Contexts

sociology for the public

Contexts Blog

Why did Motorville stay blue?

by Stephanie Ternullo
I first met Isaac in September of 2019. Though it was still early in the fall, the weather had already turned cold in his hometown … Read More

Letter to the Editors: Incarceration and Nonviolent Drug Offenses

by Contexts Magazine
To the Editors: In her essay, “The Drug War Turns 50,” Emily Campbell (2022) seriously misrepresents the situation when she … Read More

Public Practice and the Origins of Sociology: New Thoughts on an Old Issue

by Marcus A. Brooks
As sociology faculty nationwide counted down the days to winter break, heated debate again erupted on Academic Twitter (ahem, X). The point of contention? Praxis-oriented, … Read More

The Struggle for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Memory

by Hajar Yazdiha
In the video below, USC Professor Hajar Yazdiha, author of The Struggle for the People’s King: How … Read More

Why are French authorities acknowledging racial profiling but doing nothing about it?

by Trica Keaton
I’ve spent much of my adult life studying racism in France. As a Black woman and scholar, I’ve experienced the romanticized Paris of Black … Read More

A Good Time to not Have Children

by Holly Hummer
Although a growing share of Americans say they do not intend to have children in the future, childlessness is still a relatively uncommon family … Read More

Better Together, or What Sociology’s History of Moral Debate Can Teach You

by Shai M. Dromi and Sam Stabler
Few academic disciplines are as contentious as sociology. Heated disputes over ethical questions are common, and range from ethnographers’ alleged criminal complicity with their … Read More

Race, “That Ugly Word”

by Ann Morning
Recently, a Swedish friend asked what my latest book was about. Upon learning that it was a comparison of racial thinking in the United States … Read More

Q&A with Drs. Ashley Rondini and Jerry Saunders II

by Contexts Magazine
How did dark skin become such a deadly dermatological blind spot? Drs. Ashley Rondini and Jerry Saunders II are two of the co-authors of … Read More

Playing in the Dirt

by Taylor Hartson
I’m crouched down in a vegetable bed on one of the first true fall days of the 2023 growing season. The leaves have just started … Read More

About Contexts

Contexts is a quarterly magazine that makes cutting-edge social research accessible to general readers. We're the public face of sociology.

It is a publication of the American Sociological Association, edited by Amin Ghaziani and Seth Abrutyn (University of British Columbia), with Letta Page.