Gentrification: Housing Market Booms as Locals Bust
In this essay Nathan Palmer uses gentrification to illustrate how simple individual choices can lead to collective issues. Gentrification is what happens when the middle-class starts buying houses in...
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Sociology is Rarely About You
Sociology classes are often conversations about the scientific data surrounding controversial subjects. It’s really easy for students to feel challenged or even leave class upset. In this essay Nathan...
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The Terrorist Attack on Charlie Hebdo and Social Integration
On January 7th brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi murdered 12 writers and cartoonists at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. In this post Nathan Palmer uses social integration theories to better...
View ArticleThe Man Who Walked Away From Society & Lost Himself
In this post Nathan Palmer discusses how a man isolated in the woods for 27 years lost himself and how the self is socially constructed through interaction. In 1986 Christopher Knight walked away from...
View Article“All we have is us!” Changing Lives with Football & Social Capital
In this essay Nathan Palmer discusses how the The River Rouge high school football team has developed social capital to achieve both on the field and in the classroom. Just south of Detroit, in a...
View ArticleIf Italians Made It up the Social Ladder, Why Can’t Mexicans?
If Italian immigrants started at the bottom of the American social ladder and made it to the top, why can’t Mexican immigrants do the same today? In this essay Nathan Palmer shows us how thinking...
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Your Keyboard is Awful and Here is Why
In this essay, Nathan Palmer shows us how the past influences the present. Why does your right pinky finger rest on the semicolon key when you type? I’m not sure I even know how to properly use a...
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What We Lost in The Apocalypse
In this essay Nathan Palmer uses The Walking Dead to illustrate social structure and why the idea of losing it terrifies us. What is it about The Walking Dead that horrifies us? The zombies are a...
View ArticleSociology’s Unanswered Question
In this essay, Nathan Palmer asks how does a person’s social context affect their behavior and finds that sociologists really don’t have a clear answer. Who you are and where you are affects your...
View Article“What Does My Sociology 101 Teacher Want Me To Learn?”
In this essay, Nathan Palmer discusses what sociologists think intro students should be learning. “What are we supposed to be learning here anyways?” Likely not a day goes by that a student in an intro...
View ArticleFraming The Indiana Religious Freedom Law
In this post Nathan Palmer uses the recent controversy over the Indiana law to show us how issues are framed by social movements. For a social movement to change people’s minds, recruit supporters, and...
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“This Isn’t An Act!” The Sociology of Gender Performances
In this essay Nathan Palmer asks us to consider how we perform our gender, even if it doesn’t feel like a performance to us. Where did you learn to perform your gender? Chances are, this question...
View ArticleWhy Are Environmental Problems Hard To Address?
It’s Earth Day again, are you ready to celebrate? In this post Nathan Palmer discusses a few of the unique reasons environmental problems can be so hard to change. Humans relationship with the...
View ArticleBruce Jenner & Status Transitions
In this essay, Nathan Palmer uses the Bruce Jenner interview to explore social statuses and categorization systems. On Friday, Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner publicly announced that, “for all...
View ArticleEx Machina & Why Robots Don’t Have Common Sense
In this essay, Nathan Palmer uses the movie Ex Machina to discuss why common sense is so hard to replicate in a computer program. Ex Machnia is a thrilling science-fiction movie that will leave you...
View ArticleWhy We Do Crazy Things for the Ones We Love
In this essay Nathan Palmer discusses the influence significant others have on our thoughts and behaviors. Right now my legs feel like Jell-O and my head feels like I’ve gone 12 rounds in the ring with...
View ArticleHow You Learned To Play Nice & Get Along with Others
There are 7 billion people in the world and every day we interact with one another like a giant ant colony. Just imagine how many one-on-one interactions happen every single day. Isn’t it remarkable...
View ArticleSame Stuff, Different Place: Traveling in the Age of McDonaldization
Why do we travel to far off places? We say that we want “to get away” and “leave it all behind,” but do we really? Do our actions match our words? Think about the last few times you traveled. Did the...
View ArticleNow The LGBTQ Community Can Be Just Like Us Heterosexuals, Right?
In this essay Nathan Palmer uses last week’s landmark supreme court ruling to discuss heteronormativity and what it means to embrace diversity. Social change is often a painfully slow process until it...
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It’s Only Deviant Until Everybody’s Doing It
Tattoos are quickly become mainstream in the United States, especially for younger people. Until recently a tattoo could disqualify a person from becoming a police officer, joining the military, and...
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