The Restructuring of American Religion (1988) provided a still-influential framework for the study of American religion that centered the emergence, after World War II, of a left–right religio-political divide driving mobilization around conflicts understood as moral. But in the last 30 years, the landscape of American religion has been transformed by decline in commitment to mainstream religious institutions, especially white Christian ones, and by the emergence of large groups of Americans who are religiously indifferent or who embrace spirituality or nonreligion.
In 2018, 3.6 million eviction cases were filed in U.S. county courts with a substantial percentage of the plaintiffs having filed multiple eviction lawsuits. Recent estimates for 2023 suggest the number of debt collection lawsuits range from $2.5 to $4.5 million. Multiple studies have examined the impact of evictions and debt collection on individuals, but less attention has been paid to the combined experience of debt collection and eviction lawsuits and how these lawsuits cluster in households and neighborhoods.
Little is known about how the 2003 transition in authority for border security from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the rapid retooling of DHS under President Trump have impacted U.S.-Mexico border communities. Two decades ago, sociologist Patrisia Macías-Rojas documented the transformation in border security in the aftermath of 9/11 on border communities.
Ensuring the political representation of ethnic and racial minorities is one of the oldest and most pressing challenges facing American democracy. However, simply electing racial and ethnic politicians does not guarantee that they will respond to the needs of their minority constituents. Sociologist Ellis Monk and political scientist René Rejon will examine the relationship between the racial and ethnic identity of African American, Asian American, and Latinx politicians and their support for legislation benefiting their minority constituents.
While there was hope for immigration reform that would improve the security and wellbeing of immigrants under the Biden administration, comprehensive immigration reform did not occur. Now, the second Trump administration has begun conducting unprecedented mass deportations. Sociologists Margot Moinester and Ariela Schachter will examine how re-intensification of immigration enforcement shapes fear of deportation among first- and second-generation Latinx, Asian, and Black adults. They will conduct a fifth wave of the National Study of Fear of Deportation for their project.