Jonathan Rauch (Senior Fellow in the Governance Studies program at the Brookings Institution) wrote an article for The Atlantic about how Donald Trump is installing “patrimonialism” in his administration. Patrimonialism, a term from German sociologist Max Weber, describes a style of governing in which “rulers claimed to be the symbolic father of the people—the state’s personification and protector.” The antithesis of bureaucratic proceduralism, patrimonialism is based on “individual loyalty and connections, and on rewarding friends and punishing enemies (real or perceived).” Rauch writes that patrimonialist systems tend to suffer from both incompetence and corruption, and can severely damage state capacity.

Karyn Vilbig (PhD Student in Sociology at New York University) wrote an article for The Conversation exploring how increasing support for social welfare programs connects to shifts in racial attitudes in the United States. While most government aid recipients are White, many people “incorrectly presume that these programs support mostly Black people.” Thus, negative views toward Black people can undermine support for social welfare programs. Vilbig found that “improved attitudes toward Black people between 2012 and 2020, more than any other measure, explained increased support for welfare programs during that same period.”

The American Sociological Association and the American Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit challenging a “Dear Colleague Letter” warning schools that federal funding would be pulled if they consider race in “admissions, hirings, financial aid, scholarships, discipline policy and all other aspects of student, academic and campus life.” ASA President Adia Harvey Wingfield commented: “This memo doesn’t just hinder sociologists from doing our jobs or merely violate our right to free speech— it inflicts a profound disservice upon students who gain from a more comprehensive understanding of the world and upon society as a whole that benefits from our discoveries about human behavior.” This story was covered by The 74 and Democracy Forward.

Gallup’s latest LGTBQ+ identification survey shows that 9.3% of American adults identify as LGTBQ+ in 2024 (a figure that has nearly doubled since 2020). This change is largely driven by Gen Z; nearly a quarter of individuals ages 18-27 identify as LGBTQ+. Jessie Ford (Assistant Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia) commented to The New York Times that young people tend to consider sexuality as a spectrum and discuss wanting to avoid rigid identities.

Robert Putnam (Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at Harvard University) was interviewed in a segment for PBS News Hour on discussing the effects of social isolation on civic engagement: “That is a primary cause of the Trump phenomenon. … When people are socially isolated, as we are increasingly, they become vulnerable to populist appeals.” Putnum’s most recent book, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do it Again, highlights the parallels between modern American and the late 1800s–a deeply fragmented, individualistic, and polarized time period. Putnam describes how an “explosion” of new civic, religious, and social groups sparked a “moral revival” that led people to think in more collective ways: “People began to say, wait a minute, it’s not all about us. We have obligations to other people.”

Florence Becot (Lead of the Agricultural Safety and Health Program at Penn State University) appeared on The FarmHouse–a podcast by Lancaster Farming–to discuss the unique stressors on women in agriculture. Becot described that many women take on “invisible work” on farms, including raising children while still performing farm work. “Raising children on the farm is wonderful. So many moms talked about how much they love having the children around. They wouldn’t do it any other way,” Becot said. “But the reality is, we’ve talked to women farmers who said if I was a nurse at the hospital, I wouldn’t be allowed to bring my kid. Why is there this weird expectation that I should have my kid with me when I’m driving this really heavy piece of machinery?”

Battle for Tibet, a new documentary from FRONTLINE, examines China’s rule over Tibet. The film features Tibetan sociologist Gyal Lo’s study of Chinese boarding schools for Tibetan children. The Chinese government claims that these schools promote “human rights and cultural heritage protection.” However, Lo found that there were two main focuses in the boarding schools: “One is to instill the communist ideology and the second is to instill Chinese culture. These two subject areas of teaching are being implemented to change the Tibetan children’s mindset.” Lo warns that “Over the next 15 to 20 years, if boarding schools continue, Tibetan national culture and identity will be completely destroyed.”

Willam Robinson (Professor of Sociology at the University of California-Santa Barbara) spoke at the Peoples’ Platform Europe 2025, discussing the “unprecedented crisis in global capitalism.” Robinson described four main elements of the crisis: 1) stagnant, concentrated economic systems, 2) billions of people treated as “disposable”, 3) the rise of authoritarianism, and 4) environmental destruction. Robinson said. “Never has the slogan ‘resist to exist’ been more opportune and appropriate.” This story was covered by Medya News.

Zeynep Tufekci (Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton) wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times on the Trump administration’s slashing of research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Tufecki highlights that NIH “grants are a crucial reason that America has the most advanced biomedical research infrastructure” and that this decision endangers Americans’ health. “It was nice having the world’s most important, most vital medical research infrastructure,” Tufecki writes. “But enough. To the wood chipper!”

Elizabeth Bruch (Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan) and Amie Gordon (Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan) have teamed up to design Revel, a dating app for students at the University of Michigan that doubles as a research tool. While modern dating apps collect a “treasure trove” of relevant data, this data is often inaccessible for researchers or users. Using Revel, Bruch and Gordon aim to examine how people “find opportunities, pick strategies, and learn from mistakes” and why couples choose to stay together or break up. This story was covered by The Pulse.

The Hong Kong Free Press ran a story on Ruby Lai’s (Assistant Professor of Sociology at Lingnan University) research on Hong Kong’s subdivided flats–living units of approximately 119 sqft. that house over 200,000 people in Hong Kong. “There is an assumption that only the poor live in subdivided flats, but housing precarity and unaffordable housing are problems faced by most people,” Lai said, emphasizing the diversity of residents. Lai also examines how individuals and families transform these constrained spaces into “resilient, functional and liveable abodes.”

The New York Times ran a story on how companies are navigating legal risks in response to the Trump administration’s attacks on D.E.I. efforts. Companies simultaneously want to avoid discrimination lawsuits, “Trump’s ire, federal investigations and lawsuits from anti-D.E.I. conservatives.” Musa Al-Gharbi’s (Assistant Professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University) commented: “D.E.I. programming grew popular because it was responding to real challenges organizations were facing. Basically they’re being told to do nothing about these problems.”

Renowned British scholar Michael Burawoy passed away at age 77 after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver. An influential Marxist scholar, Burawoy was known for his seminal book Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process under Monopoly Capitalism and advocacy for public sociology. Raka Ray (Dean of Social Sciences at the University of California-Berkeley) expressed the weight of this loss: “Michael dedicated 47 years of his life to Berkeley, contributing immeasurably to the discipline, transforming the fields of labor, ethnography and theory,” Ray said. “His greatest legacy, though, went far beyond the many books and articles he published or prestigious awards he received — it was in the people whose lives he changed. He was an extraordinary teacher who mentored and inspired thousands of students, changing their lives with his fierce intellect and kindness.” Geoffrey Pleyers (Professor of Sociology at the Catholic University of Louvain and President of the International Sociological Association) commented: “He left us at a time we most needed his leadership, his energy, his tireless work to understand our world, his example as an extraordinary teacher, his faith in a relevant public sociology, his openness to a global dialogue, his energy against injustice.” This story was covered by The Oaklandside.

The New York Times ran an article on the rebuilding of the Palisades after the recent California wildfires. Max Besbris (Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) commented that “recovery in the Palisades is going to be this really fast, big buildup back toward really valuable, very expensive properties.” Besbris noted that residents of the area–with high economic and political power–will be “able to dictate the terms of their own recovery.”

This week, multiple sociologists offered reflections on the state of the U.S. under the new Trump administration:

• “Righteous indignation is known to fuel protest and set in motion the machinery and infrastructure of rebellion. Evidence suggests that Trump will continue to poke this bear of discontent because it is his nature and his agenda. But will this administrative stance summon a day of reckoning for the President and his followers?,” Aldon Morris (Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University) commented to Northwestern Now. “In this historic moment, time and the arrival of warm weather will tell.”
• “The biggest problem we have is that we’re afraid of change,” said Harry Edwards (Professor Emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley) on CBS News. “To the extent that we don’t face up to that challenge, there are some very, very, very dark days ahead. Because I am not convinced that we have the best and the brightest people making critical decisions, top to bottom in American society. At some point, things could very well be stressed and bent to the breaking point.”

Over 300 young, homeless migrants are camping in the Gaîté Lyrique theater in Paris, demanding governmental aid. In France, migrants recognized as unaccompanied minors are eligible for housing and other benefits, but the city government is arguing that it has no shelter available and questioning the ages of the migrants. “This is a huge issue in Europe,” Ulrike Bialas (Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen, Germany) commented. Bialas stated that there are “vast numbers” of migrants from Africa and the Middle East to Europe and “many of them — in fact, in Germany, more than half of them — don’t have documents with them to prove their identity, and in particular, their date of birth.” This story was covered by The New York Times.

George Kassar (Instructor and Research Associate at Ascencia Business School) wrote an article for The Conversation on online performance reviews and “Netiquette” (Internet etiquette or digital norms of polite behavior). The article applies the late German sociologist Norbert Elias’ theories on the “civilizing process” to the digital age. Elias argued that “societal norms become more regulated and refined over time.” Kassar describes how Netiquette maps onto Elias’ theory and helps “ensure positive and constructive experiences.”