Sociology News & Events

"Demographic and Geographic Variation in Fatal Drug Overdoses in the United States, 1999–2020," authored by Shannon Monnat, professor of sociology, was published in the ANNALS of of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Overall, grandmothers still take the lead in spending time with grandchildren, often rearranging their schedules to do so, says Madonna Harrington Meyer, University Professor and author of “Grandmothers at Work: Juggling Families and Jobs” (NYU Press, 2014).

“They capture the attention of management in a much more dramatic way than other forms of action and negotiation,” says Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology. “They’re showing the capacity for the workers to take collective action.”

“When interest rates were very low, companies basically had endless money—and investors were telling them to focus on growth, not profitability,” says Aaron Benanav, assistant professor of sociology. “But because interest rates are rising, there’s a shift from big investors to say, ‘No, now you really have to focus on profitability.’ And the big way to do that is through cuts.”

"Because what we have been experiencing in recent years has been really historic levels of in terms of increase of the cost of living," says Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology. "And so this increased minimum wage doesn't reflect what we have all been experiencing, which is the rising cost of living."

Eleven Maxwell School students have been awarded grants from the Syracuse Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement (SOURCE) and the Renée Crown University Honors Program. The awards provide up to $7,500 in support for original undergraduate research projects.

"Nurses are really bargaining for the collective good. They are putting, first and foremost, patients' safety above all else and that was the breaking point—they've been working under less-than-ideal conditions that jeopardized the safety of patients," says Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology. 

This study, co-authored by Professor of Sociology Janet Wilmoth and published in the International journal of Aging and Human Development, investigates adult children's informal caregiving for, and living arrangements with, older parents in urban India.

"There is a well-documented history in the U.S. of marginalizing people with IDD (intellectual or developmental disability). Our hope is that we will not add to that history, but will take the necessary steps to ensure that people with IDD are provided the opportunity to live and thrive in the midst of the ongoing pandemic," says Landes, associate professor of sociology.

University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez says “state policy knobs are a lever that we could use to really turn this country around and stop this alarming—just horrible when you think about it—increase in the risk of dying before age 65.”

Louis Kriesberg, Maxwell Professor Emeritus of Social Conflict Studies, has written a new book, “Fighting Better: Constructive Conflicts in America” (Oxford University Press, 2022) that examines the division, political partisanship and civic disorder in the United States. 

Prema Kurien was named director of the center as it received funding from the U.S. Department of Education.

Associate Professor Emily Wiemers is the principal investigator of the team that includes her Maxwell School colleague, Marc A. Garcia. 

"No trans women that I formally interviewed or met in the course of my field research wanted to or felt safe in men's housing programs," says Joss Greene, assistant professor of sociology. 

"Prescription Opioid Resiliency and Vulnerability: A Mixed-Methods Comparative Case Study," co-authored by Professor of Sociology Shannon Monnat, was published in American Journal of Criminal Justice.

Chinese students do not necessarily come to the U.S. because they love America or are interested in it, Ma tells South China Morning Post. "They want to get American degrees," she says, and use them to get better jobs back home.

"Moving On from Covid? Immunocompromised People Can’t," written by Associate Professor of Sociology Scott Landes, was published by the Hastings Center.

“State policies, which have been relatively ignored in research on explanations for U.S. mortality trends, turn out to be really important for understanding geographic disparities in mortality,” Shannon Monnat, professor of sociology, tells U.S. News & World Report.

The work of Sean Drake, assistant professor of sociology, Ying Shi, assistant professor of public administration and international affairs, and Maria Zhu, assistant professor of economics, was referenced in the article, "Asian American Students Face Bias, but It’s Not What You Might Think."

If states had adopted liberal policies across the board, University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez and her co-authors calculated that 171,030 lives would have been saved in 2019 alone; on the flip side, conservative policies in all states would have led to an additional 217,635 working-age deaths.