizing neighborhood and its associated schools is used to illustrate the opportunities and challenges of increasing school choice—fostering desegregation at the neighborhood level while reinforcing segregation at the school level.

Wednesday, February 25th, 2015, PhD Candidate Chris Graziul Presents: “Opportunity Constraint and Religious Life”

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Hello all,

Please join us next Wednesday, February 25th from 4:30-5:50pm in SS 401 to hear Chris Graziul, PhD Candidate in the Sociology Department at Chicago, present his paper ‘Opportunity Constraint and Religious Life’. An abstract is below.

Food will be provided. We hope to see you there!

Abstract:

Researchers typically study the relationship between the secular world and religious life using qualitative methods. Quantitative studies using a rational choice approach to religious behavior often acknowledge the role of the secular world, but they also often focus on individuals who belong to marginalized groups with restricted access to secular alternatives. This study fills a gap in the literature by applying an analytic framework that reframes personal constraint (e.g. inability to access secular resources due to socioeconomic status) in terms of ecological constraint (e.g. inability to access secular resources due to the absence of spaces where these resources are found or developed). Through this paradigm, termed associational ecology, I explore the religious behavior of congregants and congregations in communities with few alternative spaces for social interaction. Based on the first wave of the United States Congregational Life Survey (USCLS) of 122,404 individuals within a nationally representative sample of 443 congregations conducted in 2001, and Census ZIP Code Business Patterns data from the same year, I find evidence that congregants are more socially embedded in their congregation and congregations are more likely to facilitate secular activities (i.e. sporting activities or teams; hobby or craft groups; other social, recreational, or leisure activities) when located in communities with fewer alternative spaces for meeting people in the community. This suggests that religious organizations play a compensatory role when secular alternatives are relatively scarce, and challenges the concept that religious markets are separable from their community contexts.Please contact Theresa Anasti at tanasti@uchicago.edu for an advance copy of the paper.

TODAY! February 18th, 4:30-5:50 Richard Taub, Professor Emeritus of University of Chicago, Presents “A Random Walk Through a Sociological Career”.

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Hello all,

Please join us this Wednesday, February 18th in SS 401 from 4:30-5:50pm to hear Richard Taub, the Paul Klapper Professor in Social Sciences at Chicago, present “A Random Walk Through a Sociological Career”. He will present a chapter entitled ‘Beginnings’ from his Doing Development in Arkansas: Using Credit to Create Opportunities for Entrepreneurs Outside the Mainstream. Please contact Theresa Anasti at tanasti@uchicago.edu for a copy of the chapter.

Food will be provided. We hope to see you there!

Wednesday, February 4: Terry Clark, Professor of Sociology at University of Chicago, Presents: “Can Tocqueville Karaoke?”

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Hello all,

Please join us this Wednesday, February 4th from 4:30-5:50pm in SS 401 to hear Terry Clark, Professor of Sociology at Chicago, present on his new book ‘Can Tocqueville Karaoke? Also, please find below a message from Professor Clark to the workshop. Food will be provided, we hope to see you there!

Message from Professor Clark:

Theaster Gates is transforming past conceptions of how low income neighborhoods work and can change. He is a charismatic mix that blends analysis that could come from a sociologist (see his TAD UNC lecture) with personal activism (buying a cheap house and filling it with Dr Wax’s records) and singing gospel/blues (with his Black Monks of Mississippi). Featured in the NY Times, New Yorker, Davos, etc.

We are collaborating to try to capture how his magic works in specifics and how elements can be generalized elsewhere, as some elements link to our new book, Can Tocqueville Karaoke?

He has an enthusiastic staff of some 50, about seven of whom we have been collaborating with to date, and who will attend our Workshop on Feb. 4.

We hope to use the session to continue to codify his (and their) magic, think how it links to broader processes social scientists have analyzed, any how we can offer lessons with legs globally.

I was hooked as I listened and kept reading on Youtube and more; just explore a bit for yourself, starting with the links below from Naomi. Do bring any thoughts to the Workshop on how to improve these efforts.

We suggest that those who are ill or want to avoid the cold are welcome to participate in the Workshop via skype. If this is of interest please contact Brian at btuohy@uchicago.edu.

Terry Clark

7 min. video on Can Tocqueville Karaoke?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6WzQ7rWxD8&feature=youtu.be

Wednesday, January 21st: Amanda Michelle Jones, PhD Student, School of Social Service Administration Presents: “Assessing the Invisibility of Homeless Youth”

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Please join the City, Society and Space workshop on Wednesday, January 21st, in SS 401 from 4:30-5:50 to hear Amanda Michelle Jones, PhD Student at SSA present her paper, “Assessing the Invisibility of Homeless Youth”.

For an advance copy of the paper, please contact Theresa Anasti at tanasti@uchicago.edu.

Abstract:

The current paper is a beginning exploration of youth’s levels of engagement in and disengagement from society. Guided by stigmatization theory, philosophy of place, exploration consists of content analysis of existing video blogs (vlogs) collected from Invisible People, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that features short videos of people sharing their experiences of homelessness in the hopes of “changing the way we think about people experiencing homelessness” (Invisible People, 2013a). The paper seeks to identify some of youth’s motives for engagement or lack thereof, for example: accessing social services versus bartering on the streets; obtaining traditional employment versus informal means of securing income; or continuing educational pursuits versus train hopping. Particular attention is paid to homeless youth’s efforts to be “seen” versus remain invisible and what that means to the youth, as well as deliberate attempts to make homeless youth invisible. Implications for future research are also discussed.

Food and drink will be provided. We hope to see you there!

Wednesday, December 3: Theresa Anasti, PhD Student, School of Social Service Administration Presents: “Sex Worker or Victim of Prostitution?: Advocacy Collaborations Among Nonprofits that Represent Individuals in the Sex Industry”

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Please join us December 3 in SS 401 from 4:30-5:50pm to hear Theresa Anasti, PhD student in the School of Social Service Administration at Chicago, present her paper ‘Sex Worker or Victim of Prostitution?: Advocacy Collaborations Among Nonprofits that Represent Individuals in the Sex Industry.”

Abstract:

Collaboration has been proposed as a possible solution to the resource shortages and inefficiencies plaguing service provision by human service nonprofits (HSNP). Yet research on HSNP collaboration often neglects to discuss the important role of collaboration in expanding advocacy efforts, in addition to improving service provision. In order to be involved in policy advocacy, many HSNPs may collaborate with advocacy organizations, organizations whose primary activity is promoting (or prohibiting) legislative or social change. Collaborations between HSNPs and advocacy organizations have the potential to improve political representation for the marginalized populations yet little is known about the structure and processes behind these relationships. This study seeks to contribute to the burgeoning literature on nonprofit collaboration in an advocacy context, looking at HSNPs in the city of Chicago that may collaborate with one of two advocacy organizations that claim to represent individuals involved in the sex industry. These collaborations are complicated by the fact that the advocacy organizations in question frame the problem in oppositional ways: one advocacy organization proposes to abolish the sex industry while the other advocates decriminalization as a policy alternative. This qualitative study will look at the reasons that lead both sides to collaborate, and detail what these collaborations look like at the ground level. This study will contribute to organizational theory and practice by looking at reasons behind advocacy collaboration and the potential implications for the vulnerable populations represented.

Food will be provided. We hope to see you there!

Wednesday, November 5th, John Halloran, PhD Student in the School of Social Service Administration presents Social Processes and Neighborhood-Level Maltreatment Rates

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Please join us November 5th in SS 401 from 4:30-5:50pm to hear John Halloran, PhD student in the School of Social Service Administration at Chicago, present his paper ‘Social Processes and Neighborhood-level Child Maltreatment Rates‘. This presentation will focus on the use of administration data in neighborhoods research.

Food will be provided. We hope to see you there!