WTTW News ran a feature on Tonika Lewis Johnson (Social Justice Artist) and Maria Krysan’s (Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois Chicago) book Don’t Go: Stories of Segregation and How to Disrupt It. The book explores how many Chicago residents have been told to stay away from the South or West side of the city and how that message reinforces segregation in the city. Johnson stated that the book aims to show the “personal” side of segregation: “It’s not just that it prevents economic investment, it hurts people’s feelings and it helps people live in fear. And we want it to offer an opportunity for people to understand how to disrupt that and how to not be offensive to people.”

Over the past five years, Iran has faced approximately 40% annual inflation and many Iranians are struggling to make ends meet. Iranian sociologist Ardeshir Geravand warns that economic pressure may lead to social unrest in Iran. “When legitimate paths to power and wealth remain open, members of the middle class can maintain their status. However, when these avenues are blocked, it can lead to social unrest and, ultimately, revolution,” Gerevand explained. “Poverty alone does not necessarily lead to violence unless it is coupled with conditions that make living a normal, ordinary life impossible.” This story was covered by Iran International.

Jamie Lee Kucinskas’s (Professor of Sociology at Hamilton College) upcoming book The Loyalty Trap: Conflicting Loyalties of Civil Servants Under Increasing Autocracy draws from interviews with individuals who were civil servants during Trump’s first term as President. “I found that those caught in loyalty traps could not both fulfill the ethical duties that came with their position and uphold the new standards of loyalty sought by the president and some appointees,” Kucinskas explained in a Public Ethics Talks interview. The book describes the moral dilemmas that civil servants faced and their strategies for managing them. This story was covered by Leiden University News.