In spring 2016, a survey was administered to all faculty and staff at the University of Iowa. A total of 2,512 responded to the survey, representing an overall response rate of 14 percent. The sample of survey respondents has roughly similar demographic characteristics to that of the faculty and staff overall, however women and whites were over-represented. The goal of the survey was to obtain information about the experiences and perceptions of parental leave among faculty and staff at the University of Iowa. This report summarizes the results from this survey.

The study of organizations and sociological social psychology requires an answer to the macro-micro-macro problem, and thus we propose one such solution. We utilize the new institutional logics perspective to discuss the connections between organizations and social psychological processes. Using this paradigm’s dynamic construction model, which involves causal theoretical connections between macro/organizational-level and micro-level processes, we attempt to integrate some of its notions into influential theories from sociological social psychology. Specifically, we examine status characteristics, status construction, emotion management/labor, affect control, social exchange, and identity theories to recommend ways in which adding concepts from the new institutional logics perspectives might promote theory growth. In so doing, we also demonstrate how concepts from these social psychological theories could enhance the new institutional logics perspective. Our approach is admittedly superficial and not exhaustive; nevertheless, we challenge social scientists to incorporate organizational-level concepts into theories of social interaction to better capture social reality. (Invited Chapter)

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of how sentiments may be a part of, or adjacent to, status generalization. We demonstrate why this problem is so difficult to solve definitively, as many resolutions may exist. Sentiments may present the properties of graded status characteristics but may also be disrupted by processes of the self. Sentiments may have status properties enacted within dyadic interactions. However, sentiments may also be status elements during triadic constellations of actors. Finally, we discuss current research that is underway to provide more empirical evidence to offer confirmation or disconfirmation for some of our proposed models.

Sense of control has been conceived as an individual-level mechanism shaping the unequal distribution of life outcomes. Yet recent studies imply its potential to form interpersonal hierarchies through two distinct dimen-sions – status and power. As extant theorizing favors status processes over power dynamics, we investigated it as a status element using status char-acteristic theory and a modified standardized experimental situation. We successfully detected sense of control’s limited capacity to form status hierarchies. However, further analyses suggest that aspects of interactional power, instead of competence-based status generalization, explain more variance in the observed influence patterns. We conclude that the detected hierarchies may be power based, but another research design should test this possibility. We then discuss the implications of these thought-provoking outcomes.

Humans fulfill their needs for love and belongingness by living in groups. However, not all groups are created to help every member thrive. By diving into seven different cults and interviewing former members, Cults and Extreme Belief reveals how cults cultivate conformity, implement exploitation, and perpetuate dangerous beliefs. The series provides great discussion materials for undergraduate sociology and criminology courses, including Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Organization, Social Psychology, Social Problems, Introduction to Sociology, Criminology, Organizational Crimes, and any courses investigating stratification along the lines of gender, race and ethnicity, age, and health.