Everyday Sociology Blog

When Our Baby Was Born

By Todd Schoepflin When I was young I thought a man paced in a hospital waiting room until his wife gave birth. The image in my head was of a new father passing out cigars to celebrate the birth of his child. But my wife has given birth tw

How Young Can Your Grandma Be?

By Janis Prince Inniss A few weeks ago when my husband referred to Grandma, I knew he was talking about my mother. At other times when he has said, “Go to Grandma,” it has taken some time to figure out who he’s talking about. In the tradit

Ritual Season

By Sally Raskoff Rituals surround us at this time of year: awards ceremonies, commencement, marriages, and anniversaries. Add in some birthdays or baby showers and you have a lot of social events to attend! Rituals are public behaviors tha

Sociology & Tiaras

By Hilary Levey Robert Wood Johnson Fellow in Health Policy Every Wednesday night at 9 pm I sit down in front of the TV, put on TLC, pull out my notebook, and do research for two hours. Yes, that’s right—watching the pageant shows Toddler

Age and the Great Resignation

By Karen Sternheimer You have probably heard that many people have been voluntarily leaving their jobs in 2021 and 2022, often called “the great resignation.” Much has been made about people deciding that they prefer to work from home and

Class Consciousness

By Karen Sternheimer A few months back, I got a letter saying that I had won the lottery. No, not that kind of lottery. Not a scam lottery either. I won the kind that gives you a week of jury duty. So I dutifully showed up at the court