sociological images

New & Noteworthy

• Why are serial killer stories so popular? In How “Media Looping” Keeps Serial Killers Alive and Victims Buried, Jordyn Wald explains how media industries reproduce and sensationalize stories of violence. {2 min read}
• Check out our Media Report by Jan-Rose Davis for recent news featuring social science experts. Last week, Ashley Mears on men’s exploitation of women and girls in elite circles, Alex Law on social and cultural change in Scotland, Arie Sujito on the state of democracy in Indonesia and the impacts of digital technology, and Pepper Schwartz on the growing popularity of choosing domestic partnerships instead of marriage. {3 min read}

From the Archives

• The Human Rights Activists News Agency has reported more than 1,351 civilian deaths in Iran since President Trump first launched “Operation Epic Fury”. An opening wave of strikes demolished Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School, an elementary school in southern Iran, killing more than 100 children. This TROT by Brooke Chambers about selective empathy can help us conceptualize how the American public might respond to this devastation abroad. {3 min read}
• The primary elections for the 2026 midterms have begun amid heightened political tensions around redistricting and voting protections. This 2018 piece from Sociological Images covers research explaining how gerrymandering and voter suppression policies impact voter turnout. {2 min read}

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Engaging Sports

• Last week, Samuel M. Clevenger wrote an article on the contested meanings and politics of outdoor recreation and nature preservations. {5 min read}

Council on Contemporary Families

• CCF reprinted research from the Texas Population Research Center on the impacts of exercise on elderly Americans’ risks of falling. {7 min read}

First Publics

• Marta Soligo wrote an article about her experiences integrating a public sociology approach into her teaching of a Sociology of Tourism class to encourage critical thought and constructive dialogue. {4 min read}

New & Noteworthy

• In Violence and Detained Immigrants’ Access to Justice, Anastasia Dulle presents new research from Mirian G. Martinez-Aranda detailing the unique barriers to justice faced by detained immigrants marked for deportation in America. {3 min read}
• Check out our Media Report by Mallory Harrington for recent news featuring social science experts. This week, Francesco Duina on why we tolerate inequality; Stephen Whitehead on a masculinity non-crisis; Bailey Brown on parental stress caused by school choice decisions; Willy Pedersen on the link between alcohol consumption and earning potential; and Victor Onyilor Achem on the violent consequences of a cattle-grazing ban in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. {4 min read}

From the Archives

• Trump has signed a bill to release the Epstein files after months of controversy and legal fighting. Our article from 2019 looks at how laws and legal proceedings shape cultural understanding of what constitutes sexual assault or harassment. {3 min read}
• Wicked: For Good hits theatres today. Stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are on a press tour to publicize the sequel to last year’s blockbuster Wicked. This 2015 piece from our partners at Sociological Images discusses how big publicity might inflate the movie’s long-term success in theatres. {5 min read}

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Contexts

• Contexts published an essay by Laurel R. Davis-Delano and Stephanie A. Fryberg responding to the publication’s summer 2025 cover design. The authors write that the cover image – a tipi – and accompanying title – “Erasures and Defiance” – contribute to the “elimination, erasure, and dehumanization” of Native Americans. Contexts has issued an apology for the cover. {9 min read} 

Council on Contemporary Families

• Alicia M. Walker talked to Christina J. Cross about her new book, Inherited Inequality: Why Opportunity Gaps Persist between Black and White Youth Raised in Two-Parent Families for CCF’s “3Qs” series. {5 min read}

New & Noteworthy

• Shania Kuo summarizes the landscape of social science research on Islamophobia in the United States in the latest installment of our series, “There’s Research on That.” {4 min read}
• Check out our Media Report by Mallory Harrington for recent news featuring social scientists. This week, Alexandrea J. Ravenelle on the new major movie inspired by her research on the gig economy; Canton Winer on “gender detachment”; Orlando Patterson on the dimensions of freedom; and Tony Silva and Emily Huddart on Canada’s embrace of the paranormal. {3 min read}

From the Archives

• The New York City mayoral race ended this week with the election of Zohran Mamdani. In his campaign Mamdani positioned himself against economic elites and “corporate greed” and pledged to make New York City more affordable for residents. This 2012 article from our partners at the Scholars Strategy Network discusses why the interests of the wealthy are often overrepresented in American politics. {5 min read}
• Condé Nast folded Teen Vogue into Vogue.com and laid off much of the staff. According to a union statement, many of those laid off are BIPOC women or trans politics reporters, including the politics editor. The Roosevelt Institute, a think tank which had applauded Teen Vogue for its political coverage, called the merger “evidence that corporate concentration eliminates innovative ideas and silences voices with less power.” This 2016 piece from Sociological Images considers how media mergers threaten racial representation. {2 min read}

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Contexts

• In his new piece for Contexts, Andrew McNeely reflects on his upbringing in a gun-loving Texas family, arguing for a sociological focus on how gun culture affects both its members and the wider public. {7 min read}

Engaging Sports

• In Beyond Myths, Jack Hardwicke and Christopher R. Matthews complicate the widely held belief that sport is good for public health. {7 min read}

Council on Contemporary Families

• In The Lonely, Fractured Lives of Estranged Grandparents, practicing psychologist Joshua Coleman explains his concern over decreasing rates of grandparent/grandchild closeness. This piece was originally published in 2024 in Psychology Today. {5 min read}

First Publics

• In A Clingy Friend, Tamanna M. Shah considers what it means to teach sociology in a moment when AI is both an object of study and a tool shaping pedagogy. {5 min read}

Happy Halloween!

New & Noteworthy

• In the mood for something spooky? Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, a new StoryMap from Jordyn Wald, tracks the Sociology of the occult. This visual special feature is based on a 2024 piece by Mallory Harrington and Nicole Schmitgen. {3 min scroll}
• Check out our Media Report by Mallory Harrington for recent news featuring social scientists. This week, Michael Benediktsson on the history of the public bench; Ash Watson on who the digital revolution leaves behind; Jennifer Glass on the contentious results of a new Pew Research survey on parenting; Alex Wood on the rise of the freelancer; and Alka Menon on the quickening cycle of trends in cosmetic surgery. {3 min read}

From the Archives

• This week, an unpublished Dr. Seuss manuscript was uncovered in UC San Diego’s Geisel Library. Penguin House plans to publish the book titled Sing the 50 United States! in the summer of 2026. Small Books, Big Questions, a 2018 article by Evan Stewart for Sociological Images, discusses how children’s books reflect the culture around them. {3 min read}
• The Fed lowered interest rates earlier this week, but will this resolve housing shortages? Read Steven Schmidt’s recent piece in Council on Contemporary Families covering research in Los Angeles on this ongoing and complex issue for want-to-be homeowners and sellers. {6 min read}

More from our Partners & Community Pages

World Suffering

• Research finds that forgiveness is healthy, but the pressure to do so may not be. TSP’s Managing Editor, Jacob Otis, wrote Social Expectations of Forgiveness for our partner publication World Suffering this week. {4 min read}

Council on Contemporary Families

• Increases in Community Income Improve Birth Outcomes by Molly A. Martin was originally published in CCF’s Brief Reports and reprinted by CCF this week. Read about the novel experimental design Martin and colleagues used to find a causal link between income and birth outcomes, from their study published in Demography. {4 min read}

New & Noteworthy

• Environmental Spending: Our Money or Our Earth? by S Ericson writes up research from Marthe Holum and Tor Jakobsen in Environment Sociology on how higher government spending on environmental protection actually reduces public support for prioritizing the environment over the economy, especially among those with low trust in government.

From the Archives

• As Hurricane Erin nears the U.S., officials issue emergency warnings. Severe weather doesn’t just damage communities, it leaves lasting impacts on children. Read this 2018 piece to learn more, The Emotional Toll of Natural Disasters by Jasmine Syed.
• ICE in the U.S. is also, again, capturing headlines. A town in Maine was accused by the Federal Government of “reckless reliance” on the Federal Government’s E-Verify program which was used for hiring a police officer that was recently arrested. However, these pushes for deportations isn’t new and was actually highest during President Obama’s tenure. Read Mass Deportation Isn’t New to learn more.

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And don’t forget to check out the latest from:

Contexts

• does everyone have a gender? by Canton Winer introduces the concept of “gender detachment,” showing how many asexual individuals reject the assumption that everyone must have a gender identity.

Council on Contemporary Families

• Is remote, hybrid, or on-site work best for workers? It depends on their preferences by Richard J. Petts, Daniel L. Carlson, and Wen Fan on their study which finds that no single work arrangement is best, worker well-being depends most on whether their actual work location matches their personal preference.
• Contraception “is a woman’s job”?! Contraceptive Decision-Making by Men in Germany by Jan Marc Morawe summarizes study in Germany, showing that many men are moving from seeing contraception as “a woman’s job” to sharing responsibility, challenging traditional masculinity and supporting reproductive justice.

First Publics

• Teaching Environmental Justice Cross-Nationally by Mufti N. Q. Ahmed draws on his teaching experiences in Bangladesh and the U.S., Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed shows how culturally responsive, justice-centered pedagogy can empower students to connect theory with lived experience and take action on injustices.

Sociological Images

• Conflict Theory and the Design of Migrant Housing by Joey Colby Bernert writes how the migrant worker housing in the U.S. is deliberately designed to isolate and control laborers.

New & Noteworthy

April 1st, 2025 marks the official launch date of TSP’s official journal, The American Journal of Unfinished Sociology. We have several submissions that we will be sharing in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

Gender-Affirming Care and Gender Stereotypes, our latest Discovery my Mallory Harrington, ​covers research by Tara Gonsalves‘s research reveals that insurance coverage for gender-affirming healthcare has expanded over the past two decades, but insurers often rely on gender stereotypes to determine which procedures are deemed medically necessary.

This week’s Clippings by Mallory Harrington includes:

• Rebecca Hanson, David Smilde, and Verónica Zubillaga argue that deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador echo the authoritarian practices they fled, warning that criminalizing these individuals based on exaggerated fears of gang mobility undermines both justice and U.S. credibility.
• Oneya Fennell Okuwobi critiques corporate diversity programs that prioritize optics over equity, showing how they often burden employees of color with performative expectations while corporations reap the reputational rewards.
• Lucius Couloute shares how parole, once meant to support reentry, now functions as a carceral extension—trapping individuals in cycles of surveillance and punishment that undermine rehabilitation.
• Manuela Perrotta and Lucius Couloute explores how I.V.F. technologies are reshaping emotional relationships to embryos, as patients develop profound attachments to time-lapse videos of developing cells—perceiving them not as potential life, but as life already unfolding.
• Christine L. William’s concept of the “glass escalator,” describing how men in female-dominated professions are often fast-tracked to leadership, gained national recognition this week when it appeared as a clue on Jeopardy.

From the Archives

Severe storms and tornadoes have recently devastated parts of the South and Midwest, resulting in at least seven fatalities and widespread destruction. But what makes something a natural disaster? In this 2018 piece, such events become disasters not just because of nature, but because of how society shapes people’s risk and ability to respond. Things like poor infrastructure, uneven government response, and economic inequality all play a role in who gets hurt the most. This reminds us that behind every weather event, there’s a social story about who is most vulnerable and why.

With nationalist rhetoric escalating and reshaping policies in unprecedented ways, it’s crucial to understand why nationalism can also escalate tensions. This piece from the Sociological Images breaks down some of the dangers of nationalism.

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Contexts

• after college for all: the expectations of struggling college graduates by Elena Ayala-Hurtado on how many young college graduates, despite believing in the promise of higher education, find themselves stuck in a state of “expectational liminality”—caught between high post-college expectations and the realities of economic insecurity.

Council on Contemporary Families

• The War Never Ends: Mothers Continue an Uphill Battle Against Postpartum Depression by Sawyer Wampler unpacks the rising prevalence of postpartum depression (PPD) over the past decade, highlighting significant increases across all racial and ethnic groups, with Asian/Pacific Islander and non-Hispanic Black individuals experiencing the most pronounced upticks.

First Publics

• Fearing the Future: Reconsidering the Role of AI by Alyssa Lyons reflects on the challenges and ethical considerations of integrating generative AI into her digital sociology curriculum and the need to prepare students for a future where AI literacy is crucial.

New & Noteworthy

This week’s Clippings via Mallory Harrington highlights recent sociological insights, including Arlie Russell Hochschild’s exploration of political divides in Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right, Gi-Wook Shin’s analysis of South Korea’s political instability following President Yoon’s martial law declaration in All Things Considered, Allison Pugh’s examination of AI’s impact on human connection in  The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World, Musa Al-Gharbi’s critique of social justice discourse in We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite, and Danielle Lindemann’s take on how reality TV reflects societal inequalities.

From the Archives

As 2024 comes to a close, many magazines and publications are sharing their picks for this year’s best books. Whether you’re looking forward to some holiday downtime or are starting to plan your 2025 reading list, be sure to check out this selection of must-read sociology books that our Board published earlier this year.

Public outcry against Joe Biden’s hypocrisy in pardoning Hunter Biden after repeatedly claiming he would not do so throughout his presidency brings forth a number of considerations; first, this New York Mag article highlights how Biden could potentially commute the sentences of 40 men on federal death row, yet chose to use the remainder of his time in office pardoning his son. This 2021 piece provides a rundown on the sociological significance of scandals and the role that media, public morality, and social identities like race and gender contribute to how we experience scandals socially.

Recently Brian Thompson, CEO of United Healthcare, was killed outside of his Hotel in New York. While the motives are still unknown, this news has raised many questions about the ethics of profiting off of health care. This 2014 article from Sociological Images reflects on health care as a 2.7 trillion dollar industry in America.

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Contexts

• from carbon paper to code: crafting sociology in an age of ai by Corey Abramson on repurposing evolving technologies like AI for deeper social insights while reflecting on the enduring lessons of critical, engaged methodologies from thinkers like C. Wright Mills and W.E.B. Du Bois.

Council on Contemporary Families

• Racial Wealth Inequality Emerges in Young Adulthood by Ellen Bryer and Alexander Adames write about racial wealth gaps, emeringe in young adulthood, driven by disparities in financial assets rather than debt, and how addressing these gaps will require multifaceted solutions such as student debt cancellation, raising the minimum wage, and implementing baby bonds.
• The educational costs of teen births by Joseph D. Wolfe and Mieke Beth Thomeer cover their research on how educational costs of teen births have grown over time, especially for women from advantaged backgrounds, as structural and socioeconomic factors increasingly shape the opportunity costs and life outcomes tied to adolescent childbearing.

New & Noteworthy

Instagram Activism and Black-Asian Solidarity by S Ericson covers research by Rachel Kuo and Sarah J. Jackson and how Black and Asian activists in 2020-2021 used Instagram to draw on historical cross-racial solidarity, challenging media stereotypes and fostering shared memory to advocate for change.

This week’s Clippings by Mallory Harrington covers recent sociology and sociologists in the news, including the failure of prisons to protect incarcerated people during natural disasters, the evolution of pregnancy depictions in media, how digital aesthetics helped Donald Trump connect with diverse online communities, and Brazil’s Black Consciousness Day spotlighting the country’s slow progress toward racial representation.

Our latest podcast episode, produced by Forrest Lovette, featuring Mallory Harrington and Emma Goldstein discuss Tressie McMillan Cottom recent opinion piece in The New York Times on the connection between tradwives, podcast bros, and wellness influencers and Donald Trump’s recent election win.

From the Archives

Trump’s cabinet picks, including Dr. Mehmet Oz and Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth, highlight the overlap between reality TV and politics, where both rely on performances that blur lines between entertainment and serious decision-making. Check out this 2010 parallel between financial markets and the “classic” Jersey Shore by Lisa Wade.

Two transgender women were attacked at a Minneapolis light rail station last week and the onlookers apparently cheered on their group of attackers rather than helping. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that hate crimes spiked after the election of Donald Trump in 2016, as covered in this Sociological Images piece from 2016 – and we may see another 2024 surge.

Backstage with TSP

To celebrate our many hours of hard work in 2024, we are planning on a pickleball party this December. With varying degrees of pickleballing experience, it will certainly be memorable. Stay tuned for pictures on X, Bluesky, and Facebook.

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Contexts

• q&a with dr. roman williams with Elena van Stee covers William’s new book, Sacred Snaps: Photovoice for Interfaith Engagement, highlighting his participatory action research approach, which uses photography to foster understanding and empathy across religious and social divides.

Council on Contemporary Families

• Navigating the Fentanyl Crisis: How Rural Communities are Protecting Themselves from Fatal Overdose by Suzan Walters explores how rural communities are innovatively responding to the fentanyl crisis through harm reduction strategies, emphasizing the need for expanded public health resources, and stigma reduction to prevent fatal overdoses.

Sociological Images

• Who’s Not Cool With AC? by Evan Stewart highlights how public perceptions of air conditioning as a luxury, tied to racialized stereotypes about aid “deservingness,” pose challenges for policymaking on cooling access, especially with climate change.

New & Noteworthy

TSP’s Jordyn Wald has a new StoryMap on Law Enforcement and Body-Cams. It covers research on body-cams and its increasing use by police, improved accountability and reduced complaints, but their impact on excessive force and arrests varies depending on activation policies and usage.

Our latest Clippings by Mallory Harrington covers recent sociology and sociologists in the news, including stalled workplace gender equality, exploitation of undocumented agricultural workers, hidden societal harms in technological innovation, shifting caregiving norms among older couples, and the need for public collaboration in environmental regeneration and family farming.

The TSP podcast team has a new episode for your listening pleasure. Produced by Forrest Lovette, this episode includes Emma Goldstein, Mason Jones, and Leo LaBarre discussing older adult cohabitation from a recent The New York Times article featuring Deborah Carr and Susan Brown.

From the Archives

Last week, backed by the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, the satirical news publication The Onion won the bid for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction. Amber Joy Powell’s TROT from 2017 discusses the media coverage of mass shootings since Columbine.

New Zealand opposition party MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke led a Haka chant in the parliament chambers in protest of a bill reinterpretation of the country’s founding treaty with the Māori people. Although New Zealand is considered a leader in indigenous rights, opposers of this bill say that it would put their rights at risk. In the American context, we recently celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day – read our 2017 piece by Allison Nobles that covers some research on this holiday.

Consistent with other research, a recent NIH-backed study shows that women are less likely than men to meet the standard recommendation for weekly aerobic exercise. Many experts attribute this gender gap, in part, to the disproportionate time women spend on caregiving and household responsibilities. To learn more about how societal expectations and structural factors affect progress toward gender equality in sports and other fields, check out this 2017 Sociological Images article.

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Contexts:

• fall 2024 table of contents includes 25 pieces on a range of topics – check them out!
• letter from the editors: fall 2024 by Amin Ghaziani and Seth Abrutyn highlight the Contexts Fall 2024 edition, which celebrates the vibrancy of social life, from Pride parades and diasporic joy to workplace challenges, urban regulation, and much more.
• same behavior, different meaning by Parker Muzzerall covers research by Terence McDonnell, Anna Gabur, and Rachel Keynton on how the cultural politics of climate change show that conservative consumers increasingly adopt electric vehicles, not for climate action, but for cost-saving and freedom, highlighting the importance of framing climate-friendly practices in culturally resonant ways.

Council on Contemporary Families

• Labor Pains: Parents’ Wages in Care Work by Alyssa Alexander and Anna Manzoni on their research on care work, and how it remains undervalued and deeply gendered, with mothers facing significant wage penalties, especially in care-related fields, while societal biases continue to disadvantage women, mothers of color, and fathers of color.

New & Noteworthy

• Leo LaBarre’s new Discovery, Blinded by Love: How Online Fraudsters Scam Victims, looks at research by Timothy Dickinson and Fangzhou Wang. They posed as fictitious victims to 87 real online romance fraudsters and then looked at the tactics used to manipulate and coerce. One of the most common tactics was asking for money for something pressing, such as bills or rent. Give it a read to learn about the other 3 tactics.
• Our latest Clippings, include Sherry Turkle on NPR’s Body Electric for the latest on AI chatbots,  Safia Dahani on The Conversation Weekly and The New York Times on France’s recent parliamentary election, Terry Shoemaker wrote an article for The Conversation applying sociologist Robert Bellah’s concept of “civil religion” to the Summer Olympics, and Sofia Hiltner‘s new study was in Phys.Org in the waning focus on climate change by sociology.

From the Archives

• Nearly 10 years ago, an armed man jumped the perimeter fence and entered the White House, leading to the resignation of Julia Pierson (the first female Director of the Secret Service). Check out this piece from Sociological Images, highlighting the heightened and gendered expectations that women often face.

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• ok, boomer in Contexts by Elena G. Van Stee breaks down research by Rob Gruijters, Anette Fasang, and Zachary Van Winkle. They found that Millennials are generally less wealthy than Boomers at age 35, and wealth inequality within the Millennial generation has increased – with the richest Millennials surpassing their Boomer counterparts at the same age.
• Parents, Partners, and Pandemic Housing Decisions in Council on Contemporary Families by Elena G. Van Stee and colleagues cover a new Socius article revealing that undergraduates’ decisions to move in with parents during the COVID-19 pandemic were influenced by housing and financial needs, age, romantic partnerships, and feelings about asking for money – highlighting the complex social factors affecting parental support.