Sociology Colloquium, Spring 2020

February 26, 2020: Karl Zou

Determinants of Residential Segregation and Locational Attainments: Implication of Discrete Choice Model

Karl Zou, Texas A&M University

Residential segregation has long been a central focus of sociology and demography. Since social resources are not evenly distributed, living in a given neighborhood differentially impacts people’s education, public facilities, social network, and even health. This study will use 100% count restricted 1940 IPUMS micro data and take San Antonio, TX as an example. It will investigate how multiple factors, including individual and household characteristics and also the attributes of neighborhoods of residence, contribute to sorting individuals across neighborhoods and the implications for segregation dynamics. Specifically, it addresses the following questions: (1) Can differences and distributions in social characteristics and acculturation adequately explain residential outcomes? (2) Do people choose a certain neighborhood due to racial or non-racial factors? (3) Can we distinguish between the importance of different neighborhood characteristics – racial composition, income level, etc. for residential sorting?

February 26, 2020
Wednesday, 12-1:30pm
Location: Academic Building (ACAD) 326

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February 19, 2020: Dr. Michael Woolcock

Now For the Hard Part: Alternative Paths to Building State Capability for Policy Implementation

Dr. Michael Woolcock, The World Bank’s Development Research Group

In partnership with the Mosbacker Institute for Trade, Economics, and Public Policy
The Bush School of Government and Public Service

Historically, realizing key national development ambitions through reforms and policies aimed at building state capacity has proved insufficient. For example, helping students learn is actually more complex than providing educational ingredients like buildings, textbooks, and teachers. Dr. Woolcock will provide an alternative approach to building state capability, along with examples of this alternative in action.

Michael Woolcock is Lead Social Scientist in the World Bank’s Development Research Group, where he has worked since 1998. He is also a part-time Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. An Australian national, he earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Brown University.

February 19, 2020
Wednesday, 5:30-6:30pm
Location: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

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February 12, 2020: Dr. Robin Veldman

The Religious and Political Origins of Evangelical Climate Change Skepticism

Dr. Robin Veldman, Texas A&M University

Why are white evangelical Christians the most skeptical major religious group in America regarding climate change? Scholars and observers have largely focused on cognitive factors such as conservative politics, anti=science attitudes, or theology. Drawing on qualitative field research, I emphasize how climate skepticism and anti-environmentalism have become embedded in evangelicals’ social world, and in particular, tied to their sense of embattlement with secular culture. Since the 1960’s, evangelicals have increasingly pushed back against what they see as the marginalization of Christianity from the public square. In the mid-2000s, after a group of pro-environmental evangelical leaders launched a campaign calling for action on climate change, leaders and pundits associated with the Christian Right pushed back with a campaign of their own, portraying climate activists as allies of the “secular elites” whom they had long blamed for American Christianity’s decline. Rejecting the premise common in environmental circles that there is something inherently anti-environmental about the evangelical worldview, I highlight that Christian Right leaders actively promoted misinformation about climate change to evangelical audiences, for reasons that, I suggest, are tied to their own political agenda.

February 12, 2020
Wednesday, 12-1:30pm
Location: Academic Building (ACAD) 326

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The Religious and Political Origins of Evangelical Climate Change Skepticism

Dr. Robin Veldman, Texas A&M University

Why are white evangelical Christians the most skeptical major religious group in America regarding climate change? Scholars and observers have largely focused on cognitive factors such as conservative politics, anti=science attitudes, or theology. Drawing on qualitative field research, I emphasize how climate skepticism and anti-environmentalism have become embedded in evangelicals’ social world, and in particular, tied to their sense of embattlement with secular culture. Since the 1960’s, evangelicals have increasingly pushed back against what they see as the marginalization of Christianity from the public square. In the mid-2000s, after a group of pro-environmental evangelical leaders launched a campaign calling for action on climate change, leaders and pundits associated with the Christian Right pushed back with a campaign of their own, portraying climate activists as allies of the “secular elites” whom they had long blamed for American Christianity’s decline. Rejecting the premise common in environmental circles that there is something inherently anti-environmental about the evangelical worldview, I highlight that Christian Right leaders actively promoted misinformation about climate change to evangelical audiences, for reasons that, I suggest, are tied to their own political agenda.

February 12, 2020
Wednesday, 12-1:30pm
Location: Academic Building (ACAD) 326

January 29, 2020: Dr. Paul Almeida

The Micro Foundations of Subaltern Political Party Expansion in the Global South: A Theory of Social Movement Partyism

Dr. Paul Almeida, University of California, Merced

Dr. Almeida’s research centers on the efficacy of collective action at the local, national, and global levels of social and political life. He has empirically examined the timing and distribution of dozens of largescale campaigns whereby ordinary citizens and excluded social groups mobilized to protect themselves from the loss of vital necessities such as health care, pensions, water services/utilities, environmental quality, and social citizenship rights. These studies are driven by a concern for explaining the conditions under which disadvantaged populations engage in defensive social movements to impede economic, environmental and political threats.

January 29, 2020
Wednesday, 12-1:30pm
Location: Academic Building (ACAD) 326

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January 22, 2020: Dr. Arthur Sakamoto

The Occupational Attainment of Second-Generation Asian Americans

Dr. Arthur Sakamoto, Texas A&M University

Dr. Art Sakamoto is a Cornerstone Faculty Fellow Professor in the Department of Sociology. His research interests are in the areas of social stratification, inequality, and racial/ethnic relations. He has published extensively on the socioeconomic characteristics of Asian Americans.

January 22, 2020
Wednesday, 12-1:30pm
Location: Academic Building (ACAD) 326

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