The Global Sociology Blog

Who had bought her from her father: Eight-year-old files for divorce in Saudi Arabia – Middle East, World – The Independent via kwout I guess it is actually good news that she finally got that divorce.

Let’s blame this kid! (Via Mashable) I’m always up for blaming kids.

I have already posted on the sociology of traders as a category thriving on anomic conditions and their exemption from social norms that impose restraints on the rest of us. See also Denis Colombi’s post on the subject of traders. Many of us also remember this segment from The Corporation: Now, as additional data point, [...]

And as with Aristophanes’s play, the goal is to force men to settle political discord: BBC NEWS | Africa | Kenyan women hit men with sex ban via kwout And to make sure the squabbling politicians are not exempt from this and they have it all covered, BBC NEWS | Africa | Kenyan women hit [...]

I have to say that this paragraph really jumped out at me (and yes, we can nitpick but still, the parallel is striking): A great global aid giveaway | Comment is free | The Guardian via kwout

I hve just finished reviewing Jack Levin’s The Violence of Hate – Confronting Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Other Forms of Bigotry (website) for its publisher. It is a short and interesting book that is probably more adapted to criminal justice courses than strictly sociology. It is well-written with a lot of examples and stories, and therefore [...]

This column by Mike Davis in the Guardian is an absolute must-read… a snippet: Mike Davis: The swine flu crisis lays bare the meat industry’s monstrous power | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk via kwout Like I said, read the whole thing. So, far, serious discussions of our global flows of food (and especially meat) [...]

News: Drop in Sociology Jobs – Inside Higher Ed via kwout I am intrigued by the "open search / more than one rank" category… if my college is any indication, it might mean position that were advertised but won’t be filled and yet, colleges have not closed the search. Or, as happened here again, the [...]

Because heaven forbid that women gain some control over their bodies through exercise and fitness activities: Saudi women face gyms ban | World news | guardian.co.uk via kwout And what, exactly, is the problem with women-only gyms? Saudi women face gyms ban | World news | guardian.co.uk via kwout That is also an argument against [...]

Major chocolate companies still using child labour | April 2009 | New Internationalist via kwout So, this video by Slavery International is still relevant, especially the segment on cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast and the connection between slavery and the imposition of structural adjustment policies by the IMF: Also, visit the International Labor Rights Forum [...]

Brothels cut prices to beat the recession – Europe, World – The Independent via kwout Unsurprisingly, the articles mentions that high-class brothels are still doing pretty well. It is below on the social ladder that economic conditions are felt more harshly. The article also mentions that there may be an increase in supply: more women [...]

So says Monthy Python Terry Jones in a very funny Guardian Op-Ed on a serious subject: A Killer, aka Terry Jones: Free the torturers – and the rapists too! | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk via kwout Read the whole thing.

Actually, it is a documentary on reality television entitled "How far can television go?" (shouldn’t it be "how low"?) as a critique of reality television. The documentary creates a fake gameshow based on Milgram’s experiment to determine how far contestants are willing to go. Un documentaire choc sur les limites de la télé-réalité, Audiovisuel – [...]

Interesting Spanish-language items: Blog Aposta (the blog of the electronic journal Aposta Digital), written by Luis G. Encinas Tribulaciones de la Clase Ociosa by Costán Sequeiros Bruna El Voto con Botas by Fermín Bouza Meditaciones sociologicas by Juan Jimenez A. Los monos también curan