Elena G. van Stee

Starting soon!

What happens when public servants are asked to betray the values that brought them to service? New research traces how asylum officers under Trump navigated moral crisis and how their ability—or inability—to form with peers a shared aspiration for moral resolution determined who stayed or who left.

Why do White conservatives and White liberals disagree about what is—and is not—racist and sexist? @jessistreib.bsky.social and Betsy Leondar-Wright reveal a definitional divide driving this persistent gap and recommend a better way forward.

Read the essay ➡️ journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....

Great article on how the AI bubble is just the latest ed tech grift that's part of a "broader effort to snatch away decision-making power over teaching, learning, and research from subject matter and pedagogy experts and give it to donors and administrators."

The Pain of Social Loss: The Biosocial Roots of Motivated Action and Solidarity Social pain, of all detrimental experiences, remains largely overlooked by sociological inquiry. While attention to the sources are fused to Durkheim, from anomie to fatalism, the discipline centers i...

My PhD student (@colteruscola.bsky.social) and I have a new chapter out on social pain and how we can better integrate neuroscience into social science! Check it out! #sociology
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

New in @contexts.org! Doug Massey weighs in on the geographic distribution of (dis)advantage ➡️ journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

🚨 New page! Contexts Magazine is now on LinkedIn. Give us a follow to bring snack-sized sociological insights to your feed!

➡️ www.linkedin.com/company/cont...

"The Little Engine that Maybe Could" 🚂
Co-editor @aminghaziani.bsky.social interviews former editors Syed Ali and @philipncohen.com (univofmaryland.bsky.social) about overcoming challenges to deliver meaningful sociology to the public.

Paywall-free! ➡️ contexts.org/articles/su2...

Register for the Zoom link here! (open to the public)
cultureworkshop.sociology.fas.harvard.edu

Harvard Sociology Culture and Social Analysis Workshop (Elena van Stee and Guillermina Altomonte)

What does it mean to be independent, and why are people trying to claim this label?

Join ghaltomo.bsky.social and me at the @harvard.edu Culture Workshop on Tuesday (10/28) to explore these questions from emerging adulthood (me) to old age (Guillermina)!

Zoom link ⬇️

Do your students wonder why something is considered racist or sexist, why white people are split, or how to answer these questions themselves? Betsy Leondar-Wright and I answer these questions in our new book, offering insights for scholars while being accessible to undergrads. Discount code below.

Is it Racist? Is it Sexist? is officially out! Our book dives into how white liberals and conservatives differ in their views, what each gets right and wrong, and how we can all do better.

A gun-curious sociology professor? Check out @davidyamane.bsky.social's essay in our new @contexts.org issue!

@wakeforest.bsky.social @sagepub.com @asanews.bsky.social

How I Fell for Guns - David Yamane, 2025 David Yamane on the 'serious leisure' of shooting.

To fully appreciate why people own guns, we need to understand the individual & communal pleasures associated with shooting. These are the pleasures that led me to fall for guns. New essay in @contexts.org by @sagepub.com and @asanews.bsky.social.

OPEN ACCESS: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Another great issue from the @contexts.org crew! Check out @kaareeenah.bsky.social's review of @karenlevy.bsky.social's Data Driven and Madison Van Oort's Worn Out! - journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.... - I really appreciate the part on moving from an either/or to a both/and approach to organizing.

The latest issue of @contexts.org is out! We've got hot sociological takes on everything from poverty and blood quantum to guns, plants, and underwater hotels!

Find it all (paywall-free!) at contexts.org/articles/su2...

Cool new issue of contexts.org is out. Excited to have contributed to the "special section" on Canada-U.S. relationships, along with @liamswiss.bsky.social & others here up north.
Important conversations here - check it out.

journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/doi/epdf/10....

Was pleased to accept an invitation from the Editors of @contexts.org (@sethabrutyn.bsky.social @aminghaziani.bsky.social) to contribute to a special section on the Canada-USA relationship along with @dbtindall.bsky.social & @pallavib.bsky.social.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....

🚨New Issue Out Now!! Open Access!!

Navigate all the fresh #sociology with our clickable table of contents (contexts.org/articles/su2...), listen to the issue's companion playlist (open.spotify.com/playlist/5PB...), and read the "digest" (mailchi.mp/ea0c38553548...) to learn more!

A screenshot from contexts.org shows a photo of a man with both hands over his heart as he addresses several other seated people. The caption reads: Many of those in the burgeoning field of recovery coaching find that their own past drug use can become an asset in helping others overcome addiction. iStockPhoto // Jacob Wackerhausen. Below the caption is the article's headling, "Listing Addiction on Your Resume," and byline, "By Elena G. Van Stee."

One man's stigma is another man's professional asset? In "Listing Addiction on Your Resume," @elenavanstee.bsky.social covers recent work from Joe Silcox and @evanstewart.bsky.social on personal experience and the emerging field of recovery coaching
contexts.org/articles/lis...

#sociology #sobriety

New on the @contexts.org blog! @shdoron1.bsky.social recaps his recent #ASR study in a new post, "How the rich turn sludge into money."

TLDR: Lots of paperwork, plus a few PowerPoints

▶️ contexts.org/blog/sludge/

@asanews.bsky.social @asa-ipm.bsky.social @ipratnu.bsky.social

A screenshot of the homepage of contexts.org shows a blog post titled "How the Rich Turn Sludge Into Money," by Doron Shiffer-Sebba, illustrated by a photo of enormous stacks of paper.

🚨New sociology! In "How the Rich Turn Sludge into Money," @shdoron1.bsky.social (@ipratnu.bsky.social) keys in on the bureaucratic practices wealthy families use to fend off threats to resources and intergenerational wealth transfers--and how these tactics change families contexts.org/blog/sludge/

Congratulations, @colteruscola.bsky.social!! 🎉

Unveiling the Gender Gap in Alcohol Misuse: Fear, Anger, and the “Game of Secrets” - Colter J. Uscola, 2025 Gender scholars often assume that alcohol misuse is representative of hegemonic masculinity, but women are simultaneously consuming rates and quantities that pa...

New pub is out in Socius!

This article examines how the narrowing gender gap in alcohol misuse is not only about drinking rates, but about the meanings of drinking.

Read here: doi.org/10.1177/2378...

#sociology

*Readers should be extremely careful about accepting claims that worship attenders are actually more liberal.* Those findings are usually an artifact of stat modeling decisions. Excited to see this posted in Sociology. While it may seem like inside baseball, the public implications are important.

New on the blog! Political scientists @pauldjupe.bsky.social @amandafriesen.bsky.social @aesokhey.bsky.social and Jacob R. Neiheisel do some debunking: "Attending Church Encourages Acceptance of Atheists? No, It's a Suppression Effect" contexts.org/blog/atheist... #polisci #religion #sociology

New bite-sized sociology! @elenavanstee.bsky.social covers fresh @sfjournal.bsky.social research from @adam-hayes.bsky.social on the social function of pseudo-formal loan arrangements for family financial support. contexts.org/articles/fin...

These are the faces of @contextsmag editors who can’t wait to hear your ideas, #ASA2025 @sethabrutyn.bsky.social @lettapage.bsky.social