Tag Archives: Article

Correction to: Defining and Explaining Modes of Protesting: A Comparative‑Historical Analysis of Argentina and Chile

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Rossi, F.M., Somma, N.M. & Donoso, S. Defining and Explaining Modes of Protesting: A Comparative-Historical Analysis of Argentina and Chile. St Comp Int Dev (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-025-09480-4

We propose a novel conceptualization of predominant national “modes of protesting” to explain how the act of protest expresses historically specific forms of organizational intermediation. Using an original survey of demonstrators, we show that in the 2020s protesting in Argentina is primarily a collective and organic dynamic, while in Chile, it is commonly fragmented and privatized. To explain this contrast, we present historical narratives that focus on the length of the authoritarian regime and how the double transition to neoliberal economy and liberal democracy was pursued in each country, having the different sequence and timing of these processes diametrically opposite effects in the national modes of protesting. The collapse of the authoritarian regime and a division in democratic elites on the direction taken by the double transition may explain Argentina’s collective and organic national mode of protesting. The scattered sequence of pendular reforms that divided the political establishment in two projects and the disconnected timing of authoritarian repressive periods and neoliberal reforms may explain the preservation of a resilient movement-based tradition that had deeply penetrated Argentine society. Instead, in Chile, the modification of the national mode of protesting was a result of a constant sequence of reforms and a connected timing of authoritarianism and neoliberalism that destroyed 1970s organic networks, and a neoliberal democracy that kept the population weak and territorially fragmented, while a cohesive and insulated political establishment neutralized any reformist impetus. We discuss how the concept of modes of protesting opens a research agenda with implications for many countries and world regions.

One Sentiment, Multiple Interpretations: Contrasting Official and Popular Anti-Americanism in China

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Zhang, Yinxian, and Di Zhou. 2025. “One Sentiment, Multiple Interpretations: Contrasting Official and Popular Anti-Americanism in China” Sociological Science 12: 511-536. https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-v12-22-511/

This study contrasts official and popular expressions of anti-Americanism in China by comparing narratives from People’s Daily and Zhihu between 2011 and 2022. Using computational and qualitative methods, we examined sentiment trends, topics, and opinions in official and popular discourses. We find that although both discourses have become increasingly negative toward the United States, they diverge significantly in specific expressions: official discourse mirrors Western liberal critiques of American social problems but attributes these issues to American democracy, whereas popular discourse blends left- and right-wing populism and blames liberal elites and capitalism for the American decline. These findings highlight both the limits of state control over public opinion and the pluralistic nature of nationalist expressions. The study also situates Chinese anti-Americanism within a global zeitgeist, discussing how populism transcends borders and shapes local political discourse in unexpected contexts.

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The Causal Effect of Gun Violence on Everyday Mobility Patterns Across US Neighborhoods

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Vachuska, K., Movahed, M. The Causal Effect of Gun Violence on Everyday Mobility Patterns Across US Neighborhoods. Spat Demogr 13, 7 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40980-025-00139-1

Gun violence takes an enormous toll on neighborhoods and their residents in important ways. While research has identified that violence makes neighborhoods less appealing and livable, few studies have fully quantified the effect of violence on neighborhoods’ vitality and dynamism. In this study, we introduce the notion of ‘neighborhood activity,’ which we measure by the unique number of everyday visitors those neighborhoods receive from residents of other neighborhoods. Drawing on a large geographically-coded dataset of 30,000 gun violence incidents across US neighborhoods in conjunction with daily mobility pattern data based on 45 million mobile devices, we apply a quasi-experimental method to estimate the impact of gun violence on the number of visitors neighborhoods receive. We find that gun violence reduces neighborhoods’ visibility significantly, but its consequences are disproportionately distributed among non-White neighborhoods that are far less popular to begin with. Our estimation results indicate that gun violence cost neighborhoods approximately 9 million visitors in the year 2019 alone.

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.

Art as a Channel and Embodiment of Symbolic Interaction Between Migrants and Non-Migrants

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Thomas, J. (2025), Art as a Channel and Embodiment of Symbolic Interaction Between Migrants and Non-Migrants. Symbolic Interaction, 48: 410-440. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.1219

Many non-migrant politicians, journalists, and scholars in migrant-destination societies often represent migrants with self-interested objectives and in specific instrumental ways based on stereotypes. Yet research on symbolic interaction reveals migrants are not passive victims. They actively and strategically shape their interactions with non-migrants. The artwork produced by Chinese migrant artists becomes a non-verbal channel through which the migrant can convey such challenges to non-migrants who can more empathetically appreciate these challenges. By analyzing the artwork and narratives of first-generation migrant artists, I show how art highlights various challenges that migrants confront in their process of immigration, like enduring physical pain, conforming to the institutions of the host society, navigating language barriers, confronting regular cultural clashes, accepting social estrangement, and coping with double consciousness. This paper shows how migrant art can serve as a semiotic object that reveals important features of past symbolic interactions between migrants and non-migrants and offers a channel through which non-migrants can potentially empathize more with migrants’ experiences.