Social Trends

College Students

Free speech advocate Greg Lukianoff believes universities are coddling students in the name of emotional well-being, with damaging effects to students' mental health.

The word "sex" on an iron pillar

Robin Rinaldi was mid-life, mid-career and mid-marriage when she placed that ad. It launched her wild oats project – a year spent exploring sex.

shame sad face sign

Can shame also be used for public good?  There’s a judge in Texas who’s famous for his creative – and controversial – shame-based sentences.  To hear how they work, let’s go back to Thanksgiving evening, 1996. Houston, Texas. 

An offender  of prostitution exposed to public shame

Think there's a renaissance of public shaming online? You're right. There's something about the anonymity of social media has people who probably seem perfectly nice in person, posting vicious, scathing, humiliating comments online.

adults playing with Lego

Mary Kay Zuravleff's Dangerous Idea? Universal Recess.

Giant inflatable rat in front of Wells Fargo

Maybe shame – painful as it is – has some value. Maybe it’s not just an emotion, but a social tool. Jennifer Jacquet thinks that there’s an upside to shame. 

Historian Darrin McMahon traces ideas around happiness from classical antiquity to the modern age. He says the Founding Fathers equated happiness with virtue instead of pleasure.

Psychiatrist Michael Bennett and his daughter, comedy writer Sarah Bennett, say it's time we stopped thinking about our feelings and instead focused on our actions.

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