Not at all spooky, but always “soc-y.”

There’s Research on That!

“Justifying Our Love,” by Jacqui Frost. Americans love love, even when it hurts. How have love and culture mingled to create modern “love”? Frost brings research from Eva Illouz, Ann Swidler, Francesca Cancian, and Anthony Giddens.

“Vexed by Vaccination Refusals,” by Caty Taborda. Research on distrust of science and vaccinations, as well as network ties that spread medical knowledge—and sometimes skew it along the way.

The Editors’ Desk:

“The New Yorker: Champion of Serious Sociology,” by Doug Hartmann. Admiring the work of Kelefa Sanneh, Jill Lepore, and Adam Gopnik, who are all bringing sociology’s big ideas to the Big Apple.

Give Methods a Chance:

“Amy Schalet on In-Depth Interviews,” with Kyle Green. A leading sociologist on the methodology behind a time-consuming, but very rewarding, research technique.

Citings & Sightings:

“Books Behind Bars: College Courses in Prisons,” by Neeraj Rajasekar. Using reading for rehabilitation.

“Could Porn Lead to Sex Trafficking?” by Caty Taborda. One researcher argues a correlation between consumption of pornography and demand for sex trafficking.

“The Anti-Vaxxer Vote,” by Caty Taborda. Does vaccination refusal break along party lines?

“Cheats in Cleats,” by Sarah Catherine Billups. When sports scandals break, are they amplified by public notions of sport as an almost sacred space?

“Workplaces May Create Inequalities at Home,” by Caty Taborda. Bringing work home has more than one meaning.

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Valentine’s Day Fact Sheet on Healthy Sex,” by Adina Nack.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“Schools Adopting Digital Tools Without Evidence that They Boost Student Achievement,” by Patricia Burch, Annalee Good, Caroly J. Heinrich, and Chandi Wagner.

A Few from the Community Pages:

• Graphic Sociology on a Stakeholder Theory Diagram (aka, a donut).
• Sociological Images on the late 19th century Supreme Court case that decided whether tomatoes were fruits or vegetables and the globalization of commodified love.
• Cyborgology on using hashtags to speak up in a broad, thoughtful way.