The Global Sociology Blog

From Jose Marichal, this very interesting article summarizing a study on racist thinking: “Racists take comfort in an imagined consensus. That’s the implication of a new Australian study, which suggests a possible approach to breaking through bigoted beliefs. The newly published research, which surveyed attitudes towards that nation’s Aboriginal population, found prejudiced people are far [...]

The Dual Challenge of Global Governance | Global Policy Journal via kwout This becomes indeed a very relevant point in light of this: The World Bank Share Shuffle: China Wins, Africa Loses | Global Poverty | Change.org via kwout Let’s not bury the nation-state too fast, shall we? Some states can still flex their muscles, [...]

“No class of Brazilians is unaffected by the effects of inequality. Living in fabulous privilege among so many desperately poor people, the Brazilian rich have found it increasingly necessary to isolate themselves from their fellow citizens. One example of the ironies of inequality comes from a Washington Post story dated June 1, 2002, which documents [...]

Old war (Desert Storm… click on the image for a larger view): New war (Afghanistan… also click on the image for a larger view)

Tony Karon neatly sums up how the world of soccer, although still organized along national lines for international competition, and local (and corporate) lines for domestic championship, is a thoroughly globalized one where individual players seamlessly navigate across global flows (of money, mainly): Who ‘we’ are when the whistle blows – Times LIVE via kwout [...]

Via Pierre Bourdieu (no, not THE Pierre Bourdieu, THAT Pierre Bourdieu) who haunts Twitter, la Tribune de Genève has an interview with David Lyon, the foremost expert on the Surveillance Society. In this interview (in French), Lyon takes on the “nothing to hide? Nothing to fear” attitude of the general public regarding the loss of [...]

Usual disclaimer: good science-fiction is good sociology, and Robert J. Sawyer is one of my favorite scifi writers (along with fellow Canadian Robert Charles Wilson). WWW: Watch is the second volume in the WWW trilogy (the first volume, WWW: Wake reviewed here). I have to say that I enjoyed this one more than I did [...]

The title from this post is borrowed from a column by George Monbiot in The Guardian referring to what the volcano eruption and financial crisis have in common: strained system, pushed to the limits. What links the banking crisis and the volcano? | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian via kwout Although [...]

Via the always incredible Information is Beautiful, colors in culture:

Congratulations…

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm   You’re probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people’s grammatical mistakes make you insane. Dedicated Reader   Literate Good Citizen   Book Snob   [...]

It is always amazing to witness cultural scripts reproduced across a variety of media. Here is a brilliant example in cartoons (via the excellent Trixie Biltmore). My favorites: Or this one Do check out the whole series though.

I have blogged quite a bit about crimes of honor but this is a new one: Un bébé de 2 jours victime d’un “crime d’honneur” en Turquie – LeMonde.fr via kwout As the article notes,seven people were arrested near Istanbul, the two-day old baby was born out of wedlock and was therefore killed by its [...]

Again via Visual Economics:

Via Visual Economics: