Iyengar Management

April 14, 2011
Posted by Jay Livingston

I think it came up in a discussion of culture and the observation that American culture generally values rationalism over traditionalism.* I was reminded of this anecdote that Sheena Iyengar tells in her TED talk (it’s also in her recent book The Art of Choosing).

That in turn reminded me of the famous** diner scene from “Five Easy Pieces.” The conflict is similar – individual goals in conflict with rules, though in this case the rules are bureaucratic regulations rather that cultural norms.

These clips relate to other issues besides culture and bureaucracy – social class comes quickly to mind – but also occupational roles , the self and presentation of self, and of course, conflict resolution (I can’t imagine Prof. Iyengar sweeping the crockery off the table).

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* From Robin Williams (no, not that Robin Williams, not the one of “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Flubber”) American Society, first published sixty years ago.

** Or maybe not so famous. None of my students had heard of it (the movie was made twenty years before they were born). They did, however, recognize a very young Jack Nicholson.

AKD 2011

April 13, 2011
Posted by Jay Livingston

Montclair had its annual AKD induction ceremony a week ago. This year, fourteen students joined – a good number, especially considering that this year we raised the minimum GPA.

(Click on the photo for a larger view.)

From left to right:

• Malgorzata Slusarek
• Courtney Artz
• Lisa M. Applegate
• Jesenia Rivera
• Irina Gavdanovich
• Anthony DeLello
• David Stever

Seven students weren’t able to attend (or couldn’t get there till after the photo-op)

• Lauren Breem
• Concetta Cardellicchio
• Staycee Marshall
• Seth Mendez
• Cassandra Moran
• Jenna Pariso
• Gabrielle Walker

Our speaker was Peter Moskos, author of Cop in the Hood, and (just out today) In Defense of Flogging. His talk was “The Wire, for Real: My Year as a Cop Baltimore's Eastern District,” but the real theme, not quite explicitly stated, was the wrongheadedness of the war on drugs. Peter makes his point with macro data (his slides included graphs of crime rates and incarceration rates) and ethnographic data (photos of the hood with its boarded-up buildings, desolate streets, grafitti (some of them very amusing) and the kids who sell drugs.

You can get more of Peter’s take on all this in his book, or at his Website.

What’s Wrong With (Percentages in) Mississippi

April 10, 2011
Posted by Jay Livingston

A Public Policy Polling survey asked Mississippi Republicans about their opinion on interracial marriage. It also asked how they felt about various politicians. The report concludes, “Tells you something about the kinds of folks who like each of those candidates.”

Not quite.

What’s been getting the most attention is the finding that Mississippi Republicans think interracial marriage should be illegal. Not all Mississippi Republicans. Just 46% of them (40% think it should be legal).* Does their position on intermarriage tell us anything about who they might like as a candidate? Does a Klaxon wear a sheet?

(Click on the chart for a larger view.)

It’s no surprise that Sarah Palin is much preferred to Romney. But as PPP points out racial attitudes figure differently depending on the candidate. When you go from racists to nonracists,** Palin’s favorable/unfavorable ratio takes a hit. But Romney’s gets a boost.

But does this tells us something about “the kinds of folks who like each of those candidates”? The trouble is that statement is percentaging on the dependent variable, implicitly comparing Romney supporters with Palin supporters. But the percentages actually given by PPP compare racists with nonracists** The statement is implying that candidate preferences tell us about racial attitudes. But what the data show is that racial attitudes tell us about candidate preferences. The two are not the same. From the data PPP gives, we don’t actually know what percent of Palin supporters favor laws against intermarriage. Ditto for Romney supporters.

In any case, neither Palin nor Romney is the top choice of Mississippi Republicans (especially the racists), who may be thinking racially but are acting locally and going with their own governor first and the former governor of neighboring Arkansas second.


* The sample was only 400. But the results aren’t too different from what the GSS has found. The most recent GSS I could find that included RACMAR was from 2002. In the “East South Central” region, the percent favoring laws against interracial marriage was 36%. So among Republicans, it might have been ten points higher.

**I realize that neither of these terms “racist” and “nonracist” is necessarily accurate. I use them as shorthand for, respectively, “people who think interracial marriage should be illegal” and “people who think interracial marriage should be legal.”

Stamp of Approval?

April 8, 2011
Posted by Jay Livingston

Stamps allow you to learn all about the world. That’s the sort of thing I used to hear as a kid, usually from grown-ups encouraging kids to get involved in a hobby, like stamp collecting.

Here’s the Royal Wedding commemorative stamp that New Zealand Niue issued. It’s worth 5.80 NZ dollars, but conveniently, if your letter requires less postage, you can tear the stamp on the perforation.

It reminds me of those photos (from the pre-Photoshop era) of now-divorced couples, the photo torn in half to remove a husband or wife. The New Zealand Niue stamp is like a pre-nup – we’re not saying you’re going to split up, but in case you do, this will make thing easier.


There’s a second problem, one pointed out by many others (including The Equality Myth, which is where I found this thanks to a link by Philip Cohen): Prince William is worth 3.40, Kate is worth only 2.40.

Those grown-ups of my childhood – maybe they were right. Stamps can tell you something about real world.