Social Sciences News

ECONOMICS - Research by CAS Assistant Professor Jonathan Davis is featured in the Nov. 8 print and digital issue of the Economist. A study co-authored by Davis showed that CAHOOTS reduced the probability that a 911 call ends in an arrest by 76%. Each arrest costs taxpayers, so the service provided significant savings. “CAHOOTS is a low-cost way to expand the police force,” Davis tells the Economist.

ECONOMICS - College of Arts and Sciences economist Keaton Miller speaks with The Oregonian/OregonLive about the loss of SNAP funds and what it means for the state's grocery stores. “(Grocery stores) have to pay for their facilities. They have to pay for their staff. They have to pay for all of the logistics, no matter how much they’re selling to consumers,” he said. “So, that’s going to put potentially upward pressure on pricing.”

SOCIOLOGY - As part of the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History summer field school, the students are spending a month immersed in Indigenous cultural landscapes while studying archaeology, history and ecology and, at the same time, helping restore oyster beds. They’re learning vital career skills while helping usher in a new era of archaeology with Gabe Sanchez, a CAS assistant professor of sociology.

ECONOMICS - Celebrate Halloween with the Women in Economics first-ever Eek-onomics Halloween Bash. Costumes are welcome—so bring your best "rational consumer" outfit. The event is noon to 2 pm Friday, Oct. 31.

INDIGENOUS, RACE AND ETHNIC STUDIES, NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - An exhibit curated by Felix Furby and Anthony Hudson at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, showcases Indigenous and Queer artists and their work about their intersectional identities. IRES graduate student Rachel Cushman spoke at an Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration at the museum, as reported by the Daily Emerald.

ASIAN STUDIES - What are Labubus? Why are they popular and did you know the Oregon Duck once dressed up as one? Alisa Freedman, a professor of Asian studies at the University of Oregon who specializes in pop culture, shares insight about the Asian pop trend that's taken over the US.

SOCIOLOGY - Professor Jessica Vasquez-Tokos' new book "Burdens of Belonging: Race in an Unequal Nation" explores how race shapes the everyday experiences of individuals and what it means to be a “so-called problem” in the predominantly white state of Oregon in the 21st century. "How does racial status inflect one’s sense of belonging in the nation?” Vasquez-Tokos said.

SOCIOLOGY - Fear of deportation among people in the United States without permanent legal status declines with age, according to a study recently published by University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences researcher Isabel Garcia Valdivia. The project is the first to examine how those concerns diminish after age 50 because relationships, families, work and communities change with time.

POLITICAL SCIENCE - Dulce Gutierrez valued the flexibility to explore different majors and minors. Originally a biology major, she switched her major to political science and government and picked up a minor in Spanish. She went to law school and is now a practicing attorney and finds herself using her multilingual studies in a practical manner.

ECONOMICS - A groundbreaking crisis de-escalation program that started in Eugene to help people with mental health or substance abuse issues saves cities money and reduces arrests, a University of Oregon-led study has found. The research team includes Jonathan Davis, an economics assistant professor at the College of Arts and Sciences.

POLITICAL SCIENCE - Political Science Philip H. Knight Chair and Professor Dan Tichenor publishes an article in The Conversation on how McCarthy Era anti-communism laws are being used to restrict the rights of noncitizens.

POLITICAL SCIENCE - Voters are in a way acting as lawmakers, as some states see an increase in ballot measures, spanning from county or city-level ordinances to state constitutional amendments, according to research by Madison Schroder, a political science PhD candidate at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences.

After announcing a landmark $25 million commitment, Portland developer, philanthropist and alumnus Jordan Schnitzer shares his thoughts on living in an ever-globalizing world—and his hopes for the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages.

HISTORY - Julie Weise’s research on temporary migrant work policies is one of many projects around the country to lose NEH funding, but she remains focused on her work. Her upcoming book, Guest Worker: Lives across Borders in an Age of Prosperity, 1919-1975, looks at how this type of international policy agreement evolved during the mid-20th century, with a focus on the experiences of temporary workers in more economically prosperous countries: Mexicans in the US, Malawians in South Africa and Spaniards in France.

HISTORY, SOCIOLOGY - For some CAS students, a class inside Oregon’s prisons is helping them find meaning and purpose after college. And it’s helping people who are incarcerated. Founded in 2007, the Prison Education Program (PEP) takes UO classes to two Oregon state men’s prisons: Oregon State Penitentiary and the Oregon State Correctional Institution, both in Salem.