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!

New & Noteworthy

• Diverse Gender Beliefs Amongst Muslim Americans by Francesca Bernardino highlights new research on how Muslim Americans construct gender ideologies amid Islamophobic stereotypes. The study finds that negative views of Islam as patriarchal shape how Muslim men and women navigate and express beliefs about gender. Based on interviews with 80 participants, the researchers identify two main positions—one defends Islamic doctrine as respectful of natural gender differences, while the other critiques patriarchal practices in Muslim communities and looks to Western norms as more egalitarian.

From the Archives

• The wage gap continues to grow. This piece from CCF by Tania Cabello-Hutt covers how even when men and women follow similar work patterns over their lives, women still earn less—revealing that steady employment alone won’t close the gender wage gap.

• The birth rate in many countries also continues to steadily decrease, which may have many consequences in coming decades. This piece by Mahala Miller covers how economic downturns like the Great Recession led to lower birth rates, more young adults living with parents, and increased family strain—trends that have only deepened in recent years as rising costs, housing shortages, and pandemic fallout continue to reshape family life.

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• Letter from the Editors: Spring 2025 by Amin Ghaziani and Seth Abrutyn highlights the Spring 2025 issue, with anti-trans policies and the broader “war on woke” are fueling erasure—from Stonewall to statehouses—making the call to “protect the dolls” more urgent than ever. The issue responds with research on DEI, queer identities, healthcare debt, and more, showing what’s at stake when inclusion is under attack.

First Publics

• Social Theory Re-Wired offers a fresh take on teaching classical and contemporary theory by using technology as both theme and metaphor. In this interview, authors Wesley Longhofer and Daniel Winchester share how their book encourages students to see theory as a living conversation—one they’re already part of, and one with deep public roots.

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

• Learning Together, Teaching Forward reflects on a recent two-day educator workshop hosted by the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in partnership with Yahad–In Unum. Aga Fine highlights how Yahad’s global work uncovering mass violence and amplifying survivor voices deepened participants’ understanding of genocide—and offered new tools for teaching these histories with care and urgency.

Council on Contemporary Families

• Growing Up Godless explores how non-religious children in England develop rich moral worlds, playful beliefs, and meaningful rituals outside of religion. In this interview, co-authors Anna Strhan and Rachael Shillitoe discuss how families and schools shape a secular humanist culture that emphasizes autonomy, equality, and wonder.
• Queer Women and the Question of Marriage in the United States: Desire, Ambivalence, and Resistance explores how queer women navigate desire, ambivalence, and resistance toward marriage in a post-legalization era. Sarah Adeyinka-Skold reveals that while many view marriage as a path to legitimacy or a space for queering tradition, others remain wary of its inequalities, class dynamics, and uncertain legal future.

New & Noteworthy

• Left Behind? Vote Populist by S. Ericson highlights new research by Rafaela Dancygier and colleagues on the rise of radical right populism in Europe. Published in the American Journal of Political Science, the study finds that regions with higher levels of emigration—not immigration—are more likely to support populist radical right (PRR) parties. Using data from across Europe and detailed precinct data from Sweden, the researchers show how population loss can fuel resentment, weaken local economies, and shift political attitudes. As young, working-age residents leave, those who remain may feel abandoned—opening the door for PRR leaders to exploit a sense of decline and distrust in mainstream politics.
• Mourning the Loss of Melissa Hortman by Christopher Uggen, Douglas Hartmann, and The TSP Grad Board reflects on the shock following the assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman. Remembered as a brilliant, humble, and selfless public servant, Hortman’s death stunned the Minnesota community and The Society Pages team. While TSP typically offers social science context on issues like political violence or threats to democracy, the authors chose not to rush analysis in this moment of grief. Instead, they honor Hortman’s legacy and mourn a devastating loss—to her family, her community, and the civic fabric she worked so hard to strengthen.

From the Archives

• The flooding in Texas has now claimed at least 100 lives. The Emotional Toll of Natural Disasters by Jasmine Syed highlights sociologist Alice Fothergill’s research on how natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina impact children’s mental health. Fothergill finds that separation from loved ones during disasters causes deep anxiety, while staying in dangerous conditions with family also takes an emotional toll. The key, she argues, is ensuring safety and connection. Fortunately, emergency systems have improved—New Jersey’s response during Hurricane Sandy showed lessons learned from Katrina. Fothergill emphasizes giving kids agency during disaster prep to boost their sense of control and resilience in the face of trauma.
• The latest spending and tax bill, “Big Beautiful Bill”, is set to impact the Child Tax Credit (CTC)—now lifted to $2,200 per child. Tracing the CTC’s journey from a 1997 middle-class tax break to the pandemic’s ARPA boost, this piece shows how even temporary increases slashed child poverty, cut injuries and behavior problems, and strengthened parents’ economic stability. Studies from the U.S. and abroad link larger payments to lower ADHD and aggression, reduced maternal depression, and long-term health gains. Policy simulations suggest a permanent, expanded CTC could trim child poverty by 9 percent while adding half a million jobs,.

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• Let Sociology Majors Dream Bigger by Yolanda Wiggins urges sociology departments to expand how they support students’ futures. After seeing a brilliant former student working retail, Wiggins reflects on how sociology programs often undersell the degree’s value beyond academia and nonprofits. Despite training in data, ethics, and systems thinking, students rarely hear how their skills apply in fields like tech, design, or policy.

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

• “They Really ARE All That” by George Dalbo and Kipper Bromia shows how decentralized curricula, teacher unfamiliarity, and Turkish-backed denial let the 1915 genocide fade from world-history courses. AP materials praise Ottoman “diversity” dozens of times yet bury the genocide in a three-sentence sidebar, proving that Ottoman nostalgia sanitizes empire and leaves students uninformed.
• Book review of Settler Garrison: Debt Imperialism, Militarism, and Transpacific Imaginaries, by Jodi Kim (2022), Duke University Press. by Kurt Borchard reviews how U.S. military and debt imperialism sustain domination across the Pacific under the guise of liberation. From Parasite to POW camps and Guam, the author shows how the U.S. constructs “exempt” zones—spaces it occupies without granting sovereignty—linking settler colonialism to neocolonial control. Through analysis of Indigenous art, literature, and media, she explores how cultural resistance reimagines futures beyond militarized empire.
• Perpetrators of Pixelated Colonialism and Violence by Julianna Rose Longhenry examines how even “cozy” video games like Minecraft can reflect real-world logics of domination and dehumanization. From stealing beds to building villager farms, players often justify exploitation using the game’s mechanics—mirroring how ordinary people rationalize cruelty. Drawing on James Waller’s theories of perpetration, Longhenry argues that the treatment of Minecraft villagers reveals how violence becomes normalized, even in play.

Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman at the One Minnesota Budget Bill signing. Photo by Minnesota Senate DFL, cropped, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

We’re staggered in Minnesota (TSP’s home) after the political violence of the weekend. As Chris Uggen shared on social media, 

An awful, devastating loss. Melissa Hortman was a wise and thoughtful leader and exemplary public servant in so many ways. She carried the weight of political and social responsibility with grace, humility, and good humor — and it appears to have cost her her life. Rep. Hortman was MN House Speaker (2019-Jan 2025) and a graduate of Boston U, the U of Minnesota law school, and the Harvard Kennedy School. I became a big fan after she shared some thoughts on improving university relations with the state and the public. I could tell she was the smartest person in the room (present company included), but she spent more time listening than lecturing. I will remember her as an intelligent, congenial, and self-sacrificing public servant who did all she could to make things better. My condolences to her friends and family, and to the many publics she served.

What he didn’t mention was his own shock and visceral reaction to her assassination. At TSP, we pride ourselves on providing social science evidence and context that will help readers make sense of the social world, but this was a gut punch. As with George Floyd’s murder, we’ve found it tough to summon any “analytic distance” when killing comes to our doorstep. At our editorial meeting on Monday, we discussed sharing pieces that might provide perspective as per our usual practice. These included political violence, inflammatory rhetoric, Christian nationalism, assassinations, and domestic terrorism as well as threats to democracy, public service, and good government. However, based on what we know now, we decided that none of these felt like “the right fit” and that any such sharing would risk dramatically oversimplifying or even exploiting the harm and damage to our community. Which sociological “box” do we place this in? And, implicitly, which actors and institutions do we blame?

We’ll have more to say about this case and relevant scholarship as more information comes to light. For now we mourn – for the victims, for the communities, and for the torn social fabric that connects us all.

New & Noteworthy

• In Science We Trust? by Jordyn Wald covers global research by Viktoria Cologna and colleagues. Surveying over 70,000 people across 68 countries, the study found that trust in scientists remains high worldwide. Most respondents see scientists as competent, public-minded, and believe they should help solve major issues like health, clean energy, and poverty. However, some distrust persists—especially among conservatives and those who view scientists as elitist—raising concerns about the outsized influence of vocal skeptics.

• The Sticks and Stones of Christian Nationalist Rhetoric by Forrest Lovette highlights research by Nilay Saiya and Stuti Manchanda on how political speech can incite violence. Analyzing statements from all 100 U.S. senators, the study found that states where senators endorsed Christian nationalist views were up to 1.5 times more likely to experience violence against religious minorities. The authors argue this rhetoric legitimizes hostility by framing other faiths as threats—underscoring the real-world dangers of political language rooted in religious supremacy.

From the Archives

• Rubber bullets and other less-than-lethal projectiles have been used on Los Angeles residents in recent confrontations. This archive piece during the 2020-2021 protests covers some research on the harm that these projectiles used by police and the military can cause. And it highlights one study that found that 3% of people hit by rubber bullets actually die from these injuries, so “97% non-lethal”.

• RFK is reported to have planned the termination of all members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, with skepticism that grew during the COVID-19 pandemic being cited as a catalyst. In 2020, Contexts published this piece, the coming vaccine battle, which although now in hindsight, served as insight into today’s climate.

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Contexts

• Novel/Sociology: An Interview with Jonathan Wynn by Amin Ghaziani spotlights UMass sociologist Jonathan Wynn’s genre-bending debut novel The Set Up. Known for his academic work on cities and culture, Wynn describes the “terrific fun” of writing fiction as a way to smuggle in sociological insights. Blending mystery, marketing, and microsociology, the story follows a rogue Vegas firm that hires actors to influence behavior—raising ethical questions in a Goffman-meets-Ocean’s Eleven plot.

Council on Contemporary Families

• The Importance of Sexual and Romantic Exploration for LGBQ+ College Students by Ellen Lamont and Teresa Roach explores how college can offer a crucial space for identity development among LGBQ+ youth, especially those raised in conservative Christian environments. Based on interviews with 26 students, the study finds that beyond supportive communities, the ability to explore sexuality through relationships was key to affirming identity and building self-understanding. Yet students still faced barriers—including limited queer social spaces and conflicting expectations about campus organizations.
• From Kin to Unit: How Refugee Resettlement Reshapes Family Itself by Neda Maghbouleh draws on a seven-year ethnographic study of 52 Syrian families resettled in Canada. The research reveals how state policy fractured extended kin networks by enforcing a narrow, nuclear definition of “family.” Most families faced protracted separation from vital caregivers, while a few navigated costly sponsorships or strategic marriages to rebuild kinship ties. Maghbouleh and co-author Laila Omar argue that these exclusions are not incidental, but institutional—reshaping daily life and identity.

First Publics

• Subverting a Subject: Marketing as Sociology by Sam Chian explores how teaching marketing through a sociological lens turns business education into critical inquiry. Instead of training future marketers, Chian encourages students to question how marketing reinforces inequality, commodifies identity, and shapes desire. By treating marketing as a social institution, he helps students see it not as a neutral tool, but as a force worth interrogating—and potentially transforming.
• Flattening Theory: Kyle Green on the Give Theory a Chance Podcast highlights how sociologist Kyle Green is reshaping theory education through podcasting. In Give Theory a Chance, Green invites guests to share how big ideas—from Du Bois to Deleuze—shaped their thinking and research. His goal? To demystify theory and make it accessible, especially for students daunted by jargon or academic gatekeeping. By “flattening” the canon and emphasizing lived experience, Green transforms theory from something to fear into something to feel, encouraging listeners to engage with ideas that illuminate the world around them.

Engaging Sports

• Thirsting for More: What TikTok Can Tell Us About Women’s Basketball by Julia Macey and Jennifer McGovern explores how TikTok is reshaping media narratives around women’s basketball. Analyzing 50 fan-made edits, the authors found that while racial and gendered media patterns persist—white players received more views, and Black players were more often shown in action—TikTok also offers a space to celebrate queer desire and athleticism outside the male gaze.

New & Noteworthy

Election Fallout and Increased Infant Health Disparities by Leo LaBarre covers research by Paola Langer, Caitlin Patler and Erin Hamilton. They found adverse birth outcomes rose among Black, Hispanic, and Asian mothers after the 2016 election, highlighting how political stress and racism can harm infant health indirectly.

Our latest Clippings by Mallory Harrington includes:

• Peter Hepburn: In an Associated Press article, Hepburn—Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University-Newark and Associate Director at the Eviction Lab—highlighted the toll of eviction on schoolchildren, noting that 40% of those at risk of eviction are kids, who often face school transfers and chronic absenteeism.

• Michel Anteby: Writing in The Conversation, Anteby defended bureaucrats as essential to public service, drawing on Max Weber’s classic theories to argue that they act as expert safeguards against “dilettantism, favoritism and selfishness” (Boston University).

• Ellis Monk: In a Washington Post article on diversity and AI, Monk warned that political pressure and speed-to-market demands may undermine inclusive design in tech, despite global companies like Google working to accommodate varied skin tones in AI outputs (Harvard University).

• David Yamane: In The Conversation, Yamane outlined five key insights about American gun culture, from its normalization to its diverse ownership and shifting symbolic meanings—ideas explored in his upcoming book Gun Curious (Wake Forest University).

• Tristan Bridges: In a New York Times feature on Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, Bridges explained how Piker benefits from “jock insurance,” a concept describing how men with high masculine capital can subvert gender norms without facing social penalties (UC Santa Barbara).

From the Archives

Florida recently conducted “Operation Tidal Wave,” a six-day immigration sweep that resulted in the arrest and deportation of more than 1,100 undocumented immigrants. These large-scale enforcement actions risk tearing families apart and destabilizing entire communities. In this 2022 piece, Delgado highlights how adult children in mixed-status families often assume emotional and logistical responsibilities to support and protect their undocumented parents.

A Supreme Court case is set to decide if religious schools can be considered public charter schools or not – a decision that could radically transform public education in the United States. Historically, the separation of church and state has meant that public schools cannot give overtly religious instruction, but supporters of this case argue that barring religious schools from applying to a charter school program infringes upon religious liberty. This Sociological Images piece by Evan Stewart from 2018 discusses debates and controversies surrounding religious freedom and discrimination.

More from our Partners & Community Pages

Council on Contemporary Families

• The Silent Labor of Love: How Women Become Relational Managers in Marriage by Alicia Walker shares the pattern of how many women in heterosexual marriages take on the invisible role of “relational managers,” shouldering the emotional labor of caring for their partners—a burden rooted in gender norms that often leads to burnout, imbalance, and resentment.
• Lessons from the Pandemic for U.S. Work and Family Policy, reported from the Scholars Strategy Network, by Golda Kaplan, Michelle Cera, Barbara J. Risman, and Kathleen Gerson covers how the pandemic revealed that while flexible work arrangements can help couples share domestic labor more equally, true gender equity at home also requires shifting social norms and supportive family policies.

give theory a chance

• Jon Wynn on writing fiction discusses his debut novel The Set Up, blending fiction with sociological insight and drawing inspiration from Du Bois, Goffman, and beyond.