Contexts

sociology for the public

Contexts Blog

Durkheim Lives!

“Zombie Durkheim,” © David Witt, DWITT.com, for Contexts Magazine. On the anniversary of his death, we wanted to share … Read More

Google searches show more worry over gay men and boys than over gay women and girls

A 2014 New York Times story called “Google, Tell me. Is My Son a Genius?” reported that people ask Google whether their sons are … Read More

Amazon puts itself on the market, but we’re the ones for sale

This is Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s Willy Wonka moment. The online retailer, consumer electronics giant, film studio, cloud computing company, and gourmet grocer announced a … Read More

Seven things social science tells us about natural disasters

The word disaster conjures a variety of devastating images. Natural disasters can have unpredictable and frightening impacts on communities. Survivors of such events … Read More

Trans: A Response from Rogers Brubaker

I hold Iván Szelényi in the highest esteem. I was therefore disappointed to find that his review of my book Trans: Gender and Race … Read More

Staking Post-Racialism in Charlottesville

It must be said that Charlottesville is a self-consciously liberal bubble—a blue dot in a red state (barring Northern Virginia) in which students routinely volunteer … Read More

The importance of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy

The Trump administration’s decision to (sort of) rescind DACA, despite formally announcing in June that the policy will temporarily remain intact epitomizes the contentious nature … Read More

social pressure to appear masculine leads straight men to have unwanted sex

Heterosexual men’s experiences of unwanted sex are often overlooked. We tend to see sexual assault perpetrators as male and victims as female—and usually that is … Read More

what does studying college sex tell us about immigrant assimilation?

To study immigrants’ experiences in American society, researchers often compare first- or second-generation immigrants to those whose families have been in the US for a … Read More

Contexts Hall of Fame Award

Contexts is a labor of love, not just for the editors, but for our writers, editorial board members, and everyone else involved. There … Read More