The Global Sociology Blog

Now this is interesting: BBC SPORT | Athletics | Semenya told to take gender test via kwout I find it curious to have this depicted as “complex” and “difficult”. Or maybe Sports Federation should start having guidelines for individuals who do not fit neatly in the male / female dichotomy, like the variety of trans- [...]

I have been to Chibolya, one of the slums of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Lusaka is a good example of what Saskia Sassen calls a Global City. Watch and listen to this: BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Audio slideshow: The music of the ghetto via kwout

This is just so cool. Can I get a degree in that? BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Science ponders ‘zombie attack’ via kwout

I have blogged before about the pleasure periphery and the uses of the periphery for cosmetic surgeries. This last aspect is part of a larger trend of American using the periphery to offset rising costs for medical treatment: Missing From The Health Care Reform Debate: Medical Tourism | Crooks and Liars via kwout As mentioned [...]

I have mentioned before that I attended a theory session dedicated to issues in macro-theory, presided over by Peter Burke with Patrick Nolan, Jack Goldstone and George Ritzer. Sadly, William Robinson was a no-show. Patrick Nolan opened the session asking when it becomes necessary to abandon a theory? How much falsification does it take for [...]

Here is another one to add to the list. It is more of an aggregator but might be useful: Sociologizer Check it out!

From Southern Theory: “The underlying problem of the social-scientific approaches considered in this chapter [Ed: everything I read: Bourdieu, Beck, Bauman, Robinson...] is their geopolitical logic. They rely exclusively on the metropole for their intellectual tools and assumptions, and therefore treat the majority world as object. This closes off the possibility of social science working [...]

Intervention… my favorite song on the Neon Bible album:

I can’t help it. This cracked me up.

As promised, here are parts 4 and 5 of PHC’s presidential address: Part 4: Part 5: Enjoy!

BBC NEWS | Health | Healthcare around the world via kwout At this point, there is no debate: the US has an inefficient, costly and discriminatory system dominated by corporate forces and their political allies. Other high-income countries do not. Why would anyone want to preserve or rescue such a system? (Rhetorical question)

Amazon Indians struck by swine flu ‘for first time’ – News from Survival International via kwout

This is not exactly news to sociologists but we know that greater social inequalities have negative social effects across the board and across the class structure and not just for those on the lower rung of the social ladder. Now, more evidence is in: saez-UStopincomes-2007 – Now, this should be the subject of intense debate [...]

This is the government the US is propping up in Afghanistan: Karzai’s secret U-turn on Afghan rape law – Asia, World – The Independent via kwout There is a French expression for situations like these when alternatives are equally awful: to have the choice between the plague and the cholera. That’s the choice for the [...]

Indexed » Blog Archive » True for boys & girls. via kwout The idea of social disciplining of the body is one of my favorite aspects of Foucault’s insights. It is easy enough to identify social norms in societies and groups. It is often more complex to identify how these norms are imposed, enforced and [...]