UVA Sociology Society

	Justin Snyder is currently a lecturer in the sociology department at the University of Virginia. Recently he has taught such classes as “Sociology of Violence” and “Race and Ethnicity in American Society”. After receiving his degree in History at the University of Illinois-Urbana, he enrolled in the Graduate program here at the University.
	-Interview conducted by Florette King
Florette:	What brought you to UVa?
Dr. Snyder:	I was interested in the strong emphasis on culture and history. I was interested in studying people’s interpretations on culture. It took a little while to find out what my specific interest were. I studied Race and Ethnicity for a long time and even planned on doing my dissertation on it, but I couldn’t find anything new to talk about. Then I talked to Jeff Olick and was steered in the direction of studying Violence.
Florette:	What aspects of violence are you studying?
Dr. Snyder:	Well, my primary research was using memoirs of first hand accounts of violence. I am focusing on violence from the Vietnam War to the current war. For my book I am looking at rape, genocide; in Rwanda and Bosnia, the Vietnam and Iraq war, and first hand accounts of 9/11.
Florette:	If you could teach any class at UVa what would it be?
Dr. Snyder:	Sociology of Violence is my ideal class because it is closest to my research. In the future I would like to teach a class on medical sociology, but I would have to do more research on it first.

1 year ago

On Wednesday, November 18th, the Sociology Society hosted a movie night, viewing the 2004 highly acclaimed film, Crash. The film explores the controversial topics of racism, stereotyping, discrimination, and class conflict in Los Angeles. The film provides a complex perspective on each character- revealing a racist attitude or behavior the character may exhibit, but also delving further into his or her psyche, demonstrating to the audience that racism is not as black and white as we may think. The film provides a diverse perspective of stories, plot lines, topics and characters and challenges its audience to think and view racism in a new light. It is a very powerful film and a definite must see. If you are interested in the topics the film explores, consider taking a Sociology course on Race Immigration with Professor Vickerman.

-by Heather Nelson

1 year ago

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My high school was the first in Mississippi to integrate. We were all touched by those times. They were what led me to become a sociologist.

Professor Brad Wilcox, quoted in The New York Times.

The Sociology Department at UVA

The first lesson of modern sociology is that the individual cannot understand his own experience or gauge his own fate without locating himself within the trends of his epoch and the life-chances of all the individuals of his social layer

Sociology Movie Night: Crash