10+ Best Articles on Sociology

Be brave enough to share, kind enough to listen, and you can escape the shallows of small talk to dive deep with another

The tendency to judge in favor of people and symbols we like is called the bias from liking or loving and it affects how we make decisions. Let's explore...

«And what will a man naturally come to like and love, apart from his parent, spouse and child? Well, he will like and love being liked and loved.”»

Four forces are propelling the rising rates of depression among young people.

«Anxious parents, in seeking to insulate their children from risk and danger, are unintentionally transferring their anxiety to their kids.»

People don’t listen to outsiders. They need enlightened insiders to offer them a ladder to climb down, says sociology professor Brooke Harrington

The most successful people are not the most talented, just the luckiest, a new computer model of wealth creation confirms. Taking that into account can maximize return on many kinds of investment.

In a study published by The British Journal of Sociology in December 2107, Chinese scholars Hu Anning and Wu Xiaogang investigated the correlation between what French sociologist Pierre Bourdain identified as “cultural capital” and college major choice in China, where students must choose between a science-focused curriculum and an arts-focused curriculum at the start of high school. The older generation grew up in a country thirsty for economic growth and industrial prowess. In those days, many students  favored science and technology above literature and the arts. According to Hu and Wu’s study, today it’s mostly those from a lower social strata – with less cultural capital – who choose a science-related major. Chen Xiaoxue, editor of the WeChat wemedia account The Intellectual, and research student Shi Jiaxin report on Wu and Hu’s findings. Chen and Shi’s study is thought-provoking and opens up a wealth of questions that researchers will undoubtedly explore in the future: As China develops, will the popularity of science majors decrease? Will the choice of majors affect China’s social stratification in the long run? How will changes in China’s education system affect the influence of cultural capital on social advancement? getAbstract recommends Chen and Shi’s insightful analysis to those interested in education, social mobility and economics. 

What if emotions are not universal and hardwired but exquisite acts of meaning-making specific to context and culture?

«Each emotion, furthermore, came with a distinct, brain-bound affect programme. Triggered by an external stimulus, this underlying neural mechanism would set off a cascade of prebuilt responses, including physiological changes, facial expressions, behaviour tendencies and the subjective states we commonly call feelings.»

Ever since English poet Alexander Pope wrote the famous line, “To err is human,” people have linked humanity to the ability to make mistakes. And yet, this realization doesn’t always extend to people’s personal preferences, which sciences such as economics and sociology tend to treat as given or even too sacred to criticize. Lawyer Daniel Ward deconstructs the origins of what he calls “general infallibility” and calls for more critical thinking. Ward’s analysis meanders a bit and is more than a light read, but if you work in a diverse environment, you will appreciate his premise that criticizing – even judging – the opinions of others means giving those opinions the respect they deserve.

Around the world, luridly retro ideas of what it means to be a man have caused a rush of testosterone – from Bollywood bodybuilding to nuclear brinkmanship

Smartphones have altered the texture of everyday life, digesting many longstanding spaces and rituals, and transforming others beyond recognition.

The Society Pages (TSP) is an open-access social science project headquartered in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota