The Conversation

What was the protest group Students for a Democratic Society? Five questions answered

Written by Todd Gitlin, Professor of Journalism and Sociology, Columbia University

Students for a Democratic Society was the largest – and arguably most successful – student activist organization in U.S. history.S.Sgt. Albert R. Simpson, Department of Defense / via Wikimedia

Editor’s note: The 2016 election brought student activism back into the spotlight. No student activist organization in U.S. history has...

Inequality is getting worse, but fewer people than ever are aware of it

Written by Jonathan J.B. Mijs, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at London School of Economics and Fellow in Sociology, Harvard University

A snapshot of inequality in South Africa. Johnny Miller / Unequal Scenes, CC BY-SA

Inequality in America is on the rise. Income gains since the 1980s have been concentrated at the top. The top 10 percent today take home 30 percent of all income, and control over three-quarters of all wealth. We have returned to the level of income inequality that...

Why America's public media can't do its job

Written by Christopher Chávez, Assistant Professor of Communications, University of Oregon

PBS headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.melanie.phung/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

When the Trump administration released its proposed budget in March, it suggested eliminating federal funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB).

“Can we really continue to ask a coal miner in West Virginia or a single mom in Detroit to pay for these...

Blasphemy isn't just a problem in the Muslim world

Written by Steve Pinkerton, Lecturer in English, Case Western Reserve University

Stained glass window depicting a heretic in the Cathedral of Saint Rumbold in Mechelen, Belgium.Heretic image via www.shutterstock.com

Recent weeks have brought renewed attention to the problem of blasphemy in the Muslim world.

In March, Pakistan sought Facebook’s aid in government efforts to “remove and block” blasphemous content...

How to boil down a pile of diverse research papers into one cohesive picture

Written by Mohammad S. Jalali, Research Faculty, MIT Sloan School of Management

Can an algorithmic method for analyzing published research help zero in on reality?Sergei25/Shutterstock.com

From social to natural and applied sciences, overall scientific output has been growing worldwide – it doubles every nine years.

Traditionally, researchers solve a problem by conducting new experiments. With the ever-growing body of...

The cultural division that explains global political shocks from Brexit to Le Pen

Written by Michele Gelfand, Professor and Distinguished University Scholar Teacher, University of Maryland

Marine Le PenAP Photo/Claude Paris)

On May 7, France will choose its next president.

In the first round of voting on April 23, voters rejected candidates from the country’s established parties, lifting former investment banker Emmanuel Macron and nationalist Marine Le Pen to the runoff. The vote capped a swift rise for Le Pen’s National...

Does ESPN have anywhere to go but down?

Written by Amanda Lotz, Fellow at the Peabody Media Center and Professor of Communication Studies and Screen Arts & Cultures, University of Michigan

ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.AP Photo/Jessica Hill

ESPN’s announcement of more layoffs marked yet another setback for the cable sports network – and it could signal the unraveling of the business model that’s underpinned sports broadcasting for decades.

In August 2015, the revelation that ESPN had lost subscribers led...

How Trump's tax proposal could weaken faith in the system's fairness

Written by Gil B. Manzon Jr., Associate Professor of Accounting, Boston College

The Trump administration wants to change the way the government taxes so-called pass-through entities.

In a nutshell, the Trump proposal would dramatically lower the rates this category of filers pay. This would lead to very creative tax planning at best and outright evasion at worst, while prompting more companies to adopt this type of business...

Why we choose terrible passwords, and how to fix them

Written by Megan Squire, Professor of Computing Sciences, Elon University

How secure are you?Rawpixel.com via shutterstock.com

The first Thursday in May is World Password Day, but don’t buy a cake or send cards. Computer chip maker Intel created the event as an annual reminder that, for most of us, our password habits are nothing to celebrate. Instead, they – and computer professionals like me – hope we...

How crossing the US-Mexico border became a crime

Written by Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Associate Professor, History and African-American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

It was not always a crime to enter the United States without authorization.

In fact, for most of American history, immigrants could enter the United States without official permission and not fear criminal prosecution by the federal government.

That changed in 1929. On its surface, Congress’ new prohibitions on informal border crossings...