Latest articles from sociology lens

Opinion

I’m not ill, I’m hurt

By Laura Batstra & Sami Timimi More than 10 years ago, counselling psychologist Paul Moloney published his book The Therapy Industry: The Irresistible Rise of the Talking Cure, and Why It Doesn’t Work. “I’m not ill, I’m hurt”, words from Scottish mental health service user David Adam, is the title of chapter 5 about the hidden injuries of social inequality. In our article ‘Is more psychotherapy a dead horse?’, we argue for less investments in (research into) individual psychotherapy, and...

woman reading

Class & Stratification / Opinion

Green Against Greed? Why Pro-Environmental Views Flourish Among the Culturally Privileged

Climate change and environmental degradation affect us all. Yet concern about these issues is far from evenly distributed. People’s willingness to prioritize the environment, make sacrifices for sustainability, or even believe in climate change varies sharply by social class. Why is this the case? My new study, published in The British Journal of Sociology, uses detailed survey data to map how environmental attitudes vary across the social landscape. It offers not only a clearer picture of who holds what views...

A graphic showing how to move from inequalities to inclusion by growing together

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Research Brief / Rural Sociology / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Behind Every Business: Smallholder Struggles and Shared Hope

‘Through fields of uneven fortune and lean harvests, untiring hands of the farming communities across the Global South cultivate life and hope against the odds.’ In agricultural societies of developing economies, small-scale farmers rise early to farm the lands that have sustained their families for generations. Their labour, however, extends far beyond local needs—these crops fuel regional economies, support industrial supply chains, and cross borders to feed communities in the Global North. Despite playing a critical role in global food...

head appearing from mobile phone

Opinion / Science & Technology / Sociology of Media & Communication

Living With the Machine: How AI Shapes Our Everyday Choices

It starts with the gentlest of prompts. A phone buzzes softly with a reminder: “Leave early to avoid traffic.” Then, a streaming service cues up a show before the viewer has even started to scroll. A grocery app nudges the user with a “smart list” of suggested items based on prior shopping. These little acts of attention slide so seamlessly into daily life that they commonly go unconsidered. But then, one day, looking at that list of things, a phone...

Opinion

The Body in Extremist White Supremacy

The Body in Extremist White Supremacy[1] Sociology has not taken bodies seriously. This is well documented.[2] But it’s especially so in scholarship of the far right – and that’s even more glaring given that bodies are implicated in the gruesome actions of its adherents.[3] There are two embodied practices that featured prominently in the narratives of the 47 former members of white supremacy groups whom we interviewed: violence and sexual practice. The focus on violence is key given that it...

Opinion

Conversational Democracy: A Microsociological Look at Children’s Initiatives in Child and Family Social Work Dialogues

Children who experience violence, adversity, or other forms of injustice often suffer in silence, hidden behind closed doors or silenced by fear and shame. To activate meaningful support systems, these experiences bust be brought to light and made visible to those in a position to help. When children interact with professionals who could provide support, their voices frequently encounter institutional barriers. Despite good intentions, professionals often work within the constraints of tight schedules and predetermined agendas. While such structures serve...

Opinion

Examining possibilities for TVET among youth with care experience

There has been exciting and robust practice and policy attention aimed toward the population of young people have spent significant time in the care system and who may face life largely on their own when they reach adulthood.  A range of negative circumstances may have led to their need for out-of-home care (e.g., abuse, neglect, abandonment) and while in care they may have faced additional difficulty (e.g., disrupted relationships).  Research has done much to advance knowledge about these experiences and...

Opinion

Refugee Professionals: What are the challenges to their professional reintegration?

Imagine being a doctor, an engineer, or a teacher—forced to leave behind not only your profession, but also your country, your family, and your friends. Then imagine crossing multiple borders and arriving in a host country with professional aspirations, only to discover that your qualifications no longer count, and that you are viewed not as a professional but as a humanitarian burden. This is the lived reality for many forcibly displaced individuals with higher education and professional backgrounds—referred to as...

Research Brief

Between God and Ground: Invisible Chains Among Farming Communities

Slavery, in its modern guise, remains a pervasive issue. In South Asian countries, which are predominantly agricultural societies and home to nearly one-quarter of the world’s population, this issue often goes unseen and unnoticed (Bose & Jalal, 2022; Kara, 2017). The perspectives on slavery within these regions vary significantly compared to the modern world, featuring the hidden and complex nature of the problem. Far from being a relic of the past, slavery in South Asia is mainly perpetuated by a...

Opinion

Welcome No More? Shifting Attitudes towards Ukrainian Refugees in Europe

Almost seven million Ukrainians have fled Ukraine since Russia’s large-scale invasion in February 2022. Seeking refuge in other European states, they were welcomed. However, recent analyses have emerged which point to an increasing discrimination against Ukrainian refugees who were displaced by Russia’s aggression, including in previously supportive nations like Poland. The shifting treatment and belonging of Ukrainians could therefore become a pressing issue, both as the war continues and once it ends. This can be linked to the idea of...

Opinion

Technology and precariousness: the employment downgrading of Europe’s middle class

Since the advent of the first industrial revolution, the growing automation of production processes has been accompanied by concerns (or hopes) regarding the displacement of human labour. Although significant increases in productivity occurred over the last century, we can argue – evidence at hand – that no mass displacement has occurred following the diffusion of computing and robotic technologies. The latter (especially ICTs), together with globalization, are typically cited as the main engines driving advanced capitalist economies from manufacturing-based toward...

Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Social Movements / Social Change

Forging A Gender-Household Plastics Nexus in The Circular Economy

Inexpensive, lightweight and durable, it is difficult to imagine a world without the ubiquitous plastics. If you have ever looked around your kitchen, bathroom or living room, you will realise something: plastic is everywhere. From packaging and bottles to bags and straws, it is hard to escape the pervasiveness of plastics. However, plastics are a double-edged sword. Despite playing an indispensable role in modern society, plastic pollution has become a pressing environmental issue. Household plastics in particular, is a key...

Figure 1: A child abuse awareness and prevention poster, part of a public campaign managed by the national government. Image created by Riko Mukuta and the National Network for the Prevention of Child Abuse, 2023.

Applied Sociology / Opinion / Research Methodologies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Children

Care equity and the welfare state in Japan: Contextualizing what the child protection system seeks to safeguard

The child abuse crisis: Japan has a lively arena of research on children’s social care. Yet, there has been relatively little attention given to social constructions of childhood, abuse, and other pressing topics of debate, particularly in relation to structural and cross-cultural contexts. This is interesting considering how widespread visual and discursive representations of child abuse have proliferated throughout Japan in the past 30 years. I recently wrote a paper on the social-cultural construction of child abuse and its possible...

Opinion

Logistics Violence and Harm: Unpacking Supply Chain Capitalism for a Critical Southern Criminology

We live in a world where 10% of the population takes 52% of the global income, while the poorest half survives on just 8.5% (Chancel et al. 2022). This wealth inequality is more severe within the Global South, where there is an extreme disparity between wealthier and poorer zones. This economic inequality also comes with high levels of state and non-state violence. For example, in 2022, 177 environmental activists were killed, 88% of them in Amazon rainforest countries, while none...

Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Population & Demography / Sociology of Organizations & Work

At risk of social exclusion: the unemployed over 50s in Europe

In the last twenty years, the labour market participation of older workers in Europe is changing. Demographic transformation, better health and a different social role of older people are leading to a different approach to welfare called active ageing. Extending the labour market participation of older workers and delaying retirement are some of its aims. An active ageing policy can be successful if the working life extension does not expose older workers to the risk of unemployment. And, whether older...

Applied Sociology / Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Organizations & Work

A gender milestone: First women presidents in U.S. higher education institutions

By In today’s tense higher education landscape, one may wonder why anyone would take on the role of a university or college president. Indeed, even before the recent accusations against women academics, women who sought to or served as executive leaders of higher education institutions (HEIs) faced gender bias, racial discrimination, and other challenges. Despite this, the number of women presidents in HEIs tripled from 9.5% to 33% between 1986 and 2023. In addition to the personal and professional satisfaction...