Gary Fine

Why are some political leaders hated? Examining the public responses to the major party candidate... more Why are some political leaders hated? Examining the public responses to the major party candidates in the 2016 Presidential election in the United States, we analyze the animus directed towards Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. We argue that candidates with celebrity reputations and who have been previously well-known are particularly likely to be targets of intense discursive abuse. Hatred becomes part of the identity of that part of the population that considers them as threats to democratic order. Partisans draw upon Trump’s persona from the 1980s as a vulgar celebrity whose real estate business was corrupt as well as his well-publicized questioning of Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Despite the fact – or perhaps because – Trump was once a liberal democrat, the rejection is visceral. Hatred for Hillary is transferred from the long-standing distaste for her husband, coupled with sexist sentiments directed at middle-aged women. Significantly, the dislike for both candidates during the election was sexualized, as was true for both Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. We speculate that President Joe Biden, lacking a contentious backstory, will be spared some of the hatred that other politicians receive.

The Ballot of Donald and Hillary

Bristol University Press eBooks, Jun 28, 2023

Dining out: Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture

The Global Grapevine

Sociological Miniaturism: Seeing the Big Through the Small in Social Psychology

Annual Review of Sociology, 2001

The distinctive contribution of sociological social psychology can be referred to as sociological... more The distinctive contribution of sociological social psychology can be referred to as sociological miniaturism, a way of interpreting social processes and institutions that is microsociological more than it is psychological. We argue that social psychology of this variety permits the examination of large-scale social issues by means of investigation of small-scale social situations. The power of this approach to social life is that it permits recognition of the dense texture of everyday life, permits sociologists to understand more fully a substantive domain, and permits interpretive control. In the chapter we provide examples of this approach from two quite distinct theoretical orientations: symbolic interactionism and social exchange theory. We discuss the ways in which the study of two substantive topics, social power and collective identity, using these perspectives can be informed by closer collaboration between theorists within sociological social psychology. In the end it is o...

Contemporary Gastronomic Identities: Some Concluding Remarks

Food and History, 2012

In this article we extend the papers by Steven Van den Berghe, Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson and V... more In this article we extend the papers by Steven Van den Berghe, Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson and Virginie Amilien to highlight the most salient changes and evolution of the restaurant industry, emphasizing the first decade of the twenty-first century. Reflecting some of the themes raised by the preceding articles we ask: what are the identities of the contemporary restaurant and how are they expressed? Focusing on the American context we trace four major developments: the new charismatic celebrity chef, food enthusiasts and the expansion of a unique food culture, “moral” eating and related food politics and the changing structures of kitchen life.

Peopling Organizations

Oxford University Press eBooks, Sep 2, 2009

Interactionists have long focused on what goes on within organizations—thus their scholarly impor... more Interactionists have long focused on what goes on within organizations—thus their scholarly importance as researchers of work. However, they have avoided conceptualizing organizations as such until quite recently. Their primary concerns are the relationships among individuals and how people create meanings and social relations. Structures and institutions, while never denied, receive secondary attention. Interactionists have made their most significant advances studying interpersonal realms, not in their investigations of ‘institutions’ or ‘society’. This article argues that the value of the interactionist approach for organizational research exists in its emphasis on how interaction and meaning provide a foundation for thinking about the constitutive role of people in organizations. The ‘peopled’ perspective of symbolic interaction stands in stark contrast to the ‘un-peopled’ view that has often characterized organizational sociology.

A Study in Sociological Miniaturism

Following the perspective of "sociological miniaturism," proposed by Stolte, Fine, and ... more Following the perspective of "sociological miniaturism," proposed by Stolte, Fine, and Cook (2001), we examine the significance of dust in social life in order to examine the reverberations of the micro-features of everyday life on social structure. Through the examination of the routine, the unexamined, and the commonplace, we hope to gain some insight on how the taken-for-granted aspects of lived experience fit into the larger social order. Dust, by virtue of its "smallness," provides a window through which we can explore social structural issues using microsociological analysis. Specifically we examine how dust and techniques for its control are linked to issues of gender, work, political economy, and nation.

Reading routines: strategies of recall in graduate education

Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, 2021

Purpose This study aims to explore how graduate students in the social sciences develop reading a... more Purpose This study aims to explore how graduate students in the social sciences develop reading and note-taking routines. Design/methodology/approach Using a professional socialization framework drawing on grounded theory, this study draws on a snowball sample of 36 graduate students in the social sciences at US universities. Qualitative interviews were conducted to learn about graduate students’ reading and note-taking techniques. Findings This study uncovered how doctoral students experienced the shift from undergraduate to graduate training. Graduate school requires students to adopt new modes of reading and note-taking. However, students lacked explicit mentorship in these skills. Once they realized that the goal was to enter an academic conversation to produce knowledge, they developed new reading and note-taking routines by soliciting and implementing suggestions from advanced doctoral students and faculty mentors. Research limitations/implications The specific requirements of...

Reading and reputation: sense, sensibility, and status in graduate education

Qualitative Research, 2018

One of the skills of graduate education that is most central to the evaluation of students is the... more One of the skills of graduate education that is most central to the evaluation of students is their ability to read and report on complex disciplinary texts. The display of comprehension is central to the judgment of competence, creating a status hierarchy. Demonstrating reading prowess is taken as a transparent indication of intelligence. Based on thirty-six ethnographic interviews with graduate students in sociology, history, and economics, we examine how informants think about the establishment of their scholarly reputations through self-presentational skills in discussing reading in seminars, articles, and eventually in the dissertation itself. The ability to read disciplinary texts and to situate those texts within disciplinary contexts is crucial for a validated selfhood.

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The Active Skim: Efficient Reading as a Moral Challenge in Postgraduate Education

Teaching Sociology, Mar 15, 2017

Faculty and students recognize that to succeed in graduate school, the ability to read efficientl... more Faculty and students recognize that to succeed in graduate school, the ability to read efficiently and with comprehension is crucial. Students must be able to process information newly presented to them, even when that information seems overwhelming. Comprehending, discussing, and utilizing relevant texts are central to the production of scholars. But what constitutes appropriate techniques of reading, when does one employ various strategies, and for what purposes? In a world in which more is assigned than can reasonably be processed, what constitutes a legitimate practice? In this conversation essay, we discuss the role of skimming, building upon an interview study of 36 social science graduate students in history, economics, and sociology. We ask what students believe about the necessity and appropriateness of skimming, how they honed their skills, and what constitutes normative standards. We treat skimming as a form of “legitimate deviance,” necessary for occupational survival but a strategy that is potentially a challenge to an academic self-image. Students learn techniques that allow them to read rapidly and recall information for later use, but the appropriate use of these techniques is rarely discussed openly in graduate training.

Gossip, Gossipers, Gossiping

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1978

The nature and meaning of gossip are discussed, drawing upon interdisciplinary observations. Goss... more The nature and meaning of gossip are discussed, drawing upon interdisciplinary observations. Gossiping is not restricted to one modality of expression. Nor is gossip merely "idle talk!' (the common definition), but instead purposeful communication that appears to serve three primary functions-information, influence, and entertainment. Implications for further inquiry and theoretical integration are noted.

Policy Legends and Folklists: Traditional Beliefs in the Public Sphere

Journal of American Folklore, 2010

Although folklorists have seldom concentrated on politics, folklore thrives among decision-making... more Although folklorists have seldom concentrated on politics, folklore thrives among decision-making elites and the politically aware citizenry. One genre is the “policy legend,” a traditional text that describes institutions or social conditions, often in a historical frame, to call for governmental or collective action. Even though policy legends are typically transmitted in written form, they change continually, adapting to their political contexts and the concerns of their communicators and audiences. They frequently take the form of lists, which we call folklists, and survive through autopoiesis, the propensity of a system to repair and maintain its internal elements and boundaries. This article analyzes three policy legends: the list of historical statistics on the prevalence of war, then-and-now lists of the worst school discipline problems, and an alleged, wordy federal regulation on the price of cabbages.

Islam Just the Latest Loathed Faith in U.S.: Philadelphia Inquirer

Five Bogus Immigrant Rumors: Washingtonpost.com

Immigration Debate Won’t Change: Political Arguments Mirror Those of Candidates in 1910: Arizona Republic

Whispers on the Borderline

The Global Grapevine, 2010

The Menace of International Trade

The Global Grapevine, 2010

A Riot of Conspiracies

The Global Grapevine, 2010

Dining Out

Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture

The Ballot of Donald and Hillary: Hateful Memories of Celebrity Leaders

Bristol University Press eBooks, Jun 28, 2023

The Ballot of Donald and Hillary

Bristol University Press eBooks, Jun 28, 2023

Dining out: Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture

The Global Grapevine

Sociological Miniaturism: Seeing the Big Through the Small in Social Psychology

Annual Review of Sociology, 2001

Contemporary Gastronomic Identities: Some Concluding Remarks

Food and History, 2012

Peopling Organizations

Oxford University Press eBooks, Sep 2, 2009

A Study in Sociological Miniaturism

Reading routines: strategies of recall in graduate education

Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, 2021

Reading and reputation: sense, sensibility, and status in graduate education

Qualitative Research, 2018

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The Active Skim: Efficient Reading as a Moral Challenge in Postgraduate Education

Teaching Sociology, Mar 15, 2017

Gossip, Gossipers, Gossiping

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1978

Policy Legends and Folklists: Traditional Beliefs in the Public Sphere

Journal of American Folklore, 2010

Honest Brokers The Politics of Expertise in the “Who Lost China?” Debate

by Social Problems and Gary Fine

Complex social systems require knowledge specialists who provide information that political actor... more Complex social systems require knowledge specialists who provide information that political actors rely on to solve policy challenges. Successful advice is unproblematic; more significant is assigning institutional blame in the aftermath of advice considered wrong or harmful, undercutting state security. How do experts, operating within epistemic communities, preserve their reputation in the face of charges of incompetence or malice? Attacks on experts and their sponsors can be an effective form of contentious politics, a wedge to denounce other institutional players. To examine the politics of expertise we analyze the debate in the early 1950s over “Who Lost China?,” the congressional attempt to assign responsibility for the fall of the Nationalist regime to the Communists. Using a “strong case,” we examine political battles over the motives of Professor Owen Lattimore. For epistemic authority an expert must be defined as qualified (having appropriate credentials), influential (providing consequential information), and innocent (demonstrating epistemic neutrality). We focus on two forms of attack: smears (an oppositional presentation of a set of linked claims) and degradation ceremonies (the institutional awarding of stigma). We differentiate these by the critic's links to systems of power. Smears appear when reputational rivals lack power to make their claims stick, while degradation ceremonies operate through dominance within an institutional setting. Policy experts are awarded provisional credibility, but this access to an autonomous realm of knowledge can be countered by opponents with alternate sources of power. Ultimately expertise involves not only knowledge, but also the presentation of a validated self.

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Art markets in crisis: how personal bonds and market subcultures mediate the effects of COVID-19

by Larissa Buchholz and Gary Fine

American Journal of Cultural Sociology, 2020

We examine how the contemporary art market has changed as a result of the disruptions caused by t... more We examine how the contemporary art market has changed as a result of the disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus. Based on interviews with artists, collectors, a dealer, and an auction house executive, we argue that the decline of face-to-face interaction, previously essential to art market transactions, has placed strain on each corner of the community. In the absence of physical co-presence with the artworks and art world actors, participants struggle to evaluate and appreciate artworks, make new social ties, develop trust, and experience a shared sense of pleasure and collective effervescence. These challenges especially impact the primary gallery market , where participants emphasize a communal commitment to art above instrumental speculation, which is more accepted in the secondary auction market. We find a transition to distant online communication, but the likelihood of this continuing after the lockdowns end and the virus dissipates varies according to the subcultures of these market segments.

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