Research | About me | CV | [email protected]

Recent publications

• Sola, Justin Lucas. 2021. “Transmitting Desire: An Experiment on a Novel Measure of Gun Desirability in a Pandemic.” Sociological Perspectives (Volume 65 Issue 5): https://doi.org/10.1177/07311214211007179
• Sykes, B., …. & Sola, J. 2022. “Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: Public Assistance, Monetary Sanctions, and Financial Double-Dealing in America.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences (Volume 8 Issue 1): https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.1.07

Forthcoming publications

• Sykes, B., … & Sola, J. Forthcoming 2022. “Barred: Labor Market Dynamics and Human Capital Development Among People on Probation and Parole.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Research orientation

My research interests are 1) the generation & maintenance of socioeconomic inequality and 2) testing theories of how & why people seek security. I actively research 1) gun desirability, 2) how carceral contact affects inequality, 3) heterogeneity in desire for police services, 4) the epistemology of mixed-methods social research, and 5) how Americans consume security through training, equipment, & group membership.

I use both qual and quant methods, employing a variety of research designs including experimental, survey, and participant observations in conjunction with interviews. I want to conduct research that is rigorous, respects actors’ frames of action, and that imputes adequate motives and mechanisms of behavior (to paraphrase Peter Bearman).