The Global Sociology Blog

I will be undergoing surgery later today, so, blogging might be scarce for a few days.

In its report Going For Growth 2010, the OECD examines intergenerational mobility across its member countries. It also provides a good definition of intergeneration mobility: So, how do OECD countries fare when it comes to the transmission of privileges (and disadvantages) and intergenerational mobility? So, the UK, Italy, US and France are the countries with [...]

Via Visual Economics, the comparative “bubbles” are always interesting.

By now, you probably have read Jessica Valenti’s piece in the Washington Post, along with the myriad of sexist comments that prove her point: that  gender equality is far from established in the United States: For women in America, equality is still an illusion – washingtonpost.com via kwout I argued here before that the patriarchy [...]

The news is not really good: The New Poor – Despite Signs of Recovery, Long-Term Unemployment Rises – Series – NYTimes.com via kwout The stories are devastating and clearly point to the urgency of labor policy. Over at The Baseline Scenario, James Kwak has a series of graphics that give some nuance to unemployment data, [...]

This has already made the rounds and I blogged it a while back, but here is the updated and video version:

Title shamelessly borrowed from Gianni Silei. Bad news: no progress in the global fight against poverty | Social Watch via kwout Click on the image for humongous version. What is the Basic Capabilities Index?: ICB2009_reverso_eng.gif (GIF Image, 3000×1064 pixels) via kwout In greater details: Basic Capabilities Index: a starting point | Social Watch via kwout

This is a must-read by Social Watch: A failed financial architecture (flash) | Social Watch via kwout This is one of the smartest explanation of the global governance system and its systemic failures. This slide is unsurprising but still needs to be noted as a systemic feature: A failed financial architecture (flash) via kwout This [...]

Via Visual Economics, as always (and yes, yes, we can debate the issue of measurement but still) and yes, we already know that Spain and Greece are in pretty bad shape.

Sociedad y poder via kwout Update your bookmarks and RSS feeds!

According to this article in El País (in Spanish), this is is what Manuel Castells does in his latest book Communication Power but it does not mean that he has given up on the emancipatory potential of the Internet: La araña y su tela · ELPAÍS.com via kwout Read the whole thing. Although I would [...]

After reviewing the various privacy issues relating to Google Buzz, Christian Fuchs argues that Buzz is only the latest tool used by Google to exercise economic surveillance and that we should worry about such developments for the following reasons: Google Buzz: Economic Surveillance – Buzz Off! The Problem of Online Surveillance and the Need for [...]

Paging Todd Krohn, my favorite critical criminologist, about this: New NYPD Data for 2009 Shows Significant Rise in Stop-and-Frisks: More than Half Million New Yorkers Stopped Last Year | Center for Constitutional Rights via kwout Let us review: Blacks and Hispanics may show up in higher proportion in crime statistics NOT because they commit more [...]

The dominant mythical narrative of globalization (a la Tom Friedman) is one where the Global North is politically stable, economically prosperous and culturally modern as opposed to an overpopulated, politically corrupt, economically under-developed and socially chaotic Global South. As such, the Global North could dictate economic policies to the Global South through institutions of global [...]

At face value, something like this may seem practical: Montpellier: the cashless society – Europe, World – The Independent via kwout However, in the context of identity fraud and the surveillance society, this is worrisome as well. The idea of complete centralization of information on individuals has the potential for so much damage and risks [...]