Contexts

sociology for the public

Guest posts

Rwanda, Genocide, and Gender-based Violence

This month marks 25 years since the 1994 genocide that unfolded before the international community’s watchful eyes in the small East African country of Rwanda. 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

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

Racial Reckoning and White Empathy: Lessons from My Mother

When you spend a good deal of time with a person as they make their way from this world to the next, you are bound … Read More

Contexts Symposium: After Charlottesville, Part Two

Editors’ Note: In observance of the first anniversary of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Contexts is republishing our collection of essays written in … Read More

Do Immigrants Have More Conservative Sexual Attitudes Than Other College Students?

Sociologists have long been interested in immigrant assimilation. They have usually focused on how well immigrants are able to learn English, earn educational degrees, find … Read More

What is the Sexual Life Cycle of Those Who Ever Have a Same-Sex Partner?

A growing proportion of Americans have had a same-sex sex partner at some point during their life, especially among women (as we show here … Read More

Three Facts about Immigration Control from Social Science

Spend a day in the South Texas Family Residential Center (STFRC), and you’ll realize the extent of the criminalization of immigration. Its name may conjure … Read More

Is Unauthorized Immigration an Economic Drain on American Communities? Research Says No.

In October 2017, the Tar River Times, a newspaper with a small print circulation in Tarboro, North Carolina—the hometown of both immigration sociologist Helen … Read More

A New Black Holiday, or Why W.E.B. Du Bois’s 150th Birthday Matters

In the weeks and years following the conclusion of World War II, Du Bois had traveled the globe advocating for nuclear disarmament and sending peacegrams … Read More