Four of the five most read articles in July come from our most recent issue, “Writing in the 21st Century” (and the fifth is from the issue on soccer/football, not surprisingly during the FIFA World Cup): 1/6

From hypertext to video, new tech always redefines media creation. Now AI is entering its "prosumer" era—moving beyond basic prompting toward full system customization. Anderson & Duncan propose a new model for literacy based on active building, transcending consumption. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

#BOTD: Janet Abu-Lughod (1928–2013), renowned urban sociologist & New School professor of sociology and historical studies. 1/3

Alain Touraine, #BOTD in 1925, was a towering French sociologist who revolutionized how we understand collective action, championing the study of social movements, actor-oriented sociology, and postindustrial society. 1/2

Can we alter our state of consciousness without drugs? Irving Kirsch’s paper on hypnosis suggests yes—it all starts with belief. Discover how the power of suggestion can induce a trance state naturally in this week's #SundayRead. www.jstor.org/stable...

#BOTD in 1930: Pierre Bourdieu, one of the key sociologists of the late 20th century, revolutionized the field with his groundbreaking concepts of cultural capital, habitus, and symbolic violence, reshaping how we understand power and social stratification. 1/3

How does your relationship with digital archives and LLMs shape your writing? Join John Cayley in “Writing Implements” as he explores how computation, databases, and large language models redefine writing beyond traditional word processing. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

This week’s #TBT investigates our “Loyalty.” Marking the New School’s centennial in 2019, past editor Arien Mack & scholars unpack the complex guises of loyalty and betrayal. Is patriotism a virtue? When is dissent a duty? Dive into the political and cultural weight of our allegiances. 1/2

Today’s #BOTD honors Baruch S. Blumberg (1925–2011), the brilliant physician and geneticist who discovered the hepatitis B virus and developed its diagnostic test and first vaccine. His work saved millions of lives worldwide and earned him the 1976 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Renowned sociologist Jean Baudrillard, #BOTD in 1929, reshaped modern media and cultural theory through his foundational work on hyperreality, simulacra, and the uncanny mechanics of consumer society. 1/2

How many times can we say “sorry” until the word loses its meaning? Jon Elster explores the moral landscape of "overapologizing" for distant historical harms, arguing these gestures are often both metaphysically absurd and potentially dangerous. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

Super interesting conversation between @noragilbert.bsky.social and @paigesweet.bsky.social about gaslighting. Their articles from our spring issue are now in open access (through end of August).

Hopkins Press@hopkinspress.bsky.social · 2w ago

In a discussion spanning Victorian literature, Golden Age film and modern politics, Nora Gilbert and Paige Sweet discuss their articles from the "Gaslighting" special issue of @socres.org New on the Hopkins Press Podcast: tiny.one/yc8ctj25

Are chatbots reshaping how we write? In "The End of the Sentence," Jeff Dolven explores the history of the sentence as a "compromise" between time and thought. From early grammar to LLMs, he examines how modularity and tech challenge the prose we’ve always known. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

What do our faces say about us? This week’s #TBT looks at “Faces.” From Lincoln’s smile to the mythology of the facelift, this issue explored the human face as an interdisciplinary canvas—masked, mirrored, and socially constructed. www.jstor.org/stable...

American sociologist Neil J. Smelser was #BOTD in 1930 in Kahoka, MO. During his time as a professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, Smelser shaped the field through his groundbreaking work on collective behavior, social change, and structural functionalism. 1/3

The World Cup ends, but the conversation on national identity continues across continents. How do migration, citizenship, and FIFA eligibility rules redefine international football? Explore the complex legal and cultural forces shaping the game with Gijsbert Oonk. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

Is economics a science? Susan Haack explores this complex question, diving into Robert Heilbroner’s critiques and comparing empirical methods across the natural and social sciences. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

Is AI a disruption to writing as we know it today? Matthew Kirschenbaum argues no. In his latest essay, he explores LLMs as the logical completion of a "scriptural economy," where writing is merely a tokenized asset for value extraction. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

What turns a group into a collective force? For #TBT, we’re looking at “The Crowd.” From the aesthetics of protest in Kyiv to the politics of pelting, this collection explores how crowds shape identities, networks, and political change. muse.jhu.edu/issue/5...

Philosopher Jacques Derrida, #BOTD in 1930, revolutionized how we understand language, meaning, and truth. As the father of deconstruction, he challenged Western metaphysics, revealing how texts inherently hold shifting, multiple meanings. 1/3

Baseball, Arendt, and the flâneur? In a compulsively traditionless America, the diamond offers more than just a game—it provides a vital balance to modern solitude. 1/2

Liberté, égalité, fraternité! This #BastilleDayexplore our 1989 issue “The French Revolution and the Birth of Modernity” featuring Eric Hobsbawm, Theda Skocpol, and others as they parse the event’s enduring impact on global politics and society. jstor.org/stable/10....

What does it mean to rule and be ruled? This #SundayRead looks at one of Hannah Arendt’s posthumously published essays and traces the history of political power—from Montesquieu’s classical frameworks to the devastating impact of 20th-century totalitarianism. 1/2

#TodayInHistory: In 1906, French Army officer Alfred Dreyfus, who had been wrongfully accused and convicted of spying for Germany, was officially exonerated, ending a landmark battle against institutional antisemitism in France. 1/2

#BOTD in 1930: A towering titan of literary criticism, Harold Bloom redefined how we read the Western canon. As a legendary Yale professor and author of over 40 books—including “The Anxiety of Influence”—he spent decades passionately defending the aesthetic power of the written word. 1/2

#BOTD in 1858: Franz Boas, the foundational "Father of American Anthropology," permanently revolutionized the social sciences by introducing cultural relativism and rigorously dismantling scientific racism. 1/2

How has climate change reshaped the way we write, read, and trust? Charles Bazerman explores how climate change disrupts our 5,000-year history of a textually mediated society. As material crises fracture knowledge systems, we rethink how we identify authority and communicate. 1/2

Our 5 most read articles in the month of June were: 1/6

#BOTD in 1932 in New York was American journalist and editor Victor S. Navasky. A master of intellectual discourse and longtime editor of The Nation magazine, Navasky explored the complex intersection of satire, censorship, and social responsibility. 1/2

Happy 4th! This #IndependenceDay, we’re revisiting our archives to reflect on the foundations of liberty. In "Republican Liberalism," Philip Pettit explores whether American liberalism is a unified philosophy rooted in the republican tradition of the Founders. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...