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Sociology
Dorothy Roberts on the future of abortion advocacy
Dorothy Roberts speaks with Penn Today on the implications of the Dobbs decision, which struck down Roe v. Wade, leaving many states with no legal right to abortion.
Overturning Roe disproportionately burdens marginalized groups
For low-income people and people of color, lack of access to safe abortions in the U.S. will have a range of health and financial ramifications, compounding factors like poverty and systemic racism.
How historical racism influences modern poverty and racial inequality
Sociologist Regina Baker finds that Black people in southern U.S. states with significant institutionalized historical racial practices experience worse poverty today. These states also have a wider poverty gap between Black and white populations.
Following the trail of Elizabeth Thomas, fossil hunter
Claire Conklin Sabel, a doctoral student in Penn’s History and Sociology of Science department, uncovers the findings of 18th-century amateur naturalist Elizabeth Thomas, along with illustrator Alix Pentecost-Farren, who brings Thomas’ work to life.
Cosmic Writers brings free creative writing education to school-aged children
May graduates Rowana Miller and Manoj Simha lead Cosmic Writers, a project supported by President’s Engagement Prize that provides free creative writing instruction to K-12 students virtually throughout the world.
COVID mortality age patterns changed significantly during pandemic
Between March 2020 and October 2021, death rates from the virus decreased for those 80 and older and increased for those 25 to 54, results that held across racial and ethnic groups.
35th annual Women of Color at Penn award
The Women of Color at Penn held their 35th annual award ceremony with a virtual celebration hosted by the African American Resource Center. This year’s awards honored six women who have fostered and supported community.
The pandemic’s psychological scars
It’s been a long and uncertain road, with some groups shouldering a disproportionately greater burden of mental anguish from COVID-19. Yet now there’s a glimmer of hope. Has the page finally turned?
Hostility among friends can come from surprising places
Sherelle Ferguson, and Annette Lareau, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor in the Social Sciences, find that “hostile ignorance” can come from surprising places.
Improving college access for Philadelphia’s Latinx community
A collaboration between Penn and the nonprofit Centro de Cultura Arte Trabajo y Educación aims to enhance a thriving post-secondary success program, create mentoring opportunities, and more.
In the News
Teacher shortages in America are holding Gen Z students like me back
Richard Ingersoll of the Graduate School of Education says that qualified teachers make a difference for students by both knowing the subject and knowing how to teach the subject.
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Sociology: Practically constitutional!
In an Op-Ed, Jerry A. Jacobs of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Florida’s recent effort to marginalize sociology is a shortsighted move to score political points while jeopardizing an important component of the nation’s world-leading system of higher education.
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Life is not a series of linear stages defined by age: Mauro F Guillen
In a Q&A, Mauro F. Guillén of the Wharton School discusses his latest book, “The Perennials,” which outlines the shaping of a post-generational society and its implications for businesses, governments, and society at large.
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Warped front pages
In a co-written Op-Ed, PIK Professor Duncan Watts argues that journalistic claims to objectivity in political news are a convenient and self-serving fiction.
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Torn Apart: Terror
PIK Professor Dorothy Roberts describes the horrors that the child welfare system inflicts by invading homes, targeting low-income families, and threatening to separate parents and children.
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Raquel Saraswati denies allegations that she lied about her race
Wendy Roth of the School of Arts & Sciences says that there’s tremendous variation of skin tone and overlap within most racial groups.
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