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Department of Sociology

Leaf Through a Good Book

December 6, 2021 by Alex Reshanov

Keep your to-read list up-to-date with our fall book list, featuring a selection of titles from College of Liberal Arts faculty members and alumni.

A side-by-side image of Christine Williams in black and white, wearing glasses and smiling at the camera. Next to her is the book cover for her book which features an image of a flame coming from an oil refinery. The text reads Gas-lighted. How the oil and gas industry shortchanges women scientists. By Christine L. Williams.

Book Excerpt: Gaslighted by Christine Williams

October 27, 2021 by Christine Williams

After years of education policy and diversity campaigns encouraging women to pursue scientific careers, the industry was kicking them out.

protestor holding sign "racism is a pandemic too"

The Body’s Real-Time Response to Racism

June 15, 2021 by Rachel White

For the first time, researchers have recorded how the body responds when someone is confronted with racism or discrimination in the real world, providing new insight into health disparities in the United States and the stress experienced by students-of-color.

man disinfects street in Rio de Janeiro Brazil

Scarred by Zika and fearing new COVID-19 variants, Brazilian women say no to another pandemic pregnancy

May 1, 2021 by Letícia Marteleto

“We have to avoid a pregnancy,” said Rosa, about the possibility of getting pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kaleidoscope pattern with symbols representing gender, health and relationships.

Celebrating a Lifetime of Achievement

December 16, 2020 by Caroline Barta

The American Sociological Association honors Jennifer Glass, Debra Umberson and Gloria González-López for their contributions to the field.

Animated illustration of a book and cityscape within a snow globe with letters falling like snow.

Shake Up Your Winter Reading

December 11, 2020 by Michelle Bryant

Winter 2020-21 books from our college community.

Political themed collage with Statue of Liberty, U.S. Capitol Building, mail-in ballots, unemployment chart, coronavirus, and protest viewed through magnifying glass with American flag background.

2020 Vision: Examining Some of the Country’s Big Issues

October 30, 2020 by Rachel White

Experts from UT Austin’s College of Liberal Arts weigh in on some of the major issues facing our country and the president-elect over the next four years.

Young woman pulling suitcase in the shape of a book with pink background.

Ticket to Read

October 20, 2020 by Michelle Bryant

Fall 2020 books from our college community.

Collage with surveillance camera, police car, code and communications tower.

How Bias Sneaks into Big-Data Policing

October 19, 2020 by Alex Reshanov

Like all human endeavors, technology is at its core still social, argues Sarah Brayne in her new book Predict and Surveil: Data, Discretion, and the Future of Policing.

Maui sunset.

Why Do People in Hawaii Live 7 Years Longer than People in Mississippi?

August 4, 2020 by Mark Hayward

Add living a longer life to the list of reasons to move to Hawaii, which tops the list in a national study on average life expectancy.

A moving illustration of a large scene. In it, we can see vertical windows looking to a peaceful night cityscape, with twinkling stars overhead. The windows are in the shape of a cellphone battery icon, and illustration slowly turns to a bright, cheerful day scene. The buildings all come to life in a bright, multi-colored wash of color. Around the border of the window, we can see stylized illustrations of people in various poses. We see people having fun with computers, people playing with their pets, families, riding bikes, reading. We also see a medical doctor with a mask waving. There are also wires leading from each person that connect with the battery-shaped window in the middle, giving life to the city.

Rebooting Our Lives After COVID-19

May 7, 2020 by Rachel White

The world’s new reality amid the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing us to confront issues and critically think about how to revive communities slowly, safely and sustainably.

graphic of smiley face with camera in one eye

Smile, You’re on Camera: Behind the Lens of 24/7 Surveillance

January 18, 2018 by Michelle Bryant

“Even a strutting exhibitionist has something to hide: certain diary entries, genetic predispositions, financial mistakes, medical crises, teenage embarrassments, antisocial compulsions, sexual fantasies, radical dreams,” writes Randolph Lewis. “We all have something that we want to shield from public view. The real question is: Who gets to pull the curtains? And increasingly: How will we […]

Photo from a balcony in Safeda Basti, India. The street scene below appears dirty and is crowded with laundry hanging from clotheslines while a lone man pushes a banana cart. To the immediate left, we see an open-air squat toilet overlooking a balcony.

Where India Goes

January 18, 2018 by Rachel White

UT Austin economist Dean Spears and sociologist Diane Coffey founded the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics (r.i.c.e.) in 2011 with the goal of improving health and well-being in India. They focus on an important driver of economic development: the health of children. Despite rapid economic growth, India’s infant and under-five mortality rate continues to be […]

Stylized illustration of a hand placing a vote into a ballot box. There are numbers and math symbols illustrated over the image.

An Educated Decision

January 11, 2018 by Rachel White

Voter turnout in the U.S. is below turnout in most other advanced democracies, with only about 60 percent of eligible voters participating in the past four presidential elections and about 40 percent participating in midterm elections. While prior research indicates that those with higher levels of education are more likely to vote, new research shows […]

Illustration of the 100 dollar bill. Bejamin Franklin looks depressed as there are jail cell bars that he appears to be gripping.

The Cost of Crime

November 18, 2016 by Michelle Bryant

Despite crime rates being at a historic low, the United States is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to achieve an 80 percent recidivism rate. We’ve spent $1 trillion during the past 40 years on criminal justice, not including $1 trillion more on the war on drugs. William Kelly, a professor of sociology at The […]

The Criminal Justice System is a Massive Failure. Here’s a Solution

June 2, 2015 by William R. Kelly

Contrary to logic, intuition and common sense, the hard fact is that punishment does not reduce criminal offending. This may be a difficult one for some to swallow, especially since the past 45 years and more than $1 trillion have been spent on punishment as the centerpiece of American criminal justice policy. We essentially bet […]

Illustration of hands holding a stack of white dishes.

Your Turn to Do the Dishes

April 30, 2015 by David Ochsner

Most young women – and men – prefer shared household responsibilities There’s no shortage of advice for women these days about how to balance work and family — everything from becoming a supermom who can “lean in” at the workplace and do it all, to embracing the role of a full-time homemaker. But when given […]

Illustration of Russian nesting dolls.

Depression: Making Treatment Personal

April 30, 2015 by Michelle Bryant

For the estimated 350 million people worldwide who suffer from depression, the health consequences go far beyond “feeling down.” In fact, it is a leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people with symptoms of depression will never receive treatment, and for those diagnosed with major […]

Photo of two outstretched hands in front of a large, imposing border fence.

Borderline: The Politics, Law and Identity of Immigration

April 23, 2015 by Michelle Garcia

Temperatures hovered around the triple digits in deep South Texas when the children arrived on the U.S.-Mexico border. They traveled alone, without parents. They traveled from the faraway mountains of Guatemala and El Salvador and the depths of the world’s most violent city — San Pedro Sula in Honduras. Their numbers grew over months until […]

Pedulla

The Benefits to Paid Family Leave That Nobody is Talking About

March 12, 2015 by David Pedulla

This month marks 22 years since the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act. The FMLA was an important first step toward improving the lives of American workers by helping them secure unpaid leave from their jobs for a variety of family issues, while protecting their employment security. But the FMLA left much to […]

Tetyana Pudrovska.

Early Poverty Linked to Obesity in Women

December 4, 2014 by Jessica Sinn

Adolescent girls who grow up in poor households are more likely than their male counterparts to become overweight or obese, according to a new study by Tetyana Pudrovska, assistant professor of sociology. The study, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, shows long-lasting consequences of economic hardship in childhood for the risk of […]

C. Wright Mills on BMW motorcycle, 1958

Sociology Celebrates 100 Years

December 4, 2014 by Jessica Sinn

This year, the Department of Sociology celebrated its 100-year anniversary. Looking back at the department’s many achievements within the past century, this is a milestone worthy of a big celebration. In addition to its top national rankings, the department is home to an impressive number of eminent social scientists—from C. Wright Mills, whose seminal works […]

A simple drawing of the Austin skyline. A large doctor's stethoscope looms in front of the skyline bracketing the words, "Keeping A Pulse on Population Health."

Keeping A Pulse On Population Health

November 21, 2014 by Sarah Muthler

A few years ago, a Plan II Honors student in Marc Musick’s sociology lecture came to him with a question. Musick had been talking about the shortage of doctors in rural and inner city areas. The student had grown up in the Rio Grande Valley and hoped to go on to medical school. Why, he […]

A stylized illustration of a woman in a car driving off of an unfinished highway. A single orange cone stands in her way.

The Road to Gender Equity: Still Under Construction

November 21, 2014 by Jessica Sinn

Christine Williams has heard her share of conflicting arguments about gender equality in the sociology course she’s taught for more than two decades at The University of Texas at Austin. But there is always one question that gives her pause: “Women have achieved equality, so why is feminism relevant?” “I’m always taken aback when students […]

Photo of community garden with a smiling woman at the vegetable stand. A large shed is in the background along with a group of students being shown how to harvest vegetables.

Food for Thought

November 20, 2014 by Michelle Bryant

Government Professor Bartholomew “Bat” Sparrow first got the idea to teach a class about food from his wife, who had worked at Whole Foods for eight years. The result was an undergraduate course—“The Politics of Food in America”—that uses food as a lens through which to view the entire U.S. political system. “The idea was […]

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