Supporting Supportive Housing
Writer Jennifer Egan C’85 and SP2’s Dennis Culhane on homelessness.
Shattered and Torn
In a new book, Dorothy Roberts extends her landmark critique of the US child welfare system.
How to Help
“Your daughter’s goal is to become a survivor.”
Fighting Poverty With Cash
Several decades since the last big income experiment was conducted in the US, School of Social Policy & Practice assistant professor Amy Castro Baker has helped deliver promising data out of Stockton, California, about the effects of giving people no-strings-attached money every month. Now boosted by a new research center at Penn that she’ll colead, more cities are jumping on board to see if guaranteed income can lift their residents out of poverty. Will it work? And will policymakers listen?
Mind Traveler
Renée Fox on her past—and the present.
Good By Design
Despite all evidence to the contrary, “the world is getting better,” argues physician and sociologist Nicholas Christakis. It’s in our genes.
The Virality Paradox
Damon Centola thinks the contemporary wisdom about how behavior spreads is missing something fundamental—and that may be why mindless trivialities crowd out civic engagement. Can anything be done? He has an idea or two.
Eighteen Wheel Blues
Sociology’s Steve Viscelli on life as a long-haul trucker.
Down By Law
Alice Goffman was a Penn undergraduate when she began doing the fieldwork for the project that became On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City. It’s an important, unsettling exploration of a serious issue. Just try not to focus on her.
“Academic Activist,” Emeritus
Celebrating sociologist Frank Furstenberg
The “Dark Matter” of Social Interaction
“Surprising disconnect” between pay and work quality
Faith Amid the Deathworks
An appreciation of the late Philip Rieff.
Failing Grades
Two Penn sociologists say higher education is not what it appears, or promises.
Scholars Clash Over Book Acknowledgements
“Conceptual plagiarism” charged in sociologists’ dispute
Putting the Carriage Before Marriage
Sociologist Kathryn Edin on poor women’s choices
Taking the Trouble to See
Bill Shore’s candidates went 0-for-3 in presidential races, but with Share Our Strength the former political operative launched a unique campaign to fight hunger and created a new model for community service.
Tracking AIDS in Africa
Tracking AIDS in Africa
New Dean to Emphasize “Wholesale Social Work”
Gelles named School of Social Work’s dean.
Corporal Charity, Chaos Control
Working on the front lines of homelessness.
Nintendo, Limp Bizkit, and … God
Losing their religion (Not!)
Dr. DiIulio Goes to Washington
DiIulio to head White House office for faith-based programs.
Mapping Human Geography
Computer maps create powerful tool for data-gathering
Extracting Data on Dentistry
Dr. Lois Kushner Cohen CW’60
Who’s Dependent Now?
Welfare reform’s reverse dependency.