Two studies by sociologists were featured in the December 12, 2004, New York Times Magazine article, "2004 Year in Ideas: A to Z." This is an annual, mini-encylcopedia-like highlighting of the editors' selections of 71 of the past year's most notable and original insights across a range of innovations in culture, policy, politics, science, and technology.

One of the studies cited was research by Kathleen M. Carley, Carnegie Mellon University, on connections within social networks and how this relates to terrorist cells. Also cited in the New York Times Magazine was Karolyn Tyson, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, for her research with economist William Darity, Jr. They studied and concluded that black students and white students had the same attitude toward scholastic achievement and success. They said that claims that failing black kids pull down successful black kids through intimidation and mocking can be used as an excuse by administrators to conceal or justify discrimination in the public-education system.