In this episode of Sociologist Talking, James welcomes Mike Messner to discuss Mike's new book, 'The High School,' which examines the sociological significance of high school yearbooks from Salinas High School in California, spanning from 1903 to 2024. Mike discusses his inspiration for the book, drawn from his personal connections to the school and his inherited collection of yearbooks. The book analyzes how high school sports, cheerleading, and student activities shape citizenship, identity...

Raul Perez drops by to talk about this new book, The Souls of White Jokes: How Racist Humor Fuels White Supremacy. Raúl Pérez is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of La Verne, and was previously an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Denver. His scholarship has been awarded and supported by the American Sociological Association, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the University of California Center for New Racial Studies, the Working Cla...

Join Dr. Leland Saito and I as we discuss his new book "Building Los Angeles; The Politics of Race and Place in Urban America. It is a tale of displacement, gentrification, race, place, and resistance. Dr. Leland Saito grew up in Boyle Heights, and then Montebello. Montebello is right next to Monterey Park, and the changes in that city in the 1980s as it went from White to Latino and Asian American, sparked his interest and became his dissertation and first book. He went t...

Join Dr. Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and me as we discuss race and space in historic South Central Los Angeles. Don't believe the hype; this is a story of not just pain and desperation but one of love, hope, and cooperation. Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo is the Florence Everline Professor of Sociology at USC Dornsife, where she has worked for thirty years. As a qualitative sociologist who relies on interviews and ethnography, Los Angeles and Southern California have provided a rich social...

It's Black History Month; Myron Strong joins me in discussing race in Reality TV, Sci-Fi, comics, and Afrofuturism. Myron T. Strong is an award-winning sociologist, who is currently an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Community College of Baltimore County in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated with his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Texas in 2014. His research explores Afrofuturism, race, gender and other social factors in modern comics and popular culture. In 20...

Join Dr. David Embrick and me as we discuss the Rittenhouse and Ahmaud Abery cases, vigilantes, masculinity, and guns. In other words, it's an All-American podcast! Dr. David G. Embrick holds a joint position as Associate Professor in the Sociology Department and African Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut. Prior to UConn, he spent a decade at Loyola University Chicago as faculty in the Sociology Department. He received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 2006.&n...

Dana Williams and I discuss "trust." In particular, we discuss the trust of government, science, the vaccine, and each other. For good measure, we threw in a conversation on anarchy. Join us! Dana Williams is an associate professor of sociology at California State University, Chico. He is the author of Black Flags and Social Movements: A Sociological Analysis of Movement Anarchism and co-author of Anarchy & Society: Reflections on Anarchist-Sociology, as well as the aut...

Join Karen Sabbah and me as we discuss her personal experiences with IVF. We discussed the meanings of motherhood, costs, and tribulations of In Vitro Fertilization. Karen Sabbah holds an MA in sociology from Califonia State University Northridge (2015) and has worked as an adjunct in the Los Angeles Community College District and College of the Canyons since 2016. She teaches courses in crime, human sexuality, gender, and race & ethnicity. Her focus in graduate school was o...

Returning guests Celene Fuller, Tiffany Lanoix, and Rebecca Romo join me to discuss the new anti-abortion law in Texas. Celene Fuller is a doctoral candidate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and specializes in the sociological subfields of gender and sexuality and social psychology, emphasizing stigmatized sexual and gender identities. Celene’s dissertation research centers on the experiences of sexual and reproductive health stigma surrounding access to abortion and...

Jake Alimahomed-Wilson and Julio Tsuha discuss the hesitancy for workers to get back to their jobs, quality of life issues, and a crack in capitalism. Jake Alimahomed-Wilson is a Professor of Sociology at California State University, Long Beach. His research focuses on race, gender, labor, logistics, and global workers’ struggles. He is the co-editor of The Cost of Free Shipping: Amazon in the Global Economy (Pluto Press, 2020 and co-editor of Choke Points: Logistics Worker...