The Global Sociology Blog

More econocides: IRIN Africa | West Africa | Ghana | GHANA: Plummeting profits drive tomato farmers to suicide | Economy Food Security Governance Aid Policy | News Item via kwout Unsurprisingly, things will not improve as yet another unfavorable trade agreement with the European Union is about to be implemented. Under the guise of "free [...]

So, JP Morgan Chase wants to give back the bailout money they have received (BTW, do it already!), but look at how their CEO explains it: “Dimon, calling money received through the Troubled Asset Relief Program “a scarlet letter” and “the TARP baby,” said on a conference call today that the New York-based bank is [...]

She rocked on The Daily Show yesterday: Part 1 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M – Th 11p / 10c Elizabeth Warren Pt. 1 thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor Part 2 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M – Th 11p / 10c Elizabeth Warren Pt. 2 thedailyshow.com Daily Show [...]

>This Burger Kind ad distributed in Spain provoked the ire of the Mexican government: Aaah, the nice contrast between the tall, slender, muscular and handsome American cowboy (how ironic considering the rates of obesity in the US) and the short, fat, greasy, Mexican wrestler… who could possibly find this ethnocentric and racist. BK got the [...]

Two items out of Afghanistan and Iraq reveal, many years after the fact, the perils of nation-building with no idea that any nation is an imaginary community and that there are layers of identity beneath the often-imposed national veneer that are powerful and hard to control forces once unleashed. These layers can be narrow ethnic [...]

I have blogged about this before and today, we got another data point on this topic (the Grumpy Sociologist beat me to it): The Grumpy Sociologist: With Global Economic Crisis, Will Suicide Rates Spike in ’09? via kwout As reported in the Independent, 1,500 farmers commit mass suicide in India – Asia, World – The [...]

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Taleban ‘kill love affair couple’ via kwout The main political power that the Taliban exercise is that in loco patris, that is, in lieu of the father. They mete out punishment on behalf of patriarchal power (remember the allegation that it is the parents themselves who turned the couple [...]

Mobsters ‘out to make a killing from the quake’ – Europe, World – The Independent via kwout Large-scale disaster means large-scale reconstruction, which means lots of government money for disaster relief, which means a lot of corruption and shady contracts. If history and previous cases are any indication, victims will not see much reconstruction money, [...]

Via Ampersand, tweenbots | kacie kinzer via kwout Why do people help? tweenbots | kacie kinzer via kwout I think several factors might explain the helpfulness of strangers and the dependence of tweenbots on fleeting ties: The things is so damn cute, and yes, it matters (note the additional cuteness added by the music in [...]

This will only mean anything to my French friends and colleagues. L’académicien Maurice Druon est mort – Carnet – Le Monde.fr via kwout Druon was a member of the French Resistance co-author of the Resistance song Le Chant des Partisans (lyrics here) He was also the author of the French contemporary classic Les Rois Maudits [...]

A required read for anyone who wants to understand our current predicament in a larger perspective: The #Money Thing | Corrente via kwout Read the whole thing.

Not too long ago, one of my friends told me she didn’t know who Miriam Makeba was, so this post is for her, and for the rest of us who just enjoy good music and social justice. First, Makeba’s classic "Pata Pata": Miriam Makeba married another brilliant anti-apartheid musician, Hugh Masekela, here is his classic [...]

André C. Drainville, "Resistance to Globalisation: The View From The Periphery of The World Economy", International Social Science Journal, 2009, 192, 235 – 246. Using a world-system analytical perspective, André C. Drainville examines how the periphery articulated its global presence in contesting globalization. In the process, he reviews the different forms that contestation took at [...]

From the current reporting on recent incidents of piracy and rescue operations, we can already see the kind of narrative being developed in the Western media that is traditional for chosen conflicts: a clear morality tale with heroes and evildoers, heroic Western ship men versus villainous Somali pirates who do not respect the laws of [...]

We all owe a debt of gratitude to Elizabeth Warren for the work she is doing on our behalf, despite the lack of power of her agency, the Congressional Oversight Panel: Keeping tabs on the bailout – The Boston Globe via kwout I hate to use the Cloud Minders’s metaphor again but it does seem [...]