Barbara Kiviat, “The Moral Limits of Predictive Practices: The Case of Credit-Based Insurance Scores,” American Sociological Review, 2019 It seems that algorithms are shaping more and more of our world. However, algorithms — rule or process-based calculations most often done by computers — have been an important part of society for centuries. In her new […]

In these uncertain economic times, we look back to how the Great Recession of 2008 impacted families’ decision-making including whether or not to have children, where to live, and how much to rely on family members for financial support. Perhaps this recent history can help us imagine what might lie ahead.

Kei Nomaguchi and Melissa A. Milkie, “What Should Children Learn? Americans’ Changing Socialization Values, 1986–2018,” Socius, 2019 Popular culture complains that parents have become too focused on making kids feel good about themselves and not focused enough on encouraging hard work and effort. However, in their new article, Nomaguchi and Milkie demonstrate that support for […]

Sociologist Jacqui Frost demonstrates that some nonreligious people have certainty in their beliefs and others experience uncertainty as positive and motivating.

Family tensions that arise during holiday meal times are often rooted in bigger social conflicts and play out differently depending on a family's social location.