Sociologists describe the meaning and value of their work. In the testimonials that follow, scholars provide examples of the real-world impact of sociology and how their teaching, research, and public engagement work has made a positive difference in the world around them.
We are grateful to all the scholars who contributed their stories to the ASA’s Value of Sociology Initiative.
Click here to view testimonials from former students who explain how their sociology coursework positively influenced their careers and personal lives, as well as access featured resources.
“I provided mental health services in the form of forensic psychotherapy to inmates in both a state prison and two county jails for 26 years, providing alcohol, ADHD, and schizophrenia interventions and using my social-psychological education to better serve these populations. I have also had significant impact as a social-psychologist/psychotherapist in the U.S. government by providing conflict resolution/trauma research that has benefited diverse government populations. As an employee of the U.S. Department of Commerce, I created and operated an Employee Assistance Program, using my sociological and psychological training to design comprehensive communication/alcohol treatment/and mental health services to the employees, management, and unions of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.”
–Frank Salvatore Abate, Psychotherapist, Part-Time, Self-Employed
“Research I began in 1997 on the number of Native American women housed in prison has led to changes in how racial and ethnic identity data on prisoners are collected by federal agencies. I conducted the first study of how racial and ethnic identity data that are collected by official government agents—and their then-fatally flawed data collection instruments—contributed to an undercounting of individuals who hold multiethnic and multiracial identities, as do many Native Americans. This study found 255 women who identified as Native American, whereas official government statistics reported only two Native American women in the prison at the time of the study. This was an important study to conduct because the changing nature of United States society is such that multiracial and multiethnic identities are common today and must be accounted for in all institutions where the government is required to provide for its citizenry—both inside prisons as well as among the general public.”
–Julie C. Abril, Independent Social Scientist, Julie C. Abril, Research Services
“Sociology as a discipline reaches more than just academia. My students have commented on how it is a window to the world they are about to enter. The discipline covers aspects of how students became who they are and how the world around them will impact their future. I often use the phrase, “Your views are your views, but the goal of the course is for you to be open to the lens of other people’s perceptions and perspectives.” By doing this, we can better understand why people believe and act as they do, and it also helps students better prepare for the more significant issues impacting society. Looking at and having a discussion about the complex issues of the day helps create understanding. People often fear what they don’t know and hate what they can’t understand. By going over the day’s issues, students can see why groups act and interact the way they do. They can see the more significant issues and understand the mechanisms that force change.”
–Patrick Asmussen, Sociology Teacher, Ankeny Community Schools
“My February 2023 op-ed in the Chicago Tribune, “Illinois Needs a Different Kind of Assistance for Homeowners: Home Repairs,” was the stimulus for a new campaign in which a coalition of Chicago-based nonprofit organizations drafted the Senior Home Preservation Program Act bill for Illinois (HB 5506). The bill lays out provisions for longtime “legacy” low-income older homeowners (most of whom are owners of color) to receive up to $40,000 in money for home repairs. The Human Services Committee passed the bill, which is currently being considered by the Illinois General Assembly on its way, hopefully, to becoming a statewide program that helps seniors stay in their homes, maintain their homes, and maintain their home equity.”
–Robin Bartram, Assistant Professor, University of Chicago
Featured Resource! Op-Ed Development Guidance
Op-eds can have a significant impact on public understanding and can amplify grassroots voices and strengthen community organizing. Click here for practical guidance and effective examples written by sociologists. Be sure to view this recording of a workshop on op-ed writing led by Dr. Stacy Torres, University of California-San Francisco, where you can learn the basics of op-ed writing.
“Sociologist Heather Evans and I conducted research on racial inequities in the administration of capital punishment in Washington State. We submitted this research on behalf of defense attorneys representing a death row inmate. In 2018, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the death penalty as administered in the state was racially disproportionate and arbitrary, and therefore unconstitutional. In the ruling, Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote, “To reach our conclusion, we afford great weight to Beckett’s analysis and conclusions.”
–Katherine Beckett, Professor, University of Washington
Katherine Beckett and Heather Evans’s work was also highlighted by colleague Judith Howard in her testimonial. You can read it here.
“My research and testimony were critical to the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision in Smith v. State of Georgia (571 S.E.2d 740 2002) that recognized Latinx people as a cognizable group for the purpose of jury selection.”
–Stephanie Bohon, Professor and Head of Sociology, University of Tennessee
“The 1970s saw an explosive growth of self-help/mutual aid groups in which persons with a range of disabilities, and those with chronic diseases or other medical conditions, formed groups. People who identified as having similar problems banded together, sharing their lived experiences of frustration and marginalization as well as their constructive coping efforts. They often advocated for political and professional changes. Many based their structure and operational methods on two well-known groups: Alcoholics Anonymous, established in 1936, and Recovery, Inc., focused on mental health and established in 1937. Known by various names—mutual help group, self-help group, self-help/mutual aid group— thousands of these grassroots organizations still exist today.
As an assistant professor in 1970, I taught a social deviance course in which I referenced the sociologist Edwin Lemert’s argument that people who stutter cannot form groups because groups require talking and stutterers cannot talk. Soon after, I came across a five-year-old local group of people who stuttered. “How could this group exist for five years?” I wondered. I asked to study the group, and they were delighted to have some attention. Observing meetings and interviewing them for several years, I saw members change from timid and self-critical to self-confident, assertive speakers who enjoyed their newfound agency. As they shared similar stories, the members vetted and accumulated their individual knowledge on a group level. In the process, they changed from being deferential and unquestioning with professionals to being confident and critical. From these and other observations, I formulated the concept of experiential knowledge. In 1976, I published what became a seminal article on experiential knowledge as characterizing self-help/mutual aid groups.
In 1978, as a visiting researcher at the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA), I was asked to visit an alcohol recovery program in California. The division chief was considering defunding the program because they did not understand the model. It was called a social model program and incorporated the principles of peer support. During the site visit, I recognized that the program was adapting the principles and practices of Alcoholics Anonymous to a formalized, government-funded nonprofit organization. I was able to explain the recovery program to NIAAA, which then renewed the funding.
Lee Kaskutas and I researched and published in peer-reviewed addiction journals about the California Social Model. These programs are an alternative paradigm to the dominant medical and clinical models of addiction treatment. Social model practitioners have praised the research and my conceptual model, which provided them with the vocabulary necessary to understand and explain the dynamics of their model.
Recovery residences are the social model programs that are prominent today; they have become prevalent across the country. In 2011, the National Alliance for Recovery Residences (NARR) was established to ensure quality, and it turned to our research on the social model, integrating our findings into its standards for certifying residences. NARR’s website notes that 25,000 persons per year are supported by 2,500 certified recovery residences.”
–Thomasina Borkman, Professor of Sociology Emerita, George Mason University
“In 2019, I published a coauthored book (with Sarah Bowen and Sinikka Elliott) that examined the joys, but also the challenges, of feeding young children. This highly accessible book deepened public and scholarly knowledge about the multiple barriers that families across the class spectrum experience as they try to feed their kids enough healthy food. Our research also shed light on how white, Black, and Latina mothers feed their families, specifically how racial and ethnic identity matter when it comes to making food decisions, and how racism is perpetuated through the U.S. food system. At the end of the book, we offer concrete solutions for what we can do at the individual, community, and policy levels to ensure that every family living in the United States has access to healthy food.
Our book has been read by food experts, journalists, policymakers, college students, parents, food justice workers and advocates, and others who are interested in making a positive impact on our food system. The book has also been reviewed, discussed, and reported on by major U.S. news outlets, as well as by international media outlets. Our findings have been discussed in podcast interviews, and in talks and presentations that we have given locally, at major U.S. universities, as well as internationally. Our research and the book that came from it were shaped by the amazing work that other sociologists did before us, and in turn have played a role in influencing research that food and inequality sociologists have done since.”
–Joslyn Brenton, Associate Professor, Ithaca College
Featured Resource! ASA Podcast Library
Visit ASA’s website to access more than a dozen podcasts hosted by sociologists from across the country and beyond. These sociologists delve into myriad public realms, bringing the sociological lens to bear on many of the pressing issues of our time.
“The 1970s saw an explosive growth of self-help/mutual aid groups in which persons with a range of disabilities, and those with chronic diseases or other medical conditions, formed groups. People who identified as having similar problems banded together, sharing their lived experiences of frustration and marginalization as well as their constructive coping efforts. They often advocated for political and professional changes. Many based their structure and operational methods on two well-known groups: Alcoholics Anonymous, established in 1936, and Recovery, Inc., focused on mental health and established in 1937. Known by various names—mutual help group, self-help group, self-help/mutual aid group— thousands of these grassroots organizations still exist today.
As an assistant professor in 1970, I taught a social deviance course in which I referenced the sociologist Edwin Lemert’s argument that people who stutter cannot form groups because groups require talking and stutterers cannot talk. Soon after, I came across a five-year-old local group of people who stuttered. “How could this group exist for five years?” I wondered. I asked to study the group, and they were delighted to have some attention. Observing meetings and interviewing them for several years, I saw members change from timid and self-critical to self-confident assertive speakers who enjoyed their newfound agency. As they shared similar stories, the members vetted and accumulated their individual knowledge on a group level. In the process, they changed from being deferential and unquestioning with professionals to being confident and critical. From these and other observations, I formulated the concept of experiential knowledge. In 1976, I published what became a seminal article on experiential knowledge as characterizing self-help/mutual aid groups.
In 1978, as a visiting researcher at the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA), I was asked to visit an alcohol recovery program in California. The division chief was considering defunding the program because they did not understand the model. It was called a social model program and incorporated the principles of peer support. During the site visit, I recognized that the program was adapting the principles and practices of Alcoholics Anonymous to a formalized, government-funded nonprofit organization. I was able to explain the recovery program to NIAAA, which then renewed the funding.
Lee Kaskutas and I researched and published in peer-reviewed addiction journals about the California Social Model. These programs are an alternative paradigm to the dominant medical and clinical models of addiction treatment. Social model practitioners have praised the research and my conceptual model, which provided them with the vocabulary necessary to understand and explain the dynamics of their model.
Recovery residences are the social model programs that are prominent today; they have become prevalent across the country. In 2011, the National Alliance for Recovery Residences (NARR) was established to ensure quality, and it turned to our research on the social model, integrating our findings into its standards for certifying residences. NARR’s website notes that 25,000 persons per year are supported by 2,500 certified recovery residences.”
–Stanley Capela, VP for Quality Management and Corporate Compliance Officer, HeartShare Human Services, Retired
“As a research fellow in Houston, TX, at the Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research, I had the opportunity to quantitatively study the neighborhood change components across Harris County (the county which includes nearly the entirety of the city of Houston). From there, I created an informative typology of gentrifying neighborhoods and then analyzed the likelihood of neighborhoods gentrifying in the future. This report had a three-fold purpose. First, it was meant to educate the general public about the process of neighborhood change and some of its issues, such as housing affordability and displacement of residents. Second, it was meant to identify currently gentrified and gentrifying neighborhoods in a standardized way. That meant we were able to create a neighborhood indicator, or a piece of data with nationally standardized geographic indicators, that has been and continues to be shared and used by members of the university and the larger community for further studies. For example, long after my research fellow position ended, I heard from people about the Houston gentrification data. I recall meeting with one Rice University undergraduate student who was using the data I had created to examine the relationship between crime and gentrification in the Houston area. Finally, the report served to identify neighborhoods that are at risk of gentrifying in the future. This allows neighborhoods and local communities to take the appropriate actions to prevent issues of housing affordability and displacement of residents.
Harris County had not seen as comprehensive a report and analysis as the one I developed using the skills I had gained from sociology.
I learned many quantitative, data science, and overall critical thinking skills as a sociology student. This is only one example of how I have used my sociological education. In my public, applied, and traditional sociological job roles over the past 10-15 years, I have researched the homeless population in rural Arkansas; children in the New York foster care system by zip-code; the relationship between bankruptcy and unemployment across U.S. counties; housing and neighborhood quality for people with disabilities; and many other substantive areas.
I continue to try to work as a community-engaged researcher and instructor and to mentor other students who I know will make great differences in the world because of sociology.”
–Wendie Choudary, Lecturer of Sociology, Binghamton University
“I served as the chief of policy and planning under Boston Mayor Kim Janey in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. I helped lead Mayor Janey’s equitable recovery for the city as we delivered vaccines, reopened schools, reopened businesses, and brought more than 10,000 city employees back to in-person work across the city.”
–Mary Churchill, Associate Dean and Professor of the Practice, Boston University
“While some research has inherent, clear-cut importance, other scholarship requires explanation. Within the field of sociology, we often have to argue why our research is important, more often than one might in the “hard” sciences. I have found this to be true with regard to my research. While most people agree that rape is a terrible thing, bringing awareness to rape remains a difficult job. Even in this post-#MeToo era and with a growing amount of empirical research, debate and ambiguities still exist. For example, the answer to the simple question “What is rape?” remains ambiguous, because the legal and social definitions do not always match. If a stranger jumps out of the bushes, holds someone at gunpoint, and assaults them despite valiant efforts to fight them off, most would agree that this is a clear case of rape. But what about when two friends are drunk at a party and have sex? Would someone consider that rape, even though, legally, neither could consent? This is just one example of how rape is greyer than people usually acknowledge—and it’s also an example that illuminates my work and demonstrates its importance.
The research I conduct revolves around rape myths, or stereotypes about the crime, victims, and perpetrators. These myths include statements such as, “If she didn’t fight back, then it wasn’t rape” and “Men can’t be raped.” The first rape vignette I described, with a stranger jumping out of the bushes, encompasses many rape myths—that most rapes are committed by strangers, most rapists use weapons, and “real” victims fight back. The reality, though, is that these aren’t true. For example, most rapes are committed by someone known to the victim rather than a stranger. Such stereotypes are problematic because they influence how people view the crime, including offenders and victims. When victims’ experiences don’t match public opinion on what constitutes a “legitimate” rape, they may be less likely to report. These myths also contribute to a culture of victim blaming and perpetrator culpability negation where “She should have been more careful while drinking” and “He didn’t know what he was doing because he was drunk” go hand in hand.
As a scholar who focuses on rape myths, I have the opportunity to educate people about these myths and also to try to dispel them through my research. I’m also able to explain how these myths are perpetuated, which is largely through the media, due to the nature of my work (i.e., media content analysis). To me, my research is obviously important, but I have to argue why it is because the implications aren’t as tangible as other research. Still, I continue to do so because the previous widely held statement is true—rape is bad—and its prevalence and negative effects make it worthy of investigation. After all, how can we hope to fix a problem if we can’t identify it or understand it?”
–Gemini Creason-Parker, PhD Student, Texas A&M University
“My 2023 TEDx Talk, “Three Myths of Behavior Change: What You Think You Know That You Don’t,” has been viewed more than 1.3 million times and is being used in universities around the world, in several fields including sociology, business, and environmental science. In the 11 years since the talk was posted, I have been contacted by people from around the world who have applied the knowledge shared in this talk in diverse settings. This video—and others in which I also translate social science into practice—are having an impact in a variety of industries that otherwise would not access social science insights or be able to draw on these insights to improve their work.
A glove manufacturer is using these insights to improve workplace safety by developing campaigns to encourage manufacturing workers to wear gloves that protect their health and safety. Mirko Daniel Fernandez, working with the World Bank, has been using insights from my talks to develop campaigns and “train-the-trainers” workshops for projects aimed at reducing gender-based violence in Africa, Asia, and Europe. This talk and others have been used by schoolteachers to reduce bullying among teenagers, by high school teachers to reduce texting while driving and related harm, by colleges and universities to reduce high-risk drinking behaviors and associated harm, by municipalities and businesses to reduce energy consumption in commercial buildings, and by nonprofits to increase rates of reporting of domestic violence and reduce rates of violence.
I have been contacted by students and faculty from around the world who let me know they are using this video in a range of courses. Businesses, schools, local governments, and nonprofits have also contacted me to report how they have used the insights from this video to improve their work and to make a difference.”
–Jeni Cross, Director of the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology, Colorado State University
Featured Resource! ASA Contexts Curated Articles
ASA’s quarterly magazine, Contexts, which makes cutting-edge social research accessible to general readers, serves as the public face of sociology and thus is particularly valuable in demonstrating the value of the discipline to broad audiences. Access a curated collection of Contexts articles that help demonstrate the value of sociology here.
“For more than 25 years, I’ve been working collaboratively with hundreds of nonprofit organizations and foundations, using research as a tool to help them build their capacity and strengthen their programs and policies. These include early childhood policies/programs as well as professional development programs for urban teachers, energy efficiency initiatives, leadership development programs, and more. Some of my larger studies have included a national study on flexible work policies in six large corporations to gauge the impact of flexible work hours and remote working on job satisfaction and employee productivity; an evaluation of a statewide anti-wage theft campaign that was organized by a coalition of immigrant worker centers and labor activists aiming to pass municipal ordinances as well as legislation to ensure workers are paid fairly; and a study of workplace climate at a large federal regulatory agency.
As a consultant to these organizations, I create a feedback loop with leadership and staff to ensure that data collected can be incorporated into changes in policies and practices. As a result of my research, a university-based leadership program for nonprofit leaders reshaped its intervention to better meet the needs of its diverse cohorts of participants. By documenting the prevalence of discrimination against immigrants in the workforce, my research provided needed data for advocacy efforts to improve wages and working conditions. Additionally, my work with a coalition of tenants and public housing and public health representatives contributed to a collaborative effort to increase access to health care services among public housing residents.
And finally, I have taught evaluation research in the Sociology Department at Boston College, supporting graduate and undergraduate students to apply their classroom learning in research to team-based research field experiences, during which they conducted their own research projects with some of my former clients. I remain in contact with a number of students from these classes. They note that the concrete skills they developed in my class helped them find their first jobs upon graduation and develop their careers in subsequent jobs.”
–Mindy Fried, Principal, Arbor Consulting Partners
“I have a large and developing body of methodological work that advances our understanding of how people perceive race/ethnicity and other characteristics about individuals from their names. This work, coupled with my expertise in the correspondence audit method used to study racial/ethnic discrimination, has led to numerous consulting engagements for government agencies and on legal cases related to racial/ethnic discrimination. I help these agencies design experimental tests to capture racial/ethnic discrimination that lead to enforcement cases used to bring organizations engaging in discrimination to justice.
In other legal consulting, I help establish patterns of racial/ethnic discrimination and explain how individuals and organizations may be engaging in racial/ethnic discrimination based on names. For example, in early 2022, my research and legal consulting directly led to an experimental change on the Airbnb platform aimed at reducing discrimination. As part of a legal settlement, Airbnb removed the requirement that requesters have their legal name attached to their rental request in some locations. The hope is that, without identifying features about requesters, hosts will be considerably less likely to engage in racial/ethnic discrimination. Overall, my work provides government agencies and lawyers with strong causal evidence of racial/ethnic discrimination as a tool to prevent future discrimination.”
–S. Michael Gaddis, Senior Research Scientist, NWEA
“My ethnographic fieldwork within a medium-security U.S. prison revealed an unexpected finding. Imprisoned men were relying on ramen noodles as the primary informal currency in the prison black market as opposed to cigarettes or other tobacco products, which had dominated as the primary informal currency since the inception of the prison as an institution. My work writing and speaking about this transition from cigarettes to ramen helped reveal an important reality of the contemporary U.S. prison system: namely, the quantity and quality of prison food has deteriorated so significantly in recent years that cheap, durable, reliable food items such as ramen have become increasingly vital for survival for many. The value of these goods rose so dramatically that they dethroned king tobacco as the dominant form of black-market currency.
News coverage of this work in outlets such as the Guardian and National Public Radio helped elevate this story, which was soon covered in more than 100 news outlets globally. The story went viral on social media sites such as Reddit and was even referenced in popular TV shows such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine (season 5, episode 1) and was used in a question on Ellen’s Game of Games (season 2, episode 4). This novel notion—that cheap food like ramen reigns as black-market currency of choice—seemingly reached the level of public knowledge. It also influenced policy work. The research was eventually cited in an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court of Ohio and was discussed at length in reports from the ACLU and University of Chicago Global Human Rights Clinic (titled “Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated Workers”) as well as Impact Justice (titled “Studying the State of Food in the Nation’s Prisons”).
Through these media, legal, and policy avenues, my work has helped elevate awareness of issues surrounding the quality of care and conditions within the nation’s prisons. My ongoing research in the areas of punishment and prison labor, along with my public sociology endeavors in the form of working with local and national advocacy organizations and offering assistance and insights to those engaged in legal efforts against forcible prison labor, have allowed me to continue impacting our society using sociology.”
–Michael Gibson-Light, Assistant Professor, Sociology and Criminology, University of Denver
“As a recently graduated sociology major with a minor in gerontology, I am beyond grateful to be applying the sociological lens within my career. As a family self-sufficiency coordinator for a nonprofit housing authority, I operate a program that assists residents with accessing resources, such as obtaining financial coaching, maintaining job retention, achieving homeownership, addressing food insecurity, or just assistance with life in general. In this role, I believe I have impacted the lives of my residents for the better by supporting them and motivating them to accomplish their life goals. Currently, one of the residents is working toward obtaining their commercial driver’s license. Another resident is working on improving their budgeting practices and is in search of new employment.”
–Anna Howard, Family Self-Sufficiency Coordinator, Affordable Housing Advocates
“Katherine Beckett, professor of sociology and chair and professor of law, societies, and justice, and Heather Evans, lecturer in the Department of Sociology and the Department of Law, Societies, and Justice, both at the University of Washington, are doing work that exemplifies how social and behavioral sciences can produce deeply important change in the world. Their research led the Washington State Supreme Court to strike down the state’s death penalty statute, based on racial disparities and arbitrariness in the state’s previous application of capital punishment.
Their research on the death penalty began in 2012, when they were contacted by two attorneys who were representing an African American defendant; the attorneys were trying to assess whether there were racial disparities in the imposition of the death penalty in Washington. That led Beckett and Evans to six long years of painstaking research, entailing coding hundreds of capital cases. Their results revealed profound racial disparities in the application of the death penalty: Black defendants were more than four times more likely to be sentenced to death than were defendants of any other race, controlling for all legally relevant case characteristics.
Beckett and Evans also reported that decisions by prosecutors to seek the death penalty varied widely; in one county, prosecutors sought the death penalty in 67 percent of aggravated murder cases, while in another county, the death penalty was not sought once. The justices wrote: “While this particular case provides an opportunity to specifically address racial disproportionality, the underlying issues that underpin our holding are rooted in the arbitrary manner in which the death penalty is generally administered.” The primary expert for the state reported that he could not replicate the study results and asked the Court to throw out the study. This challenge led Beckett and Evans to test every possible scenario, every possible result. Evans eventually tried an unusual tack—guessing at what sorts of errors might have led the state expert to fail to replicate. She came up with the solution and was able to reproduce the state expert’s error that had led to the failure of replication.
The Washington Supreme Court decision was issued in October 2018. The majority decision explicitly cited Beckett and Evans’ research as evidence of racial disproportionality, constituting cruel punishment. A Washington Post article noted, “In its 42-page ruling, Washington’s Supreme Court referred repeatedly to a study completed by researchers at the University of Washington.” The outcome was the effective end of capital punishment in the State of Washington. The sentences of eight men on death row were converted to life without the possibility of parole.
Beckett and Evans attribute their success to being “annoying people with solid, rigorous, data.” Their six years of painstaking research could not be a more effective example of the use of social science research to literally change, and in this case save, lives—lives of marginalized peoples.”
–Judith A. Howard, Professor Emerita, University of Washington
Featured Resource! What to Do When You’re Under Attack
Are you or a colleague facing harassment for your scholarship or teaching? How can you protect yourself in the face of a significant attack? What can you share with your administrators to encourage their support? Click here for resources that provide practical advice.
“In recent years, I have been reporting out research findings through the Conversation, which sends articles out to many other outlets. This one was published recently: (coauthored with James L. Perry) “Politicians may rail against the ‘deep state,’ but research shows federal workers are effective and committed, not subversive,” the Conversation: March 26, 2024. It already has more than 27,000 hits and has been republished by Yahoo News (U.S., Canada), Government Executive, and Federal Times. Building on the American Journal of Sociology article that I coauthored with Yvonne Zylan, this piece brings attention to our research findings that suggest government employees are notably capable, loyal to serving the government and the public, and responsive to leadership, despite claims from Trump administration officials and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 that they are not.
A few years ago, Evan Stewart and I wrote an article published in the Conversation, “Yoga versus democracy? What survey data says about spiritual Americans’ political behavior,” that received more than 16,000 hits and was reproduced by more than 80 outlets across the country.
In one of my courses this semester, titled Inspired Action, my students are working with Rev. Sharon Baugh, a pastor of the Hope Chapel/AME Zion church in nearby Utica, to help her develop an educational summer program for at-risk youth in her neighborhood. During the COVID pandemic, her neighborhood declined, and she found kids were showing up on her doorstep in the summer with nothing to do and generally needed more assistance. With support from Hamilton College’s Levitt Center, our class is helping her to write grants and get in-kind donations for a summer enrichment program; get county funding for youth; and develop curricula, job descriptions, marketing, and branding for the program.”
–Jaime Kucinskas, Chair and Associate Professor of Sociology, Hamilton College
“As a sociologist and the administrative director at Delve Psychotherapy of Chicago, I have had the honor of contributing to the drafting of Illinois House Bill 4475. This bill aims to strengthen the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) by amending the insurance code. The bill was drafted in collaboration with the Healthy Minds, Healthy Lives coalition.
My role in helping to draft the bill was to contribute my knowledge and expertise regarding mental health providers’ difficulties when working with health insurance companies. During my initial two years at Delve Psychotherapy of Chicago, I assisted in managing the revenue cycle, which involved tracking claim denials, deciphering insurance contracts and health plan documents, and liaising with insurers. These experiences shed light on the structural inequities within coverage distribution.
From a sociological perspective, I observed various systemic barriers that hindered access to mental health services. For example, some insurers were imposing restrictions on billing for multiple mental health services on the same day—such as group, couples, or family therapy alongside individual therapy, which disproportionately affects folks who live in rural areas or have higher support needs. Furthermore, insurance providers often had an unnecessarily lengthy process for contracting with health-care providers. As a result, the number of in-network providers can be limited, leaving clients with fewer options for their health-care needs. These and other issues demonstrate the discriminatory private insurance practices that make mental health care inaccessible.
Using my sociological lens, I recognized that these challenges were not isolated incidents but symptomatic of broader structural inequalities, including the marginalization of mental health care within the health insurance system. By identifying the interplay of social, economic, and institutional factors, I advocated for provisions in the bill that addressed these underlying issues.
Having cleared the Illinois House of Representatives 86-20 with strong bipartisan support, HB4475 promises substantial benefits for mental health providers and clients. The bill seeks to reduce administrative burdens on mental health providers, allowing them to focus on providing high-quality services. Additionally, the bill aims to bolster insurance networks and harness the full potential of the mental health workforce by permitting providers in the licensure process to bill under supervision, thereby expanding access to services for clients.
HB4475 ensures that clients have access to the health-care services they are entitled to and are already paying for without additional costs or obstacles. It eliminates barriers or limitations that prevent clients from fully utilizing their mental health benefits.
In essence, my contribution to the drafting of HB4475 exemplifies the intersection of sociology and policy advocacy in effecting tangible reforms within the health-care landscape. By addressing systemic inequities and gaps in the implementation of parity, the goal of this legislation is to foster a more accessible mental health system.”
–Lisa Lipscomb, Administrative Director, Delve Psychotherapy of Chicago
“Sociology has fundamentally revolutionized the way I view the world. I grew up in a rural, close-knit community where I had little exposure to cultures and people that did not look or sound like me. As a first-generation student, I was hungry to learn on campus. Sociology found me, and I have never looked back. I took my training about inequalities into my decade-long career as a social worker and helped victims of intimate partner violence (predominantly women) to regain a sense of self—a survivor self. My sociological knowledge about systems and power assisted me in contextualizing the problem. Rather than only serving victims, I began to address the institutions upstream. I became a trainer of trainers on sexual harassment. I joined a lobbying group on women’s rights and began petitioning my state legislature to pass laws that protect women and balance unequal power. I started and supported Genders and Sexualities Alliances at several high schools and delivered trainings on consent.
Eventually, I realized I needed more education and “know how” and entered a PhD program in sociology focused on exploring gender equality. I now teach Sociology of Gender, Sociology of Families, and Sociology of Family Violence. I am training the next generation of social workers, advocates, and government officials. And, I hope, beyond all hope, that my two young daughters can grow up in a world where violence against them is not assumed to be the norm. I hope that my discipline, sociology, will continue to break down barriers and that the next generation may experience a more just world.”
–Shayna Morrison, PhD Student, Kent State University
“As the principal investigator of a National Science Foundation grant to find innovative solutions to the opioid crisis from 2020-23, I had the pleasure of building and implementing a field experiment in collaboration with community-based clinics, a community-based behavioral health organization, and courts on the front line of the overdose crisis. The rich engagement from the community—and specifically, from persons reentering society from incarceration and persons who identify as having problematic substance use histories—was impactful and helped to identify gaps in the current scientific understanding of the overdose crisis, as well as to identify strategies to better include marginalized persons in scientific research.
As part of the first generation in my family to attend college, and hailing from a working-class family, I hypothesized that the inclusion of underrepresented persons and impacted persons would support the successful implementation of this scholarship and push the needle in terms of innovative sociological research. Observing the overdose crisis directly impact my home community had left me curious about why many social scientists had not sought the expertise of the people who themselves were most impacted. Inspired by ethnographic sociological research, such as Matthew Desmond’s Evicted, I sought to directly observe and interact with those most impacted.
Seventy percent of participants in our research group’s sample (N= 401) had experienced homelessness and 50 percent had experienced at least one overdose. All had been diagnosed with a substance use disorder and were either receiving Medicaid or uninsured. Our sample included a natural oversampling of subgroups that are traditionally underrepresented in scientific scholarship yet overrepresented in high-risk categories for premature mortality related to the overdose crisis (e.g., the unhoused, American Indian/Alaska Native, African American).
The deidentified data will be archived for the benefit of (1) public use/knowledge and dissemination; (2) scholarly work; and (3) policymaking surrounding the overdose crisis and related health, housing, and justice system concerns. I’ve also had the pleasure of presenting this research directly to public audiences, such as with participants under supervision (probation) in the Veteran’s Treatment Court as well as on a podcast. The scholarship has also been disseminated in traditional ways, including academic conferences and manuscripts, and it is scheduled for presentation at an international conference and invited lecture abroad in summer 2024.
I am very much looking forward to continuing my work with marginalized communities on health, housing, justice, and racial equity when I join the Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice this summer as an assistant professor.”
–Meghan O’Neil, Postdoctoral Scholar, The Ohio State University
“As part of my research on paternity leave within the United States, I have led numerous studies that demonstrate the inequalities in access to paid paternity leave that exist, but also the myriad benefits for families with fathers who take paternity leave. Specifically, when fathers take leave (and especially longer leaves), they are more engaged in their children’s lives, mothers are more satisfied in their relationships, parents are more likely to maintain a stable relationship, and children report better relationships with their fathers. These findings have been widely disseminated, including in numerous media outlets. Importantly, this research has been used in testimonies in U.S. legislative hearings on paid family leave.
I have always hoped that my research would play a role in increasing access to paid leave for fathers, encouraging more fathers to take paternity leave, and, ultimately, improving families. But there is always the question of whether academic research has the effect we hope it will. Recently, I was at my son’s swimming meet, talking with another parent. He asked what I studied, and I talked about my research on fathers and paternity leave. He told me that his company had only recently begun providing paid leave to its workers, and that he had advocated for paid leave to his company’s HR department. He asked me if I knew of the research showing that even as little as two weeks of leave for fathers can make a big difference, and he said he had used these studies to advocate for paid leave at his company. This was really the first time I knew that my work was having an impact. I told him that these were findings from my research, and he thanked me for doing important work. While he did not benefit from his company’s new paid leave policies (as they were not in place when his children were born), future fathers will.
I hope my work continues to have an impact, as increasing access to paid paternity leave helps promote greater gender equality and family well-being.”
–Richard Petts, Professor of Sociology, Ball State University
“As a sociologist for more than 50 years, I have found the tools I learned in sociology helpful in many ways:
1) in business, dealing with a wide array of colleagues and dealmakers from a variety of socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds;
2) as a teacher;
3) in my study of crime and deviance;
4) and in my studies of genocide, human rights, and freedom.
In sociology you can study everything!
And, through sociology, you can be a better, more involved citizen.”
–Jack Nusan Porter, Research Associate, The Davis Center for Russian Studies, Harvard University
“Sociology is the only window we have for studying people as they live, work, thrive, and struggle together. It’s such an amazing field that allows us to see things from a non-individualistic perspective, find trends and insights that are hidden within our societies, and better our experiences as humans. I work on a research project that helps first-generation college students, as well as 40+-year-old women in the Kentucky area who struggle with community feeling and mental health. Our program has found so many opportunities for helping these women as they enter new and potentially scary environments. Whether they are adjusting to a college campus, or are an empty nester or aging adult, these women have come together to help each other and thrive in an environment designed by sociologists. The outcomes have been nothing short of incredible and heartwarming. This program is the first of its kind and harnesses new and advanced sociological techniques. These types of innovative and science-driven programs wouldn’t be possible without sociology and sociologists.”
–Claire Reardon, Doctoral Candidate, University of Kentucky
Featured Resource! ASA Authors’ Podcasts
Each month, several authors of articles published in ASA journals record podcasts in which they provide, through an interview format, an overview of their research. These podcasts highlight the value of sociological research in raising awareness about and ameliorating a broad range of societal challenges. Examples of recent topics discussed in these podcasts include precarious home ownership, racial discrimination, economic imbalances, obstacles to health care, immigration-related discrimination, and much more. Click here to listen to the latest podcasts and read the corresponding articles.
“As a member of the “new sociology of science” that emerged in the early 1970s, I was involved in the founding of the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). As one of the first ethnographers of science (with Latour and Woolgar, Karin Knorr-Cetina, and others), I contributed to a new narrative of science as practice that empirically corrected the traditional view of science as an autonomous, self-correcting social system—such as in “The Mysterious Morphology of Immiscible Liquids: A Study of Scientific Practice” (Social Science Information 1982), written with M. Zenzen.
This “turn to practice” led to studies of scientific knowledge itself, an area of research precluded by the traditional Mertonian paradigm in the sociology of science. I pioneered in the field of the sociology of mathematics and wrote the first book devoted exclusively to the sociology of mathematics, Mathematics in Society and History (Springer 1992). My contributions to this field included collaborative papers and presentations with Randall Collins—such as “Mathematics and Civilization” (Centennial Review 1982) and “Robber Barons and Politicians in Mathematics: A Conflict Model of Science” (Canadian Journal of Sociology 1983). These led to invitations to speak with mathematics educators and philosophers of math education, which helped promote innovations in mathematics education and led to collaborations with one of the founders of ethnomathematics, Ubiratan D’Ambrosio.
My colleagues and I were involved in establishing the STS and ethics and values programs at the National Science Foundation, as seen in the commissioned report “Supporting Laboratory Life,” which I presented at the Colloquium on Funding Sources and the Direction of Science in 1983. My work in the sociology of science led to invitations to meet with and influence science policy officials in the United States, England, Brazil, China, and Europe.
I’ve also pioneered the application of the sociological imagination to changing how we think about the brain, mind, and consciousness—such as in “The Brain and Human Behavior: The Neuroscience/Social Science Nexus,” an invited white paper for the National Science Foundation (2010), and “Conscience and Consciousness in a World of Emerging Bio- and Nano-Technologies: A White Paper,” written with Sabrina Weiss, which was an invited contribution to the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2011). My pioneering work on the brain culminated in the publication of The Social Brain: Sociological Foundations (Lexington Books 2023). I have also written widely trying to correct philosophical, literary, journalistic, and popular misunderstandings of “social construction,” which I have been at pains to argue is the fundamental theorem of sociology, such as in “Society, Social Construction, and the Sociological Imagination,” an invited commentary for Constructivist Foundations (2008). In my most recent publications, I have reinforced the Durkheimian perspective on religion as an eminently social thing, claiming that religion is institutionally real and the glue of society and the gods are symbolically real, as in my book Beyond New Atheism and Theism: Science, Secularism, and Religiosity (Routledge 2024).
Sociology is needed to counteract the idea that technology and physics can solve all of our technical and social problems in an era of existential threats to humanity and the Earth. Many of our leaders, scientists, and intellectuals (never mind most of my students) suffer from what I’ve identified as “dissocism,” or “social blindness.” Dissocism is the inability to see the social and the failure to grasp how society shapes our being and conduct. I have devoted my career in and out of the classroom to correcting this blindness to the sociological imagination.”
–Sal Restivo, Professor of Sociology, Science Studies, and Information (retired), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
“By teaching sociology in a Criminal Justice Studies department, I have been able to provide students with a critical analysis of how class and racial inequalities are reproduced by the criminal justice system, all without improving public safety. Furthermore, I’ve been able to share strategies that improve public safety, while improving public health and well-being. As working professionals and engaged citizens, students have used these insights to advocate for improvements to their local communities.”
–César Rodríguez, Associate Professor, San Francisco State University
“My field is military sociology. For half a century, I have coupled my academic career (at the University of Michigan and University of Maryland) with research impacting military personnel and manpower policy.
During the nation’s transition to an all-volunteer Army in 1973, I directed the sociology program at the Army Research Institute (ARI). In the 1980s and 1990s, while at the University of Maryland, in collaboration with ARI and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, I served as a special assistant for peace operations to the Army chief of staff and conducted research on the peacekeeping force in the Sinai in support of the Camp David Accords. This resulted in transitioning the mission from active Army battalions to one carried out primarily by the National Guard and Reserves.
I conducted research on and testified to both houses of Congress on lifting the ban on gay soldiers serving openly, testified to the U.S. Department of Defense commission that recommended lifting the ban, and contributed to the research that was conducted after the ban was lifted, showing that the policy change did not impact the military in any negative way. I served on the Defense Science Board Task Force on Human Resources Strategy.
Perhaps most importantly, I contributed to the graduate education of a plurality of the sociologists, military and civilian, who have served on the faculties of the national military academies, where the next generation of America’s military leaders are being educated. This includes three alumni currently at West Point (including a former director of the Sociology Program, the current director of the Center for the Professional Military Ethic, and the current director of the West Point Leadership Center), three at the Air Force Academy (including the current head and deputy head of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership), and one at the Naval Academy (who is the deputy head of the Department of Leadership, Ethics, and Law). I think these activities have benefited the military academies, the armed forces, the discipline, and the nation.”
–David Segal, Professor of Sociology and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Emeritus, University of Maryland
“On October 31, 2023, I testified in Norma Anderson et al. v. Jena Griswold and Donald J. Trump about the relationship between far-right extremists and Donald Trump and the role the former president played in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The testimony played an important role in two Colorado court decisions that concluded the former president did, in fact, incite an insurrection and that, as part of Mr. Trump’s incitement, he employed the specific communication strategies identified during my testimony and relied on his long-established relationships with far-right extremists. The testimony was rooted in decades of empirical data collection using ethnographic fieldwork, intensive interviewing, and archival research methods and relied on various sociological concepts including front and backstage behavior and various insights derived from the study of social movements/collective behavior and the sociology of culture.
The Colorado case was eventually heard by the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS), and part of my testimony was discussed during the oral arguments. On March 4, 2024, SCOTUS overturned the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision, although none of the justices disputed what both Colorado courts found regarding the former president’s role in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. The testimony and broader sociological research on which the testimony was based helped establish a permanent legal and historical record regarding the relevant actions of Donald Trump in the weeks, months, and years leading up to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. In this case, the sociological research at the core of my testimony was vital to helping reinforce democratic norms regarding the peaceful transfer of power and the rule of law.
As the contemporary moment is characterized by growing polarization and political violence, there is a substantial need for sociological research to provide evidence-based and theoretically informed assessments and opinions to help policymakers, practitioners, and the general public understand the complex forces generating these phenomena and how to most effectively respond.”
–Peter Simi, Professor of Sociology, Chapman University
“Drawing on my sociological training in theory, research methods, and statistical analysis, I designed assessment tools that led to a significant and positive shift in state policy regarding juvenile delinquency. One key contribution was developing risk assessment tools used for pretrial detention screening. These tools provided a data-driven approach to juvenile justice, leading local jurisdictions in several states to shift away from detention for low-risk youth. This resulted in a significant decrease in the overall detention rate, freeing up resources for juvenile rehabilitation programs.
Furthermore, I facilitated systems change in several state juvenile justice departments by promoting evidence-based practices. My work in aligning program delivery with assessment results provided a standardized, data-driven decision-making framework that ensured fairer and more consistent youth corrections across these states.
By diverting low-risk youth away from incarceration, I helped ensure that youth stayed connected with their families and communities and continued to pursue their educational goals. Providing research-based assessment and rehabilitation services ultimately increased their chances of becoming productive members of society, improved public safety, and freed up resources for more effective interventions.
My education in sociology wasn’t just about studying society; it equipped me with the skills and knowledge I needed to develop solutions that make a real difference in people’s lives. By influencing state juvenile justice policy, I have contributed to a more effective and humane system for young people.”
–Claus Tjaden, Co-founder/Consultant, Martinez Tjaden LLC
“In late 2023, I published an article in Social Media + Society titled “Potholes and Power: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of ‘Look At This F*ckin’ Street’ on Instagram.” This colorfully named Instagram account documents, in its own words, the “cracked and sinking streets of the Crescent City.” In doing this, it has become extraordinarily popular, especially for such a niche topical focus, and currently has approximately 125,000 followers. Given that the population of New Orleans is less than 400,000, that is a pretty massive group.
I analyzed how the account discursively challenges and undermines the municipal government’s power through mocking, shaming, and exposing the city’s failures to maintain basic infrastructure. After the article’s publication, I talked to a number of journalists locally and beyond, and the article was widely covered in local press. Further, I was invited as a guest on the Digital Void podcast to have a 30-minute discussion about the findings.
Not only did the article raise awareness in a general sense, but its publication also prompted two local reporters to dig into the account’s backdoor relationship with city government, ultimately getting city officials on the record confirming their awareness of the account and describing the unofficial but active relationship that they maintain with the anonymous account manager via private messages.
I’m proud to have brought the issue of the failing infrastructure in New Orleans to a broader audience and to have highlighted a bottom-up, quasi-political movement that seems to be effecting meaningful change in a slow-moving city.”
–Alex Turvy, PhD Student, Tulane University
“Communication is critical for optometrists to elicit the subjective experience of patients during an eye examination. In hearings conducted to assess optometrists’ fitness-to-practice, “poor communication” is often highlighted as a factor leading to complaints. Optometrists, therefore, are aware of the importance of communication to the efficacy of their relationships with patients, and professional organizations, such as the College of Optometrists in the UK, constantly work to enhance practitioners’ communication skills.
There is little sociological research concerned with communication in eye examinations. Since 2012, a team of sociologists at King’s College London—including myself, Holly Dobrzycki, and Helena Webb (now University of Nottingham), and optometry researchers Peter Allen (Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge), Michael Bowen (College of Optometrists), and Bruce Evans (Southbank University) —have investigated communication in eye examinations in optometry practices. Using ethnomethodology as its analytic and methodological approach, the research team examines video recordings of eye examinations. Their analyses include: patient interviews at the beginning of examinations; some of the tests used to assess patients’ ability to see clearly; the communication of the management plan; and recommendations for new lenses and further treatment at the end of eye examinations.
The analyses reveal the importance of communication for effective eye examinations and patient satisfaction. For the optometrist, it is critical to elicit clear answers to questions about changes in patients’ vision since their last optometry appointment and unequivocal reports about their ability to see during eye tests. Hence, it is important that optometrists ask clear questions, avoid generating anxiety or nervousness in patients through poorly phrased questions and feedback, and give clear instructions in the use of lenses and other tools in their interaction with patients.
Based on this research, we have published articles on communication in eye examinations in professional magazines, organized workshops with optometrists and optometry students, and developed an online course published on the professional development website of the College of Optometrists, a UK-based professional body for optometrists with 16,000 members. These activities are accompanied by tests that allow optometrists to acquire the continuing professional development (CPD) points they need to demonstrate they are continuing to advance their knowledge and skills. More than 2,000 optometrists have participated in these activities. They report that they have made changes to the layout of their practice to enhance communication with patients and adapted their communication practice to improve their relationships with patients. Findings from our ongoing research on the communication of management plans and recommendations will further inform optometric practice and advance the continuing training of optometrists.”
–Dirk vom Lehn, Professor of Organization and Practice, King’s College London
“At the VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab at Stanford University, we routinely conduct sociological research aimed at increasing inclusion and equity, and we create positive impact through webinars, in-person events, broader interest pieces, and toolkits. I was part of a team that conducted a research project observing technology companies’ recruiting sessions. We found numerous ways in which companies alienated women in their recruiting sessions (e.g., lack of women role models, treating women company representatives disrespectfully, letting men students monopolize the Q&A sessions, and more). I shared this research with one company’s recruiting team in a virtual webinar spanning an audience of recruiters in 42 countries. Audience members shared with me that they felt empowered to change their recruiting sessions to become more welcoming to women.”
–Alison Wynn, Senior Research Scholar, VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab at Stanford University
“Equipped with core sociological methods and theoretical frameworks, over the past 25 years I have conducted investigations (often in collaboration with interdisciplinary teams) that bring applied research findings to bear on decisions by community and organizational leaders in hundreds of situations. These projects are for local entities, state-level agencies, and organizations in Kansas and surrounding states. We hear clients’ information needs, tailor-design the data collection approaches necessary to achieve information objectives, engage in best-practice analyses, and present and discuss findings with clients who greatly value the resulting information as the foundation for (sometimes difficult) decisions. The systems and structural perspectives inherent to sociological theory and research are valuable, necessary tools for addressing real-world challenges with which families, organizations, communities, agencies, and businesses must wrestle day in and day out.”
–Brett Zollinger, Sociology Professor and Chair and Docking Institute of Public Affairs Director, Fort Hays State University
