Category Archives: Uncategorized

The global rise in children’s attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder prevalence: a macro-sociological explanation

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Irem Tuncer-Ebetürk, Jessica Kim, Yasemin Nuhoğlu Soysal, The global rise in children’s attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder prevalence: a macro-sociological explanation, Social Forces, 2025;, soaf153, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf153

In the past three decades, the global diagnosis rate of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has grown drastically. While existing sociological studies demonstrate the complexity of ADHD diagnoses and treatment in specific national contexts, their ability to explain ADHD’s global growth is limited. In this article, starting from a macro-sociological perspective and drawing on world society theory, we empirically investigate the prevalence of ADHD diagnosis rates across 135 countries from 1996 to 2019. We find that the increasing rates of ADHD diagnosis worldwide since the 1990s are linked to two interconnected global cultural processes: (1) the global rise and institutionalization of child-centered cultural perspectives and (2) the global diffusion of narratives that define ADHD as a health condition impairing children’s well-being and development. Our findings do not support alternative explanations such as a nation’s level of development (measured by GDP, poverty, democracy, and tertiary enrollment rates) or healthcare quality and universal access. These findings highlight the substantial influence of global conceptions of childhood and health on ADHD prevalence rates worldwide, while downplaying the importance of national conditions. We contribute to the existing sociological literature on ADHD in two key ways. First, by conducting the first cross-national, longitudinal study of ADHD worldwide we provide novel insights about ADHD prevalence at the world level while identifying the key global factors driving this trend. Second, in merging the existing ADHD literature with the analytical frameworks advanced by world society theory, we introduce a new conceptualization of ADHD as not only a medical disability but also a global cultural phenomenon and institutional priority.

New Book: Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism

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Kauffman, L.A. 2017. Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism. Verso.

Direct Action coverWhat happened to the American left after the sixties? Kauffman traces the evolution of disruptive protest over the last forty years to tell a larger story about the reshaping of American radicalism. It examines how movements from ACT UP to Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter have catalyzed change against long odds, winning victories in times of crisis and backlash while creating a distinctive new kind of radical politics in the process. Based on decades of in-depth interviews, archival research, and firsthand experience.

Upcoming Webinar: The Problem of Autonomy

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Part of the Critical Realism Network Webinar Series, the upcoming webinar is hosted by Professor Philip Gorski (Department of Sociology, Yale University) and Timothy Rutzou (Post-Doctoral Associate, Yale University) and addresses The Problem of Autonomy.

Wednesday, May 17th, 12:00-1:30 pm EST. Click here to register.

Brief Description: At the recent Values and Human Flourishing conference, a single issue continually emerged: how should we understand autonomy, and what place does it serve within ethical and political projects? Questions about autonomy, social solidarity, human dependency, and interdependency in many ways serve as the bridge between empirical research, social theory, ethics, and politics. Like the topic of structure and agency, the complex relationship between autonomy, dependency, and interdependency is a key problematic of social philosophy and sociology. The long tradition of Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber were all concerned with unpacking this problematic, often without shying away from addressing its moral, ethical, and political implications. Our modern understanding of autonomy is animated by this intellectual history and the many antimonies this tradition has generated.

How might critical realism help us to address or contribute to this contested history? The answer is not clear. In this webinar Gorski and Rutzou will discuss the manner in which critical realism might be able to help us navigate this problematic by providing an ontologically stratified view of self and society, and a complex account of causation. Where Gorski argues for a more Durkheimian turn, Rutzou argues for a more poststructuralist turn. Are such accounts compatible? Incompatible? Does the ontology advocated by critical realism necessarily entail certain ethical and political positions? Do certain positions become incoherent when one adopts a critical realist ontology? Or is critical realism morally, ethically, and politically promiscuous? The webinar will explore these issues.

Workshop: Migrants’ and Diaspora Responses to the Rise of Right-Wing Populism

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Sponsored by the ERC Diasporas and Contested Sovereignty Project (DCS), September 26, 2017, in London. The workshop, “Migrants’ and Diaspora Responses to the Rise of Right-Wing Populism,” is dedicated to research on how migrant and diaspora communities respond to populist, anti-immigrant and ethno-nationalist movements. We will address research on whether, when and how migrants and diasporas mobilise; what groups or parties they choose as political allies; and whether radical-right parties themselves reach out to certain diasporas while rejecting others, among other questions. Radical-right populist movements have grown more potent in liberal democracies, yet there has been little academic focus on how migrant and diaspora populations react to these parties, although anti-immigration campaigning is at the core of populist activities.

The workshop will be held at the University of Warwick’s London site on September 26, 2017. Those interested in participating should a paper abstract (maximum 300 words) by 25 May, 2017 to Dr. Ben Margulies (b.margulies@warwick.ac.uk) and Dr. Maria Koinova (m.koinova@warwick.ac.uk).