As people deal with the persistent stressors of pandemic life, they are increasingly turning to mindfulness apps like Calm and Headspace to soothe their anxieties. Corporate wellness programs have jumped on the bandwagon, sponsoring these apps as a way to promote well-being for their employees, whose lives have suddenly moved almost completely online. In this essay, Jenna Wortham details the complexities of corporate wellness programs and the mindfulness apps sponsored by them. As you read (or listen!) to Wortham’s essay, note the connections she makes among corporate wellness programs, surveillance capitalism, the gig economy, and rising pay disparities in the... Continue reading

By Jonathan Wynn Here’s a situation that you might be familiar with: After months of being careful with a very small "pod" of three families, they decided to take a risk and allow another person into their trusted group. That... Continue reading

By Stacy Palen You may have noticed that, by now, we have acquired quite an enormous catalog of materials for teaching astronomy. There are so many different pieces, in fact, that even I sometimes find them overwhelming or forget that I did something! I find it useful, then, to pick... Continue reading

By Jenny Enos, Sociology Doctoral Student, Rutgers University Long considered “man’s best friend,” dogs have undoubtedly come to occupy a significant role in U.S. society. Their popularity with Americans is striking: an estimated 63.4 million households owned a dog in... Continue reading

By Janis Prince Inniss The breakout star of the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris inauguration was not Biden or Harris, or even Bernie Sanders! Amanda Gorman takes that title as evidenced by the media swirling around her, her new modeling gig, and... Continue reading

By Stacy Palen Heads up, everyone! NASA is making another extraordinary rover landing on Mars. Mars is an easy target for students to view this month and is easily visible between sunset and midnight. It’s the only bright planet visible just now and is typically easy for students to identify... Continue reading

Scientists and space explorers face a conundrum: What if upcoming scientific missions to the Moon end up contaminating the very ice researchers are so eager to study? In this January 5, 2021 Nature article, Alexandra Witze explains how experts are determining ways to balance their scientific goals with their responsibility to act as stewards of the Moon for future generations. Alexandra Witze, "Will Increasing Traffic to the Moon Contaminate Its Precious Ice?" Nature, 5 January 2021 Why is lunar ice so valuable for scientists? What can researchers learn about the Moon and the Earth by studying samples of lunar ice?... Continue reading

By Karen Sternheimer On January 20, 2021, along with nearly 39 million people across the country, I watched the presidential inauguration. An inauguration is more than just a swearing-in ceremony; it includes a presidential address, followed by events like the... Continue reading

By Karen Sternheimer Writing a literature review demonstrates that you are familiar with previous research and theoretical concepts related to your research topic. The “literature” includes scholarly publications written by primarily by researchers in your discipline. Reports of research and... Continue reading

By Jonathan Wynn There are plenty of articles and posts that explore how sociological concepts can inform our understanding the Capitol siege on January 6th, 2021. (There’s a great post, titled “Sociology of the Siege” here). Of all the things... Continue reading

For all the good that social media platforms provide – connection, innovation, a panoply of perspectives – there is also a darker side, evident in online harassment, deep fake video and audio manipulations, and the widespread circulation of disinformation and conspiracy theories. What responsibility should social media companies take for the content hosted on their sites? In their January 2021 Harvard Business Review essay, Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer, and David B. Yoffie argue that it is time for social media companies to self-regulate their platforms to secure “their long-term survival and success.” Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer, and David... Continue reading

By Karen Sternheimer Are you writing a literature review? If you are doing this for the first time, you might be struggling with how to write about the various sources you have found for your project. First, recall that a... Continue reading

By Jonathan Wynn As I write, the 2020 presidential election is (almost) behind us. Perhaps you are wondering, "What’s the political affiliation of my professors?" It is not an unreasonable question. Some faculty are quite forthright about their political leaning.... Continue reading

By La’Tonya Rease Miles and Colby King La’Tonya Rease Miles is the Dean of Student Affairs at Menlo College Have you been binge watching any particular shows during the pandemic? We were talking recently about how we have both been... Continue reading

In this August 2020 essay, Barbara J. King, a biological anthropologist and professor emerita at the College of William and Mary, shares the story of her child Sarah, who is nonbinary and agender. King pulls from her perspective as both a biological anthropologist and a mother to explore the cultural and linguistic resistance to nonbinary gender identity and presentation. Barbara J. King, "My Nonbinary Child," Sapiens, 21 August 2020 One of the “standard views” that King responds to, both in her work as an educator and as a mother, is the binary idea of gender. Explain this “binary view of... Continue reading

By Karen Sternheimer I am struck by one photo in particular from the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol. It is a picture of members of the House of Representatives sheltering in place in the House chamber. Rep.... Continue reading

By Todd Schoepflin Backing out of my driveway to head to the grocery store, I’m careful to avoid hitting the garbage tote at the end of the driveway. It’s garbage day. Workers from our town sanitation department are like mail... Continue reading

By Karen Sternheimer Within scholarly work, the gold standard is to publish in an academic journal that is peer reviewed. Books published through academic publishers also undergo peer review. This means that before anything is published, experts in the area... Continue reading

By Colby King, Mo Swint, Emma Miller, and Wren Bareiss Mo Swint and Emma Miller are sociology majors at USC Upstate; Wren Bareiss is an Associate Professor of Communication at USC Upstate If you’re among the first generation in your... Continue reading

Ever notice when a film’s audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is way off from the critics’ reviews? What’s driving that? Lisa R. Pruitt, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis, digs into the negative critical reviews of the 2020 Netflix film Hillbilly Elegy in this December 3, 2020 essay. Pruitt argues that in the case of Hillbilly Elegy, the answer may lie in the country’s “steadily growing class divide.” Lisa R. Pruitt, "The Chattering Classes Got the ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Book Wrong – and They’re Getting the Movie Wrong, Too," The Conversation, 3 December 2020 Pruitt’s argument... Continue reading

By Karen Sternheimer I’m sure you’re familiar with the word “gap.” People might take a “gap year” in their education, maybe between high school and college or between college and graduate school. A gap year is essentially a fancy way... Continue reading

By Jenny Enos Sociology Doctoral Student, Rutgers University Sociologists have long sought to understand what drives people to break rules or laws, both formally (breaking a law upheld by a particular governing structure), and informally (breaking unwritten rules of societies... Continue reading

Fueled by new biomedical technologies and unprecedented collaboration, pharmaceutical companies are rapidly developing and testing vaccines for SARS CoV-2 coronavirus. However, this swift pace of vaccine development might lead to “a potentially risky lack of diversity in clinical trials,” according to Belén Garijo, a healthcare executive and former doctor. Her October 9, 2020 essay in TIME explains how this lack of diversity is not a new problem: certain population groups have been historically underrepresented in clinical trials, which limits how well doctors and researchers can study the efficacy of the treatments and medicines being tested. Belén Garijo, "We Must Use... Continue reading

By Stacy Palen I love the moment when my attention turns from the current semester to the next one. I love the feeling that I’ve turned the page and that the new course will start fresh, with no mistakes in it. And I love looking back at the semester, as... Continue reading

By Todd Schoepflin Back in April, there was speculation as to whether the coronavirus would lead to a baby boom, the premise being that people are home more than usual because of the pandemic, which could lead to an increase... Continue reading