By Hatim Rahman, author of Inside the Invisible Cage: How Algorithms Control WorkersIt was barely a decade ago that many of us became enamored by the “gig” economy. Booking a room, ride, or restaurant took seconds and could be done at virtually any time or place.A major factor enabling the g
By Stacy Torres, author of At Home in the City: Growing Old in Urban AmericaI never planned to study older adults. Old places that survived waves of gentrification initially fascinated me, as a lifelong New Yorker who had struggled to make ends meet and mourned the loss of beloved neighborho
As workers attempt new modes of employment in the era of the Great Resignation, they face a labor landscape that is increasingly uncertain and stubbornly unequal. With Handcrafted Careers, sociologist Eli Revelle Yano Wilson dives headfirst into the everyday lives of workers in the craft beer indust
The debate over campus sexual violence is more heated than ever, but hardly anyone knows what actually happens inside Title IX offices. On the Wrong Side provides the first comprehensive account of the inner workings of the secretive Title IX system. Drawing on a yearlong study of survivors, perpetr
In the summer of 2020, following the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd in the United States and the ensuing global protests against anti-Black racism led by the Black Lives Matter movement, a brief window of time opened to “take audacious steps to address systemic racial ine
By Xaq Frohlich, author of From Label to Table: Regulating Food in America in the Information AgeThis post was originally published on The Conversation.The Nutrition Facts label, that black and white information box found on nearly every packaged food product in the U.S. since 1994, has rece
Why has Silicon Valley become the model for addressing today's myriad social and ecological crises? With this book, Julie Guthman digs into the impoverished solutions for food and agriculture currently emerging from Silicon Valley, urging us to stop trying to fix our broken food system through finit
By Charles Binkley, co-author of Encoding Bioethics: AI in Clinical Decision-MakingArtificial Intelligence (AI) is being introduced into every sector of the human experience, and healthcare is no exception.AI models were first used in radiology in the 1980s to aid radiologists in interpretin
Blacksound explores the sonic history of blackface minstrelsy (the first original form of American popular music) and the racial foundations of American musical culture from the early 1800s through the turn of the twentieth century. With this namesake book, Matthew D. Morrison develops the concept o
Tragedy seldom unifies Americans today. Every year, horrific crises induce tremendous suffering. Most are privately tragic, affecting only those directly harmed and their immediate relations. A small number, though, become politically notorious and, therefore, publicly tragic.
