Ask any “Downton Abbey” fan about the wildly popular historical television drama and they will wistfully reminisce about being whisked away to a more gentile and elegant time in post-Edwardian England. With a majestic castle as the backdrop and actors adorned in lavish costumes, audiences were immersed into life as it was in the early...
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Johns Hopkins Faculty Data Highlight How Gender Disparities in Salary Add Up Over a Lifetime
Around the country, women physician researchers make 7 to 8 percent less per year than men. At the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, efforts to eliminate such a gender disparity have cut the difference in salaries from 2.6 percent in 2005 to a statistically insignificant 1.9 percent in 2016. But even with that improvement...
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R-E-S-P-E-C-T? LGBT Views on Police Legitimacy and Authority
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals have a long history of discrimination in the United States. Studies show that they continue to be discriminated in employment, housing, and places of public accommodation, among others. Due to lack of comprehensive state and federal laws, it continues to be legal to fire gay, lesbian, and bisexual...
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Predicting Gentrification in Order to Prevent It
A new research model allows urban planners, policymakers and community leaders to better focus resources to limit gentrification in vulnerable neighborhoods throughout the U.S. By examining the “people, place and policy” factors that determine whether a neighborhood will gentrify or not, the model offers a better understanding of what fosters gentrification and what limits it....
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Computer Analysis Shows That Popular Music Lyrics Become Angrier and Sadder Over Time
Popular music has changed over the years, and the music of 2019 is noticeably different from the music of the 1960s or 1970s. But it is not just the music that changed, but also the lyrics. Data scientists at Lawrence Technological University in Michigan used quantitative analytics to study the change in lyrics of popular...
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Why You Should Be Concerned About Oprah Winfrey When Introducing an Innovation
Academic literature recognizes innovation as one of the main drivers of a company’s stock value, but experience says that it’s not always the case and that, when it is, the magnitude of the effect can vary wildly. New research by Bocconi University and Texas A&M scholars proposes a finer-grained view asserting that: The reaction of large...
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Can a Critic-Turned-Believer Sway Others? the Case of Genetically Modified Foods
What happens when a strong advocate for one side of a controversial issue in science publicly announces that he or she now believes the opposite? Does the message affect the views of those who witness it — and if so, how? Although past research suggests that such “conversion messages” may be an effective persuasion technique,...
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Celebrity Culture Likely Contributed to Destigmatizing Out-Of-Wedlock Childbirth
In 1992, former Vice President Dan Quayle criticized the sitcom character Murphy Brown’s decision to have a child out of wedlock. His comments soon expanded to include “the cultural elite in Hollywood,” who were accused of undermining traditional family values. Quayle’s comments ignited discussions that dominated the day’s news cycle and continue today about how...
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2017 Women’s March Solidarity Events Drew 100 Times National Protest Average, Study Shows
As the next Women’s March approaches, a new study of the 2017 Women’s March solidarity events led by University of Notre Dame Associate Professor of Sociology Kraig Beyerlein is likely a good predictor of what to expect. Based on a survey of sister marches across the United States, key characteristics of the events were massive...
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Consumerism in Crisis as Millennials Stay Away from Shops
Christmas may seem like a distant memory, but retailers won’t forget it in a hurry: it was the worst on the UK high street since 2008. Marks & Spencer and Debenhams saw sales fall, while the likes of specialist retailer Halfords and discounter B&M also struggled. Even that most Christmassy of stores, John Lewis, is...
