Cultural Sociology

Cultural Sociology

A colorful map of the United States with state boundaries replaced by regions labeled with various unrelated names and entities.
In post-apocalyptic fiction, imagined futures turn today’s political and cultural tensions into geography.
Two women at a window; one leans on the sill smiling, perhaps sharing jokes, while the other stands behind, partially concealed, holding a white cloth to her face.
Is your humor affiliative or adversarial?
Collage featuring Donald Trump on 'The Apprentice', Kim Kardashian on a red carpet, a film script, and a camera operator, capturing the behind-the-scenes essence of reality TV.
From Allen Funt to Donald Trump, author Emily Nussbaum explains how reality TV has blurred the lines between, well, reality and TV.
A child in a yellow hoodie and blue boots holds a parent's hand, engaging in play as they walk on a log in a wooded area. The parent, clad in jeans and matching blue boots, guides the little adventurer through nature's playground.
Plenty of parents feel guilty about wanting to skip playtime, but there's no need.
A diptych image: left side shows a row of shopping carts lined up, right side depicts a single shopping cart abandoned in a puddle, serving as a litmus test for societal behavior.
The "Shopping Cart Litmus Test" is a popular meme about morality. What does it really reveal about one's character?
World map illustrating various countries color-coded by their happiness levels with symbols indicating the most and least happy countries in each region.
The Gallup World Poll reveals regional peaks and valleys of happiness across all of the continents.
An American flag and a decorative shield with a peace symbol, evoking a sense of paranoia, in front of the United States Capitol building under a cloudy sky.
Although social paranoia is more common than clinical paranoia, studies suggests that American society isn’t any more conspiratorial than it has been in the past.
A group of feminists holding a purple flag in front of a crowd.
Feminist "man-hating" appears to be a myth.
A man showcasing his strength by lifting a barbell in the barren desert.
"Precarious manhood" is the belief that manhood must be earned and constantly defended. It has a poor outcome.
An image of a dark forest at night infused with the mysterious aura of the Bell Witch.
Serving as the inspiration for the modern horror classic “The Blair Witch Project,” what does our fascination with this unsolvable mystery tell us about our modern psyche?
Banksy mural Ukraine
In war zones, aggressors steal art to eradicate the cultural heritage of others. Victims, meanwhile, sell stolen art in order to survive.
A man surrounded by clocks in a room.
In a world without clocks, people used common activities in place of time units. How long it took you to go to the toilet mattered.
Historians have been able to piece together a clear picture of how the average Roman citizen spent their waking hours.
Dolly Parton on stage with an acoustic guitar showcases her musical talent.
In Georgia, it's becoming less common to pronounce words like "prize" as "prahz."
Ideal models of family life have been broken by societal, technological, and cultural shifts — and we need to rethink our options.
dunkin's starbucks rate by state.
The richness and variety of America’s food landscape, in a buffet of maps.
two people of same gender standing next to each other.
Over the past two decades, the proportion of those who identify as bisexual increased from 1.2% to 4.5%.
a woman with a towel wrapped around her head.
The key to its success lies not in its understanding of technology, but in its understanding of human nature.
a painting of a man standing outside of a building.
Centuries ago, the typical British coffeehouse was more like a "school without a master" than a place to grab a quick boost of caffeine.
a man in a suit and tie covering his face with his hands.
"In witness whereof, the parties hereunto have set their hands to these presents as a deed on the day month and year hereinbefore mentioned."
an open book with a drawing of flowers on it.
The meaning of the cryptic text has eluded scholars for centuries. Their latest efforts include computational analyses seeking new insights into the medieval enigma.
Worldwide, 15% of children are born out of wedlock, but the figure varies from less than 1% in places like China to 69% in Iceland.
About 1 in 5 adults now say they have no religious affiliation, up from 1 in 50 in 1960.
An abandoned church in a field
If you lost your religion, it might be because the internet and social media are having a secularizing effect on American society.
If you get married in South Africa, don't be surprised if someone shows up to the ceremony dragging along a smelly goat.
A wide-scale examination of early Neolithic human skeletons reveals the violent history of a supposedly peaceful period.
love
A new study of global love finds that Americans have some of the most loving relationships, while Chinese and Germans have some of the least.