Sociology

Family sitting on the end of a dock

Research examines coping strategies used by family members of violent children with severe mental illness

Research led by a University of Maine sociology professor explores how family members of children with severe mental illness and violent tendencies persevere through stressful situations.  In a recently published study, Karyn Sporer looks at the importance of positivity, education and community, and examines strategies family members identify as being helpful when challenged by stressors […]

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Professor Emeritus Steven Cohn passes away

Steven Cohn, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Maine, died July 29 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 79. He joined the UMaine community in 1971 and taught until 2014. A tribute to his life and legacy is on the Department of Sociology website.

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Blackstone’s child-free opinion pieces published in Grazia, Ms., Time

University of Maine sociologist Amy Blackstone, whose book ‘Childfree By Choice’ was published in June, recently had opinion pieces published in Grazia, Ms. and Time. In “Why I’m Child-Free, Not Child-Less” in Grazia, Blackstone wrote that the reasons that she and her husband Lance had “for not wanting to be parents — joy, fulfilment, the […]

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BDN interviews Blackstone about child-free choice, latest book

The Bangor Daily News spoke with Amy Blackstone, a professor in the Department of Sociology and the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine, about her research on the decision to not have children. “Society has always assumed that all women innately want to have children,” Blackstone said. “That’s simply not true. […]

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Blackstone writes BDN op-ed on reproductive freedom

Amy Blackstone, a professor in the Department of Sociology and the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine, wrote an opinion piece for the Bangor Daily News titled, “Maine leads on reproductive freedom.” Blackstone is a member of the of the Maine chapter of the national Scholars Strategy Network, which brings together […]

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Blackstone speaks with KCRW about childfree choice

Amy Blackstone, a professor of sociology at the University of Maine, spoke with KCRW, a public radio station in Santa Monica, about the choice to be childfree and respecting family choices. Blackstone, whose book “Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family and Creating a New Age of Independence” was recently released, said girls are pushed […]

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ABC News interviews Blackstone about child-free women

ABC News interviewed Amy Blackstone, a professor of sociology at the University of Maine, for its story “Are child-free, single women really happier? An author’s claim sparks debate.” The story was in response to Paul Dolan’s book “Happy Ever After,” in which the London School of Economics professor of behavioral science asserted women without kids […]

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Honors students, faculty travel to Sierra Leone to deepen educational partnerships

The Honors College Servant Heart Research Collaborative, in conjunction with Honors students who have been awarded the Davis Foundation Projects for Peace grant, will travel to Sierra Leone June 7–19 to work with local partners on the observation and implementation of two projects created by the collaborative. Stephen Kaplan, a rising sophomore computer science major, […]

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