Contexts

sociology for the public

Contexts Blog

Ethnographers in Cars with Guns

On the last day of her life, December 30, 2018, seven-year-old Jazmine Barnes was accompanying her mother and two younger sisters on an early … Read More

Reaching Out, an Interview with Mario Luis Small

Contexts editor Fabio Rojas sits down with Harvard’s Mario Luis Small to talk about whether cities are becoming more important than countries, the heterogeneity of … Read More

The Deadbeat Presidency

On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address. The address followed the longest government shutdown … Read More

Tear Gas? This Is America.

More than 7,000 Central American migrants are currently in Baja California, Mexico, waiting to apply for U.S. asylum. They have traveled thousands of miles, … Read More

Caravan, Invasion, Exodus: A Photo Essay

It is near 5pm on Monday, November 5, 2018 when I arrived at the sports stadium Jesus Martinez “Palillo” in Mexico City. The first Central … Read More

Poisoned Halloween Candy: Sociological Debunking

This time of year, it’s always worth revisiting Norton Sociology’s excellent short interview between Karen Sternheimer and Joel Best — five minutes on moral panic, … Read More

Of Pigs and Public Sociology

In 2013 and 2017, I was elected as a Council member in Leechburg, a town of about 2,000 residents. My platform included using the … Read More

Which College Students Are More Permissive about Sex? Differences by Social Class Background and Educational Aspirations

According to a recent study of college students by Elizabeth A. Armstrong and colleagues, some young women from working class backgrounds see their affluent … Read More

Video: Activism and the Academy with Cornel West and Janice McCabe

In the summer issue of Contexts, we published a condensed Q&A drawn from Janice McCabe’s interview with Cornel West. To help power us into the … Read More

Are Karl Marx’s Claims Accurate? Partially.

This year marks the 200th birthday of Karl Marx. Activists continue to evoke his name in their struggles, academics continue to engage with his work … Read More