Everyday Sociology Blog

YouTube, Upward Mobility, and Inequality

By Karen Sternheimer These days, much of my “television” watching is on YouTube. I’m not unique—according to Google’s CEO (Google’s parent company owns YouTube), about 2 billion logged-in users use the site each month. As of 2018, there we

No Exit: Sociology Meets Air Travel

By Karen Sternheimer When I was in high school I was really into existentialism. Not a surprise, considering that teens are often trying to figure out the meaning of their lives (even though existentialists consider life to be without in

The Lone Star State: Symbols, Place, and Identity

By Janis Prince Inniss Do you know where this picture of the Christmas tree was snapped? Hint: look at its ornaments; they’re all stars. And look at the building in the background…no, this is not Washington, D.C. The correct answer is Au

Thinking Sociologically on Vacation

By Sally Raskoff Don’t forget to keep using your sociological imagination and skills when you are on vacation! When you travel, using a sociological perspective can help enrich the experience and deepen your understanding of the places in

Restrooms in Cultural Context

By Karen Sternheimer Several years ago, I visited the Mauna Kea Observatory on the Big Island of Hawai’i. I was surprised and amused by a sign I saw in the visitor’s bathroom, instructing users how to, um, use the facilities. I had previou

Traveling Light: Testing the Limits of Consumption

By Karen Sternheimer Earlier this year I booked a flight using frequent flier miles that ended up costing me about $20 total (a good deal on this route is typically at least $200). Needless to say, I was pretty excited about this. But my l

About the Everyday Sociology Blog

What if sociologists ran the world? Okay, that’s probably not going to happen any time soon, but what if they commented on everything from politics, religion, race, and inequality to pop culture on a colorful, fun, website? That’s more li

Afrofuturism Can Save us All

By Myron Strong “The world of ‘what is’ can be supplanted by the world of what never was or what could be.” I spoke these words to an audience of college students during a presentation on pop culture and Afrofuturism this past spring. As

Comparative Historical Research: The Intersection between Sociology and History

By Karen Sternheimer We’ve written a lot on this blog about the intersection between biography and history, C. Wright Mills’s now classic explanation of the sociological imagination. But beyond individuals’ connections with history, sociol

Managing Risk and Sociological Theory

By Jonathan Wynn Here’s a situation that you might be familiar with: After months of being careful with a very small "pod" of three families, they decided to take a risk and allow another person into their trusted group. That person ende