Stay out of the forest! Courtesy Kate Feldstein
letter from the editors: fall 2024
Let’s have fun!
Autumn in North America is magical for many reasons. First, there’s the spectacle of color that surrounds so many of us (sorry California friends). Second, the cool weather invites the cozies, like sweaters, fires, and our favorite hot drinks—cocoa, coffee, and yes, even a pumpkin spice latte. And then there’s all the amazing stuff to do: apple picking, painting leaves, antiquing, movie nights, hayrides and Halloween costumes (as you can see, a personal favorite for us), tailgates, bonfires, and fast-approaching holiday parties. A bonanza!
Maybe it’s because we’re overworked academics (we mean, um, devoted professionals), but is there anything better than taking a break from the mountain of work and spending time with friends? Going out together is fun, and that quality makes it transformative. Because life in the ever-darker days of fall is—let’s be real—sometimes sluggish, having a place where we can feel a dash of joy and discover anew our voices, these are things of splendor.
Which is why we are so excited about this issue. Go to temple with Akhil, the “gay Gandhi” of Mumbai, and trade tales about Pride parades in India, where voice opens a pathway to agency. After that, head to Portugal and hang out with the Cabo Verdean migrant women who have come to Lisbon to do home care service work. Their intersectional identities are visible as they walk the streets, but those identities don’t always mark them as marginal—they also inspire spaces for Black joy. “Racism is everywhere,” Djedje will tell you. At bus stops, trains, supermarkets. But when she goes to church or to her favorite small nightclub, far from the tourist center, she and her friends find themselves surrounded by bright outfits and braids that mark the space as diasporic, sure, but also a “scene of unbridled Black joy.” Picture it: happy voices singing and smiling faces dancing all around you!
Work awaits in the morning, we know. Time to punch in at BrainShare, a start-up in Silicon Valley. The company will promise to take you to the moon and back, but to make good on all that hype you have to be all in, working 70-hour weeks. It’s thrilling to be around young people sharing new ideas and running with those ideas. But are you sure this is what you want? The women you work with are probably pushed into devalued “mother” roles, while older workers with family obligations are seen as a drain. The fantasy of “having it all” may not be what it seems.
Perhaps now is a good time for that long-overdue vacation. Have you booked your Airbnb? If not, you might want to reconsider. The company hoards and withholds a lot of data—who posts a property to rent, at what price, and for how many nights. This makes it nearly impossible for cities to monitor the company, let alone regulate or enforce the same standards that apply to others. Never fear, for places like Portland and Denver have found ways to ensure compliance with local regulations. Whether a person or a platform, reading this piece reminds us to know your limits.
From unbridled to cautionary, the stories in this issue sing with voice and joy. Sometimes, authors lean into one or the other side, like in our photo essay on pinball machines or a culture piece that brings forth a powerful Afrofuturistic vision. We then modulate with voice, hearing from Dipti in India and Molly in New England about unequal access to drinking water, or reconsidering the gender pay gap, and reminding ourselves that gentrification happens in small cities too. Ours is a problem-centered discipline, and we look fearlessly and with fortitude into big ideas like community health, sexual assault on college campuses, hierarchies of social status, and suicide. This issue packs a punch!
Sociology is about social life. And that, dear reader, is a great, big thing. From Pride parades to nightclubs, workplaces to temporary accommodations and everything in between, we are always rehearsing ways of feeling and being together, ways of acting and relating with each other. In real life as on the colorful, autumnal page. Like in a special Q&A, where we chat with our talented, insightful, and dedicated graduate student editors to hear about their experiences at the magazine and their vision for the future of the discipline.
Contexts is where the action is, a public-facing collection of stories that showcases the latest and greatest in sociology. Flip or scroll through the pages and find your social life. Listen to the voices you hear. And feel the joy.
Amin Ghaziani and Seth Abrutyn
