Rhaina Cohen
Rhaina Cohen is a producer and editor for NPR's Enterprise Storytelling unit, working across Embedded, Invisibilia,and Rough Translation.
Previously, she was a producer for Hidden Brain, where she brought together narrative journalism and social science research. Some of the most rewarding stories she worked on include those about why the #MeToo movement took off when it did, how American masculinity makes it harder for men to build close friendships and why we sometimes make decisions that baffle us. Cohen joined NPR as an intern for Planet Money.
She periodically writes for outlets such asThe Atlantic,The Washington Post,andThe New Republic.Her article about people who make a friend their life partner was selected by Longreads as one of the best articles of 2020.She received some of her earliest journalism training as a research assistant for authors. She worked on the New York Timesbestselling book All The Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nationand the biography Michelle Obama: A Life.
Cohen was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford, where she earned a master's in comparative social policy (and while there, competed in a dance style that hasn't yet taken off in the United States: acrobatic rock 'n' roll). She holds a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Northwestern University. As a 2018 FASPE fellow, she studied journalism ethics in Germany and Poland.
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Decades ago, researchers introduced a new theory of policing. It's called "broken windows" and is seen by many as a cure-all for crime. But the idea is often used in ways its creators never intended.
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Many Americans are increasingly expressing their political beliefs with their wallets. Neeru Paharia explains how we use money to tell stories about ourselves, and to ourselves.
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The use of solitary confinement in prisons has grown since the 1970s. Criminologist Keramet Reiter talks with us about the psychological effects that long-term isolation has on our minds.
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We hear a lot about senseless violence: people who lose their lives or their freedom over a stolen backpack, or perceived slight. Two researchers think social science might help prevent these crimes.
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Research suggests that college students are not having more sex than their parents were a generation ago. But sociologist Lisa Wade says the culture around sex has changed dramatically.
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President Trump's executive order on refugees left travelers stranded at airports worldwide. To some, the scenes evoked images of Jewish refugees during World War II. We investigate the parallels.
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Millions of Americans seem to ignore their own interests when it comes to how they vote. Sociologist Arlie Hochschild thinks we might be turning to politics to meet emotional needs, not economic ones.