Sociologist Richard Alba

They Just Don’t Make Meatballs Like They Used To

Sociologist Richard Alba is a professor at the City University of New York who studies race, ethnicity, and international migration. Before participating in a panel on whether American diversity and democracy can go hand in hand, he sat down in the Zócalo green room to talk about his childhood in the Bronx, and two things he used to enjoy but no longer consumes: alcohol and meatballs.

How Much For That Presidency In the Window?

Campaigns Have Become Pricier Than Ever. But Money Isn’t What Ails Our Politics Most.

Money has been a hot topic in the 2012 election—from how the campaigns are being financed post-Citizens United to the 99 percent and the national debt and Mitt Romney’s offshore …

Big Money. Small Money. More Money.

From the Rich to the Not So Rich, More Money Is Being Given in More Ways to Presidential Campaigns. Should We Worry?

No matter the issue, the debate in this year’s presidential election is all about money: about the national debt, about how much we spend on entitlements, on the high finance …

So Can Our Officials Finally Get Back To Embezzling?

A Discussion Of Where Vigilance Will Come From In a Post-Newspaper Age

Thomas Jefferson famously said that the price of freedom was vigilance; he was also quoted as saying he’d rather have newspapers without government than government without newspapers. (Once in office …

Oops, We Put the Watchdog To Sleep

Can Anything Take the Place Of Hard-Hitting Newspapers?

In America, vigilance is a virtue. We are told that we must keep watch over our government. But we also have busy lives. For much of our history, vigilance has …

Can Democracy and Diversity Be Friends?

We Might Not Be Bosom Buddies Nationally, But As Communities We’re Getting By

We tend to think that both democracy and diversity are good things; many of us even say that diversity is a strength. But others have argued that our polyglot nation …