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Sociology News & Events

Collective Action, Trusted Messengers, and UNITE HERE's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Jenny Breen, Gretchen Purser

“Fighting to Survive: Collective Action, Trusted Messengers, and UNITE HERE's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic,” co-authored by Associate Professor of Sociology Gretchen Purser, was published in Labor Studies.

February 17, 2025

See related: COVID-19, Labor, United States

Civil Lawfare

April D. Fernandes, Brittany Friedman, Gabriela M. Kirk-Werner

“Civil Lawfare,” co-authored by Assistant Professor of Sociology Gabriela Kirk-Werner, was published in Social Problems.

February 5, 2025

Claiming Citizenship: Race, Religion, and Political Mobilization among New Americans

Prema A. Kurien

Prema Kurien, professor of sociology, examines the political mobilization strategies of people of South Asian and Indian descent in the United States. She also traces how immigrants reshape the host society, both conforming to aspects of that society while also transforming it to meet their unique needs. (Oxford University Press, 2025)

January 31, 2025

Mothering in the Time of Coronavirus

Amy Lutz, Sujung (Crystal) Lee, Baurzhan Bokayev

Amy Lutz, associate professor of sociology, and co-authors, two Maxwell alumni, focus on remote and essential workers in Central New York, exploring the evolving demands on mothers as well as public policies that may have hindered their ability to balance work and caregiving. Published by University of Massachusetts Press.

January 28, 2025

Sibling and Parental Military Service and Suicidality Among Adolescents in the United States

Andrew S. London, Kevin M. Antshel

Professor of Sociology Andrew London and his co-author examine whether having a sibling and/or a parent on active duty in the military is associated with suicidality among 12- to 17-year-old adolescent girls and boys in the United States. Published in Military Medicine.

January 27, 2025

Childhood Speech Impairment and Dementia Risks Among US Older Adults

Haowei Wang, Shu Xu, Yalian Pei

In this study, Assistant Professor of Sociology Haowei Wang and co-authors investigate how the experience of speech problems before age 16 are associated with the risk of dementia among older adults aged 50 and older. Published in Innovation in Aging.

January 24, 2025

Research Studies by Engelhardt and Montez Cited in 2025 Economic Report of the President

Separate research studies by Professor of Economics Gary Engelhardt and University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez were referenced in Chapter 4 of the report, “Expanding and Strengthening U.S. Health Insurance Coverage.”

January 15, 2025

Intergenerational Relationships and Family Support: Implications for Health and Wellbeing

Merril Silverstein, Karen L Fingerman, J Jill Suitor

In this review, Professor and Chair of Sociology Merril Silverstein and co-authors summarize research projects supported by the National Institute on Aging that have contributed scholarship on intergenerational relationships and support provided to older adults that frequently precedes, and is often complementary to, intensive caregiving. Published in The Gerontologist.

January 13, 2025

Maxwell Sociologist’s New Documentary Reveals Plight of Syracuse Tenants

Written and directed by Gretchen Purser, the film is the culmination of a research grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 

January 13, 2025

Religious Change and Continuity Across Generations

Merril Silverstein, Christel Gärtner, Maria T. Brown
Merril Silverstein, Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor of Aging Studies and chair of sociology, has edited and contributed chapters to “Religious Change and Continuity Across Generations: Passing on Faith in Families of Six European and North American Nations” (Lexington Books, 2024).
December 19, 2024

Reforming the Shadow Carceral State

Brittany Michelle Friedman, Gabriela Kirk-Werner, April D. Fernandes

Assistant Professor of Sociology Gabriela Kirk-Werner and co-authors examine the repeal of prison pay-to-stay policies in the United States. Published in Theoretical Criminology.

December 16, 2024

Purser Piece on the Need for Syracuse to Adopt the Good Cause Eviction Law Published on Syracuse.com

“Landlords would still be able to evict tenants who are behind on their rent or who have violated the terms of their lease, but this law would give tenants the presumptive right to stay in the property otherwise. It would be a mechanism for both contributing to housing stability and prohibiting landlord retaliation against tenants who play by the rules,” says Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology.

December 12, 2024

Older Adults’ Descendants and Family Networks in the Context of Global Educational Expansion

Rachel Margolis, Mara Getz Sheftel, Haowei Wang, Raeven Faye Chandler, Lauren Newmyer, Ashton M. Verdery

In this paper, Haowei Wang and co-authors examine the socioeconomic bifurcation of adults in midlife and beyond in terms of the existence of descendants and other kin. Published in Population and Development Review.

November 27, 2024

See related: Aging, Child & Elder Care

Yingyi Ma Cited in Nature Article on the Future of Science in the US

Although Chinese-student enrollment at U.S. universities has rebounded since the pandemic, China’s best and brightest might be shying away, says Yingyi Ma, professor of sociology. Soaring anti-China rhetoric probably plays a part, she says, but so do expanding opportunities for Chinese graduate students at home, and the growing challenges to obtain work visas.

November 19, 2024

Silverstein Talks to NPR About China’s Economy Adapting to Serve the Aging Population

Professor of Sociology Merril Silverstein, who studies how infrastructure development is increasingly geared towards an older society in China, says, “Those in more developed villages have less aging anxiety about whether their needs will be met, whether they'll be, you know, happy or not as they get older.”

November 19, 2024

See related: Aging, China, Economic Policy

Differences in PTSD Between US Civilians and Military Veterans in Gulf War and Post-9/11 War Cohorts

Kevin J. Ortiz Diaz, Scott D. Landes, Shannon M. Monnat
Findings by sociologists Scott Landes and Shannon Monnat show that among both war eligibility cohorts, combat veterans were more likely than nonveterans to report a PTSD diagnosis. Published in Armed Forces & Society.
November 18, 2024

On Continuity and Exceptionality in Our Present Crisis: A Conversation with Silvia Federici

Selina Gallo-Cruz, Chelsea Renea Morton

In this conversation with Associate Professor of Sociology Selina Gallo-Cruz and her co-author, Silvia shared her reflections on the human experiences that have shaped her scholarship, the continuities of capitalist discipline observed in her early advocacy, and how she makes sense of today’s compounding global crises. Published in Capitalism Nature Socialism.

November 11, 2024

Maxwell Honors 9 Students with Centennial Scholar Awards

The undergraduate and graduate students received the recognition at the school’s Syracuse Centennial Celebration.

November 6, 2024

Estimated Pulse Wave Velocity Associated With Higher Risk of Dementia in Health and Retirement Study

Kevin S. Heffernan, Janet M. Wilmoth, Andrew S. London

In this study, co-authors sociologists Janet Wilmoth and Andrew London, find that ePWV may be a novel research tool and biomarker of vascular aging that can be used in large, population-representative studies to examine cognitive aging and dementia risk. Published in the American Journal of Hypertension.

October 24, 2024

See related: Aging

Montez Featured in American Prospect Article on State Policies and Differences in Health Outcomes

“You have two states that [we]re the same, were pretty middle-of-the-road in terms of life expectancy, but they take opposite trajectories,” says University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez. Some states, she says, took action to “invest in [the state] population’s overall economic well-being and health. And you had other states that took a...very different approach.”

October 22, 2024

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