Lisa Wade

This is a great example of what Marx called "the vampire thirst for the living blood of labour."

Not the most important thing but excellent demonstration of the difference between mean, median, and mode. Boring stuff matters!

When they say Me Too "went too far," they mean "got too close."

That which is for me through the medium of money - that for which I can pay (i.e., which money can buy) - that am I myself, the possessor of the money. The extent of the power of money is the extent of my power. Money's properties are my - the possessor's - properties and essential powers. Thus, what I am and am capable of is by no means determined by my individuality. I am ugly, but I can buy for myself the most beautiful of women. Therefore I am not ugly, for the effect of ugliness - its deterrent power - is nullified by money. I, according to my individual characteristics, am lame, but money furnishes me with twenty-four feet. Therefore I am not lame. I am bad, dishonest, unscrupulous, stupid; but money is honoured, and hence its possessor. Money is the supreme good, therefore its possessor is good. Money, besides, saves me the trouble of being dishonest: I am therefore presumed honest. I am brainless, but money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has [In the manuscript: is. - Ed.] power over the clever not more clever than the clever? Do not I, who thanks to money am capable of all that the human heart longs for, possess all human capacities? Does not my money, therefore, transform all my incapacities into their contrary?

As a side note, it’s funny to see so many of these emails with thirsty academics repeatedly enact Marx’s bit in the 1844 Manuscripts about the power of money. “Oh Mr Epstein, your house in New York is enormous and, unrelatedly, your questions at dinner were so intelligent, so insightful, so deep.”

Florida Introduces “Sanitized” Sociology Textbook The volume was created after a state review found that existing course materials violated a law prohibiting general education courses from teaching about systemic inequality. So far, at least two univ...

Florida launches statewide book burning, with Intro to Sociology textbook as kindling. Their state education system is a farce, a system for destroying knowledge and ideas in order to prevent critical thinking.

We had eradicated this disease.

And now because of targeted disinformation, children, immunocompromised people, elderly folks, and so many others become victims in this proxy war and we have a new avoidable pandemic.

We are SUPER excited! Apps due March 1st. Reach out if you have questions. I'm happy to try to answer them.

it is -10 here today. I was supposed to go do a volunteer shift standing outside loading groceries into people’s cars to deliver to families stuck at home. just got a call not to come in because they have too many volunteers already. if you were wondering if the cold would stop us.

Looks to be out now, fyi.

But, scientists should do more to foster trust with the public, said Philip Cohen, a sociologist at the University of Maryland who recently published a paper on the "widening political divide over science." "What Trump, Kennedy, and the anti-science movement are doing is not our fault, but we have work to do. Every university researcher in particular relies on the public to do our work, and we all have to contribute to building the public's trust," he said. "We do that in everyday interactions, in speaking and writing about our work wherever it's needed, and being part of the public debate on these issues. A lot of researchers don't want to get involved, or they think it undermines their credibility to speak out on public issues, but the opposite is true. We no longer have a choice."

In @statnews.com , @aniloza.bsky.social covered today's new Pew survey on attitudes toward science. I said: "Every university researcher in particular relies on the public to do our work, and we all have to contribute to building the public's trust."
www.statnews.com/2026/01/15/a...

scatterplot data papers with "proposed framework in the abstract" total papers count pct ABS 2010 1415014 575 0.406356404 2011 1522272 630 0.41385508 2012 1588086 814 0.5125667 2013 1681445 991 0.589374021 2014 1750369 1152 0.658146939 2015 1817581 1414 0.777957076 2016 1896252 1703 0.898087385 2017 1974589 1918 0.971341378 2018 2046790 2416 1.180384895 2019 2286048 3165 1.384485365 2020 2460860 4058 1.64901701 2021 2643033 5175 1.957977823 2022 2613870 5819 2.226200997 2023 2495395 6052 2.425267342 2024 2659073 6673 2.509521175 2025 2690143 11485 4.269289774

People who produce AI slop papers love to skip the boring research and get right to the dramatic discovery. The LLMs tell them their idea is awesome and original, and write it up as a "proposed framework" (with no data or evidence). That term increased 70% in Web of Science abstracts last year.

Federal immigration officers pull out of Louisiana to head to Minneapolis Move marks abrupt pivot from operation that drew protests in New Orleans and arrested 370 people of a planned 5,000

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Get ready. It's Mardi Gras season y'all.

Everywhere else it's the anniversary of a violent attack on the US capital. In New Orleans, it's the first day of Carnival. Happy 12th night to those who celebrate!

Teach like a Luddite - Kappan Online Embracing new technologies that don’t advance teaching and learning is a mistake. Educators must ask questions — and resist when necessary.

“Accepting this story of AI’s inevitability — or that of any technology — is a grave mistake for educators. Not only does it cede tremendous power to tech companies that are unaccountable to teachers, students, or school communities…” 1/2

kappanonline.org/teach-like-a...

Figs. 4.8 and 4.9. "A Woman's Mind Magni-fied" (1906) and "Votes for Women" (1911), with the tagline "We don't know what we want but we'll 'ave it!!!," both British anti-women's suffrage postcards ridiculing women's thought processes.

British anti-woman's suffrage postcards, from Sophia Rosenfeld's book The Age of Choice

Sarah Lazarus @sarahclazarus no new years resolutions. it is the circumstances turn to improve 8:53 PM • Dec 15, 2021

That time of year again!

But I hope ONE LONG NIGHT clarifies just what is happening today. If we understand that what Congress has funded and the government is building are concentration camps, the stakes are obvious. The majority of Americans are, by and large, free to act and can undo this. It is more than possible. [2/2]

A picture of a donkey from an early modern book. There's a title at the top "Von dem Esel", below that is the donkey itself (depicted as looking at the reader with a rather...self-satisfied expression). Beneath the donkey picture is the description: "Asinus. Esel."

Some life tips from a 16th century book on animals:

1: Goats are crafty and if you aren't careful, they'll con you.

2: If you're mean to cows & oxen, then they'll inflict their revenge when you least expect it.

3: Be nice to donkeys: They have to put up with us...and they never have a day off.

Just in time for Christmas: a great interview with an absolute legend.

Theda Skocpol and Edwin Amenta on her career, US politics, the erosion of democracy, and most of all, what to do about it.

sociologica.unibo.it/article/view...

Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵

Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

Any advice for someone who is new to supervising PhD students?

Right!? That hasn't gone unnoticed.

Woo hoo!

Yes! We're super excited! :)

Hey sociology lovers! After losing our program to Hurricane Katrina and a 20-year hiatus, Tulane University is re-launching its PhD in sociology! If you'd like to learn more, please reach out at lwade3@tulane.edu. I'd be happy to chat to prospective students or faculty who might send some our way.

Teens, Social Media and AI Chatbots 2025 Roughly one-in-five U.S. teens say they are on TikTok and YouTube almost constantly. At the same time, 64% of teens say they use chatbots, including about three-in-ten who do so daily.

Stunning new research from Pew on racial disparities in the use of social media, the internet, and AI chatbots among American teens. For example, only 27% of White youth say they're online almost constantly, compared to 55% of Black youth. (Thread) www.pewresearch.org/internet/202...

Opinion | Banning Abortion a Hallmark of Authoritarian Regimes Seda Saluk writes about how U.S. policy on abortion rights has started to mirror patterns seen in authoritarian regimes around the world.

The U.S. is mirroring a pattern that has happened in authoritarian regimes around the world. When a government erects barriers to reproductive care, it doesn’t just cause death and suffering for women and their families. Such policies are often a first step in the gradual decline of democracies.

As we revisit - for the umpteenth time 🙄- the benefits of breastfeeding, I recommend this great piece in @sfjournal.bsky.social by @uncpopcenter.bsky.social Fellow Jessica Su & colleagues who find the benefits are not universal, at least for child development. doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...