Contexts: Understanding People in their Social Worlds is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal and an official publication of the American Sociological Association.

It is used widely in courses,[citation needed], and a selection of its premier articles is available in book format through The Contexts Reader, published by W. W. Norton & Company, now in its second edition.

[4] New print issues are published quarterly in February (Winter), May (Spring), August (Summer) and November (Fall).

[6] The academic journal ranges in topics from social mobility, immigration, race, Donald Trump's potential border wall, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[7] One of the board members for Contexts, Tressie McMillan Cottom, appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to discuss the impact of for-profit higher education in the United States on disadvantaged students.