Jodi O'Brien (Ph.D., University of Washington) is Professor of Sociology at Seattle University. She teaches courses in social psychology, sexuality, inequality, and classical and contemporary theory. She writes and lectures on the cultural politics of transgressive identities and communities. Her other books include Everyday Inequalities (Basil Blackwell), Encyclopedia of Gender and Society (Pine Forge Press), Social Prisms: Reflections on Everyday Myths and Paradoxes (Pine Forge Press), and The Production of Reality: Essays and Readings on Social Interaction, Fifth Edition (Pine Forge Press).
David M. Newman earned his B.A. from San Diego State University in 1981 and his graduate degrees from the University of Washington in Seattle (M.A. 1984, PhD 1988). After a year at the University of Connecticut, David went to DePauw University in 1989 and has been there ever since. David teaches courses in Contemporary Society, Deviance, Mental Illness, Family, Social Psychology, and Research Methods. He has published numerous articles on teaching and has presented research papers on the intersection of gender and power in intimate relationships. Recently most of his scholarly activity has been devoted to writing and revising several books, including Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of… Everyday Life (SAGE, 2014); Identities and Inequalities: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality (McGraw-Hill, 2012); and Families: A Sociological Perspective (McGraw-Hill, 2009). He is currently working on a book-length manuscript that examines the cultural meaning, institutional importance, and social limitations of "second chance" narratives in everyday life.