Midwest Sociology
Research
Does Gerrymandering Disrupt American Democracy?
Political spectators anxiously await a final decision from the Supreme Court on the Wisconsin gerrymandering case, Gill v. Whitford. Gerrymandering occurs when legislators redraw voting districts in order to concentrate their electoral dominance. This highly anticipated judicial decision could stop gerrymandering practices and require courts around the country to search for bias in their district […]
Revisiting Rape Culture as Survivors Say 'Me Too'
In recent weeks, over 500,000 women and men shared the hashtag #MeToo in response to the following social media tweet: “If all the women who have been sexuallly harrassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too.’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” Some participants only shared the hashtag, […]
How Grown-Up Careers are Like Middle School Dances
From sexual harassment to salary gaps, stories about gender inequality at work are all over the news. How does this happen? Social science research finds that people often place into different jobs by gender, race, and class, and this sorting has consequences for inequality in earnings and career prestige. Just like a middle school dance […]
The Stakes and Styles of Christian National Identity
Donald Trump was recently the first sitting president to address the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., where he referenced “attacks” on Judeo-Christian values. But what does this “Judeo-Christian” buzzword really mean? Social science research shows us that national identity is a style of political engagement that can change over time, but also that these […]
A Bipartisan Pay Gap in Presidential Administrations
On the Data is Beautiful subreddit, a user going by the name fencelizard recently took a look at gender differences in full-time staff salaries in the last four U.S. Presidential administrations. This is only a quick descriptive picture (notes on the methodology below), but it highlights an important point about organizations: inequality doesn’t always neatly […]
How Stereotypes Discredit Children’s Testimonies
Amber Joy Powell, Heather R. Hlavka, Sameena Mulla, “Intersectionality and Credibility in Child Sexual Assault Trials,” Gender & Society, 2017 We often hear public outcry regarding cases of children’s sexual victimization, but we rarely get to see what happens within the courtrooms. The reality is that not all of these cases face swift justice. In […]
Why We Honor Indigenous People's Day
In recent years, an increasing number of Americans are celebrating Indigenous People’s Day to honor those who suffered at the hands of explorers like Christopher Columbus. Social science research helps us understand the underlying gender and racial components of colonial settlement in the United States. In what is now the United States, Andrea Smith argues […]
Nostalgia Is Not What It Used to Be
Worries about rapid technological change negatively affecting society abound — the advent of the internet, increased availability of smartphones, and ubiquity of social media have many concerned that people are constantly “plugged in” and, as a result, tuning out the world around them. These concerns were revitalized with the recent publication of psychologist Jennifer Twenge’s […]
About Midwest Sociology
Midwest Sociology is a partnership between the Midwest Sociological Society and The Society Pages dedicated to bringing sociology–especially sociology produced in our region– to broader public visibility and influence.
