Everyday Sociology Blog

Notetaking and the Digital Divide

By Jonathan Wynn I always see a handful of laptops staring back at me in class. I am, perhaps, more surprised that I still see students handwriting notes at all. When I ask why they still handwrite notes, those who can afford a lapt

Sincerely Held Beliefs, the Law, and Non Believers

By Jonathan Wynn Recent news on religion reminds me of one of my favorite non-fiction books, The Year of Living Biblically. Author A.J. Jacobs does his best to abide by the rules of the Bible to see just how hard it is to hold sincerely h

Good Crowds

By Jonathan Wynn College campuses can and should be places for open dialogue and communication. Those conversations can be powerful and affirming for some, and they have the potential for being hurtful or even dangerous for others. Rarely

Debates and Pierre Bourdieu

By Jonathan Wynn It’s the height of the presidential election and perhaps you are as caught up in it as I am-- to the point of distraction. I’m reading newspapers more than usual, and constantly scan headlines for new bits of news. I’ll wa

The Dead White Guys of Theory?

By Jonathan Wynn When teaching sociology—particularly theory—we'll often hear about how most of the classic readings we assign are written by "dead white guys." And when you look through the canon it is, indeed, very pale and very male. F

Ten Sociological Metaphors and Paradoxes

By Jonathan Wynn A few years ago, as a graduate student I was talking with an older sociologist who was cranky about how qualitative research was "too cute" in its lyrical presentation of data. I asked further about what that meant to her

A Decade of Everyday Sociology

By Karen Sternheimer Our Everyday Sociology blog turns ten this month! In this time, we have posted over 900 blog posts, received more than 8,000 comments, and have had nearly 6 million visitors. It’s a good point to take a moment to refl

Masculinity So Fragile

By Jonathan Wynn Recently Will Smith's son, Jaden Smith, 17, became the face of the upcoming Louis Vuitton women's wear campaign. In the ads Jaden wears a black skirt and a fringed mesh top (you can see the photo here). This has sparked a

Together, Alone in the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Jonathan Wynn Yesterday I sat on my porch with my family, listening to the across-the-street neighbors sing Yiddish folk songs on their porch. With an accordion and fiddle, they nodded and smiled to people passing by, but no one stopped