by Lindsey Trimble O’Connor and Julie A. Kmec

Undergraduate students have difficulty grasping the concept of discriminatory treatment at work in part because many have not yet had substantial labor market experience but also because so much discrimination at work is subtle or hidden from view.

One way to teach a difficult concept like workplace discrimination is through the use of active learning opportunities—teaching strategies that engage students through the practice of doing sociology.  Active learning opportunities are the gold standard in teaching because they tend to yield positive learning outcomes, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.  Providing these sorts of opportunities is easier said than done, particularly when we teach large, lecture-based or introductory classes.  How can we embed active learning opportunities in these less-than-ideal class formats to help us teach difficult concepts like workplace discrimination?

Continue reading “So You Want to Teach Students about Discrimination at Work? An Active In-class Teaching Exercise Using the Audit Methodology” →

An interdisciplinary team of three scholars — Stephanie Decker, Christina Lubinski, & Dan Wadhwani — have partnered to create a new webpage for scholars interested in historical approaches to studying organizations. It stems from conversations among a number of scholars from around world who have hosted seminars, events at conferences, published articles and books and run research projects and networks in this field. The website and blog aims to be a hub on which scholars interested in history & organizations can publish ongoing activities and publications, and exchange ideas and comments, for those involved in the network or for those just curious about this line of research.

If you are interested in contributing, please let Stephanie, Christina, or Dan know.

Organizational History Network

(Via Howard Aldrich.)

A mini-symposium was on Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century was recently published in Historical Materialism (Volume 23, Issue 1).  The mini-symposium consisted of the following:

• Capital (It Fails Us Now): Introduction to a Mini-symposium on Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Alberto Toscano
• Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty: ‘Wealth of Data, Poverty of Theory’ by Michel Husson
• Thomas Piketty and the Search for r by Michael Roberts
• A General Theory for Our Times: On Piketty by Geoff Mann

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology at The University of Toledo invites applications for a tenure-track appointment in Sociology at the assistant professor level to begin August 2015. We seek a candidate with expertise in urban sociology. The successful applicant will have an interdisciplinary vision in order to contribute to programs on campus, such as Urban Studies and the Urban Affairs Center.   Applicants should demonstrate strong commitment to research, as well as teaching and service. The department offers a BA and MA in Sociology.

Continue reading “Job Posting: TT Assistant Professor Position at the University of Toledo” →

Bryce Hannibal defended his dissertation at Texas A&M University earlier this year and will be on the market this fall.

Abstract: 

In this project I explore how career success, historical importance, and innovation are outcomes of social network characteristics.  Specifically, I look at jazz collaboration networks at the height of small-group jazz popularity (1945-1958) to determine if one’s structural location within the larger network influences career success.  Using a network dataset collected from the Tom Lord Discography, I use social network analysis techniques and longitudinal logistic regression to examine a statistical relationship between network characteristics and success.  I test several existing hypotheses in network literature, e.g., centrality, brokerage, and closure, as well as newer assertions that are gaining widespread use.

Because jazz is based on improvisation there are incentives to creating a well-functioning closed group that remains cohesive so that musicians become familiar with and attuned to one another’s musical styles.  However, while this logic is sound the results of this project do not follow the closure tradition and are instead consistent with the sparse networks or brokerage hypotheses.  Empirically, individuals within jazz networks who form a closed group are less likely to have a successful career.  More broadly, conclusions from this project suggest that individual innovators who work in a group setting should maintain open networks with connections to diverse areas of the global network.