Sociology

For Rent sign on front gate of a brick apartment building

Social interactions in the housing market

Doctoral candidate in sociology Doron Shiffer-Sebba’s prize-winning research paper examines the interpersonal dynamics of landlords and tenants.

Penn Today Staff ・

Person sitting at a table with an open book, a picture, glasses, a coffee cup and wearing headphones looking at a cellphone. Three people are in the background.

The culture of coworking spaces

As Penn sociologist David Grazian discovered through hundreds of hours of fieldwork, despite today’s digital work-anywhere economy, having a physical place to conduct business still matters.

Michele W. Berger ・

Julia Ticona smiles with her hands in her pockets

A conversation with Julia Ticona

In the latest episode of “Office Hours,” a Penn Today podcast, Assistant Professor of Communication Julia Ticona explains her research about the gig economy and chitchats about cooking, campus, and superpowers.

Brandon Baker ・

Shaun Ossei-Owusu

How race informed the 6th Amendment right to counsel

A new article by Shaun Ossei-Owusu reveals the critical role of race in the development of a staple of the American criminal justice system: the constitutional guarantee of an attorney for defendants too poor to afford one.

Penn Today Staff ・

Two people sitting on a stage, one gesturing with his hands. In front of them is a brown wooden table with two water bottles.

Dissecting the Green New Deal

During what’s likely the largest climate event ever held at Penn, leaders in a range of fields discussed the practicalities and implications of the resolution introduced into Congress in February aimed at stemming climate change.

Michele W. Berger ・

Ashleigh Cartwright

Minorities in majority spaces

Ashleigh Cartwright, doctoral candidate in sociology, examines how nonwhite students are selected and prepared to integrate historically white schools.

Penn Today Staff ・

Julia Szymczak with a river in the background

Social solutions to antibiotic resistance

Research by sociologist Julia Szymczak of the Perelman School of Medicine is aimed at understanding, and eventually changing, behaviors that lead to the overprescribing of antibiotics.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・



In the News


Associated Press

In death, three decades after his trial verdict, O.J. Simpson still reflects America’s racial divides

Camille Charles of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Black Americans have grown less likely to believe in a famous defendant’s innocence as a show of race solidarity.

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The Wall Street Journal

‘Slouch’ review: The panic over posture

In her new book, “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America,” Beth Linker of the School of Arts & Sciences traces society’s posture obsession to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

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The New Yorker

The truth behind the slouching epidemic

Beth Linker of the School of Arts & Sciences traces the history of a poor-posture epidemic in the U.S. which began at the onset of the 20th century.

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Boston Globe

How two Mass. lawyers are helping DACA recipients stay in the US

Carlos Águilar González of the School of Arts & Sciences says that streamlining the D3 authorization process for DACA recipients may limit the number of people who can benefit by focusing only on the most prestigious and educated.

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Inside Higher Ed

The activist academy

In her book “Chasing the Intact Mind,” Amy S.F. Lutz of the School of Arts & Sciences argues that the current approach to disabilities studies marginalizes the most severely disabled.

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The Washington Post

Ready or not, self-driving semi-trucks are coming to America’s highways

Steve Viscelli of the School of Arts & Sciences says that autonomous trucking could change the geography of the U.S. economy in the way that railroads and shipping did.

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