The Daily Northwestern interviewed Iman Sediqe (Chef and Sociologist), who appeared on Fox Network’s cooking show “MasterChef” on April 22, about the intersection between cooking and sociology, her blog “Imanistan” and her “MasterChef” experience. She explains that “food can be something that crosses boundaries, crosses languages, crosses cultures and allows people to get outside of their comfort zone.” Sedique had a passion for making food and would share her beautiful food photos with thousands of her friends on Facebook. Her photos and YouTube videos were a great way to share her beautiful dishes with people who wanted to make Afghan food. When MasterChef reached out she was able to share “how beautiful Afghan culture is and how beautiful Afghanistan is.”

In an article for The Conversation, Katie E. Corcoran (Associate Professor of Sociology at West Virginia University) and Christopher P. Scheitle (Professor of Sociology at West Virginia University) argue that most U.S. adults occasionally attend multiple congregations of religious services. They fielded a nationally representative survey in 2023 asking over 2,000 adults about their religious beliefs and activities. Their analysis found that about 12% adults regularly attend multiple congregations and 45% occasionally multiple congregations. Corcoran and Scheitle’s research combats previous religious theory that assumes people are exclusively loyal to one place of worship. Their research “shows that many individuals across regions and religions take a more flexible approach. They might attend one place because they appreciate its worship style, but they also attend another to hang out with a particular friend group.”

The Chosun Daily ran an article about Lee Seung-yeon’s (Sociologist) book which critiques therapy culture and the “society of cutting ties”—a cultural trait found among the MZ generation. She expresses her concern over the phenomenon explaining that “human relationships [are] reduced to cost-benefit calculations, even as people feel increasingly lonely yet readily cut ties.” Lee Seung-yeon argues against therapy culture which reduces humans to psychological profiles. “In a culture where identity is understood monologically rather than dialogically, others are not seen as pathways to understanding oneself but as contaminants of one’s true self,” Lee Seung-yeon warns. “When pain is defined as a disease, those suffering are Othered as qualitatively different.”

Heather Hensman Kettrey (Associate Professor of Sociology at Clemson University), Heidi Zinzow (Professor of Psychology at Clemson University), and Megan Rebecca Fallon (Interpersonal Violence Prevention Coordinator at Clemson University) wrote an article for The Conversation discussing how students who have experienced sexual misconduct (or know someone who has) expect their university to mishandle these situations. They surveyed about 2,500 students and later interviewed students at a large U.S. university about their experiences and perceptions of sexual misconduct. Findings show that “college students who experience sexual assault also feel institutional betrayal.” A common theme from the interviews and focus groups “was that participants believed their university avoided addressing harmful behavior because administrators prioritized the institution’s reputation over student well-being.” In the participants’ own words their university is more focused on “damage control” than to “try and help the victim.”

IOL Cape Argus News wrote a piece about Elena Moore’s (Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Cape Town) inaugural lecture titled Who Cares? The Directions of State–Family Relationships in Changing Times. Moore urges society to rethink the burden of care and argues that the work of care is often invisible. With a team of 40 researchers spanning across Ireland, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Malawi, Moore explores how families, government, and communities share the responsibility of care. In South Africa, Moore’s team found that there are care grant opportunities, but there are also major barriers in the application process. “We all want good care,” Moore said. “But we also want just care relations.”

Abdelilah Farah (Moroccan Sociologist) wrote a commentary piece for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace explaining how Morocco’s Gen Z is developing a new protest culture. The members of Generation Z are mobilizing in an age of rapid technological expansion where they have “developed their political consciousness within a globalized digital environment.” They are departing from traditional modes of protest expression and drawing on cultural influences such as anime, video games, and contemporary music. The commentary explains that “the digital protests of Morocco’s Generation Z can be understood as primarily cultural rather than purely political acts.” Generation Z  maintains a dual consciousness of being “globally connected yet locally grounded in experiences of hardship.”

In an article for The Conversation, Adam Coutts (Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge) argues that the U.K. government’s new action plan Protecting What Matters–which centers social cohesion–is weak and vague. Coutts explains that the “plan frames division through religion, identity and Islamophobia, which are outcomes and proxies, not root causes.” He offers a better framework centering “community resilience: the measurable capacity of neighbourhoods to absorb shocks, resist divisive narratives and recover from crises.”

EWTN News wrote a piece on Sean M. Theriault’s (Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin) researches how Pope Francis differs from his predecessors. In the study, he focuses on the Pope’s actions regarding policy, appointments, and papal trips. Theriault found that Francis focused more on issues like immigration and refugees than traditional diplomatic concerns in his papal addresses. He accelerated diversity by appointing cardinals from Laos, Sweden, and Brunei. Francis also sought to spend more time with marginalized visiting prisons and homeless centers on his papal trips. Theriault says that “in the long run, Pope Francis’ legacy is going to be far more pronounced precisely because he was succeeded by Leo, who is bringing along the whole Church and institutionalizing that vision in a way Francis just did not know how to do.”

The Guardian ran an article about the ways Florida sociology professors are quietly defying restrictions on teaching race and gender. Many are acting out of professional responsibility rather than defiance in order to provide students with a full rigorous education. Zachary Levenson (Associate Professor of Sociology at Florida International University) comments on the nature of the restriction saying, “What I find most concerning is that we’re in this phase now where instead of telling us what not to teach, they’re telling us what to teach.” Other scholars argue that removing examination of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation will hollow out the field and mischaracterize the discipline. The bans are also impacting students whose identities, history, and lived experiences are being dismissed as unimportant. Faculty have built networks across all the campuses to exchange information, organize learning opportunities, and draft public statements or seek legal analysis. However, tensions are high as tenure and adjunct positions are being challenged and professors face risks of public scrutiny and censorship. In spite of the heightened scrutiny professors refuse restrictions and continue teaching, uncertain of the future of the discipline’s critical core under immense political scrutiny.

The Daily Mississippian reviewed Amy McDowell’s (Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Chair at the University of Mississippi) new book Whispers in the Pews: Evangelical Uniformity in a Divided America. The book is based on an ethnographic study of group culture at an evangelical church that describes itself as welcoming and inclusive. McDowell observed that people within the church community often refrained from speaking about social issues: “People don’t express their doubts, opinions or their disagreements in church spaces,” McDowell said. “People really try not to talk about that stuff.”

New research from Christopher M. Pieper (Senior Lecturer of Sociology at Baylor University) examines the ways the foundation of social life may be reshaped by the rapid advancement of generative AI, mixed‑reality platforms and the global Metaverse. To investigate the shifts in societal morality, relation, and culture Pieper worked with Justin J. Nelson (Associate Professor of Sociology at Campbell University) to develop the theory of “gamism”, a “dominant ideology of our digital future – one that makes all experiences competitive, quantifiable, commercialized and entertaining for the individual user.” This theory operates on the idea that game-like interactions will influence our understanding of self and engagement in social institutions leading to four possible outcomes: utopian, dystopian, balanced, and wild card. This story was covered by Baylor University News.

James Densley (Professor of Criminology and Criminal justice at Metro State University) and Jillian Peterson (Professor of Criminology at Hamline University) wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times about the shift in mass shooter profile and the connection to online platforms. The profile of a typical mass shooter has shifted from a middle-aged isolated man to a younger person highly connected to online social networks. Densely and Peterson explain that both profiles are in deep despair, but younger people have been convinced “that in acting violently he or she is carrying out the only meaningful act possible in a world otherwise devoid of meaning.” Their investigation led them to a trail of online platform activity that celebrates mass murders on Tumblr, Telegram, Discord, TikTok and Roblox. The same algorithm that adjusts to your preferences now leads boys and girls to true crime communities. True crime communities take despair and turn it into a mass shooting performative script. Online platforms have flagged and taken down many of these forums, but their constant resurfacing requires more intentional change to divert attention away from mass shootings and interrupt this destructive performance.

In a recent public lecture, Zeynep Tufekci (Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University) discussed how artificial intelligence, good or bad, will bring destabilizing change. She highlighted three AI advancements that society is not prepared to handle: machines that speak like humans, AI photos and video, and AI imitating human speech. Tufekci encourages young students to start asking “tough questions” and think deeply about this age of rapid advancements in AI and the disillusion it will bring. This story was covered in Today at Elon.

Ashley Mears (Professor and Chair of Cultural Sociology and New Media at the University of Amsterdam) wrote an op-ed for Le Monde, discussing how wealthy men use the normalized presence of women beside them to build ties among themselves and develop a form of capital. Mears describes the Jeffrey Epstein affair as another example of the way elite circles systematically exploit women and girls. “Far beyond Epstein himself, across male-dominated elite spheres, young women circulate through intermediaries like “promoters” − men paid to bring girls to parties organized by clubs or wealthy individuals,” Mears explains. “Their circulation is normalized and entirely visible.” In her most recent book, Very Important People, she spent 18 months going from New York to the Hamptons, from Miami to Saint-Tropez, investigating the mechanisms of this systemic circuit of money and beauty at VIP upscale clubs and jet-set parties.

Daniel Perez G. recently wrote about Zygmunt Bauman’s (Philosopher and Sociologist) work on social structures. An idea he developed “liquid modernity,” which is the belief that “nothing is meant to last” recently received attention for the way it captured his beliefs on the fragility of romantic bonds. He believes this type of modernity has exchanged stability for constant change and describes the impact this is having on romance using his theory “liquid love”. This theory explains how consumer culture and the crave for individual freedom and flexibility perpetuates the idea of having options and weakens romantic bonds. Relationships are moving away from long-term commitment to temporary arrangements. Bauman warns and cautions that the ideal of the “liquid” individual blocks personal growth by avoiding emotional pain.

Leana Cabral (Researcher at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at Columbia University) wrote an article for The Conversation about anti-Black attitudes in elementary and middle schools in Philadelphia. From interviews with current and former Black students across three generations, Cabral found that students consistently described feeling like their white teachers had low academic expectations of them, they received harsher punishments than non-Black students, and that they “had to work twice as hard” as white students. Cabral also found that some students experienced classrooms that “affirmed their Blackness and did instill in them a sense of pride,” primarily in schools with a majority of Black teachers.

ProPublica ran an article describing how immigrants face harsher sentencing than U.S. citizens. The article cites Michael Light’s (Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin) research on citizenship and sentencing in California and Texas. In Texas, Light found that noncitizens received 62% longer sentences than citizens with the same charges and similar criminal records.

Reformed Journal featured Ryan Burge’s (Professor of practice at the John C. Danforth Center at Washington University in St. Louis) new book, The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us. The book discusses the “hollowing out” of American religious life as a space to find belonging and community “no matter how much or how little one believed in Jesus Christ that particular Sunday.” Burge argues that “American religion has become an ‘all or none’ proposition—conservative evangelical religion or none at all,” leaving little space for theological or political moderates. 

While diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programing is often criticized as politicizing workplaces, Celina McEwen (Senior Researcher in Sociology of Work at the University of Technology Sydney), Alison Pullen (Professor of Gender, Work and Organization at Macquarie University), and Carl Rhodes (Professor of Business and Society at the University of Technology Sydney) argue that DEI is “failing because it refuses to be political at all.” In an article for The Conversation, they discuss three common shortcomings of DEI programs: 1) treating people as categories, 2) treating diversity as a “checkbox,” and 3) avoiding substantial discussions of power.

The Brink interviewed Japonica Brown-Saracino (Professor of Sociology at Boston University) about her new book The Death and Life of Gentrification: A New Map of a Persistent Idea. In the book, Brown-Saracino describes how the world gentrification has evolved from describing neighborhood change (or, brick-and-mortar gentrification) to a broader metaphor. “I think [gentrification has] become shorthand for talking about social inequalities and capitalism without having to call those things by name—to say that something’s been appropriated, or that something’s become more upscale,” Brown-Saracino explains.

In an article for The Conversation, Meaghan Furlano (Sociology PhD Student at Western University) argues that recent trends of “heteropessimism” and “decentering men” are not novel, but rather part of a longer history of frustration in heterosexual relationships. Furlano describes how the division of domestic labor and the idea that women “can effortlessly balance work and family responsibilities in workplaces not designed to support them” have sustained frustrations across decades.

Tressie McMillan Cottom (Professor at the University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science) wrote an op-ed for The New York Times, discussing violence and phone recording by ICE agents in Minneapolis. “The gun and the phone are both weapons, one a tool for violence and the other a tool of control. […] ICE knows that it cannot shoot us all. But the Department of Homeland Security is close to being able to track us all.” McMillan Cottom argues that big data collection and surveillance are threats to our civil liberties. “Many of us have come to believe that our data is something outside of ourselves, when, in fact, data is our self.”

USA Today ran a story on the difficulty and strain of caregiving duties in romantic relationships. The article features Laura Mauldin’s (Associate Professor of Social and Critical Inquiry at the University of Connecticut) new book, In Sickness and in Health, which shares caregiving love stories and describes how inaccessible healthcare and low support for caregivers impacts relationships. “There’s a romanticization of the idea of ‘the one,’” Mauldin commented. “Because we don’t have robust social safety nets, that love that ‘the one’ has then gets transformed into unending, unrecognized labor that really threatens the stability of our relationships.”

Kate Price (Associate Research Scientist at Wellesley Centers for Women) wrote an article for The Conversation on how the law–particularly state law–can further harm sexually exploited minors. Price explains that children can be criminally charged with prostitution in 35 states, which “risks retraumatizing victims by labeling and stigmatizing them as criminal.” Price notes that black and brown children are at a higher risk for being prosecuted.

Cynthia Miller-Idriss (Professor of Public Affairs at American University) appeared on The Contrarian, discussing the connections between violence and masculinity. Miller-Idriss describes how people may gravitate toward a “protector” narrative of masculinity in times of economic hardship (when a “provider” narrative of masculinity is less achievable). Miller-Idriss notes that we are in a cultural moment of “hyper masculinity that associates being a man with being violent” and this image appears in recruitment for federal agencies. 

Tressie McMillan Cottom (Professor at the University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science) appeared on PBS News Hour to discuss how to fight political exhaustion. McMillan Cottom describes how we often feel tired from passively taking in negative news: “We are tired then, not from doing too much, but from doing too little.” She suggests that political action, rather than disengagement, is the antidote to political exhaustion: “People who feel agentic aren’t as tired; they are not as easily overwhelmed.”

Murat Haner (Assistant Professor  of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Arizona State University), Justin Pickett (Professor of Criminal Justice at the University at Albany), and Melissa Sloan (Professor of Sociology & Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, University of South Florida) wrote an article for The Conversation on U.S. political violence. In the 1970s, the bulk of political violence was aimed at property, now the targets are specific people. In a survey study, the authors found that belief in white nationalism was the strongest predictor for support of political violence and argued that “white nationalism poses substantial danger to U.S. political stability.”