Feature
In-depth, analytical storytelling about how and why our world works the way it does.
Up Close and Communal
Photographer Wing Young Huie’s images of the everyday establish and emphasize the connections between the personal and the communal. This article uses a set of Huie’s landmark images to explore the photographer, subject, and viewer’s shared fascination with the reflected quotidian. Read MoreChasing “Closure”
“Closure” has become a buzzword for a commodity to be bought and sold. Sociologist Nancy Berns explores the creation and sale of the “feeling rules” of closure: what it is, why it is both important and problematic. Read MoreThere’s No “I” in Innovation
While most think of innovation’s insights coming in a flash of inspiration, Eric Dahlin uses multidisciplinary research to show that advances, big and small, more often result from collaborative, incremental efforts. To understand and spur innovation, then, scholars and practitioners must abandon the romantic notion of the lonely genius in favor of the wisdom of the collective. Read MoreThe Many Faces of International Adoption
Adoption is an old story with a new twist: international adoptions are reshaping American families and cultural landscape. In the long view, the authors believe international adoption is an immigration story that must be contextualized within research not only on individual adoptees, but within the waves of immigration that have altered American history. Read MoreThe Dead, the Living, and Those Yet to Come
Drawing on classical sociology texts, Charles Lemert explores the necessity of a sociological examination of what he calls the Society of the Dead and how its memories impact social life. Read MoreRace and Residence from the Telescope to the Microscope
In a companion piece to 'The Waning of American Apartheid?,' Maria Krysan explores the underlying reasons why segregation is so stubborn. Read MoreThe BP Disaster as an Exxon Valdez Rerun
Whiles scenes from the 2010 BP oil spill may no longer linger on TV, past experience teaches that its environmental and human traumas have only just begun. This article explores the social dimensions of disaster and recovery. Read MoreUncertain Knowledge
Rumors are shaped and spread within communities, affected by who we find credible and what we find plausible. This article explores the power and value of shared knowledge. Read MoreVoices of the Darfur Genocide
Social scientific research is uniquely poised to document the patterned and probabilistic evidence helpful in achieving legal accountability for mass atrocities—and offers a voice to those who would not otherwise be heard. Read MoreThe Waning of American Apartheid?
Racial residential segregation has a long and persistent history in the United States. Data from the most recent decade give hope that housing patterns and racial attitudes are moving—albeit slowly—toward integration. Read More