Spring 2025 Sociology Newsletter

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Letter from the Chair

Dear Sociology Community,

I hope this message finds you well as we find ourselves in the middle of another exciting term.

Given the tumultuous national landscape, sociology is more vital than ever in helping us understand and respond to pressing social issues. The work profiled in this newsletter shows how members of our community are analyzing social structures, institutions, and collective behaviors to shed light on pressing societal problems and inspire meaningful mobilization for social change.

This semester, undergraduate students are engaging with these topics by taking courses such as Social Movements, Sociology of Sexualities, High Tech Regions in Comparative Perspective, Nationalism and Identity, and Big Data on the Social World.

Our graduate students just successfully wrapped the 17th Annual Sociology Graduate Research Symposium, presenting on innovative topics such as computational and network data methods, demography of class and gender, and health and social behavior.

Additionally, we have an exciting slate of events coming up in April: Paul DiMaggio (Princeton), Cristobal Young (Cornell), Michèle Lamont (Harvard) and Bart Bonikowski (NYU).

Also, at the end of April, we will host a Soc Social pizza party for the undergraduate Sociology majors, and anyone who is interested in learning more about the major.

The Dragon Day Parade is tomorrow and the Sociology community is invited to watch the parade from the Grad Lounge (best view in town!).

Thank you for being part of our vibrant sociology community.

Sincerely,

Laura Tach

Chair, Department of Sociology

New Book!

Book calls social scientists to robust ‘multiverse’ analysis

To cut through misinformation, noise and fragile claims, sociologist Cristobal Young calls social science researchers to adopt a new approach.

Public Opinion and the Crisis of American Science, Prof. Paul DiMaggio (Princeton)

April 17 Thursday 4:30 PM, AD White House Guerlac Room 108 (6-7pm reception following event)

Book Launch - Multiverse Analysis: Computational Methods for Robust Results, with Prof. Cristobal Young (Cornell) (co-author: Erin Cumberworth)

April 18 Friday 3:00 PM, Clark Hall 291 (CCSS space)

Seeing Others: The Ongoing Challenges of Recognition Gaps in the United States and Europe, Prof. Michèle Lamont (Harvard)

April 21 Monday 5:00 PM, Physical Sciences Building 120

National Identification on Twitter or How to Find a Needle in a Haystack with LLMs, Prof. Bart Bonikowski (NYU)

April 25 Friday 3:00 PM, Clark Hall 291 (CCSS space)

Alumna Spotlight

'The research I did at Cornell developed my commitment to mixed methods'

Prof. Susan Rose (Cornell Soc P.h.D. '84) shares a bit about her time at Cornell.

New research project investigates U.S./U.K. LGBTQ data

Researchers from Cornell and the University of Edinburgh are investigating how data about LGBTQ communities is used (and misused) by governments, companies and community organizations.

CCSS grant awarded for "The Costs of Climate Change" research project

Cornell Sociologist Dan Hirschman's research investigates the questions, "How much will climate change cost? And how will we know?"

Soc Social pizza party info graphic, happening april 28, 12-1:30pm in soc main office

Trump 2.0: The Impact of Trump's Reelection

Several children sit on a rug in a classroom

With education funding cut looming, ‘irreplaceable data on schools’ at risk

The real economic and social value of the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences research won’t show up in DOGE’s metrics.

Continuing to Exploit Division for Political Gain

Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Cornell University, Mabel Berezin discusses the second Trump term.

Grad Research Symposium

Nine Sociology Ph.D. students presented at the 17th Annual Graduate Research Symposium on March 21st. Prof. Landon Schnabel gave the keynote address: "The Stained-Glass Closet: Concealing Doubts and Exaggerating Religiosity in the United States."

Grad Corner: Research Spotlights

How do Chinese Immigrants in Japan Move Between Ethnic and Majority Neighborhoods?

Soc Ph.D. student Hao Liang published his first sole-authored online article, investigating how language skills, housing agents, and coethnic preferences influence immigrant residential choices.

Can Citizen Science Mosquito Data Collection Help Combat Vector-Borne Disease?

Soc P.h.D. student Álvaro Padilla Pozo published work in Nature, examining the representativeness of mosquito reports from citizen scientists and developing a method to account for their spatial sampling biases.

Simon Kuznets & the Invention of the Economy | CITED PODCAST

CITED PODCAST producer Alec Opperman talks to Sociologist Dan Hirschman, speaking about the man who pioneered the GDP.

NPR interview: How French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen used populism to fuel his far right agenda

Here & Now's Celeste Headlee talks with Mabel Berezin, the director of Cornell University's Institute for European Studies, about the legacy of far-right French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen. He died on Tuesday at the age of 96.

New York State Reverses Population Losses

Prof. Ben Cornwell comments on population changes in the Empire State, and reasons behind the long-standing trend of folks moving out of the state.

Cornell expert on Jean-Marie Le Pen: a ‘driving force’ for French far-right

“Le Pen wasn’t responsible for the political events which moved the right forward across Europe. Yet, the French National Front created the institutional framework necessary to take advantage of crisis events," says Mabel Berezin.

Elon Musk Endorses Far-Right Party Amidst German Political Turmoil

Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest man, has recently drawn significant attention for his political comments and endorsements, particularly concerning Germany's far-right party, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).

Weidel, Meloni, and Le Pen: the rise of women who dominate three of Europe’s main far-right parties

Professor Mabel Berezin weighs in on the conversation about the women leading the far-right parties, historically led by men.

Are social scientists good for boardrooms?

A 2020 Academy of Social Sciences report found that sociologists, economists and philosophers help companies improve productivity, enhance problem-solving and heighten social impact.

Illustration showing a crowd of people, a network of dots and lines, and some binary code

Where computer scientists and economists talk to each other

In a world that’s growing more connected every day, economists and computer scientists need to work together. Cornell researchers have thought this way for years, and the rest of the world is catching on.

Help continue the tradition of distinguished teaching, research, and service in Cornell's Department of Sociology and make a gift to support faculty and students. We are deeply grateful to all of our alumni, parents, and friends for their generosity. Philanthropy provides a critical margin of excellence for our students and faculty.

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