Dr. Mario Small to Give Annual Rosenberg Lecture | SOCY l Sociology Department l University of Maryland

Event Date and Time

Friday, October 28, 2022 - 2:30 pm - Friday, October 28, 2022 - 3:45 pm

Location

Prince George's Room, Stamp Student Union

The Morris Rosenberg Memorial Lectureship was established in the Department of Sociology at the University of Maryland to pay tribute to the scholarly contributions made by Dr. Rosenberg. The lectureship brings eminent sociologists to campus who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the discipline. The inaugural Rosenberg Lecture was given by Charles Tilly in October 1999. Since then, the Lectureship has brought some of the most prominent sociologists to speak to the UMD Sociology community.

On October 28, 2022, Dr. Mario L. Small will give this year's lecture, titled "Financial Institutions, Neighborhoods, and Racial Inequality."

Abstract

I use automated data collection to calculate the average distance from every block to the nearest bank and nearest alternative financial institution (AFIs), such as payday lender and check casher, in 19 of the largest cities in the U.S. I find that race matters more than class: the AFI is more often closer than the bank in low-poverty minority neighborhoods than in high-poverty white ones. I discuss ongoing work that seeks to understand this pattern. The paper is part of a current effort to use large-scale quantitative data to inform qualitative research on urban neighborhoods, and to use field data to improve big-data social science.

Dr. Small is a Quetelet Professor of Social Science in the Department of Sociology at Columbia University. An elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, and the Sociological Research Association, Small has published award-winning articles and books on urban inequality, personal networks, and the relationship between qualitative and quantitative methods. His books include Villa Victoria: The Transformation of Social Capital in a Boston Barrio and Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life, both of which received the C. Wright Mills Award for Best Book. His latest book, Someone To Talk To: How Networks Matter in Practice, recipient of the James Coleman Best Book Award among other honors, examines how people decide whom in their network to turn to when seeking a confidant. Small is currently studying the relationship between networks and decision-making, the ability of large-scale data to answer critical questions about urban inequality, and the role of qualitative inquiry in cumulative social science.