Author: TheConversation

By Kelsy Burke, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Many recent headlines have speculated publicly on the sex lives of Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife Becki Falwell. Reports allege that Falwell Jr. was a complicit voyeur in his wife’s affair with a former pool attendant and business partner. The scandal forced Falwell to resign on August 25 as president of Liberty University, the ultra-conservative evangelical college founded by his father. As as a sociologist who has spent years studying the world of online Christian sex advice message boards and blogs, I have read stories from evangelical Christians...

By Junia Howell, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh; and Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of New Mexico Racial inequality in home values is greater today than it was 40 years ago, with homes in white neighborhoods appreciating $200,000 more since 1980 than comparable homes in similar communities of color. Our new research on home appraisals shows neighborhood racial composition still drives unequal home values, despite laws that forbid real estate professionals from explicitly using race when evaluating a property’s worth. Published in the journal Social Problems, our study The Increasing Effect of Neighborhood Racial Composition...

By Alexander Cohen, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Clarkson University During the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump refused to promise to accept the results of the election. Likewise, in 2020, his continued assault on the reliability and legitimacy of mail-in voting has laid the groundwork for challenging a loss on the basis of voter fraud. He has also refused to promise to observe the 2020 results. This has led some to worry that a contested election would severely undermine faith in American democracy. Yet the United States has a long history of such contested elections. With one exception,...