The Global Sociology Blog

Hilarious:

At the micro level, zero tolerance policies on drinking and driving: Zero tolerance, zero effect | Eureka! Science News via kwout And at the macro level, The War on Drugs: Op-Ed Contributor – Ending the ‘War on Drugs’ – NYTimes.com via kwout Read the whole thing. So, why do policies that don’t work (either are [...]

When did homo economicus become such a jerk? « A (Budding) Sociologist’s Commonplace Book via kwout Go read the whole thing, of course.

This will be useful only to my French-speaking readers, but here is a series of videos where Dominique Méda analyzes the Stiglitz Report and its limitations and argues for the need for alternative measures of wealth. Après le rapport Stiglitz, comment mesurer la richesse ? – La vie des idées via kwout Dominique Méda is [...]

The current protests against President Obama (his policies are an alibi, obviously, the attacks are very personal) have already been analyzed all over the blogosphere. They respond to societal changes where the dominant groups fear the loss of power and control over what is going on in the country and have found a symbolic representation [...]

And who cares if there are people living there: Toxic shame: Thousands injured in African city – Africa, World – The Independent via kwout Read the whole thing, it is really disgusting.

So, Chad Gesser posts this and I watch it, The Sociology Blog: Did You Know 4.0 via kwout And as usual, I have a few problems with this. First, I must have missed 3.0 because the last time I checked, I thought we were at 2.0, but that’s just me. Then, I have the usual [...]

Good… Bad…. really awful actually: BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Australia father faces rape trial via kwout

The new album is out!! First single, which rocks! Muse |MTV Music

David Lyon truly is prescient: 1.2bn population of India to be given biometric ID cards | World news | The Guardian via kwout This describes exactly what Lyon describes in Identifying Citizens. ID cards are issued in the name of efficient delivery of services but incorporate a wide range of data all in one place [...]

Seriously, you start with this, Flare | Apps | Job Voyager via kwout Click on a particular occupation (for instance, accountant / auditor) and you get this (with a cool animation to go along with it): Flare | Apps | Job Voyager via kwout

Teenage birth rates higher in more religious states | Eureka! Science News via kwout

I am sure this has already made the rounds but this is just too funny (and somewhat true) to pass (via Praxis Habitus):

Now, this is interesting, especially in light of my recent book review of David Lyon’s Identifying Citizens: BBC NEWS | UK | Tory plans to cut ‘surveillance’ via kwout Now, how about all these cameras that don’t contribute to solving crime?

Even if it is Sarkozy proposing it! (Based on Stiglitz’s recommendations, so, that makes it ok!) FT.com / Global Economy – France to count happiness in GDP via kwout The critique of the GDP as ubiquitous and universal measure of economic performance is not new. Non-orthodox economists have long suggested that it is a narrow [...]