9/10
Sociology
Rainwater harvesting in Mexico City
Rising fourth-year Krishna Chandrasekhara spent three weeks in Mexico this summer as part of a project exploring the impact of water collection on public and community health.
Positioned for Success
The program, launched by recent College of Arts and Sciences grads Taussia Boadi and Cheryl Nnadi, was a 2023 Projects for Progress winner and provides academic support to middle school students affected by gun violence.
Beth Linker’s new book explores the science of posture
A new book from history and sociology of science professor Beth Linker investigates how and why a panic around posture emerged in America in the 20th century.
Uplifting Filipino communities abroad and at home
Fourth-year student Vernon Wells has been working with Indigenous peoples in the Philippines, research they will expand on through a Fulbright award, while strengthening the Southeast Asian community at Penn.
Gearing up for research on aging
GEAR UP, an initiative offered by the Population Aging Research Center and the Leonard Davis Institute, gives students from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds hands-on experience and mentoring to address a global challenge.
Investigating homelessness
In a Kelly Writers House event, writer Jennifer Egan and social scientist Dennis Culhane discuss journalism and the homelessness crisis.
Immigration policy and the 2024 presidential election
An April 2 symposium will bring together policy analysts, immigration scholars, and representatives of nonprofit advocacy organizations to discuss immigration policies and their impact.
‘Behind the Startup’ looks at venture capital and inequality
The new book by Benjamin Shestakofsky is based on 19 months of participant-observation research, rising from intern to middle manager in a tech startup.
The legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois: ‘Something fresh to say’
At the 2nd Annual W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture in Public Social Science, Aldon Morris of Northwestern University and Tukufu Zuberi of the School of Arts & Sciences discuss Du Bois’ contributions to the field and to humanity.
Romance and race
Sociology Ph.D. candidate Olivia Hu is studying how people choose romantic partners across race lines, and how those relationships affect their understandings of social difference.
In the News
The bad politics of bad posture
In her book “Slouch,” Beth Linker of the School of Arts & Sciences outlines how societal pressures have driven huge swaths of people to embrace falsehoods about posture.
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The ACT’s new ties to a private equity firm are raising eyebrows
Benjamin Shestakofsky of the School of Arts & Sciences says it is not surprising that private equity firms are setting their sights on the standardized testing market.
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HHS considering changes to sterilization consent process
PIK Professor Dorothy Roberts says there’s widespread devaluing of certain people’s childbearing from negative stereotypes to laws that deny someone extra benefits if they get pregnant while on welfare.
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Harrison White, groundbreaking (and inscrutable) sociologist, dies at 94
Randall Collins of the School of Arts & Sciences and PIK Professor Duncan J. Watts discuss the career of the late Harrison White, a theoretical physicist-turned-sociologist.
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Fact-checking Byron Donalds’ ‘Jim Crow’ comments on Black families, conservatism
PIK Professor Dorothy E. Roberts and Kathleen M. Brown and Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts & Sciences comment on Rep. Byron Donalds’ comparison of modern Black culture to the Jim Crow era.
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Higher education needs more Socrates and Plato
In an opinion essay, PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel and Harun Küçük of the School of Arts & Sciences say that higher education must reassert its classical liberal arts ideals.
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