Sociology | Penn Today

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COVID-19 and women in the workforce

Experts across Penn explain how the pandemic has exacerbated gender inequality and challenged female career advancement in the STEMM fields, education, and business.

An image with four maps of the U.S. shaded in different colors, with the text "Males" and "Females" up top. Below the first two maps reads "Absolute changes in mortality rate (ages 25-44) 1990-92 to 2015-17" and underneath that, "Deaths per 100,000 population." Below the bottom two maps reads, "Absolute changes in mortality rate (ages 45-64) 1990-92 to 2015-17" and underneath that, "Deaths per 100,000 population."

Q&A

Young and middle-age adults in the U.S. dying at higher rates

According to a new National Academies report, cardiometabolic conditions now join drug overdoses, alcohol, and suicide as significant mortality causes. In a Q&A, demographer Irma Elo explains.

A close-up of an old chipping door. Blurred in the background is a sign that reads "EVICTION NOTICE" in all capital letters.

Eviction linked to depression risk in young adults

Research from sociologist Courtney Boen and anthropologist Morgan Hoke shows that this issue, compounded by the toll of the pandemic, disproportionately affects low-income households and communities of color.

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Logistics of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Penn experts demystify the process of shipping a vaccine and, ultimately, getting it into arms.

combination of artificial intelligence aspects

Benjamin Shestakofsky finds interconnections between humans and machines

Drawing on field research, the assistant professor of sociology ,examines the specific real-world conditions under which software systems replace, complement, or create human labor.

Large rendering of the healthcare cross symbol with people standing both on top of and below the symbol against a background featuring the coronavirus germ floating nearby.

Exacerbating the health care divide

With rates of diagnoses and death disproportionately affecting racial minorities and low-income workers, experts from the School of Arts & Sciences address how COVID-19 has further exposed already dire health outcome inequalities.

A new vision for the Population Aging Research Center

For more than 25 years, PARC has been a hub for work on disparities in aging and mortality. Co-directors Hans-Peter Kohler and Norma Coe, who took over in July, want to expand its reach.

A young child smiles at the camera standing in green grass holding a small American flag next to his head as a pickup truck passes on the street behind him with a passenger waving an American flag.

Latino voters and lessons from the 2020 election

Political scientist Michael Jones-Correa, historian Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, and demographer Emilio Parrado share their thoughts on the election results and what both parties might take away from looking at how Latinos voted.

Amy Lutz seated with her husband and children in nature.

Q&A

‘What makes us human’: Amy Lutz on autism and community

In “We Walk: Life with Severe Autism,” doctoral candidate Amy Lutz examines what it means to be in community.

Distressed person wearing a mask sitting on a couch looking at a phone, hand on forehead.

In the pandemic’s early days, a third of U.S. adults felt depressed, anxious

According to new research from Penn, those feelings worsened as the month of March progressed, and economic worries rather than social distancing or fear of the virus itself played the largest role.

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