~the-society-pages | Bookmarks (112)

Take a moment to imagine the kinds of people who live in a mixed-income neighborhood. In your mind, do you envision kids of all backgrounds playing together in the local park? Rich and poor neighbors working together to throw block parties? Low-income and wealthy people chatting casually in the local coffee shop? Sadly, many mixed-income […]

The Atlantic ran an article featuring Julia Sonnevend’s (Associate Professor of Sociology and Communications at the New School for Social Research) new book on political charm: Charm: How Magnetic Personalities Shape Global Politics. Sonnevend distinguishes charisma – which requires distance from an audience – from ...

Active learning is a growing trend in higher education for enhancing student engagement, but activities can take a lot of time to incorporate into your classes. If you are new to teaching, I have good news: you don’t have to create your own activities from scratch; many already exist and are available for your use. […]

When a friend or family member asks for money and you are unable or unwilling to help, how do you say no without damaging the relationship? A new study by Kristen McNeill and Rachael Pierotti in Socio-Economic Review investigates this universal dilemma through interviews and focus groups with factory workers in Cote d’Ivoire. The findings […]

Looking for an activity to help teach your students about symbolic interactionism? If so, check out this @Teaching_Soc article, which provides a step-by-step guide on teaching symbolic interactionism through game play!

Environmental dilemmas require social solutions. In North America, urbanites frequently lead the charge on environmental activism, often implicitly constructing rural people as oppositional to their goals. However, along the Aegean Coast of Turkey—a region governed by men in the mining and forestry industries—rural women have inspired positive environmental outcomes. A new study published by Nihan […]

On a dark, stormy night, a chill fills the air as something unseen seems to watch from the shadows. But what if it’s more than just your imagination? In this episode, the TSP Podcast team takes you on a Halloween dive into the sociology of the supernatural. From cultic communities to ghostly hauntings, we’ll explore […]

A young man holding a pamphlet labeled “The Truth”, donning a red, striped tie and tin-foil hat. “Conspiracy Nut” by Will is licensed under CC BY 2.0 on Flickr. Is there “a single group of people who secretly control events and rule the world together”? According to a December 2023 poll by YouGov, 41% of […]

New & Noteworthy A dark fascination with the paranormal grips society during this spooky time of year, drawing many into the “cultic milieu,” where interest in beliefs of witchcraft, astrology, and hauntings thrive. These subcultures defy mainstream science and religion, offering alternative answers and forming tight-knit communities on the cultural margins. Read this captivating summary […]

Jordyn is a first year PhD student in the Sociology Department at the University of Minnesota. Her interests lie on the perpetuation of gender inequality across intersecting dimensions of culture, media, race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and family. Mallory Harrington (she/her) is a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Sociology and a JD student […]

“I’m like a safety net for my family,” Amanda told me, explaining her decision to accept a job at Amazon. Her voice weighed heavy with responsibility. An Asian first-generation college student from a low-income family, Amanda considered job factors beyond personal career ambitions. While uneasy about certain aspects of the company, she knew the job […]

Emily K. Carian is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Sociology Department at the University of California, Irvine. She studies why gender inequality is so persistent by examining masculinity, male supremacism, and cultural processes at home and at work. Her most recent research appears in Social Problems, Men and Masculinities, and Sociological Perspectives. Here, […]

The Washington Post ran an article on older adults with cognitive impairment or dementia who live alone in the United States. Elena Portacolone (Professor at the Institute for Health and Aging at the University of California at San Francisco) describes that the health-care system assumes that these older adults have...

Many sociological topics provoke heated political debates that can affect classroom dynamics. A common narrative in the current political discourse centers on perceptions that sociology instructors lack “political neutrality,” framing sociology classrooms as spaces where sociologists impose their own personal political beliefs and opinions on students’ learning. In this environment, what is the “political responsibility” […]

Green grass with morning dew clinging and glowing in the sunlight. Image by Nandhu Kumar from Pexels is licensed under Pexels license. When a crime is committed, the harm done to victims and communities can rarely be healed by writing a check or locking someone up. Yet the U.S. criminal justice system’s approach relies heavily […]

New & Noteworthy A growing online movement, the “manosphere,” fuels gender-based culture wars by promoting misogynistic beliefs. These subcultures, including Incels and MGTOW, view society as a “Gynocracy” where men are oppressed by women. United by the “Red Pill” metaphor from the Matrix, these groups reject feminist ideas and spread misinformation, often using violent language. […]

Roger Southall (Professor of Sociology at the University of Witwatersrand) wrote an article for The Conversation on poverty and inequality in South Africa. According to recent polls, 60% of South Africans think that the government of national unity is working well and there has been a recent upturn in the economy. H...

Jordyn is a first year PhD student in the Sociology Department at the University of Minnesota. Her interests lie on the perpetuation of gender inequality across intersecting dimensions of culture, media, race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and family. S is a board member at The Society Pages. He holds a BA in Sociology from the […]

Say you want to buy or sell some secondhand fashion online. To determine whether the platform you intend to use is legitimate, you might look to its payment system. How does the app ensure secure transactions? Both buyers and sellers are likely to be relieved when an app provides an escrow service—that is, when a […]

“Well, you might say, this is all very well in ‘theory’ but what about ‘in practice’?”(Burawoy, p. 219)  This year at First Publics, we’ve given ourselves, our contributors, and our readers the task of thinking about the challenges and opportunities of teaching theory as public sociology. This task may sound odd, even to committed public […]

New & Noteworthy TSP Board member Shania Kuo writes up research by Patrick Krueger and colleagues’ in a new Discovery. This piece highlights that while working parents lose sleep (especially those with young children) their physical activity remains steady or even increases as they intentionally incorporate exercise into family time. The study emphasizes the current […]

Nicole Bedera is a sociologist and sexual violence researcher. She studies how our social structures contribute to survivors’ traumas and makes sexual violence more likely to occur in the future. Her scholarship has influenced anti-violence programming across the country, including for Planned Parenthood, and her work has been featured in many popular outlets, including The […]

Former President Barack Obama will be joining the campaign trail with Vice President Kamala Harris, and is set to visit several swing states. Liz McKenna (Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University) commented that Obama’s 2008 campaign enlisted local supporters “to do the difficult and often socially...

This is a remarkable year for elections and democracy globally with about half the population of the world having the opportunity to vote in consequential national or local elections. But those of us that teach in the US might encounter students that are only thinking about the upcoming election here in November. During our recent […]