A female student visiting an Italian-themed resort at Lake Las Vegas.

Department of Sociology News

The Department of Sociology offers courses that inspect concerns about human behavior, social life, and social change. Students examine topics such as crime; economic inequalities; gender; leisure and sports; marriage and family; occupations; race and ethnic relations; and religion.

Current Sociology News

The Las Vegas strip as seen on Super Bowl weekend (Josh Hawkins/UNLV).
Campus News |

A collection of news stories and highlights featuring UNLV students and faculty.

a UNLV football helmet placed on the turf with an Allegiant Stadium sign and empty bleachers visible in the background
Campus News |

As the nation's most-watched sports entertainment event rolls into town, UNLV researchers are available to provide expertise.

collage of six people
Business and Community |

Meet some UNLV grads who've had a hand in shaping the city's sports identity. 

Spooky season at UNLV (Becca Schwartz\UNLV).
Campus News |

A collection of news stories focused on research, expert insights, and academic achievement.

Students at Pida Plaza on the first day of classes (Josh Hawkins, UNLV).
Campus News |

A roundup of prominent news stories highlighting university pride, research, and community collaboration.

women wearing t-shirt that says UNLV Home of the Brave
Campus News |

A collection of news stories highlighting the experts and student changemakers at UNLV.

Sociology In The News

Public News Service

Plenty of political and social leaders are calling for unity and condemning political violence after this weekend's assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. However, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas sociologist said he is not too optimistic about the country's capacity to use this political moment to catalyze change.

KNPR News

It has been 10 years since Cliven Bundy summoned a mob to his Nevada ranch and staged an armed standoff over control of federal public land. He was never convicted, and his cows continue to graze illegally today. His son Ammon also remains free despite a months-old arrest warrant. NPR's Kirk Siegler reports on why the Bundys appear to be above the law.

Casino.org

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) reported about a 50% jump in prostitution offenses in May, according to Las Vegas TV station KTNV. When comparing prostitution offenses between January 1 and May 31, 2023, vs. January 1 and May 31, 2024, for the Las Vegas Valley, the numbers were 675 in 2023 and 1,007 in 2024. That represents a 49.2% jump.

City Cast Las Vegas

Nevada is the only state with legal prostitution — but only in certain counties. So why doesn’t Clark County, home to Sin City, have legal brothels? With prostitution arrests in the news again, we’re bringing back a conversation co-host Dayvid Figler had with UNLV sociology professor Barb Brents. They talk about why Clark County has held out against both decriminalizing prostitution and legalizing brothels, and what it would take to change those policies.

Las Vegas Weekly

Ten years ago this month, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his family hosted a swarm of armed protesters at their ranch in Bunkerville, 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The gathering was a sort of Woodstock for anti-government militias that were, in their view, defending the Bundys from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Bellingcat

In February 2024, American anti-government agitator Ammon Bundy posted a video with a provocative title to his YouTube channel: ‘Want to know where Ammon Bundy is?’

Sociology Experts

An expert in both urban sustainability and political extremism, including white supremacy
An expert in health and social inequality.
An expert on gaming and society, Bernhard has been featured on CNN, The Discovery Channel, the BBC, and The History Channel.
An expert in urban culture and interactions, popular culture, religion and spirituality, craft beer, and the Boston Red Sox.
An expert in gender, sexuality, sexual politics, prostitution, sex work and sex trafficking.

Recent Sociology Accomplishments

Robert Futrell (Sociology) was featured on NPR's All Things Considered in the story "A decade after armed standoff, the Bundys appear to be above the law." 
Cassaundra Rodriguez (Sociology) received an honorable mention for her book, Contested Americans: Mixed-Status Families in Anti-Immigrant Times, from the American Sociological Association's (ASA) Latino/a Sociology Section's Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award.
Published: Annaliese Grant (Sociology) recently published an article about the role of socioeconomic status, shared television time, and family relationships in the Journal of Children and Media, titled, "The role of socioeconomic status in U.S. children’s co-viewing television and family member relationship quality over time."
Robert Futrell (Sociology) was recently featured in articles on far-right extremism: 1) Bellingcat's "Fugitive US Militant Ammon Bundy Geolocated to Utah" and 2) The Las Vegas Weekly's "Radicalized Online: How Digital Rabbit Holes Lead to Violent Extremism."
Cassaundra Rodriguez (Sociology) has been recognized as a finalist for the prestigious SSSP C. Wright Mills Award for her book, Contested Americans: Mixed-Status Families in Anti-Immigrant Times. The award committee considered 108 books for this award and will announce the winner in August at the annual conference in Montreal, Quebec.
Robert Futrell (Sociology) and Emily Wagner (Sociology Ph.D. student) recently published the third edition of American Swastika: Inside the U.S. White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of Hate. Co-authored with Pete Simi (Chapman University, UNLV Sociology Alumnus 2002), the book uses powerful case studies, interviews, and first-person accounts…