As a sociologist I know a little about social groups, really only a little because they aren't my particular area of interest or expertise. However, it is interesting to take a minute now and then and look at social networks. There is some interesting research out of Harvard these days about the role of social networks in influencing health behaviors. Christakis got a lot of press a few years ago about the "spread of obesity" through social networks, his work on happiness wasn't quite as well-covered.
I have a few very distinct social networks. First, there is my family (both family of origin and destination...students can look those up). Second, is my network of professional peers. Of course, within that network there are people I would consider friends, some who are rivals, and some who are just "colleagues" (a polite term to call people you respect, but know only casually.) Within that group of peers, there are those who are in my field of study and those who are in my institution. We have very different relationships. One group knows me by my research interests, the other by my administrative roles.
I have a network of book readers, really two-one virtual, one face to face (f2f!). Some of those network members are also friends, others I see only once a month at book group. I even have a network of exercise companions, bound together by our shared experiences and sweat. There is surprisingly little overlap in these networks. I don't exercise with anyone from book group, nobody from my family is a professional colleague.
The variety of social groups to which you belong and their roles is an interesting thing to think about.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Shattered Idol
Most of us probably have one, an idol. Someone that we have always admired and looked up, someone we wanted to model our lives after. I'm not talking about the abstract idols, like Michelle Obama (I LOVE her arms!) or Hillary Clinton. I mean a person in our everyday life that we know pretty well---or think we know well.
Growing up there was a girl two years older than me that was my idol. She was smart, beautiful, poised, and respected. I wanted to be just like her, but I was nowhere close. I was smart and respected, maybe poised, but not close to beautiful. She was on the school debate team and was very good. I wanted to be like her. For 35 years I have held this memory of her.
Well, times change, people change, memories are faulty. I met her the other day for the first time since 1973. I don't think she remembered who I was. She is still beautiful, and I assume smart. But the image I had of a poised, confident, self-assured person didn't age well. It made me wonder, was I wrong? Was she never like that, but only appeared that way to me as someone younger? I never really knew her well, so my image was based on this perception and interpretation of what I saw. I could have been wrong. Or she might have been better at putting on a front then. Who knows? I just wonder what younger person from my past would be shocked to see me now! Who have I disappointed?
Growing up there was a girl two years older than me that was my idol. She was smart, beautiful, poised, and respected. I wanted to be just like her, but I was nowhere close. I was smart and respected, maybe poised, but not close to beautiful. She was on the school debate team and was very good. I wanted to be like her. For 35 years I have held this memory of her.
Well, times change, people change, memories are faulty. I met her the other day for the first time since 1973. I don't think she remembered who I was. She is still beautiful, and I assume smart. But the image I had of a poised, confident, self-assured person didn't age well. It made me wonder, was I wrong? Was she never like that, but only appeared that way to me as someone younger? I never really knew her well, so my image was based on this perception and interpretation of what I saw. I could have been wrong. Or she might have been better at putting on a front then. Who knows? I just wonder what younger person from my past would be shocked to see me now! Who have I disappointed?
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Senior Citizen Day at the airport
Has Tuesday become Senior Citizen day for the airlines? I did read somewhere that the lowest fares are on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Maybe that explains it. I have nothing against older adults, heck I am one! But on my flight home from DC on Tuesday I must have been one of the youngest people on the plane. We had three wheelchair customers, a few canes, and plenty of shaky older adults with their blue Samsonite suitcases. They all have them.
Actually, I admire older people who are still willing to fly given the difficulties they must encounter. There is some rule about wheelchairs in the terminal. An older couple was wheeled up to our gate about 5 minutes before boarding time. The attendants pulled them out of the wheelchairs and deposited them in a waiting area seat. Five minutes later the gate attendant called for 2 wheelchairs and 20 minutes later a different attendant came back, loaded them up, and helped them on the plane. Why? Is it some union thing--different attendants operate the jetway than the terminal? Is it just inefficiency? Or not enough wheelchairs? Or just a form of sadistic torture?
Actually, I admire older people who are still willing to fly given the difficulties they must encounter. There is some rule about wheelchairs in the terminal. An older couple was wheeled up to our gate about 5 minutes before boarding time. The attendants pulled them out of the wheelchairs and deposited them in a waiting area seat. Five minutes later the gate attendant called for 2 wheelchairs and 20 minutes later a different attendant came back, loaded them up, and helped them on the plane. Why? Is it some union thing--different attendants operate the jetway than the terminal? Is it just inefficiency? Or not enough wheelchairs? Or just a form of sadistic torture?
Monday, March 16, 2009
Little piece of sociology
I just finished reading a book, The Tenderness of Wolves, by Stef Penney. It was okay, but if you want to read about a woman trekking across the Canadien wilderness in the 1800s, I would recommend Gil Adamson's, The Outlander, instead. Much better writing.
Anyway, as a sociologist, I am always alert to these little tidbits in books. Here is a quote from The Tenderness of Wolves:
"As members of a family (and of a society as well, presumably) carve, or are pushed into, roles for themselves, and then become imprisoned by them, so Susannah became everyone’s darling." What a great description of social roles. They aren't entirely voluntary, and they can be tough to get out of once you are in them.
Anyway, as a sociologist, I am always alert to these little tidbits in books. Here is a quote from The Tenderness of Wolves:
"As members of a family (and of a society as well, presumably) carve, or are pushed into, roles for themselves, and then become imprisoned by them, so Susannah became everyone’s darling." What a great description of social roles. They aren't entirely voluntary, and they can be tough to get out of once you are in them.
Pi Day
Well, another March 14th has come and gone. March 14 is celebrated as "Pi Day" (since when you write the date (3.14) you have the first digits of the number pi.) In the Meyer family, we celebrate Pi Day in high style. Pizza Pie, Cherry Pie, and square brownies, since, afterall, "pi r square."
Hey, we even have pi shirts and pi plates. This year my dad received a pi mug, too. Who said math can't be fun?
Monday, March 9, 2009
Choosing a college
What factors influence a child's decision about college? Over the summer and fall my husband and I accompanied our son on several college visits. A few places he dismissed immediately, a few he fell in love with but upon further reflection changed his mind, a few he was so-so about at first and is now gung-ho. I couldn't tell you why any of these things happened. The tour guide certainly plays a role, but guides I liked he may not have and the opposite. Now we are waiting, and waiting, for the acceptances to arrive. He has received a few, and I think was relieved to get the first one under his belt. The places he is currently most interested in attending are the ones he has yet to hear from, of course.
I visited only one college and applied to only one (a different one from the one I visited.) I had absolutely no idea about the process, what to look for, what to consider. In the end I applied to the state university that my father had attended and my sister was currently attending. I had no idea what I wanted to major in and figured a large school would give me plenty of options. Good thing, since I changed my major a few times! I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had attended a different kind of school. Would it have mattered? I feel like I received an adequate education, but I certainly was not, for the most part, challenged by my courses. I could have done more.
Stay tuned to see where young son #1 ends up.....
I visited only one college and applied to only one (a different one from the one I visited.) I had absolutely no idea about the process, what to look for, what to consider. In the end I applied to the state university that my father had attended and my sister was currently attending. I had no idea what I wanted to major in and figured a large school would give me plenty of options. Good thing, since I changed my major a few times! I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had attended a different kind of school. Would it have mattered? I feel like I received an adequate education, but I certainly was not, for the most part, challenged by my courses. I could have done more.
Stay tuned to see where young son #1 ends up.....
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Memory
I've always been interested in the memory process. I feel like I have a pretty good memory for most things, except names. I can remember things I've read especially well.
Over the last few days I've been busy reading grant proposals to the National Institutes of Health. The topics cover a wide range of issues around health and health care. One deals, in part, with the measurement of pain, well-being, and other subjective feelings. The researchers found that the perception of pain during a medical procedure might be quite different from the memory of that pain later. As a result, they argue "They [these results] suggest that the decisions that people make for the future are sometimes guided by erroneous evaluations of the past." So, we might decide not to have another mammogram based on our inaccurate memory of the pain or discomfort associated with it. Actually, this statement seems like it could apply to lots of issues in life. We might decide to take a certain job based on our erroneous evaluation of past job experiences, for instance.
Thinking more about memory, it occurred to me today that I may be, in fact most likely am, the only person who remembers some particular past event. Of course, events and feelings that I experienced alone and never shared would be one obvious example. But what about some shared event or encounter? I'm sure there are encounters of which I have no recall. In fact, I not infrequently will have someone approach me and carry on a vigorous discussion in which I have no idea who this person is, or how they know me. Sorry to say, students, this often happens with you. I may know your name for a semester, but often once I've handed in my grades, unless I have some further contact with you, I've forgotten who you are. So, on the flip side, there must be events and people that I recall and nobody else does. How would I even know which ones they are, and should I even care????
Over the last few days I've been busy reading grant proposals to the National Institutes of Health. The topics cover a wide range of issues around health and health care. One deals, in part, with the measurement of pain, well-being, and other subjective feelings. The researchers found that the perception of pain during a medical procedure might be quite different from the memory of that pain later. As a result, they argue "They [these results] suggest that the decisions that people make for the future are sometimes guided by erroneous evaluations of the past." So, we might decide not to have another mammogram based on our inaccurate memory of the pain or discomfort associated with it. Actually, this statement seems like it could apply to lots of issues in life. We might decide to take a certain job based on our erroneous evaluation of past job experiences, for instance.
Thinking more about memory, it occurred to me today that I may be, in fact most likely am, the only person who remembers some particular past event. Of course, events and feelings that I experienced alone and never shared would be one obvious example. But what about some shared event or encounter? I'm sure there are encounters of which I have no recall. In fact, I not infrequently will have someone approach me and carry on a vigorous discussion in which I have no idea who this person is, or how they know me. Sorry to say, students, this often happens with you. I may know your name for a semester, but often once I've handed in my grades, unless I have some further contact with you, I've forgotten who you are. So, on the flip side, there must be events and people that I recall and nobody else does. How would I even know which ones they are, and should I even care????
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Obesity Research
This is such a good topic to follow Girl Scout Cookies!!
I was trained as a demographer. There are three basic areas of demography--mortality, fertility, and migration. These are the only three ways in which the size and characteristics of a population can change. Early on I decided to focus on mortality. Partly because I really liked the professor who taught that course and partly because it was the closest to medicine (which is what I always wished I would have studied.) Also, death was a clear cut event. In fertility research there was a lot of discussion about intentions, attitudes, knowledge...too messy for me.
As it turns out, most people who die are old, so most people who study mortality are studying older people. It is true that there is great interest in infant and child mortality, because a life "saved" at that point has greater demographic, social, and economic consequences. Still, you can't get around the fact that in the US today nearly 90 percent of people born live to be age 65. It also turns out that most people are sick before they die, so in order to understand the changes in mortality you need to understand the changes in morbidity.
When I was in graduate school in the mid to late 1980s one of the big questions of the field centered on the fact that life expectancy was steadily increasing. The questions was, "Are those years of added life years of good health or years of disability?" At the time we had very little information on which to base an answer and there were contradictory pieces of evidence. Slowly the consensus emerged that a greater proportion of the added years were years of good health. Great.
In recent years, however, the question has re-emerged. There is an increased prevalence of obesity in the adult population. We know that obesity is related to a variety of health problems. Will this increase in population obesity translate into greater disability and poor health in later life down the road? That is the new question, and the motivation for my academic research.
I spent Friday at Cornell University attending a small conference on obesity research. It included physicians, nutritionists, economists, and other assorted types (like me.) The keynote address was one of the best lectures I've heard in a long time (and I hear a lot of them.) Michael Rosenbaum from Columbia University talked about why it is so hard to lose weight and keep off the weight. I'm sure you have all heard about "set points," your body's natural equilibrium. Turns out you can put your setpoint higher, but not lower. If you lose weight you need to continue those new behaviors forever or you will regain the weight. That is, if you cut your diet by 200 calories a day you will need to continue to do that for life. If you increased your activity by 20 minutes a day, you will need to continue to do that for life. I found this somewhat discouraging, as did most of the attendees. He was basically arguing that interventions targeted toward losing weight are TOO LATE. You need to stop people from gaining weight to begin with. It also explains why it is so hard to maintain a weight loss. In order to do so you must make fundamental changes in your diet and lifestyle that maintain forever. That is hard for people to do.
Let me just share how difficult that can be. One of the interesting things about obesity conferences is that the food is always VERY healthy. Desserts are fresh fruit, breads are whole grain, the protein is beans, tofu, or salmon. I love this food and have no problem with that....but I have to admit that on the way home I stopped at McDonald's for a quarter pounder (no cheese), fries, and a diet Coke.....all of that good eating down the drain.....and my struggle continues......
I was trained as a demographer. There are three basic areas of demography--mortality, fertility, and migration. These are the only three ways in which the size and characteristics of a population can change. Early on I decided to focus on mortality. Partly because I really liked the professor who taught that course and partly because it was the closest to medicine (which is what I always wished I would have studied.) Also, death was a clear cut event. In fertility research there was a lot of discussion about intentions, attitudes, knowledge...too messy for me.
As it turns out, most people who die are old, so most people who study mortality are studying older people. It is true that there is great interest in infant and child mortality, because a life "saved" at that point has greater demographic, social, and economic consequences. Still, you can't get around the fact that in the US today nearly 90 percent of people born live to be age 65. It also turns out that most people are sick before they die, so in order to understand the changes in mortality you need to understand the changes in morbidity.
When I was in graduate school in the mid to late 1980s one of the big questions of the field centered on the fact that life expectancy was steadily increasing. The questions was, "Are those years of added life years of good health or years of disability?" At the time we had very little information on which to base an answer and there were contradictory pieces of evidence. Slowly the consensus emerged that a greater proportion of the added years were years of good health. Great.
In recent years, however, the question has re-emerged. There is an increased prevalence of obesity in the adult population. We know that obesity is related to a variety of health problems. Will this increase in population obesity translate into greater disability and poor health in later life down the road? That is the new question, and the motivation for my academic research.
I spent Friday at Cornell University attending a small conference on obesity research. It included physicians, nutritionists, economists, and other assorted types (like me.) The keynote address was one of the best lectures I've heard in a long time (and I hear a lot of them.) Michael Rosenbaum from Columbia University talked about why it is so hard to lose weight and keep off the weight. I'm sure you have all heard about "set points," your body's natural equilibrium. Turns out you can put your setpoint higher, but not lower. If you lose weight you need to continue those new behaviors forever or you will regain the weight. That is, if you cut your diet by 200 calories a day you will need to continue to do that for life. If you increased your activity by 20 minutes a day, you will need to continue to do that for life. I found this somewhat discouraging, as did most of the attendees. He was basically arguing that interventions targeted toward losing weight are TOO LATE. You need to stop people from gaining weight to begin with. It also explains why it is so hard to maintain a weight loss. In order to do so you must make fundamental changes in your diet and lifestyle that maintain forever. That is hard for people to do.
Let me just share how difficult that can be. One of the interesting things about obesity conferences is that the food is always VERY healthy. Desserts are fresh fruit, breads are whole grain, the protein is beans, tofu, or salmon. I love this food and have no problem with that....but I have to admit that on the way home I stopped at McDonald's for a quarter pounder (no cheese), fries, and a diet Coke.....all of that good eating down the drain.....and my struggle continues......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)