UW-Madison Sociology
@uwsoc.bsky.social
Official account for the Department of Sociology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. https://sociology.wisc.edu/
The MOTH (more than human life) fellowship at NYU is an interdisciplinary cohort focused on scholarship and advocacy around nature and the more-than-human world.
Taimur Ahmad receives MOTH fellowship
Taimur Ahmad received a spot in the inaugural MOTH (more than human life) fellowship at NYU. It’s an interdisciplinary cohort focused on scholarship and advocacy around nature and the more-than-human ...
sociology.wisc.edu
"Meritocracy, this approach highlights, shapes stratification not only by sorting individuals into unequal social positions, but also by creating merit orders that have stratifying effects of their own.” -Fabien Accominotti and Michael Sauder in the Annual Review of Sociology.
The Making of Meritocratic Status Orders
This article surveys a growing body of work examining the concrete consequences of implementing meritocracy in social life. To date, this work remains compartmentalized into the separate subfields of ...
doi.org
"The 'Catholicity' of the poinsettia and Easter lily, however, stems from a complex geopolitical history of racial capitalism and imperialism.” -Rebecca Laurent and Emily Burke in Edge Effects.
The Colonial Roots of Catholic Plants - Edge Effects
Catholic holiday plants enshrine colonialism as Catholic tradition in the U.S. Through the poinsettia and Easter lily, capitalism reigns.
edgeeffects.net
"We also found loneliness to be significantly associated with poorer self-rated physical health and mental health.” -Amanda Landrian Gonzalez, Peichen Liu, Himal Suthar, Gisele Corletto, Kevin F. Adler & Benjamin F. Henwood in Discover Public Health.
Risk factors and health correlates of loneliness among people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles and San Francisco - Discover Public Health
People experiencing homelessness (PEH) are disproportionately affected by a range of physical and mental health issues. While numerous factors drive these disparities, the role of loneliness is overlo...
link.springer.com
Max Besbris published "Housing and consumption: existing tensions and future directions in understanding housing search and selection" in the Research Handbook on the Sociology of Consumption.
Research Handbook on the Sociology of Consumption
‘Smith Maguire has crafted a Handbook that is both playful and profound, offering an excellent set of reflections on the many histories, spaces, and practices of consumption. Thoughtful chapters guide...
e-elgar.com
UW-Madison Sociology is hiring! We're inviting applications for an assistant professor position in the fields of demography, soc of population, and health, to begin August 2027. Come join @uwsoc.bsky.social and the great @cdeuw.bsky.social! Apply here: jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/assista...
Assistant Professor of Sociology - Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.Job Category:FacultyEmployment Type:Regula...
jobs.wisc.edu
Fabien Accominotti’s chapter in The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Global Elites makes the case for conceptualizing elites as upper status groups—that is, as groups whom others perceive as having superior value in one respect or another.
Elites as Status Groups in Democratic Societies
Abstract. This chapter makes the case for conceptualizing elites as upper status groups—that is, as groups whom others perceive as having superior value in
doi.org
“The real path to becoming a tradwife is typically through economic precarity." Fox 5 and The Atlantic spoke with @jessicacalarco.com about parenting, childcare, and the decisions that today’s parents are making.
Research by Jessica Calarco about sociology of the family featured in the news
Jessica Calarco’s research focuses on education, families, and health decision-making. Broadly speaking, she is interested in the structures of power and privilege that maintain socioeconomic, racial,...
sociology.wisc.edu
Ellen Zhang, a sophomore studying sociology and economics at UW-Madison, won the District 8 Common Council election. Her platform advocates for affordable housing, expanding public transit and pedestrian safety and accessibility across Madison.
Ellen Zhang wins District 8 election, champions affordability, public transit
University of Wisconsin-Madison sophomore Ellen Zhang won the District 8 Common Council election by over 1,200 votes Tuesday night.
dailycardinal.com
"Millions of U.S. children experience maltreatment each year, which is associated with subsequent health risks, including psychopathology.” Christopher Wildeman, Garrett Baker, Hedwig Lee, and Martin Eiermann in SSM - Mental Health. doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...
Redirecting
doi.org
"The 'danger imperative' in policing, as noted by Sierra-Arévalo, defines how officers perceive both their job and the environment in which they work." -Veronica Horowitz, Patrick Nolan, Christopher Uggen, Jordan M. Hyatt, and Synøve N. Andersen
Considering the pervasiveness of the “danger imperative” in prisons: Perspectives from reform-oriented correctional officers - Veronica Horowitz, Patrick Nolan, Christopher Uggen, Jordan M. Hyatt, Sy...
The “danger imperative” in policing, as noted by Sierra-Arévalo, defines how officers perceive both their job and the environment in which they work. It is uncl...
doi.org
"Comparing the coverage by The New York Times and two Black newspapers of four episodes of protests about police violence in New York in the late 1990s reveals key differences in the implicit political agendas of the two sources.” @eringaede.bsky.social and @pamelaoliver.bsky.social
Racial Politics and News Media Coverage of Black Resistance to Police Violence in New York, 1997–2000 | Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race | Cambridge Core
Racial Politics and News Media Coverage of Black Resistance to Police Violence in New York, 1997–2000 - Volume 23 Issue 1
cambridge.org
Felix Elwert and many co-authors published "Methylphenidate Treatment and Risk of Psychotic Disorder" in JAMA Psychiatry. https://doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2026.0152
Martin Eiermann studies the politics of personal data and the consequences of becoming visible to—and being managed by—contemporary state institutions of care and social control.
The Politics of Personal Data
Sociologist Martin Eiermann tracks the intersections of AI and privacy.
ls.wisc.edu
Two members of the Sociology Department received Staff Awards from the College of Letters and Science this year! Charlotte Frascona has received the Graduate Advising Award, and Cabell Gathman received an Academic Staff Teaching Excellence Award.
"This study employs a mixed-method research design to examine how housing financial stress impacts community well-being with a focus on rural areas in the U.S.” -Steven Deller, Erin Gaede, and Tessa Conroy in Journal of Rural Studies.
Housing financial stress and community well-being: Is there an urban-rural dimension
This study employs a mixed-method research design to examine how housing financial stress impacts community well-being with a focus on rural areas in …
sciencedirect.com
"This research points to the fragmented moral and normative terrain of romantic or sexual behavior, in which people perceive, weigh, and resolve possible harms in conflicting ways.” -Chloe Grace Hart in Sex & Sexualities. doi.org/10.1177/3033...
Negotiating Competing Sexual Rights: The Unwritten, Fragmented Norms for Making Romantic Advances in the Workplace - Chloe Grace Hart, 2026
Scholars of sexual citizenship have articulated two rights—the right to pursue desired sexual activity and to avoid sexual harm—that may conflict when a person ...
doi.org
Research by Allison Daminger was featured in the ABC news article “The Four Stages of the Mental Load Explained.”
Women carry bulk of the mental load, but men are active in one stage
While research has found mothers do more in all four stages of cognitive labour, there was one stage where men were more active than others.
abc.net.au
Congratulations to this year's recipients of our department teaching awards! Christine Schwartz received the Faculty Teaching Award; Emily Burke received the Student Lecturer Award; and Yujin “Della” Tao received the Teaching Assistant Award.
"Effect of pharmacological treatment of attention–deficit hyperactivity disorder on contacts with child welfare services” by Ashmita Chaulagain, Tarjei Widding-Havneraas, Felix Elwert, Simen Markussen, Ingvild Lyhmann, Anne Halmøy, Ingvar Bjelland, and Arnstein Mykletun
doi.org
“…We demonstrate that mobile device data can detect miscarriage and replicate patterns of miscarriage risk found in high-quality Norwegian administrative data and in US clinical cohorts.” -Jenna Nobles, Lindsay Cannon, Sungsik Hwang, Shannon Malloy, Katie Noddin & Allen J. Wilcox
Mobile device data for the study of miscarriage and its causes - npj Women's Health
npj Women's Health - Mobile device data for the study of miscarriage and its causes
nature.com
“His work doesn’t just analyze the world; it demands that we make it better. To see his name alongside Devah’s is a powerful reminder of the intellectual legacy that continues to flow from this department.”
Matthew Desmond Honored with Devah Pager Distinguished Alumni Award
The UW–Madison Sociology Board of Visitors is proud to announce that Matthew Desmond (PhD ’10) has been selected as this year’s Devah Pager Distinguished Alumnus. The award, named in memory of the lat...
sociology.wisc.edu
Léonie Hénaut was interviewed by Accounts, the ASA Economic Sociology section newsletter, for her work on occupational identities in the contemporary workforce.
asanet.org
His research is motivated by an interest in the way digital technologies shape social processes and phenomena, as well as the basic concepts and categories—the state, the citizen, the person—that we use to grasp these processes and phenomena.
James Rosenberg travels to Germany for research
James Rosenberg was awarded a six month visiting fellowship at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies in Bochum, Germany. He was also awarded a DAAD Research Grant to fund dissertation research in G...
sociology.wisc.edu
“We address some of the challenges confronting aggregate-level studies by examining contextual effects on fertility in post-Soviet Russia using an aggregate-level analysis of data from Russia’s 77 provinces (regions) from 1992 to 2019." -Michael Zaslavsky, Theodore Gerber, and Sunnee Billingsley
Low Fertilities in the Past and Present
Sustained population studies of fertility over the last two centuries have come to question the extent to which trends in low fertility may be understood as universal. Improved knowledge of variations...
books.google.com
“...I offer a theory of transcendence...as a product of communal place-making to explain how park communities bridge demographic gaps and cocreate this affective social capital in collaboration with the natural entities they are enmeshed with." -Taimur Ahmad in Qualitative Sociology
“The Rock is the Community”: Cocreating Social Capital, Nature, and Transcendence in Central Park, NYC - Qualitative Sociology
How do nature and community formation intersect in quintessentially urban New York City? In this ethnographic case study of Central Park, I show that park-based communities act as a rich source of aff...
link.springer.com
"Families are social phenomenon in their own right: they are the makers of capitalist enterprises, and they endure and thrive within capitalism.” -Shamus Khan, Max Besbris, and Estela Diaz in @bjsociology.bsky.social.
Family Work Among the Astors
Within classical sociological accounts of capitalism, families are curious remnants of the past. Contemporary elite sociology dismisses the family in a different way: by primarily focusing on individ....
doi.org
"I discuss how the ideal type constructs a narrative about land, and especially land tenure changes confronted in agriculture.” -Danielle Schmidt-Larios in Agriculture and Human Values. doi.org/10.1007/s104...
Land through three approaches - Agriculture and Human Values
Agriculture and Human Values - Though profoundly physical, land as a concept is notably abstract. In this commentary, I note how this abstractness comes from varied analytical characterizations. I...
doi.org
"Contraceptive coercion is more common among individuals with disabilities and is explained by self-reported discriminatory care.” -Lindsay Cannon, Tiffany Green, Meaghan Bethea, and Laura Swan in Social Science & Medicine. doi.org/10.1016/j.so...
Redirecting
doi.org
"Using novel population data, this article examines the effect of classroom-level linguistic diversity on the English reading and listening scores of fifth-grade students in Italy.” -Michael Zaslavsky, Emanuele Fedeli & Moris Triventi in Journal of International Migration and Integration.
Multicultural Schools and Second Language Proficiency: Does Classroom Linguistic Diversity Enhance English Competencies? - Journal of International Migration and Integration
Using novel population data, this article examines the effect of classroom-level linguistic diversity on the English reading and listening scores of fifth-grade students in Italy. Previous European studies have primarily focused on the influence of classroom ethnic composition on mathematics and native language scores, often overlooking second-language outcomes and relying on complex variables such as ethnic diversity. We address this gap by investigating English score outcomes in a non-Anglophone context. Our study focuses on classroom linguistic environments, employing a linguistic diversity index that distinguishes between speakers of different languages. Although the effects are minimal on a practical level, we find that greater classroom linguistic diversity has a positive impact on the English scores of Italian-born students. These findings highlight the importance of considering linguistic diversity in education and offer a more nuanced perspective on optimal classroom composition in countries with significant migrant populations.
doi.org