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Our most recent power bill was $315 for a 1450 square foot home—a new high for our household. A work colleague’s power bill was over $1,000 last month. Replacing his inefficient HVAC system would cost $18,000. Energy prices have risen about twice as fast as overall inflation since the pandemic. Many households are struggling.

According to July 2026 Gallup poll data, 28% of Americans viewed economic issues as the most important problem facing our nation. Americans took a broad view on the nation’s economic challenges. 11% of respondents noted “high cost of living” as the most important problem in the U.S. and another 11% highlighted “economy in general.”

“Energy insecurity” is an inability to meet household energy needs. 43.56 million out of 132.54 million households in the U.S. experienced energy insecurity in 2024, according to preliminary results from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Residential Energy Consumption Survey released earlier this year.

Some households are at greater risk of facing energy insecurity than others. Low-income households experience higher levels of energy insecurity, in large part due to spending a larger percentage of their take-home pay on energy and having little to no discretionary income. Seniors and households with children are also at an elevated risk of energy insecurity. Certain racial and ethnic groups experience higher rates of energy insecurity, including Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders. Lastly, energy insecurity is more pronounced in the South than in other regions of the U.S.

Rising energy costs force hard trade-offs and sacrifices to keep the lights on and the temperature at a comfortable level. Many Americans scale back on luxuries like eating out, travel, recreation, or purchasing a new vehicle. More consequentially, millions will stop taking medications, forego medical or dental work, skip meals, curtail grocery purchases, cut retirement contributions, keep their home at unsafe temperatures, or make other strategic decisions to pay their power bills.

Making matters worse, elevated energy costs indirectly raise the price of many goods and services. Additionally, producing certain commodities is energy intensive, including aluminum, many electronics, and beef. Elevated costs are passed on to consumers. Consumers are seeing some higher prices today, but more increases are on the way if energy costs do not fall.

Several factors are directly exacerbating energy insecurity. Conflict in the Middle East is driving up the cost of energy. Opening of data centers can contribute to higher power bills for consumers by creating a spike in demand for energy and requiring new energy infrastructure. In Georgia, cost overruns associated with Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle resulted in a $7.56 billion tab for ratepayers.

Other factors indirectly impact one’s ability to cover increased energy costs, including inflation, the cost of housing, and cooling wage growth. Additionally, millions of low-income Americans’ monthly budgets are further strained due to loss of Medicaid or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

Improving the energy efficiency of homes has long been touted as a solution for rising energy costs. Replacing single-pane windows, installing solar panels, or replacing insulation have significant upfront costs. These expensive upgrades are out of reach for many low-income and fixed-income households. These individual solutions only address the symptom of the problem, rather than mitigate the cause.

Institutional solutions are warranted, including increasing energy supply, improving efficiency through regulation or incentive programs, improving electricity transmission infrastructure, expanding competition in electricity markets, and diversifying energy sources. Government can invest in strategic projects, streamline permitting, create geopolitical energy security, and expand consumer support for energy insecure households. A manifold approach is needed to address the energy insecurity crisis.

Roscoe Scarborough, Ph.D. is chair of the Department of Social Sciences and associate professor of sociology at College of Coastal Georgia. He is an associate scholar at the Reg Murphy Center for Economic and Policy Studies. He can be reached by email at rscarborough@ccga.edu.

Last weekend, Americans celebrated the semiquincentennial of the signing of our nation’s Declaration of Independence. Anniversaries provide an opportunity for reflection.

What does it mean to be American? What is American history? What should we celebrate about America? The sociological subfield of “collective memory” helps us to understand how answers to these questions are social and contested.

The sociological subfield of collective memory examines how societies or groups construct and preserve shared narratives. Collective memory scholars contend that groups’ collective identities, memories, knowledge, and beliefs are transmitted to people through social institutions like education, physical culture like monuments, and group rituals. Individual memories and worldviews are shaped and sustained by our group affiliations.

There are many understandings of what it means to be an American. Enlightenment ideals are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, including “unalienable Rights” that include “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Others may celebrate the American Dream, principles of republicanism, participation in democratic elections, or take pride in the U.S. being a nation of immigrants.

Our understandings of what it means to be an American are a product of our institutional and group experiences. What it means to be an American is shaped by school curricula, displays in museums, public monuments, the mass and social media we consume, and the rituals of our families and friends.

Consider how we remember the American Civil War. Textbooks and instructors in grade school or college shaped what you know about the causes, significant events, and consequence of the conflict. Additionally, maybe you watched the popular Ken Burns miniseries, read books on the topic, or encountered information on social media. Social institutions shape our collective memory of the Civil War, just like all other historical events.

This can also be applied to modern happenings like the events on January 6, 2020. Will history record the events of that day as a protest or as an insurrection? Today, there are polarized interpretations of the event that are shaped, in large part, by one’s mass and social media consumption. It is likely that a “collective memory” of the what happened and its significance will coalesce over time.

Various groups often have disparate experiences of being an American. Black and White Americans experienced the American Civil Rights Movement differently. Wealthy and poor Americans had different experiences in the Great Recession. Democrats and Republicans are having different experiences during President Trump’s tenure. These groups’ collective memories shape how they understand America and its history.

History is contested. There are always a variety of views on what should be included and excluded. Groups in positions of institutional power in government, media, religion, and education try to control the dominant narrative of events. Though there are many unique experiences of our reality, only some stories or perspectives get recorded. Institutionally, certain perspectives are enshrined in our history books, museums, and our collective memory.

Culture wars over school curricula, monuments in our communities, the imagery on our currency, and displays in museums are contentious and politically charged. In recent decades, these debates have become increasingly partisan. These are battles over who gets to shape our collective memory.

Changes in our media climate have democratized knowledge production, for better or for worse. In the past, culture industries defined our official narratives through news, books, and mass media programming. Walter Cronkite would declare, “And that’s the way it is.” Today, anyone with a social media account can tell their story. The plurality of voices sharing their perspectives has expanded exponentially. These voices in the virtual public square shape our collective memory.

Our collective memory of America and its history is a social phenomenon. Americans from different walks of life may have different understandings of America and its history. Our collective memory is contested and evolving. It is likely that our grandchildren will likely have a very different understanding of America than we do today.

Roscoe Scarborough, Ph.D. is chair of the Department of Social Sciences and associate professor of sociology at College of Coastal Georgia. He is an associate scholar at the Reg Murphy Center for Economic and Policy Studies. He can be reached by email at rscarborough@ccga.edu.

Have you ever been to a concert or a college football game and felt the electricity that comes from being part of the crowd? That’s “collective effervescence,” a term coined by the sociologist Émile Durkheim more than a century ago. The concept can help us to understand religion, teen takeovers, or why people love live music.

My colleague Dr. Heather Farley’s column on the arts from last week provided inspiration for today’s column. Dr. Farley reflected on going to see the Coastal Symphony of Georgia at CCGA’s new Center for the Arts. She wrote “…what stuck with me was the shared experience of it all… There was a buzz in the building that’s hard to define… There is something unique about sitting in a room with other people and experiencing art together.” That buzz is collective effervescence.

When members of a likeminded group come together, maintain a common focus, and participate in some shared action, collective effervescence often occurs. Sociologist Émile Durkheim discusses the concept in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Durkheim notes that groups often gather for rituals that focus on a totem—a symbol that represents the shared values of the collective. Sacred group rituals produce emotional energy, a loss of individuality, feelings of belonging, and reaffirmations of shared identity. Collective effervescence is a foundational mechanism of group solidarity. Durkheim was writing about Aboriginal groups, but collective effervescence occurs among secular groups as well.

Durkheim claims that collective effervescence is likely to emerge in rituals that are sacred to the group, but collective effervescence is less likely to occur in profane or instrumental actions like work or cleaning. Sacred activities are “things set apart and forbidden,” while profane activities involve mundane, individual, or instrumental behaviors.

Consider collective effervescence among Georgia (football) fans. Gamedays are sacred. There is no shortage of group rituals, including gathering with other Georgia fans, wearing red and black, Calling the Dawgs, drinking, and eating gameday foods. When a true fan takes their pilgrimage to Sanford Stadium, rituals including the Dawg Walk, ringing of the chapel bell, and other traditions. These rituals leave participants with an emotional charge that reaffirms one’s commitment to the team and to the university. Every fandom has its own sacred rituals that produce collective effervescence.

Collective effervesce also emerges in protests, riots, and teen takeovers. The concept explains how otherwise rational and well-adjusted people can engage in unruly behavior in these group settings.

A quarter century ago, Robert Putnam said that Americans were “bowling alone.” Now, we are “scrolling alone.” Modern technologies like smart phones and social media give us the illusion of deep connection and intimacy, while depriving us of rich relationships and community. Though we are more connected virtually than at any point in history, belonging has become scarce.

Americans have lost our “third place;” too few people have a place where they congregate with others outside of home and work. A church, a bar, a barber shop, a pickleball court, a local nonprofit, or a café can provide an anchor for community life. It might seem insignificant to not know your neighbors, but wholesale withdrawal from civic and social life leaves us ripe for poor mental health, substance abuse, or radicalization.

How did we get here? Modern technologies like the internet and smartphones play a central role, but there’s more going on. Religious participation has declined. Declining marriage rates, the rise of single parenthood, and more people living unpartnered all change how we socialize. Many Americans struggle economically; some work overtime, some take on a second job, and others cut back on recreation to afford necessities.

Most of us are missing out on the collective effervescence of the symphony, the congregation, the concert, or the protest. Too many lack a third place. We are deprived of opportunities to engage in shared rituals with likeminded people. The true cost is the loss of belonging.

Roscoe Scarborough, Ph.D. is chair of the Department of Social Sciences and associate professor of sociology at College of Coastal Georgia. He is an associate scholar at the Reg Murphy Center for Economic and Policy Studies. He can be reached by email at rscarborough@ccga.edu.

The social sciences, especially Sociology, have been caught up in the culture wars. Last month, the State University System of Florida Board of Governors removed Introductory Sociology from the list of courses that can count toward general-education requirements, relegating the course to an elective. The probable result will be fewer Sociology majors and fewer graduates entering helping professions in Florida.

Last week, my colleague, Dr. Heather Farley, wrote a column in this space discussing if today’s college majors will still matter in the job market of the future. The perennial concern about whether college graduates will be able to get a job with their degree is exacerbated by fears associated with artificial intelligence replacing jobs. Dr. Farley concluded that colleges must develop curricula that promise “preparation to think critically, solve problems, communicate clearly, lead teams, make ethical decisions and adapt when tools and markets change.”

The social sciences provide the opportunity to develop many skills or career competencies that employers desire, including critical thinking, oral and written communication, analytical reasoning, professionalism, and interpersonal skills. Social science majors challenge students to develop research skills, data literacy, perspective-taking, creativity, ethics, and social responsibility. These soft skills are conducive to both engaged citizenship and gainful employment, even in the age of AI.

College students often struggle to articulate how their classes and cocurricular activities yield marketable skills. To address this gap in my own Introductory Sociology class, I incorporate an assignment each semester that tasks students to identify skills or career competencies that are acquired in our class and link these to specific class activities. Students are forced to articulate how they are honing skills that will used in their intended career. Everyone can benefit from taking a social science class, but professors can do more to explicitly define the value of our courses for students’ professional and personal growth.

Training in the social sciences prepares people for a wide variety of careers, including working with children and families, counseling, social services, and research. Working with people is an obvious application of one’s social science training, but many social science graduates have careers in health care, education, criminal justice, and business.

The “Undergraduate Degree Earners Report” from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center offers a window into college graduation trends nationally. Over the past decade, Psychology enrollment has increased, but enrollment has declined in other social science majors. From 2023-2024 to 2024-2025, enrollment in both Psychology and other social science disciplines increased.

There is strong enrollment in the social sciences at the College of Coastal Georgia. Psychology is the fourth largest major by enrollment with modest growth in recent years. The most popular minors at Coastal are Psychology (#1), Criminal Justice (#2), and Sociology (#3).

There is significant projected job growth in social science careers. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics projections, community and social service occupations are projected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations from 2024 to 2034. There is significant growth projected in a range of helping professions, including: social work; substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors; marriage and family therapists; and community health workers.

Artificial intelligence will impact a range of careers, including many helping professions. Generative AI may offer an individual helpful tips to deal with depression, but it is no substitute for a mental health professional. The future will reveal if any of our jobs are AI-proof. However, the skills developed in the social sciences hold promise to have enduring value in the job market of tomorrow. Also, there are expanding job opportunities in social science careers.

It appears that there is a bright future for the social sciences.

Roscoe Scarborough, Ph.D. is chair of the Department of Social Sciences and associate professor of sociology at College of Coastal Georgia. He is an associate scholar at the Reg Murphy Center for Economic and Policy Studies. He can be reached by email at rscarborough@ccga.edu.