Being a sociologist gives you the right (or privilege) to broaden your readings far beyond “purely” scientific works. There are at least two legitimate reasons for not being too choosy: on the one hand, sociologists need to get out of their “ivory towers” in order to interpret their scientific findings correctly (popular non-fiction provides a better understanding of social representations and beliefs), while on the other hand, sociologists are often reproached for being too theoretical and for missing (or deliberately omitting) practical points (popular non-fiction provides an insight into the work of practitioners we design and conduct our research for). 

The COVID-19 pandemic has informed the sociological agenda for almost two years now. Since the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, the mainstream sociological focus has shifted towards the ways pandemic mediates conventional research problems such as globalization and inequality, state and civil society, politics and democracy, etc. Many academic publishers are now busy producing an enormous body of sociological literature reflecting on the social and cultural meanings of COVID-19 and its implications to social life. 

В статье рассматриваются вопросы социальной категоризации и восприятия социального разнообразия пассажиров московского метро. Базируясь на теории Э. Гоффмана, я предполагаю, что взаимодействие между пассажирами основано на категоризации — соотношении людьми внешнего вида и поведения друг друга с культурными ожиданиями.