Sociology

 
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    Everyday Sociology Blog

  • Avatar: Recasting the Veil with Special Effects

    W. W. Norton
    8 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am
    By Jason Smith Graduate Student, Sociology George Mason University I found myself perplexed as I left the theatre on the opening night of the new super-smash hit blockbuster film Avatar. As a graduate student studying sociology, and focusing specifically on issues of race and popular culture, I found it hard to say that I enjoyed the special-effects laden sci-fi epic that lasted an equally epic 160 minutes. Leaving the film I was surrounded by audience members going over their favorite parts and which scenes really “wow’d” them. In my head though, all I was thinking about was the…

  • Colonialism and Haiti's Earthquake: The Role of Economics, Politics, and History

    W. W. Norton
    4 Feb 2010 | 12:01 am
    By Janis Prince Inniss I was in Los Angeles when the Northridge Earthquake jolted us out of bed at 4:31 a.m. It was an unforgettable experience. I was up late after one of my parties, held on a Sunday night because the next day was the holiday in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I also remember it because the earthquake and its aftermath was one of the scariest times of my life! Each aftershock—real or my personally created and experienced—re-traumatized me. I could not sleep in my apartment for several days because my fear and the aftershocks made sleep there impossible. The…

  • Men and Marriage

    W. W. Norton
    1 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am
    By Karen Sternheimer Once upon a time, marriage was the bedrock of social mobility and economic stability for women. A recent Pew Research report indicates that there has been a major reversal: according to their analysis, men actually benefit financially more from marriage than women do. But not by much. Pew researchers point out that the median household income for American -born men aged 30-44 increased 61% between 1970 and 2007, compared with 60% for married women of the same age. Unmarried women’s income increased 59% during this time, while unmarried men’s income rose only by 16%.

  • Colorism: The Hierarchical Nature of Skin Tone that makes “Light Alright”

    W. W. Norton
    28 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am
    By Janis Prince Inniss If you’re black, get back. If you’re brown, stick around If you’re light, you’re alright I thought of this old saying when I heard that according to the authors of Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid assessed then Senator Obama’s chances at the presidential nomination as good because he is “light-skinned” and “speaks with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." There has been much debate about whether Senator Reid’s comments are racist, but I want to focus on…

  • Dominance and Disadvantage: Avatars and Blind Sides

    W. W. Norton
    25 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am
    By Sally Raskoff Have you seen Avatar? The Blind Side? If not, you may want to wait to read this until after you see them! Both movies deal with issues of power, dominance and subordination, privilege and disadvantage. Both have at least one member of the dominant group as the hero who “saves” at least one member of the subordinate group. Avatar serves up a battle between humans and the Na’vi for their home planet’s resources, which amounts to a battle over the very lives of the Na’vi. To the Na’vi, all life is interconnected: on their planet any destruction of life, including…
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    The Global Sociology Blog

  • (Bad) Food Underground Network

    SocProf
    8 Feb 2010 | 11:23 pm
    Remember this? Food Stamp Usage Across the Country – Interactive Map – NYTimes.com via kwout Understanding food stamps means understanding the food networks that the poor have to resort to in order to feed themselves. And those are not pretty. AlterNet: Dollar Stores: The Last, and Not So Healthy Eating Choice, Before the Food Lines via kwout Needless to say, in the current contexts, these stores are expanding: AlterNet: Dollar Stores: The Last, and Not So Healthy Eating Choice, Before the Food Lines via kwout But in typically American fashion, it is easier to have the First Lady…

  • Catastrophic Sociology

    SocProf
    8 Feb 2010 | 10:52 pm
    Over at Sociology and Criminology at Keele, Mark Featherstone applies Virilio’s theory of catastrophe to Haiti’s recent earthquake. First he summarizes Virilio’s theory in a clear fashion: Sociology and Criminology at Keele University: Haiti, Catastrophic Society via kwout How does this apply to a natural disaster like the earthquake? Sociology and Criminology at Keele University: Haiti, Catastrophic Society via kwout This resonates with Pierre Le Hir’s article in Le Monde: Catastrophes et pauvreté, la double peine, par Pierre Le Hir – LeMonde.fr via kwout It…

  • Immigration Boosts US Workers’ Wages but Hurts Foreign Born Workers

    SocProf
    7 Feb 2010 | 11:15 pm
    So, while I am debunking a bunch of commonly accepted, yet false ideas, let’s look at the impact of immigration on wages, thanks to the Economic Policy Institute: As Anna Turner explains, Immigration helps boost relative wages of U.S.-born workers at all levels of education via kwout

  • “Guard Labor”

    SocProf
    7 Feb 2010 | 10:52 pm
    This is interesting (and cited everywhere already): Economist’s View: Inequality and “Guard Labor” via kwout I would argue that in the context of the surveillance society, this notion needs to be broadened beyond protecting private wealth to other forms of power preservation. And nice debunking of the functionalist view of inequalities. Actually, the idea of imposing discipline is a nice illustration of the role of the neo-liberal state provided by Wacquant in Punishing The Poor. Also, the idea that inequalities are actually detrimental to society as a whole, including the…

  • Low Taxes = High GDP Growth? Not So Fast

    SocProf
    7 Feb 2010 | 10:10 pm
    Take a look at this neat graph from Baseline Scenario: Conclusion: it’s a lot more complicated than “tax cuts = growth” (I know, it is going to be obvious to a lot of people but this view still dominates socially acceptable economic discourse, so, it’s nice to see some clear debunking). The post also has another graph that demonstrates that there is no correlation between tax rate and unemployment rate among OECD countries. One can also refer to Lane Kenworthy’s Egalitarian Capitalism for more on that subject.
 
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    Intute: Social Sciences

  • Fibre optic broadband cables

    Nicky Harrison
    9 Feb 2010 | 6:50 am
    BE delighted as BT prepares to share its broadband infrastructure (Broadband Genie) BT opens up its ducts to broadband fibre rivals (Telegraph) ‘All broadband suppliers will be allowed to lay their own fibre cables in BT’s tunnels, the company has said. Opening up its “ducts” could potentially encourage the development of a superfast broadband network’ see also: How Does Broadband Work? How Fiber-to-the-home Broadband Works

  • Arctic Ice Rapidly Vanishing

    Intute staff
    9 Feb 2010 | 3:30 am
    A new study of Arctic sea ice, carried out as part of the International Polar Year, suggests that at the current pace of change, there may be no sea ice whatsoever during sumemrtime in that region by 2030 at the latest. Whilst reports of this sort are nothing new, previous estimates of ice-free Arctic summers had suggested a more likely date around 2100. The research has emerged from studies carried out in the Canadian north by a team of scientists from 27 nations; far from being a short-term study, the readings and measurement of the changing ice levels were carried out across a time span of…

  • BMAF goes to Newcastle

    Angela Joyce
    9 Feb 2010 | 2:18 am
    BMAF (Business, Management and Accountancy Network) is off to Newcastle this Spring, to hold its annual conference.  20-21 April at the Newcastle Marriott Hotel in  Gosforth.  The theme is Assessment.   BMAF is a brilliant organisation which supports business and management lecturers and is very active all round the UK.  Intute has worked with BMAF over the years to support teaching and learning in Business Studies.  There’s still time to book an Earlybird place at the conference.    And sample the delights of Newcastle…… Need to help students with information…

  • Endeavour Launched on ISS Mission

    Intute staff
    8 Feb 2010 | 8:30 am
    The final scheduled night launch of one of NASA’s space shuttles, Endeavour, was successfully completed at 4.14am EST today. The shuttle is carrying the final two main pieces of the International Space Station, which will finally be completed after almost 12 years under construction. Barack Obama last week withdrew funding from the program set to replace the space shuttles, which are due to be decommissioned later in 2010, and so future launches of this type may well fall in the hands of commercial space companies. There are just 4 more shuttle launches planned before the fleet is…

  • First woman president for Costa Rica

    Heather Dawson
    8 Feb 2010 | 8:23 am
    Laura Chinchilla now seems set to be first woman president of Costa Rica. Here are some resources on the election as chosen by Intute staff Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones Costa Rica has official results by district, as well as background information on the electoral system and past elections. The OAS has reports from its Election observation mission Daily newspaper Nacion has news, videos and poll coverage University of Costa Rica has a special dossier with information and comment. Observatoire Politique de l’Amérique latine et des Caraïbes (OPALC) is a major research body of staff,…
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    Metafilter: Sociology

  • What are the top academic journals in various fields?

    ollyollyoxenfree
    30 Jan 2010 | 1:04 am
    What are the best academic journals in each field? I'm aware of Nature and Science, but what are some other top journals in specific fields? I'm looking for anything from the engineering and sciences, to the humanities and social sciences.

  • Good Print on People

    PunkSoTawny
    28 Jan 2010 | 6:42 am
    Help me discover engaging, popular-level sociology books. I recently finished The Code of the Street, a look at life and the dynamics of poverty and violence in inner-city Philadelphia, and it left me wanting more well-written, accessible sociological studies. In a less serious vein, I enjoyed American Nerd. Please give me your suggestions for other enthralling looks at the way people live their lives.

  • How do I handle a fundamental conflict between my worldview and that of society at large?

    Xezlec
    24 Jan 2010 | 9:40 pm
    I have certain feelings, beliefs, and opinions that don't seem to match those of the rest of the Western World. I feel like I'm going crazy. What, if anything, can I do to deal with it? I have felt this way for a long time now. Sometimes it's so bad I have trouble even working because I'm so distracted by my problem. It's a purely intellectual problem, and not the kind of thing that bothers most people, I guess. But for me, it's intensely upsetting, and it has gotten to the point that any exposure to popular media or ordinary people's viewpoint's at all is starting to be painful. I feel like…

  • Witty title about online college and sociology.

    sio42
    19 Jan 2010 | 6:20 am
    I have found a grad program I am interested in that seems like a good join between my interests and making money. However, I need to have a little more soc/psych before I begin taking it. I am trying to find online classes to accomplish this but I'm having trouble finding A) affordable and B) online. I have taken a couple classes for fun at the community college where I live. It just wasn't academically interesting or rigorous. If I'm taking these courses as background for a master's degree, I want to make sure I am challenged. (and they only offer 2 or 3 classes above intro level, but they…

  • Historical attitudes towards dreams?

    rivenwanderer
    5 Jan 2010 | 12:18 pm
    I'd like to learn about the history of what people have thought about dreams and dreaming, particularly in Western culture in the broad period between medieval times and Freud. What books or other resources discuss this in a serious, thorough fashion? This is research for a game backstory. I'd like to know how seriously people viewed their dreams, whether they believed their dreams had an internal or external source, how much dreaming was romanticized in literature/poetry/song, how much people discussed and wrote about dreams, whether dreams were seen as within the domain of science, etc--and…
 
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    Our Society Today

  • SSFS Blog launched

    Dale Heenan
    5 Feb 2010 | 8:41 am
    The Social Science for Schools blog is linked to the resources provided for Teachers and Students on the ESRC Society Today website.

  • Is America still the world’s policeman?

    Dale Heenan
    2 Nov 2009 | 7:12 am
    Since the invasion of Iraq, US foreign policy has been subject to much criticism. During the Cold War American hegemony was largely accepted by the West, whilst in the 1990s America was perceived to be acting as a force for good in the world, leading campaigns of humanitarian intervention. The Iraqi debacle has led to a great deal of criticism not least from firm allies in Europe, with calls for a return to the more multilateral approach that was argued to have characterised the 1990s and for regional and emerging powers such as Brazil to be given permanent seats on the UN Security Council.

  • Undergoing Maintenance

    Dale Heenan
    6 May 2009 | 4:51 am
    Welcome to the Our Society Today blog. We are currently undergoing maintenance and upgrade work, please come back again soon!

  • What do card tricks have to do with Psychology?

    Dale Heenan
    2 Apr 2009 | 9:00 am
    What do card tricks have to do with Psychology? – April 2nd, 2009 Our Society Today, Psychology Take a look at the video, by Professor David and while you watch think: what has Psychology got to do with this? Then scroll down to find out what you are really seeing. Here the colour changing card trick shows an odd event called change blindness. Research from the 1970s looked at why people can not see changes in flim or two rapidly shown photos. So I wanted to know why we can not spot the different when the images are moving! This is what Richard Wiseman had to say: “The plot of the…

  • Give us all absolute freedom: chaos or order?

    Dale Heenan
    16 Mar 2009 | 9:00 am
    Turn on the TV and you’ll hear it. Pop on your favourite radio station and its there too. In fact it’s everywhere you look. The banks have collapsed. The UK is in recession. Those at the top wanted too much money at the expense of the UK population. But is this view accurate? It seems quite fitting that given all of the talk around economics, some research has come to light that looks at how individual behaviour affects society. If you have studied politics or travelled a lot, you might have seen that different countries have different forms of social government – some are…
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    Keele University: Sociology Staff

  • Re-thinking work and retirement

    2 Feb 2010 | 7:11 am
    By Professor Chris PhillipsonScrapping fixed retirement age (as proposed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Working Better report, Phase 2 launched last week) raises concerns about social justice as well as issues about the purpose of retirement. Higher pension ages are unfair for those from working-class groups whose lower life expectancy means that they draw a pension for a significantly shorter period as compared with those from managerial and professional occupations. Manual workers invariably start work earlier than non-manual groups, leaving those with the longest…

  • Holocaust Memorial Day today: memory as political myth

    27 Jan 2010 | 5:24 am
    Professor Pnina Werbner has today published a paper, Displaced Enemies, Displaced Memories: Diaspora Memorial Politics of Partition and the Holocaust, arguing that the refusal of the Muslim Council of Britain to attend Holocaust Memorial Day highlights a key dimension of memory as political myth: namely, the sense that time is cyclical. Prior external and internal enemies (in their current manifestations) are apocalyptically destined to threaten the integrity of the nation once more. Hence, ideologies based on political myths draw on both the future hopes and the future fears of people. The…

  • Is equality achievable?

    27 Jan 2010 | 1:33 am
    by Dr Rebecca LeachPart 3 in the 'What is Sociology FOR?' theme on our blogThe report of the National Equality Panel is out today, to much debate in the news. The gap between the richest and poorest is wider now than 40 years ago, and inequalities between black and white, and between men and women remain deep-seated. Some of the most disturbing headlines from this report focus on the fate of children born into poverty. On the Today programme this morning, Professor John Hills pointed out the 'cumulative' impact that poverty and wealth have upon families, both for individuals and future…

  • Sociology Seminar series 2009-10

    26 Jan 2010 | 6:15 am
    All welcome!(Please scroll down for Semester 2 seminars)13th October (Tues, 12-1pm – Room: TBA)Dr Rebecca Leach (Sociology, Keele University)‘Generation and Consumption: Insights from the Baby Boomers Study’28th October (Wed, 4.30-6pm – Room: TBA)Prof. Dennis Smith (Social Sciences, Loughborough University)‘Whatever Happened to Globalization?’11th November (Wed, 4-30-6pm – Room: TBA)Dr Dale Southerton (Sociology, The Morgan Centre, andThe Sustainable Consumption Institute, Manchester University)Title: TBA24th November (Tues, 12-1 – Room: TBA)Dr Siobhan Holohan (Sociology,…

  • Haiti, Catastrophic Society

    24 Jan 2010 | 12:37 pm
    By Mark FeatherstoneI have recently been working on a paper on the French philosopher of speed Paul Virilio and the idea of catastrophe. Virilio’s basic idea is that we should understand the development of society in terms of speed and acceleration and that the modern idea of progress is identical with notions of dynamism and movement. So far so good. We can all identify with Virilio’s thesis. We know that modern technology and specifically modern technology in capitalist society functions on the basis of an ideology of speed where faster is better. The problem is that for Virilio the…
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    wicked anomie

  • A Well-Phrased Question

    Anomie
    31 Jan 2010 | 11:41 am
    I wish I wrote these words. They so perfectly capture that elusive idea of social location and the sociological perspective:What if we all assumed, just for a day, that everyone was doing the best they could to get by. What if we assumed, just for a day, that poor people aren’t poor because they are less worthy, less smart, less hard-working, or just plain less? Where would that leave us?It would leave us with a lot of questions. It would leave us asking how things got to be this way and what forces are at work keeping them this way. It would leave us wondering about how those inequities…

  • Dante's Internet

    Anomie
    28 Jan 2010 | 2:38 pm
    This is clever, though my own version would be radically different. Basically, I'm posting this as more of a "that's really interesting but I completely disagree with everything you just said!"Found via Shapely Prose. Don't know who made it.

  • Puzzling through Dissertation Findings

    Anomie
    23 Dec 2009 | 1:53 pm
    Today I've been chugging through my dissertation research, analyzing and writing away. Most of the day has been pretty straightforward, with my hypotheses generally being partially supported. But here's a finding that kind of jumped out of nowhere:I'm looking at data from freshman engineering students. I want to see if their commitment to the major influences academic integration. Big concepts. So I pick little measurements that I think maybe indicate these things. Like do they attend class regularly, take notes and ask questions, visit their professor/TA's office hours, study a lot, feel…

  • Teaching Website

    Anomie
    17 Dec 2009 | 11:05 am
    Ah, the limbo state of winter break! Another semester draws away, and a new one has not yet begun. This is prime time for reflection and preparation. Although many considerations go into devising a course, one that seems to take the most time and effort is the syllabus. Recently, Inside Higher Education featured an article on the demise of the creative syllabus, "No More Fancy Fonts" by Mikita Brottman. This article got me to thinking about my own syllabus design, and how it can be improved upon. The traditional syllabus can be a challenge to uphold - especially for professors who like to…

  • Job Interview Questions

    Anomie
    4 Dec 2009 | 5:23 am
    I just came across a handy-looking list of academic job interview questions over at Inside Higher Ed. Mary Sies says, "This is a list of job interview questions I compiled when I was applying for college or university positions in American studies, history, and architectural history. Every category of question I have ever been asked at a job interview is represented below. Good luck in your job search."1. Describe your research. (Have a good articulate rap down pat in short and longer versions, for experts and non-experts)1a. What audiences are you addressing, what are the other hot books or…
 
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    thinking difference

  • Facebook Intolerance

    2 Feb 2010 | 11:16 am
    Your friend's friend makes an intolerant comment on your friend's profile. It's highly offensive, almost bordering fascism from your point of view. But you are not sure what to do. It's not addressed to you, but it's in a cvasi-public space - a friend's wall. You do not know that person, but in a way it's just like being in a shop and witnessing a blatantly intolerant act. What do you? Do you comment? Or do you ignore it? Should you tell yourself it is just a private comment? Or should you rather respond to it, precisely because if a private comment in a public space remains unaddressed, it…

  • Speaking Chinese...

    22 Jan 2010 | 2:53 pm
    "You're speaking Chinese again", a friend told me the other day. I wasn't actually speaking Chinese, but in the language she was using, 'to speak Chinese' stands for saying something that cannot be understood. It's an idiom, but a revealing one. The way we speak, even if we do not mean it, often indicates a variety of things: how certain groups or certain differences have been constructed in that language and the ethics surrounding this construction;how we, as individuals, may consciously or not buy into these constructs, often perpetuating a problematic construction of difference as…

  • When the French need to prove they're French...

    21 Jan 2010 | 7:09 am
    Who decides on your race, ethnicity or nationality? What are the features you need to have in order to be placed in one of these categories? While I am usually more concerned with deconstructing such categories and with showing how unsustainable they are, this post will be slightly different.A few days ago, TIME published an interesting story on how the French must prove they are French. The idea was that children born abroad to parents that were French nationals are having a hard time getting their nationality recognized by France. If this nationality is not recognized, then you cannot be a…

  • Gender and Sexuality in Advertising

    20 Jan 2010 | 3:05 pm
    The commercial says: "Be smart. Be attractive to the opposite sex!"What is this commercial about? You have three guesses:Excel, the gum that whitens your teeth.Toyota, the car that makes you socially desirable.London School of Economics, the higher education institution that makes you very employable. If you guessed "Toyota", then you've got it! Not because there's something intrinsic to Toyota (the car or the brand) that makes you both smart and sexually attractive. But because the advertising/ marketing team has decided that wits and sex cannot possibly go wrong. Who doesn't want to have…

  • Motherhood

    15 Jan 2010 | 4:51 pm
    When asked what she is doing, an acquaintance answered she is a mother. And added: "The best thing a woman could be". I had to disagree. As a child, I always wanted to hear my mom say that I am the best thing in her life. But growing up, I started to think that my mom was so much more than just my mom: she was a professional, she was an intellectual, she was a human being whose life extended beyond her role as a mother. My mom took pride in who she was, as a human being. And I am thankful for this, because it taught me that I am first and foremost a person. That biological sex is one of the…
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    scatterplot

  • ask a scatterbrain: visit days

    shakha
    8 Feb 2010 | 8:10 am
    This question is particularly aimed at grad students: what kinds of things would you have liked to learn about grad programs before enrolling? I’m curious what kind of things are helpful at visit days. Obviously on our end it is a recruitment effort. But it is also important to match well with students. So, what’s helpful on visit days? Any things you wish you knew?

  • book proposal

    olderwoman
    6 Feb 2010 | 5:05 pm
    I’ve been learning a lot about the book biz lately from avenues which I might write about some other time. But I’ve had an idea for how  academic publishers might improve revenues and increase the use of books in courses with e-book or print-on-demand abridged versions. Many of us assign parts of books to our students. The authors and publishers would prefer that we assign whole books, or enough of a book that we “require” purchase of the whole book. And sometimes we do. But the combined pressures of crowded syllabi and student concerns about textbook prices are…

  • my first op-ed in a student paper…

    shakha
    5 Feb 2010 | 11:03 am
    So for the first time in my life I have written an “op-ed.” It was an interesting experience, and one quite different from blogging. I decided to write on inequality and elite education (which is pretty much what I’ve been working on the last year — the book will be out some time around the end of this year). I’m not sure why I fell into a more journalistic mode of constructing a story (starting with an “event” and using it to elaborate a set of disconnected points). But I did. One of my concerns was that the editorial would read like an attack on…

  • don’t ask, don’t tell

    tina
    3 Feb 2010 | 10:17 am
    Is this the moment when we end the policy preventing lesbians and gay men from serving openly in the U.S. military? The recent statement by the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff makes it seem like we are on the precipice of change. He framed the change in terms of when, not if, it will happen. To think about whether this policy change is possible in the current political climate, it is important to remember why this move didn’t work in 1992. In the first year of the Clinton presidency, the policy to eliminate the exclusion of gay men and lesbians from the military was one of the…

  • popos for sf peeps

    tina
    28 Jan 2010 | 3:48 am
    Strangemaps offers up a map of privately owned public open spaces (POPOS) that you can hang out in when you’re in San Francisco. I recall someone telling me that New York had a city ordinance that required new buildings (all buildings?) to provide a certain square-footage of public space. If only they required public restrooms…now that would be useful.
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    potlatch

  • Love is...

    Will Davies
    9 Feb 2010 | 7:55 am
    ...chancing upon the pre-fab jewellers that has been temporarily plonked in Paddington Station concourse in anticipation of Valentine's Day and managing to drop two hundred quid on a diamond-encrusted wrist watch before your train leaves. "It's only the thought that counts if you're some sort of Italian lefty!"This advert brought to you by Chelsea Football Club Holdings Ltd.

  • 'Not in my name'

    Will Davies
    3 Feb 2010 | 10:51 am
    Writing about the Chilcott inquiry last month, Jonathan Freedland gave this insightful analysis of the Iraq War:Observers of the future will surely conclude that it was the Iraq war that broke the bond of trust between this government and the nation. True, Labour won the election of 2005, but it did so with a meagre 35.3% of the vote in a verdict that was more about the unelectability of the Tories than enthusiasm for Labour.The damage extends far beyond one party. It was the widespread belief that Britons had been led falsely to war that planted the seeds of distrust which grew to full bloom…

  • winding up economists: a research methodology

    Will Davies
    27 Jan 2010 | 1:13 am
    Fabian Muniesa has published a working paper 'The Problem with Economics: Naturalism, Critique and Performativity', that he also gave at a Goldsmiths conference I co-organised a few years back. It introduces a new methodology for economic sociology, known as the 'breaching thought experiment', which in layman's terms means trying (hypothetically) to annoy people, in this instance economists. If one fails to annoy them, then finding ways to laugh at them is a good alternative. I predict that this field will grow rapidly over the coming years.Adherents to this method need to…

  • learning from neo-liberalism

    Will Davies
    26 Jan 2010 | 2:52 am
    There's a new special issue of Renewal out - I'm reliably informed that a fully functioning website is imminent where a few articles will be posted. I've contributed a review essay of two excellent histories of neo-liberal thought and mobilisation, The Road from Mont Pelerin, edited by Philip Mirowski and Dieter Plehwe, and Invisible Hands by Kim Phillips-Fein. You can download a pdf of my essayhere.The purpose of the edition is to ask what lessons the rise of the neo-liberal right might hold for the left today, given the economic crisis (we're also doing an event on this at…

  • the knowledge non-economy

    Will Davies
    25 Jan 2010 | 9:05 am
    Here's an alternative way of representing Britain's shift from a manufacturing economy into the weightless, knowledge economy. Compare orange and turquoise:
 
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    orgtheory.net

  • iron cages and friendly skies

    timbartley
    9 Feb 2010 | 9:48 am
    This may be old in the blogosphere, but I was just forwarded this nice Weberian reading of Up in the Air, posted by Susan Herbst on Inside Higher Ed. Short version: George Clooney’s character:   perfect Weberian character, except that he isn’t fully comfortable with his iron cage or the rationalizing force of technology. Vera Farmiga’s character:  a ”Weberian monster of sorts,” well-adapted to her iron cage. There’s more there too, including some nice teaching ideas.  Worth a read: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/01/08/herbst

  • unexpected sentence of the day

    fabiorojas
    9 Feb 2010 | 2:06 am
    Can you guess the source of this sentence? Such a thesis posits an imprinting factor stronger than any of those identified in Lorenz’s geese! Hint: It’s neofunctionalism… Jeffrey C. Alexander, page 134 of Neofunctionalism and After. Context: Alexander is trying to counter Camic’s argument that Parson’s exposure to old institutionalist arguments in undergraduate courses lingered for seventeen years.

  • why did the chicken …

    mtkennedy
    8 Feb 2010 | 4:21 pm
    Thanks to the orgtheory team for inviting me to post some food for thought in the coming days–I really enjoy the sense of community this site fosters. Rather than starting with something heavy, let me celebrate that community by opening with a request: please join me in using the old “Why did the chicken cross the road?” joke to reflect on what organization theory is. If you have a moment, comment to this post by giving the theory that is supplying the punchline and the answer itself. Drawing on the two theories I find myself using most often, here are some examples to get…

  • welcome mark kennedy!

    Teppo
    7 Feb 2010 | 9:38 pm
    We’re pleased to have Mark Kennedy join us as a guest blogger.  Mark is an Assistant Professor at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. Mark’s research relates to categories, meaning and structure in markets and society.  (Here’s an engaging ASR piece for anyone not familiar with Mark’s work.) You can learn more about his research here. Welcome Mark!

  • samuelson vs. parsons

    fabiorojas
    7 Feb 2010 | 4:25 pm
    By the 1940s, economics and sociology mirrored each other. Emerging from political economy in  Europe and progressive politics in America, these two disciplines reached a point where a single prominent scholar tried to lay the groundwork for their field. Paul Samuelson recast economics as an application of decision theory. Talcott Parsons  recast sociology as an issue of systems theory. This post is a sketch of what I think the consequences are. 1. Obviously, Samuelson won in his discipline, while Parsons lost. Economists who don’t use the language of utility maximization, linear…
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    Montclair SocioBlog

  • Superbowl 2010 – The Wisdom of Crowds vs. The Smart Money

    7 Feb 2010 | 8:45 am
    February 7, 2010Posted by Jay LivingstonThe Wisdom-of-Crowds theory says that the “crowd” – the average of interested speculators – is smarter than any one expert. If you want to figure out the weight of an ox or a the location of a lost ship or the outcome of an election, go with the flow.The contrarian position, at least on football games, says that the bookies are smarter than the general public. (For an earlier post on this topic, with links to still earlier posts, go here .)Here’s what that means in the Superbowl. The bookmakers’ initial line had the Colts favored by 3 ½ to…

  • What Was the Question?

    5 Feb 2010 | 2:01 am
    February 5, 2010Posted by Jay LivingstonSurvey questions may seem straightforward, but especially if the poll is a one-off, with questions that haven’t been used in other polls, you can’t always be sure how the respondents interpret them.The Kos/Research 2000 poll of Republicans has been getting some notice, and no wonder. At first glance, it seems to show that one of our two major political parties is home to quite a few people who are not fully in touch with reality, especially when Obama is in view.Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates White people?Yes 31No 36Not Sure 33Do…

  • Capitalism, the Movie

    4 Feb 2010 | 1:55 am
    February 4, 2010Posted by Jay LivingstonThe Oscar nominations were announced, and Hollywood columnist Michael Medved is perturbed that two of the nominees, “Avatar” and “Up in the Air,” paint an unfavorable portrait of US corporations.How could Hollywood continue to turn out these anti-business films when Americans, according to Medved, are so pro-business?In a 2009 Gallup Poll about the “biggest threat to the country in the future,” 65% selected “big government” or “big labor,” while fewer than half as many (32%) fingered “big business.”I’d just picked up Joel…

  • Snow Morning

    3 Feb 2010 | 5:46 am
    February 3, 2010Posted by Jay LivingstonIt wasn’t nearly enough snow to close the school, and by afternoon, it will be mostly melted, but this morning, before most classes had begun, the campus looked like this.(Click on the image for a larger view.)The Spanish mission architecture – the white stucco walls and deep terra cotta roof tiles – of the original campus buildings is something I associate with warmer climates, but it looks good in the snow.On the other hand, as you walk around the snowy campus, camera in hand, you realize how truly ugly some of the buildings from the 1950s and…

  • Man on Why

    31 Jan 2010 | 4:49 am
    January 31, 2010Posted by Jay Livingston“Man on Wire” is the documentary about Philippe Petite walking a wire stretched between the two towers of the World Trade Center a quarter-mile above the ground. The tagline for the film is “The Artistic Crime of the Century.”As that implies, the movie takes much from the “caper” film genre, and Fabio Rojas had a great post sketching the social organization dimensions of Petit’s operations. Petit is the center of attention, but his feats (he’s done this sort of thing more than once) are made possible only through extensive planning and…
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    Larvatus Prodeo

  • Whatever happened to the vision thing?

    Mark
    8 Feb 2010 | 8:58 pm
    George H. W. Bush was famously incapable of projecting what he termed “the vision thing” in his unsuccessful campaign for re-election in 1992, but at least he knew what he needed to, but couldn’t, do. I noted the other day that Dennis Shanahan was something of a barometer for the current state of the ‘political narrative’. I should have remembered that an even better one, whose often indecipherable columns frequently seem to be pure stream of consciousness, is Malcolm Colless. Writing today in The Australian, he seems to think he is delivering some sort of killer…

  • Year 13?

    Robert Merkel
    8 Feb 2010 | 7:53 pm
    While this thread about “essential” knowledge was mostly tongue in cheek, I reckon there’s a serious point to be made – in that a lot of knowledge that isn’t particularly difficult to grasp, and generally useful, is only acquired by a relatively small subset of people who study a topic at a tertiary level (be that at a university or at TAFE). In the USA, spreading this knowledge around is, to some extent, performed by their generalist undergraduate tertiary education system – though I also get the sense that at least some of the first year of college…

  • Rudd on Qanda open thread

    Mark
    8 Feb 2010 | 2:21 am
    The first Q&A for the year features Kevin Rudd and an audience of yoof in Old Parliament House (no doubt screened according to approved Abetz principles to include quotas of Young Libs, LaRoucheites, etc). I won’t be liveblogging it, because of the delay caused by the lack of daylight saving in Queensland. But here’s an open thread should you wish to comment. No doubt there will also be a lively discussion on Twitter at #qanda. [And just a reminder that LP is on Twitter, and the new new Facebook, for that matter. If you are too, we'd love you to join us elsewhere in the…

  • Turnbull on climate change policy

    Mark
    8 Feb 2010 | 12:10 am
    Former Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull spoke in the House of Representatives today, in debate on the reintroduced CPRS bills. Bernard Keane has a full wrap at The Stump. From Keane’s coverage, it appears that Turnbull devoted most of his time to demolishing Tony Abbott’s plan: Turnbull tore apart the proposed plan as economically inefficient, environmentally ineffective and unable to meet the task of reducing Australia’s emissions by 5% by 2020. Update: Peter Martin reproduces the text of Turnbull’s speech.

  • Tony Abbott: Nothing if not consistent

    Mark
    8 Feb 2010 | 12:05 am
    Abbott on tv today: What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing, is that if they get it done commercially, it’s gonna go up in price, and their own power bills as they switch the iron on are gonna go up every year, I mean… I guess that’s ‘retail politics’, Abbott style. Patriarchy and a deceptive scare campaign all neatly wrapped up in one package.
 
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    Kieran Healy's Weblog

  • Crocodile Tears Lie Thick on the Page of the American Political Science Review

    kjhealy
    5 Feb 2010 | 8:11 am
    I was reading Cohen, March & Olsen’s “A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice” this week and, by coincidence, also looked at some of World Society: The Writings of John Meyer, a collection of Meyer’s most important work edited and introduced by Georg Krücken and Gili Drori. Sadly it is far, far too expensive and only available in hardback at the moment. (I got it after reviewing a manuscript for Oxford.) In “Reflections: Institutional Theory and World Society”, Meyer takes on a string of critics. Here’s one bit connected to the Garbage…

  • On Knowing when to Stop

    kjhealy
    1 Feb 2010 | 12:28 pm
    Bill Watterson gives an interview, his first in quite a while: Readers became friends with your characters, so understandably, they grieved—and are still grieving—when the strip ended. What would you like to tell them? This isn’t as hard to understand as people try to make it. By the end of 10 years, I’d said pretty much everything I had come there to say. It’s always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip’s popularity and repeated myself for another five, 10 or 20 years, the people now “grieving” for “Calvin…

  • On Knowing how to Start

    kjhealy
    1 Feb 2010 | 12:09 pm
    Mark Pilgrim: I’m a three-time (soon to be four-time) published author. When aspiring authors learn this, they invariably ask what word processor I use. It doesn’t fucking matter! I happen to write in Emacs. I also code in Emacs, which is a nice bonus. Other people write and code in vi. Other people write in Microsoft Word and code in TextMate+ or TextEdit or some fancy web-based collaborative editor like EtherPad or Google Wave. Whatever. Picking the right text editor will not make you a better writer. Writing will make you a better writer. Writing, and editing, and publishing,…

  • Not your Father’s Communicative Action

    kjhealy
    28 Jan 2010 | 12:15 pm
    Here is Jürgen Habermas’ Twitter feed. No, really. One can’t quite be sure, of course (maybe a German speaker can point to some coverage of this in the German press?), but it seems on the level. If so (even if it’s him via an assistant), that is pretty outstanding, because my ASA Publications Committee slogan can now be “Jürgen Habermas is on Twitter but ASR still requires paper submissions”. Update: Looks like I need a new slogan. Boo.

  • Naturalizing the Social, and Vice Versa

    kjhealy
    21 Jan 2010 | 1:04 pm
    Via Cosma Shalizi, reports of a very interesting piece of work: Prejudice and truth about the effect of testosterone on human bargaining behaviour, C. Eisenegger, M. Naef, R. Snozzi, M. Heinrichs & E. Fehr, Nature 463, 356-359 (21 January 2010). The abstract: Both biosociological and psychological models, as well as animal research, suggest that testosterone has a key role in social interactions1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Evidence from animal studies in rodents shows that testosterone causes aggressive behaviour towards conspecifics7. Folk wisdom generalizes and adapts these findings to humans,…
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    chris uggen's weblog

  • bjs report on sexual victimization in juvenile facilities, 2008-09

    3 Feb 2010 | 5:51 pm
    The Bureau of Justice Statistics just released a new report on Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities based on a sample of over 9,000 adjudicated youth in 2008-2009. Overall, about 12 percent of youth in these facilities report some form of sexual victimization by staff or other residents. Many of these involved contact between female staff and male youth where no force is involved. Nevertheless, 4.3 percent of the youth reported being sexually victimized by facility staff who used force, threats, or other explicit forms of coercion.I charted a couple of the differences in victimization…

  • clickers on college committees

    1 Feb 2010 | 5:33 pm
    I'm co-chairing a blue-ribbon committee to help address our immediate budget squeeze while orienting to a longer-term vision for my college. The committee is composed of 30 people, including deans, administrators, established and probationary faculty, and graduate and undergraduate students in the social sciences, arts, and humanities.With such a large and diverse group, it can be difficult to come to consensus. Moreover, with such extreme power differentials in the room, it seemed important to build in some mechanism to ensure that we heard all the voices on the committee. We used email, of…

  • Athens, GA

    28 Jan 2010 | 5:24 pm
    I'm plane-blogging en route to the University of Georgia, where I'm doing a colloquium talk tomorrow. I've been deep into college administrative work lately, so I'm truly looking forward to sharing ideas with new friends and old.I like to combine a li'l fresh research with more mature lines of work in my talks, so this one is titled Social Research and The Price and Promise of Justice Reform. I'll be saying something about felon voting policy changes and then teeing up policy questions raised by newer experimental work on employment discrimination against people with low-level arrest records.

  • Osvaldo Hernandez's criminal record, military service, and pardon

    18 Jan 2010 | 9:54 am
    The Times reports that Osvaldo Hernandez, whose weapons conviction barred him from the New York Police Department but not the U.S. Army, has been pardoned by Governor David Paterson.I learned Mr. Hernandez's story when I met his attorney, Jim Harmon, at a recent Cornell conference on criminal records and employment. The military now conducts a "whole person review" of enlistment eligibility, granting Mr. Hernandez a misconduct waiver. Here's the policy:The Services will enlist into the Armed Services individuals who are fully qualified to serve. Judgment as to an applicant’s qualifications…

  • purple-colored glasses and conduct unbecoming a minnesotan

    16 Jan 2010 | 3:17 pm
    Minnesotans are a hardy people, capable of enduring misfortune, fatigue, and exposure to brutal elements without comment or complaint. Yet, as my Vikings play host to America's Team tomorrow, I must publicly acknowledge that we are without question the whiniest football fans on God's green* earth. And we never stop! All week, I've been hearing about the 1975 Drew Pearson push-off of my youth.As newcomers such as Dan Barreiro have observed, we Minnesotans attribute any sports setback to a vast International Officiating Conspiracy. All fans believe the refs are biased against their team, of…
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    European Sociological Review

  • The Dynamics of Political Protest: Feedback Effects and Interdependence in the Explanation of Protest Participation

    Opp, K.-D., Kittel, B.
    2 Feb 2010 | 3:07 am
    This article addresses three largely unsolved problems in theory and research on political protest. The first problem concerns feedback effects. The common assumption is that protest is determined by various factors and does not influence its determinants. We propose and test hypotheses about feedback effects of protest on its determinants. The second issue is the usual assumption that the determinants do not influence each other. We propose and test hypotheses about their interdependence. The third issue which is also rarely addressed in the literature is explaining different effects of…

  • The Legacy of Equality and the Weakness of Law: Within-job Gender Wage Inequality in the Czech Republic

    Krizkova, A., Penner, A. M., Petersen, T.
    2 Feb 2010 | 3:07 am
    Using firm-level data from the Czech Republic in the years 1998, 2002, and 2004, we examine whether the introduction of legislative measures for gender equality connected with the accession to the European Union had a significant effect on gender wage inequality. The central conclusion of our analysis is that within-job wage inequality plays a significant role in the Czech labour market, and that there were no substantive changes during the period studied. Czech women doing the same job in the same establishment earn about 10 per cent less than their male co-workers. The smallest gender wage…

  • The Diffusion of Ethnic Violence in Germany: The Role of Social Similarity

    Braun, R., Koopmans, R.
    2 Feb 2010 | 3:07 am
    In this article we develop and test an encompassing theoretical framework for explaining the geographical and temporal spread of extreme right violence. This framework combines structural factors related to ethnic competition, social disintegration, and political opportunity structures, which make certain localities more prone to exhibit ethnic violence, with diffusion variables that determine the degree to which ethnic violence diffuses across time and across localities. We employ an event history analysis of instances of racist violence in 444 German counties for the time period…

  • Logistic Regression: Why We Cannot Do What We Think We Can Do, and What We Can Do About It

    Mood, C.
    2 Feb 2010 | 3:07 am
    Logistic regression estimates do not behave like linear regression estimates in one important respect: They are affected by omitted variables, even when these variables are unrelated to the independent variables in the model. This fact has important implications that have gone largely unnoticed by sociologists. Importantly, we cannot straightforwardly interpret log-odds ratios or odds ratios as effect measures, because they also reflect the degree of unobserved heterogeneity in the model. In addition, we cannot compare log-odds ratios or odds ratios for similar models across groups, samples,…

  • The Transfer of Cultural Knowledge in the Early Childhood: Social and Ethnic Disparities and the Mediating Role of Familial Activities

    Becker, B.
    2 Feb 2010 | 3:07 am
    Many studies have shown the importance of cultural capital for children's educational success but little is known about the mechanisms of the intergenerational transfer of (receiving country-specific) cultural knowledge. This article analyses social and ethnic disparities in this transmission process with a focus on the mediating role of familial activities. With data from the German project ‘Preschool Education and Educational Careers among Migrant Children’, it is shown that 3–4-year-old children of well-educated, upper-class, and native German parents score significantly…
 
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    IU News: Social Sciences

  • Elinor Ostrom to present Nobel lecture at Indiana University

    5 Feb 2010 | 8:15 am
    Indiana University Professor Elinor Ostrom, co-recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in economic sciences, will present an updated version of her Nobel Prize lecture for an IU and Indiana audience on Feb. 16 at the Indiana University Auditorium. The program will take place from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., with IU President Michael A. McRobbie introducing Ostrom. Admission is free and open to the public; tickets are not required.

  • Statistics, Informatics professors to collaborate on $35.5 million Army research project

    4 Dec 2009 | 12:00 am
    Two distinguished Indiana University Rudy Professors -- Stanley Wasserman, chair of the Department of Statistics, and Alessandro Vespignani, professor in the School of Informatics and Computing -- have been named as collaborators in a $35.5 million Army Research Laboratory project expected to span 10 years and involve 10 additional universities and corporations.

  • WFIU radio to feature Jill Bolte Taylor on 'Noon Edition'

    3 Nov 2009 | 11:14 pm
    WFIU Public Radio kicks off its annual fund drive Friday (Nov. 6) with guest Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist IU Professor Jill Bolte Taylor on Noon Edition. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey and was chosen as one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2008.

  • Tocqueville Program at IU Bloomington to launch with Nov. 6 lecture

    3 Nov 2009 | 5:36 am
    A new Indiana University academic program will focus on the work of French political thinker and author Alexis de Tocqueville, who died 150 years ago but whose insights into American democracy remain as fresh and vital as when they were written. The Tocqueville Program, directed by Associate Professor of political science Aurelian Craiutu, will launch with a lecture on Nov. 6 by Matthew Mancini of Saint Louis University.

  • Research explores social behavioral dimensions of national security

    3 Nov 2009 | 4:59 am
    Indiana University sociologist Stephen Benard is co-recipient of a new National Science Foundation award to study how dominant members of groups behave when a group is facing threats. The grant, which Benard shares with principal investigator Patrick Barclay of the University of Guelph, is part of a joint NSF/Department of Defense program supporting research that explores the social and behavioral dimensions of national security, conflict and cooperation.
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    WordPress Tag: Sociology

  • Bringing you up to date (Part 1): Sociology results

    Richard Seguin
    9 Feb 2010 | 12:00 pm
    For those of you who remember the academic background I have, you would have been shocked to know that I was pursing an Arts degree.   I selected Intro to Sociology in hopes of getting my feet wet and getting myself used to University life again.   From the first day that I set foot in the Hazen Hall auditorium at 8:30am, I knew that  this university experience would be much different then my last one.  I also sadly knew I would be a very tired soul at the end of it all;  picking an 8:30am class when you live on the opposite side of the city wasn’t the best idea I have had. My…

  • Attempt To Keep On Functioning

    Alison
    9 Feb 2010 | 11:44 am
    There seems to have been very little to write about these past few days as I continue to fight the demons within and the social anxiety that is plaguing me, the latter becoming a more serious issue for me. I was intent on discussing it a little more with my GP Dr H on Friday when I went to collect the new prescriptions that Dr G had prescribed me, but I just wanted to collect and run, the anxiety made it to difficult to even face talking to my own GP. After venturing out to collect the new meds I spent the weekend hiding away, the less communication I had with people the better. Both Monday…

  • Capitalism: the egg and the chicken... Capitalismo, el huevo y la gallina

    ocasaz
    9 Feb 2010 | 11:35 am
    The never ending story... Cayo la Union Sovietica y sus satelites. El comunismo “real” no pudo contra el Capitalismo “real”. Algunos pronosticaron el fin de la Historia, como Fukuyama. Muchos bajaron la cabeza avergonzados, otros la levantaron triunfantes. Otros, prefirieron esperar ya que esperar siempre nos da una buena perspectiva. Pasaron 20 años desde aquella famosa caida del Muro y todavia nos preguntamos hacia donde vamos.  Seguiremos esperando, no hay duda. Todavia no nos deja ver el polvo suspendido de la caida de un muro tan imponente. Pero algunas formas…

  • 9 Feb 2010 | 10:48 am

    eisnacht
    9 Feb 2010 | 10:48 am
    This is reply to http://grasexuality.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/continuing-a-discussion-on-asexuality-and-rape-culture/ . I originally wanted to just post a reply, but as it tends to happen with me, the reply got rather long. It also took me some time and I hope, that I can make my position clear and that no one is unduly offended by it. I don’t really see how romantic relationships are supposed to be meant solely to provide a space for legitimate sex. They are not soley that. Many more things both emotional and normative come into it. But in the end that is one of their functions.

  • Social Movements and Political Rights

    psgsousf
    9 Feb 2010 | 6:21 am
    Jon Bright in OpenDemocracy: The POWER 2010 campaign has launched a vital debate on the ways and means of reforming British democracy. One proposal which caught my eye is for the House of Lords to be turned into a “chamber of sectors” . The Lords would become an elected chamber, but constituencies would not be arranged geographically as they are with the House of Commons. Instead they would be arranged by ‘sector’, representing different groups or sections of society. Examples of different sectors might include Education, Health, Industry, Transport, Environment. Or it could…
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    eScienceNews: Sociology

  • New study examines the impact on children of food product placements in the movies

    9 Feb 2010 | 12:30 pm
    LEBANON, NH-– (February 5, 2010) New research from the Hood Center for Children and Families at Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) for the first time sheds light on the significant potential negative impact that food product placements in the movies could be having on children. read more

  • TV drama can be more persuasive than news program, study finds

    9 Feb 2010 | 11:39 am
    A fictional television drama may be more effective in persuading young women to use birth control than a news-format program on the same issue, according to a new study. read more

  • Exposure to secondhand smoke among children in England has declined since 1996

    9 Feb 2010 | 11:39 am
    The most comprehensive study to date of secondhand smoke exposure among children in England is published today in the journal Addiction. The study, carried out by researchers from the University of Bath's School for Health, reveals that exposure to household secondhand smoke among children aged 4-15 has declined steadily since 1996. read more

  • Underdogs have more motivation? Not so fast, study says

    9 Feb 2010 | 11:17 am
    Members of a group or team will work harder when they're competing against a group with lower status than when pitted against a more highly ranked group, according to a new study. read more

  • Research identifies gene with likely role in premenstrual disorder

    9 Feb 2010 | 10:31 am
    Scientists have identified a gene they say is a strong candidate for involvement in premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and other maladies associated with the natural flux in hormones during the menstrual cycle. In a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Rockefeller University researchers detail experiments in mice showing that a common human variant of the gene increases anxiety, dampens curiosity and tweaks the effects of estrogen on the brain, impairing memory. If applied in the clinic, the work could help diagnose and treat cognitive and mood…
 
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    The Project

  • at the End of Slavery

    Cory
    9 Feb 2010 | 7:23 am
    Narrated by actor Danny Glover, At the End of Slavery: The Battle for Justice in our Time takes you inside the violent and ugly business of modern-day slavery — the buying and selling of human beings — from the brothels of the Philippines to the brick kilns of India. Undercover footage and first-person testimony from former slaves and respected experts expose the enormity of the crime — but a remarkable strategy and the courage of today’s abolitionists offer hope for a final end to this brutal trade. Check out the trailer: http://www.attheendofslavery.org/

  • Conflict & Redemption

    Cory
    7 Feb 2010 | 3:12 am
    I recently watched Yes Man. It wasn’t an overly interesting movie, nor was it particularly funny. Like most popular movies, it had its moments (most of which were featured in the trailer), but just like the rest of them, its was cliché and numbingly predictable. Call me cynical, but I am becoming increasingly irritated at how easy it is to anticipate plot, and sometimes even dialogue. The only saving grace for me was the charm and talent of Zooey Deschanel, an actor deserving of more worthy roles. I’m not picking on Yes Man, all you have to do is pick up a romantic comedy and 9…

  • Your voice has been heard

    Cory
    1 Feb 2010 | 3:01 am
    Kraft Update from the Global Poverty Project: Kraft has promised to honour Cadbury’s current commitments to use Fairtrade cocoa beans in the dairy milk range now being sold in the UK, New Zealand, Australian and Canada. Our campaign to Tell Kraft: “Keep Cadbury’s Commitment” has been a great success: messages from over 1,300 supporters were passed on to the CEO of Kraft, Irene Rosenfeld. Despite this success, our work is not yet over. Kraft has not confirmed whether they will continue Cadbury’s ongoing talks to expand its use of Fairtrade cocoa beans to other products. There is…

  • Happy Invasion Day

    Cory
    25 Jan 2010 | 5:47 pm
    I posted this note last January 26 and I’m going to re-post it today as my opinion hasn’t changed about this day. What is Australia Day? What exactly are we celebrating? Well, officially, the day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788; it marks the beginning of British colonisation of Australia. But can I ask a question? At the risk of being burned at the stake for sounding unpatriotic, is it possible not to be proud of the history of one’s country? Particularly when that history involves the story of brutal exploitation, murder, oppression and forced resettlement.

  • Change the World Mondays (16)

    Cory
    24 Jan 2010 | 6:34 pm
    Keep Kraft Accountable From the Global Poverty Project: Before Kraft’s take-over bid, Cadbury had made one of the largest Fairtrade commitments – their whole Dairy Milk range would go Fairtrade by Easter 2010. Cadbury estimate that by 2018 their Fairtrade partnership and Cadbury Cocoa Partnership will make a demonstrable difference to the lives of around half a million cocoa farmers. We need your help to hold Kraft to Cadbury’s important commitments. On Tuesday 19 January 2010, the Cadbury board agreed to recommend a $19.6 billion bid by Kraft to shareholders, paving the way…
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    Karl Bakeman

  • Sociologists finding religion?

    karlbakeman
    9 Feb 2010 | 5:23 am
    Scott Jaschik wrote an excellent piece in Inside Higher Ed about the sociology of religion. He captures the discomfort many social scientists feel with studying the topic, and in an interview with Darren Sherkat at SIU highlights the concern about religious organization using funding to direct research in the directions that support their ideological agenda. Jaschik also profiles an interesting new report from David Smilde and Matthew May for the SSRC about the emerging strong program in the sociology of religion. Here’s a link to read Smilde’s and May’s working paper.

  • Women watch the Super Bowl, too. Right?

    karlbakeman
    8 Feb 2010 | 6:15 am
    According to AdWeek, about 45% of the viewers of last year’s Super Bowl were women. Unless something strange happens, I imagine that percentage will probably be about the same for 2010. However, you wouldn’t know it from watching the ads. Maybe it’s the “man-cession.” Or maybe American masculine identity is in crisis. Whatever it was, the marketing message last night seemed to be all about men. Here are a few samples: Dodge Dockers Dove

  • More on Teach for America and Teaching

    karlbakeman
    26 Jan 2010 | 5:31 am
    Teach for America is celebrating its twentieth anniversary and there are a number of articles floating around about what works in the program and what doesn’t. One TFA alum and UVA PhD student just wrote an interesting post on Good arguing that weak literacy is the primary reason students struggle in school. Amanda Ripley also wrote an excellent profile in The Atlantic on Steven Farr and the methods TFA use to evaluate teachers and judge what is effective and what isn’t in the classroom. Farr and the TFA have just published a book called Teaching as Leadership that goes into more…

  • Debate on Alpha Wives

    karlbakeman
    25 Jan 2010 | 5:28 am
    Building off the coverage of the Pew Study and a number of articles in the NY Times and elsewhere, the Times hosted a debate yesterday called “Alpha Wives: The Trend and the Truth“ that featured a terrific group of social scientists that included Stephanie Coontz, Kathleen Gerson, Andrew Cherlin, and Claudia Goldin.

  • The dangers of zooming in

    karlbakeman
    12 Jan 2010 | 6:01 am
    I must have missed this post on Graphic Sociology over the holidays. Linking to a post by Philip Cohen on the Family Inequality blog, Graphic Sociology highlights why infographics can be misleading when we don’t give more data. Cohen does an excellent job challenging Wilcox’s assertion that the recession has been good for marriage rates by pulling back and showing the divorce rate over the last few decades. In that light, divorces have been trending downward for awhile and have nothing to do with the Great Recession.
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