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New & Noteworthy

• Shania Kuo summarizes the landscape of social science research on Islamophobia in the United States in the latest installment of our series, “There’s Research on That.” {4 min read}
• Check out our Media Report by Mallory Harrington for recent news featuring social scientists. This week, Alexandrea J. Ravenelle on the new major movie inspired by her research on the gig economy; Canton Winer on “gender detachment”; Orlando Patterson on the dimensions of freedom; and Tony Silva and Emily Huddart on Canada’s embrace of the paranormal. {3 min read}

From the Archives

• The New York City mayoral race ended this week with the election of Zohran Mamdani. In his campaign Mamdani positioned himself against economic elites and “corporate greed” and pledged to make New York City more affordable for residents. This 2012 article from our partners at the Scholars Strategy Network discusses why the interests of the wealthy are often overrepresented in American politics. {5 min read}
• Condé Nast folded Teen Vogue into Vogue.com and laid off much of the staff. According to a union statement, many of those laid off are BIPOC women or trans politics reporters, including the politics editor. The Roosevelt Institute, a think tank which had applauded Teen Vogue for its political coverage, called the merger “evidence that corporate concentration eliminates innovative ideas and silences voices with less power.” This 2016 piece from Sociological Images considers how media mergers threaten racial representation. {2 min read}

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• In his new piece for Contexts, Andrew McNeely reflects on his upbringing in a gun-loving Texas family, arguing for a sociological focus on how gun culture affects both its members and the wider public. {7 min read}

Engaging Sports

• In Beyond Myths, Jack Hardwicke and Christopher R. Matthews complicate the widely held belief that sport is good for public health. {7 min read}

Council on Contemporary Families

• In The Lonely, Fractured Lives of Estranged Grandparents, practicing psychologist Joshua Coleman explains his concern over decreasing rates of grandparent/grandchild closeness. This piece was originally published in 2024 in Psychology Today. {5 min read}

First Publics

• In A Clingy Friend, Tamanna M. Shah considers what it means to teach sociology in a moment when AI is both an object of study and a tool shaping pedagogy. {5 min read}

Happy Halloween!

New & Noteworthy

• In the mood for something spooky? Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, a new StoryMap from Jordyn Wald, tracks the Sociology of the occult. This visual special feature is based on a 2024 piece by Mallory Harrington and Nicole Schmitgen. {3 min scroll}
• Check out our Media Report by Mallory Harrington for recent news featuring social scientists. This week, Michael Benediktsson on the history of the public bench; Ash Watson on who the digital revolution leaves behind; Jennifer Glass on the contentious results of a new Pew Research survey on parenting; Alex Wood on the rise of the freelancer; and Alka Menon on the quickening cycle of trends in cosmetic surgery. {3 min read}

From the Archives

• This week, an unpublished Dr. Seuss manuscript was uncovered in UC San Diego’s Geisel Library. Penguin House plans to publish the book titled Sing the 50 United States! in the summer of 2026. Small Books, Big Questions, a 2018 article by Evan Stewart for Sociological Images, discusses how children’s books reflect the culture around them. {3 min read}
• The Fed lowered interest rates earlier this week, but will this resolve housing shortages? Read Steven Schmidt’s recent piece in Council on Contemporary Families covering research in Los Angeles on this ongoing and complex issue for want-to-be homeowners and sellers. {6 min read}

More from our Partners & Community Pages

World Suffering

• Research finds that forgiveness is healthy, but the pressure to do so may not be. TSP’s Managing Editor, Jacob Otis, wrote Social Expectations of Forgiveness for our partner publication World Suffering this week. {4 min read}

Council on Contemporary Families

• Increases in Community Income Improve Birth Outcomes by Molly A. Martin was originally published in CCF’s Brief Reports and reprinted by CCF this week. Read about the novel experimental design Martin and colleagues used to find a causal link between income and birth outcomes, from their study published in Demography. {4 min read}

New & Noteworthy

• Domestic Violence Doesn’t Have Just One Exit by Jacob Otis highlights the diverse ways victims resist abuse, from research by Lynette Renner, Carolyn Hartley and Knute Carter, published in the Journal of Family Violence. {2 min read}
• In the latest episode of Sociology in the News, TSP board members Jordyn Wald and Mallory Harrington discuss Emine Fidan Elcioglu’s recent article in The Conversation on how YouTube shapes young adults’ political identities. {5 min listen}
• Check out our Media Report by Mallory Harrington for recent news featuring social scientists. This week, Elizabeth Chiarello on pharmacists as “medical gatekeepers”; Patrick Sheehan on “hype” culture in Silicon Valley; Nancy Berns on flag burning; and Abigail Coplin on American-Chinese research collaboration. Plus, a new book by Charles Derber on societies’ self-imposed breakdowns. {3 min read}

From the Archives

• The “No Kings” movement is galvanizing Americans to protest in the streets, including some who attend in inflatable costumes like frogs, dinosaurs and unicorns. This piece from 2024 covers some sociology behind humor in politics. {6 min read}
• Republican-led states are adjusting SNAP benefits to restrict junk food, in line with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again campaign. Some experts say the restrictions will have little to no impact on children’s health outcomes. Check out our 2018 article that considers Why Poor Parents Say “Yes” to Junk Food. {2 min read}

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• In a Letter from the Editors, Contexts’ Seth Abrutyn and Amin Ghaziani offer an overview of the Summer 2025 magazine issue. They hope that pieces centering positivity will bring light to our ever-darker afternoons. {3 min read}

Council on Contemporary Families

• With teens’ growing access to high-potency cannabis products, Jamie Seabrook outlines his research on a little-known condition linked to frequent and prolonged usage in Cannabis and Vomiting: What Every Parent, Youth, and Doctor Should Know. {4 min read}

New & Noteworthy

• In How Abortion Access Shapes Women’s Financial Futures, Dylan DiGiacomo-Stumm explores how access to abortion care impacts women’s financial prospects, based on research published by Bethany G. Everett and Catherine J. Taylor in American Sociological Review. {2 min read}
• Check out our Media Report by Mallory Harrington for recent news featuring social scientists. This week, Michael Macy on the politicalization of children’s media censorship; Emine Fidan Elcioglu on the growing influence of YouTube on political education; Martin Shaw on defining genocide; and Andreas Reckwitz on the Western aversion to loss. {3 min read}

From the Archives

• As the government shutdown continues, funding for social safety nets like the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program is dwindling. A new bill would allocate emergency funds to continue providing food assistance to WIC recipients. However, several states have already delayed benefits. This 2013 article from our partners at the Scholars Strategy Network surveyed the patchy efficacy of seven government welfare programs for low-income families. {5 min read}
• Virtually all major news organizations have refused to agree to new rules put forth by the U.S. Department of War (formerly Defense) that would prohibit the publication of any material not approved for release by the Pentagon. The united front, including conservative-leaning outlets like Fox News, is seen as a defense of core journalistic principles. This 2019 article tracks the history of debates over what good journalism is and what it should be, discussing the role of journalism in hostile political contexts. {3 min read}

More from our Partners & Community Pages

First Publics

• First Publics announced the formation of the First Publics Advisory Board. The inaugural Board of six public sociologists will work with leadership to increase the publication’s representation of diverse scholarly viewpoints. Meet the Board and learn about First Publics’ priorities here. {3 min read}

Contexts

• Listing Addiction on your Resume by Elena G. van Stee highlights a phenomenon Joseph W. Silcox and Evan Stewart call “the professionalization of stigma,” drawing on interviews with people in long-term recovery from drug use. {1 min read}
• It seems like a paradox – why would someone enter a career field they’re critical of? In Good Lawyer, Bad Lawyer, Elena G. van Stee summarizes research by Matthew Clair and Sophia Hunt on the ways liberal law students justify their decision to enter professions they see as perpetuating injustice. {2 min read}

Council on Contemporary Families

• Amid Robert F. Kennedy’s campaign to find the biological causes of autism, historian Steven Mintz calls for a reframe. In his new piece, The Cultural Construction of Autism, Mintz argues that autism is more than a biomedical reality, and acknowledging this can contribute to more human-centered conversations. {6 min read}

Give Theory a Chance [podcast]

• Alicia M. Walker and Arielle Kuperberg join host Kyle Green to discuss their new book, Bound by BDSM: Unexpected Lessons in Building a Happier Life. {42 min listen}

New & Noteworthy

• In Thermal Injustice, S. Ericson highlights a new study in Demography on heat waves and caste inequality in India, emphasizing that “while temperature doesn’t discriminate, people do.” [2 min read]
• Check out this week’s Media Report by Mallory Harrington for recent news featuring social scientists. This week, Tressie McMillan Cottom on America’s first “meme president,” and Christopher Justin Einolf and Dylan J. Riley on the state of American civil society. Plus, new books from Martin Eiermann and Laura Hall. [2 min read]

From the Archives

• President Trump signed a proclamation marking October 13th Columbus Day, calling Christopher Columbus “the original American hero.” The proclamation omitted Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a holiday celebrated simultaneously, meant to honor victims of American colonialism. Nevertheless, many Americans will still celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday. Check out Allison Nobles’s 2017 article Why We Honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which highlights research on the racial and gendered aspects of colonialism in U.S. history. [2 min read]
• Sarah Mullally is the next Archbishop of Canterbury, making her the first woman to lead the Church of England and the global Anglican Church. Many conservative Anglican leaders have criticized Mullally’s appointment, as she is a woman and has publicly affirmed same-sex marriage. Consequently, the Anglican Church of Nigeria declared spiritual independence from the Church of England this week. Our 2021 article by Christine Delp unpacks how the Catholic Church handled a similar period of gender and sexuality debates. [2 min read]

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• Fire Flight by Parker Muzzerall discusses the unexpected way highly destructive wildfires affect migration patterns, based on findings from an interdisciplinary team led by sociologist Kathryn McConnell, and published in Nature Communications. [2 min read]

Council on Contemporary Families

• As the gender wage gap persists, Ashir Coillberg spotlights the unique burden it places on working mothers, who made 71 cents for every dollar earned by working fathers in 2022. Coillberg’s The Wage Gap Robs Mothers of What They’re Owed was originally published by the National Women’s Law Center and reprinted by CCF this week. [5 min read]

First Publics

• When an undergrad lesson involves unchaste topic matter, it can be tricky to find the right balance between appropriate boundaries and fruitful discussion. In Teaching Consent Before Content, Joey Bernert reflects on how practicing consent in the classroom helped them facilitate a compelling lesson on BDSM and kink. [5 min read]

New & Noteworthy

• Housework Gender Expectations in American Households by Emma Goldstein details the surprising way the COVID-19 pandemic affected gender equity, from an article published in Socius by Melissa A. Milkie, Liana C. Sayer, Kei Nomaguchi, and Hope Xu Yan. [3 min read]
• In the latest episode of The Society Pages Podcast, Jordyn Wald considers the paradoxical concept of “heteropessimism” in straight women. [3 min listen]

From the Archives

• The children’s TV show “Reading Rainbow,” which aired on PBS from 1983 to 2006, is returning. With new host Mychal Threets, known for his viral videos about the joy of libraries, “Reading Rainbow” aims to help children become avid readers. This 2023 Contexts piece highlights the importance of books in shaping how young people see themselves and understand the world in an era of book banning. [6 min read]
• This week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered his vision for the military to hundreds of top-ranking military officials. Hegseth argued for several changes to the image of the military including an end to “fat troops” and “fat generals,” claiming this was a “bad look” for the U.S. military. This 2016 article from our partner Scholars Strategy Network article discusses the prevalence of weight-based discrimination in the U.S. and the lack of legal prohibitions against it. [5 min read]

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• Data show that professors in the U.S. tend to be more liberal than the average American. In A Closer Look at Ideology and Truth on Campus, Michael D. Briscoe joins the conversation on “the partisan professoriate” to critique Lawrence Eppard and Jacob Mackey’s recent Contexts article, “Ideology Versus Truth on Campus.” [8 min read]

Council on Contemporary Families

• In The Silent Signals of Great Sex, Alicia M. Walker asks, what aren’t we saying in the bedroom? Drawing on an interview-based study she conducted with Audrey Lutmer, Walker calls attention to the power and peril of non-verbal cues in moments of intimacy. [4 min read]

First Publics

• For undergraduate students, social theory can feel hard and confusing. For professors, so can teaching it. Seasoned theory professor Michel Estefan offers Seven Principles for Teaching Social Theory to help undergrads stay the course. [5 min read]

Hellllllooooo, Chicago! Here’s what TSP’s been up to this week—some excellent reads as sociology converges on the Windy City. Be sure to say hi to our grad board members and editors as we make the rounds, and watch our Twitter for some live-tweeted-panels courtesy @EvanStewart23 (with Jacqui Frost, our graduate editor).

There’s Research on That!

“We All Live with the Effects of School Segregation,” Evan Stewart with research by Gary Orfield, Susan E. Eaton, Grace Kao, Daniel T. Lichter, Domenico Parisi, and more.

Discoveries:

“Freshman 15 or Family-First 50? College and Family Sequencing Affect Obesity.” Sarah Catherine Billups sums up Journal of Health and Social Behavior research from Miech, Shanahan, Boardman, and Bauldry.

Clippings:

“‘Moving to Opportunity’ After Katrina.” Billups shares some sociological highlights from a New Yorker article on mobility and displacement in New Orleans. Featuring David Kirk, Patrick Sharkey, Stefanie DeLuca, and Corina Graif.

Contexts Magazine:

“Bathroom Battlegrounds and Penis Panics,” Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook. How transgender rights legislation got framed as “bathroom bills,” with seemingly everyone trying to mark their territory.

Scholars Strategy Network:

“The Downside of Separating ‘Good’ Undocumented Immigrants from ‘Bad’ Criminals,” by Abigail Andrews. “As long as protection seems conditional on quiet and deferential personal conduct, any approach that divides undocumented migrants into good versus bad categories reinforces secondary status for all.”

Council on Contemporary Families:

“Getting Current on Cohabitation,” by Virginia Rutter. “Fifteen years ago, the going wisdom on cohabitation was that marriages preceded by living together were more likely to fall apart—that news is out of date.”

A Few From the Community Pages:

• On Sociological Images, a new Yale project parses Americans’ opinions on climate change and research shows college students believe in the benefits of diversity while also touting “color-blindness”.
• Families As They Really Are shares 5 ways professors can help single mother students.
• Feminist Reflections on graphic art and social change.

Last Week’s Roundup

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Since last we met…

Features:

“Commemorating 50 Years Since the Voting Rights Act… By Restricting Voting Rights,” Ryan D. King and Vincent Roscigno. How landmark legislation is being eroded, to the detriment of participatory democracy.

There’s Research on That!

“A Hate Crime By Any Other Name,” Ryan Larson. Whether we call a domestic attack a hate crime or terrorism has implications for and is shaped by public perception.

“Social Boundaries and Music Streaming,” Evan Stewart. By TROT-ifying Spotify data, we see how musical preferences are reinforced and reshaped. more...

Since last we met…

There’s Research on That!

“Caitlyn Jenner: Public Opinion, Celebrity Status, and Identity,” by Sarah Catherine Billups and Caty Taborda.

“Marriage, Inequality, and Bureaucracy: The Devil’s in the DMV?” by Evan Stewart.

The Editors’ Desk

“SSN on SCOTUS Health Care Decision,” by Doug Hartmann.

Discoveries

“Not So Different: Color-Blindness and Diversity,” by Stephen Suh. more...

Sometimes, it turns out to be Monday.

But there’s still great stuff to read from last week!

Office Hours:

“Matt Wray on the ‘Suicide Belt’,” with Scott DeMuth. A podcast on the wide swath of the Western U.S. where suicides cluster.

There’s Research on That:

“On Heartbleed and Hackers,” by Evan Stewart. What sociologists know about the subcultures and criminal habitus of the hacker.

Citings & Sightings:

“Young Girls Consider Sexual Violence Normal,” by Kat Albrecht. #EverydaySexism in full effect. more...