The Fog of Accountability: How Institutions Keep Voters from Holding Their Local Governments Accountable (Chicago Studies in American Politics) [de Benedictis-Kessner, Justin] on Amazon.com. *FREE* sh...

Why the underrepresentation of the working class in political office is an inevitable side effect of electoral democracy itself

Abstract. Sociology’s growing focus on household debt and wealth has overlooked a potentially salient axis of inequality: rural–urban disparities in the Un

“Our takeaway is really about the importance of investing in communities in a way that makes people feel cared for—in terms of what their environment looks and feels like—and gives them agency and aut...

The United States has slid into competitive authoritarianism. The slide has been modest and remains reversible—but it is real. Even after Donald Trump, American democracy will remain fragile.

A new study identified 10 locations where higher-than-average housing costs have impacted poverty the most.

YouTube video by macfound

The administration’s proposed changes to the 2030 census will harm states and cities. Here is how they can fight back.

Here’s How We Fix It

Sam Friedman & I just published an article on The Class Ceiling in the United States in Social Forces. You can access the article at Social Forces here and the preprint if you need it is here. The key...

District Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV: MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION. Plaintiffs' motion for APA § 705 relief, a preliminary injunction, or, in the alternative, summary judgm...

Tenant unions are becoming more common across the country as tenants struggle to afford rent.

The public sector is the forgotten flank of the labor movement—and its largest opportunity for growth.

Peopling Politics is an interdisciplinary network that connects sociologists, political scientists, and practitioners who study U.S. politics with a focus on race, class, inequality, and the social and cultural forces that shape political life. We convene scholars and practitioners who put people fi

YouTube video by Russell Sage Foundation

Severe flooding may contribute to higher mortality rates from opioid use in rural Appalachia, according to a study by researchers at Penn State.

This collection brings together ethnographers engaged in court-watching, accompaniment in and beyond detained settings, expert witnessing, and co...

We examine the relationship between climate-related disasters and subsequent county-level aggregate employment and earnings. We combine earnings and employment data from 2000 to 2023 with data on disasters to estimate local projection impulse response functions relating extreme disaster events to cumulative percent changes in employment and earnings. On average, disasters appear to reduce employment growth three to five years post disaster. There are small positive impacts on earnings. These results are largely driven by responses to hurricanes and tropical storms. Key rebuilding industries such as construction see short-term gains in employment that turn to losses in the longer-term that are similar to those in other industries. Hispanic and Latino workers see short-term gains in employment in part due to their representation in construction, which again turn to longer-term losses similar to those experienced by other racial and ethnic groups. An analysis of FEMA-supported disasters suggests that FEMA aid may be driving these results.

Browse white papers, policy briefs, and research reports from the Empowering Democracy Initiative.

Comments from Former and Current Harvard Writing Tutors I am flabbergasted by the decision to close the Writing Center, which for more than twenty years has been an immeasurably valuable resource for...

As current and former Harvard College Writing Center tutors, we write to condemn the dissolution of the Writing Center as an independent entity and the laying off of its director, Jane Rosenzweig.