Skip navigation, view page content.

Begin OSU masthead and toolbar

Begin Sociology header and quick links

  1. Sociology Webmail
  2. Department Calendar
  3. Remote Access (VPN)
  4. Department Intranet
  1. American Sociological Review
  2. Criminal Justice Research Center
  3. Initiative in Population Research
  4. Departmental Computing
  5. CONSIRT
  1. Sociology Courses
  2. Office Hours
  3. Our Newsletter
  4. Make A Gift


Begin Sociology main navigation menu.

Townshend Hall

The Department of Sociology Address:

238 Townshend Hall
1885 Neil Avenue Mall
Columbus, OH 43210
Phone: (614) 292.6681
Fax: (614) 292.6687

Begin the main content of this page.

Sociology Events


  • 11/23/2009: Dr. Richard Steckel, Professor of Economics, Ohio State (Dr. Robert M. Groves, Director, US Census)
    3:00pm - 4:00pm, West Dining Room, 2nd Floor, Faculty Club
    ABSTRACT Robert Groves was nominated to be Director of the U.S. Census Bureau by President Obama in April 2009 and assumed the position in July 2009 after Senate confirmation. Groves is an eminent survey methodologist. For over three decades he held positions at the University of Michigan, including Director of the Survey Research Center. He has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Michigan.

    • Criminal Justice Research Center (CJRC):

    • 12/04/2009: The Social Organization of Racially Motivated Crime in Chicago Communities (Christopher Lyons, University of New Mexico)
      9:00am - 10:20am, Room 217 Journalism Building
      ABSTRACT Interest in “hate” crime continues to grow; yet we still know little about the etiology of racially motivated crime. This project joins a long tradition of Chicago-style research by focusing on the role of social organization in explaining variation in hate crimes against blacks and whites across Chicago communities. Drawing on six years of police reports, 1990 and 2000 census data, and survey data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), I examine the relationship between racially motivated crimes against blacks and whites and community-level economic conditions, racial demographics, conventional crime rates, and social capital. I evaluate alternative hypotheses about the social organization of racial hate crime derived from social disorganization, resource competition, macrostructural opportunity, and defended communities perspectives. Multivariate negative binomial analyses controlling for spatial autocorrelation suggest different patterns for antiblack and antiwhite hate crimes. Consistent with an extended defended communities perspective, antiblack hate crimes, in contrast to general forms of crime, are more likely in relatively organized, racially homogenous (white) communities with high levels of informal social control. Conversely, antiwhite incidents appear more numerous in racially heterogeneous and traditionally disorganized communities, especially those characterized by residential instability and high robbery rates. I offer some speculation for the different patterns by victim race, and discuss the implications of the results for criminological theory and research. Coffee, bagels and refreshments are being served