IOL Cape Argus News wrote a piece about Elena Moore’s (Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Cape Town) inaugural lecture titled Who Cares? The Directions of State–Family Relationships in Changing Times. Moore urges society to rethink the burden of care and argues that the work of care is often invisible. With a team of 40 researchers spanning across Ireland, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Malawi, Moore explores how families, government, and communities share the responsibility of care. In South Africa, Moore’s team found that there are care grant opportunities, but there are also major barriers in the application process. “We all want good care,” Moore said. “But we also want just care relations.”

Abdelilah Farah (Moroccan Sociologist) wrote a commentary piece for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace explaining how Morocco’s Gen Z is developing a new protest culture. The members of Generation Z are mobilizing in an age of rapid technological expansion where they have “developed their political consciousness within a globalized digital environment.” They are departing from traditional modes of protest expression and drawing on cultural influences such as anime, video games, and contemporary music. The commentary explains that “the digital protests of Morocco’s Generation Z can be understood as primarily cultural rather than purely political acts.” Generation Z  maintains a dual consciousness of being “globally connected yet locally grounded in experiences of hardship.”

In an article for The Conversation, Adam Coutts (Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge) argues that the U.K. government’s new action plan Protecting What Matters–which centers social cohesion–is weak and vague. Coutts explains that the “plan frames division through religion, identity and Islamophobia, which are outcomes and proxies, not root causes.” He offers a better framework centering “community resilience: the measurable capacity of neighbourhoods to absorb shocks, resist divisive narratives and recover from crises.”

EWTN News wrote a piece on Sean M. Theriault’s (Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin) researches how Pope Francis differs from his predecessors. In the study, he focuses on the Pope’s actions regarding policy, appointments, and papal trips. Theriault found that Francis focused more on issues like immigration and refugees than traditional diplomatic concerns in his papal addresses. He accelerated diversity by appointing cardinals from Laos, Sweden, and Brunei. Francis also sought to spend more time with marginalized visiting prisons and homeless centers on his papal trips. Theriault says that “in the long run, Pope Francis’ legacy is going to be far more pronounced precisely because he was succeeded by Leo, who is bringing along the whole Church and institutionalizing that vision in a way Francis just did not know how to do.”

The Guardian ran an article about the ways Florida sociology professors are quietly defying restrictions on teaching race and gender. Many are acting out of professional responsibility rather than defiance in order to provide students with a full rigorous education. Zachary Levenson (Associate Professor of Sociology at Florida International University) comments on the nature of the restriction saying, “What I find most concerning is that we’re in this phase now where instead of telling us what not to teach, they’re telling us what to teach.” Other scholars argue that removing examination of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation will hollow out the field and mischaracterize the discipline. The bans are also impacting students whose identities, history, and lived experiences are being dismissed as unimportant. Faculty have built networks across all the campuses to exchange information, organize learning opportunities, and draft public statements or seek legal analysis. However, tensions are high as tenure and adjunct positions are being challenged and professors face risks of public scrutiny and censorship. In spite of the heightened scrutiny professors refuse restrictions and continue teaching, uncertain of the future of the discipline’s critical core under immense political scrutiny.

The Daily Mississippian reviewed Amy McDowell’s (Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Chair at the University of Mississippi) new book Whispers in the Pews: Evangelical Uniformity in a Divided America. The book is based on an ethnographic study of group culture at an evangelical church that describes itself as welcoming and inclusive. McDowell observed that people within the church community often refrained from speaking about social issues: “People don’t express their doubts, opinions or their disagreements in church spaces,” McDowell said. “People really try not to talk about that stuff.”

New research from Christopher M. Pieper (Senior Lecturer of Sociology at Baylor University) examines the ways the foundation of social life may be reshaped by the rapid advancement of generative AI, mixed‑reality platforms and the global Metaverse. To investigate the shifts in societal morality, relation, and culture Pieper worked with Justin J. Nelson (Associate Professor of Sociology at Campbell University) to develop the theory of “gamism”, a “dominant ideology of our digital future – one that makes all experiences competitive, quantifiable, commercialized and entertaining for the individual user.” This theory operates on the idea that game-like interactions will influence our understanding of self and engagement in social institutions leading to four possible outcomes: utopian, dystopian, balanced, and wild card. This story was covered by Baylor University News.

James Densley (Professor of Criminology and Criminal justice at Metro State University) and Jillian Peterson (Professor of Criminology at Hamline University) wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times about the shift in mass shooter profile and the connection to online platforms. The profile of a typical mass shooter has shifted from a middle-aged isolated man to a younger person highly connected to online social networks. Densely and Peterson explain that both profiles are in deep despair, but younger people have been convinced “that in acting violently he or she is carrying out the only meaningful act possible in a world otherwise devoid of meaning.” Their investigation led them to a trail of online platform activity that celebrates mass murders on Tumblr, Telegram, Discord, TikTok and Roblox. The same algorithm that adjusts to your preferences now leads boys and girls to true crime communities. True crime communities take despair and turn it into a mass shooting performative script. Online platforms have flagged and taken down many of these forums, but their constant resurfacing requires more intentional change to divert attention away from mass shootings and interrupt this destructive performance.

In a recent public lecture, Zeynep Tufekci (Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University) discussed how artificial intelligence, good or bad, will bring destabilizing change. She highlighted three AI advancements that society is not prepared to handle: machines that speak like humans, AI photos and video, and AI imitating human speech. Tufekci encourages young students to start asking “tough questions” and think deeply about this age of rapid advancements in AI and the disillusion it will bring. This story was covered in Today at Elon.

Ashley Mears (Professor and Chair of Cultural Sociology and New Media at the University of Amsterdam) wrote an op-ed for Le Monde, discussing how wealthy men use the normalized presence of women beside them to build ties among themselves and develop a form of capital. Mears describes the Jeffrey Epstein affair as another example of the way elite circles systematically exploit women and girls. “Far beyond Epstein himself, across male-dominated elite spheres, young women circulate through intermediaries like “promoters” − men paid to bring girls to parties organized by clubs or wealthy individuals,” Mears explains. “Their circulation is normalized and entirely visible.” In her most recent book, Very Important People, she spent 18 months going from New York to the Hamptons, from Miami to Saint-Tropez, investigating the mechanisms of this systemic circuit of money and beauty at VIP upscale clubs and jet-set parties.

Daniel Perez G. recently wrote about Zygmunt Bauman’s (Philosopher and Sociologist) work on social structures. An idea he developed “liquid modernity,” which is the belief that “nothing is meant to last” recently received attention for the way it captured his beliefs on the fragility of romantic bonds. He believes this type of modernity has exchanged stability for constant change and describes the impact this is having on romance using his theory “liquid love”. This theory explains how consumer culture and the crave for individual freedom and flexibility perpetuates the idea of having options and weakens romantic bonds. Relationships are moving away from long-term commitment to temporary arrangements. Bauman warns and cautions that the ideal of the “liquid” individual blocks personal growth by avoiding emotional pain.