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This video features Linda Tuhiwai Smith reflecting on her landmark work, Decolonizing Methodologies. It moves beyond the textbook by exposing how research has historically been used as a tool of colonialism to dehumanize indigenous peoples, steal land, and delegitimize native knowledge.

Connection: This connects to the Scientific Method and Research Ethics. It challenges the idea that "science" is always neutral or objective, demonstrating how historical research (including scientific racism and eugenics) was used to justify empire. It highlights that for many communities, "research" is a dirty word, requiring a complete shift in how we approach ethics and power dynamics in the field.

Chapter 2 & Video Learning Outcomes

Decolonizing Knowledge: Evaluate how the scientific method has historically functioned as a colonial tool of dehumanization and dispossession.

Relational Ethics: Compare Western IRB standards with indigenous ethical protocols based on relationality, permission, and gratitude.

Academic Gatekeeping: Identify how institutional "border patrols" in sociology can exclude indigenous ways of knowing and diverse scholars.

Research Responsibility: Analyze the ethical accountability of the researcher to protect and advocate for their community within the academy.

Systemic Transformation: Recognize decolonizing research as an ongoing process of reclaiming self-determination and cultural identity.

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Sociological Review Annual Lecture 2019: Decolonising Methodologies, 20 Yrs On: Linda Tuhiwai Smith

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This documentary, based on Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, follows her undercover investigation into America’s low-wage labor force. Taking jobs as a waitress, maid, and retail worker, she exposes how difficult it is to survive on minimum wage despite full-time work. The film reveals the daily realities of the working poor, challenging the myth of meritocracy and exposing how structural inequality, low pay, and limited mobility trap millions in poverty.

Connections to Chapter 7: Social Class:

Working poor: illustrates class divisions and economic insecurity.

Life chances: limited access to health care, housing, and education.

Structural inequality: systems that keep low-wage workers trapped.

Culture of poverty critique: poverty as structural, not individual failure.

American Dream ideology: myths of upward mobility despite systemic barriers.

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Born Poor (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

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Congress is in the middle of a high-stakes budget debate that includes fighting over tax policy and funding for many vital public programs. But what’s often missing from that budget debate is a focus on the people these decisions affect, especially kids. Professor Jean Junior explains how tax policy choices made on Capitol Hill directly affect health and well-being, and why taxes can be a powerful tool to improve health outcomes for everyone. Drawing from her experience as a pediatrician, Professor Junior challenges us to see policy choices through the eyes of a doctor by putting people’s well-being first.

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How Taxes Can Save Lives | Scholars Strategy Network

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Congress is in the middle of a high-stakes budget debate that includes fighting over tax policy and funding for many vital public programs. But what’s often missing from that budget debate is a focus on the people these decisions affect, especially kids.

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Political maps decide who has a voice in government, and who doesn’t. And right now, big legal battles in Texas and California are putting redistricting in the spotlight. Professor Michael Latner breaks down the difference between redistricting and gerrymandering, why unfair maps weaken voters’ voices, and what today’s gerrymandering fights mean for the future of American democracy.

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How Maps Decide Elections | Scholars Strategy Network

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Political maps decide who has a voice in government, and who doesn’t. And right now, big legal battles in Texas and California are putting redistricting in the spotlight.

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Student loans are shaping the college experience more than ever. As tuition rises and financial aid rules keep changing, more students are taking on college debt. Professor Monnica Chan explains what’s happening with student loans, Pell Grants, and repayment plans, and how these choices affect students long after graduation. She discusses the real impact of debt on college affordability, career decisions, and family life—and what solutions could make paying for college less stressful.

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The New Reality of College Debt | Scholars Strategy Network

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Student loans are shaping the college experience more than ever. As tuition rises and financial aid rules keep changing, more students are taking on college debt.

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This Justice Above All episode challenges the idea that gang policing is an effective crime prevention strategy. Instead, it reveals how these practices racially target Black and Latinx youth, labeling them as “gang members” without evidence. The hosts explain how gang policing expands surveillance, criminalizes marginalized communities, and reinforces systemic inequality. By unpacking myths versus realities, the episode highlights the deep harms caused when law enforcement uses deviance labels to justify discriminatory policing.

Topics linked to Chapter 6: Deviance:

Labeling theory: the impact of being falsely marked as a “gang member.”

Conflict theory: policing as a tool of racial and class domination.

Social control: surveillance and criminalization of marginalized groups.

Power and inequality: disproportionate impact on Black and Latinx youth.

Moral panic: public narratives that justify repressive policing practices.

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Podcast Episode · Justice Above All · 11/08/2025 · 38m

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On Dehumanization and Genocide: Interview with Aliza Luft

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On Dehumanization and Genocide: Interview with Aliza Luft

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In this interview, sociologist Aliza Luft explores how ordinary people come to commit genocide. Drawing on research in Rwanda and the Holocaust, she examines the role of dehumanization, moral agency, and group dynamics in fostering mass violence. Luft highlights how political and religious leaders can either incite atrocities or intervene to stop them. Her work underscores that genocide is not inevitable, but a socially constructed form of deviance enabled by culture, power, and ideology.

Topics linked to Chapter 6: Deviance:

Deviance at the collective level: genocide as systemic norm violation.

Dehumanization: labeling entire groups as less than human.

Moral agency: individual choices within oppressive systems.

Power and authority: leaders’ influence in sanctioning or preventing violence.

Social construction of deviance: how mass violence becomes normalized.

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On Dehumanization and Genocide: Interview with Aliza Luft

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Podcast Episode · Moral Matters: Conversations with Sociologists on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity · 05/03/2024 · 32m

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Christiane Amanpour’s CNN documentary Scream Bloody Murder investigates the history of genocide in the post–World War II era. From Cambodia to Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur, the film reveals the recurring patterns of mass violence and the global community’s frequent failure to intervene. Through survivor testimonies and historical analysis, it frames genocide as the ultimate form of deviance—systematic violations of human rights that expose how power, ideology, and silence enable atrocities to unfold.

Topics linked to Chapter 6: Deviance:

Deviance on a global scale: genocide as extreme violation of norms.

Power and inequality: political elites defining groups as disposable.

Labeling theory: how entire populations are marked as “other” or “enemy.”

Social control: state violence and repression as tools of domination.

Moral responsibility: global responses (or lack thereof) to mass atrocities.

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Explained: The Right to Vote is a Netflix documentary episode that explores the history and challenges surrounding voting rights in the United States. It examines critical milestones in the fight for suffrage and ongoing issues such as voter suppression and disenfranchisement. The episode offers a concise, engaging look at the complexities of democracy and political participation. Rated TV-PG, students will need a Netflix account to access this resource.

Tags: Politics and Government, Social Inequality, Race and Ethnicity, Social Change

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The right to vote is at the foundation of America's democracy. But not every vote is created equal. How does the system work, and can it be fixed?

Leonardo DiCaprio, Selena Gomez and John Legend lend their voices to this incisive, informative deep dive into U.S. voting.

Videos

Whose Vote Counts, Explained

Episodes

Whose Vote Counts, Explained

Why is the right to vote in America still a fight? From voter suppression to disenfranchisement, see the roadblocks that stop voices from being heard.

Running for office is expensive, but deep pockets alone can't secure a win. Why are U.S. elections so awash with cash, and what does that money buy?

Gerrymandering. The Electoral College. In America, some votes count more than others, and the balance of power is unequal. How can the system be fixed?

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Watch Whose Vote Counts, Explained | Netflix Official Site

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The right to vote is at the foundation of America's democracy. But not every vote is created equal. How does the system work, and can it be fixed? Watch trailers & learn more.

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Stamped from the Beginning is a Netflix documentary based on Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning work, exploring the history of racist ideas in America and their lasting impact on society. Through engaging visuals and in-depth storytelling, the film traces how these ideas evolved, were challenged, and continue to shape systemic inequalities today. With its thought-provoking analysis, the documentary provides valuable context for discussions on race and ethnicity, making it an excellent resource for deeper understanding. Rated TV-MA for mature content, students will need a Netflix account to watch.

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Watch Stamped from the Beginning | Netflix Official Site

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Using innovative animation and expert insights, this documentary based on Ibram X. Kendi’s bestseller explores the history of racist ideas in America.

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Will & Harper is a compelling Netflix series that follows two childhood friends as they navigate the complexities of adulthood, relationships, and self-discovery. Through its nuanced storytelling, the show explores themes of identity, love, and societal expectations, offering rich opportunities to connect with discussions on gender and sexuality. The series highlights how personal relationships and social norms shape individual experiences, making it an engaging complement to classroom discussions on these topics. Students will need a Netflix account to access the series

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Watch Will & Harper | Netflix Official Site

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When Will Ferrell's good friend Harper comes out as a trans woman, they take a road trip to bond and reintroduce Harper to the country as her true self. Watch trailers & learn more.

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 Living Undocumented  (Netflix, select 1)

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 Living Undocumented  (Netflix, select 1)

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(select and watch 1) Living Undocumented is a Netflix docuseries that provides an intimate and powerful look at the lives of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Through personal stories, the series highlights the challenges, fears, and hopes of families navigating a complex immigration system under constant threat of deportation. Featuring raw and emotional footage, it explores themes of resilience, family, and justice, offering a humanized perspective on one of the most polarizing issues in America today. Students will need a Netflix account to watch.

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Watch Living Undocumented | Netflix Official Site

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Eight undocumented families' fates roller-coast as the United States' immigration policies are transformed. Watch trailers & learn more.

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Jonathan Coley on LGBTQ Activism on Christian College Campuses

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Jonathan Coley on LGBTQ Activism on Christian College Campuses

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On today’s Annex, Daniel Morrison interviews Jonathan Coley about his 2018 book, Gay on God’s Campus: Mobilizing for LGBT Equality at Christian Colleges and Universities (University of North Carolina Press). The book examines how LGBT students navigate and advocate for equality within the often-restrictive environments of Christian colleges, offering insights into the challenges and successes of activism in religious educational settings. Coley’s work sheds light on the intersection of faith, sexuality, and social change.

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Jonathan Coley on LGBTQ Activism on Christian College Campuses

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Jonathan Coley discusses his work on mobilizing LGBT on Christian college campuses.

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God's Waiting Room Racial Reckoning at Life's End

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God's Waiting Room Racial Reckoning at Life's End

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Casey Golomski’s God's Waiting Room: Racial Reckoning at Life's End (Rutgers University Press, 2024) explores race, ageism, and care in a South African nursing home decades after apartheid. Narrated as a one-day tour, the book shares intimate, witty conversations with white residents and Black caregivers, including Nelson Mandela’s Robben Island prison nurse. Golomski examines how racism, sexism, and ageism intersect in health care, while highlighting moments of unexpected grace. The book offers universal lessons about reconciliation and humanity, drawing parallels to U.S. health care dynamics.

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Casey Golomski, "God's Waiting Room: Racial Reckoning at Life's End" (Rutgers UP, 2024) - New Books Network

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Support H-Net | Buy Books Here | Help Support the NBN and NBN en Español on Patreon | Visit New Books Network en Español!

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Laurie Taylor speaks with Susan Neiman, philosopher and director of the Einstein Forum, about her provocative analysis of the concept of "woke." Neiman challenges the assumption that "woke" aligns with leftist ideals, arguing instead that it undermines progressive, universal values rooted in the Enlightenment. Joining the discussion, Huw Davies, lecturer in digital education at the University of Edinburgh, examines the British "war on woke." He describes it as an ideological campaign leveraging reactionary tropes to shape mainstream political discourse in the UK. Together, they unpack the complexities and implications of this cultural and political battleground.

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Laurie Taylor talks to philosopher Susan Neiman about the concept of ‘woke’.

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This program explores the cultural significance of British gardens and allotments, tracing their evolution from symbols of suburban conformity to arenas of social progress and creative expression. Michael Gilson examines how private gardens once embodied utopian ideals of beauty and community, while JC Niala highlights allotments and guerrilla gardening as spaces where urban residents reimagine society, foster resilience, and cultivate hopeful futures amidst changing urban landscapes.

Topics linked to Chapter 3: Culture:

Material culture: gardens, allotments, and landscapes as cultural artifacts.

Symbolic culture: meanings of beauty, community, and progress tied to gardening.

Subculture and counterculture: allotment gardeners and guerrilla gardening.

Cultural values: individualism vs. collectivism in land use.

Ideal vs. real culture: utopian dreams versus practical gardening realities.

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Thinking Allowed - Garden Utopias - BBC Sounds

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Garden Utopias: from the suburban privet hedge to guerrilla gardening.

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Daniel Menchik on Managing Medical Authority

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Daniel Menchik on Managing Medical Authority

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Daniel Menchik, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona, joins Dan Morrison to discuss his 2021 book, Managing Medical Authority: How Doctors Compete for Status and Create Knowledge (Princeton University Press). The book examines how physicians negotiate authority, compete for professional status, and shape medical knowledge. Menchik and Morrison also explore the current state of medical sociology and share their appreciation for Dr. Charles Bosk, a trailblazer in the discipline.

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Daniel Menchik on Managing Medical Authority

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Daniel Menchik is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona. Author of the 2021 book Managing Medical Authority: How Doctors Compete for Status and Create Knowledge (Princeton University Press). Menchik spoke with Dan Morrison about the book, the state of medical sociology, and their shared affinity for Dr. Charles Bosk.

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Daniel Menchik on Managing Medical Authority

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Daniel Menchik is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona. Author of the 2021 book Managing Medical Authority: How Doctors Compete for St

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Catherine Tan, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Vassar College, joins Dan Morrison to discuss her forthcoming book, Spaces on the Spectrum: How Autism Movements Resist Experts and Create Knowledge (Columbia University Press, 2024). The book examines the alternative biomedical and autistic rights communities, exploring how they challenge and often reject mainstream expert knowledge about autism. Tan highlights the ways these movements create their own forms of knowledge and advocacy, reshaping understandings of autism and resisting dominant narratives.

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Dan Morrison interviews Dr. Antar Tichavakunda, Assistant Professor of Race and Higher Education at UC Santa Barbara, about his book Black Campus Life: The Worlds Black Students Make at a Historically White Institution (SUNY Press, 2021). The book explores the experiences and cultural worlds created by Black students navigating predominantly white campuses. Tichavakunda also discusses his chapter, “Critical Race Theory in Higher Education: Where We Are and Where We Want to Go,” from Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, reflecting on the role of critical race theory in shaping the future of higher education research and practice.

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Antar Tichavakunda discusses black campus life

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Michelle S. Phelps on The Minneapolis Reckoning

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Michelle S. Phelps on The Minneapolis Reckoning

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In this Sociocast interview, sociologist Michelle Phelps discusses her book The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America. She traces efforts to reform policing before and after the 2020 murder of George Floyd, highlighting the tensions between calls for safety, demands for accountability, and the persistence of punitive approaches. Phelps situates Minneapolis within the broader history of U.S. criminal justice, showing how race, violence, and politics shape debates about policing and punishment.

Topics linked to Chapter 6: Deviance:

Social control: policing as a key mechanism of regulating deviance.

Power and inequality: racialized dimensions of policing and punishment.

Conflict theory: competing interests shaping justice policies.

Reform vs. abolition: tensions in responses to crime and safety.

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Michelle S. Phelps on The Minneapolis Reckoning

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Efforts at police reform before and after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

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Anna S. Mueller and Seth Abrutyn on Life Under Pressure

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Anna S. Mueller and Seth Abrutyn on Life Under Pressure

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Anna S. Mueller and Seth Abrutyn join Dan Morrison to discuss their forthcoming book, Life Under Pressure: The Social Roots of Youth Suicide and What to Do About Them (Oxford University Press, 2024). Drawing from their invitation to study a seemingly idyllic American community that experienced a series of youth suicides, the book explores the phenomenon of youth suicide clusters. Mueller and Abrutyn examine the social and environmental forces that contribute to psychological distress, offering critical insights and actionable solutions to address this urgent issue.

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Anna S. Mueller and Seth Abrutyn on Life Under Pressure

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Examines youth suicide clusters, and the social environmental forces that cause psychological pain and suffering.

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Elizabeth Seale on Understanding Poverty

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Elizabeth Seale on Understanding Poverty

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In this episode, Dr. Elizabeth Seale discusses her book Understanding Poverty: A Relational Approach (2023), highlighting how poverty is shaped not just by material deprivation but also by social relationships and cultural dynamics. Drawing on research in rural communities, she explores how inequality is reproduced through everyday interactions and institutional structures. Her insights show how poverty is socially constructed and sustained, offering fresh perspectives for addressing inequality beyond traditional economic measures.

Topics linked to Chapter 7: Social Stratification:

Poverty: relative vs. absolute deprivation.

Social inequality: rural contexts and community relationships.

Cultural capital: how class-related habits and resources shape opportunities.

Critique of “culture of poverty”: shifting focus to relational and structural factors.

Invisibility of poverty: rural isolation and political marginalization.

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Elizabeth Seale on Understanding Poverty

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A special episode in cooperation with Dr. Robert Francis (Whitworth University) and his students. Bob spoke with Dr. Elizabeth Seale (SUNY-Oneonta) about her 20

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Ethnography Abroad (Beaman, Magbouleh & Inglis)

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Ethnography Abroad (Beaman, Magbouleh & Inglis)

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This podcast serves as a "real-world" application of the Qualitative/Ethnographic section of your textbook. While the textbook provides the definitions, this podcast explores the application and the "messiness" of those methods.

Connection: It bridges the gap between Theory (The Scientific Method) and Praxis (Actual Fieldwork). It specifically highlights that "Objective" research is difficult in ethnography because the researcher is the instrument of data collection

Reflexivity: Identify how a researcher’s positionality (gender, status, nationality) shapes data collection in foreign settings.

Ethical Adaptability: Analyze the challenges of applying ASA/IRB standards in diverse cultural contexts where "consent" varies.

Research Barriers: Compare local and global obstacles regarding gatekeeper access and building rapport in unfamiliar cultures.

Observation Limits: Discuss how language and cultural translation impact the validity of qualitative field notes.

Theory vs. Practice: Connect textbook participant observation to the podcast’s "insider vs. outsider" research dynamics.

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Ethnography Abroad (Beaman, Magbouleh & Inglis)

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The challenges of conducting ethnography in other countries.

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Richard Ocejo on Gentrification and Race in a Small American City

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Richard Ocejo on Gentrification and Race in a Small American City

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Dan Morrison and guest co-host Jeffrey N. Parker, an urban sociologist from the University of New Orleans, interview Dr. Ricard Ocejo, professor of sociology at John Jay College and the CUNY Graduate Center. Ocejo, editor of City & Community and host of the sociology channel on the New Books Network, is a leading scholar in urban and cultural sociology, community studies, and work. The discussion centers on his latest book, Sixty Miles Upriver: Gentrification and Race in a Small American City (Princeton University Press, 2023), which explores the complex dynamics of gentrification, race, and community in smaller urban settings.

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Richard Ocejo on Gentrification and Race in a Small American City

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Dan Morrison is joined by guest co-host Jeffrey N. Parker (@jnparker.bsky.social), Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of New Orleans. Jeffrey is

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Alexandrea Ravenelle on Side Hustle Safety Net

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Alexandrea Ravenelle on Side Hustle Safety Net

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Dr. Alexandrea Ravenelle, Assistant Professor of Sociology at UNC Chapel Hill, joins Dan Morrison to discuss her 2023 book, Side Hustle Safety Net: How Vulnerable Workers Survive Precarious Times (University of California Press). Ravenelle examines the struggles of low-income workers during the pandemic, highlighting how gig work and precarious employment exposed systemic weaknesses in the economy. Through in-depth research, the book provides a powerful critique of economic structures and explores the resilience of workers navigating these challenges in uncertain times.

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Alexandrea Ravenelle on Side Hustle Safety Net

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Dr. Alexandrea Ravenelle, @ajravenelle.bsky.social, @AJRavenelleNYC, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill joins Dan Morrison (@danielrmorrison.bsky.social) to discuss her 2023 book Side Hustle Safety Net: How Vulnerable Workers Survive Precarious Times (University of California Press). The book shows us how low income workers struggled during the pandemic and what that tells us about the structure of our economy.

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Alexandrea Ravenelle on Side Hustle Safety Net

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Dr. Alexandrea Ravenelle, @ajravenelle.bsky.social, @AJRavenelleNYC, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill joins D

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Dr. Ali Meghji, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, joins Dan Morrison to discuss his forthcoming Sociological Forum article, “Du Boisian Sociology after Du Bois: Frazier, St. Clair Drake, and the Global and Comparative Study of Race and Empire.” This article, part of Meghji’s larger project on the unpublished works of pivotal Black sociologists, explores global racialization and racism through critical race theory and postcolonial sociology. A prolific author, Meghji has published extensively, including A Secret Synergy: Race, Decoloniality, and World Crises (2023) and The Racialized Social System (2022). As co-editor-in-chief of the British Journal of Sociology and Sociology Compass, Meghji is a leading voice in decolonial and critical race sociology.

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Ali Meghji discusses DuBoisian sociology

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In this interview, Lauren D. Olsen, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Temple University, discusses her book Curricular Injustice: How U.S. Medical Schools Reproduce Inequalities (Columbia University Press, 2024). Drawing on her expertise in the sociology of medicine, education, and social inequalities, Olsen examines the fraught process of designing medical school curricula. Her work highlights how efforts to integrate social sciences and humanities into medical education often result in their marginalization, ultimately perpetuating systemic inequalities within the profession. The book provides a critical lens on the intersection of knowledge, power, and medical training.

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In this conversation, Dr. Casey Jakubowski, a scholar with a PhD in Educational Policy and Leadership from SUNY Albany, shares his expertise on rural schooling, conflict in educational environments, and the unique challenges rural educators and school leaders face. As an author, consultant, and leadership coach, Dr. Jakubowski discusses strategies for navigating the complexities of rural education, fostering collaboration, and addressing systemic issues that impact both students and educators in these communities. His insights shed light on the critical need for support and innovation in rural education.

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A conversation with Dr. Casey Jakubowski. With a PhD in Educational Policy and Leadership from SUNY Albany, Casey is a prolific author, consultant, leadership c

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Countering the Spread of Misinformation

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Countering the Spread of Misinformation

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Misinformation seems to be everywhere. From falsehoods about the coronavirus to lies being spread by political leaders and their followers, in recent years it feels like it’s getting harder and harder to discern fact from fiction. And with social media and AI permeating our lives, new technologies only seem to be making the situation worse. Professor Ray Block dives into the world of misinformation, sharing lessons from his new position as the Michael D. Rich Distinguished Chair for Countering Truth Decay at the RAND Corporation about what’s behind the problem and what can be done to address it.

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Countering the Spread of Misinformation | Scholars Strategy Network

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Misinformation seems to be everywhere. From falsehoods about the coronavirus to lies being spread by political leaders and their followers, in recent years it feels like it’s getting harder and harder to discern fact from fiction. And with social media and AI permeating our lives, new technologies only seem to be making the situation worse. Professor Ray Block dives into the world of misinformation, sharing lessons from his new position as the Michael D.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, students and parents faced a lot of disruptions in their education experience, but student attendance has been a longstanding issue, especially in some urban areas. Factors like poverty, housing instability, and transportation issues contribute to high absenteeism rates. Professor Sarah Winchell Lenhoff discusses why some students miss so much school, the ways in which the pandemic has intensified these challenges, and shares some innovative strategies that are being implemented to address them.

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America’s Student Attendance Problem | Scholars Strategy Network

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, students and parents faced a lot of disruptions in their education experience, but student attendance has been a longstanding issue, especially in some urban areas. Factors like poverty, housing instability, and transportation issues contribute to high absenteeism rates.

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With the holiday season encouraging family connections, Dr. Alvin Thomas explores the evolving role of fatherhood, particularly for Black fathers navigating unique cultural, economic, and social challenges. He highlights the crucial impact of involved fathers on children’s well-being and how traditional notions of masculinity are being redefined to embrace vulnerability and emotional connection. Dr. Thomas also advocates for cultural and policy shifts to provide better support for fathers, enabling them to fully engage with their families and create meaningful, lasting relationships.

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The Evolving Role of Fatherhood | Scholars Strategy Network

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With the holiday season upon us, many are looking forward to spending time with family—reconnecting, sharing traditions, and reflecting on what really matters. Dr. Alvin Thomas shares insights into what it means to be a dad today—especially for Black fathers who are navigating cultural, economic, and social challenges.

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Risks of Trump’s Plans to Overhaul the Government

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Risks of Trump’s Plans to Overhaul the Government

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Former President Donald Trump's proposed plans for a potential second term include significant cuts to the federal workforce, reduced federal spending on key programs, and replacing tens of thousands of federal workers with political appointees. While these initiatives aim to "drain the swamp," they also pose risks to the essential services millions of Americans depend on. In this discussion, Professor Donald Moynihan examines the feasibility and practicality of these sweeping changes, exploring their potential impact on the country’s bureaucracy, governance, and the everyday lives of citizens.

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Risks of Trump’s Plans to Overhaul the Government | Scholars Strategy Network

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President Donald Trump has big plans for a second term in office. Among his proposals are sweeping cuts to the federal workforce, reducing federal spending on key programs, and potentially firing tens of thousands of federal workers and replacing them with political appointees. It’s a vision that promises to “drain the swamp,” but it could also drain the essential services that millions of Americans rely on.

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In this Social Science Bites podcast, Melanie Simms, professor of work and employment at the University of Glasgow, explores how COVID-19 has transformed employment. Simms highlights two key narratives: the rise of remote work, largely visible among academics and journalists, and the significant departure of workers, particularly women and older individuals, from the labor market. Focusing on the UK, Simms examines challenges like childcare, aging workforces, de-industrialization, and the gig economy, offering insights into how these trends have reshaped employment. She emphasizes that understanding these shifts requires considering historical, regulatory, and cultural contexts specific to each region.

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Podcast Episode · Social Science Bites · 02/11/2021 · 31m

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Nick Camp on Trust in the Criminal Justice System

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Nick Camp on Trust in the Criminal Justice System

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In this episode, Nick Camp explores how everyday police-citizen encounters affect trust, legitimacy, and cooperation. Drawing on body camera footage and traffic stop data, he uncovers racial disparities, particularly for African Americans, that reveal how authority is exercised unequally. These patterns highlight how definitions of deviance and enforcement practices are socially constructed, shaped by power and inequality, while also pointing to reforms and training that could promote fairer treatment.

Topics linked to Chapter 6: Deviance:

Social control: policing as a mechanism for enforcing norms.

Labeling theory: how groups are marked as “deviant.”

Power and inequality: racial disparities in defining/enforcing deviance.

Formal vs. informal sanctions: police encounters as formal control.

Legitimacy and deviance: how unequal enforcement erodes institutional trust.

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Nick Camp on Trust in the Criminal Justice System - Social Science Space

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The relationship between citizens and their criminal justice systems comes down to just that – relationships. And those relations generally start with […]

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In this Social Science Bites podcast, Carsten de Dreu, a social psychologist at Leiden University, explores the interplay between conflict, violence, and human cooperation. He distinguishes conflict (a situation) from violence (a behavior), noting that while conflict is inevitable, violence is not. Drawing on interdisciplinary insights, de Dreu highlights how in-group bonding, resource competition, and ideological clashes drive violence, particularly within groups. He warns of leaders exploiting these tensions for personal gain but underscores that shared values are essential for societal cohesion. Ending on an optimistic note, de Dreu emphasizes humanity’s capacity to break cycles of violence and foster cooperation.

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Carsten de Dreu on Why People Fight - Social Science Space

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Trained as a social psychologist, Leiden University social psychologist Carsten de Dreu uses behavioral science, history, economics, archaeology, primatology and biology, among other disciplines to study the basis of conflict and cooperation among humans.

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In this interview, anthropologist Dimitris Xygalatas explores the role of ritual in human societies, from religious ceremonies to everyday practices. He emphasizes how rituals foster social cohesion, transmit cultural values, and help individuals cope with uncertainty. Drawing on cross-cultural research, Xygalatas shows that rituals are not just symbolic displays but powerful tools shaping behavior, identity, and belonging, offering insights into why culture depends on shared practices and meaning.

Topics linked to Chapter 3: Culture:

Symbolic culture: rituals as carriers of meaning.

Values and norms: cultural rules embedded in ritual practices.

Cultural relativism: understanding diverse rituals on their own terms.

Social cohesion: rituals binding individuals to groups.

Ideal vs. real culture: ritual ideals vs. lived practice.

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Dimitris Xygalatas on Ritual - Social Science Space

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In this Social Science Bites podcast, cognitive anthropologist Dimitris Xygalatas details how ritual often serves a positive purpose for individuals – synchronizing them with their communities or relieving their stress.

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Alex Edmans on Confirmation Bias - Social Science Space

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Alex Edmans on Confirmation Bias - Social Science Space

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In this Social Science Bites podcast, finance professor Alex Edmans explores the pervasive influence of confirmation bias and how it shapes our acceptance or rejection of information. Drawing insights from his new book, May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases – And What We Can Do About It, Edmans explains that the amygdala, associated with fight-or-flight responses, activates when we encounter information that challenges our beliefs.

Edmans highlights the tendency to uncritically accept agreeable findings while nitpicking contrary ones, even among experts. Despite increased awareness, he notes that the information overload and polarization of today's world intensify confirmation bias. Drawing from his expertise on social responsibility and critical thinking, Edmans underscores the selective application of intelligence in processing information and offers reflections on addressing these biases.

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Alex Edmans on Confirmation Bias - Social Science Space

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In this Social Science Bites podcast, Edmans, a professor of finance at London Business School and author of the just-released “May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases – And What We Can Do About It,” reviews the persistence of confirmation bias even among professors of finance.

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Separated Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid

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Separated Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid

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Separated: Family & Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid (Johns Hopkins UP, 2019) by William D. Lopez examines the profound impact of immigration raids on families and communities. Using ethnographic methods and interviews, Lopez shares personal stories of those affected, explores relevant policies like the REAL ID Act, and connects these issues to broader social movements like Black Lives Matter. With accessible writing and robust discussion of research reflexivity, this book is essential for students and readers interested in immigration, policy, race, and family dynamics, offering a compelling look at the human toll of enforcement practices.

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William D. Lopez, “Separated: Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid” (Johns Hopkins UP, 2019) - New Books Network

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Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid

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Separated Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid

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Separated Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid

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Separated: Family & Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid (Johns Hopkins UP, 2019) by William D. Lopez examines the profound impact of immigration raids on families and communities. Using ethnographic methods and interviews, Lopez shares personal stories of those affected, explores relevant policies like the REAL ID Act, and connects these issues to broader social movements like Black Lives Matter. With accessible writing and robust discussion of research reflexivity, this book is essential for students and readers interested in immigration, policy, race, and family dynamics, offering a compelling look at the human toll of enforcement practices.

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William D. Lopez, “Separated: Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid” (Johns Hopkins UP, 2019) - New Books Network

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Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid

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Understanding Well-being Data
Improving Social and Cultural Policy, Practice and Research

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Understanding Well-being Data
Improving Social and Cultural Policy, Practice and Research

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This podcast explores the "social life of data." It moves beyond the textbook definitions of quantitative research to show how data on "well-being" is actually produced, contested, and used in the real world of policy and practice.

Connection: It focuses on Operationalization and Objectivity. It demonstrates that data is never neutral; how we choose to define and measure an abstract concept like "well-being" is a social and political act that determines who gets resources and how social problems are addressed.

Chapter 2 & Podcast Learning Outcomes

Operationalization: Explain how researchers define and measure abstract concepts (like "well-being") and the social consequences of those definitions.

Quantitative Limits: Identify the limitations of using quantitative data alone to represent complex human experiences in social and cultural policy.

Data Ethics: Analyze the ethical implications of data collection, focusing on how "official" data can be used to monitor or exclude certain populations.

Applied Research: Recognize the role of applied sociology in government and non-profit sectors to evaluate and improve social programs.

Validity & Context: Discuss how social and political contexts influence the validity of data, challenging the idea of purely objective measurement.

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Susan Oman, "Understanding Well-being Data: Improving Social and Cultural Policy, Practice and Research" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) - New Books Network

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Support H-Net | Buy Books Here | Help Support the NBN and NBN en Español on Patreon | Visit New Books Network en Español!

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Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements

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Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements

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This podcast provides a "real-world" look at how Research Methods are applied to the study of power, resistance, and social change. It expands on the textbook's definitions by showing how researchers choose specific tools to document movements that are often ignored by mainstream history.

Connection: It explores the tension between Objectivity and Advocacy. It highlights that while the Scientific Method provides the framework, studying social movements often requires "activist-scholarship," where research is used for both academic and nonacademic purposes to create social change.

Chapter 2 & Podcast Learning Outcomes

Engaged Research: Contrast Weber's Value-Free Sociology ideal with "engaged scholarship" designed to support social movements.

Methodological Pluralism: Identify how Global Southern and Indigenous perspectives provide necessary alternatives to classical Western research methods.

Access & Trust: Analyze the power dynamics involved in gaining access to activist communities and building trust with suspicious gatekeepers.

Applied Sociology: Recognize how research is applied in nonacademic settings, specifically for movement strategizing and community organizing.

Ethical Stewardship: Evaluate the Code of Ethics when researching resistance, focusing on the protection of vulnerable activists and sensitive data.

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Laurence Cox et al., “Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements” (Edward Elgar, 2024) - New Books Network

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Laurence Cox, Anna Szolucha, Alberto Arribas Lozano, and Sutapa Chattopadhyay

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Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine

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Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine

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Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine (NYU Press, 2024) examines young Jewish Americans advocating for Palestinian solidarity and challenging mainstream Jewish pro-Israel stances. Author Oren Kroll-Zeldin highlights their strategies: confronting Jewish institutions, engaging in co-resistance in Palestine/Israel, and supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Rooted in Jewish values, these activists redefine twenty-first-century Jewish identity through social justice efforts. Amid tensions over Israeli-Palestinian peace, the book offers hope for shifting political discourse toward a more balanced and inclusive perspective.

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Oren Kroll-Zeldin, “Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine” (NYU Press, 2024) - New Books Network

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American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine

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Finding God in All the Black Places
Sacred Imaginings in Black Popular Culture

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Finding God in All the Black Places
Sacred Imaginings in Black Popular Culture

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In Finding God in All the Black Places: Sacred Imaginings in Black Popular Culture (Rutgers UP, 2024), Beretta E. Smith-Shomade explores the profound influence of Black spirituality and Black church traditions on Black popular culture. She highlights how spirituality and religiosity shape Black television, film, music, and digital media by analyzing artists like Mary J. Blige, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, and cultural icons such as Spike Lee and Oprah Winfrey. The book argues that understanding these spiritual foundations illuminates cultural resilience and offers pathways for renewal and progress within the Black community.

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Beretta E. Smith-Shomade, “Finding God in All the Black Places: Sacred Imaginings in Black Popular Culture” (Rutgers UP, 2024) - New Books Network

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In Finding God in All the Black Places: Sacred Imaginings in Black Popular Culture (Rutgers UP, 2024), Beretta E. Smith-Shomade contends that Black spirituality and Black church religiosity are the critical crux of Black popular culture. She argues that cultural, community, and social support live within the Black church and that spirit, art, and progress are deeply entwined and seal this connection. Including the work of artists such as Mary J. Blige, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Prince, Spike Lee, and Oprah Winfrey, the book examines contemporary Black television, film, music and digital culture to demonstrate the role, impact, and dominance of spirituality and religion in Black popular culture. Smith-Shomade believes that acknowledging and comprehending the foundations of Black spirituality and Black church religiosity within Black popular culture provide a way for viewers, listeners, and users not only to endure but also to revitalize.

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White Poverty
How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy

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White Poverty
How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy

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In this interview, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove discusses White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy, coauthored with Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II. The book dismantles the persistent myth that equates Blackness with poverty, showing how poor white Americans actually outnumber poor Black Americans. Tracing the historical and political roots of this misconception, the authors argue for a “moral fusion movement” that unites marginalized groups to confront systemic inequality and reimagine democracy.

Topics linked to Chapter 7: Social Stratification:

Myths of race and poverty: challenging cultural stereotypes.

Intersectionality: race, class, and inequality in the U.S.

Social stratification: how class divisions persist across racial groups.

Invisibility of poverty: poor whites as overlooked in public discourse.

Ideology of the American Dream: how myths sustain inequality.

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Jonathon Wilson-Hartgrove, "White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy" (Liveright, 2024) - New Books Network

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Support H-Net | Buy Books Here | Help Support the NBN and NBN en Español on Patreon | Visit New Books Network en Español!

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Over Work
Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life

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Over Work
Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life

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In Over Work: Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life, Brigid Schulte investigates the roots of America's work-related quality-of-life crisis, marked by burnout, gender inequality, and declining well-being. Tracing this systemic failure from pre-1980s work-life balance to today’s relentless grind, Schulte explores innovative solutions like four-day workweeks, legal protections for family time, and humane workplace reforms. Combining deep research with vivid storytelling, this compelling book offers a hopeful vision for reimagining work to prioritize leisure, joy, and equity. Schulte is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author of Overwhelmed.

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Brigid Schulte, “Over Work: Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life” (Henry Holt, 2024) - New Books Network

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Following Overwhelmed, Brigid Schulte’s groundbreaking examination of time management and stress, the prizewinning journalist now turns her attention to the greatest culprit in America’s quality-of-life crisis: the way our economy and culture conceive of work. Americans across all demographics, industries, and socioeconomic levels report exhaustion, burnout, and the wish for more meaningful lives. This full-system failure in our structure of work affects everything from gender inequality to domestic stability, and it even shortens our lifespans.

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Podcast Description: "Everything All At Once"
This thought-provoking podcast dives into the pressing challenges of our era—wars, pandemics, climate change, neoliberalism, authoritarianism, and white supremacy—through a sociological lens. Host and sociologist engages fellow experts to explore critical questions: How can sociology shape collective and individual responses to these crises? How have these turbulent times transformed their work? And what sparks hope for meaningful change?

The inaugural episode features Joya Misra, President-Elect of the American Sociological Association and a prominent voice on social inequality. Together, they discuss sociology’s role in addressing contemporary challenges, the discipline's history, public engagement possibilities, and transformative policy solutions like U.S. childcare reform.

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Public sociology! Joya Misra, ASA President / UMass-Amherst - Sociology for Dark Times

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Everything all at once: Wars. Pandemics. Climate change. Neoliberalism. Authoritarianism. White supremacy...I ask my fellow sociologists the following questions: How can we, as sociologists, intervene in this moment, individually or collectively?…

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, students and parents faced a lot of disruptions in their education experience, but student attendance has been a longstanding issue, especially in some urban areas. Factors like poverty, housing instability, and transportation issues contribute to high absenteeism rates. Professor Sarah Winchell Lenhoff discusses why some students miss so much school, the ways in which the pandemic has intensified these challenges, and shares some innovative strategies that are being implemented to address them.

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America’s Student Attendance Problem | Scholars Strategy Network

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, students and parents faced a lot of disruptions in their education experience, but student attendance has been a longstanding issue, especially in some urban areas. Factors like poverty, housing instability, and transportation issues contribute to high absenteeism rates.

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Rob Glover and Karyn Sporer explore Mainers’ attitudes toward drug use, overdose, and policy reform in the context of a worsening opioid crisis. Despite record overdose deaths, drug arrests continue to rise, revealing tensions between a public health framing of substance use disorder and a punitive criminal justice response. Their findings shed light on how communities view deviance, punishment, and treatment, while pointing to the cultural and policy shifts needed to address substance use effectively.

Topics linked to Chapter 6: Deviance:

Definitions of deviance: drug use as crime vs. public health issue.

Social control: punitive sanctions (arrests) vs. rehabilitative approaches (treatment).

Stigma and labeling: how people with substance use disorder are socially marked.

Power and inequality: who is most affected by drug policy enforcement.

Cultural change: shifting attitudes toward drug reform and harm reduction.

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According to the CDC, more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021. And a record-breaking 627 of those deaths occurred in the state of Maine. Substance use disorder is seen as a public health emergency by the medical community - but drug arrests continue to increase all over the country. In light of these developments, professor of political science Rob Glover, alongside his colleague Karyn Sporer (professor of sociology), set out to discover Mainers' attitudes about current drug policy in their state and what reforms they favor. Professor Glover shared these eye-opening findings with us - as well as its policy implications.

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According to the CDC, more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021. And a record-breaking 627 of those deaths occurred in the state of Maine. Substance use disorder is seen as a public health emergency by the medical community - but drug arrests continue to increase all over the country.

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With border crossings at historic levels, cities like Chicago and New York are struggling to provide services, while the immigration system faces funding shortages and a backlog of asylum applications. For those granted refugee status, resettlement agencies play a crucial role in providing food, shelter, and job placement. However, sociologist Dr. Nicole Kreisberg critiques their approach to job placement, which prioritizes immediate, low-wage work over sustainable, long-term employment. In this archive episode from August 2022, Kreisberg discusses the flaws in the current system and offers insights into how we can better support refugees for lasting success.

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Archive Episode: Supporting the Needs of Refugees | Scholars Strategy Network

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Border crossings coming into the United States are at some of their highest levels in recent history. Cities like Chicago and New York are struggling to provide services while the immigration system is running out of funding and faces a massive backlog of asylum applications. The situation is looking tough for many asylum seekers, but what happens when individuals make it through the system and are granted refugee status?

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In March, the Justice Department filed a major antitrust complaint against Apple accusing the tech giant of maintaining a monopoly over the smartphone market. This is just the latest action the government has taken against Big Tech in recent years, marking a clear shift from the cozy relationship the industry long had with Washington. What’s behind the love/hate relationship between Big Tech and our government? And what can Silicon Valley’s past reveal about the way this might all play out going forward? In this archive episode, originally recorded in September 2021, Professor Margaret O’Mara digs into the history of Silicon Valley – from its early beginnings to the days of the internet boom – to explain the Valley’s ever-present intersection with US politics and make sense of the recent shift.

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Archive Episode: The Past and Future of Big Tech | Scholars Strategy Network

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In March, the Justice Department filed a major antitrust complaint against Apple accusing the tech giant of maintaining a monopoly over the smartphone market. This is just the latest action the government has taken against Big Tech in recent years, marking a clear shift from the cozy relationship the industry long had with Washington. What’s behind the love/hate relationship between Big Tech and our government? And what can Silicon Valley’s past reveal about the way this might all play out going forward?

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Exposing America’s Mental Health Care Inequities

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Exposing America’s Mental Health Care Inequities

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The dual challenges of mental illness and lack of affordable housing are pressing issues in this election year. In March, California voters narrowly approved Proposition 1, which allocates $6.4 billion to construct new housing and treatment facilities for people with mental illness statewide. But will this measure truly benefit this vulnerable population? Professor Neil Gong delves into the history of mental health treatment in the U.S. and how it has shaped our current system and policy conversations. He tells stories of people he met through his research to highlight the stark differences between mental health care available to the wealthy and the poor, and explores potential policy changes to address the intertwined challenges of homelessness and mental health.

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Reflexivity in Intersectional Qualitative Research Practices 

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Reflexivity in Intersectional Qualitative Research Practices 

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This podcast series, "Between the Data," serves as a contemporary look at the Qualitative and Mixed Methods sections of your textbook. While the textbook provides the foundational definitions of these methods, the podcast features active researchers discussing how they use tools like NVivo and ATLAS.ti to organize complex social data and transform personal stories into sociological insights.

Connection: It bridges the gap between Raw Data and Interpretation. It highlights that sociological research isn't just about "counting" people (quantitative), but about "understanding" them (qualitative). It emphasizes how technology assists in the Coding and Analysis of data to find patterns in human behavior that numbers might miss.

Chapter 2 & Podcast Learning Outcomes

Qualitative Power: Explain how qualitative research captures the "lived experience" and positively impacts the communities being studied.

Mixed Methods Integration: Identify the benefits of combining quantitative and qualitative data to provide a more holistic view of social issues.

Technological Application: Recognize how Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) software helps researchers manage, code, and analyze large volumes of unstructured data (interviews, field notes).

Researcher Insight: Describe the role of the researcher in interpreting data and the importance of narrative analysis in sociological storytelling.

Methodological Innovation: Analyze how modern researchers adapt traditional methods to address contemporary social problems and diverse populations.

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Podcasts - Between The Data: Qualitative Research - Lumivero

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Whether you are a student, new to qualitative methods or a published qualitative researcher, this is the podcast for you.

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A discussion with LaTonya Trotter (University of Washington) on nurse practitioners and the important role that they play in maintaining community health. Prof. Trotter is the author of More than Medicine: Nurse Practitioners and the Problems they Solve for Patients, Health Care Organizations, and the State

Interview by Daniel Morrison of Abilene Christian University.

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Nurse Practitioners (Latonya Trotter)

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A discussion with LaTonya Trotter (University of Washington) on nurse practitioners and the important role that they play in maintaining community health. Prof. Trotter is the author of More than Medicine: Nurse Practitioners and the Problems they Solve for Patients, Health Care Organizations, and the State

Interview by Daniel Morrison of Abilene Christian University.

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We talk about nurse practitioners with LaTonya Trotter (University of Washington)

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Jennifer Patrice Sims, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville sits down with Dan Morrison to discuss her 2024 Polity Press book ​​The Fallacies of Racism: Understanding How Common Perceptions Uphold White Supremacy. The book addresses twelve commonly-held, but faulty, ideas about race and racism. We discuss the book, several examples, and how these fallacies function to reinforce white racial dominance in the United States. Her next book, The Inequality of Racial Perception, will appear in 2025 with Oxford University Press. Dr. Sims studies racial construction, perception, and identity in the US and UK. Sims is co-author of the award-winning book Mixed-Race in the US and UK: Comparing the Past, Present, and Futurewith Chinelo L. Njaka (2019, Emerald), and editor of The Sociology of Harry Potter: 22 Enchanting Essays on the Wizarding World (2012, Zossima Press).

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Jenn Sims on the Fallacies of Racism

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Jennifer Patrice Sims, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville sits down with Dan Morrison to discuss her 2024 Polity Press book ​​The Fallacies of Racism: Understanding How Common Perceptions Uphold White Supremacy. The book addresses twelve commonly-held, but faulty, ideas about race and racism. We discuss the book, several examples, and how these fallacies function to reinforce white racial dominance in the United States. Her next book, The Inequality of Racial Perception, will appear in 2025 with Oxford University Press. Dr. Sims studies racial construction, perception, and identity in the US and UK. Sims is co-author of the award-winning book Mixed-Race in the US and UK: Comparing the Past, Present, and Futurewith Chinelo L. Njaka (2019, Emerald), and editor of The Sociology of Harry Potter: 22 Enchanting Essays on the Wizarding World (2012, Zossima Press).

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Jennifer Patrice Sims discusses twelve commonly-held, but faulty, ideas about race and racism.

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What the Study of Leisure Teaches Us About Families 

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What the Study of Leisure Teaches Us About Families 

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Today, we meet Marybeth Stalp, whose recent work on the sociology quilting explores the intersection of leisure, gender, and family.

Our guest today is Marybeth Stalp from the University of Northern Iowa. We are also joined by special guest host Sarah Patterson from the University of Michigan.

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What the Study of Leisure Teaches Us About Families (Marybeth Stalp)

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Today, we meet Marybeth Stalp, whose recent work on the sociology quilting explores the intersection of leisure, gender, and family.

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In this episode, Jessi Streib (Duke University) discusses her research on social class, culture, and mobility. Drawing from her book The Power of the Past, she examines how cross-class marriages highlight enduring differences in habits, expectations, and resources between partners from working-class and middle-class backgrounds. Streib also reflects on her article “The Unbalanced Theoretical Toolkit,” urging scholars to more fully theorize the cultural dimensions of class inequality and social reproduction.

Topics linked to Chapter 7: Social Stratification:

Cultural capital (Bourdieu): habits, tastes, and expectations tied to class.

Social reproduction: persistence of class boundaries across generations.

Marriage and family: sites where class differences are negotiated.

Intersection of culture and mobility: how background shapes opportunities.

Symbolic interactionism: class identity expressed in everyday practices.

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Jessi Streib on Culture and Social Class

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Joe, Leslie and Gabriel interview Jessi Streib ( Duke University) on the study of culture and social class. Jessi Streib wrote The Power of the Past: Understanding Cross-Class Marriages (Oxford University Press), a book on the challenges that college-educated couples face when one partner comes from a working class family. More recently, she write "The Unbalanced Theoretical Toolkit" in the American Journal of Cultural Sociology, an article on theorizing about the nexus of class, culture, and mobility.

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Jessi Streib on Culture and Social Class

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Joe, Leslie and Gabriel interview Jessi Streib (Duke University) on the study of culture and social class. Jessi Streib wrote The Power of the Past: Underst

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Max talks with Dr. Helena Hansen, a psychiatrist and anthropologist at NYU, about opioids and other addictive substances: drug marketing, federal and state policies, overdose epidemics, public reaction and the racialization of it all, having led to the creation of a 2-tiered system when it comes to addiction interventions, primarily on the basis of race. They take a deeper dive into elements of harm reduction, and the barriers some patients in her clinical practice face due to race and class.

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Opioids in Black and White by YaleUniversity

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Max talks with Dr. Helena Hansen, a psychiatrist and anthropologist at NYU, about opioids and other addictive substances: drug marketing, federal and state policies, overdose epidemics, public reaction and the racialization of it all, having led to the creation of a 2-tiered system when it comes to addiction interventions, primarily on the basis of race. They take a deeper dive into elements of harm reduction, and the barriers some patients in her clinical practice face due to race and class.

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Max discusses with Ayana Jordan, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in psychiatry and addiction specialist at Yale School of Medicine (and friendly-rival Hampton Pirate) about the manifestations of the current opioid epidemic specifically as it regards the Black community, disparities in coverage and funding for treatment, as well as her faith-based interventions to address substance use disorders in Black and Latinx churches (Imani and Imani Rompiendo) in Connecticut.

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Opioids in Black and White Pt II: IMANI. by YaleUniversity

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Max discusses with Ayana Jordan, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in psychiatry and addiction specialist at Yale School of Medicine (and friendly-rival Hampton Pirate) about the manifestations of the current opioid epidemic specifically as it regards the Black community, disparities in coverage and funding for treatment, as well as her faith-based interventions to address substance use disorders in Black and Latinx churches (Imani and Imani Rompiendo) in Connecticut. 

Subscribe to Flip the Script on iTunes, Soundcloud and Spotify.

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Max is joined by Whitney Pirtle, PhD, assistant professor of sociology at the University of California Merced. They discuss her recent writing on racial capitalism in the context of COVID-19, the corporate response to Anti Black racism, and her thoughts on the future of pre-health education.

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Flip the Script is your go-to podcast about health disparities, Hosted by Max Jordan Nguemeni Tiako, MD, MS, internal medicine resident at Brigham and Woman's Hospital. Max discusses societal and healthcare issues that disproportionately affect the health of minorities, including but not limited to racial and ethnic minorities, sexual & gender minorities, & religious minorities, on a national and global scale. These discussions are centered around the work of healthcare, public health, and health humanities professionals who dedicate their work in various ways to addressing health disparities

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What Is Racial Capitalism? by Flip the Script

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Max is joined by Whitney Pirtle, PhD, assistant professor of sociology at the University of California Merced. They discuss her recent writing on racial capitalism in the context of COVID-19, the corporate response to Anti Black racism, and her thoughts on the future of pre-health education.

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There are a host of health disparities across the racial divide. Black people are more likely to develop chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Black people are also more likely to be diagnosed with fibroids or die from pregnancy complications. One of the factors in these disparities could be a phenomenon known as weathering — the stress of racism literally aging Black people’s bodies at a faster rate. Host Jonquilyn Hill discusses this with Dr. Uché Blackstock, the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity and the author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine.

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Episode · The Weeds · There are a host of health disparities across the racial divide. Black people are more likely to develop chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Black people are also more likely to be diagnosed with fibroids or die from pregnancy complications. One of the factors in these disparities could be a phenomenon known as weathering — the stress of racism literally aging Black people’s bodies at a faster rate. Host Jonquilyn Hill discusses this with Dr. Uché Blackstock, the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity and the author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine. Read More: Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine by Uché Blackstock Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society by Arline T. Geronimus Health in Her HUE Irth App Advancing Health Equity Submit your policy questions! We want to know what you’re curious about. Credits: Jonquilyn Hill, host Sofi LaLonde, producer Cristian Ayala, engineer A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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There are a host of health disparities across the racial divide. Black people are more likely to develop chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Black people are also more likely to be diagnosed with fibroids or die from pregnancy complications. One of the factors in these disparities could be a phenomenon known as weathering — the stress of racism literally aging Black people’s bodies at a faster rate. Host Jonquilyn Hill discusses this with Dr. Uché Blackstock, the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity and the author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine.

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Episode · The Weeds · There are a host of health disparities across the racial divide. Black people are more likely to develop chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Black people are also more likely to be diagnosed with fibroids or die from pregnancy complications. One of the factors in these disparities could be a phenomenon known as weathering — the stress of racism literally aging Black people’s bodies at a faster rate. Host Jonquilyn Hill discusses this with Dr. Uché Blackstock, the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity and the author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine. Read More: Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine by Uché Blackstock Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society by Arline T. Geronimus Health in Her HUE Irth App Advancing Health Equity Submit your policy questions! We want to know what you’re curious about. Credits: Jonquilyn Hill, host Sofi LaLonde, producer Cristian Ayala, engineer A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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America is in the midst of a child care crisis. The cost of child care has skyrocketed to the point where, in some states, caring for kids in pre-k is more expensive than college tuition or a home mortgage. According to economist Kathryn Anne Edwards, it’s a market failure. So how do we fix it? That’s in today’s installment of our series exploring economic fanfiction and the stories we should be covering this election year.

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Episode · The Weeds · America is in the midst of a child care crisis. The cost of child care has skyrocketed to the point where, in some states, caring for kids in pre-k is more expensive than college tuition or a home mortgage. According to economist Kathryn Anne Edwards, it’s a market failure. So how do we fix it? That’s in today’s installment of our series exploring economic fanfiction and the stories we should be covering this election year. Read More: Kathryn’s plan to fix child care Submit your policy questions! We want to know what you’re curious about. Credits: Jonquilyn Hill, host Sofi LaLonde, producer Rob Byers, engineer A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Prison & Police Abolition: Finding True Safety

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Prison & Police Abolition: Finding True Safety

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In this Be Antiracist episode, Mariame Kaba joins Ibram X. Kendi to challenge the idea that policing, surveillance, punishment, and incarceration produce safety. Drawing from abolitionist organizing, Kaba argues that true safety arises from community care, investment, and social support rather than carceral control. Their discussion highlights the cultural, political, and structural forces that sustain mass incarceration while pointing toward transformative justice models that center equity, healing, and collective responsibility.

Topics linked to Chapter 6: Deviance:

Social control: carceral vs. community-based approaches.

Conflict theory: how power and inequality shape definitions of deviance.

Labeling theory: stigmatization through criminalization.

Alternatives to punishment: restorative and transformative justice.

Cultural change: shifting ideas of what safety means.

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Prison & Police Abolition: Finding True Safety

Abolitionist Mariame Kaba is the founder of Project NIA and the author of the New York Times bestseller, We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice. Kaba and Dr. Kendi have a profound discussion on why mass surveillance, police, punishment, and incarceration will never create a safe society-and what will. For further reading, resources, and a transcript of this episode visit https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/be-antiracist-with-ibram-x-kendi.

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Be Antiracist with Ibram X. Kendi

Be Antiracist imagines what an antiracist society might look like and how we all can play an active ...

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Prison & Police Abolition: Finding True Safety

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Abolitionist Mariame Kaba is the founder of Project NIA and the author of the New York Times bestseller, We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice. Kaba and Dr. Kendi have a profound discussion on why mass surveillance, police, punishment, and incarceration will never create a safe society-and what will.

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We Build Civilizations on Status. But We Barely Understand It.

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We Build Civilizations on Status. But We Barely Understand It.

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Cecilia Ridgeway argues that status permeates every aspect of social life, from our possessions to our interpersonal interactions, often without our awareness. In her 2019 book, Status: Why Is It Everywhere? Why Does It Matter?, Ridgeway, a Stanford sociologist, explores how status shapes our world, influencing our neighborhoods, careers, and friendships. She contends that status, far from being limited to elites, is a fundamental social technology that drives both innovation and deep inequalities.

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Opinion | We Build Civilizations on Status. But We Barely Understand It.

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The sociologist Cecilia Ridgeway explains how status shapes our world — and our lives.

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The Deep Conflict Between Our Work and Parenting Ideals

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The Deep Conflict Between Our Work and Parenting Ideals

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American policy is notably unfriendly to families, offering minimal support compared to other wealthy nations. While countries like Sweden provide generous work-family policies, their fertility rate, at 1.67 children per woman, is similar to the U.S. Caitlyn Collins, in Making Motherhood Work, examines how family policies impact parenting across the U.S., Sweden, Italy, and Germany. She finds that while supportive policies reduce stress, cultural norms like “intensive parenting” persist regardless of policy differences.

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Opinion | The Deep Conflict Between Our Work and Parenting Ideals

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The sociologist Caitlyn Collins discusses why parenting feels so difficult in America.

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The ‘Quiet Catastrophe’ Brewing in Our Social Lives (Published 2023)

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The ‘Quiet Catastrophe’ Brewing in Our Social Lives (Published 2023)

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The U.S. has a serious loneliness problem. A 2018 Kaiser Family Foundation report found that 22% of adults—nearly 60 million Americans—often felt lonely or socially isolated, a figure from before the COVID-19 pandemic. Loneliness has increased over time, with a 25-point drop in Americans reporting five or more close friends from 1990 to 2021. Sheila Liming’s book, Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time, explores how our social structures contribute to this "quiet catastrophe" and how we might rebuild connections.

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Opinion | The ‘Quiet Catastrophe’ Brewing in Our Social Lives (Published 2023)

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Sheila Liming examines the structural underpinnings of America’s loneliness crisis — and the art of hanging out.

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Air-conditioning has become both our answer to a warming planet and a major obstacle to actually confronting it.

Emily Badger, who covers cities and urban policy for The Times, explains the increasingly dangerous paradox of trying to control the temperature.

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Indoor cooling has transformed American life, reshaping homes, skylines and where people choose to live. As the planet warms, is that sustainable?

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In this episode we talk with Dr. Ramos who has been on the frontlines working against COIVD-19 in New York City.

Dr. Ramos is a bilingual invasive cardiologist and assistant professor at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center with an interest and emphasis on preventive cardiology. Dr. Ramos is both a cardiologist and a nutritionist and has also been a spokesperson for heart healthy lifestyles.  She founded a Bronx WomenHeart support group for women of color who are survivors of heart disease. Her clinical focus has been in the under-served community of Inwood and Washington Heights since 2011. Her research interests have been in decreasing health disparities in women’s cardiovascular health through cross discipline collaborations

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In this episode we talk with Dr. Ramos who has been on the frontlines working against COIVD-19 in New York City.

Dr. Ramos is a bilingual invasive cardiologist and assistant professor at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center with an interest and emphasis on preventive cardiology. Dr. Ramos is both a cardiologist and a nutritionist and has also been a spokesperson for heart healthy lifestyles. She founded a Bronx WomenHeart support group for women of color who are survivors of heart disease. Her clinical focus has been in the under-served community of Inwood and Washington Heights since 2011. Her research interests have been in decreasing health disparities in women's cardiovascular health through cross discipline collaborations.

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In this episode we talk with Dr. Ramos who has been on the frontlines working against COIVD-19 in New York City. Dr. Ramos is a bilingual invasive cardiologist and assistant professor at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center with an interest and emphasis on preventive cardiology.

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Nuestra gente, Latinxs are one of the fastest growing groups within Islam in the US — nearly 250,000 Latinxs Muslims are part of the our community and it’s growing. We had no idea until now, and we want to know, why?

Join us as we explore the answer to this question with Lara Fernandez, producer of VICE’s Minority Reports latest episode called, Why are Latinos Converting to Islam? We also talk to Diana Cruz, a xingona and a Latina Muslim. T

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Nuestra gente, Latinxs are one of the fastest growing groups within Islam in the US - nearly 250,000 Latinxs Muslims are part of the our community and it's growing. We had no idea until now, and we want to know, why?

Join us as we explore the answer to this question with Lara Fernandez, producer of VICE's Minority Reports latest episode called, Why are Latinos Converting to Islam? We also talk to Diana Cruz, a xingona and a Latina Muslim. Tune in for a great conversación and playlist featuring:

"We the People" - A Tribe Called Quest

"Di Mi Nombre" - Rosalía

"Hijabi (Wrap My Hijab)"- Mona Haydar

"Didn't Cha Know" - Erykah Badu

"Chiquitita"(Spanish) - ABBA

"Good Lord" - Brother Ali

Make sure to watch VICE Minority Report's documentary, Why are Latinos Converting to Islam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOdu-lXCPFI

Lara Fernandez is an Emmy award-winning producer with field experience in the US, Europe and Latin America. Born and raised in Spain, she majored in Broadcast Journalism and then spent several years with Univision's environmental unit. She is currently a long-form producer with VICE digital, where her work focuses on social justice issues.

Diana Cruz is a Chicagoan and a Mexican/Puerto Rican. After converting to Islam in 1999, she realized there was a need for Spanish speaking/Latino engagement work in the Muslim community. She's been leading work across communities ever since, including mentoring her Latina Muslim sisters. Diana's educational background is in Healthcare Management, Business Administration and Psychology. She lives in the Western Suburbs with her two children.

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Nuestra gente, Latinxs are one of the fastest growing groups within Islam in the US - nearly 250,000 Latinxs Muslims are part of the our community and it's growing. We had no idea until now, and we want to know, why?

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The Biggest Political Divide Is Not Left vs. Right

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The Biggest Political Divide Is Not Left vs. Right

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The biggest divide in politics isn’t between Democrats and Republicans, but between those who follow politics closely and those who don’t. Many disengaged voters rarely discuss or follow political news, yet they care about issues and often vote. As the 2024 election approaches, this bloc is crucial, with a recent poll showing Donald Trump leading among these voters by 26 points. Yanna Krupnikov’s book, The Other Divide, explores this disengaged voter group and its impact on American politics.

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Opinion | The Biggest Political Divide Is Not Left vs. Right

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Yanna Krupnikov probes the motivations of Americans who avoid politics — but often vote.

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The Responsible Methodologist
Inquiry, Truth-Telling, and Social Justice

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The Responsible Methodologist
Inquiry, Truth-Telling, and Social Justice

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This podcast introduces the concept of the "responsible methodologist," moving beyond the textbook’s mechanical view of research steps. It explores how inquiry isn't just about following a recipe, but about a researcher's moral commitment to truth-telling and social justice.

Connection: This connects to the Issues in Sociological Research section, specifically Values, Objectivity, and Ethics. It challenges the traditional idea of Value-Free Sociology (Weber), arguing that methodology is a political act and that researchers have a responsibility to use their work to challenge inequality.

Chapter 2 & Podcast Learning Outcomes

The Responsible Methodologist: Evaluate the researcher’s role as an ethically accountable participant who must balance technical skill with a commitment to social justice.

Objectivity vs. Advocacy: Contrast the ideal of value-free sociology with "truth-telling" research designed to address systemic social problems.

Methodology as Action: Identify how the choice of research design (qualitative or quantitative) can be a tool for either maintaining the status quo or advocating for change.

Ethical Accountability: Analyze the ASA Code of Ethics through a lens of "responsibility," focusing on the researcher's impact on the community being studied.

Applied Inquiry: Recognize how sociological inquiry is used for nonacademic purposes to empower marginalized groups and influence social policy.

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Inquiry, Truth-Telling, and Social Justice

Summary

In this episode, I speak with Aaron M. Kuntz about his book, The Responsible Methodologist: Inquiry, Truth-Telling, and Social Justice (Left Coast Press, 2015). This book offers a thorough and much-needed interrogation of the role of research methodologist in today's neo-liberalist era. Kuntz reflects upon the social and cultural structure that gave rise to the conventional role of a methodologist, a technocrat and middle-manager of knowledge production. He urges social and educational researchers in general, and research methodologists in particular, to move away from such a morally indifferent position and to encompass a social justice oriented approach to research. In his book, Kuntz also mobilizes the latest social theories from post-structuralism to new materialism to reconceptualize the meaning of truth and the responsibility of researchers. This thought-provoking and beautifully executed book will bring the readers to the central issues and debates with which contemporary researchers and research methodologists have been wrestling. It will be of interest to research methodologists, social and educational researchers, and professionals doing social justice work across different domains. Pengfei Zhao holds a doctoral degree in Inquiry Methodology from Indiana University-Bloomington. Among her research interests are qualitative research methodology, youth culture, identity formation, and comparative sociological and educational studies. She is currently working on a book manuscript studying the coming of age experience of rural Chinese youth during and right after the Cultural Revolution.

Your Host

Pengfei Zhao

Pengfei Zhao is a critical researcher and qualitative research methodologist based at McGill University.

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Also Hosted By Pengfei Zhao

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Aaron Kuntz, "The Responsible Methodologist: Inquiry, Truth-Telling, and Social Justice" (Left Coast Press, 2015) - New Books Network

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Inquiry, Truth-Telling, and Social Justice In this episode, I speak with Aaron M. Kuntz about his book, The Responsible Methodologist: Inquiry, Truth-Telling, and Social Justice (Left Coast Press, 2015). This book offers a thorough and much-needed interrogation of the role of research methodologist in today's neo-liberalist era.

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How Thriving Firms Threaten the Future of Work In The Profit Paradox: How Thriving Firms Threaten the Future of Work, Jan Eeckhout argues that while successful companies are often seen as beneficial to the economy, their dominance can harm the broader market. A few powerful firms gain tremendous market power through mechanisms like price manipulation and outsourcing, leading to inefficient markets and widening economic inequality. This excessive success prioritizes profits over the well-being of society, leaving many struggling to compete or maintain their standard of living.

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that as a society we want successful, profitable companies because, as Jan Eeckhout says in The Profit Paradox: How Thriving Firms Threaten the Future of Work (Princeton UP, 2021), "we tend to accept that when firms do well, the economy does well", even when that's not true.

The rising tide, in some cases, does not lift all boats. Even when a few strong players have outsized gains, the rest of the market can suffer. These trends have a ripple effect over time that effectively separate economic winners, who keep an increasingly large share of benefits, from economic losers who struggle to compete, let alone maintain the standard of living achieved by their parents.

In this book, Jan Eeckhout documents how a small number of large firms have been able to gain tremendous market power through a variety of mechanisms such as price manipulation, outsourcing, and leveraging new technical innovations. None of these are inherently wrong, but when used by powerful companies to reduce or eliminate potential competition, they lead to inefficient markets that weaken society.

It is a case of excessive success, as companies narrowly focus on defending and increasing their profits without significant consideration for the externalities or unintended consequences of these market failures.

Eeckhout presents an optimistic outlook of how we can retain the extensive advantages of economic growth while reversing some of these more dangerous trends. His recommendations for the future include leveraging what we've learned from prior generations who faced similar challenges, and building on the incredible technical innovations that have characterized the last few decades, including recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.

Recommended reading: The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki.

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Jan Eeckhout, "The Profit Paradox: How Thriving Firms Threaten the Future of Work" (Princeton UP, 2021) - New Books Network

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that as a society we want successful, profitable companies because, as Jan Eeckhout says in The Profit Paradox: How Thriving Firms Threaten the Future of Work (Princeton UP, 2021), "we tend to accept that when firms do well, the economy does well", even when that's not true.

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Following Similar Paths
What American Jews and Muslims Can Learn from One Another

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Following Similar Paths
What American Jews and Muslims Can Learn from One Another

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Two academics, one Jewish and one Muslim, come together to show how much their faiths have in common—particularly in America.

Heilman and Bilici immerse readers in three layers of discussion for each religious group: historical evolution, sociological transformation, and a comparative understanding of certain parallel beliefs and practices, each of which is used as a window onto the lived reality of these communities.

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What American Jews and Muslims Can Learn from One Another

Samuel C. Heilman and Mucahit Bilici

Summary

Two academics, one Jewish and one Muslim, come together to show how much their faiths have in common-particularly in America.

This book provides a braided portrait of two American groups whose strong religious attachments and powerful commitments to ritual observance are not always easy to adapt to American culture. Orthodox Jews and observant Muslims share many similarities in their efforts to be at home in America while holding on to their practices and beliefs. As Samuel Heilman and Mucahit Bilici reveal, they follow similar paths in their American experience.

Heilman and Bilici immerse readers in three layers of discussion for each religious group: historical evolution, sociological transformation, and a comparative understanding of certain parallel beliefs and practices, each of which is used as a window onto the lived reality of these communities.

Written by two sociologists, one a religiously observant American Jew and the other an American Muslim,Following Similar Paths: What American Jews and Muslims Can Learn from One Another (U California Press, 2024) offers lively insider and outsider perspectives that deepen our understanding of American diversity and what it means to be religious in a modern society.

Your Host

Renee Garfinkel

Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D. is a psychologist, writer, Middle East television commentator and host of The New Books Network's Van Leer Jerusalem Series on Ideas. Write her at reneeg@vanleer.org.il. She's on Twitter @embracingwisdom. She blogs here.

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Also Hosted By Renee Garfinkel

Other episodes in this series

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Samuel C. Heilman and Mucahit Bilici, "Following Similar Paths: What American Jews and Muslims Can Learn from One Another" (U California Press, 2024) - New Books Network

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What American Jews and Muslims Can Learn from One Another Samuel C. Heilman and Mucahit Bilici Two academics, one Jewish and one Muslim, come together to show how much their faiths have in common-particularly in America.

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What Work Means
Beyond the Puritan Work Ethic

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What Work Means
Beyond the Puritan Work Ethic

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What Work Means: Beyond the Puritan Work Ethic (ILR Press, 2024) goes beyond the stereotypes and captures the diverse ways Americans view work as a part of a good life.

Dispelling the notion of Americans as mere workaholics, Claudia Strauss presents a more nuanced perspective. While some live to work, others prefer a diligent 9-to-5 work ethic that is conscientious but preserves time for other interests. Her participants often enjoyed their jobs without making work the focus of their life. These findings challenge laborist views of waged work as central to a good life as well as post-work theories that treat work solely as exploitative and soul-crushing.

Drawing upon the evocative stories of unemployed Americans from a wide range of occupations, from day laborers to corporate managers, both immigrant and native-born, Strauss explores how diverse Americans think about the place of work in a good life, gendered meanings of breadwinning, accepting financial support from family, friends, and the state, and what the ever-elusive American dream means to them. By considering how post-Fordist unemployment experiences diverge from joblessness earlier, What Work Means paves the way for a historically and culturally informed discussion of work meanings in a future of teleworking, greater automation, and increasing nonstandard employment.

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What Work Means: Beyond the Puritan Work Ethic (ILR Press, 2024) goes beyond the stereotypes and captures the diverse ways Americans view work as a part of a good life.

Dispelling the notion of Americans as mere workaholics, Claudia Strauss presents a more nuanced perspective. While some live to work, others prefer a diligent 9-to-5 work ethic that is conscientious but preserves time for other interests. Her participants often enjoyed their jobs without making work the focus of their life. These findings challenge laborist views of waged work as central to a good life as well as post-work theories that treat work solely as exploitative and soul-crushing.

Drawing upon the evocative stories of unemployed Americans from a wide range of occupations, from day laborers to corporate managers, both immigrant and native-born, Strauss explores how diverse Americans think about the place of work in a good life, gendered meanings of breadwinning, accepting financial support from family, friends, and the state, and what the ever-elusive American dream means to them. By considering how post-Fordist unemployment experiences diverge from joblessness earlier, What Work Means paves the way for a historically and culturally informed discussion of work meanings in a future of teleworking, greater automation, and increasing nonstandard employment.

Claudia Strauss is Professor of Anthropology at Pitzer College. She is the author of A Cognitive Theory of Cultural Meaning with Naomi Quinn and co-editor of Human Motives and Cognitive Models.

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Claudia Strauss, "What Work Means: Beyond the Puritan Work Ethic" (ILR Press, 2024) - New Books Network

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What Work Means: Beyond the Puritan Work Ethic (ILR Press, 2024) goes beyond the stereotypes and captures the diverse ways Americans view work as a part of a good life. Dispelling the notion of Americans as mere workaholics, Claudia Strauss presents a more nuanced perspective.

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The End of Love
A Sociology of Negative Relations

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The End of Love
A Sociology of Negative Relations

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In The End of Love: A Sociology of Negative Relations (Oxford UP, 2019), Eva Illouz documents the multifarious ways in which relationships end. She argues that if modern love was once marked by the freedom to enter sexual and emotional bonds according to one's will and choice, contemporary love has now become characterized by practices of non-choice, the freedom to withdraw from relationships. Illouz dubs this process by which relationships fade, evaporate, dissolve, and break down "unloving." While sociology has classically focused on the formation of social bonds, The End of Love makes a powerful case for studying why and how social bonds collapse and dissolve.

Particularly striking is the role that capitalism plays in practices of non-choice and "unloving." The unmaking of social bonds, she argues, is connected to contemporary capitalism that is characterized by practices of non-commitment and non-choice, practices that enable the quick withdrawal from a transaction and the quick realignment of prices and the breaking of loyalties. Unloving and non-choice have in turn a profound impact on society and economics as they explain why people may be having fewer children, increasingly living alone, and having less sex.

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Western culture has endlessly represented the ways in which love miraculously erupts in people's lives, the mythical moment in which one knows someone is destined for us; the feverish waiting for a phone call or an email, the thrill that runs our spine at the mere thought of him or her. Yet, a culture that has so much to say about love is virtually silent on the no less mysterious moments when we avoid falling in love, where we fall out of love, when the one who kept us awake at night now leaves us indifferent, or when we hurry away from those who excited us a few months or even a few hours before.

In The End of Love: A Sociology of Negative Relations (Oxford UP, 2019), Eva Illouz documents the multifarious ways in which relationships end. She argues that if modern love was once marked by the freedom to enter sexual and emotional bonds according to one's will and choice, contemporary love has now become characterized by practices of non-choice, the freedom to withdraw from relationships. Illouz dubs this process by which relationships fade, evaporate, dissolve, and break down "unloving." While sociology has classically focused on the formation of social bonds, The End of Love makes a powerful case for studying why and how social bonds collapse and dissolve.

Particularly striking is the role that capitalism plays in practices of non-choice and "unloving." The unmaking of social bonds, she argues, is connected to contemporary capitalism that is characterized by practices of non-commitment and non-choice, practices that enable the quick withdrawal from a transaction and the quick realignment of prices and the breaking of loyalties. Unloving and non-choice have in turn a profound impact on society and economics as they explain why people may be having fewer children, increasingly living alone, and having less sex.

The End of Love presents a profound and original analysis of the effects of capitalism and consumer culture on personal relationships and of what the dissolution of personal relationships means for capitalism.
Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D. is a psychologist, writer, Middle East television commentator and host of The New Books Network's Van Leer Jerusalem Series on Ideas. Write her at r.garfinkel@yahoo.com.

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Eva Illouz, "The End of Love: A Sociology of Negative Relations" (Oxford UP, 2019) - New Books Network

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Western culture has endlessly represented the ways in which love miraculously erupts in people's lives, the mythical moment in which one knows someone is destined for us; the feverish waiting for a phone call or an email, the thrill that runs our spine at the mere thought of him or her.

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White Supremacy and Racism in Progressive America
Race, Place, and Space

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White Supremacy and Racism in Progressive America
Race, Place, and Space

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White Supremacy and Racism in Progressive America: Race, Place, and Space (Policy Press, 2024) examines the connections between race, place, and space, and sheds light on how they contribute and maintain racial hierarchies.

Dr. Miguel Montalva Barba focuses on the White residents of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, which, according to the Cooks Political Report Partisan Voting Index, is the most liberal district in the state and 15th in the United States of America. The book uses settler colonialism and critical race theory to explore how self-identified progressive White residents perceive their gentrifying neighborhood and how they make sense of their positionality

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Race, Place, and Space

Summary

White Supremacy and Racism in Progressive America: Race, Place, and Space (Policy Press, 2024) examines the connections between race, place, and space, and sheds light on how they contribute and maintain racial hierarchies.

Dr. Miguel Montalva Barba focuses on the White residents of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, which, according to the Cooks Political Report Partisan Voting Index, is the most liberal district in the state and 15th in the United States of America. The book uses settler colonialism and critical race theory to explore how self-identified progressive White residents perceive their gentrifying neighborhood and how they make sense of their positionality.

Using the extended case method, as well as in-depth interviews, participant observation, content analysis and visual/media analysis, the author reveals how systemic racialized inequality persists even in a politically progressive borough.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.

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Miranda Melcher

Dr. Miranda Melcher (Ph.D., Defense Studies, Kings College, London) studies post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with deep analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.

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Also Hosted By Miranda Melcher

Other episodes in this series

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Miguel Montalva Barba, "White Supremacy and Racism in Progressive America: Race, Place, and Space" (Policy Press, 2024) - New Books Network

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Race, Place, and Space White Supremacy and Racism in Progressive America: Race, Place, and Space (Policy Press, 2024) examines the connections between race, place, and space, and sheds light on how they contribute and maintain racial hierarchies.

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Class DismissedWhen Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price

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Class DismissedWhen Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price

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Elite colleges boast record diversity, with some admitting their first majority-minority classes. However, when COVID-19 and racial unrest hit, these schools were unprepared to support disadvantaged students, leaving them to struggle alone. In Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price (Princeton UP, 2024), Anthony Abraham Jack reveals how the pandemic worsened existing inequalities, sharing students' stories of navigating these challenges on campuses that failed to address their needs.

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Elite colleges are boasting unprecedented numbers with respect to diversity, with some schools admitting their first majority-minority classes. But when the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial unrest gripped the world, schools scrambled to figure out what to do with the diversity they so fervently recruited. And disadvantaged students suffered. Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price (Princeton UP, 2024) exposes how woefully unprepared colleges were to support these students and shares their stories of how they were left to weather the storm alone and unprotected.

Drawing on the firsthand experiences of students from all walks of life at elite colleges, Anthony Abraham Jack reveals the hidden and unequal worlds students navigated before and during the pandemic closures and upon their return to campus. He shows how COVID-19 exacerbated the very inequalities that universities ignored or failed to address long before campus closures. Jack examines how students dealt with the disruptions caused by the pandemic, how they navigated social unrest, and how they grappled with problems of race both on campus and off.

A provocative and much-needed book, Class Dismissed paints an intimate and unflinchingly candid portrait of the challenges of undergraduate life for disadvantaged students even in elite schools that invest millions to diversify their student body. Moreover, Jack offers guidance on how to make students' path to graduation less treacherous--guidance colleges would be wise to follow.

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Anthony Abraham Jack, "Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price" (Princeton UP, 2024) - New Books Network

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Elite colleges are boasting unprecedented numbers with respect to diversity, with some schools admitting their first majority-minority classes. But when the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial unrest gripped the world, schools scrambled to figure out what to do with the diversity they so fervently recruited. And disadvantaged students suffered.

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 "The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict"

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 "The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict"

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How do micro-interactions of resistance, fighting and dialogue shape larger patterns of peace and conflict? How can nonviolent resistance, conflict transformation and diplomacy be analysed in micro-detail? Exploring these questions in The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict (Cambridge University Press, 2023), Dr. Isabel Bramsen introduces micro-sociology to Peace Research and International Relations.

Breaking new methodological, empirical and theoretical ground, Bramsen develops a novel theoretical and analytical framework for analysing micro-dynamics of peace and conflict. The book features chapters on the methods of micro-sociology (including Video Data Analysis) as well as analytical chapters on violence, nonviolence, conflict transformation, peace talks and international meetings. It is at once broad and specific, analysing a wide variety of phenomena and cases, while also introducing very specific lenses to analysing peace and conflict.

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How do micro-interactions of resistance, fighting and dialogue shape larger patterns of peace and conflict? How can nonviolent resistance, conflict transformation and diplomacy be analysed in micro-detail? Exploring these questions in The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict (Cambridge University Press, 2023), Dr. Isabel Bramsen introduces micro-sociology to Peace Research and International Relations.

Breaking new methodological, empirical and theoretical ground, Bramsen develops a novel theoretical and analytical framework for analysing micro-dynamics of peace and conflict. The book features chapters on the methods of micro-sociology (including Video Data Analysis) as well as analytical chapters on violence, nonviolence, conflict transformation, peace talks and international meetings. It is at once broad and specific, analysing a wide variety of phenomena and cases, while also introducing very specific lenses to analysing peace and conflict.

Presenting a highly practical and micro-detailed approach, The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict will be of use to students, researchers, practitioners, activists and diplomats interested in understanding and addressing contemporary conflicts. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.

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Isabel Bramsen, "The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict" (Cambridge UP, 2023) - New Books Network

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How do micro-interactions of resistance, fighting and dialogue shape larger patterns of peace and conflict? How can nonviolent resistance, conflict transformation and diplomacy be analysed in micro-detail? Exploring these questions in The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict (Cambridge University Press, 2023), Dr. Isabel Bramsen introduces micro-sociology to Peace Research and International Relations.

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 "The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict"

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 "The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict"

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This podcast offers a "real-world" application of Micro-Sociology and Qualitative Fieldwork. While the textbook often focuses on large-scale social patterns (macro), this podcast explores the "ground-level" interactions of peace and conflict, showing how researchers document the emotional and physical nuances of face-to-face encounters.

Connection: It highlights the importance of Level of Analysis and Participant Observation. It demonstrates that to understand global issues like conflict, researchers must often zoom in to the micro-level to observe how individual interactions and emotions build into larger social phenomena.

Chapter 2 & Podcast Learning Outcomes

Micro-Level Analysis: Differentiate between macro and micro-sociological research designs and when to use each to study social conflict.

Observational Nuance: Apply participant observation to identify how non-verbal cues and emotions function as data in high-stakes environments.

Fieldwork Safety & Ethics: Evaluate the unique ethical challenges and physical risks of conducting research in unstable or violent settings.

Qualitative Validity: Analyze how micro-level data captures the "hidden" human experiences that large-scale quantitative surveys often miss.

Interactionist Research: Connect the principles of Symbolic Interactionism to the practical gathering of field notes in a conflict zone.

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How do micro-interactions of resistance, fighting and dialogue shape larger patterns of peace and conflict? How can nonviolent resistance, conflict transformation and diplomacy be analysed in micro-detail? Exploring these questions in The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict (Cambridge University Press, 2023), Dr. Isabel Bramsen introduces micro-sociology to Peace Research and International Relations.

Breaking new methodological, empirical and theoretical ground, Bramsen develops a novel theoretical and analytical framework for analysing micro-dynamics of peace and conflict. The book features chapters on the methods of micro-sociology (including Video Data Analysis) as well as analytical chapters on violence, nonviolence, conflict transformation, peace talks and international meetings. It is at once broad and specific, analysing a wide variety of phenomena and cases, while also introducing very specific lenses to analysing peace and conflict.

Presenting a highly practical and micro-detailed approach, The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict will be of use to students, researchers, practitioners, activists and diplomats interested in understanding and addressing contemporary conflicts. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.

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Isabel Bramsen, "The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict" (Cambridge UP, 2023) - New Books Network

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How do micro-interactions of resistance, fighting and dialogue shape larger patterns of peace and conflict? How can nonviolent resistance, conflict transformation and diplomacy be analysed in micro-detail? Exploring these questions in The Micro-Sociology of Peace and Conflict (Cambridge University Press, 2023), Dr. Isabel Bramsen introduces micro-sociology to Peace Research and International Relations.

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Locked Up: The Prison Labor That Built Business Empires

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Locked Up: The Prison Labor That Built Business Empires

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This Reveal episode investigates the convict leasing system that emerged in the U.S. South after the Civil War, when Black men and children were imprisoned for minor offenses and leased to private companies, including Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad (later U.S. Steel). Archeologist Camille Westmont’s excavation of the Lone Rock stockade uncovers the brutal realities of this practice, exposing how the criminal justice system became a tool of racialized social control and economic exploitation for over 60 years.

Topics linked to Chapter 6: Deviance:

Historical social control: convict leasing as a system of racial domination.

Power and inequality: punishment reinforcing white supremacy and capitalism.

Labeling theory: criminalizing Black men for minor “offenses.”

Conflict theory: economic interests shaping definitions of deviance.

Legacy of deviance: connections between past and present mass incarceration.

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Reveal's investigations will inspire, infuriate and inform you. Host Al Letson and an award-winning team of reporters deliver gripping stories about caregivers, advocates for the unhoused, immigrant families, warehouse workers and formerly incarcerated people, fighting to hold the powerful accountable. The New Yorker described Reveal as "a knockout ... a pleasure to listen to, even as we seethe." A winner of multiple Peabody, duPont, Emmy and Murrow awards, Reveal is produced by the nation's first investigative journalism nonprofit, The Center for Investigative Reporting, and PRX. From unearthing exploitative working conditions to exposing the nation's racial disparities, there's always more to the story. Learn more at revealnews.org/learn.

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After the Civil War, a new form of slavery took hold in the US and lasted more than 60 years. Associated Press reporters Margie Mason and Robin McDowell investigate the chilling history of how Southern states imprisoned mainly Black men, often for minor crimes, and then leased them out to private companies - for years, even decades, at a time.

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U.S. elections are based on the principle of "one person, one vote," but this ideal has not always been a reality. Enslaved Black Americans, Native Americans, and poor White people were historically excluded from voting, and women only gained the right in 1919. This episode of Reveal explores how political institutions, like the Electoral College and U.S. Senate, were designed to limit majority power and how modern tactics like voter suppression and gerrymandering continue to entrench minority rule.

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Not All Votes Are Created Equal - Reveal

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America’s Founding Fathers created a political system that favored an elite minority. Today minority rule is threatening U.S. democracy like never before.

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The Ballot Boogeymen While there was no proof of anything resembling widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, there is one way in which elections are shaped: gerrymandering. Mother Jones senior reporter Ari Berman delves into how Republicans redrew voting maps in Wisconsin, helping them cement control of the state Legislature. Republicans’ strong hold on power has allowed them to keep in place deeply unpopular laws like an abortion ban that dates back to 1849. But this isn’t about just state politics: It’s also about the next election for president in 2024.

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In August 2020, Guillermina Fuentes was trying to get out the vote in her small Arizona community. Outside a polling place, she handed a few absentee ballots to another volunteer to drop off. A conservative activist secretly filmed her and reported her to local authorities. In the eyes of the law, she'd just committed a felony.

Dropping off someone else's mail-in ballot, known as ballot collecting, became a crime in Arizona in 2016, and Fuentes would become the first person prosecuted for it. Reveal reporter Ese Olumhense travels to San Luis to report on Fuentes' case and finds she has gone from being a well-known local politician in her community to the face of right-wing campaigns against voter fraud.

Fuentes' arrest and prosecution show the beginnings of an alarming trend shaping the future of how elections are surveilled and policed. Olumhense and Reveal's Melissa Lewis built a database to track all election-crimes-related bills introduced in the country since the 2020 election. They found a national push to punish what is considered in many states to be typical voting practices. Fueled in part by politicians who falsely claim voter fraud stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump, bills are being introduced that create new election crime investigation agencies, establish criminal penalties for election offenses or empower law enforcement officials to investigate such crimes.

While there was no proof of anything resembling widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, there is one way in which elections are shaped: gerrymandering. Mother Jones senior reporter Ari Berman delves into how Republicans redrew voting maps in Wisconsin, helping them cement control of the state Legislature. Republicans' strong hold on power has allowed them to keep in place deeply unpopular laws like an abortion ban that dates back to 1849. But this isn't about just state politics: It's also about the next election for president in 2024.

Dig Deeper

Read: State Legislatures Are Dramatically Increasing Law Enforcement Involvement in Elections (Reveal)

Explore: Search for the Crime Bills that Target Voting and Elections in Your State (Reveal)

Explore: Ballot Collection Rules Have Changed in Many Places. Here's How to Make Sure Your Vote Counts. (Reveal)

Share: How Are Voter Suppression Tactics Affecting You and Your Community? (Reveal)

Read: How Wisconsin Became the GOP's Laboratory for Dismantling Democracy (Mother Jones)

Credits

Reporters: Ese Olumhense, Ari Berman and Melissa Lewis | Lead producer: Nadia Hamdan | Producer: Michael Montgomery | Editors: Jenny Casas, Brett Myers and Maryam Saleh | Data editor: Soo Oh | Data support: Roy W. Howard investigative reporting fellow Farah Eltohamy | Fact checker: Nikki Frick | Production manager: Amy Mostafa | Digital producer: Sarah Mirk | Episode art: Sébastian Thibault | Original score and sound design: Jim Briggs and Fernando Arruda, with help from Kathryn Styer Martínez and Claire Mullen | Interim executive producers: Taki Telonidis and Brett Myers | Host: Al Letson

Special thanks to Cassandra Jaramillo and Jessica Pishko for reporting help and Mother Jones editors Dan Schulman, Clara Jeffery and James West.

Support for Reveal is provided by the Reva and David Logan Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Hellman Foundation, Democracy Fund, and the Inasmuch Foundation.

Transcript
Reveal transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. Please be aware that the official record for Reveal's radio stories is the audio.
Related

Michael Montgomery is a senior reporter and producer for Reveal, covering a wide range of topics, including labor exploitation, human rights and prisons. He has led collaborations with The Associated Press, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Frontline, NPR and others.

Previously, Montgomery was a senior reporter at American Public Media, a special correspondent for the BBC and an associate producer with CBS News. He began his career in Eastern Europe, reporting on the fall of communism and wars in former Yugoslavia for the Daily Telegraph and Los Angeles Times. His investigations into human rights abuses in Kosovo led to war crimes convictions of Serbian and Albanian paramilitaries. Montgomery's honors include Murrow, Peabody, IRE, duPont, Third Coast and Overseas Press Club awards. He is a longtime member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and serves on the board of the World Press Institute.

More by Michael Montgomery

Brett Myers is an interim executive producer for Reveal. His work has received more than 20 national honors, including a George Foster Peabody Award, four nationalEdward R. Murrow Awards and multipleThird Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Competition awards. Before joining Reveal, he was a senior producer at Youth Radio, where he collaborated with teenage reporters to file stories for "Morning Edition," "All Things Considered" and "Marketplace."

Prior to becoming an audio producer, Myers trained as a documentary photographer and was named one of the 25 best American photographers under the age of 25. He loves bikes, California and his family. Before that, he was an independent radio producer and worked with StoryCorps, Sound Portraits and The Kitchen Sisters. Myers is based in Reveal's Emeryville, California, office.

More by Brett Myers

Soo Oh was the enterprise editor for data at Reveal. She previously reported data stories, coded interactive visuals and built internal tools at the Wall Street Journal, Vox.com, the Los Angeles Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education. In 2018, she was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University, where she researched how to better manage and support journalists with technical skills.

More by Soo Oh

Nikki Frick is the associate editor for research and copy for Reveal. She previously worked as a copy editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and held internships at The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times and Washingtonpost.com. She has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was an American Copy Editors Society Aubespin scholar. Frick is based in Milwaukee.

More by Nikki Frick

Sarah Mirk (she/her) was a digital engagement producer for Reveal. Since 2017, she has worked as an editor at The Nib, an online daily comics publication focused on political cartoons, graphic journalism, essays and memoirs about current affairs. She works with artists to create nonfiction comics on a variety of complex topics, from personal narratives about queer identities to examinations of overlooked history. Before that, Mirk was the online editor of national feminist media outlet Bitch, a podcast host and a local news reporter. She is also the author of several books, including "Year of Zines," a collection of 100 handmade zines, and "Guantanamo Voices," a collection of illustrated oral histories of the world's most infamous prison.

More by Sarah Mirk

Jim Briggs III is the senior sound designer, engineer and composer for Reveal. He supervises post-production and composes original music for the public radio show and podcast. He also leads Reveal's efforts in composition for data sonification and live performances.

Prior to joining Reveal in 2014, Briggs mixed and recorded for clients such as WNYC Studios, NPR, the CBC and American Public Media. Credits include "Marketplace," "Selected Shorts," "Death, Sex & Money," "The Longest Shortest Time," NPR's "Ask Me Another," "Radiolab," "Freakonomics Radio" and "Soundcheck." He also was the sound re-recording mixer and sound editor for several PBS television documentaries, including "American Experience: Walt Whitman," the 2012 Tea Party documentary "Town Hall" and "The Supreme Court" miniseries. His music credits include albums by R.E.M., Paul Simon and Kelly Clarkson.

Briggs' work with Reveal has been recognized with an Emmy Award (2016) and two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards (2018, 2019). Previously, he was part of the team that won the Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma for its work on WNYC's hourlong documentary special "Living 9/11." He has taught sound, radio and music production at The New School and Eugene Lang College and has a master's degree in media studies from The New School. Briggs is based in Reveal's Emeryville, California, office.

More by Jim Briggs

Kathryn Styer Martínez (she/ella) is a former production assistant for Reveal. She studies audio and photojournalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She is also a Greater Good Science Center reporting fellow, focusing on Latino well-being.

Martínez was the 2020-21 Toni Randolph reporting fellow at Minnesota Public Radio, the 2019-20 New Economy Reporting Project fellow and the former director of KGPC-LP FM, Peralta Community Radio. Her work has appeared in El Tecolote, The Oaklandside, MPR News, National Public Radio, Outside Online, Talk Poverty, New Life Quarterly and Making Contact.

She earned bachelor's degrees in Raza studies and political science from San Francisco State University.

More by Kathryn Styer Martínez

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New Laws Police a Fake Problem: Voter Fraud

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Extreme new laws built on Trump's Big Lie crack down on a phantom problem: widespread voter fraud.

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With abortion bans passing in states all over the country since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, women experiencing miscarriages have been turned away from hospitals because doctors deemed that they weren’t in enough clear danger to receive abortion care. Meanwhile, many women experiencing fibromyalgia continue to have their social security disability claims denied because they are not able to provide concrete evidence that their condition severely disrupts their quality of life. According to Professor Dara Purvis, what links these two examples is that many doctors do not believe women who say they are in pain. She explained the role that courts can play on this issue and laid out what needs to happen so women’s pain does not continue to be ignored.

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From healthcare strikes to auto workers strikes to the Writers Guild and Hollywood actors strikes, 2023 was an eventful year for union activity. Professor Nathan Wilmers examined the implications of that activity and what it may mean for the future of the labor movement as employees fight for fair wages, equality, and protection in the workplace. Importantly, Professor Wilmers highlighted the history of the labor movement over the past few decades – as it may provide some answers for the future.

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The Year of Strikes | Scholars Strategy Network

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From healthcare strikes to auto workers strikes to the Writers Guild and Hollywood actors strikes, 2023 was an eventful year for union activity. Professor Nathan Wilmers examined the implications of that activity and what it may mean for the future of the labor movement as employees fight for fair wages, equality, and protection in the workplace. Importantly, Professor Wilmers highlighted the history of the labor movement over the past few decades – as it may provide some answers for the future.

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Martin Luther King Jr. holds a special place in the American consciousness and is one of the few people to have a federal holiday celebrating his legacy. But what exactly is MLK’s legacy? From immigrants rights groups to gun rights activists to politicians, the history of the civil rights movement and MLK’s work and words have long been used, and contested, by many different people. Drawing from her new book, Professor Hajar Yazdiha explained why MLK holds such a prominent place in our shared memory, how politicians and social movements have used his legacy for their own causes, and how all this has impacted policy decisions

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Misinformation seems to be everywhere. From falsehoods about the coronavirus to lies being spread by political leaders and their followers, in recent years it feels like it’s getting harder and harder to discern fact from fiction. And with social media and AI permeating our lives, new technologies only seem to be making the situation worse. Professor Ray Block dives into the world of misinformation, sharing lessons from his new position as the Michael D. Rich Distinguished Chair for Countering Truth Decay at the RAND Corporation about what’s behind the problem and what can be done to address it.

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Countering the Spread of Misinformation | Scholars Strategy Network

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Misinformation seems to be everywhere. From falsehoods about the coronavirus to lies being spread by political leaders and their followers, in recent years it feels like it’s getting harder and harder to discern fact from fiction. And with social media and AI permeating our lives, new technologies only seem to be making the situation worse. Professor Ray Block dives into the world of misinformation, sharing lessons from his new position as the Michael D.

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Exposing America’s Mental Health Care Inequities

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Exposing America’s Mental Health Care Inequities

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The dual challenges of mental illness and lack of affordable housing are pressing issues in this election year. In March, California voters narrowly approved Proposition 1, which allocates $6.4 billion to construct new housing and treatment facilities for people with mental illness statewide. But will this measure truly benefit this vulnerable population? Professor Neil Gong delves into the history of mental health treatment in the U.S. and how it has shaped our current system and policy conversations. He tells stories of people he met through his research to highlight the stark differences between mental health care available to the wealthy and the poor, and explores potential policy changes to address the intertwined challenges of homelessness and mental health.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, students and parents faced a lot of disruptions in their education experience, but student attendance has been a longstanding issue, especially in some urban areas. Factors like poverty, housing instability, and transportation issues contribute to high absenteeism rates. Professor Sarah Winchell Lenhoff discusses why some students miss so much school, the ways in which the pandemic has intensified these challenges, and shares some innovative strategies that are being implemented to address them.

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America’s Student Attendance Problem | Scholars Strategy Network

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, students and parents faced a lot of disruptions in their education experience, but student attendance has been a longstanding issue, especially in some urban areas. Factors like poverty, housing instability, and transportation issues contribute to high absenteeism rates.

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How do unequal societies function? In Holding It Together: How Women Became America's Safety Net (Portfolio, 2024), Jesscia Calarco, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, examines how America’s DIY society depends on the labour of mothers and excludes the sorts of social supports present in other countries. This dependence has hugely negative social and individual consequences, as demonstrated by the rich qualitiative and quantitative data examined in the book. Alongside the analysis of the problems and consequences of women’s role in the US, the book also thinks through solutions, demonstrating how much political discourse is far from the collective action that is likely to be effective for social change. An outstanding contribution to social science and contemporary politics, the book is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary social inequalities.

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Jessica Calarco, “Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net” (Portfolio, 2024) - New Books Network

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How do unequal societies function? In Holding It Together: How Women Became America's Safety Net (Portfolio, 2024), Jesscia Calarco, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, examines how America’s DIY society depends on the labour of mothers and excludes the sorts of social supports present in other countries. This dependence has hugely negative social and individual consequences, as demonstrated by the rich qualitiative and quantitative data examined in the book. Alongside the analysis of the problems and consequences of women’s role in the US, the book also thinks through solutions, demonstrating how much political discourse is far from the collective action that is likely to be effective for social change. An outstanding contribution to social science and contemporary politics, the book is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary social inequalities.

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Jessica Calarco, “Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net” (Portfolio, 2024) - New Books Network

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This podcast explores the psychological and social mechanisms of deception and how we perceive "the truth." It moves beyond the textbook by showing how the very subjects sociologists study (people) often obscure the truth from others—and themselves—to navigate social life.

Connection: This connects to Validity and Social Desirability Bias. It highlights a major challenge in sociological research: the gap between what people say they do (in surveys or interviews) and what they actually do, complicating our ability to collect accurate data.

Chapter 2 & Podcast Learning Outcomes

Social Desirability Bias: Identify how the human tendency to lie or "perform" for others can distort the validity of self-reported survey and interview data.

Ethics of Deception: Analyze the Ethical Dilemmas of using deception in experimental research and why transparency is a core pillar of the ASA Code of Ethics.

Subjective vs. Objective: Evaluate the difference between subjective truth (how people feel) and objective reality (empirical facts) in social science.

Researcher Bias: Apply Reflexivity to recognize how a researcher’s own desire for a specific "truth" might lead to bias in data interpretation.

Social Construction: Discuss how self-deception functions as a social survival mechanism, complicating the "scientific" measurement of human behavior.

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The transcript below may be for an earlier version of this episode. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio.
Shankar Vedantam: This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam. In the middle of a workday in April 2013, the Associated Press sent out a tweet, breaking two explosions in the White House, it read, Barack Obama is injured. The tweet caused panic in the financial markets. Within minutes, the Dow plunged more than 100 points as traders rushed to sell off stocks amid the threat of political instability. The news was bogus. There were no explosions, and the president was safe. The AP's Twitter account had been hacked. Within a few minutes, the information was corrected, and the markets recovered. When we think of misinformation, we often think of stories like this. Blatant cases of lies and falsehood, perpetrated by deceitful and malevolent agents. But in recent years, social scientists have found that misinformation comes in many flavors, most of which are far subtler than the erroneous AP story. These forms of misinformation prey on our mental blind spots and take advantage of our passions and loyalties. This week on Hidden Brain, the many insidious forms of misinformation and how we can all get better at separating fact from fiction. If you have a computer or a smartphone, you have answers. Want to know what year Abraham Lincoln was born? Look it up. Curious who invented the windsock? You can find out in 30 seconds. We have access to more information in a minute than our ancestors did in a lifetime. This privilege comes with a problem. How do we know if what we are seeing is true? All of us believe misinformation is something other people fall for. The uncle who gets his information from talk radio. Your high school classmate who trusts everything he sees on WhatsApp. The conspiracy theorist who imbibes lies on YouTube. At the London Business School, economist Alex Edmans is interested in the science of misinformation. He says it's not just a fringe problem. Misinformation is much more common than we think. Alex Edmans, welcome to Hidden Brain.Alex Edmans: Thanks, Shankar. It's really great to be here.Shankar Vedantam: Alex, you live in the UK. Some years ago, the British Home Stores made the news. BHS, as it's called, is a massive department store chain that sold everything from furniture to clothing. What happened in 2016 to get BHS in the news, Alex?Alex Edmans: So it effectively went bankrupt, and when they went bankrupt, they had unfunded pension deficits. So former employees who were owed pensions did not get them paid.Shankar Vedantam: So companies go bankrupt all the time, businesses fail all the time, but this became something of a scandal, Alex. Can you explain why? What happened here that was not just a business going out of business, but something that felt like malfeasance was at play?Alex Edmans: Certainly, you're absolutely right that just being bankrupt, that is just what business is, that's the nature of the beast. But here what happened was the former owner, Sir Philip Green, who was a rather larger than life character, he took out a lot of money and huge dividends to himself, and then he sold this company to a guy called Dominic Chapelle, who was a formerly bankrupt entrepreneur. He bankrupted further businesses in the past, and so by selling to him, he just put this in jeopardy and didn't care about all of the employees.Shankar Vedantam: So, Alex, Philip Green sells BHS to Dominic Chapelle. Thousands of people lose their jobs. Many more go without their full pensions. News outlets, meanwhile, report that Philip Green is awaiting delivery of a $150 million dollar super yacht named Lionheart. I'm imagining all this does not endure him to the British public.Alex Edmans: Yeah, that's correct. So again, the fact that a company goes bankrupt, that is part and parcel of business. But if the company goes bankrupt and former employees don't have their pensions, and yet there's the person who's got a huge show of extravagance, this is a big problem.Shankar Vedantam: So around the same time as the BHS candle, another UK chain, Sports Direct, faced its own set of controversies. Do you remember what happened, Alex?Alex Edmans: Yeah, so here we had a similar situation with a rather larger than life character. So the chairman is a guy called Mike Ashley, who also owned Newcastle United Football Club, and therefore was very much in the public eye. But Sports Direct was under pressure for a number of reasons, and one of them was not paying the minimum wage. And that was just one of many bad workplace practices.Shankar Vedantam: So these scandals prompted a parliamentary hearing, and you were summoned to testify in front of the Select Committee on Business. Now, you've been long interested in corporate governance, executive pay, making a case for responsible business practices. Was this why you were called to testify, Alex?Alex Edmans: You're absolutely right, Shankar. This is in my field, this is in my strike zone. I'm an academic, but I'm really passionate about using academic research for practical purposes. So I submitted some written evidence to the inquiry. And based on the quality of the evidence submissions, the select committee then calls some witnesses to testify orally in order to delve deeper in the questions that they're trying to address.Shankar Vedantam: So as you were listening to another witness, you heard something that caught your attention. Tell me what it was, Alex.Alex Edmans: Yeah, so I got in early. Perhaps because I was nervous, I needed to swat up on everything I'd written in my testimony just to make sure that if they asked me any questions that I was prepared. But I still listened with one ear open to what was happening. And there was a witness, the Trades Union's Congress. And what they mentioned was some research which sounded really noteworthy. They said, the lower the pay gap between the CEO and the average employee, the better the company performance. And why did my ears prick up when I heard this? Because this was something I really wanted to be true. It shined with my views on responsible business. As I just discussed, in many cases, the more responsibly you act towards wider society and your employees, the better the company performance. So this seemed to be music to my ears.Shankar Vedantam: So you were happy to hear about this research that suggested that the narrower the pay gap between the CEO and the average worker, the better the company did. What prompted you then to do the next step of actually looking up the origins of this claim?Alex Edmans: I'd say it was entirely selfish. So I thought, this was a great study. I would like to quote this study. So I wasn't coming out to try and check this or to catch anybody out. But I thought, great study. Let me know what the study is. So the next time that I am to talk to companies about the importance of responsibility, I have another weapon in my arsenal. And so, well, how did I look this up? Well, the witness had, like me, submitted some written evidence beforehand. So I went to the written evidence and I found the paper that they cited. And then I looked up the paper on my iPad, and then the paper seemed to say completely the opposite. Actually, the greater the gap between CEO and worker pay, the better the company performance. I was confused. I thought maybe because I was so nervous, because of my own session, did I misread everything? Perhaps because academic papers are not known for their clarity. But no, it was there. As clear as day, the greater the pay gap, the better the company performance.Shankar Vedantam: What do you think happened? Did they actually just misread the paper?Alex Edmans: So that would be one interpretation, is that they just misquoted it. But actually, it wasn't as bad as that. What I noticed was I was looking at the 2013 version of the paper, but what they quoted in their written evidence was the 2010 version of the paper. And when I looked up the 2010 version of the paper, it indeed had the opposite result than the one they originally quoted. So what had changed between 2010 and 2013 was the manuscript had gone through peer review, where the peer review process forces the authors to correct any mistakes. Once they corrected their mistakes, they found completely the opposite result. Notice that the inquiry was in 2016. So the 2013 paper was already out there for three years.Shankar Vedantam: Well, of course, it could have just been an oversight. They happened to come by the 2010 paper. They didn't realize the 2013 paper was out there. You finished your testimony. It went well. But you decided that you were going to try and correct the record and help the committee basically get the correct paper. And so you went up to them afterwards and told them about the 2013 paper. How did you do this? What happened?Alex Edmans: Yeah, so there's a clerk to the Select Committee who's not a member of parliament, but a senior civil servant. And he I was quite cordial with because he was the person I'd interacted with in terms of inviting me to testify. And I mentioned this and he seemed horrified. He's seen this was really bad. Even if it was an honest mistake, he wanted to make sure that this inquiry conducted by the UK government had the best evidence. And he invited me to submit a supplement to my initial written evidence, responding to what I'd heard in the early session. I did so and the committee published it.Shankar Vedantam: So that's very promising. Is that how the committee eventually ended up its conclusions? Or does the story go further than this?Alex Edmans: Unfortunately not. There is a twist. So even though the committee published my supplementary evidence, which suggests they endorsed what I'd written, the final report of the inquiry, which was made after considering all the written submissions, and also the oral evidence in the hearings, still referred to the overturn result as if it was gospel, the idea that lower pay gaps lead to better company performance, and this led to them recommending that all companies disclose their pay gaps, and that recommendation eventually did become law. So this was something with some actual consequences.Shankar Vedantam: And in some ways, I think I can understand how this came about. This is coming on the heels of these major scandals, where you have these leaders of these companies behaving in ways that are, you know, if not unethical, then clearly perhaps improper. Certainly, it didn't pass the seemliness test, if you will. A lot of people lost their jobs. A lot of people had their pension benefits reduced. Politicians got involved. Parliament got upset. And they wanted to hear the story that basically said, you know, you really need to rein in CEO behavior. And so in some ways, a study that basically said smaller pay gaps between the CEO and the median worker seemed like it fit that larger thesis. Do you think that's how it came about, that that's what the driving impetus was for this error to persist in the final report?Alex Edmans: I do think so. So I don't think the committee set to deliberately misrepresent the evidence. I think that why did they start the inquiry? They did believe that CEOs were overpaid and they think that overpayment is a bad thing that indeed was potentially a contributor to this two scandals of BHS and Sports Direct. Therefore, any evidence that they saw, they interpreted to be supportive of this. And if there was evidence against that, they might have dismissed that evidence because it just didn't sound right, it didn't feel right. And so they responded to the evidence selectively.Shankar Vedantam: When we come back, the psychological drivers of misinformation. You're listening to Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam. This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedantam. There are reams of psychological research on the power of stories. A compelling emotional narrative can capture our attention and persuade us in ways that data and reasoning often cannot. But what happens when our feelings are contradicted by the facts? Economist Alex Edmans has spent years immersed in the world of data, science and math. He's found that there are psychological forces that make misinformation hard to fight. Alex, you were once cleaning up your junk email folder when you came across a message that stopped you in your tracks. What was this message?Alex Edmans: So this was a message from one of the leading investors in the world. So I'll call this investor Xinyi. So Xinyi had heard about my research showing that companies with high employee satisfaction beat their peers in terms of total shareholder return over a 28-year period. And she was interested in launching a fund based not in employee satisfaction, but gender diversity, and wondered if I could do a similar study showing out performance of more diverse companies.Shankar Vedantam: So in the earlier work that you had done, Alex, you had examined the 100 best companies in America and looked at what might be driving their success. And you found this correlation between employee satisfaction and company success. Did you find that employee satisfaction was the driver of company performance or just that the two things were correlated?Alex Edmans: This is really important because as we know correlation does not imply causation and we need to be particularly careful when there's a danger of confirmation bias. We'd love to believe that there's good karma in the world, that companies that treat their workers better do better in the long term. But it could be the opposite. It could be that once a company starts doing well, then it can start investing in its employees. Or maybe there's causality in neither direction. There's a third factor that affects both. So maybe a great manager makes her employees happy because she's a great leader, and a great manager makes some good strategic decisions, and that leads to better company performance. So a lot of a job of an academic is to make sure that we really nail a result. In order to get published in a top scientific journal, we need to address those alternative explanations, and that's all the blood and sweat and tears that I had to shed in order to get this paper published.Shankar Vedantam: Alex agreed to meet the famous investor. She invited him to the Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane, London.Alex Edmans: If you play Monopoly, the most expensive square on the Monopoly board is Mayfair. The second most is Park Lane. So this is really by real estate. And so Park Lane is a road which overlooks Hyde Park, a huge, beautiful park in London. And the Dorchester Hotel was a plush hotel. I think right now, it would cost 800 pounds per night to stay there. So the lobby had high ceilings, it had big windows, lots of light was flowing through. So it looked to be a beautiful hotel, the sort of hotel that one of the leading investors in the world would be staying at.Shankar Vedantam: So what did Shunyi want?Alex Edmans: So she mentioned that she was potentially going to be launching this new fund based on gender diversity. And she heard of my prior study. So she first asked whether I could directly tell her whether that study already showed that diversity led to app performance. And I said no, because employee satisfaction covers many things, not just diversity, but things like fair pay, credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie. So she said, well, could I not adapt my methodology? And rather than looking at employee satisfaction, look at diversity as being the driver. And I said, yeah, potentially. And indeed, there's a lot of measures out there of diversity that we could look at. It could be diversity in the boardroom, diversity in the work to workforce. It could be winning a working mother or similar award. It could be the number of gender controversies in the news.Shankar Vedantam: And so you decided to take on this study. What did you think was exciting about the idea? What did you think that you would get out of it?Alex Edmans: It was the potential to partner with her in the launch of this fund. So clearly, it was a preliminary discussion. We didn't discuss any terms or anything, but the reason for the meeting was implicitly that I can help her launch the fund. And this would have been amazing for my career. So not only might this be good financially, but I would be catapulted in to the mainstream from the academic backwaters in which I was used to working in. And also it's something I cared about intrinsically. So as an ethnic minority, I believe diversity would be very important. And if indeed you could launch a fund, which does well for society in terms of promotion of females, if this led to higher financial returns, that would be a win-win. And that would be good for me intrinsically, in addition to the instrumental benefits of financial returns and also perhaps greater recognition.Shankar Vedantam: So what did you do? Did you launch such a study, Alex?Alex Edmans: I did. I did do that study. And there were 24 different measures of female-friendliness available. And so I worked with one of my MBA students at Wharton, who was somebody who was a stellar student, who got an A-plus in my class. He had also told me that he was really interested in ethic or business. So we worked together, correlating these 24 different measures of performance with long-term financial returns.Shankar Vedantam: And what did you find?Alex Edmans: So unfortunately, we did not find what we hoped to find. So the vast majority of these measures found a negative relationship with long-term sharehold returns. There were only two measures which found a positive relationship. One of them was insignificant. So what that means is that the increase in returns was so small that it could have been due to luck rather than gender equality. But there was one result where there was a significant relationship between female friendliness and long-term sharehold returns.Shankar Vedantam: So what did you do? What did you go back and tell the investor who had asked for the study? What did you report?Alex Edmans: Well, what we should have done was just report the two ones that were successful. And that would have been great because then I might have partnered with her in the launch of this fund, but that would not be correct. So my job is a researcher. And as a researcher, you can't just bury some results because they don't support what you'd like to find. So we reported all of the results, including the huge number, which unfortunately found no relationship or a negative relationship. And we sent this to Shin Yi.Shankar Vedantam: Did Shin Yi accept the results? What was her reaction?Alex Edmans: She seemed disappointed, but she seemed to accept that this is just what the results were. She thanked me, and then that was the end of the project.Shankar Vedantam: Was this the end of the story, though?Alex Edmans: It unfortunately was not. So a few months later, I saw a press release where Shin Yi was launching a new fund based on gender diversity. And this was the very thesis that she'd asked me to study. And this was surprising because in the press release announcement, it said that there was a strong relationship between gender diversity and long term financial performance, which was the very thesis that I had found not to be true. So my results overall did not support it. But what she did find was some study done by a commercial company, which suggested there was a positive link between gender and financial performance.Shankar Vedantam: You call this idea data mining, and you say that both researchers as well as advocacy organizations are sometimes guilty of this. Can you explain what data mining is?Alex Edmans: Yeah, so data mining is that you start with a preferred result that you want to find, and then you mine the data, you run the data in so many different ways until you get a positive result. So here, there were so many measures of performance that you could have tried, also so many ways that you could have measured diversity and what she was able to find was a company which had delivered a positive result. Now here, the data mining was not done by Xinyi, it was done by the company, but why might the company have wanted to get a positive result? Because the idea that diverse companies perform better, that's something that people want to be true. If indeed you deliver the result, you might be picked up, and indeed their paper was picked up indeed by Xinyi, and that led to positive publicity for that organization.Shankar Vedantam: Now, I just want to clarify, Alex, that you're not saying that you think CEOs should get exorbitant payouts in excess of their workers, or that diversity is a bad thing. You're just saying we need to trust the evidence as it comes in and report it accurately.Alex Edmans: Absolutely, and this is irrespective of your personal views on the topic. So personally, I believe that diversity is important. It's an important thing. As an ethnic minority, it's something which is dear to me. But I believe that as a scientist, you should be like an expert witness in a criminal trial. Your role as a scientist is to state the evidence, just like your role as a witness is to state the evidence clearly irrespective of your views of the issue.Shankar Vedantam: I want to talk about another driver of misinformation. Tell me the story of a woman named Belle Gibson.Alex Edmans: Belle Gibson was a young Australian. She had cancer, and this cancer was terminal. She had tried radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and none of that worked. So instead, she tried clean eating, and she was blogging about her journey, and she made a miraculous recovery. She was cured from her cancer. And this story went viral. It was shared, it could have reached millions, and it encouraged other people to shun traditional medicine, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, for diet and exercise. She got a book deal, and this book deal was with Penguin Australia to have a cookbook showing what she did in order to cure herself from cancer. She also launched a healthy eating app called The Whole Pantry with recipes which were apparently curative of some of the most serious diseases.Shankar Vedantam: I mean, this is a fairytale story, Alex. So someone has cancer, they cure themselves with cancer, they become a best-selling author, a successful entrepreneur. An amazing story, Alex. Is there any problem with it?Alex Edmans: Yes, there's one problem and sadly a big problem. She never had cancer. So this was a lie. People shared a story without ever checking whether it was true.Shankar Vedantam: Some of the story is also about us, isn't it, Alex, which is that we wanted to believe that story, that story was appealing to us. Part of the reason she became a successful author and entrepreneur is because the story she was telling was a story that we actually wanted to hear.Alex Edmans: Absolutely, this was another example of confirmation bias. So why did we want to believe Belle's story? Because what it suggested is that you can achieve anything you want to, you can defeat even cancer if you just put your mind to it. And this is what we tell our kids. We tell them, you can do anything you put your mind to. And so the idea that she was shunning traditional medicine, these were the chemicals that you get injected with if you're doing curing therapy, for something like clean eating. And that again, accords with our worldview that something natural is better than the medicines of a giant corporation. So it sort of made sense to us. And she was inspiring. And so she inspired everybody that even if you were at a death store, you could have a second chance of life. We love those underdog stories. They are in the fairy tales we learn as kids, we read as kids. But this was apparently not a fairy tale. This was somebody who we could see, looked really well, and was eating healthily.Shankar Vedantam: So you say that the Bell Gibson story is an example of something called the narrative fallacy. What is the narrative fallacy here, Alex?Alex Edmans: The narrative fallacy is to see some events and believe that there is a link between the two. Is that we can weave in a narrative which supports our view of the world. So if we see, claim that she had cancer, now claim that she didn't have cancer anymore, was cured, and we can see that she was clean eating, we weave in the explanation that we want, which is the clean eating cured her cancer. Now, there's alternative explanations to this. And an alternative explanation could be that she lied, because nobody had ever checked a claim of cancer. Or even if she was cured, it could have been that she did other things to have been cured. Or maybe she didn't lie, but she was misdiagnosed in the first place. But those narratives don't feel so good to us, so we latch on to the one narrative that we like. Just going back to the criminal trial example, it would be like the police latching on to one particular suspect, because of some particular prejudice, and ignoring the alternative suspects.Shankar Vedantam: You know, we've talked elsewhere in the show about how the brain is a sense-making machine, and we are in some ways evolutionarily wired to draw connections and see patterns and seek out explanations. So we may have all of the world's information at our fingertips, but in some ways, we still have the same brain to make sense of it all.Alex Edmans: So Daniel Kahneman, in his book Thinking Fast and Slow, said there are two systems. There's the system two, which is rational. It knows to check the facts before ditching chemotherapy, check that this person actually did have cancer and was cured from clean eating. But there's the system one, which is the part of the brain that is activated by a fight or flight response. And that is one where we believe what we want to be true, and we're not acting in a discerning way. So even really smart people who most of the time can activate their system too, and this is a really well-functioning system, when indeed our emotions take over, we forget basic things like correlation is not causation, check the facts, or are there other narratives than the one that we're trying to ascribe?Shankar Vedantam: So we talked earlier about how the evidence can sometimes be unreliable, because researchers and policy makers can pick and choose their findings. But even when the data holds up, we sometimes can use data to make claims that are not necessarily supported by the data. You have a story about this. Tell me about the day that your son Casper was born, and everything you had learned about raising a newborn child.Alex Edmans: Yeah, so this was an amazing day, as anybody who's experienced the birth of a child will know. And so we had huge positive emotions, but then we realized we need to look after this little guy. And one of the big questions is what to feed him. And my wife and I thought, well, this is a no-brainer. We had taken a national trial birth trust parenting course, and the NCT is extremely well-respected within the UK. And they talked about many things, such as changing nappies, what to do if the baby is sick, but there were two classes devoted to breastfeeding. And while much of this was on how to breastfeed, it started with why breastfeed. The idea being that breastfeeding is tough, so if they convinced us of the benefits, then even if we were bleary-eyed and weary and wanted to reach for the bottle, we wouldn't because of the benefits. And so what they gave was a message which was also reinforced by the World Health Organization, which said that you should exclusively breastfeed at least for the first six months, no water, no formula, no other fluids. And so why did they give this advice? Because of a strong correlation based on data. And what was that correlation? Babies who were breastfed exclusively had better outcomes later in life. This could be mental outcomes such as child IQ. That could be physical outcomes as well, such as reduction in allergies and other potential ailments.Shankar Vedantam: So in some ways, the data linking breastfeeding with good outcomes in life is truly voluminous. I mean, they're probably warehouses of studies now that show the connection between these two things. But in the early days of your son's life, your doctors recommended feeding your child newborn formula along with breast milk. What was the reasoning here?Alex Edmans: Yeah, so the obstetrician said that in Casper's case, because he was born a little bit underweight, that it was important to top him up with formula. And also because he was born a little bit early, there was the risk of jaundice. So what is this? This is when there's lots of bilirubin in the system, and bilirubin is something which, if it accumulates, can cause jaundice. And in babies born early, this is particularly prevalent. And so the advantage of putting formula in is that that would flush out the bilirubin and reduce the risk of jaundice. So to us, it was not as black and white as the World Health Organization or the NCT course was suggesting.Shankar Vedantam: So what did you do? On the one hand, you have these warehouses of data telling you that breastfeeding is the only way to go, and your doctor is basically saying breastfeeding and formula. What did you do?Alex Edmans: So I did my own research and I thought this is my job as an academic, if I do this in my day job, shouldn't I also do this research in something as important as my child's well-being? So I did some Google searches myself. So I didn't just take at face value the studies quoted by the NCT, because as you're mentioning, if you have a particular viewpoint, you can find the study to support that viewpoint. But if I Google breastfeeding IQ, I found lots of studies which also reinforced the result that the NCT course had suggested. But then, when I clicked on those particular studies, it actually gave a more nuanced picture. So what they found is that if you did a simple comparison of breastfed versus bottle-fed kids, then there was a difference in IQ and other outcomes. But what some studies also did was they realized that you needed to make adjustments. Why? Because breastfed and bottle-fed babies differ according to many other dimensions, not just the feeding method. So breastfeeding is really tough. It can be difficult without family support. So maybe it was babies with a better home life, a superior home environment, that were breastfed. And it could be that home environment led to the better outcomes, not the feeding methodology. Also, older mothers tended to breastfeed. It could be the mother's more educated. There were other things such as the mother who was less likely to smoke is also more likely to breastfeed. And it could be all of those factors which were behind the child outcomes, not the feeding method. And in fact, when these studies controlled for those other factors, what that means is when they stripped out the influence of those other factors on IQ and the other outcomes, the link between breastfeeding and IQ was pretty much zero.Shankar Vedantam: So again, I don't think what I'm hearing you saying is that breastfeeding is ineffective or useless. You're basically saying that black and white thinking about breastfeeding might be the problem here.Alex Edmans: That is correct. And so why is this such an important issue is that many women feel guilt tripped into only breastfeeding and they feel guilty if they are considering something else. And this is problematic because it means that if they're so exhausted, then they are still trying to breastfeed. And that exhaustion can actually be bad not just for the mother, but also for the child's development. It also means that as a father, you can't get as involved in feeding, and feeding is one way to bond with your child. And so the message which is often perpetrated, which is never do anything other than breastfeeding, is where we're a careful look at the data is really important.Shankar Vedantam: The world makes it easy for us to find facts that confirm our pre-existing beliefs, and seek out stories that tell us our values and our hearts are in the right place. So how can we know whether to trust what we read, watch and hear? When we come back, strategies for sifting through the information coming at us every day, and fighting back against falsehoods and bad actors. You're listening to Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedantam. This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedantam. When we think of misinformation, we think of politicians making outlandish claims, or self-proclaimed experts selling snake oil. But in reality, misinformation isn't always obvious and not easily avoidable. Much of the time, the things we fall for are shaped by our own psychological needs and biases. Economist Alex Edmans is the author of the book May Contain Lies, How Stories, Statistics and Studies Exploit Our Biases and What We Can Do About It. Alex has a powerful example of misinformation in his own life. He once watched an inspiring talk given by an acrobat with the entertainment company Cirque du Soleil.Alex Edmans: So what this talk was about was the idea of the 10,000 hours rule. So people wondered how this guy James was so able to perform amazing acrobatics. And he said this was not due to any hidden gene or special innate talent, but just hours and hours of deliberate practice.Shankar Vedantam: So what the acrobat was following is what's known as the 10,000 hours rule, which was popularized by the famous author Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers. The idea was you could be successful in a number of domains if you put in 10,000 hours of deliberate effort. Why was this idea appealing to you, Alex?Alex Edmans: Because this confirmed everything I thought to be true. So you're told when you're young, practice makes perfect, you can do anything you put your mind to. And also it's empowering. This suggests that you're not a slave to genetics. If you want anything in life, you can get it as long as you're willing to put in the effort. And it also accords with our views of good work ethic. We like to believe that the people who succeed are not just given some magic powers, but they really had to work in order to get where they were.Shankar Vedantam: Now, besides being an economist, I understand you're also an avid tennis player, and you tried to imbibe the 10,000-hour rule in improving your tennis game. Tell me what you did.Alex Edmans: Yeah, so I love to play tennis and still do, and so I played quite a lot of tennis during my time at MIT when I was a PhD student with a couple of friends. And one guy called Florian Ederer, he always wanted to play a game against me. He always wanted to keep score. But to me, I already had enough stress doing my PhD. I didn't want to add extra stress with this game. And also Florian Ederer is F Ederer, so I was intimidated by keeping score against somebody whose name was effectively Federer. But what the 10,000 Hours rule suggested is all that mattered was the hours that you put in. So it didn't matter whether you're playing a game or knocking the ball around. So I thought, let me just knock the ball around because that is just fun. And I'm getting my hours in. I'm moving myself towards the magic number.Shankar Vedantam: Alex didn't just follow the 10,000 Hours rule. He preached it to others.Alex Edmans: So I had actually used this 10,000 Hours rule in my class when I was an assistant professor at Wharton. I typically gave as my final lecture some advice about general life, similar to a last lecture that you sometimes see professors give. And the 10,000 Hours rule was often featured. And when I talked about this, I get knowing nods as if this was a truth universally acknowledged.Shankar Vedantam: A few years later, Alex moved to London. He began a part-time position at another college where he planned a lecture on the growth mindset. This is the idea that you can achieve much more when you don't believe your abilities are limited. With hard work and dedication, you can accomplish more than you ever thought possible. The 10,000-hours rule was to take center stage in the lecture, so Alex figured he should go back and read the original claim carefully. He found a couple of things that worried him.Alex Edmans: So the first was I had actually learned an incorrect version of the rule. So Malcolm Gladwell had never claimed that 10,000 hours leads to success. That would suggest that 10,000 hours was sufficient for success. Instead, he claimed that 10,000 hours was necessary for success. What is the difference? So Gladwell suggested you might need talent, but talent alone is not going to get you there. You need talent plus hard work. But the second issue is Gladwell is far from blameless either, because even his version of the rule was not backed up by underlying data. So the main paper that he cites in support of his rule, he calls it exhibit A in the book, is a paper by Anders Ericsson, a psychologist, which looks at violinists. So that should already ring a bell. Why, violinists is one specific activity, and yet this rule apparently applied to becoming an acrobat, being a chess player, being a neurosurgeon, but those are all quite different contexts. But let's take that aside. What did this violin study look at? It looked at violin students at the Berlin Academy of Music. It had the teachers classify them according to whether they thought they were good or not. So number one, this never actually measured success. So Malcolm Gladwell's book is about the story of success. Here, this was just teachers' perceptions of whether they would be good. And so that again suggests there could be alternative theories. If indeed you know that the student is practicing a lot, you're much more likely to say that they are successful, right, because your violin ability is not something easily measurable, like a half-marathon time. So if you know somebody's working hard, you probably think they're doing better.Shankar Vedantam: And there were more problems with the study. It asked students how many hours they had practiced from age five onwards. Some of the students were in their twenties at the time of the study.Alex Edmans: Another issue is that how would you know how long you practiced? Could you remember 18 years ago when you were aged five how much you practiced back then? You probably couldn't. And again, this could be skewing things. Why? Because if you know you're doing really well right now, you're a great violinist, you think, I must have practiced. And if you're not doing so well, then you think, well, I can't have practiced that hard. How you're doing right now affects your reports of your practice rather than the practice affecting whether you're successful. And finally, and this is particularly pertinent for me, the study by Erickson never said it's just about the quantity of hours. He also highlighted the quality. So what matters is perhaps deliberate practice guided by a coach, which is difficult and uncomfortable, not just jam sessions. And my hitting around with Florian Edera without keeping score, that was the equivalent of just jamming around, whereas keeping score and playing a game, that was what was going to get me better.Shankar Vedantam: You know, Alex, I think one thing this story tells me is that there are ideas and concepts that get into the stream of public life. And once they are there, they take on a life of their own. So even if Anders Eriksson and Malcolm Gladwell come along to say, you know, that is not really what I said, that is not really what I meant. The sheer inertia of the collective belief now becomes almost impossible to stop.Alex Edmans: So I think there's a phrase that the lies are spread halfway around the world before the truth has put the shoes on. And this is what we see in terms of misinformation.Shankar Vedantam: Let's talk about some ways in which we can combat these problems. You recommend a few exercises that can help all of us. And one of them is called, consider the opposite. What is the consider the opposite exercise, Alex?Alex Edmans: So the consider the opposite idea is to try to get around this problem of confirmation bias. So again, what is confirmation bias? We latch on to something uncritically if it confirms what we want to be true, and we reject something out of hand if we don't want it to be true. So why is this interesting? Because what it means is that we are able to show discernment. If there's a study that we don't like, we can come up with a whole host of reasons for why it's unreliable. And so what I'm doing with the Consider the Opposite Rule is to try to activate the discernment that we already have and we use selectively for studies that we don't like, but now apply it to studies that we do like. So maybe just by giving an example, this will come to life. So let's say I want an excuse after finishing this podcast to drink loads of red wine. So I might look up on Google why red wine is good for your health, and I find studies that people who drink red wine live longer. But consider the opposite. We'll ask, what if I found the opposite result? People who drink red wine live shorter. How would I try to attack that result? I might say, well, maybe people who drink red wine are poor. They can't afford champagne. They have to drink red wine instead. And it's that poverty which leads to a shorter life, not the red wine. Well, but now I've alerted myself to the alternative explanation of income being the driver. Then I should ask, is this the driver of the result that I do want? Again, red wine is correlated with longer life. Is it the case that the people who can afford red wine are richer and it's their wealth that leads to the longer life? So the idea of considering the opposite is to trigger the discernment that we exercise selectively and make sure it's now universal.Shankar Vedantam: One of the other techniques that you recommend that can help us combat misinformation and confirmation bias is curiosity. And perhaps that's not a technique as much as an orientation, but talk about how curiosity can be a defense against our own biases.Alex Edmans: Yeah. So this is also interesting because often we think that just general knowledge is perhaps a way to avoid misinformation because the smarter we are, the more able we are to separate the weak from the chaff. But unfortunately, this is not the case. There are some studies which actually suggest that knowledge makes things worse because the more sophisticated we are, the more intelligent we are, the easier it is for us to slam evidence we don't like, and to come up with reasons for why we don't want to believe it. But again, we deploy this only selectively. We don't deploy this to the evidence that we do like. So even if knowledge doesn't work, well, actually curiosity does. So there was a study which looked at the effect of knowledge, found it had no effect, but curiosity did have an effect. So these researchers found that the more curious you were, the more balanced you were on issues such as climate change. In particular, your views in climate change were less linked to your political affiliation. So you were going based on the evidence, not based on your identity.Shankar Vedantam: You also recommend that people ask themselves questions, questions like, do I want this conclusion to be true? Or is this conclusion extreme? Or does this conclusion imply universality? And I guess all these questions are ways of basically asking people to slow down the freight train of their conclusions to basically say, is there an alternative explanation that I'm not seeing?Alex Edmans: Absolutely. Again, it's just to exercise discernment, which we already do sometimes and selectively, but let's try to do this all the time, including and in particular, for things that we do want to be true.Shankar Vedantam: You know, one thing that strikes me here, Alex, is that we often feel that misinformation is the province of our enemies and our opponents. So we all find it easy to see our opponents as being misled by false information, our political opponents in particular. We imagine that they are the source of false information. But one pattern in our conversation that I'm gleaning is that one of the greatest sources of our vulnerability is in fact not our enemies, but our friends. We're skeptical when our enemies and opponents talk. We want to believe our friends.Alex Edmans: We do, and we also want to believe ourselves. So an even greater enemy than our friends is perhaps ourselves, because it means that we are latching on to particular types of information. And while you might think, well, this is a depressing conclusion, is that our friends and ourselves are the cause, it's actually an uplifting conclusion, because it means that the solutions are within ourselves. Because if the source of misinformation was the enemy, they're going to keep producing misinformation, we can't do anything about it. But if indeed the problem is the way that we respond to information is based on our biases, we latch on to what we want to be true, we ignore what we don't, just by changing this, using strategies such as consider the opposite, that will allow us to be able to combat the misinformation that we see.Shankar Vedantam: Alex Edmans is the author of the book May Contain Lies, How Stories, Statistics and Studies Exploit Our Biases and What We Can Do About It. Alex, thank you so much for joining me today on Hidden Brain.Alex Edmans: Thanks, Shankar, really enjoyed the conversation.Shankar Vedantam: Hidden Brain is produced by Hidden Brain Media. Our audio production team includes Annie Murphy-Paul, Kristen Wong, Laura Quarell, Ryan Katz, Autumn Barnes, Andrew Chadwick, and Nick Woodbury. Tara Boyle is our executive producer. I'm Hidden Brain's executive editor. We end today with a story from our sister show, My Unsung Hero. This My Unsung Hero segment is brought to you by Discover. Our story comes from Angela Zhao in Beijing. In 2020, when Angela was just 10 years old, she entered her first piano competition. She was excited, but right before it was her turn to perform, she started to doubt herself.Angela Zhao: What if I played the wrong notes? What if I forgot the notes? What if I just messed up? Then, a competitor of mine made me confident. She was the person before me to perform on the stage. Before it was my turn to go onto the stage and perform my piece, she looked at me and smiled with thumb up. Her smile made the stage light lighter and warmer to me. She made me stop thinking too much, and started to think that I can do that. Her smile made me think that the stage is just right for me. And the piano is just right for me. Most importantly, that smile made me think that, today, I'm just right, and I can perform on the stage. After my performance, I can see that she clapped for me and looked straight at me. As a competitor, she gave me respect and helped the shy girl to face the stage. And I'll take that smile as a precious gift.Shankar Vedantam: Angela Zhao lives in Beijing, China. The piano you're hearing right now is Angela's performance in that very competition for which she won the Silver Award. This segment of My Unsung Hero was brought to you by Discover. Discover believes everyone deserves to feel special and celebrates those who exhibit this spirit in their communities. I'm a longstanding card member myself. Learn more at discover.com/creditcard. For more of our work, please consider joining our podcast subscription. Hidden Brain Plus is where you'll find exclusive interviews and deeper dives into the ideas we explore on the show. You can try Hidden Brain Plus with a free seven-day trial at apple.co/hiddenbrain. If you're an Android user, you can sign up at support.hiddenbrain.org. Those sites again are apple.co/hiddenbrain and support.hiddenbrain.org. I'm Shankar Vedantam. See you soon.

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When we think about misinformation, we often focus on blatant errors or deliberate attempts to deceive us. But in recent years, social scientists have found that misinformation comes in many flavors - many of which are far more subtle than obvious falsehoods.

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Deana A. Rohlinger, “Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America” (Cambridge UP, 2015) - New Books Network

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Deana A. Rohlinger has just written Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America(Cambridge University Press, 2015). Rohlinger is associate professor of sociology at Florida State University.

In the last several weeks, the podcast has featured a variety of political scientists who study interest groups and social movements. This week, Deana Rohlinger brings her perspective as a sociologist to the subject. She examines the way four policy organizations with an interest in abortion policy (National Right to Life Committee, National Organization of Women, Planned Parenthood Federation, and Concerned Women for America) interact with the media. Rohlinger finds quite different strategies for how to court the media, but also in how each organization responds to crises. She uses interviews with organizational leaders to deepen what we know about how social movements and interest groups employ a media strategy

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Deana A. Rohlinger, “Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America” (Cambridge UP, 2015) - New Books Network

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Deana A. Rohlinger has just written Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America(Cambridge University Press, 2015). Rohlinger is associate professor of sociology at Florida State University.

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C. J. Pascoe, "Nice Is Not Enough: Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High" (U California Press, 2023) - New Books Network

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Nice is not enough: Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High (University of California Press, 2023) by Dr. C. J. Pascoe is a provocative story of contemporary high school that argues that a shallow culture of kindness can do more lasting harm than good.

Based on two years of research, Nice Is Not Enough shares striking dispatches from one high school's "regime of kindness" to underline how the culture operates as a band-aid on persistent inequalities. Through incisive storytelling and thoughtful engagement with students, this brilliant study by Dr. Pascoe exposes uncomfortable truths about American politics and our reliance on individual solutions instead of profound systemic change.

Nice Is Not Enough brings readers into American High, a middle- and working-class high school characterized by acceptance, connection, and kindness—a place where, a prominent sign states, "there is no room for hate." Here, inequality is narrowly understood as a problem of individual merit, meanness, effort, or emotion rather than a structural issue requiring deeper intervention. Surface-level sensitivity allows American High to avoid "political" topics related to social inequality based on race, sex, gender, or class. Being nice to each other, Dr. Pascoe reveals, does not serve these students or solve the broader issues we face; however, a true politics of care just might.

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Nice Is Not Enough

Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High

Summary

Nice is not enough: Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High (University of California Press, 2023) by Dr. C. J. Pascoe is a provocative story of contemporary high school that argues that a shallow culture of kindness can do more lasting harm than good.

Based on two years of research, Nice Is Not Enough shares striking dispatches from one high school's "regime of kindness" to underline how the culture operates as a band-aid on persistent inequalities. Through incisive storytelling and thoughtful engagement with students, this brilliant study by Dr. Pascoe exposes uncomfortable truths about American politics and our reliance on individual solutions instead of profound systemic change.

Nice Is Not Enough brings readers into American High, a middle- and working-class high school characterized by acceptance, connection, and kindness-a place where, a prominent sign states, "there is no room for hate." Here, inequality is narrowly understood as a problem of individual merit, meanness, effort, or emotion rather than a structural issue requiring deeper intervention. Surface-level sensitivity allows American High to avoid "political" topics related to social inequality based on race, sex, gender, or class. Being nice to each other, Dr. Pascoe reveals, does not serve these students or solve the broader issues we face; however, a true politics of care just might.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.

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Dr. Miranda Melcher (Ph.D., Defense Studies, Kings College, London) studies post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with deep analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.

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C. J. Pascoe, "Nice Is Not Enough: Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High" (U California Press, 2023) - New Books Network

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Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High Nice is not enough: Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High (University of California Press, 2023) by Dr. C. J. Pascoe is a provocative story of contemporary high school that argues that a shallow culture of kindness can do more lasting harm than good.

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Millions of Americans are poor, food insecure, housing cost-burdened, or medically uninsured. This is where the U.S. social safety net comes in – with programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and unemployment insurance  – to catch their fall. But how many experience a smooth landing? And how can society provide tangible relief to those who miss the net entirely? We sought answers from professor of public policy Chris Howard, who broke down what’s included when we talk about the “social safety net” and proposed ways to mend the holes.

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Millions of Americans are poor, food insecure, housing cost-burdened, or medically uninsured. This is where the U.S. social safety net comes in - with programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and unemployment insurance - to catch their fall. But how many experience a smooth landing? And how can society provide tangible relief to those who miss the net entirely? We sought answers from professor of public policy Chris Howard, who broke down what's included when we talk about the "social safety net" and proposed ways to mend the holes.

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Millions of Americans are poor, food insecure, housing cost-burdened, or medically uninsured. This is where the U.S. social safety net comes in - with programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and unemployment insurance - to catch their fall. But how many experience a smooth landing?

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In this Scholars Strategy Network episode, Professor Megan Welsh Carroll discusses homelessness in the U.S., where over half a million people were unhoused on a single night in 2022. She highlights how racial discrimination, criminalization, and rising housing costs sustain this crisis, while inadequate public services—especially restrooms—create severe health risks. As director of San Diego State’s Project for Sanitation Justice, she describes how local solutions can address structural inequality and serve as models nationwide.

Topics linked to Chapter 7: Social Stratification:

Poverty and deprivation: homelessness as absolute and relative deprivation.

Invisibility of poverty: residential segregation and lack of services.

Structural inequality: housing costs, racial discrimination, and criminalization.

Social stratification and life chances: health, dignity, and opportunity.

Critique of the “culture of poverty”: focusing on systemic barriers.

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Segregation in our Schools | Scholars Strategy Network

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According to a recent federal report, while racial diversity is at an all time high in the K-12 public school system, racial inequality and segregation on school campuses persists, and continues to increase.

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While news over Britney Spears’s 13-year conservatorship turned what was a largely unfamiliar term into one most Americans now know, involuntary care over adults with certain types of disabilities or severe mental illness is nothing new in the United States. In fact, the contentious battle between civil rights and health care needs goes back decades. Professor Alex V. Barnard explained the history of conservatorships in the state of California, examined the government’s role in overseeing involuntary care, and proposed ways the conservatorship system can be improved for those it seeks to help.

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The Year of Strikes | Scholars Strategy Network

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From healthcare strikes to auto workers strikes to the Writers Guild and Hollywood actors strikes, 2023 was an eventful year for union activity. Professor Nathan Wilmers examined the implications of that activity and what it may mean for the future of the labor movement as employees fight for fair wages, equality, and protection in the workplace. Importantly, Professor Wilmers highlighted the history of the labor movement over the past few decades – as it may provide some answers for the future.

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 Birthrates Are Plummeting Worldwide. Why?

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Money makes life easier. We can give our kids better lives than our ancestors could have imagined. We don’t expect to bear the grief of burying a child. For a long time, a big, boisterous family has been associated with a joyful, fulfilled life. So why are most of us now choosing to have small ones?

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The demographer Jennifer D. Sciubba examines why families — even in wealthy nations — are having fewer children.

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The Deep Conflict Between Our Work and Parenting Ideals

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Caitlyn Collins is a sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis and the author of “Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving.” To understand how family policies affect the experience of child-rearing, she interviewed over a hundred middle-class mothers across four countries with different parenting cultures and levels of social support for families: the United States, Sweden, Italy and Germany. And what she finds is that policies can greatly relieve parents’ stress, but cultural norms like “intensive parenting” remain consistent.

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Opinion | The Deep Conflict Between Our Work and Parenting Ideals

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The sociologist Caitlyn Collins discusses why parenting feels so difficult in America.