I checked 9 sociology journals on Tuesday, April 14, 2026 using the Crossref API. For the period April 07 to April 13, I found 11 new paper(s) in 6 journal(s).

American Journal of Sociology

Atlantic Reconstruction: Democracy, Abolition, and the Making of Political Personhood
Ricarda Hammer
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American Sociological Review

Collateral Decision-Making: The Case of Pretrial Detention and the Criminal Courts
Caylin Louis Moore
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Research shows that penal state involvement facilitates a wide range of detrimental consequences, yet existing theoretical accounts tend to focus on stigma or exclusion, leaving the role of individual decision-making underspecified. To address this gap, I advance the concept of collateral decision-making: the process by which individuals, embedded in a criminal legal institution, make decisions that carry adverse consequences in another institution, whether within or beyond the criminal legal sphere. Through this process, individuals reframe how they navigate a particular institution to mitigate negative experiences generated by a criminal legal institution. I analyze in-depth interviews with 65 pretrial detainees simultaneously embedded in jails and criminal courts—two state institutions that constitute distinct structural constraints, functions, and decision-making points. The findings expose why and how the disadvantage of pretrial detention recalibrates decision-making and translates into unfavorable court outcomes, as detainees accept plea agreements to escape violence, the misery of court holding tanks, poor jail conditions, and address primary-caregiver role strain—even while maintaining their innocence. The analysis also reveals that detainees sometimes forgo the potential benefit of legal counsel, offering a compelling account of how this decision appears reasonable within the structural constraints of jail detention, yet ultimately reproduces institutional disadvantage. The findings illustrate how penal state involvement cascades across institutional boundaries, shaping individual behavior and reinforcing social disparities.

Annual Review of Sociology

Thinking Sex in Sociology: Sexualities Research in the Twenty-First Century
Kristen Schilt, D'Lane R. Compton, Khoa Phan
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In this article, we take stock of major developments in sociological approaches to the study of sexual life in the twenty-first century. First, we highlight the breadth of theoretical and methodological approaches within the sociology of sexualities subfield. We explore the growth of research that centers race, ethnicity, age, and geographic location within the study of sexualities. We also showcase the growing body of transnational research that critically examines the shifting forms of state power that constrain and enable the possibilities of sexual autonomy and collective action. Second, we examine the emerging subfield of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender)-inclusive demography, detailing the limitations and possibilities of this methodological approach and recent patterns in findings. Finally, we highlight how feminist and queer critiques have expanded the conceptual frameworks for studying sex beyond the procreative/nonprocreative binary that long pervaded the discipline. We end with ideas for how to safeguard the epistemological and methodological diversity of sexualities research in sociology.
Not Quite White: Immigration and the Changing Ethnic Composition of Whites in the United States
Jen'nan G. Read
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Who counts as white in the United States? This has been a demographic puzzle since US citizenship was first limited to “free white persons” in 1790. Over time, immigrants from various world regions began to comprise the white population, creating a numerical majority and what is now the widely used reference category for measuring racial inequality. This review traces the evolving composition of the white racial category from the 1960s to the present, highlighting increased immigration from Eastern Europe and the Middle East as key sources of diversity within the federally defined white population. I organize the review into three sections. The first section reviews the historical construction of the white racial category in relation to the federal classification system used by the US Census. The second section examines compositional changes in the global origins of white immigrants since the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. It highlights how geopolitical events have shaped divergent migration and resettlement experiences for immigrants from Eastern Europe and the Middle East—groups who are legally classified as white but often racialized as “not quite white.” The third section reviews research on immigration and health to illustrate how compositional changes in the white population affect our understanding of US health disparities. The conclusion considers the implications of treating whites as a single, monolithic group and calls for greater analytic attention to within-group diversity among whites in studies of inequality.

Social Forces

The racialized penalties of immigrant origin: meta-analytic evidence on hiring discrimination in twelve countries
Lincoln Quillian, Arnfinn H Midtbøen
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The role of discrimination in shaping the life chances of immigrants and their descendants is central to debates in the sociology of immigration. This study synthesizes evidence from 114 field experiments on hiring conducted across twelve countries, comparing discrimination against foreign-born and native-born minoritized groups in Europe and North America. Using meta-regression, we examine how callback rates vary by applicants’ place of birth, country of education, citizenship status, and racial or ethnic origin. On average, place of birth has little independent effect, though the United States may be an exception. We also find evidence that discrimination against the foreign-born may have increased in recent years. Across countries, having a foreign degree or lacking citizenship is associated with large penalties—up to 35 percent fewer callbacks for foreign-educated applicants. Racial and ethnic minoritized status consistently predicts discrimination, especially for non-European origin groups. Our findings point to racially segmented discrimination: while White immigrants tend to become less distinguishable from White natives across generations, non-White groups continue to face disadvantage. These results challenge assumptions of linear generational progress and highlight the intersecting dimensions of immigrant origin that shape exclusion from employment.
Corruption and the legitimacy of courts: experimental evidence from Brazil
Luiz Vilaça
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Judicial institutions across the world face a legitimacy crisis, showing record-low levels of public support. Several studies argue that this increasing distrust in courts stems in part from how judges rule on high-profile corruption cases, but there is no consensus on what shapes public attitudes towards the judiciary. While some studies argue that people care about the substantive outcomes of decisions, others emphasize procedural fairness. To adjudicate between these two perspectives, I drew on an original survey-experiment about a corruption trial in Brazil. Respondents were randomly assigned to read a vignette about a corporate executive convicted of bribery and seeking to overturn his conviction. I manipulated both the procedural irregularities committed by the judge and the outcome of the decision. Results showed that evaluations of courts are shaped primarily by outcomes. When judges overturn convictions of business leaders, they lose support and increase mobilizing attitudes against the court, regardless of the severity of procedural violations. However, some procedural irregularities affected attitudes towards judges. The models showed that judges were viewed as more unethical, unfair, and biased when they advised prosecutors, acted in self-interest, or treated defendants unequally—but not when they overstepped their jurisdiction.
Review of “Gardens of Hope: Cultivating Food and the Future in a Post-Disaster City”
Rishi Awatramani
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Social Science Research

Childhood exposure to local wealth inequality, economic isolation in schools, and inter-class social ties in adulthood
Manuel Schechtl
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Social welfare expansion and political support during economic slowdown: A panel data analysis of China, 2010-2018
Xue Li, Bingdao Zheng
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Sociological Science

Fathers’ Military Service and Children’s College Attainment
Paula Fomby, Patricia van Hissenhoven FlĂłrez
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More Common, Less Equal: Disparities in College Internship Participation Over Time
Carrie Shandra
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