Sociology
Under Review
Sophie Calle and the Art of Leaving a Trace
The French artist has attained celebrity—and attracted controversy—by pursuing the objects of her obsession. What is she really after?
Books
How the Week Organizes and Tyrannizes Our Lives
From work schedules to TV seasons to baseball games, the seven-day cycle has long ordered American society. Will we ever get rid of it?
Books
It’s Time to Stop Talking About “Generations”
From boomers to zoomers, the concept gets social history all wrong.
Annals of Inquiry
Why Is It So Hard to Be Rational?
The real challenge isn’t being right but knowing how wrong you might be.
American Chronicles
Burnout: Modern Affliction or Human Condition?
As a diagnosis, it’s too vague to be helpful—but its rise tells us a lot about the way we work.
Books
Did Home Economics Empower Women?
For pioneers of the field, it was a gateway to the male-dominated world of science; for those it purported to help, it could be yet another domestic trap.
Books
The Repressive Politics of Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman’s pop-psychology blockbuster, now twenty-five years old, turned self-control into a corporate management tool.
Persons of Interest
Sherry Turkle’s Plugged-In Year
The sociologist has critiqued our digital addictions. Now, like the rest of us, she’s been trapped behind her screens.
Postscript
The Scholar Who Chronicled the Afro-Latino Experience
Miriam Jiménez Román envisioned and celebrated a field of study long disregarded by many in the academy.
Books
Our Love-Hate Relationship with Gimmicks
Why is the same word used to describe the harmless enchantments of literary technique and the cruel buffoonery of contemporary political and economic life?
A Critic at Large
Is Staying In Staying Safe?
Indoor life has its dangers, too, but building-design specialists have big plans for us.
Books
Big Tech Is Testing You
Large-scale social experiments are now ubiquitous, and conducted without public scrutiny. Has this new era of experimentation remembered the lessons of the old?
Lab Notes
At Last, Scientific Proof That Eurovision Makes People Happier
“Even an abysmal performance would be better than complete absence from the contest,” a group of British researchers concluded.
A Reporter at Large
Where the Small-Town American Dream Lives On
As America’s rural communities stagnate, what can we learn from one that hasn’t?
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