Contexts

sociology for the public

Guest posts

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

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

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

Race, “That Ugly Word”

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

Playing in the Dirt

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

What The Golden Bachelor Gets Right About Older Adult Dating

Caution: Spoilers ahead! I study the dating experiences of single older adults. In recent months, this has meant that every person I know has reached … Read More

Intensive Motherwork: Racism and Black Women’s Mothering

As I chatted with Asia over a video call, it was evident how much she loved being a mother. Her face lit up as she … Read More

What it’s like to be the target of a book ban

In this post, Arlene Stein reflects on the experience of having her book, Unbound: Transgender Men and the Remaking of Identity, targeted for … Read More

Q&A with Aldon Morris and Naomi Schneider

The following post is the second in a two-part series celebrating W.E.B. Du Bois and the ongoing efforts by contemporary scholars and activists to … Read More

The Scholar Denied and Du Bois’s Legacy in Ghana

The following post is the first in a two-part series celebrating W.E.B. Du Bois and the ongoing efforts by contemporary scholars and activists to preserve … Read More

Airport Sociology

I returned to the United States from Thailand having just completed my seventh term leading Hands on Thailand (HoT), a study-abroad/service-learning sociology program I … Read More