Letter from the Editors: Summer 2024
Contexts is trying to stay cool as the summer sizzles, blending dreams with reality. The essays in our new issue, Dream Horizons, are a panacea for the heat and your wanderlust. Whether you’re taking the family on a road trip, looking for a beach getaway, or just enjoying the sun, you’ll find plenty to ponder in these pages.
At its core, this issue reminds us of the feelings we felt as kids on the last day of school before summer break. Those dreams were sometimes deceiving, and reality stark, but the two blended together into potential and possibility. For instance, our first feature on queer carnival events highlights the capacity we humans have for building community in surprising places. What began as an effort to create opportunities for joy in the face of discrimination became the hottest ticket in town for everyone. These inclusive events have achieved what their mainstream counterparts haven’t: a celebration of growing diversity across the U.S. and a harbinger of change toward a better future. Indeed, it is this very message about hope through creativity and resilience that rings clearly throughout the issue, anchored by our One Thing I Know essay in which Verta Taylor contextualizes the losses and gains that LGBTQ+ communities have experienced—and persisted through—in a volatile political climate.
Dreams of a better, more just society bind together our other summer features: the first on race in “colorblind” Sweden, the second on institutional procedures behind jury selection in the U.S., and the third on trichotillomania, a body-focused repetitive behavior disorder. In the first article, a unique sociological lens shines light on the challenges people of color face in societies that prohibit the use of race as a policy solution to preventing racism. While the piece reveals the barriers of such policies, it also makes the issues visible and, therefore, treatable. In the second essay, the same light is cast on how the bedrock of the U.S. justice system, the jury, is chosen and the role race plays in the process. While much work remains to be done to create a truly equitable legal system, we see examples of race-conscious decision-making and a path forward for structuring practices that would continue to chip away at lingering historical biases. Our final feature is on trichotillomania. An often-invisible axis of inequality—disability and the debilitating stigma that can surround it—is made visible through sociological inquiry. Again, the essay’s ability to shine a light on an otherwise hidden barrier to inclusion creates a sense of hope that the dignity all people deserve will be bestowed through empathy.The delicate balance between present realities and hopes for a better future present and re-present throughout the issue. Our photo essay illustrates the everyday reality that Afghani and Pakistani refugees, fleeing political and social unrest wrought by the return of the Taliban, experience in Mexican asylum centers. Their stories highlight the suboptimal conditions that mark life in the present and dreams of a better life that feels achingly close. Those dreams are enough to keep people going, even if they sometimes disappoint us. But, as one of our Culture pieces illustrates, we are deeply motivated by the futures we imagine ourselves inhabiting. In short, these pieces show the role dreams play in social and economic mobility, and the real-life sacrifices people will make to bring their dreams to fruition.
That’s not all! Other unique perspectives on contemporary topics in this issue include Victor Ray reflecting on fine dining and the class politics we too often ignore. For decades, cooking shows have brought haute cuisine into our living rooms, chef-driven projects have come to dot the social landscape of our cities, and shows like “The Bear” have elevated fine dining to a familiar if aspirational cultural object. Sociological considerations, you see, are always timely.
The same could be said about the dynamism of youth culture, particularly when it comes to slang. One trends piece in this issue demonstrates the explosion of new terms to describe the dating scene for Gen Z and younger Millennials—and how social media contributes to its rapid diffusion across the country.
No matter your summer dreams and realities, we hope this issue offers an island of warmth and reprieve. Being human means longing for the horizon, hoping and working for the promise of a brighter future.
Seth Abrutyn and Amin Ghaziani
