• The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence and the Politics of Policing in America, a new book by Michelle S. Phelps (Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota), argues that Minneapolis is a “secret bellwether city for understanding race and policing in America” and “a test case for both the possibilities and limits of liberal police reform.” Phelps appeared on MPR News, discussing the origin of her research, interviews with Minneapolis residents, and the potential impact of court-imposed reform measures. Reason Magazine called the book “a valuable piece of research on how fights for police reform are won and lost, and what reform means to the people who need it most.”
  • The U.S. Department of Justice recently filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment (the parent company of Ticketmaster) for monopolization of the concert industry. In an interview with The Conversation, David Arditi (Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas – Arlington) discussed how musicians are now more dependent on tour revenues to make a living and how Live Nation and Ticketmaster changed the ticket purchasing experience for consumers.
  • In a new book, Between Us: Healing Ourselves and Changing the World Through Sociology, forty-five sociologists share personal stories of the impact of sociology. “I’ve always believed that sociology helped save my life and can do the same for others,” said co-editor Elizabeth Anne Wood (Professor of Sociology at Nassau Community College). “Instead of feeling hopeless and helpless, I found strength in understanding the social structures that constrain and hurt us,” co-editor Marika Lindholm (sociologist and founder of Empowering Solo Moms Everywhere) explained. This story was covered by PR Newswire.
  • Benjamin Shestakofsky (Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania) wrote an article for Zócalo Public Square describing how venture capital business models “help create products that succeed in short-term disruption—with questionable or even dangerous long-term effects” and the various alternatives to the venture capital model. “By promoting and investing in businesses with alternative ownership structures,” Shestakofsky argues, “consumers, workers, activists, and governments can challenge venture capital’s winner-take-all model, creating ecosystems of smaller, more localized and specialized platforms that are more responsive to the people who use them and to the communities in which they are embedded.”
  • The Telegraph ran a story on the rise of the ‘work from home’ husband, describing the post-pandemic phenomena of U.K. men working from home while their wives return to the office. Heejung Chung (Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Kent) commented that there is more opportunity to work remotely in male-dominated jobs. “The three big occupations or sectors where remote work is still limited are healthcare, education, not all education but mainly primary and secondary, and then the third is retail. Those are very female-centric occupations, where remote working is not possible,” Chung said.