UC Davis Home Page

News and Information

UC Davis experts: Sociology

The following UC Davis faculty members are available for comment on various topics related to sociology. If you need more help in finding a source for a related topic, please contact Claudia Morain, (530) 752-9841, cmmorain@ucdavis.edu.

American popular culture

Laura Grindstaff, assistant professor of sociology, studies American popular culture, including television and Hollywood film, with a special emphasis on issues of gender, class, race and sexuality. Her courses include "Women in Film," "Film and Social Issues," "Documentary Film," "Hollywood Genres" and "The Films of Alfred Hitchcock." She wrote "The Money Shot: Trash, Class, and the Making of TV Talk Shows," which was published by the University of Chicago Press in spring 2002. Contact: Laura Grindstaff, Sociology, (530) 752-1580, lagrindstaff@ucdavis.edu.

Religious social movements and violence

John R. Hall, professor of sociology and an affiliated professor of the Religious Studies Program, researches and writes about religious social movements. His books on the subject include "Gone From the Promised Land: Jonestown in American Cultural History" (1987) and "Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements and Violence in North America, Europe and Japan" (2000), co-authored by Philip D. Schuyler and Sylvaine Trinh. Recently, he has drawn on this research to discuss a wider array of circumstances in which violence and religion are connected in an essay, "Religion and Violence: Social Processes in Comparative Perspective," in the forthcoming "Handbook for the Sociology of Religion," edited by Michele Dillon. Contact: John Hall, Sociology, (530) 752-7035, or Center for History, Society and Culture, (530) 752-1638, jrhall@ucdavis.edu.

The Black Church experience

Milmon F. Harrison, an assistant professor of African American and African studies, is a sociologist who looks at the various roles and meanings of Christianity and the Black Church in the African American experience. His new book, "Name It and Claim It! The Word of Faith Movement, The Faith Message and the Disestablishment of Doctrinal Meaning," concerns the Word of Faith movement, a contemporary charismatic, Christian movement gaining popularity among African Americans in the past 20 years. He is now studying the Christian music industry and, in particular, the production of African American gospel music. Contacts: Milmon Harrison, African American and African Studies, (530) 754-6622, mfharrison@ucdavis.edu.

Employment in the 'new economy'

Sociologist and jobs scholar Vicki Smith can talk about change in the nature of employment that started two decades ago and put it in context to this year's recession. Her 2001 book, "Crossing the Great Divide: Worker Risk and Opportunity in the New Economy," analyzes work and employment in the new economy. She has studied a number of different industries for her book and can talk about those employees most likely to be hurt in a recession--as well as what it takes to survive-- and why we are in a different employment situation than in past recessions. "Over the last 20 years we have witnessed the erosion of the American employment contract," Smith says. "Even in years when companies were creating jobs and hiring workers, the jobs were characterized by lack of security and unpredictability." Contact: Vicki Smith, Sociology, (530) 752-6170, vasmith@ucdavis.edu.

Entrepreneurial criminals

Some of the same attributes that create successful, legitimate business people may operate in the criminal world, says Bill McCarthy, an associate professor of sociology at UC Davis. His finding has broad implications for public policy. "Some offenders score high on measures of competence, they're willing to work with other people and they make decisions that increase their earnings," McCarthy says. "We bear a considerable cost imprisoning people like this who could make a contribution in the legal economy." Borrowing ideas from economic theories about the attributes that contribute to prosperity in legitimate enterprises, McCarthy says people who were the most successful at crime have a strong desire to succeed, specialize, are risks-takers and are willing to work with others. And, importantly, they are competent. Contact; Bill McCarthy, Sociology, (530) 752-1563, bdmccarthy@ucdavis.edu.

Human smuggling

UC Davis sociologist David Kyle, can talk about the impacts of contemporary slavery and human trafficking across the world and how these practices are related to immigration. Kyle says more people are enslaved today than ever before, although the practice is outlawed in every nation. He wrote "Transnational Peasants: Migrations, Networks and Ethnicity in Andean Ecuador" (2000) and co-edited a "Global Human Smuggling: Comparative Perspectives" in 2001. His first book, "Global Human Smuggling" was the first scholarly book to examine the practice in various forms in multiple regions of the world, including Mexico-U.S. smuggling. Contact: David Kyle, Sociology, (fluent in Spanish) (530) 752-1582 (work), (530) 750-2882 (home),, djkyle@ucdavis.edu.

Race, ethnicity and urban communities

Bruce Haynes, UC Davis assistant professor of sociology, specializes in the study of race and ethnic group relations within the context of urban and suburban community development. He recently wrote, "Red Lines, Black Spaces: The Politics of Race and Space in a Black Middle-Class Suburb" (Yale University Press, 2001), a case study of race and class politics in a New York City suburban community. He is currently writing a book on African-American Jews in the United States. Contacts: Bruce Haynes, Sociology, (530) 754-7127, bdhaynes@ucdavis.edu.

Food security

Interruptions in the national transportation system, such as those that followed the Sept. 11 attacks, raise questions about the stability of the country's food supply. William Lacy, UC Davis vice provost of university outreach and international programs, is also a professor of sociology in the Department of Human and Community Development. He is co-editor of the 1984 book "Food Security in the United States," which includes information on the "insecurity" of the U.S. food access, including chapters on household and supermarket food supplies and on the U.S. transportation system. Contact: William Lacy, University Outreach, (530) 752-6376, wblacy@ucdavis.edu.

Social welfare and reproductive health

Social welfare and abortion are shaping up, once again, as presidential campaign topics. Sociology professor Carole Joffe has expertise in both areas. She is the author of the books "Family Intruders: Childcare Professionals and Family Life," and "Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion Before and After Roe v. Wade." She also is the author of the forthcoming "The Crisis in Abortion Provision and Medical Activism in the 1990s" in R. Solinger, (Ed.), "The Fifty Years War: Abortion Politics in the United States, 1950-2000." Contact: Carole Joffe, Sociology, (530) 752-9108, cejoffe@ucdavis.edu.

China's social evolution

As China transitions from a communist economy toward capitalism, the country is undergoing vast social changes, especially in regards to the equality of women, says UC Davis sociologist Xiaoling Shu. She studies social demography, the sociology of gender, social stratification and the life course in China. Among her publications are research on job and wage inequality among men and women in China, and how Chinese boys and girls' aspirations for their future are diverging as the Chinese economy becomes more competitive. Contact: Xiaoling Shu, Sociology, (530) 752-2825, xshu@ucdavis.edu.

Panethnicity

Sociologist Dina Okamoto documents patterns of Asian American panethnicity by looking at rates of collective action, organizational formation and intermarriage. She looks at the ways in which labor market processes, such as competition and occupational segregation, affect pan-Asian efforts. Okamoto studies race and ethnicity on a broader scale as well as immigration issues. She also researches occupational sex segregation and how individual characteristics, such as marital status and whether or not one has children, affect women's occupational choices. Contact: Dina Okamoto, (530) 752-6772, dkokamoto@ucdavis.edu.

Media contacts:

Top of pageTop of page

Last updated January 22, 2004