Contexts

sociology for the public

In Brief

News and notes.

Parental Parties

Children have self-determining agency, and parents may not hold as much responsibility for their children’s beliefs as previously thought. Read More

An Economic Gap Slowly Closing

Declining economic disparities at the neighborhood-level represent a positive sign for communities where people live, work, and play. Read More

Drop-Outs vs. Hold-Outs

The meaning of measures like graduation rates and time to degree aren’t always straightforward Read More

Grownups

The pathway to adulthood is no longer one road, but perhaps five separate tracks, each reflecting different strategies toward and ordering of work, school, and family events. Read More

The Cost of Color

The relationship between skin tone, discrimination, and health for U.S.-born Blacks. Read More

Abstinence and Masculinity

What happens to masculinity if you opt out of promiscuity? Read More

Germany Avoids Going Gray

More support for parents may help increase the birth rate, perhaps by relieving some of the difficulties of that transition to parenthood. Read More

Smoking Drives Mortality Inequalities

People who smoke die earlier. People with less education die earlier. People with less education are more likely to smoke. Read More

Building Walls, Buying Guns

Anti-immigrant ordinances are correlated with increased gun sales at the local level. Further, a greater association between immigrants and crime in local news coverage also results in a significant increase in handgun sales. Read More

The Paper Ceiling

Why do women seem to be missing from so many newspaper stories? Read More