In The News: Department of Sociology
With white supremacist violence on the rise nationwide, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas sociologist is studying how the Internet can turn hateful feelings into deadly actions.
In his office at UNLV, sociology professor Simon Gottschalk tapped his keyboard.
Perusing through websites filled with threads espousing hatred toward Jews and other minorities isn’t exactly the sort of reading UNLV sociologist Simon Gottschalk enjoys.
UNLV researchers wanted to understand what moves people from expressing their private thoughts to like-minded individuals online to violent actions off line.
How does the echo chamber of online chats groups transform hate speech into hate crimes?
UNLV sociologist Simon Gottschalk says social networks that cater to fascism and white supremacy should be shut down until authorities better understand their influence.
A proposed amendment to a Nye County ordinance that would restrict the hours when legal prostitutes are permitted to leave licensed brothels has renewed a debate about the rights and working conditions of sex workers in Nevada.
This UNLV sociology professor turns his researcher's eye toward the emerging craft beer scene in Las Vegas.
Far up South Las Vegas Boulevard, past the glitzy resorts and mega-casinos of the city's strip, you will find an unassuming brick building with a boarded-up fire door at the front.
Fears that thousands of alien hunters could attempt to “storm” Area 51 after responding to a viral Facebook event have proved unfounded, with fewer than 200 people turning up at the gates of the secretive US military base.
Storm Area 51 has everyone talking about the seclude once-secret military base. So, when people look back at Area 51 and when it garnered national attention to now, and how it sprung back into the pop culture spotlight — it’s very apparent the age of social media was a driving force.
A bored college student in Bakersfield, California, logs onto Facebook and creates an alien-themed event as a goof. Two weeks later and more than 400 miles away, a small Nevada town is thrown into turmoil. It’s a prime example of the butterfly effect, part of chaos theory, which Jeff Goldblum warned us about in “Jurassic Park.”