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Janet Jackson, Kamala Harris, and Questions of Race

By Janis Prince Inniss 

Sociologically speaking,  there are lots of interesting aspects of the Janet Jackson PR fiasco. In case you missed it, the international superstar caused quite a stir recently. In a long and wide-ranging interview published by The Guardian on Saturday, when asked for her opinion on the upcoming U.S. presidential election and the possibility of the country’s first Black female president, Kamala Harris, Jackson said: “Well, you know what they supposedly said?...She’s not Black. That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian.”

Charitably, this may be the best example of how the ultra-rich live dramatically different lives than the rest of us. Jackson seemed to suggest that she was told by those around her that this was the case, stating, “That’s what I heard…That’s what I was told.”

The Case for Heartbreak Workplace Support

By Stacy Torres

Recovering from my own recent romantic breakups, I drew comfort from seeing one of the hardest working women in Hollywood take a break.

This spring as I walked to my office across the street from San Francisco’s Chase Center, Jennifer Lopez’s sparkling visage peered confidently from a giant advertisement for an upcoming show. Hours later, she canceled her summer tour amid poor ticket sales and rumors of marital problems with husband Ben Affleck, "taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends," according to Live Nation’s announcement. By summer’s end, J.Lo had filed for divorce on their two-year anniversary.

Most of us nurse our mangled hearts in private—for me, preferably while swaddled in a warm blanket—not under a celebrity microscope. But we should also have access to leave and other workplace support during relationship crisis or dissolution.

Trying New Things: Sociology and Social Challenges

By Karen Sternheimer

I have been encouraging a family member who recently experienced the death of a partner to try some new social activities—not necessarily to “meet someone,” but to find new interests and stay busy in the face of grief. This of course, isn’t easy to do, and a somewhat mundane experience—swimming in a different pool than I am accustomed to swimming at—highlighted how sociology can help us understand why trying new things can be so difficult.

Food Beyond Borders

By Karen Sternheimer

Trying new foods is one of my favorite aspects of travel. I’m not exactly an adventurous eater, but I enjoy learning about what the locals eat and sampling food that’s not too far out of my comfort zone. Food is not just sociological, as I wrote about many years ago, but it also reflects the politics of shifting borders and the push and pull factors that contribute to immigration.

Living in southern California, many of the meals that I prepare at home reflect the influence of Mexican dishes. Veggie burritos with lots of black beans, jalapeños, salsa, and guacamole might not be on the menu exactly as I make them in an authentic Mexican restaurant, but the Americanized version shapes my cooking. Immigration from southeast Asia has contributed to the popularity of sriracha, a hot sauce I put on nearly everything, Like countless others, I stock up with news of a sriracha shortage, because it has become such a staple in our household.

Sociology on the Autobahn

By Karen Sternheimer

The German autobahn is the subject of much lore in the United States. Images of an open road with no speed limits, allowing high-end performance sports cars to drive as fast as their engineering can take them permeate popular imagination.

The reality is rather different from the fantasy, as I found out while on a few short road trips in Germany recently. While just mention of the word autobahn suggests something exciting, possibly scary, and exotic to a foreigner, it literally translates to “highway.” Here are some realities of driving on the autobahn for my fellow American visitors (with some sociology thrown in, of course).

Travel and Hyperreality

By Karen Sternheimer

Do you follow any “travel influencers” on social media or even aspire to be one? Even if you’re not sure what a travel influencer actually is, they are shaping peoples’ experiences of travel.

A travel influencer is someone who posts travel-related content (typically videos and/or images) to social media accounts, hoping to gain a large number of followers, often in exchange for sponsorship money and ad revenue. They might be given free perks or get paid to share videos of resorts or other travel destinations as part of a new form of tourism marketing.

Revisiting the Sacred and Profane: An Architectural Tour of European Cathedrals

By Karen Sternheimer

Popular travel host Rick Steves loves to visit cathedrals on his show to admire their art and architecture. And he’s not alone; on a recent trip to Europe, I found myself informally touring several cathedrals and houses of worship in France and Germany. Beyond appreciating the dramatic columns, striking stained glass, and sculptures that were often part of these edifices, I found myself thinking about the sociological implications of such spaces, namely Durkheim’s dichotomy between the “sacred” and “profane.”