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sociology for the public

Guest posts

The Gender of Inheritance: The curious case of the early 20th-century Dallas elite

We are on the verge of one of the biggest wealth transfers in world history—what some social scientists have called “The Great Wealth Transfer.” … Read More

From Carbon Paper to Code: Crafting Sociology in an Age of AI

A Silicone Cage? generated with DALL.E2 Since ChatGPT launched in 2022, AI has become inescapable. Sociologists warn an “algorithmic society” risks deepening inequalities … Read More

Career Choices at a Crossroads

“I’m like a safety net for my family,” Amanda told me, explaining her decision to accept a job at Amazon. Her voice weighed heavy with … Read More

That Tiny, Tiny Little Fish

During a recent interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, former president Donald Trump weighed in on California water policy. Trump lamented that the state … Read More

The Problem with Social Problems

Social problems—issues that negatively affect social groups, like poverty and racial discrimination—drive sociological inquiry. Sociologists trade in stories of the downtrodden, inequities between … Read More

Who’s Your Safety Net?

COVID-19 campus closures in March 2020 led many—but not all—college students to move back in with their parents. Why did some students return home while … Read More

Stranded: The Gendered Shortcomings of the CROWN Act

On February 22, 2024, Darryl George received the verdict that his barrel-rolled locs were not protected by the CROWN Act. A high school … Read More

Changing Faces: The Shifting Image of Chinese Student Migrants in American Media

Do you remember the headlines from the 1980s featuring courageous Chinese students fighting for democracy in Tiananmen Square? Fast forward a couple of decades … Read More

The Case for Grandmothers

It was a bracingly cold morning in 2019 in a far suburb of Toronto, Canada. I stepped across the threshold of Amina’s bungalow, taking her … Read More

We Need A Sociology of Flourishing

Since our founding as a discipline over 180 years ago, sociologists have become masters at studying social problems. Sociologists can explain the overt and covert … Read More