In Howard Zinn’s memoir, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train (Beacon Press 1994), he tells us that, “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It’s based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage and kindness.” Of course, it may feel counterintuitive—even if, arguably, it is of heightened import[...]

As sociologists, we are uniquely positioned to help students connect the dots and understand the implications of the structural changes being enacted by federal and state governments. Moreover, the knowledge produced by our discipline has been the focus of recent executive orders (eliminating grants with any reference to gender and DEI, recently upheld by the Supreme Court), has been potentially compromised by firing [...]

Since the inception of the discipline, sociologists have sought to understand the role of neighborhoods and communities in organizing everyday urban life. From demographic investigation of the changing nature of racial and socioeconomic segregation to the rich ethnographic accounts of urban social organization, investigation of urban spatial variation has animated sociological inquiry. Critical findings have emerged[...]

January 2025 marked the thirty-first anniversary of the conference “Black Women in the Academy: Defending Our Name 1894-1994.” The event, organized by Robin W. Kilson and Evelynn M. Hammonds, provided Black women spaces to share research, articulate aspirations, and describe challenges they met in higher education. Anthropologist and educator Johnnetta B. Cole, political activist and philosoph[...]

Across the United States, higher education is contracting. Since 2010, colleges and universities have lost more than two million students. The long-anticipated enrollment cliff, a steep decline in tradition[...]

For decades, the American Sociological Association (ASA) has advocated for the inclusion of scholarship directly applicable to community development and social justice as an integral part of the tenure and promotion pathway. Universities often emphasize the need for community engagement and social impact in their mission statements. Yet scholars whose work addresses real-world problems through col[...]

Alford A. Young, Jr., and Jessica Calarco were recently elected President and Vice President of the American Sociological Association (ASA). Their three-year terms began in September 2025, when they started their service as President-Elect and Vice President-Elect.  Young is the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, the Edgar G. Epps Collegiate Professor of Sociology, and t[...]

Editor's Note: The ASA Council unanimously confirmed Ann Owens and Brian McCabe to become the co-editors of the City and Community journal for a three-year term beginning January 1, 2026. Patrick Sharkey’s following essay gives Footnotes readers a glimpse into Owens’ and McCabe’s vision for the journal.   On September 12, 2001, I woke up in my apartment in Washington, DC, and cal[...]

David Grazian begins his two-year term (January 1, 2026-December 31, 2028) as editor of Contexts having had experience as the magazine’s culture editor for two years, a strong record of editorial service across leading sociology journals, and a career dedicated to making scholarship legible to broad audiences. As professor of sociology and communication at the University of Pennsylvania, [...]