Overtourism: Revisiting the Sacred and Profane

On August 18, 2025October 20, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, Karen Sternheimer, TheoryLeave a comment

By Karen Sternheimer

You have probably seen news of protests in Europe about overtourism—locals upset about their hometowns being overrun with crowds, often pricing them out of local housing markets. Cities like Barcelona, Florence, Venice, and Paris have experienced problems with overwhelming summer crowds.

While the rebound after the COVID shutdowns of 2020 kept people from traveling for a year or more is part of the explanation, we can use our sociological imagination to think more deeply about why certain places draw crowds.

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Are we Being Replaced? Fertility, Mortality, and Demography

On August 11, 2025October 20, 2025 By econnellIn Immigration, Population, Aging, and Demography, Karen Sternheimer, Relationships, Marriage and Family1 Comment

By Karen Sternheimer

During a trip to Milan, one of the first places I visited was the Cimitero Monumentale, a cemetery famous for its ornate sculptures. We noticed a lot of funeral homes on our walk to this famous landmark, and flowers for sale for visitors to place on graves. This wasn’t surprising. But what was surprising were the many ads for funeral services on street signs in other parts of town.

The signs caught me a bit off guard, but they shouldn’t have. Italy’s population is aging; nearly a quarter of Italians are 65 or older (by contrast, only about 17 percent of the U.S. population is 65 or older). Funerals are a growing business.

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Magnified Trauma: Losing Your Home While Elderly

On August 4, 2025October 20, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, Immigration, Population, Aging, and Demography, Karen Sternheimer1 Comment

By Karen Sternheimer

This year has been particularly challenging for the elderly people in my neighborhood, or I should say my former—and hopefully future—neighborhood. The Los Angeles firestorm earlier this year wiped out more than 16,000 structures, including my own. It also destroyed my 87-year-old mother-in-law’s home of 60 years.

While it’s impossible to know exactly how many people aged 65 or older lost their homes, we do know that older people were more likely to die as the result of the fires. Of the 30 deaths listed on the Los Angeles County Coroner’s website, 23—nearly 77 percent of victims—were 65 or older. Mobility issues can make evacuation more difficult, especially for people who don’t drive.

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Travel and Relationships

On July 29, 2025October 20, 2025 By econnellIn Karen Sternheimer, Relationships, Marriage and Family1 Comment

By Karen Sternheimer

Sociologists have long studied marriage and relationships, asking big-picture questions about how relationships reflect changing social structure, shifts in gender and power, and economic factors. Sociologists are also interested in interpersonal experiences, such as how do people make meaning of love and relationships? How is love more than just a private feeling but a public issue?

We know that strong relationships with family and friends are good for longevity and overall health, with one study finding that strong social ties is as important as healthy eating and active living for overall health. This is more than just interesting intellectually—we all likely want to cultivate strong relationships for both our short-term and long-term happiness. But it can be easier said than done, especially if we are not in social situations where we might meet new people (such as, after we are no longer students or no longer have children who are students).

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The Drama of a Lost Credit Card: Living in a Culture of Consumption

On July 21, 2025October 20, 2025 By econnellIn Karen Sternheimer, Popular Culture and ConsumptionLeave a comment

By Karen Sternheimer

Recently my credit card fell out of a zipped lining in my handheld water bottle while running. I don’t usually carry a credit card for a run but planned on stopping for a breakfast burrito as a special treat when I was done. I hadn’t been to the restaurant before and wasn’t sure that they accepted Apple Pay (they did), so I thought best to have the actual card with me just in case.

I retraced my steps to no avail, it was gone. A lost credit card is easy enough to remedy. I went to the app and clicked that it was lost. It was inactivated and a new one would be mailed in 5-7 days.

This shouldn’t be a major crisis, especially after losing my home and most of my possessions in a wildfire a few months earlier. But it really upset me, and I used my sociological imagination to unpack why. The loss of a central artifact in our consumer culture sheds light on the role of consumption itself.

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On the Disappearance of Community, Part 2

On June 2, 2025October 20, 2025 By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, Cities and Urbanization, Karen Sternheimer1 Comment

By Karen Sternheimer

A few months ago, I wrote about how losing a home is not just about losing one’s place to live, but losing a community and the people within it. People around us can shape our daily rhythms and feelings of connectedness to place. Sociologists study the importance of communities, most notably how they are not just the places in which our everyday lives take place, but provide access to opportunities, economic contexts, and impact our health.

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