New & Noteworthy

How Negative Feedback Impacts Women’s Political Participation Online by Dylan DiGiacomo-Stumm covers research by Zhaodi Chen and Junghun Han. They examined how negative feedback affects women’s participation in online political discussions using survey experiments. The study finds that while “dislikes” do not deter women, the risk of post deletion significantly reduces their willingness to engage. For men, neither form of feedback has a notable effect, highlighting how platform design can unintentionally silence women’s voices in digital spaces.

Backstage with TSP

The TSP crew wrapped up 2024 with a Pickleball party! We celebrated the many successes this year and handed out awards to board members for their notable accomplishments. Keep an eye out over the next month for our “best of 2024” series for the top pieces on X, Facebook, and BlueSky.

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• lead with your heart: a q&a with dr. alondra nelson with Amin Ghaziani highlights a conversation with Dr. Alondra Nelson, the Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and former Acting Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Nelson discusses her path from academia to policymaking, the importance of translating sociological research for public impact, and her advice on leading with clarity and heart in public-facing scholarship.

Council on Contemporary Families

• Caregivers’ Support for Federal Work-Family Policies by Carolyn E Waldrep explores why popular work-family policies—like paid family leave and childcare subsidies—have yet to gain federal support. In interviews with over 100 caregivers, Waldrep found strong bipartisan backing for these policies, especially after the pandemic. Caregivers emphasized governmental responsibility, fair tradeoffs for workers’ labor, and successful comparisons to state and international models. However, concerns about government mandates, policy misuse, small business impact, and increased taxes persist. The findings highlight both the urgent need for well-crafted policies and the mistrust that policymakers must address to move forward.