How do seemingly nonracial organizational processes reproduce racial inequality? In a new study published in Socius, Alanna Gillis and I examine this question through the lens of “the Pact,” a COVID-19 behavioral policy implemented at a predominantly White U.S. liberal arts college during the 2020-2021 academic year. Drawing on three waves of yearly interviews with 30 undergraduates, we reveal how this ostensibly race-neutral policy inadvertently undermined social connection and belonging among the school’s small population of students of color.

COVID-19 campus closures in March 2020 led many—but not all—college students to move back in with their parents. Why did some students return home while others did not?

What can sociologists learn from interviewing multiple members of the same family? This week on the Contexts blog, I’m in conversation with Gaby Flores, Ariel Chan, and Angelica Qin to discuss our respective studies involving interviews with parent/young adult dyads.

Why is *nice* not enough? I recently interviewed C.J. Pascoe about her new book, Nice Is Not Enough: Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High. To learn more about American High’s culture of kindness—and why it’s insufficient to challenge systemic inequalities—check out our recorded conversation (along with a lightly-edited transcript) on the Contexts blog.

Introducing. . . . Moral Matters, a podcast produced by the Altruism, Morality and Social Solidarity Section of the American Sociological Association.

I recently sat down with Michèle Lamont, Mari Sanchez, and Shira Zilberstein to chat about Michèle’s new book and our respective studies on college students navigating COVID-19. You can find our recorded conversation, along with a lightly-edited transcript, on the Contexts blog.

Check out my recent interview with Contexts’ Rose Zhang about my Summer ‘23 feature essay, “No place like home?”

In my new feature essay for Contexts, I tell the stories of two college students navigating the transition to remote instruction in March 2020. As their experiences illustrate, the social class divides exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic reflected deeper differences than immediate resource constraints.

If you ask a sociologist, you might get a 20-page journal article.

I'm excited to join the Contexts editorial team as the magazine’s newest blog editor.

In a new study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, I leverage the case of COVID-19 campus closings to examine social class differences in young adults’ understandings and experiences of parental support—as well as the implications for inequality.