winter 2025 table of contents

from the editors

in brief:

• “Cash and Control,” Colter J. Uscola.
• “Place-Based Politics,” Parker Muzzerall.
• “New Labor Model, Same Old Problems,” Parker Muzzerall.
• “All Fun and Games?” Colter J.  Uscola.
• “Emirati Women’s Hidden Paychecks,” Elena G. van Stee.
• “Between a Rock and a Landlord,” Parker Muzzerall.
• “Friendship Therapy,” Parker Muzzerall.
• “Seeking Help, Seeking Dignity,” Elena G. van Stee

q&a:

• “A Moral Obligation: An Interview with Claude Fischer, Founding Editor of Contexts.” Amin Ghaziani speaks with Claude Fischer, founding editor of Contexts, about his vision for the magazine and the importance of continued investments in public sociology.

special section:

• “Election Reflections–and What Comes Next,” by Amin Ghaziani, Seth Abrutyn, Daniel Laurison, Mary Romero, Andrew J. Perrin, Amienne Spencer-Blume, Cecilia Menjivar, and Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. A curated collection of essays tracking the pulse of American democracy as the second Trump Administration comes into power, this special section considers the campaigns that were waged and previews the battles yet to come.

features:

• “‘You Want Us To Think Outside the Box, But Who’s Funding It?’ Tensions Between Profitability and Corporate Environmental Sustainability,” by Vanessa Adel and Leslie King. Corporations may talk a good game when it comes to environmental stewardship yet balk at projects that threaten the bottom line. Unpacking the “business case” framework with CES professionals reveals their limited agency to effect more than minor change.
• “Beyond #Girlboss and #Tradwife: Reclaiming Joy by Expanding Our Feminist Imagination,” by Smitha Radhakrishnan and Cinzia D. Solari. Hashtag feminism responds to White western women’s binds and the limits of “having it all” but overlooks the global, utopic feminist visions that might help struggling women everywhere forge paths toward liberatory futures.
• “The Hidden Toll of Grief after Youth Gun Violence,” by Nora Gross. Ethnographic research at an all-Black, all-boys high school uncovers the emotional and academic toll of young men’s untended grief in the wake of gun deaths. After the balloons are released and the candles are snuffed out, public vigils become private burdens for the youth who survive their peers.
• “An Emotional Affair,” by Alicia M. Walker. Speaking directly with dozens of married heterosexual men involved in extramarital affairs fleshes out a dirty little secret: it’s not always the sex they seek but the validation. By digging deeper, we learn how threatened masculinity gives rise to tacit expectations of wives’ relational labor.

in pictures:

• “Regarding Borders and Boundaries.” Luc Pawels on the dynamic processes of “bordering.”
• “Seeing Tensions in Adulthood.” Alicia Smith-Tran, Sunny Hunt, Dakota Wynn, Izze Powell, Jonah Covell, and Charlie Kline on the rocky road to “real” adulthood.

culture:

• “Black Women, YouTube, and the Anti-Work Movement.” Sharla Berry on refusing to play a zero-sum game.
• “AI and the Looking-glass Self.” Carsten Lund Pedersen on identity and the AI gaze.

trends:

• “Why Conservatives Embrace Social Democracy.” Arthur Scarritt, Michael Kreiter, Amelia Jobe, and Danilla Kowalczuk on surprising support for social programs.
• “Being First-Generation.” Vincent J. Roscigno, Jasmine Whiteside, Erick Axxe, Anne McDaniel, and Oded Mcdossi on first-gen students’ vulnerabilities and resilience.

books:

• “Geographies of Trauma.” Stefano Bloch on Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics and The Marvelous Ones.

policy brief:

• “The High Costs of Veterans Affairs Privatization.” M. Evangeline “Evie” Lopoo on the threat of austerity at the VA.

one thing i know:

• “The Power of Partiality.” Allison J. Pugh on the lamentable triumph of objective knowledge.