Bookmarks (81)

New and Noteworthy Board member Daniel Cueto-Villalobos wrote on new research from Patricia Homan and Amy Burdette on how belonging to a sexist religious community can harm women’s health and wellbeing. Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking) Richard J. Petts, Trenton D. Mize, and Gayle Kaufman wrote for the Council on Contemporary Families about the importance […]

The nation’s growing racial diversity received significant media attention following the release of the 2020 Census results, which show that a declining number of people in the United States identify themselves as white. Rather predictably, this led to a good deal of hand-wringing over a shrinking white population.  In his most recent book, The Great […]

The American Swedish Institute (ASI) current exhibit, “Rescuing Children on the Brink of War,” provides various accounts from those who, as children, were sent to various countries to escape Nazi persecution between late 1938 and September of 1939.  Originally a 2018 collaboration between the Yeshiva University Museum and Leo Baeck Institute (both located at the […]

Reposted with Permission from USA Today. Imagine spending decades trying to unlock doors to secure your loved ones’ survival. You pull at frozen doorknobs, bang on doors, camp out waiting for them to open, try charming the bouncer to let you in. Finding the door often requires navigating a maze of dim corridors. You hit […]

Paid leave is an increasingly popular and important issue in the United States. The problems associated with not having a national paid leave policy in the U.S. were clearly evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic. As congressional leaders currently debate implementing a federal paid parental leave policy, it is important to reflect on the benefits of […]

Patricia Homan and Amy Burdette, “When Religion Hurts: Structural Sexism and Health in Religious Congregations,” American Sociological Review, 2021 Belonging to a sexist religious community can negatively impact women’s health and well-being. Despite advancements in representation and inclusion across religious groups and denominations in recent years, many places of worship still maintain policies that exclude […]

New and Noteworthy Alicia Smith-Tran wrote for Engaging Sports on how her research on Black middle-class women runners demonstrates the importance of running groups for black women as a source of community and belonging in sport. Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking) Board member Jake Otis rounds up research on the promises and effectiveness police-mental health […]

Since George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis over one year ago, police reforms across the country continue to make headlines and shift the meaning of public safety. One important reform area involves responding to community members with mental health crises. Police officers have sometimes been described as  “street corner psychiatrists” because 10% – 40% of their […]

As the country steadily recovers from the pandemic and businesses reopen their doors, aggrieved restaurateurs have shifted their primary concern from temporary or permanent closures to understaffing burdens, labor costs, and hikes in the price of goods. Headline after headline in news media, albeit somewhat hyperbolically, direct attention to some of these struggles, such as, […]

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated fundamental changes in people’s everyday lives. For example, social distancing measures drove changes to individuals’ fitness routines, leading to the popularization of home workout equipment such as the Peloton spin bike and treadmill. Part of Peloton’s growing ubiquity  is likely due to the social aspect of its platform and the sense […]

I am thrilled to announce that Dr. Alicia Walker has take over as the new editor of this blog. Dr. Walker is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Missouri State University, and author of two books: The Secret Life of the Cheating Wife: Power, Pragmatism and Pleasure in Women’s Infidelity (Rowman & Littlefield,  2017) and Chasing […]

This week we have it all: research on imposter syndrome, conversations on how to handle gender inequality at home, what the pandemic parenting meant for gender inequality, and an intro to the theoretical work of W.E.B. Du Bois. Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking) Daniel Cueto-Villalobos rounded up research on imposter syndrome, how it relates to […]

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Matthew Clair, an Assistant Professor of Sociology & Law at Stanford University. In our conversation, Matt introduces us to the work of W. E. B. Du Bois, discusses how Du Bois is one of the rare scholars who transcends sociology and the academy, and helps us understand how […]

For many, the start of the school year brings a mixed bag of emotions, from budding anticipation to feelings of unease and anxiety about self-worth and competence, otherwise known as imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome exists well beyond academia, disproportionately affecting minorities and women, groups underrepresented in fields like business and medicine. What does social science […]

A few days before Father’s Day in June 2021, I found myself in the greeting card aisle leafing through the rows of cards capitalizing on the celebration of men’s parenting. One in particular caught my attention. On the front was a pale-yellow image of a modern living room scene with an open pizza box on […]

Fall is in the air here in Minnesota, and we’re bringing you sociological reads as refreshing as the autumn breeze. New and Noteworthy This week we covered new research by Tabitha Wright that shows that first-generation students experience more stressors, but not more depression, during college. Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking) Over at our partner, […]

When discussing US policies on sexual commerce, we live in a country where truth, science, and facts do not always matter. On May 4th, the Louisiana House Criminal Justice Committee held a hearing to debate a bill proposed by Representative Mandie Landry to repeal the state’s prostitution laws. They shelved the bill decriminalizing prostitution before […]

Tabitha Wilbur, “Stressed but not Depressed: A Longitudinal Analysis of First-Generation College Students, Stress, and Depressive Symptoms,” Social Forces, 2021 First-generation college students, or students whose parents did not receive a bachelor’s degree, make up a large portion of the student population. About a third of all undergraduate students are first-generation. Here at the University […]

Next week marks the launch of our new newsletter format. This week we stick with our oldie-but-a-goodie. On TSP this week we highlighted research contextualizing cultural change and the church. Our partner and community pages wrote on orientalism and the media, the risk of genocide in Afghanistan, and queer recruitment panic. Plus, a new podcast […]

New Gallup numbers on LGBT Americans are causing quite the stir after the 2020 polling of over 15,000 U.S. adults in all fifty states showed an increase in LGBT identification overall—5.6 percent, up 1.1 percent from the 4.5 percent rate estimated in 2017— and a majority (54.6 percent) of LGBT individuals identifying as bisexual. In […]

This October, Pope Francis is kicking off a three year synod, assembling leaders and laypeople to discuss issues of church doctrine and practices. One big question on the table: should the Catholic church ordain women women as deacons? Driven in part by a growing movement of women around the world who feel called to ordination, […]

From the day Qatar was awarded an opportunity to host the FIFA men’s World Cup in 2022, Islamophobic coverage of the Qatari state has proliferated in Western media. The Western media discourse has been heavily focused on highlighting human rights issues, immigration laws, climate, and bribery accusations while obscuring possible successes of the first Muslim […]

After 20 years, the Taliban have returned to power in Kabul. Two decades of progress for women and human rights are certain to be completely demolished. One group, in particular, the Hazaras, are especially fearful for what the future holds.  The Hazaras are an ethnoreligious minority in Afghanistan. They are Shia Muslims, claim descent from […]

In this episode, Dr. Michael DeLand, an Assistant Professor of Sociology & Criminology at Gonzaga University, joins us to read from Herbert Blumer’s article ‘Sociological Implications of the Thought of George Herbert Mead’ (1966). Mike walks us through Blumer’s reading of Mead and discusses how the article offers a starting point to understand social construction […]

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Michael DeLand, an Assistant Professor of Sociology & Criminology at Gonzaga University. In our conversation, Mike introduces us to the work of Herbert Blumer and discusses how Blumer’s process-oriented theorizing of interaction and sense-making provide methodological inspiration and how Blumer’s critiques of more distant and structural ways of studying social […]

It’s the start of the new semester and TSP is back! We are excited to continue sharing new social science research and highlight the work of our partner and community pages. We are also planning exciting changes to this newsletter format (more info on that below) Discoveries This week board member Daniel Cueto-Villalobos wrote on […]

Rapprochement over estrangement, renewal, and hope, these sorely needed values strengthen our rituals for new beginnings. This applies to the new academic term and the Jewish New Year, which converged as we strive to overtake the pandemic this September of 2021. Sadly, the bright start to our gatherings was soon clouded by the disturbing news about […]

Joowon Jeong and Cathy Yang Liu, “Neighborhood Diversity and Food Access in a Changing Urban Spatial Structure,” City & Community , 2020 Discussions of cities and food availability have long centered on the idea  that poor residents are likely to live in “food deserts,” areas of concentrated poverty with few food outlets. A new study […]

The one thing we know is that teaching sociology is uncomfortable and controversial, but necessary now as ever. Our pedagogy should reflect the need to embrace all that and more. But sociology students are often underprepared to discuss fundamental topics in this field without intensive guidance. Additionally, the current uninformed discussions coming from the right […]

Our Center is part of a mosaic of organizations and individuals whose dedication, scholarship, meticulous documentation, passionate educational advocacy, and civic engagement in the wider communities we call home, have ensured that the devastating truths of the Holocaust have not been diminished by time.  We have placed great emphasis on faithfully and thoroughly educating the next […]

The anti-abortion movement is feeling hopeful in the wake of Texas’s abortion ban and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the ban. But what seems like a resounding victory for pro-life advocates will have an unintended consequence: derailing the educational plans of millions of Americans—women and men. Reproductive rights and educational attainment go hand in […]

  Fictional princesses have new expressions beyond toys, motion pictures, and theme parks (e.g., Disney). In an emerging gig-based, non-commercial industry, young women presenting people perform as princesses in interactive, non-staged events booked for children’s entertainment. As of yet, there is no comprehensive count of active princesses; however, preliminary interview data indicate major metropolitan areas […]

The Great Recession a decade ago led a lot of college students back to their parents’ homes because they couldn’t find jobs and had a lot of student debt, thus stalling the path toward financial and housing independence for these “boomerang kids.” The COVID-19 pandemic led more young adults ages 18-29 to live with their […]

Despite, well, everything, we are trying to get back into the classroom as much as we can at the start of a new academic year. I am scheduled to teach Introduction to Sociology for the first time this coming spring and planning the course this fall. Whether in person or remote, I will be ecstatic […]

“Was it in vain? What has changed?” These words are graffitied across an art piece by a celebrated local Akron artist named Don Drumm—a sculpture in which you can see several real bullet holes that had pierced through the metal 50-years-ago. The engraving written here is in reference to the Kent State Shootings in which […]

We live in a moment of remarkable inconsistency in the gender structure. We have ever-increasing numbers of young people who reject a gender category or are gender fluid, while the movement toward equality between women and men has stalled. Do today’s young women believe they are—or deserve—equality with the men around them? We provide unique […]

The great sociologist Erving Goffman taught us that the social world is a play and we are merely actors in it. When the play is about gender and sexuality, though, the script gets complicated. The old lines aren’t enough; we continue to push for new roles and new scenery. That is what the Summer 2021 […]

Nikoleta (Nika) Sremac is a third-year Ph.D. Student in the Department of Sociology. She received her BA in Political Science – International Relations from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her research focuses on the intersections of gender, culture, politics, and collective memory of mass violence in the U.S. and the Balkans. She is interested in […]

The Fall 2022 issue of Contexts: Sociology for the Public will be dedicated to the theme of “Visions and Transformations.” Since the inception of the discipline, sociologists have critiqued the social world in order to improve it. However, as a discipline, we often emphasize critique at the expense of discussing the institutions, policies, and social […]

The appointments were all scheduled; the preliminary tests were done; the co-parenting agreements were signed; and the flights were booked. My wife and I were counting the days until our sperm donor, Steffan, would arrive in the U.S. to deposit his sperm. This was February 2020. Steffan was due to arrive in the U.S in […]

One of the most dangerous weapons in the world has been increasing in prevalence over the past few decades. This deadly weapon is not advancing technology, nuclear weapons, nor lethal biological warfare. Instead, it is something that is not immediately seen as a threat, something that undermines our sense of security due to perceived innocence […]

In the high-stakes world of NBA free agency, players coming and going is never simply transactional. Free agency is a source of hope and intrigue for fans and a rite of passage for players who are theoretically liberated to select the team that empowers them to fulfill their goals. It is also a major media […]

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) recently released the second draft of proposed social studies standards. The draft, part of a mandatory process to review teaching and learning standards every ten years, will not only secure but significantly expand Holocaust and genocide education across the state for years to come.  The months-delayed second draft follows […]

Reposted with permission from the Gender & Society Blog Black Lives Matter, the anti-racist movement that spread globally after the tragic death of George Floyd on May 2020 in the US, had an unintended but very welcome consequence in India: national debate on India’s deep-rooted and highly gendered practice of color discrimination. Calls for racial […]

The CHGS collections include not only a diverse array of papers and physical objects but also many of the Center’s past lectures and events, as well as a backlog of oral testimonies from survivors of genocide. Not to mention: CHGS partners with the UMN Libraries to promote the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive, which […]

  At the beginning of 2021, musical artist Sia has caused waves of controversy. Earlier in February, her directorial debut Music was nominated for a Golden Globe. The film features an autistic character played by Maddie Ziegler, who is not autistic. Sia received criticism for her choices from autistic folks for many reasons, however, the […]

Every two years, the world’s attention turns to the Olympic Games. Athletic competitions are the center of the action, but the Games now involve political action, city-reshaping projects, and dazzling cultural displays. However, the Games are not without controversy or opposition. Activists have opposed the hosting of a rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympics, set to begin […]

Does holding a sporting mega-event like the Tokyo Olympic Games amidst a pandemic and the continuing environmental crisis of global warming exemplify the “death drive” of 21st century capitalism? By “death drive,” I am referring to recent work by the Swiss-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han, who argues that the capitalist system’s “compulsion of accumulation and growth” […]

Reposted with permission from the UT Austin Population Research Center.  The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that healthcare providers routinely offer their patients intrauterine devices (IUDs) immediately after delivery of the placenta and contraceptive implants prior to hospital discharge. ACOG recognizes that IUDs and implants, collectively called LARC (for long-acting reversible contraception), […]

 “Beautiful feelings make for bad literature.” French literary tradition has proved André Gide’s assertion wrong, of course. “Beautiful feelings” of empathy and commitment to equity infuse Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables and Emile Zola’s Germinal, which have remained on the international bestseller list for over a century. Curiously post-1945 programs for reconciliation, another “beautiful feeling,” among […]