Pamela Metz

Opinion: Question 1 is about much more than voter ID “If the proponents wanted a referendum solely on photo ID, they could have written legislation accordingly. Instead, after getting the bill title they wanted for petitions, they added many absentee vo...

Maine SSN's Amy Fried shows why Question 1 is about much more than “voter ID” — it would restrict absentee voting, eliminate phone requests, cut early-vote days, and more.
Read in the BDN: www.bangordailynews.com/2025/10/01/o...

Opinion: LBJ’s Great Society is being unraveled "Johnson’s ambitious programs generated significant backlash. Ever since the 1970s, Republicans have tried to roll back many elements of his Great Society."

Maine SSN's @rlarochelle.bsky.social argues that the Trump administration is actively unraveling LBJ’s Great Society — cutting back on popular health, education, and social safety net programs built over decades.
Read his full op-ed in the BDN ⬇️
www.bangordailynews.com/2025/09/26/o...

Opinion | ‘TrumpRx’ may disappoint Americans hoping to save money on prescriptions For many Americans, a trip to the pharmacy means the stresses of figuring out which drugs are covered or how to afford those drugs at all.

My latest for @msnbc.com, on the recently announced policy of TrumpRx. While reducing prescription drug costs is vital, it's hard to square with other Trump policies that cut against that goal, on top of which the drugs they mentioned would still be too expensive. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Leominster family says ICE agents held their daughter outside their home so they would turn themselves over - The Boston Globe “Is that your daughter? Come here so I can see those IDs,” an agent tells the father, waving at him to come out of the house, according to video the family recorded.

ICE enforcement efforts are intensifying across the country and especially in Massachusetts. It is a sad day when children are being used like bait to detain their parents. These children will be traumatized for life.
Full article here: bit.ly/484QPYQ

#ImmigrationPolicy #FamilySeparation

This image features a group of seven media fellows from various universities, with their names and institutions listed below their photographs. The background shows a collage of newspaper pages, and there is a banner at the bottom with a website link—scholars.org/media-fellowship for more information. The image is associated with the Scholars Strategy Network.

🌟 We’re excited to welcome the third cohort of SSN Media Fellows!

Over the next year, these scholars will work with SSN mentors to grow their media impact and share research with wider audiences.

📰 Learn more: scholars.org/media-fellow...

I'm so honored and excited to be part of this group! Thank you @scholars.org!

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

"Data centers are proliferating in VA and a blind man in [MD] is suddenly contending with sharply higher power bills...It’s an increasingly dramatic ripple effect of the AI boom as energy-hungry data centers...[pull]...households into paying for the digital economy" www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

IPR's new fellows (left to right): Chika Okafor, Elizabeth Thom, and Alexander Coppock

IPR welcomed three new fellows this fall who are investigating power and opportunity in American life—from mass incarceration and political communication to clean energy and fair hiring. Click here to read more: spr.ly/63328Ad53y

Now more than ever its critical that academic experts get out of the "ivory tower" and engage with policymakers and practitioners, showing exactly how insights from our research have relevance beyond the academy. (2/2)

I'm proud to be a member of @scholars.org, whose annual report you can read here: (1/2)
scholars.org/sites/schola...

Pathways to Reduce Child Poverty: Impacts of Federal Tax Credits Pathways to Reduce Child Poverty: Impacts of Federal Tax Credits

New @sbs.nationalacademies.org report shows federal tax credits lifted 2M+ children out of poverty in 2021. Director Chris Wimer served with fellow experts on the study committee. Read the report: nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/291...

When the house finds you: unanticipated opportunities in the housing “search” ABSTRACT. Prior research on residential selection generally assumes households find housing by actively searching for it. This assumption has led scholars

New article with @kelleyfong.bsky.social in @socprobsjournal.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1093/socp...

Over 14,000 physicians currently practicing in the United States, concentrated in underserved Midwestern+Southern states, are currently working on H-1B visas.

This is the high-skill visa program, lifeblood for critical sectors, that the US Administration is sledgehammering.

doi.org/10.1007/s116...

Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz detainees drop off the grid after leaving site As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined by the Miami Herald.

More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

Trump Appointees Roll Back Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws Interviews and internal documents show that signature civil rights protections in housing are being dismissed as ideologically driven and D.E.I. in disguise.

The Trump administration is limiting enforcement of fair housing laws, dismissing them as ideologically driven and DEI in disguise, according to interviews and internal documents reviewed by The New York Times.

This is how Trump ends democracy The past week has revealed Trump’s road map to one-party rule. Will Americans let him follow it?

This is a terrific piece by @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social. He explains extremely well, at least IMHO, the logic of competitive authoritarianism, where and how its happening here, and that we still have time to stop it.

Trump administration tackling the problem of home health care workers getting wages that are [checks notes...] too high.

It was a pleasure speaking with senior policy correspondent @rachelbooth.bsky.social from @vox.com about my new book—and what my research means for debates about family structure & racial inequality. Read about our wide-ranging discussion below:

t.co/blPn9HmhTU

Uncivil Democracy How the civil legal system undermines the political lives of marginalized communities

My book w/@profsorelle.bsky.social will be out in January! These ideas have brewed since I interned at Queens Legal Services 20 years ago. The book is for anyone who cares about people, justice, power & democracy. Much more to share more in the coming months!

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

The US economy has a new problem: Democracy is under siege | CNN Business Some political scientists see a pattern that suggests American democracy is being undermined in real time. The stakes are massive for the US economy and the business world.

I'm quoted here on an issue I've been raising for years now: the dire economic implications of democratic decline.

Business has been painfully slow to recognize the risks --- so it is really, really good to see business reporters covering the story.

Excited to get my copy of Inherited Inequality, such an important new book by the brilliant Dr. Christina Cross @christinajcross.bsky.social! I look forward to reading it and teaching it! 😊

#Sociology #Policy #Families #Inequality

YouTube video by Amanpour and Company Is the Benefit of a Two-Parent Family a Myth? Harvard Sociologist Explains | Amanpour and Company

I’m delighted to share that link to my PBS interview about INHERITED INEQUALITY is now available! Follow the link below:
youtu.be/w1P79Ryy50w?...

I sat down with Emmy award-winning journalist @michelmartinnpr.bsky.social from @amanpourcopbs.bsky.social for an-depth interview about my new book, INHERITED INEQUALITY. Tune in tomorrow at 11pm on PBS!

How social scientists could help to rebuild the federal government Lessons from my time in the Biden administration

Ultimately, having academics support sound federal policymaking could build the case for why the federal government should support higher education-and perhaps help rebuild public trust in what we do as academics.

No illusions that this will be easy, but now is the time to start thinking! 7/

As I describe in the piece, economics already has a strong presence and there are good pipelines throughout the White House and agencies for junior and senior economists. But we should think about bringing in other disciplines too -- anthropology, political science, sociology, history. 6/

So many immediate horrors right now, but I appreciated the invitation from @donmoyn.bsky.social to reflect on the future and how social scientists could help with the eventual federal government rebuilding.

As @sbagen.bsky.social has argued persuasively, we need to start now with that effort! 1/

Single-payer system could help Mainers avoid rising health care costs “Forty percent of Mainers struggle with medical debt, according to Consumers for Affordable Health Care.”

Maine @scholars.org member Daniel Bryant has a piece in the
@bangordailynews.bsky.social this week examining Maine's urgent need for a single-payer health care system. Check it out at the link below.