Jeffrey L Kidder
Biographic Data
| ID | 163186 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jeffrey L Kidder |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jeffrey L |
| FAMILY NAME | Kidder |
| SIGNATURE | KIDDER J L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Northern Illinois University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5426-9353 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 176 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
We don’t fit at all”: The symbolic boundaries of libertarians connected to the academy
Sometimes Contentious Curricula: The Frame Alignments of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Programs Run by Libertarian Scholars
Normalizing Disreputable Exchanges in the Academy: Libertarian Scholars and the Stigma of Ideologically-Based Funding
Keeping Libertarianism Alive in the Academy: Organizations, Scholars, and the Idea Pipeline
In this article, the authors draw on the literatures about academic career pipelines and the sociology of ideas to understand how an outside group of organizations provides resources to aspiring scholars as young as high schoolers and as senior as emeriti professors. One of the goals of these organizations is to promote libertarian ideas in the academy. The authors show how, in contrast to other academic pipeline building, libertarian-leaning org…
Reconsidering edgework theory: Practices, experiences, and structures
This article clarifies and revises the sociological theory of voluntary risk taking known as edgework. The concept has three distinct aspects: material practices, embodied experiences, and supporting structures. I first provide a critical summary of these aspects as they exist in the current literature. Second, I advocate for an approach to edgework through the analysis of symbolic practices. I argue that researchers can best understand the meani…
The Politics of Speech on Campus 1
This article is concerned with college‐aged activists’ discussions about provocative speakers invited to their campuses. Our research shows how the students on the front lines of debates over free expression and inclusion conceptualize the stakes and think about the consequences of their political involvement. Our analysis goes beyond simplistic portrayals of young people as being either “for” or “against” speech rights. Instead, we argue that co…
Trumpism on College Campuses
The Sociology of Speed: Digital, Organizational, and Social Temporalities
Civil and uncivil places: The moral geography of College Republicans
Punk Rock and the Politics of Place: Building a Better Tomorrow
Hollywood, Bike Messengers, and the New Economy
The sociological study of popular cinema provides an analytic entry point for exploring how economic realities are given meaning through cultural products. In this paper, I compare how two Hollywood movies about bike messengers, Quicksilver and Premium Rush, position their main characters in relationship to the new economy. Both films provide commentaries on work and social class, but, as products of unique socio-historical periods, I argue that …
College Republicans and Conservative Social Identity
Through participant-observation and interviews, I explore the conservative social identity of College Republicans at a midsize, midtier public university in the United States. Using the concepts of repertoires and frames, I analyze how individuals make claims to political social identities. Specifically, I show that symbolic appeals to the free market were an essential aspect of the conservative repertoire at my field site. Furthermore, the shift…
Parkour, Masculinity, and the City
Parkour is a new, and increasingly popular, sport in which individuals athletically and artistically negotiate obstacles found in the urban environment. In this article, I position parkour as a performance of masculinity involving spatial appropriation. Through ethnographic data I show how young men involved in the sport use the city (both the built environment and the people within it) as a structural resource for the construction and maintenanc…
Parkour: Adventure, Risk, and Safety in the Urban Environment
Parkour, The Affective Appropriation of Urban Space, and the Real/Virtual Dialectic
Parkour is a new sport based on athletically and artistically overcoming urban obstacles. In this paper, I argue that the real world practices of parkour are dialectically intertwined with the virtual worlds made possible by information and communication technologies. My analysis of parkour underscores how globalized ideas and images available through the Internet and other media can be put into practice within specific locales. Practitioners of …
What We Talk About When We Talk About Taxes
Taxes are a preeminent issue in domestic politics, but the prevalence, content, and shape of public discussion on taxation is often perplexing to social researchers. We argue that part of the confusion arises from the lack of qualitative data on the meanings Americans associate with taxation. In order to remedy this lack we conducted semi-structured interviews with white, Southern, small business owners. In answering our questions, our respondent…
Urban Flow: Bike Messengers and the City
Bike messengers are familiar figures in the downtown cores of major cities. Tasked with delivering time-sensitive materials within, they ride in all types of weather, weave in and out of dense traffic, dodging taxis and pedestrians alike in order to meet tight deadlines. Riding through midtown traffic at breakneck speeds is dangerous work, and most riders do it for very little pay and few benefits. As the courier industry has felt the pressures o…
Toward a Theory of Emotive Performance: With Lessons from How Politicians Do Anger
This article treats the public display of emotion as social performance. The concept of 'emotive performance' is developed to highlight the overlooked quality of performativity in the social use of emotion. We argue that emotive performance is reflexive, cultural, and communicative. As an active social act, emotive performance draws from the cultural repertoire of interpretative frameworks and dominant narratives. We illustrate the utility of the…
Appropriating the city: Space, Theory, and Bike Messengers
Over the last 30 years, social theorists have increasingly emphasized the importance of space. However, in empirical research, the dialectical relationship between social interaction and the physical environment is still a largely neglected issue. Using the theory of structuration, I provide a concrete example of why and how space matters in the cultural analysis of an urban social world. I argue that bike messengers—individuals who deliver time-…
It's the Job that I Love: Bike Messengers and Edgework
Bike messengers work in a dirty and dangerous occupation with low pay and no benefits. At the same time, many messengers consider their occupation to be their primary source of identity. In contrast to "dirty work" studies, which focus on organizational structures and workgroup ideologies, this paper explores how the creativity and spontaneity of courier labor allows messengers to become emotionally attached to their job. Bike messengering brings…
Bike Messengers and the Really Real: Effervescence, Reflexivity, and Postmodern Identity
Out of more than two thousand bike messengers in New York City, a few hundred participate in alleycats—illegal races held in open traffic. Surrounding this racing scene is a vibrant messenger community. Messengers who race in or attend alleycats carry their messenger identity into all aspects of their lives. Through direct participant observation, this article proposes that alleycats function as Durkheimian rituals for these messengers. Alleycats…
Style and Action: A Decoding of Bike Messenger Symbols
Using a social world's perspective, this article looks at the style of New York City bike messengers. Combining the works of Hebdige and Biernacki, it is argued that messenger style is intertwined with messenger practice. Five stylistic elements are analyzed: riding behaviors, the use of helmets, bicycle choice, clothing, and language. In each case, evidence is presented to illustrate how a liminal social position and an outlaw character is expre…
It's the Job that I Love: Bike Messengers and Edgework
Bike messengers work in a dirty and dangerous occupation with low pay and no benefits. At the same time, many messengers consider their occupation to be their primary source of identity. In contrast to "dirty work" studies, which focus on organizational structures and workgroup ideologies, this paper explores how the creativity and spontaneity of courier labor allows messengers to become emotionally attached to their job. Bike messengering brings…
Parkour, The Affective Appropriation of Urban Space, and the Real/Virtual Dialectic
Parkour is a new sport based on athletically and artistically overcoming urban obstacles. In this paper, I argue that the real world practices of parkour are dialectically intertwined with the virtual worlds made possible by information and communication technologies. My analysis of parkour underscores how globalized ideas and images available through the Internet and other media can be put into practice within specific locales. Practitioners of …
What We Talk About When We Talk About Taxes
Taxes are a preeminent issue in domestic politics, but the prevalence, content, and shape of public discussion on taxation is often perplexing to social researchers. We argue that part of the confusion arises from the lack of qualitative data on the meanings Americans associate with taxation. In order to remedy this lack we conducted semi-structured interviews with white, Southern, small business owners. In answering our questions, our respondent…
Appropriating the city: Space, Theory, and Bike Messengers
Over the last 30 years, social theorists have increasingly emphasized the importance of space. However, in empirical research, the dialectical relationship between social interaction and the physical environment is still a largely neglected issue. Using the theory of structuration, I provide a concrete example of why and how space matters in the cultural analysis of an urban social world. I argue that bike messengers—individuals who deliver time-…
Parkour, Masculinity, and the City
Parkour is a new, and increasingly popular, sport in which individuals athletically and artistically negotiate obstacles found in the urban environment. In this article, I position parkour as a performance of masculinity involving spatial appropriation. Through ethnographic data I show how young men involved in the sport use the city (both the built environment and the people within it) as a structural resource for the construction and maintenanc…
Parkour: Adventure, Risk, and Safety in the Urban Environment
Toward a Theory of Emotive Performance: With Lessons from How Politicians Do Anger
This article treats the public display of emotion as social performance. The concept of 'emotive performance' is developed to highlight the overlooked quality of performativity in the social use of emotion. We argue that emotive performance is reflexive, cultural, and communicative. As an active social act, emotive performance draws from the cultural repertoire of interpretative frameworks and dominant narratives. We illustrate the utility of the…
Style and Action: A Decoding of Bike Messenger Symbols
Using a social world's perspective, this article looks at the style of New York City bike messengers. Combining the works of Hebdige and Biernacki, it is argued that messenger style is intertwined with messenger practice. Five stylistic elements are analyzed: riding behaviors, the use of helmets, bicycle choice, clothing, and language. In each case, evidence is presented to illustrate how a liminal social position and an outlaw character is expre…
The Sociology of Speed: Digital, Organizational, and Social Temporalities
College Republicans and Conservative Social Identity
Through participant-observation and interviews, I explore the conservative social identity of College Republicans at a midsize, midtier public university in the United States. Using the concepts of repertoires and frames, I analyze how individuals make claims to political social identities. Specifically, I show that symbolic appeals to the free market were an essential aspect of the conservative repertoire at my field site. Furthermore, the shift…
Bike Messengers and the Really Real: Effervescence, Reflexivity, and Postmodern Identity
Out of more than two thousand bike messengers in New York City, a few hundred participate in alleycats—illegal races held in open traffic. Surrounding this racing scene is a vibrant messenger community. Messengers who race in or attend alleycats carry their messenger identity into all aspects of their lives. Through direct participant observation, this article proposes that alleycats function as Durkheimian rituals for these messengers. Alleycats…
The Politics of Speech on Campus 1
This article is concerned with college‐aged activists’ discussions about provocative speakers invited to their campuses. Our research shows how the students on the front lines of debates over free expression and inclusion conceptualize the stakes and think about the consequences of their political involvement. Our analysis goes beyond simplistic portrayals of young people as being either “for” or “against” speech rights. Instead, we argue that co…
Trumpism on College Campuses
Civil and uncivil places: The moral geography of College Republicans
Reconsidering edgework theory: Practices, experiences, and structures
This article clarifies and revises the sociological theory of voluntary risk taking known as edgework. The concept has three distinct aspects: material practices, embodied experiences, and supporting structures. I first provide a critical summary of these aspects as they exist in the current literature. Second, I advocate for an approach to edgework through the analysis of symbolic practices. I argue that researchers can best understand the meani…
Normalizing Disreputable Exchanges in the Academy: Libertarian Scholars and the Stigma of Ideologically-Based Funding
Hollywood, Bike Messengers, and the New Economy
The sociological study of popular cinema provides an analytic entry point for exploring how economic realities are given meaning through cultural products. In this paper, I compare how two Hollywood movies about bike messengers, Quicksilver and Premium Rush, position their main characters in relationship to the new economy. Both films provide commentaries on work and social class, but, as products of unique socio-historical periods, I argue that …
Style and Action: A Decoding of Bike Messenger Symbols
Using a social world's perspective, this article looks at the style of New York City bike messengers. Combining the works of Hebdige and Biernacki, it is argued that messenger style is intertwined with messenger practice. Five stylistic elements are analyzed: riding behaviors, the use of helmets, bicycle choice, clothing, and language. In each case, evidence is presented to illustrate how a liminal social position and an outlaw character is expre…
It's the Job that I Love: Bike Messengers and Edgework
Bike messengers work in a dirty and dangerous occupation with low pay and no benefits. At the same time, many messengers consider their occupation to be their primary source of identity. In contrast to "dirty work" studies, which focus on organizational structures and workgroup ideologies, this paper explores how the creativity and spontaneity of courier labor allows messengers to become emotionally attached to their job. Bike messengering brings…
Bike Messengers and the Really Real: Effervescence, Reflexivity, and Postmodern Identity
Out of more than two thousand bike messengers in New York City, a few hundred participate in alleycats—illegal races held in open traffic. Surrounding this racing scene is a vibrant messenger community. Messengers who race in or attend alleycats carry their messenger identity into all aspects of their lives. Through direct participant observation, this article proposes that alleycats function as Durkheimian rituals for these messengers. Alleycats…
Appropriating the city: Space, Theory, and Bike Messengers
Over the last 30 years, social theorists have increasingly emphasized the importance of space. However, in empirical research, the dialectical relationship between social interaction and the physical environment is still a largely neglected issue. Using the theory of structuration, I provide a concrete example of why and how space matters in the cultural analysis of an urban social world. I argue that bike messengers—individuals who deliver time-…
Toward a Theory of Emotive Performance: With Lessons from How Politicians Do Anger
This article treats the public display of emotion as social performance. The concept of 'emotive performance' is developed to highlight the overlooked quality of performativity in the social use of emotion. We argue that emotive performance is reflexive, cultural, and communicative. As an active social act, emotive performance draws from the cultural repertoire of interpretative frameworks and dominant narratives. We illustrate the utility of the…
Urban Flow: Bike Messengers and the City
Bike messengers are familiar figures in the downtown cores of major cities. Tasked with delivering time-sensitive materials within, they ride in all types of weather, weave in and out of dense traffic, dodging taxis and pedestrians alike in order to meet tight deadlines. Riding through midtown traffic at breakneck speeds is dangerous work, and most riders do it for very little pay and few benefits. As the courier industry has felt the pressures o…
Parkour, The Affective Appropriation of Urban Space, and the Real/Virtual Dialectic
Parkour is a new sport based on athletically and artistically overcoming urban obstacles. In this paper, I argue that the real world practices of parkour are dialectically intertwined with the virtual worlds made possible by information and communication technologies. My analysis of parkour underscores how globalized ideas and images available through the Internet and other media can be put into practice within specific locales. Practitioners of …
What We Talk About When We Talk About Taxes
Taxes are a preeminent issue in domestic politics, but the prevalence, content, and shape of public discussion on taxation is often perplexing to social researchers. We argue that part of the confusion arises from the lack of qualitative data on the meanings Americans associate with taxation. In order to remedy this lack we conducted semi-structured interviews with white, Southern, small business owners. In answering our questions, our respondent…
Parkour, Masculinity, and the City
Parkour is a new, and increasingly popular, sport in which individuals athletically and artistically negotiate obstacles found in the urban environment. In this article, I position parkour as a performance of masculinity involving spatial appropriation. Through ethnographic data I show how young men involved in the sport use the city (both the built environment and the people within it) as a structural resource for the construction and maintenanc…
Parkour: Adventure, Risk, and Safety in the Urban Environment
Hollywood, Bike Messengers, and the New Economy
The sociological study of popular cinema provides an analytic entry point for exploring how economic realities are given meaning through cultural products. In this paper, I compare how two Hollywood movies about bike messengers, Quicksilver and Premium Rush, position their main characters in relationship to the new economy. Both films provide commentaries on work and social class, but, as products of unique socio-historical periods, I argue that …
College Republicans and Conservative Social Identity
Through participant-observation and interviews, I explore the conservative social identity of College Republicans at a midsize, midtier public university in the United States. Using the concepts of repertoires and frames, I analyze how individuals make claims to political social identities. Specifically, I show that symbolic appeals to the free market were an essential aspect of the conservative repertoire at my field site. Furthermore, the shift…
Civil and uncivil places: The moral geography of College Republicans
Punk Rock and the Politics of Place: Building a Better Tomorrow
The Sociology of Speed: Digital, Organizational, and Social Temporalities
Trumpism on College Campuses
The Politics of Speech on Campus 1
This article is concerned with college‐aged activists’ discussions about provocative speakers invited to their campuses. Our research shows how the students on the front lines of debates over free expression and inclusion conceptualize the stakes and think about the consequences of their political involvement. Our analysis goes beyond simplistic portrayals of young people as being either “for” or “against” speech rights. Instead, we argue that co…
Reconsidering edgework theory: Practices, experiences, and structures
This article clarifies and revises the sociological theory of voluntary risk taking known as edgework. The concept has three distinct aspects: material practices, embodied experiences, and supporting structures. I first provide a critical summary of these aspects as they exist in the current literature. Second, I advocate for an approach to edgework through the analysis of symbolic practices. I argue that researchers can best understand the meani…
Keeping Libertarianism Alive in the Academy: Organizations, Scholars, and the Idea Pipeline
In this article, the authors draw on the literatures about academic career pipelines and the sociology of ideas to understand how an outside group of organizations provides resources to aspiring scholars as young as high schoolers and as senior as emeriti professors. One of the goals of these organizations is to promote libertarian ideas in the academy. The authors show how, in contrast to other academic pipeline building, libertarian-leaning org…
We don’t fit at all”: The symbolic boundaries of libertarians connected to the academy
Sometimes Contentious Curricula: The Frame Alignments of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Programs Run by Libertarian Scholars
Normalizing Disreputable Exchanges in the Academy: Libertarian Scholars and the Stigma of Ideologically-Based Funding
Sociology (19 works) · Law (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Social science (9 works) · Adventure Sports and Sensation Seeking (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Aesthetics (6 works) · Art (6 works) · Epistemology (6 works)