Category: Race & Ethnicity Studies

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Identity / Sociology of Language

Diversity & Inclusion Research: Unveiling and Promoting Diversity, Inclusion, and Access

This is the first editorial by Drs Gabriela C. Zapata and Taylor Le Cui, Co Editors-in-Chief of new multidisciplinary, Open Access journal, Diversity & Inclusion Research, published by Wiley. It is was originally published in the journal, here, on 6 November 2023 and reproduced here for wider dissemination: The global crisis brought about by the COVID pandemic and the reinvigorated actions of social groups such as Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and the Climate Movement once more brought to light the...

Applied Sociology / Class & Stratification / Feminist Theory / Gender & Sexuality / News / Population & Demography / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Research Methodologies / Social Identity / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Social Theory / Sociology of Culture

Introducing a New Journal: Diversity & Inclusion Research

Launching in 2023! Diversity & Inclusion Research is an important new Open Access, multidisciplinary journal publishing high-quality research focussed on improving diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility at the individual, organizational, and societal level. Published by Wiley, the journal aims to contribute towards the deepening of local and international, theoretical and practical understandings of DE&I.​ There is an increasing urgency driving a need for rigorous inequality research. More than two-thirds of countries are experiencing increased income disparity, exacerbating the risks of economic and...

History of Sociology / Opinion / Peace, War & Social Conflict / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies

Against the Imperial Incorporation of Asian Americans

In this blog, Harleen Kaur and Victoria Tran share the process behind their recent Sociology Compass publication, which analyzes and offers alternatives to current sociological frameworks of studying Asian Americans. Our collaboration began like many pandemic ones – in a private chat on Zoom. Both students in the UCLA Sociology doctoral program and enrolled in Professor Karida Brown’s inaugural Du Boisian Sociology course, we quickly found common ground in applying Du Boisian methodologies & theories to our research around Asian American...

Opinion / People / Population & Demography / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Theory / Sociology of Globalization

Interview with Dr Sayaka Osanami Törngren, Associate Editor for Sociology Compass

Sociology Compass is delighted to welcome Sayaka Osanami Törngren as our new Associate Editor for the Race & Ethnicity section. Dr Osanami Törngren is Associate Professor in International Migration and Ethnic Relations, and Senior Researcher at Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare. The Associate Editor role at Sociology Compass is to lead on the commissioning of state-of-the-art review articles under dedicated subject areas. We took the opportunity to talk to Sayaka about her research background and aims for the race &...

Applied Sociology / Opinion / People / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Research Methodologies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Globalization

Interview with Dr Zarine L. Rocha, Review Articles Editor-in-Chief, Sociology Compass

In August 2022, Dr. Zarine L. Rocha joined Sociology Compass as co-Editor-in-Chief, leading the Review Articles Section. The Review Articles in Sociology Compass are commissioned pieces explaining important debates and currently published under eight subject sections. We took the opportunity to talk to Zarine about her research background and aims for the Review Articles and the journal. Please tell us about your research background and how you came to study sociology? I am a Sociologist from Aotearoa New Zealand, of mixed Pakeha and Gujarati...

Opinion / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Identity / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Organizations & Work

So, what’s it like being Muslim in Academia? A case of oppressive institutions and Islamophobic landscapes.

In this blog, Maisha Islam tells us about her recent Sociology Compass publication where she and her co-author Arif Mahmud take readers on a journey to better understand the lived experiences of Muslim academics navigating through the terrains of UK academia. There is much to learn and get accustomed to as an early career researcher within academia. From the competitive world of publishing, to securing funding or research grants, teaching on numerous courses at a time, and supporting students sometimes...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Research Brief / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Well-being is a characteristic of companies – not just individual workers

Work-related well-being has garnered significant public attention since the onset of COVID-19. Discussions of remote work, flexible work, and the importance of work/life balance have received heightened consideration as people and organizations across the globe adapt to an unprecedented historical moment and begin reassessing how they want to work (and live). While simply discussing work-related well-being is a step in the right direction, popular and academic understandings of well-being in the workplace have room for improvement. This is because well-being...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of the Family

A look beyond poverty – what role does economic support play in (re-)producing inequalities?

In countries of the global South, social relationships often function as channels for support essential for making a living. Studies that created a comprehensive overview of all forms of welfare benefits people have access to (for example Bevan 2004), acknowledged these forms of support as informal social protection. Informal as they do not follow a formal, written script and thus differ from the well-defined welfare provisions of governments. Instead, informal support is embedded in social relationships and can thus take...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture / Urban Sociology

Undoing Residential Segregation: Is Housing Access Enough?

More than fifty years after passage of the Fair Housing Act, many Americans continue to live in neighborhoods that are segregated by race/ethnicity and class (Loh et al. 2020). How does this spatial separation come about, and what would it take to meaningfully integrate neighborhoods? Is providing affordable housing enough, or do we need to think about other dimensions of belonging within a community, such as shared opportunities for recreation, consumption, or making friends? Questions like these are of central...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Organizations & Work

College Inequalities: The Best Four Years for Whom?

Going to college is a revered part of young adulthood in U.S. society. It is often said that the four years spent in college are “the best four years of your life,” riddled with expectations that everyone in college is having fun, learning endlessly, and “finding themselves.” However, this pervasive societal encouragement of attaining a college education can easily feel like an anxiety-ridden pressure campaign. Many U.S. teens grow up hearing from parents, relatives, friends, or guidance counselors that their...

Opinion / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Good for Business, Bad for Asian Americans? Affirmative Action and the Lawsuit against Harvard University

Human heterogeneity in culture, race, gender, sexuality, and any other characteristics – commonly referred to as “diversity” – is often lauded in organizations across the U.S. for its various positive outcomes. While hiring or recruiting a diverse pool of people is arguably an ethical imperative, much of the narrative around diversity instead revolves around how it’s “good for business”. For example, a recent Forbes article argues that “diversity and inclusion are essential to business success”, and Amazon’s website claims that...

Opinion / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Health & Illness / Urban Sociology

The Cost of Pollutants: Environmental Hazards, Racial Residential Segregation, and Health

Racial disparities in health are undoubtedly one of the most significant public health issues of our time. According to the National Institute of Health, racial and ethnic minorities suffer from a higher incidence of a wide range of negative health outcomes than Whites, such as preterm births, obesity, heart disease, and cancer. COVID-19 has been no exception, with people of color being disproportionally affected by the pandemic both in terms of infection rates and deaths. Studies have shown that these...

Opinion / Peace, War & Social Conflict / Race & Ethnicity Studies

This Cannot Be White-washed

This essay introduces the latest issue of City & Community’s Symposium: “Eyes of a Storm: COVID-19, Systemic Racism, and Police Brutality.” I thank Dr. Alyasah Ali Sewell for coming up with the symposium title. There is free online access for the next month at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15406040/2020/19/3. During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, at least 675,000 people were infected in the United States and 500 million worldwide (Barry 2004). However, like today’s COVID-19 Pandemic, the infection rates were not evenly distributed across the...

Opinion / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Health & Illness

Race and Racism in the NHS

I was privileged to host a conversation with Tarek Younis and Andrew Smart as part of the BSA Medical Sociology Group virtual event on 10th September 2020, about their papers, published in Sociology of Health and Illness, and included in the journal’s virtual collection of papers on race and ethnicity. The collection and the conversation at the conference were inspired by recent calls for racial justice, provoked in part by the killing of George Floyd, just one of too many...

Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture

Elections Have Consequences: What Happened in 2016 and What May Happen in 2020

Almost four years, a pandemic, countless protests, and an impeachment later, it seems that the election of Donald Trump in 2016 has had more severe and deadly consequences than many had imagined. While his election over Hillary Clinton was difficult to imagine in itself – for pollsters, political operatives, and the general public alike – and took the entire world by surprise, it was even harder to project what life in the U.S. would be like for the subsequent four...

Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Upholding Equity Across Different Campuses

In the past decade the United States has witnessed an influx of conversations regarding sexual assault on college campuses. Cases like Brock Turner and Chanel Miller or Emma Sulkowicz became national examples of the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses as well as universities’ failures to protect survivors and seek justice. While there is much work left to be done, there seems to be a more concrete understanding of the frequency of sexual assault and the injustice done…