Mahesh Somashekhar

Latino-Owned Businesses Struggle To Recover As Midway Blitz Impacts Linger Latino-owned businesses on the Southwest Side are still seeing low sales. "I hope people shop local and support local businesses," one owner said.

Months after the surge in ICE raids in Chicago ended, locally owned Latino businesses are still experiencing decreased sales and lower foot traffic, even if the businesses themselves were not raided. blockclubchicago.org/2026/02/13/l...

The Death and Life of Gentrification A provocative account of what is gained and what is lost when a word that once narrowly referred to neighborhood change takes on a life all its own

I just finished reading @jbrownsaracino.bsky.social's book on gentrification and the cultural life it's taken on. I highly recommend it. Who knew the concept of gentrification would be used to criticize the upscaling of everything from kale to penile enhancement? press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Race, Class, and the Displacement of White Residents from Gentrifying U.S. Neighborhoods Abstract. Are the adverse consequences of gentrification distributed more along racial or class lines? To answer this question, scholars must consider when

Out now! My paper examining White people displaced from gentrified neighborhoods. While they're displaced as frequently as non-White residents, they earn more and are displaced from richer neighborhoods, which cushions their fall and helps avoid adverse consequences. academic.oup.com/socpro/artic...

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...

“the state-approved version doesn’t include chapters on media and technology, global inequality, race and ethnicity, social stratification, or gender, sex and sexuality.” State. Approved.

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Today! A conversation on the state of political violence in the U.S., hosted by @prri.org and featuring speakers such as @profsamperry.bsky.social

Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activit...

Palantir is providing ICE “confidence scores” on the likely neighborhoods where potential deportation targets live. Their app compiles data from many sources to link suspects to neighborhoods. One officer stated in court records, “It’s kind of like Google Maps.” www.404media.co/elite-the-pa...

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Shut Down After 58 Years Due to Trump Eliminating Funding The Corporation for Public Broadcasting's board voted to close the organization after 58 years after the Trump Administration ended funding.

As with many things these days, I'm surprised this isn't getting more news coverage than it is.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Shut Down After 58 Years Due to Trump Eliminating Funding

variety.com/2026/tv/news...

NEW AT DEMOGRAPHY: We use difference-in-difference approach using applicant vs. implemented counties w/ 287(g) ICE agreements 2000-2020 to identify a plausibly causal effect immigration enforcement leading to sizeable increase in Latino-White segregation.

OPEN ACCESS PDF
doi.org/10.1215/0070...

The Quiet Scandal of Affirmative Action for Men Colleges systematically disadvantage female applicants.

The academic performance of men in the U.S. has declined so much in comparison to women that, in order to keep gender ratios roughly equal at U.S. colleges, a de facto 'affirmative action for men' has been created. My, how things have changed. yaschamounk.substack.com/p/end-affirm...

Google Scholar Is Doomed Academia built entire careers on a free Google service with zero guarantees. What could go wrong?

Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared

new paper by Sean Westwood:

With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research

My second presentation investigates how and where grassroots businesses that serve right-wing populists have successfully engaged with financial capitalism and embedded conservative Christian values in the larger U.S. economy.

The 2025 #SSHA conference is almost here! Come to both of my presentations. The first shows how gentrification has transformed LGBTQ organizations in gayborhoods. Gentrified gayborhoods commercialized, but non-gentrifying gayborhoods politicized in response. (1/2) @socscihistory.bsky.social

Policy Solutions for an Affordable Future Everyday Americans are worried about the cost of living, and more than 60 percent feel prices are heading in the wrong direction. American life has become mo…

These days, the U.S.'s affordability crisis will be addressed, if not solved, locally rather than nationally. To provide concrete, attainable local solutions, @urbaninstitute.bsky.social has produced ideas for how to achieve an affordable future: www.urban.org/apps/policy-...

Stabilizing Latino entrepreneurs amid federal policy volatility | Brookings This report traces how policy volatility erodes stability, how geography shapes exposure to these shocks, and what states, cities, philanthropy, and the private sector can do to respond.

Tariffs and immigration enforcement are harming small businesses in the U.S., but they're absolutely destroying immigrant-owned ones. This new report highlights those harms and provides creative solutions some cities are using to address the problem. www.brookings.edu/articles/sta...

DRP Rescuers Needed: Help with HIFLD HIFLD Open, a one-stop shop for public, geospatial infrastructure data for the US, was discontinued on Aug 26, 2025. While most of the datasets hosted there are still available from the source agencie...

The Data Rescue Project is seeking volunteers to help it maintain HIFLD Open, which provides disaster preparedness data and geospatial resources that the U.S. government has discontinued access to. Please help them out! For more, see: www.datarescueproject.org/email/81e2e1...

German far right setting agenda as opponents amplify its ideas, study finds Normalisation of far-right stances likely to affect success of such parties at ballot boxes across Europe, say researchers

German far right setting agenda as opponents amplify its ideas, study finds www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

75% of gains, 80% of profits, 90% of capex—AI’s grip on the S&P is total and Morgan Stanley's top analyst is 'very concerned' | Fortune The long bull market since 2022 is a "one-note narrative" since the explosion of ChatGPT, according to Lisa Shalett, CIO of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

According to this article, a top Wall St analyst says the current AI stock market bubble will last 9 to 24 months more before it bursts. I don't know if that's true, but I found the article insightful, describing current economic events in the U.S. well. fortune.com/2025/10/07/a...

HAPPENING TODAY! Learn how to protect yourself from doxxing at the event below. The event caters to academics but is relevant to anyone concerned about being doxxed.

On Tuesday, Oct. 7, @detentionwatchnetwork.org is hosting a virtual event to help folks in the U.S. learn how movements in El Salvador are fighting against authoritarianism and dictatorship. Registration link and more details can be found here: detentionwatchnetwork.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/d...

Yeah, I figured. There’s only so much that can be conveyed in 300 characters. I just wanted to make it explicit.

I’m currently reading a book that discusses how the Nazis took only 38% of the popular vote in 1932. I grow more convinced by the day that people power is more necessary than reminding opposition leaders to get a backbone, unless by that you mean pressuring them to stand up to fascism.

If you or someone you know is a Chicago-area parent whose children are between 5 and 15, please consider taking part in this study to share your experiences parenting during COVID! As someone who parented during the pandemic, I know I have lots of stories I can share.

National Emergency Call: The Supreme Court's Approval of Racial Profiling · National Day Laborer Organizing Network The Supreme Court has lifted a lower court order that had temporarily halted the Trump Administration’s terrorizing raids in Los Angeles. The decision paves the way for racial profiling, false arrests...

Concerned about racial profiling after the Supreme Court's decision to legalize it during immigration stops? Join a call TODAY at 7pm ET to learn more about the ruling as well as how you can help organize and protect vulnerable members of your community. Details here: www.mobilize.us/ndlon/event/...

Types of Internet Activity and the Religious Commitment of American Adults This study addresses the ongoing debate surrounding the connection between Internet use and religious identity, belief, salience, and practices. Using data from the 2021 wave of the Baylor Religion S....

New study using Baylor Religion Survey data finds nuanced links between Internet use and religiosity. Research by Laderi & Uecker suggests online gaming associated with holding atheist/agnostic beliefs; posting original content = more church attendance.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Opinion | Forget YIMBY. The housing shortage could disappear on its own. Demographic shifts and construction surges are likely to resolve the housing crisis without federal intervention.

“The “silver tsunami” — the gradual exit of baby boomers from the housing market via downsizing, relocation or death — could significantly narrow the national supply gap.”

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

On Aug 28, as part of the conference below, I'll be presenting new work (co-authored w/ @ikennedy.bsky.social) on the geography of far-right retailers in the U.S.
ias.uva.nl/content/even...

To virtually attend, and to get the full schedule, contact @lauradupin.bsky.social. Hope to see you there!

Good to see growing support for abduction or 'inference to the best explanation', recently by Spirling and Stewart in @thejop.bsky.social. This is...

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

This is an incredible data source!