by Brooke Harrington | Aug 24, 2026 | Offshore Finance, Other
2026, The Economist Why recent attacks on Sociology as left-wing activism are misplaced. Describing my own research and how I teach Introduction to Sociology, I argue that the study of inequality (our focus) is shared by all the social sciences: we differ mainly in...
by Brooke Harrington | Feb 25, 2025 | Elites & Oligarchs, Other
2025, New York Times The radical changes wrought by DOGE to the federal government during Trump’s first weeks in office are reminiscent in scope and speed to what Franklin Roosevelt did during his first 100 days in office, but with the opposite effects: instead...
by Brooke Harrington | Aug 30, 2021 | Other
2021, The Atlantic This article uses the Sociology of fraud–from Goffman’s “On Cooling the Mark Out”–and of reference groups–from Merton’s Social Theory and Social Structure–to explain why many Americans have...
by Brooke Harrington | Aug 9, 2021 | Other
2021, The Guardian This article uses the Sociology of reference groups (Merton) and fraud (Goffman) to explain vaccine and mask refusal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Keywords: pandemic, COVID-19, fraud, Goffman, reference groups, Merton, anti-vaxx, vaccine refusal,...
by Brooke Harrington | May 30, 2021 | Other
2021, The Chronicle of Higher Education This article uses reference group theory (Merton), along with Goffman’s theory on the group dynamics of fraud, to explain a variety of puzzling behaviors by Americans during the pandemic: mask and vaccine refusal,...
by Brooke Harrington | Mar 30, 2021 | Other
2021, Psyche.co Planning research projects is a time-honored intellectual exercise: one that requires both creativity and sharp analytical skills. The purpose of this Guide is to make the process systematic and easy to understand. While there is a great deal of...
