Everyday Sociology Blog

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

The Never-Ending Beauty Shift

By Peter Rydzewski Sociology Ph.D. student, University of Maryland The idea that physical characteristics can be socially developed may be difficult to consider at first. According to Raewyn Connell, however, “bodies are both objects of s

Constructing Deviance: A-Rod, Drugs, and Cheating

By Peter Kaufman “Is Calling Cheating Cheating, Cheating?” This was the title of a paper I wrote back in graduate school for a class on the sociology of deviance. This playful (or confusing) use of words was my attempt at getting at the

What You See Isn’t Always What May Be: Confirmation Bias

By Sally Raskoff Confirmation bias is a fascinating dynamic. What we see may not be what we judge it to be. What we think we are seeing may just be what we expect it to be. A new study by sociologists Aliya Saperstein and Andrew M.

The Sociology of Pranks

By Jonathan Wynn For the last five years I’ve received many calls about pranks. I’m not a prank expert, but I did write an article about tricks tour guides use to tell historical stories. That perked up the ears of a New York Times journ

The Social Construction of Stuff

By Karen Sternheimer I am in the process of moving to a new home. The move has been planned for over a year, so I have been preparing to pack and get rid of things for a while. Coincidentally, our department recently moved to a new bui