Dr. Ashley T. Rubin
@ashleytrubin
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Interdisciplinary law & society scholar of prisons & punishment. Editor, Law & Society Review. Prof @UHM_Sociology. Books: #TheDeviantPrison #RockingQualSocSci
Honolulu, HI
Joined October 2013
Three years ago today, I gave a @TEDx talk on how sending people to prison became normal! I was so nervous, and I skipped a section of my talk, but I got across what I wanted to say: It's weird how much we take prisons for granted, esp given their history.
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So all it takes to actually abolish the police is a vaccination mandate.
SF Sheriff's deputies threaten a wave of resignations over city's vaccine mandate, according to deputy union prez.
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Okay, I've been wanting to write this thread for a while and the final piece just came out so:. 2020-2022 has been a banger time for new qualitative methods books. Here's a thread of some great new books!.
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Something I see a lot in qualitative research is a lack of analysis. Basically a rundown of what's in the data, but without doing anything with it (analysis). It's the qualitative equivalent of descriptive stats. Short thread.
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I have a sociology joke, but an economist is just going to steal it.
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I just realized: in college, I was so intrigued by my professors. Who are these people? How do they spend their time? Do they watch TV? Do they just read and think all day? What's their life like. It *never* occurred to me that I would one day be a prof.
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#internationalstudents: it might not feel like it, but you are appreciated and you belong here. You enrich our universities and classrooms, our cities and towns with your presence. It is our privilege to teach you and host you. --Your profs.
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I've been reading a *lot* of research lately and I can't tell you how often people use a gap in the literature to motivate their work. If you go this route, be sure to explain *why* the gap needs filling. The mere presence of a gap is not motivation enough.
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I'll start: calling your project "ambitious" (esp if the person saying this is more senior).
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After 11+ years of tenure track/tenure, I just got my very first invitation to give an in-person colloquium at a university that's not my own and isn't one I backdoored into by asking a friend to invite me. I know folks who get these invites in grad school, but I finally got one!.
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I really wish references did not count against word limits. This practice definitely breeds unsavory citation practices.
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What's something that sounds like a compliment, but is actually an insult to academics?.
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Every semester, I try to start off with tips about how to read academic writing. These are two pages at the end of my formal guide on how to read non-textbook texts. They offer a template for taking notes as a good starting point.
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Fuck everyone who says historical and archival methods can't be qualitative social science methods.
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It has arrived! Thank you so much, @stanfordpress! The book is beautiful! #RockingQualSocSci #NoOneRightWay #RigorousDoesntMeanRigid #AreYouADirtbagger?
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Positionality has become a buzz word in qualitative circles in recent years. In this piece, I offer my take on what the emphasis on positionality gets wrong, especially when positionality statements are performative rather than properly reflexive.
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It's the same reason why it's hard to find flat-earthers in STEM fields. It's really hard to use critical thinking skills and study society and not move away from certain mistaken beliefs even if you hold on to certain values. 13/.
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It's a genuinely interesting question about politics in the university, but lets also be super clear about what the data actually show. Short thread. 1/.
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Finally, my book lays out the myriad ways to do good qualitative research, whether you're working with interviews, ethnography, or historical and text-based (including online) research. #TheresNoOneRightWay.
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So I've been sitting on some news, but now that the semester has come to a close, I am so happy to finally announce: beginning this August, I am joining the Sociology Department at the University of Hawaiāi, MÄnoa. Everyone is invited to come visit "me"!.
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Wow, people really liked my reading guide template for students. So, here are some slides from lecture about getting through the reading. #Thread.
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I'm overdue on everything. Literally everything.
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A colleague recently criticized a departmental effort to teach writing to our grad students because "we all learned to write without someone teaching us." Let me explain why they're wrong.
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First up, @KathleenGerson and @SarahDamaske give you everything you need for interview-based studies!.
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Breaking news for Law & Society Review! (@law_soc) We are no longer counting references against the word limit. Moving forward, the new word limit is 12,500 for the main text (exclusive of references, appendices, and tables). No more trimming citations to fit the word count!.
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Second, @AnnetteLareau offers a cradle-to-grave overview of how to do research with living subjects (i.e., interview and participant observation).
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Third, @MarioLuisSmall and @JessicaCalarco explain the much-needed task of evaluating qualitative research (especially not just importing rote standards from the quant world), focusing on interview-based and ethnographic research.
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Squeal!! My first book's cover is ready!! #TheDeviantPrison is coming! cc. @easternstate @cambUP_History
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I keep thinking about how much sociology has to offer right now. Everything from prisons to gender inequality to how health care is structured to the funding structures of education. You could arrange any entire class around what COVID-19 is laying bare and how sociologists help.
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Revision: I have a sociology joke, but an economist is just going to get credit for it.
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I am THRILLED to see my #qualmeth book, #RockingQualSocSci, is on the @stanfordpress website! And check out that awesome cover art!! (It's not me, btw.) #methods #sociology #criminology #interdisciplinary
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Hi, I'm a criminologist. You may know me from my greatest hits, including, "No, that's a CSI," "I don't go to crime scenes," "I don't know much about finger prints," and "Frankly, we would prevent crime better if we focused less on punishment and more on actual crime prevention.".
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If the question is how many people are conservative in academia, that's different from asking about the ratio of registered Democrat to Republican. You can be conservative and Democrat. You can be conservative and not registered or independent. 14/.
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Well, tenure file submitted. Three unis and seven-plus years, it's about fucking time I get to go up for review.
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Forgive me for a bit of self-promotion, but since both ASA and ASC are in Philadelphia this year, I wanted to remind folks that I wrote a book about Eastern State Penitentiary, the early US prisons, and Pennsylvania's role in early penal reform.
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Finally, there is a much bigger discussion that needs to happen and is happening elsewhere. For example:
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We really fucked up as a profession when we tied advancement to publication but not service (reviewing/editing). More people are trying to publish, but fewer qualified people have time to review. We need to align the incentives better.
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Is political diversity in a university a good thing? I think yes. BUT. There's a good reason why it's hard to find registered republicans in universities in 2017 (even if you could find more in 2012 or 2008 or 2000). 12/.
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The study is about top liberal arts colleges (according to US News), not research universities (which teach way more students) or universities in general. 3/.
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Hey #academictwitter! If your department is like mine, you're putting in your book orders for next fall. If you're teaching #QualMeth, keep an eye out for my book #RockingQualSocSci. I'm definitely happy to talk to anyone interested in using it for their class!
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I vote we stop calling it "toxic masculinity" and start calling it "toxic insecurity." Men hear "masculinity" and they think that means it's good. "Insecurity," by contrast, does not have good connotations and (I'd argue) is more accurate.
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It is also restricted to 12 states because other states with top liberal arts colleges don't release the data. So this is already multiple levels of selection: states with top liberal arts schools + states that release their voter registration data. 4/.
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Okay, this is a longer thread than I intended, but the upshot is: political diversity is a good thing (if you can get people who are rational and evidence-based and not batshit crazy), but the graph is kind of misleading and makes the political landscape look worse than it is.
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Sociology helps fill in the giant holes econ leaves behind.
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In my read, this article is written to support a particular conclusion (which is in the name of the article), viz., that universities are politically homogenous. The way the analysis is set up is kind of stacking the deck toward this conclusion. 6/.
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I don't know who needs to hear this, but: Give yourself some fucking credit! You are surviving a pandemic and everything else.
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So, I did a thing. I gave my version of what is law and society and the sociology of law, plus resources, and put it on my website. Please share with anyone who wants to learn more about law and society! My views only!
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For the love of god, do not use passive voice in your data and methods sections. Your data were not magically collected/analyzed by some unknown entity; it was you, you did it, you collected/analyzed your data!.
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But the bigger point is I have a problem with presenting numbers like 34:1 Dem:Repub because there's so much missing data and there are other parties. One can be libertarian for example and still pretty conservative. 10/.
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In light of the WSJ article, I'm just going to drop this slide here. It was my standard slide for day one of in-person teaching. I'd take the time to explain to students why how you address them matters.
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This is how my conferences always go:. Wednesday through Saturday: OMG, so many ideas, must write them all down so I remember. Sunday is going to be epic when I sit down to write up these thoughts into outlines and papers. Sunday: . Ugh, I'm really fucking tired.
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I forgot my (least) favorite: when someone who knows shit all about your area tries to explain your research puzzle for you.
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It happened! I submitted the final draft of my book manuscript (#TheDeviantPrison) about Eastern State Penitentiary to @CUPAcademic. Should be out by the end of 2020 if all goes well!
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I have to say: one thing I do quite enjoy about our new zoom-based reality is my ability to drop in to other departments' colloquia or to give talks at places I wouldn't otherwise be able to visit. Sorry it's under these circumstances, but I am grateful for it.
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The data in that plot also exclude people who are not registered (a surprisingly large amount) or who identify with a different party. 5/.
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The table I find more interesting, and revealing about the underlying data, is this one. It shows how many aren't registered or have a NP. Amherst, for example, is 79 unknown affiliations to 102 dems to 3 republicans. 8/
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I am super excited to announce a new blog series on the @Punishment_CRN blog: "Are you a criminologist or a sociologist?" 20 fantastic scholars have responded to this prompt with their take on the question, the tensions it raises, and how they identify.
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Woohoo! Manuscript approved and heading on to production!! Will update when I get the pub date. Also looking forward to sharing a cover image when I have it!.
It happened! I submitted the final draft of my book manuscript (#TheDeviantPrison) about Eastern State Penitentiary to @CUPAcademic. Should be out by the end of 2020 if all goes well!
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Holy shit! The blurbs for my book #thedeviantprison are up! I have really wonderful comments from #DavidGarland, #MonaLynch, and #JoshuaPage! There are literal tears in my eyes right now. Thank you to them and @CUPAcademic for lining up these incredible scholars!
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Interdisciplinarity is great, but have you tried being more international in your reading? #AcademicTwitter.
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Journals are having a *really* hard time getting reviewers. The pandemic has also exacerbated a lot of disparities between who submits papers to journals. I want submission to a journal contingent on reviewing 2-3 articles in the last 12 mos. Do a shitty job? It doesn't count.
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I am so excited to be part of this amazing editorial team for a phenomenal journal representing an amazing field. I am seriously humbled to be following so many amazing editors that came before us. Our team will have more to say soon!!.
LSA is pleased to announce that Katharina Heyer, Ashley Rubin, and Shauhin Talesh have been selected as the new incoming editors of the Law & Society Review.
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If you're lost in description land, ask yourself: What are you trying to explain (not just describe)? What outcome are you trying to explain? What do you think is causing it, based on your data? What does the lit suggest is causing it?.
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Okay, I've been wanting to write this post for a while, so here it goes: prisons+jail reform has a LONG history with disease. Let me explain. 1/n
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One of the weird things about studying prison history is how many things we do today that we used to do and abandoned bc it was "barbaric" or "uncivilized" or just plain wrong. Shall I start a thread?.
In case anyone is wondering, this is the more recent story about this happening in CA prisons from 2006-2010
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It's also noteworthy that the data were collected in 2017. The republican party was a different beast by then. Many people who, say, four years later ID'd as republicans, didn't anymore. My guess is you'd find different data if you did this just a few years earlier. 9/.
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One of my students asked me about burnout this week, so, I don't know who needs to hear this, but: . Students, you are allowed to take a break. Take a day, an afternoon, an hour, 20 minutes, 5 minutes off. We want you to succeed, and that does not mean working yourself sick.
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Our first issue as editors of Law & Society Review is now officially published!!! h/t @law_soc Many wonderful articles in this issue.
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I strongly dislike the convention whereby journalists or news outlets say "a recent study by researchers at XYZ university shows that . " Particularly when journalists speak with those researchers. Name the researchers. This is how you pay for their time.
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Hey Twitter friends! Are you teaching soc sci methods this year? Please consider using my new book. It's meant to be a fun read with lots of (new and recurring) examples and explains all the things that always tripped me up. And it covers a range of approaches to QM!.
It has arrived! Thank you so much, @stanfordpress! The book is beautiful! #RockingQualSocSci #NoOneRightWay #RigorousDoesntMeanRigid #AreYouADirtbagger?
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And I just got word that my tenure was approved by the Board of Regents, so this earlier tweet might have been premature, but it's definitely official now!.
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I'm going to skip over discussions about how people might register as a democrat but also kind of hate the democrats, but I'm sure some are already thinking that. 11/.
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The study doesn't just show that there are few registered republicans (which is interesting); the graph seems to imply that democrats dominate. That's not quite true. 7/.
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There are a range of political beliefs authoritarian and libertarian, paternalist or not, etc. 15/.
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Hi #academictwitter friends! My #qualmeth book is going to drop in August 2021. I'd be more than happy to do a (probably virtual?) book talk or a workshop breaking down #qualitative #methods in the 2021-2022 school year!
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Holy shit, when did this happen?! My book, #TheDeviantPrison, is out! If you have access to @cambUP_History Cambridge Core, it's up online! You can read it!
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Almost every time I review for AJS or ASR (always punishment pieces), one reviewer writes, "But how is this sociology? This belongs in a crim journal." Not only is this not helpful (maybe point out alt framings that would make it fit better in a soc journal), but . 1/2.
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*Never until someone suggested I go to grad school and I was like, what's that? And then the fun began.
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Saying dick things as a reviewer: always a bad look. Saying dick things as a reviewer during a pandemic: you can go to fucking hell.
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If they're going to blame the murder on "underlying health conditions," can we also blame the "underlying health conditions" on systematic racism that shapes/causes racial disparities in health? If you're going to skip proximate causes, you might as well go all the way.
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People are so utterly tired. Just exhausted. You can tell.
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It's not like there's this book someone wrote that features a bunch of instructions on how to use historical and archival data for qual social science analysis.
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āIām a criminologist.ā.- boring.- academic.- easily confused with a CSI. āI study punishment.ā.- mysterious.- ominous.- hints at hidden skills.
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I don't like it when people use "anecdotal" as a synonym for qualitative or more theoretically informed.
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My family sends me these. It's the saddest brand of gift. It's basically saying "we think you're the type of pathetic person who would wear these." And then I spend weeks thinking about what vibes I give off to justify receiving a shirt about correcting people's grammar.
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So sick of people from other disciplines figuring out X is really interesting and important and then not citing anyone from the field that has been specializing in X for decades.
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The delta variant is basically what we were originally worried the coronavirus would be (highly contagious, somewhat more deadly), and yet so many people are acting even less carefully this time around than they were at first.
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I'd love to talk about my book #RockingQualSocSci more and I feel like I've perfected my book talk! If anyone is looking to fill last-minute spots in their virtual colloquium series this year, I'm flexible---and I can make multiple time zones!
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Sure, criminologists have been saying this for years, but if a doctor says so. .
US prisons are horrific ā so horrific, in fact, that a former top physician at Rikers Island insists in a new book that we treat incarceration itself as a cause of harm to the imprisoned.
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It's just so funny and sad. Professors aren't nearly as radical as people think they are. Frankly, nor are college students. (This disappoints a lot of people, too.) But myths are what sell/get people elected/etc.
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If you are lost for inspiration and the literature isn't inspirng you, more inductively, write memos about your data. (See ch in #RockingQualSocSci) What observations are you generating? What insights? What are they telling you about how things work, not just how things are?.
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WTF? I just left a white manel with race/ethnicity in the title on a topic on which many POC and female scholars (incl WOC) have done great research. It was an *invited* panel. #ASA19.
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@SarahTaber_bww Interesting! It took previously untrained prisoners about 1-2 years to become proficient in craft work (shoemaking, cabinetmaking)--traditionally recognized as skilled labor--according to 19th c prison managers.
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Probably most importantly: What is/are the mechanism(s) through which some factor/variable is(are) affecting the outcome of interest?.
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Someone should code these. So far: racist; sexist; things non-academics say not realizing how bad it is; hierarchy: teaching/service > research; hierarchy: rankings and other status issues; writing-specific comments; other weird code words that sound complimentary but aren't.
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The source of this figure is this study (choose which link works best for you) 2/
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