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sociology for the public

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Social analysis from a personal angle.

Hurricane Party

On Saturday evening, August 26th, Hurricane Harvey was bearing down on the Texas Gulf Coast. Houston had been hunkered down for more than 24 hours, … Read More

The Contemporary American University, In Seven Emails

FROM: Office of the President TO: all-campus-listserv SUBJ: incidents In light of recent protest activity in reaction to, among other things, the misspelled Nazi graffiti, … Read More

What Good News Looks Like

It is worth appreciating how much major social indicators in American society changed over the past 100 years. Read More

#callmecaitlyn and contemporary trans* visibility

D’Lane Compton and Tristan Bridges on the difference between reality show awareness and real-life change. Read More

The IRL Fallacy

When professors, especially professors on the margins, use our voices in ways that matter beyond narrow academic confines and convey uncomfortable truths, we will inevitably be targeted. Read More

For-Profit Public Intellectuals

Sociologist Ryanne Pilgeram and media scholar Russell Meeuf discuss the hijacking of public debate by private research organizations, using the viral video “The Economics as Sex” as an example. Read More

Culinary Capitalism

Sociologist Shamus Khan writes about life of the modern food system, and how it may well be the greatest triumph of capitalism. Read More

Writing Outside the (Sociological) Box

Sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh discusses the nuances of non-specialist writing and offers guidance on how sociologists can reach broader audiences. Read More

I Gentrify Bed-Stuy

Sociologist Syed Ali provides an analytical, autobiographical essay on gentrification in one of the "hottest" neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Read More

Better Not Put a Ring on It

Same-sex marriage is all the rage these days and supporting it is a civil-rights no brainer. But sociologist Suzanna Danuta Walters warns us that we should never imagine that gaining this signals the end of homophobia or the beginning of deep social belonging. Read More