New and Noteworthy
Court fines and fees target and constrain the same groups of people that have been historically disadvantaged by incarceration according to research from Ilya Slavinski and Becky Pettit, written up on the site by Leonardo LaBarre.
Worth a Read (Sociologically Speaking)
As we round out the year, we reflected on the contributions of some of the “genius” social scientists named 2022 MacArthur Foundation fellows.
Citings & Sightings
The Associated Press and Religion News Service spoke with sociologists John Hawthorne and Jonathan Coley for their report on the tensions facing LGBTQ students at Christian colleges.
From the Archives
Today, news broke that Brittney Griner was released from Russian custody. Check out this piece from partner Engaging Sports on the working conditions of WNBA players that, among other consequences, leads players to seek highly lucrative off-season contracts internationally.
From our Partner and Community Pages
Actually, neighborhood social cohesion has not decreased over time and may actually have increased for some, according to new research from Kira England and colleagues featured on Council on Contemporary Families’ blog. However, some concerning disparities exist between high and low-resource people which is especially concerning given the connection between child and family wellbeing and social cohesion.
For people with synkinesis, masking may provide a welcome respite from the difficulty of communicating with others and expressing themselves when facial movements such as smiling can be impossible or uncomfortable. Faye L. Wachs writes for Contexts’ blog on the “social disability” of facial paralysis that impacts how the self is received, expressed, and interpreted.
Backstage with TSP
This week is our final board meeting of the semester. It’s a bittersweet moment, where we reflect on the accomplishments of the semester and look ahead to coming weeks that (hopefully) feature some more rest, relaxation, and connection. The wheels at TSP do not stop turning during the semester break, we continue to have editor’s meetings, publish new content, re-post our “Best of the Year” pieces, and plan for the coming semester. All the same, we’ll miss seeing each other every Friday morning. Thankfully, we know the weeks will fly by, re-energizing us and inspiring fresh ideas and content for the site.