New @aeraedresearch.bsky.social article: “Bright but Poor”.
Many talented students from low-income families have the grades for higher education but do not make it. We show where the missed opportunities arise across the education pipeline
Low-hanging fruit for ed policy
doi.org/10.3102/0002...
Morning read. A good paper about how admissions “consultants” make sense of their work in a deeply, deliberately unequal competition for a limited good. Humans are good at making stories.
academic.oup.com/socpro/advan...
🥇 What makes a 3-year-old applicant “worthy” of admission to an elite preschool? Incoming managing editor @elenavanstee.bsky.social reviews @estelabdiaz.bsky.social & Lauren Rivera's recent ASR article.
➡️https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/15365042251377354
New in @socprobsjournal.bsky.social w/ @estelabdiaz.bsky.social: the rapid growth of the admissions consulting industry has raised questions about inequality, privilege, and merit. We combine two original data sources to ask how consultants make sense of their work.
academic.oup.com/socpro/advan...
A screenshot of the homepage of contexts.org shows a blog post titled "How the Rich Turn Sludge Into Money," by Doron Shiffer-Sebba, illustrated by a photo of enormous stacks of paper.
🚨New sociology! In "How the Rich Turn Sludge into Money," @shdoron1.bsky.social (@ipratnu.bsky.social) keys in on the bureaucratic practices wealthy families use to fend off threats to resources and intergenerational wealth transfers--and how these tactics change families contexts.org/blog/sludge/
OUT OF THE CLOSET, INTO THE ARCHIVES explores the emotional and embodied experience of #LGBTQ+ archival work—where power, identity, and desire shape research itself.
#ASA2025 #ReadUP tinyurl.com/342hnyt5
#QueerStudies #Sociology #LGBTQArchives #LGBTQResearch
" If you'd like to make a tax deductible donation, consider donating through ASC’s fiscal sponsor, Rutgers Presbyterian Church. Instructions on how to donate are on ASC's website: www.asylumsupportclinic.org/support-our-...
"Because of this, ASC is fundraising to cover the costs of these applications. We are looking to raise $32,000 to cover the costs for asylum and work permit applicants with whom we are working this Summer and Fall."
It used to cost $0...and "it now it costs $100 for an asylum application, $100 each year that application is pending (these cases often last for 3, 4, or 5 years, and even longer!) and a whopping $550 to apply for a work permit. These are funds that the people we work with simply do not have."
I am sharing a fundraiser for the Asylum Support Clinic where a dear friend volunteers. The recent federal funding bill imposes, for the first time, fees on individuals applying for asylum. Details below, but please share with others or donate as you are able! www.gofundme.com/f/help-asylu...
Who said economic sociology can't be illuminating AND fun to read? You can have your cake and eat it too with Shays' new work on inheritance disputes and relational mismatches.
I am so proud! Congrats, Dr. Garcia!
#MorningReads Econ sociologists have examined how morality shapes markets, but often treat class and organizations separately. Ethnography of 3 U.S. fertility clinics shows how their intersection shapes how providers talk about money to manage trust & authority. Via @elizaclairebrown.bsky.social
Historically, elite schools have selected students in ways that reproduce advantages for dominant groups and exclude groups deemed undesirable. The specific outgroup in question has changed over time, but the underlying logic used to exclude these groups is often related to disability. Yet, disability as a social category has received minimal attention in discussions of elite reproduction. In this article, we draw on qualitative data collected from elite independent pre-K–12 schools to show that disability is indeed a salient basis of selection into elite educational environments, one that begins at the earliest moments of educational sorting: admission to elite early childhood programs. Through interviews with admissions personnel, we show that elite independent schools explicitly structure their admissions processes to identify—and exclude—children who are perceived as having or being at risk of developing any type of disability, regardless of impairment type or support needs. We argue that admissions practices at elite independent schools (1) serve as a form of social closure intended to restrict enrollment to young children perceived as able-bodied and neurotypical, and (2) represent a case of essentializing merit, in which elite gatekeepers construct merit as an intrinsic, rather than achieved, property of individuals.
In @asanews.bsky.social ASR, @larivera.bsky.social and @estelabdiaz.bsky.social use qualitative data from elite independent pre K-12 schools to find that admissions processes are structured to exclude applicants at risk of disabilities.
Read more: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Here's the application link! You've got one week left to apply.
www.justeducationpolicy.org/apply
✨New✨ postdoc opportunity to collaborate with @mollycopeland.bsky.social and myself on an exciting project on geography, community, and mental health at @ndsociology.bsky.social. Happy to talk to anyone interested. Please resky (or whatever retweeting is called here)!
apply.interfolio.com/169206
"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging."
Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.
I wrote about my decision in TIME.
time.com/7285045/resi...
Three million Americans marched today. Here’s why we wrote about one American who didn’t.
The very first paper from our large comparative project - the World Elite Database - is out.
Lots of coordination and important discussion on comparing elites allow us to - for the first time really - compare elites across very different national contexts.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Sharing a thought provoking piece by @tiffjhuang.bsky.social about Ohio's anti-DEI. Reminds me of the problems I escaped from in Florida! www.dispatch.com/story/opinio...
Our concept of "essentializing merit" also has timely relevance given this week's discussions on sociogenomics. In fact, this recent book review starts with an example that is exactly where our piece ends... www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/b... (2/2)
Our piece is out now in ASR! See Lauren's fantastic thread below for the highlights. We believe scholars who study elites, culture, and education will all have something to take away from this work. Let us know what you think. (1/2)
How do the most elite US private schools, which serve as Ivy League feeders, select their youngest members? In a new ASR article w/ @estelabdiaz.bsky.social, we show that schools explicitly design their early childhood admissions practices to identify—and exclude—disabled or neurodivergent children🧵
Fantastic piece this morning by @charlieeaton.bsky.social on the imperative wealthy universities have to fight the cuts to research funding: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/o...
“The widespread adoption of vouchers, Cowen explains, was a policy coup staged by billionaires who were libertarians or religious zealots or both.”
Yet vouchers don’t work.
So honored by The Privateers review from the great @dianeravitch.bsky.social @nybooks.com
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Keep imagining better worlds.
Most elite families did not maintain their position in the top 1 percent between 1850 and 1940, from Priti Kalsi and Zachary Ward https://www.nber.org/papers/w33355
