Friday Roundup

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]

New & Noteworthy

• “I pretty much just stick to ‘queer’ [in Vancouver], but when I’m in Texas, … it’s ‘gay’.” Gay in Texas, Queer in Vancouver by Anastasia Dulle summarizes research by Andy Holmes and Amin Ghaziani on why LGBTQ+ people use different labels in different contexts. [2 min read]

From the Archives

• TikTok was abuzz this week with many “apocalyptic influencers” believing that the rapture would take place on September 23rd, 2025. For those of us left behind, check out this 2008 article by Brooke Harrington on how Christian Protestant ideas about the “end of days” enable economic inequality. [4 min read]
• On Monday, President Trump told pregnant women not to take Tylenol during pregnancy, despite inconclusive evidence linking the drug to autism. Some worry the President’s comments contribute to a pattern of “mother blame,” where women are held responsible for children’s outcomes by sexist and perfectionistic standards. In this piece for Girl w/ Pen, Alison Piepmeier responds to perceived “mother blame” in Annie Murphy Paul’s 2010 book, Origins. [3 min read]

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• In Parental Profiteering, Colter J. Uscola spotlights research in New Media & Society by Tom Divon, Taylor Annabell, and Catalina Goanta that explores the legal and ethical implications of “kidfluencers” on TikTok. [2 min read]
• In GED to PhD, Chandra Reyna draws on her experience in the McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program to make the case against a Trump administration proposal to cancel it. McNair aims to “increase the attainment of Ph.D. degrees by students from underrepresented segments of society.” It is one of several similar government programs at risk of being eliminated. [4 min read]
• In Working For AI, Jeffrey C. Dixon voices his concerns about the fast-proliferating technology from his perspective as a sociologist of work, neoliberalism, and AI. [5 min read]

Council on Contemporary Families

• Anna Gjika was interviewed by Alicia M. Walker on her new book, When Rape Goes Viral: Youth and Sexual Assault in the Digital Age. Gjika discusses what she learned from conversations with teens about image-based sexual abuse, and why adult surveillance of teens’ digital lives might do more harm than good. [7 min read]

New & Noteworthy

• What does it mean to be “authentic?” In their new article, To Thine Own Self Be True: Identity and Authenticity, Mallory Harrington and Francesca Bernardino explain how our affinity for “true” belonging shapes our attitudes and behaviors, and why ambiguous or unattainable standards of authenticity can particularly harm marginalized communities.

From the Archives

• In the latest MAHA report on children’s health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. insisted on the need to address “vaccine injury.” As Secretary of Health and Human Services, he has spoken about the supposed connection between vaccination status and rising autism diagnoses in children. Our 2019 piece, Autism Across Cultures, reviews research on the causes of autism, providing social context and explanations for recent increases in autism diagnoses.
• As students return to school, many kids and teenagers will return to bullying from their peers. Despite the commonly used phrase “it gets better,” research warns that the consequences of peer aggression during adolescence can extend through adulthood. Read 2023’s Back to School, Back to Bullying from our partner World Suffering to learn more.

Backstage with TSP

• “TSP Tuesdays” is now returning to “TSP Fridays.” We’re sad to see the alliteration go. New board member Sara Kadoura is taking the reins of our weekly roundup, where you’ll continue to get updates from TSP and our partners.
• Anastasia Dulle is also now taking a leadership role on our flagship section, “Discoveries.” Anastasia will manage our publication schedule and join Jake, Doug and Chris on the editors team, streamlining our process to translate new and meaningful social science for the wider public.

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• How the rich turn sludge into money by Doron Shiffer-Sebba illuminates how “bureaucratic practices” protect generational wealth in ultra-wealthy families and introduce business-like relationships into family life.

Council on Contemporary Families

• With big-city immigration raids in the news, William Lopez’s new book, Raiding the Heartland: An American Story of Deportation and Resistance, directs the spotlight toward the effects of raids in a less-covered space: rural America. In this interview with Alicia M. Walker, Lopez details how rural community members cope with the sudden absence of their neighbors and loved ones.

Give Theory a Chance

• Stefano Bloch joins Kyle Green in the latest episode of “Give Theory a Chance” to discuss his recent article, “Crime as Relational Concept in Political Geography,” published in Geography Compass.

New & Noteworthy

• Mallory Harrington‘s weekly Clippings is back! In this week’s coverage of sociology in the news, sociologists and scholars weighed in on politics, gender, and justice. Michel Anteby defended the role of bureaucrats as crucial public safeguards, while Tristan Bridges analyzed Hasan Piker’s ability to challenge gender norms through “jock insurance.” Meanwhile, David Garland critiqued America’s penal state, architects were urged to draw on sociology, Robert Putnam and Richard Reeves revisit the “boyhood crisis,” and Patrick Bergemann explored the dynamics of whistleblowing and social control.
• Money Talks in the American Workplace by Francesca Bernardino covers research in Social Forces by Patrick Denice, Jake Rosenfeld, and Shengwei Sun showing that while workplace norms and bans often suppress “pay talk,” younger and raise-seeking workers increasingly break these rules to pursue fairer wages and challenge pay inequality.

From the Archives

• Trump’s crime crackdown is again considering giving prosecutors more power to pursue the death penalty, despite research showing the death penalty’s limited-to-no impact on deterring crime. Read more from our 2019 piece covering Trump’s death penalty efforts in his first term.
• The NFL season started last week, with some close games leaving fans very happy (shoutout to the Minnesota Vikings win last night against the Bears). Sociologically speaking, TSP and our partner Engaging Sports has many pieces covering research on the role of college and professional football in society. Check out this 2020 football NCAA round up for some great pieces to ground your college football discussions.

Backstage with TSP

• Last Friday TSP held its first Fall 2025 graduate student board meeting. We are lucky to be welcoming a new cohort of public oriented scholars to the board and begin work on new projects. During these initial weeks, we typically start with orienting folks on our Discoveries process where we 1) locate recent publications with high research rigor, 2) take turns “pitching” three of these pieces to the full board, 3) we then workshop each piece in front of the full board and Chris and Doug (a both stressful and incredibly beneficial experience for new and old board members alike) and 4) post on the site for the world to see.

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• Aging with Imagination by Colter J. Uscola writes up research by Juliane Jarke and Helen Manchester on participatory workshops help older adults challenge AI-driven, ageist narratives and instead imagine futures of aging on their own terms.

Council on Contemporary Families

• BDSM Without the Sex: What Kink Practitioners Can Teach Us About Building Community? by Alicia M. Walker and Arielle Kuperberg shows how kink communities, through consent, boundary-setting, and collective care, model intentional forms of connection that challenge individualist approaches to happiness and offer lessons for building stronger, supportive communities.

New & Noteworthy

How do Americans Define Discrimination? Well… It’s Complicated by Jordyn Wald covers new research in the American Journal of Sociology on how Americans disagree on what counts as discrimination. Some focus on intent and unequal treatment, others on unequal outcomes and power. Views differed by issue and by group, with younger Democrats leaning toward outcomes and power and older Republicans toward intent.

Backstage with TSP

Fall semester is here! The TSP Board’s first meeting is this week, and we’re excited for another year of bringing sociology to a screen near you. For board members, TSP is not only a place to publish and network, but also a chance for grad students to learn about public sociology. We discuss sociology in the news, brainstorm ways to make it more accessible, and are continually innovating new projects. Stay tuned.

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• Attending Church Encourages Acceptance of Atheists? No, It’s a Suppression Effect by Paul A. Djupe, Amanda J. Friesen, Anand E. Sokhey, and Jacob R. Neiheisel on the increases in acceptance of atheists from church attendance and its apparent statistical suppression effect, when Christian nationalism is included, attendance does not raise and often lowers support.
• Financial Theatrics by Elena G. Van Stee writes us research which shows families favor “pseudo-formal” written-but-flexible loan agreements because they preserve the recipient’s dignity, ease discomfort, and help separate personal from financial relationships.

Council on Contemporary Families

• 3Q with Andréa Becker Get it Out: On The Politics of Hysterectomy with Alicia M. Walker and Andréa Becker on how hysterectomies are common yet silenced, and that people’s choices are constrained by a fertility-first, under-researched, and unequal U.S. healthcare system, with added barriers in gender-affirming care and across race and class.
• Pandemic Influences on Gender Inequality in Unpaid Work by Liana C. Sayer and Joanna Pepin on how COVID briefly narrowed gaps as fathers spent a bit more time with kids, but by 2021 mothers still did more childcare and housework, so lasting equality will require men doing more unpaid labor.

New & Noteworthy

• Environmental Spending: Our Money or Our Earth? by S Ericson writes up research from Marthe Holum and Tor Jakobsen in Environment Sociology on how higher government spending on environmental protection actually reduces public support for prioritizing the environment over the economy, especially among those with low trust in government.

From the Archives

• As Hurricane Erin nears the U.S., officials issue emergency warnings. Severe weather doesn’t just damage communities, it leaves lasting impacts on children. Read this 2018 piece to learn more, The Emotional Toll of Natural Disasters by Jasmine Syed.
• ICE in the U.S. is also, again, capturing headlines. A town in Maine was accused by the Federal Government of “reckless reliance” on the Federal Government’s E-Verify program which was used for hiring a police officer that was recently arrested. However, these pushes for deportations isn’t new and was actually highest during President Obama’s tenure. Read Mass Deportation Isn’t New to learn more.

More from our Partners & Community Pages

And don’t forget to check out the latest from:

Contexts

• does everyone have a gender? by Canton Winer introduces the concept of “gender detachment,” showing how many asexual individuals reject the assumption that everyone must have a gender identity.

Council on Contemporary Families

• Is remote, hybrid, or on-site work best for workers? It depends on their preferences by Richard J. Petts, Daniel L. Carlson, and Wen Fan on their study which finds that no single work arrangement is best, worker well-being depends most on whether their actual work location matches their personal preference.
• Contraception “is a woman’s job”?! Contraceptive Decision-Making by Men in Germany by Jan Marc Morawe summarizes study in Germany, showing that many men are moving from seeing contraception as “a woman’s job” to sharing responsibility, challenging traditional masculinity and supporting reproductive justice.

First Publics

• Teaching Environmental Justice Cross-Nationally by Mufti N. Q. Ahmed draws on his teaching experiences in Bangladesh and the U.S., Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed shows how culturally responsive, justice-centered pedagogy can empower students to connect theory with lived experience and take action on injustices.

Sociological Images

• Conflict Theory and the Design of Migrant Housing by Joey Colby Bernert writes how the migrant worker housing in the U.S. is deliberately designed to isolate and control laborers.

New & Noteworthy

• Not Your Feminism, Not Your TERF by Jordyn Wald explores the rise of trans-exclusionary rhetoric within feminist movements. While most feminists support transgender rights, a small but vocal group—commonly called “TERFs” or gender-critical feminists—argue for “sex-based rights” that exclude trans women. Drawing from recent research, Jordyn highlights how this perspective relies on rigid and outdated notions of biological sex and often aligns with conservative political agendas.

• TSP’s Summer of Sociology Reading List, 2025 spans a wide range of sociological themes—from youth mental health and labor to nationalism, race, and identity. With titles covering politics, culture, inequality, and everyday life, it offers something for every curious reader.

From the Archives

• A recent execution in Tennessee drew national attention after concerns were raised that a heart device could cause severe pain during the procedure by delivering electrical shocks. For broader context on why the death penalty remains embedded in U.S. culture, check out the 2016 piece, The Resiliency of the Death Penalty in the United States.

• With the fall semester just weeks away and global conflicts intensifying, campus protests are already beginning to take shape. Explore our collection of sociological insights in Campus Protests and Student Activism: Some Sociology Perspectives.

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Council on Contemporary Families

• 3Q with Ranita Ray Slow Violence: Confronting Dark Truths in the American Classroom, with CCF’s Alicia Walker with Ranita Ray discussing her new book  Slow Violence: Confronting Dark Truths in the American Classroom, which exposes the everyday harms marginalized students face from school personnel—including racism, fatphobia, and gender-based harassment—often disguised as discipline. Drawing on years of fieldwork, Ray describes how subtle but repeated indignities accumulate over time to erode students’ well-being, political consciousness, and love of learning.
• 3 Q with Christopher Bjork & William Hoynes More Than Just a Game: How the Youth Sports Industry Is Changing the Way We Parent and What to Do About It with Chris Bjork on his new book More Than Just a Game: How the Youth Sports Industry is Changing the Way We Parent and What to Do About It, on how the youth sports industry pressures families into early specialization, financial strain, and achievement-focused parenting.

First Publics

• Theory for Good: Sociology in Cultural Studies by Hannah McCann shares how sociological theory enriches cultural studies classrooms by offering students tools to make sense of their everyday lives. Arguing that teaching theory is a form of public engagement, she shows how applied, reflective learning—especially in today’s age of AI—can foster critical thinking and the need for sociology, now more than ever.

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

• “Life is (not) a Cabaret”: A Genocide-Informed Review of The Guthrie’s Cabaret by Kyra Layman, who reflects on the production which forces audiences to confront the dark historical truths that underlie the surface.

give theory a chance

• Daniel Chambliss shares lessons from the Mundanity of Excellence with Kyle Green discuss The Mundanity of Excellence: An Ethnographic Report on the Stratification of Swimmers, first published in Sociological Theory in 1989.

A large, circular library with reading desks and seating in the middle. Photo by Tamás Mészáros is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via pexels.

As TSP Graduate Student Board members, we’re constantly reading and sharing new books that spark conversations. And 2025 was no exception—our discussions spanned topics like youth mental health, race and labor, nationalism and democracy, and the cultural politics of guns, TV, and religion. Here are a few recent titles that sparked in-depth conversations—books we think are well worth picking up and maybe even adding to your collection.

Power, Politics, and Democracy

• Modi’s India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy by Christophe Jaffrelot
• The Loyalty Trap: Conflicting Loyalties of Civil Servants Under Increasing Autocracy by Jaime Lee Kucinskas
• After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe But Not Abortion by David S. Cohen and Carole Joffe
• The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do it Again by Robert Putnam
• Gun Curious: A Liberal Professor’s Surprising Journey Inside America’s Gun Culture by David Yamane
• We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi

Race, Inequality, and Social Justice

• Who Pays for Diversity: Why Programs Fail at Racial Equity and What to Do About It
• The Souls of White Jokes by Raúl Pérez
• Gray Areas: How the Way We Work Perpetuates Racism and What We Can Do to Fix It by Adia Harvey Wingfield
• Don’t Go: Stories of Segregation and How to Disrupt It by Tonika Lewis Johnson and Maria Krysan 
• Sin Padres, Ni Papeles: Unaccompanied Migrant Youth Coming of Age in the United States by Stephanie L Canizales

Culture, Identity, and Belonging

• True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us by Danielle J. Lindemann
• Long Live Queer Nightlife: How the Closing of Gay Bars Sparked a Revolution by Amin Ghaziani
• Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America by Christian Smith
• Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net by Jessica Calarco
• A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith
• Bound by BDSM: Unexpected Lessons for Building a Happier Life by Alicia M. Walker and Arielle Kuperberg
• At Home with the Holocaust: Postmemory, Domestic Space, and Second-Generation Holocaust Narratives by Lucas Wilson
• Marriage Material: How an Enduring Institution is Changing Same-Sex Relationships by Abigail Ocobock 

Work, Mental Health, and Everyday Life

• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
• Life under Pressure: The Social Roots of Youth Suicide and What to Do About Them by Anna S. Mueller and Seth Abrutyn
• Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process under Monopoly Capitalism by Michael Burawoy

Happy Reading!