This week TSP featured great content on immigration, drugs, and healthcare reform from heavy hitters, as well as the incredibly popular Sociological Images monthly recap and a caveat from our editor, keen even with one eye on the Klout scores.

Features:

“Crimmigration”: A Roundtable with Tanya Golash-Boza, Ryan King, and Yolanda Vàsquez, by Suzy McElrath, Rahsaan Mahadeo, and Stephen Suh. What happens when criminal and immigration enforcement come together?

“Are Mexicans the Most Successful Immigrant Group in the U.S.?” by Jennifer Lee. If the American Dream is about upward mobility—doing better than your parents’ generation—we’re looking to the wrong racial and ethnic groups for success stories.

Editors’ Desk:

“Screens for Glass Houses,” by Chris Uggen. Social media makes us all magpies, quick to Tweet and “like” shiny new studies that fit with our worldview. But the good science and the sexy story aren’t often the same.

There’s Research on That!:

“Religious Freedom and Refusing Service,” by Amy August. Some states are looking to legalize selected forms of discrimination and the right for businesses to refuse service. How do religion, public opinion, and politics come together in these bills, and how might the enforcement of such laws work?

“Affordable Healthcare: Job Loss or Job Lock?” by Evan Stewart. The balance of new mobility for those workers gaining healthcare under ACA and the loyalty engendered by workplace flexibility and other structural factors has many worried: will healthcare help or hinder the job market?

“Heroin Use and the Media,” by Scott DeMuth. When high-profile overdoses hit the headlines, it’s tough to tell whether such drug use is increasing, how well anti-drug campaigns work, and whether policy should lean toward harm reduction or criminalization of use.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“How Health Reform Makes the Job Market More Flexible and Unleashes Entrepreneurs,” by Theda Skocpol. Dovetailing nicely with this week’s “There’s Research on That,” Skocpol agrees that ACA will give employees the ability to change jobs or even leave the market for entrepreneurial ventures, both opening businesses and opening jobs for the unemployed.

Reading List:

“Teen Pregnancy and the Making of Sexual Citizens,” by Jacqui Frost. A case study of a community health clinic helps demonstrate how norms can be handed out as readily as medications.

Citings & Sightings:

“A (Private) Room with a View,” by Kat Albrecht. What’s lost when there’s no college roommate?

“Want a Better Marriage? Spend More Time with Your Spouse,” by Lisa Gulya. To know them is to love them…

“McSenior Center,” by Andrew Wiebe. As community spaces are forced to close, fast food restaurants aren’t too happy to take on the role.

(Community Pages update to come!)