Reuben A Buford May
Biographic Data
| ID | 114995 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Reuben A Buford May |
| GIVEN NAMES | Reuben A Buford |
| FAMILY NAME | May |
| SIGNATURE | MAY R A B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Texas A&M University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9213-9744 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 234 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Antiblack Discrimination in Public Accommodations: Differential Drink Pricing in Urban Nightclubs
Studies have demonstrated evidence of racial discrimination in public accommodations. Within urban nightclubs specifically, blacks experience racial discrimination when attempting to gain access, yet little is known about the treatment they receive once inside. To assess whether there is racial discrimination inside urban nightclubs, the authors sent black and white men testers to 30 nightclubs in Chicago to determine whether black men paid more …
Adolescent Sports Participation and Health in Early Adulthood: An Observational Study
We study the impact of teenage sports participation on early-adulthood health using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion. We focus on two primary outcomes measured at ages 23 to 28 (self-rated health and PHQ9 Patient Depression Questionnaire score) and control for several demographic and socioeconomic confounders. To probe the possibility that certain types of sports participation may have larger effects on health than others, we co…
Race, Digital Disadvantage, and the Pursuit of Micro‐Celebrity in DIY‐Gangsta rap
Exploring the Use of Exclusionary Practices Against African American Participation in Urban Nightlife
Drawing on qualitative data from an exploratory study of the experiences of audit pair researchers—pairs of black, white, and Latinx field testers—in an urban nightlife study in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Texas, this paper examines nightclub owners’ use of what I identify as “exclusionary tools”—that is, “dress codes,” “steering,” and “fake guest lists.” Using Critical Race Theory’s critique of neutrality, I argue that these exclusionary tactic…
Velvet Rope Racism, Racial Paranoia, and Cultural Scripts: Alleged Dress Code Discrimination in Urban Nightlife, 2000–2014
Using news stories appearing between June 1, 2000, and June 15, 2014, I explore the nature of African Americans’ allegations of racial discrimination in the use of dress codes at urban nightclubs. In this qualitative analysis I outline the nature of these incidents and the extent to which they represent what I refer to as “velvet rope racism”. I focus on how these incidents are negotiated between patrons and nightclub management, observing that o…
Dress Codes and Racial Discrimination in Urban Nightclubs
In recent years, sociologists and others have suggested that nightclub owners have used dress codes to covertly discriminate against African Americans and Latinos. We test this claim using experimental audit methods where matched pairs of African American, Latino, and white men attempt to enter urban nightclubs with dress codes in large metropolitan areas (N = 159). We find systematic evidence that African Americans are denied access to nightclub…
Black Males and Racism: Improving the Schooling and Life Chances of African Americans
When the Methodological Shoe is on the Other Foot: African American Interviewer and White Interviewees
The career trajectory of a Black male high school basketball player: A social reproduction perspective
Interscholastic sport in the United States is a social institution within which the social relationships and attitudes needed to sustain the existing dominant economic and class relations of the larger society could be perpetuated or reproduced. This single case study allowed us to explore the question of social reproduction by examining the nuances of how a young Black male high school basketball player helped to reproduce his social class posit…
Black Men Can’t Shoot: Black Men Can’t Shoot
The Good and Bad of It All: Professional Black Male Basketball Players as Role Models for Young Black Male Basketball Players
It is a generally accepted belief, affirmed in the media, that professional Black male basketball players from the National Basketball Association serve as role models for young Black males. Very little empirical evidence, however, is available about how the young men think about these relationships. Using the concept of role model from social learning theory as a lens, I analyze interview data drawn from a convenience sample of 19 young Black me…
Cracking the Code: Race, Class, and Access to Nightclubs in Urban America
Introduction: Era(c)ing and (Re)constructing Race and the Racialized Self
Shadowboxing: A Review of Loic Wacquant's Body & Soul
Of Mice, Rats, and Men: Exploring the Role of Rodents in Constructing Masculinity Within a Group of Young African American Males
Flirting with Boundaries: A Professor's Narrative Tale Contemplating Research of the Wild Side
This narrative explores some of the boundaries that ethnographers may encounter as they contemplate the viability of studying their own behavior in risqué social settings. The author examines his personal journal entries written about his participation in the downtown college party scene-the wild side-in Athens, Georgia, for ways that his professional identity, race, gender, age, sexuality, and marital status place him in a precarious professiona…
The William Julius Wilson effect: Wilson's personal and professional influence on a young African American scholar's sociological investigation of race
This article examines ways in which William Julius Wilson's research agenda has influenced my approach to the study of African Americans and their everyday lives. I pay particular attention to Wilson's explication of structural factors - such as economic conditions, residential patterns, and discrimination - that influence African Americans' life chances. In this context I consider the interpretive processes; i.e., meaning making through conversa…
Talking at Trena's: Everyday Conversations at an African American Tavern
The Sticky Situation of Sportsmanship: Contexts and Contradictions in Sportsmanship among High School Boys Basketball Players
This article makes a substantive contribution to our understanding of youth and sport participation by exploring the interrelated ways in which situational contexts influence sportsmanship in competitive high school boys basketball. The author uses ethnographic data gathered while he was an assistant coach of boys varsity basketball, at a predominantly African American high school, and a social constructionist approach to demonstrate how players …
Race Talk and Local Collective Memory among African American Men in a Neighborhood Tavern
Do You See What I See? Examining a Collaborative Ethnography
Although there are increasing examples of collaborative ethnography, there are few explicit reflections on its process. The authors systematically juxtapose their jointly collected but separately recorded observations in a neighborhood recreation center in Chicago to examine points of similarity and difference. They find that collaborative ethnography can be useful for providing a richer description, highlighting perceptual inconsistencies, and r…
The Promises and Perils of Ethnography in the New Millennium: Lessons From Teaching
Tavern Culture and Television Viewing: The Influence of Local Viewing Culture on Patrons' Reception of Television Programs
This article is concerned with the relationship between tavern culture and television viewing. The author explores this relationship using ethnographic data collected during fieldwork in an African American neighborhood tavern in Chicago. The author argues that patrons (1) personalize thematic content from television, (2) develop parasocial relationships that facilitate shared group interaction, and (3) challenge and evaluate media information as…
Television, Ethnicity, and Cultural Change. Marie Gillespie
Do You See What I See? Examining a Collaborative Ethnography
Although there are increasing examples of collaborative ethnography, there are few explicit reflections on its process. The authors systematically juxtapose their jointly collected but separately recorded observations in a neighborhood recreation center in Chicago to examine points of similarity and difference. They find that collaborative ethnography can be useful for providing a richer description, highlighting perceptual inconsistencies, and r…
When the Methodological Shoe is on the Other Foot: African American Interviewer and White Interviewees
Cracking the Code: Race, Class, and Access to Nightclubs in Urban America
Race Talk and Local Collective Memory among African American Men in a Neighborhood Tavern
The Good and Bad of It All: Professional Black Male Basketball Players as Role Models for Young Black Male Basketball Players
It is a generally accepted belief, affirmed in the media, that professional Black male basketball players from the National Basketball Association serve as role models for young Black males. Very little empirical evidence, however, is available about how the young men think about these relationships. Using the concept of role model from social learning theory as a lens, I analyze interview data drawn from a convenience sample of 19 young Black me…
The career trajectory of a Black male high school basketball player: A social reproduction perspective
Interscholastic sport in the United States is a social institution within which the social relationships and attitudes needed to sustain the existing dominant economic and class relations of the larger society could be perpetuated or reproduced. This single case study allowed us to explore the question of social reproduction by examining the nuances of how a young Black male high school basketball player helped to reproduce his social class posit…
Dress Codes and Racial Discrimination in Urban Nightclubs
In recent years, sociologists and others have suggested that nightclub owners have used dress codes to covertly discriminate against African Americans and Latinos. We test this claim using experimental audit methods where matched pairs of African American, Latino, and white men attempt to enter urban nightclubs with dress codes in large metropolitan areas (N = 159). We find systematic evidence that African Americans are denied access to nightclub…
Velvet Rope Racism, Racial Paranoia, and Cultural Scripts: Alleged Dress Code Discrimination in Urban Nightlife, 2000–2014
Using news stories appearing between June 1, 2000, and June 15, 2014, I explore the nature of African Americans’ allegations of racial discrimination in the use of dress codes at urban nightclubs. In this qualitative analysis I outline the nature of these incidents and the extent to which they represent what I refer to as “velvet rope racism”. I focus on how these incidents are negotiated between patrons and nightclub management, observing that o…
The Sticky Situation of Sportsmanship: Contexts and Contradictions in Sportsmanship among High School Boys Basketball Players
This article makes a substantive contribution to our understanding of youth and sport participation by exploring the interrelated ways in which situational contexts influence sportsmanship in competitive high school boys basketball. The author uses ethnographic data gathered while he was an assistant coach of boys varsity basketball, at a predominantly African American high school, and a social constructionist approach to demonstrate how players …
The Promises and Perils of Ethnography in the New Millennium: Lessons From Teaching
Exploring the Use of Exclusionary Practices Against African American Participation in Urban Nightlife
Drawing on qualitative data from an exploratory study of the experiences of audit pair researchers—pairs of black, white, and Latinx field testers—in an urban nightlife study in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Texas, this paper examines nightclub owners’ use of what I identify as “exclusionary tools”—that is, “dress codes,” “steering,” and “fake guest lists.” Using Critical Race Theory’s critique of neutrality, I argue that these exclusionary tactic…
Of Mice, Rats, and Men: Exploring the Role of Rodents in Constructing Masculinity Within a Group of Young African American Males
Flirting with Boundaries: A Professor's Narrative Tale Contemplating Research of the Wild Side
This narrative explores some of the boundaries that ethnographers may encounter as they contemplate the viability of studying their own behavior in risqué social settings. The author examines his personal journal entries written about his participation in the downtown college party scene-the wild side-in Athens, Georgia, for ways that his professional identity, race, gender, age, sexuality, and marital status place him in a precarious professiona…
Introduction: Era(c)ing and (Re)constructing Race and the Racialized Self
Tavern Culture and Television Viewing: The Influence of Local Viewing Culture on Patrons' Reception of Television Programs
This article is concerned with the relationship between tavern culture and television viewing. The author explores this relationship using ethnographic data collected during fieldwork in an African American neighborhood tavern in Chicago. The author argues that patrons (1) personalize thematic content from television, (2) develop parasocial relationships that facilitate shared group interaction, and (3) challenge and evaluate media information as…
Antiblack Discrimination in Public Accommodations: Differential Drink Pricing in Urban Nightclubs
Studies have demonstrated evidence of racial discrimination in public accommodations. Within urban nightclubs specifically, blacks experience racial discrimination when attempting to gain access, yet little is known about the treatment they receive once inside. To assess whether there is racial discrimination inside urban nightclubs, the authors sent black and white men testers to 30 nightclubs in Chicago to determine whether black men paid more …
Television, Ethnicity, and Cultural Change. Marie Gillespie
The Promises and Perils of Ethnography in the New Millennium: Lessons From Teaching
Tavern Culture and Television Viewing: The Influence of Local Viewing Culture on Patrons' Reception of Television Programs
This article is concerned with the relationship between tavern culture and television viewing. The author explores this relationship using ethnographic data collected during fieldwork in an African American neighborhood tavern in Chicago. The author argues that patrons (1) personalize thematic content from television, (2) develop parasocial relationships that facilitate shared group interaction, and (3) challenge and evaluate media information as…
Race Talk and Local Collective Memory among African American Men in a Neighborhood Tavern
Do You See What I See? Examining a Collaborative Ethnography
Although there are increasing examples of collaborative ethnography, there are few explicit reflections on its process. The authors systematically juxtapose their jointly collected but separately recorded observations in a neighborhood recreation center in Chicago to examine points of similarity and difference. They find that collaborative ethnography can be useful for providing a richer description, highlighting perceptual inconsistencies, and r…
The Sticky Situation of Sportsmanship: Contexts and Contradictions in Sportsmanship among High School Boys Basketball Players
This article makes a substantive contribution to our understanding of youth and sport participation by exploring the interrelated ways in which situational contexts influence sportsmanship in competitive high school boys basketball. The author uses ethnographic data gathered while he was an assistant coach of boys varsity basketball, at a predominantly African American high school, and a social constructionist approach to demonstrate how players …
Talking at Trena's: Everyday Conversations at an African American Tavern
Flirting with Boundaries: A Professor's Narrative Tale Contemplating Research of the Wild Side
This narrative explores some of the boundaries that ethnographers may encounter as they contemplate the viability of studying their own behavior in risqué social settings. The author examines his personal journal entries written about his participation in the downtown college party scene-the wild side-in Athens, Georgia, for ways that his professional identity, race, gender, age, sexuality, and marital status place him in a precarious professiona…
The William Julius Wilson effect: Wilson's personal and professional influence on a young African American scholar's sociological investigation of race
This article examines ways in which William Julius Wilson's research agenda has influenced my approach to the study of African Americans and their everyday lives. I pay particular attention to Wilson's explication of structural factors - such as economic conditions, residential patterns, and discrimination - that influence African Americans' life chances. In this context I consider the interpretive processes; i.e., meaning making through conversa…
Of Mice, Rats, and Men: Exploring the Role of Rodents in Constructing Masculinity Within a Group of Young African American Males
Shadowboxing: A Review of Loic Wacquant's Body & Soul
Introduction: Era(c)ing and (Re)constructing Race and the Racialized Self
Cracking the Code: Race, Class, and Access to Nightclubs in Urban America
The Good and Bad of It All: Professional Black Male Basketball Players as Role Models for Young Black Male Basketball Players
It is a generally accepted belief, affirmed in the media, that professional Black male basketball players from the National Basketball Association serve as role models for young Black males. Very little empirical evidence, however, is available about how the young men think about these relationships. Using the concept of role model from social learning theory as a lens, I analyze interview data drawn from a convenience sample of 19 young Black me…
Black Men Can’t Shoot: Black Men Can’t Shoot
The career trajectory of a Black male high school basketball player: A social reproduction perspective
Interscholastic sport in the United States is a social institution within which the social relationships and attitudes needed to sustain the existing dominant economic and class relations of the larger society could be perpetuated or reproduced. This single case study allowed us to explore the question of social reproduction by examining the nuances of how a young Black male high school basketball player helped to reproduce his social class posit…
When the Methodological Shoe is on the Other Foot: African American Interviewer and White Interviewees
Black Males and Racism: Improving the Schooling and Life Chances of African Americans
Velvet Rope Racism, Racial Paranoia, and Cultural Scripts: Alleged Dress Code Discrimination in Urban Nightlife, 2000–2014
Using news stories appearing between June 1, 2000, and June 15, 2014, I explore the nature of African Americans’ allegations of racial discrimination in the use of dress codes at urban nightclubs. In this qualitative analysis I outline the nature of these incidents and the extent to which they represent what I refer to as “velvet rope racism”. I focus on how these incidents are negotiated between patrons and nightclub management, observing that o…
Dress Codes and Racial Discrimination in Urban Nightclubs
In recent years, sociologists and others have suggested that nightclub owners have used dress codes to covertly discriminate against African Americans and Latinos. We test this claim using experimental audit methods where matched pairs of African American, Latino, and white men attempt to enter urban nightclubs with dress codes in large metropolitan areas (N = 159). We find systematic evidence that African Americans are denied access to nightclub…
Race, Digital Disadvantage, and the Pursuit of Micro‐Celebrity in DIY‐Gangsta rap
Exploring the Use of Exclusionary Practices Against African American Participation in Urban Nightlife
Drawing on qualitative data from an exploratory study of the experiences of audit pair researchers—pairs of black, white, and Latinx field testers—in an urban nightlife study in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Texas, this paper examines nightclub owners’ use of what I identify as “exclusionary tools”—that is, “dress codes,” “steering,” and “fake guest lists.” Using Critical Race Theory’s critique of neutrality, I argue that these exclusionary tactic…
Antiblack Discrimination in Public Accommodations: Differential Drink Pricing in Urban Nightclubs
Studies have demonstrated evidence of racial discrimination in public accommodations. Within urban nightclubs specifically, blacks experience racial discrimination when attempting to gain access, yet little is known about the treatment they receive once inside. To assess whether there is racial discrimination inside urban nightclubs, the authors sent black and white men testers to 30 nightclubs in Chicago to determine whether black men paid more …
Adolescent Sports Participation and Health in Early Adulthood: An Observational Study
We study the impact of teenage sports participation on early-adulthood health using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion. We focus on two primary outcomes measured at ages 23 to 28 (self-rated health and PHQ9 Patient Depression Questionnaire score) and control for several demographic and socioeconomic confounders. To probe the possibility that certain types of sports participation may have larger effects on health than others, we co…
Sociology (21 works) · Gender Studies (16 works) · Gender Studies (15 works) · Political science (11 works) · Anthropology (10 works) · Law (10 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Ethnography (7 works) · Media studies (7 works)