Knowledge is under attack, and “fieldwork” isn’t the problem

We in universities have to keep our eyes on the prize: Discovering and disseminating new knowledge, training and educating people to save the world before it's literally too late. To get this done, we are going to have to walk and chew gum. But not just any random gum.

Names further down the drain in 2021: Alexa, Karen, and Mary

Amazon continued its assault on real people named Alexa in 2021, degraded the cultural value of the name through association with its robot servant product. The trend in girls given the name Alexa is very dramatic: I've been writing about the Alexa trend since 2018. You can see the previous posts here. I would also…

Genetics is the truther conspiracy of racial inequality

Genetic explanation for race differences is like a truther conspiracy theory for people like Sam Harris and Charles Murray.

Race and racism in America (video)

In my Social Problems class we're spending the next few weeks on race, racial inequality, and racial politics. Step one is this lecture on race and racism. After a tangent on racial identity, idealism and its enemies, I address biology and race, describing the classic racist racial categories in relation to vast human diversity in…

Sambo’s Restaurant: Rise and fall, with Ithaca and Santa Barbara

From an 1899 children's story to the final cancellation of the restaurant in Santa Barbara, California, in 2020. The history runs through us.

Health disparities and COVID-19 lecture

Update: I posted a revised version of this lecture, with new facts, here. For Social Problems, an introductory level sociological course, I gave a lecture that combines an introduction to health disparities and some issues of disparate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's 23 minutes. Some slides and links below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwS7mRvP3Vw The first half describes…

Fertility rate implications explained

There is no reason for US population decline, with even moderate levels of immigration. Immigration rates do not have to increase to maintain the current population.

About Charles Murray: Is a White man’s cross burning as disqualifying as blackface?

The story that he had no idea cross-burning was racist runs afoul of the circumstantial evidence.

Survey says 23% of Whites think Whites are more intelligent than Blacks

The assessment that Whites are more intelligent than Blacks is more common among male, older, less formally educated, and conservative Whites.

How conservatism makes peace with Trump

In the end, Goldberg has charted a path toward a détente between his movement and Trump’s (with my charts and tables, etc.).