"[Sociology] may not have the ear of presidents but may actually do a better job of explaining what has gone wrong in large swaths of the United States and other advanced nations in recent years." … Read more about What if Sociologists had as much influence as Economists?

People living in the United States today live lives that are sicker and end earlier than people living in other high-income countries.  The facts are described in two recent reports [https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13497/us-health-in-international-perspective-shorter-lives-poorer-health and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/… Read more about We are sicker when we live in stingier societies

Conventional wisdom imagines political life in authoritarian contexts to be bleak and suffocating, and popular understandings of China are no exception. Nonetheless, since the mid-2000s, a nationwide contentious public sphere has developed in China—providing an unprecedented forum for Chinese citizens to influence the public agenda and demand government accountability.

The Chinese state has increasingly, if reluctantly, come to recognize this emergent public sphere as a force it must reckon with, but it is important not to overstate the stability or permanence of this political space… Read more about The Contentious Public Sphere: Law, Media, and Authoritarian Rule in China

This August, Michèle Lamont began a term as the 108^th President of the American Sociological Association. This honor came with a number of responsibilities, including organizing the 2017 ASA Annual Meeting. She chose as a theme “Culture, Inequalities, and Social Inclusion across the Globe.” Participants can look forward to plenary sessions on topics such as “Dignity, Morality, and the Bridging of Group Boundaries,” “The Politics of Distribution and Recognition,” “The Pursuit of Inclusion through Law, Policies, and Narratives,” and much more.… Read more about Culture and Inequality through Various Prisms

Progress towards gender equality was substantial on many fronts in the decades leading up to the 1990s. Since then, movement towards gender equality has slowed. The gender wage gap has narrowed at a slower pace in the past 20 years, and the same can be said for occupational sex segregation. Postindustrial societies show variation in these patterns and in the consequences that ensue. 

My work examines the normative and institutional causes of gender inequality in a comparative framework, and the relationship between gender inequality and demographic outcomes such as late marriage and… Read more about Gender Equity and Low Fertility in Postindustrial Societies

In recent months, populist politics appealing to deep-seated nationalist sentiments have risen to prominence in American public discourse. This trend has been primarily reflected in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, but its echoes can also be found in the rhetoric of other Republican presidential candidates. Political scientists, journalists, and politicians have been caught off guard by this seemingly sudden shift in U.S. political discourse and its resonance with a large plurality of voters in the Republican primary. Yet, similar developments have been unfolding in European politics… Read more about Populist Politics and Nationalist Beliefs in Contemporary Democracies

Jonathan Mijs received a travel award named for Alan C. Kerckhoff in recognition of his paper,… Read more about Jonathan Mijs receives Kerckhoff Travel Award

Paul Chang contributed to the Stanford University Press blog on the Polarization of South Korea. A more in-depth account of South Korea's democracy movement in the 1970s can be found in Chang's new book, Protest Dialectics: State Repression and South Korea's Democracy Movement, 1970-1979.