Elena G. van Stee
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elenavanstee.bsky.social
Elena G. van Stee
@elenavanstee.bsky.social
1.4K followers 400 following 92 posts
PhD Candidate in Sociology @upenn.edu | Fellow in Sociology @harvard.edu | Incoming managing editor @contexts.org‬ | www.elenavanstee.com
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elenavanstee.bsky.social
What does it mean to be independent, and why are people trying to claim this label?

Join ghaltomo.bsky.social and me at the @harvard.edu Culture Workshop on Tuesday (10/28) to explore these questions from emerging adulthood (me) to old age (Guillermina)!

Zoom link ⬇️
Harvard Sociology Culture and Social Analysis Workshop (Elena van Stee and Guillermina Altomonte)
October 22, 2025 at 11:37 AM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
A gun-curious sociology professor? Check out @davidyamane.bsky.social's essay in our new @contexts.org issue!

@wakeforest.bsky.social @sagepub.com @asanews.bsky.social
October 20, 2025 at 6:49 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
New on the @contexts.org blog! @shdoron1.bsky.social recaps his recent #ASR study in a new post, "How the rich turn sludge into money."

TLDR: Lots of paperwork, plus a few PowerPoints

▶️ contexts.org/blog/sludge/

@asanews.bsky.social @asa-ipm.bsky.social @ipratnu.bsky.social
September 11, 2025 at 2:43 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Are you planning to submit that manuscript this summer? I would love to work with you! Shoot me an email for more details ➡️ [email protected]

www.elenavanstee.com/editing
May 19, 2025 at 4:01 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Happening on Tuesday!! RSVP by the end of today to place your (free!) lunch order and submit questions for our panelists. This event is open to the public! Lunch, too :)
May 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Do you study vulnerable communities? Join me for this panel on trauma-informed research practices, hosted by @harvard.edu's Committee for Engaged Sociology and open to the public. I’ll be moderating a conversation with Dr. Shawn Ginwright and two therapists from the Boston community.

RSVP👇
April 25, 2025 at 12:22 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
New @contexts.org blog! In an era of #CollegeForAll, @elenaah.bsky.social explores the hidden struggles of graduates in the United States and Spain who feel “stuck” despite their degrees.

contexts.org/blog/after-c...
April 1, 2025 at 2:40 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
New pub! 🎉 In @sssreligion.bsky.social, Melissa Wilde, Tessa Huttenlocher & I present new data on the wealth owned by U.S. religious groups 100 years ago. ⛪

Stay tuned - the data set itself will be available on The Association of Religion Data Archives very soon!
March 7, 2025 at 1:25 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Hot off the presses! 🎉 It's the short & sexy sociology you already know and love—plus, this issue comes with a playlist!

🎧 tinyurl.com/W25Playlist

cc: @contexts.org @aminghaziani.bsky.social @sethabrutyn.bsky.social @lettapage.bsky.social
February 20, 2025 at 11:18 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Currently reviewing proofs for a new article on U.S. #religious #wealth #inequality in 1916, and the hierarchy is remarkably similar to @ryanburge.bsky.social 's contemporary analysis (minus Hindus).

Coming soon in @jssreligion.bsky.social with Melissa Wilde & Tessa Huttenlocher!
February 11, 2025 at 2:36 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Media narratives often portray Asian American and White families as competing for limited seats at prestigious institutions. But what happens when the tuition bill arrives? 💸

Find my latest *in brief* on the @contexts.org blog: contexts.org/articles/who...
In Brief: Whose parents are paying? by Elena G. Van Stee | February 5, 2025 | Fall 2024 Media coverage of race and higher education in the United States often portrays Asian American and White families as competing for limited seats at prestigious institutions. What happens, though, when it’s time for those admitted students to go to school? New research aims to untangle patterns in these families’ college spending. The study, published by Kimberly Goyette and colleagues in Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, uses data from the 2015-2016 academic year drawn from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS). In their analysis, the authors find that Asian American parents paid more for their children’s college education compared to White parents, despite having lower average incomes. In part, this reflects the fact that Asian American college students were more likely to attend selective schools. But, by acknowledging the under-acknowledged diversity within the Asian American group and breaking the data down by immigrant generation, the scholars note important nuance. Parental spending was highest among three ethnic groups—Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans—and among recent immigrants. In fact, by the third generation in the United States, differences in Asian American and White parents’ college spending were no longer significant.
February 11, 2025 at 1:45 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
ICYMI: Ernesto Castañeda (@drernestocast.bsky.social) & Daniel Jenks (@jenksd.bsky.social) share migration insights from their new @rsf.org book, REUNITED.

▶️ contexts.org/blog/family-...
📚 www.russellsage.org/publications...

@latinoworld.bsky.social @theimmigrationlab.bsky.social @upenn.edu
February 10, 2025 at 6:05 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Who gets to claim #MLK? @profhajaryazdiha.bsky.social's research reveals how different groups have strategically interpreted Dr. King's words to advance their own causes—often in ways that directly conflict.

Find our 2024 conversation on the @contexts.org blog ▶️ contexts.org/blog/mlk-mem...
January 20, 2025 at 1:44 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Where did the wealth go? Shay O'Brien (@shayobrien.bsky.social) can tell you! Find Shay's essay & data viz on the @contexts.org blog ▶️ contexts.org/blog/the-gen...

@harvardkennedy.bsky.social @harvard.edu @sasemeeting.bsky.social @asanews.bsky.social
January 16, 2025 at 1:08 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
This week on the @contexts.org blog, @shayobrien.bsky.social (@harvardkennedy.bsky.social) weighs in on a topic near and dear to my own heart: #families & #wealth! 💰

➡️ contexts.org/blog/the-gen...
January 15, 2025 at 6:17 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Setting ambitious writing goals for 2025? Whether you need copyediting, developmental editing, or help translating your research for broader audiences—or if you don’t know what you need!—I’d love to work with you. 📝

➡️ elenavanstee.com/editing
✉️ [email protected]
Freelance social science editing: copyediting, developmental editing, research translation.
January 14, 2025 at 1:45 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
I first met Andy when we were clueless undergrads stressing about the GRE at @asanews.bsky.social back in 2018. I'm thrilled to see more of Andy's work with @aminghaziani.bsky.social out in the world, including their latest in @sociusjournal.bsky.social! 😍

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Situational Fluidity and the Use of Identity Labels in Interactions (Andy Holmes & Amin Ghaziani) Abstract The number of people who identify as LGBTQ+ more than doubled in the past decade, and with this growth has come an upsurge of expressive identity labels. However, that there are more labels available does not explain how people decide which to use. On the basis of 52 interviews, the authors show that LGBTQ+ people adopt multiple terms and adjust their usage relative to the interactional demands at hand. Inspired by research in psychology and population studies on sexual fluidity, the authors call the sociological variant situational fluidity. Two pathways motivate it. First, respondents anchor newer labels with established terms in the interest of smoother interpersonal interactions. Second, anticipating resistance encourages some individuals to alter their preferred labels in order to buffer against possible policing or pushback. This process-based account offers an alternative to traditional linear models that propose the achievement of a self that is articulated with a single and stable term.
January 13, 2025 at 3:25 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
In our present era of book bans, challenges to K-12 gender curriculum, and legislative battles over gender-affirming care, it seems the left and right have nothing in common when it comes to kids.

Mallory Rees & Abigal Saguy have insights: contexts.org/articles/par...

@contexts.org
"Parenting gender, from left to right" (review of Mallory Rees & Abigail Saguy 2024, "Following a Child's Lead and Setting Kids Up for Success: Convergence and Divergence in Parenting Ideologies on the Political Right and Left" in Social Forces). Written by Elena G. van Stee (University of Pennsylvania) for Contexts Magazine)
January 13, 2025 at 3:07 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
+1

Read (or re-read) @victorerikray.bsky.social's standout blog post here: contexts.org/blog/the-cla...
January 7, 2025 at 6:17 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
New @contextsmag.bsky.social blog! Don't miss @aminghaziani.bsky.social in conversation with @alondra.bsky.social 👇
Contexts blog: Q&A with Alondra Nelson
December 19, 2024 at 6:21 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Wondering about the possibilities of #AI for qualitative research? Check out Corey Abramson's new blog post for @contextsmag.bsky.social!

➡️ contexts.org/blog/soc-ai/
December 10, 2024 at 9:13 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
This week on the @contextsmag.bsky.social blog, Roman Williams discusses how he’s combining sociology + photography to bridge religious divides. 📷

Find our conversation about Roman’s new book, #SacredSnaps, and his commitment to doing sociology *with* the public ➡️ contexts.org/blog/roman-w...
November 25, 2024 at 3:45 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Resilience. Vulnerability. Protest. And joy... no matter what's to come. The Contexts Magazine Fall 2024 issue is now live and free to read, download, and share through Dec. 15! contexts.org/articles/f24...

@aminghaziani.bsky.social @sethabrutyn.bsky.social @asanews.bsky.social
Contexts Magazine Fall 2024
November 19, 2024 at 9:58 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
Coming soon to the Contexts blog: Interfaith Photovoice founder Roman Williams discusses his work combining sociology + photography for intergroup and interfaith engagement. It's not just sociology *for* the public, it's sociology *with* the public! 📷
November 7, 2024 at 6:45 PM
elenavanstee.bsky.social
It's your favorite quarterly holiday . . . Happy New Issue Day!
The Contexts Winter 2024 issue is live and free to read, download, and share through March 15. Use our clickable table of contents to find your weekend reading!

contexts.org/articles/win...
February 15, 2024 at 6:15 PM