Social Science Space

A conspicuous feature of the pandemic has been the idealization of the home as a place of safety and refuge.

“Education,” says sociologist Sam Friedman, “doesn’t wash away the effects of class background in terms of allocating opportunities. That’s quite profound – I believe there are a lot of people who believe quite strongly that these sorts of educational institutions can and do act as sort of meritocratic sorting houses.”

One thing has become clear to sociologist Diane Reay across her research – “It’s primarily working-class children who turn out to be losers in the educational system.” Whether it’s through the worst-funded schools, least-qualified teachers, most-temporary teaching arrangements or narrowest curricula, students from working class backgrounds in the United Kingdom (and the United States) draw the shortest educational straws.

The authors of “Why Does College Cost So Much?” take a look at the root causes and determine that we can reduce the price of higher education, but not dramatically.

In my previous post I discussed the lack of government responsiveness to the middle-class and the poor, when their policy […]

Racially integrated schools offer a number of benefits for students: they are able to expand their cultural outlooks, gain new friends, learn about those who are different, and get better educations at schools with better resources than they would otherwise attend. However, students may struggle with making friends, interacting across racial lines, developing an ethnic identity and with academic achievement

Gallagher – lynchpin of the popular Channel 4 TV series – has long been the UK’s poster boy for socially unacceptable behaviour and neatly illustrates a connection between smoking and antisocial behaviour that is reinforced by UK tobacco control policies.

Cristina Lucier, Boston College, Anna Rosofsky, Bruce London, both of Clark University, Helen Scharber, Hampshire College, and John M. Shandra, SUNY Stony […]