September 28, 2026
UC Merced Sociology Professor Tanya Golash-Boza and former Professor Whitney Pirtle have published a new article in Social Science & Medicine, “Firearm violence and racial capitalism: A conceptual framework for understanding the persistence and prevalence of gun violence in the United States.”
The article uses a racial capitalism framework to examine why firearm violence persists in the United States despite extensive research and intervention efforts. The authors connect firearm violence to broader social, racial and economic structures, offering a framework for understanding its persistence and unequal distribution.
