From “So What?” to “What If?”: Doing Sociology in Unsettled and Unsettling Times

Political attacks on higher education are upending the academy to an unprecedented degree. Researchers who work on topics that have become conservative targets, such as abortion access and transgender communities, are vulnerable to what we term “data seizure”: a legal request for the disclosure of confidential research materials via subpoenas and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Data seizure poses severe risks to researchers and human subjects alike. Through an analysis of published data seizure cases and informal interviews with social scientists who faced FOIA requests, we offer starting points for a broader conversation about how to do sociological research with human subjects in unsettled and unsettling times. Sociologists are taught to consider the “so what” question in the early stages of project design in regard to the potential stakes of their contribution. We advocate for adding a second question that considers one’s vulnerability to data seizure—“what if?” In what follows, we provide researchers with an overview of data seizure to assist them in formulating and answering “what if” questions related to studying newly vulnerable populations. We then provide resources and suggestions for modeling ethical research under new threats.