The Global Sociology Blog

When a politician faces some difficulty, such as an economic recession and increasing lack of popularity, nothing works better than pointing the finger at an unpopular minority and promising the public some drastic action against them. That is what the French administration under President Sarkozy is doing with a multi-pronged approach: raids against the Rom [...]

I reviewed The Spirit Level months ago (I actually had to get my copy from Canada since it was not yet published in the US). It is a powerful book that makes the case that, at a certain level of development, economic growth no longer generates benefits (such as longer life expectancy) but rather that [...]

Hey kids, remember how we all laughed when Jeremy Rifkin published The End of Work? Well… “GENEVA (ILO News) — Global youth unemployment has reached its highest level on record, and is expected to increase through 2010, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a new report issued to coincide with the launch of the [...]

This is the new America, the product of 30 years of neoliberalism: “Some 30,000 people lined up outside a local shopping centre in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday in the hope of receiving public housing assistance. The authorities were unprepared for the throng, which was unruly at times. Amid sweltering conditions, 62 people were hurt and [...]

Of course, by now, you have all heard about Steven Slater, the Jet Blue flight attendant who quit his job in a rather dramatic fashion after being abused by a passenger, something that was probably the last straw for him. This seems to me to be a perfect illustration of the “personal trouble – public [...]

Hat Tip Siah on Twitter (also here): It is such a perfect example of the arbitrariness of deviance and the role and power of moral entrepreneurs. The stigmas, you can get from anywhere and anything. And those of us old enough probably remember that, a few decades back, children were still being “corrected” in school [...]

While some praise the integration of Facebook and other social networking technologies into the video, all I see is the sexism… Really, these were the only places to put the “poke” and “add as friend” buttons (note that the men do NOT have buttons)? It’s all so casual. And no, the end of the video [...]

Under the guise of the national security state, we already know the extent of government surveillance at all levels, from the surveillance apparatus under the Patriot Act to ubiquitous closed circuit cameras. In addition, ever since David Lyon started working on the surveillance society, he has noted the extent to which online presence opens one [...]

I have mentioned before that I consider Zygmunt Bauman one of the most important social thinkers of our era. His concepts of liquidity and individualization have powerful explanatory power when it comes to the state of society at the beginning of the twenty-first century and in the global age. I am apparently not the only [...]

I have blogged before about the fact that patriarchy is both structural and normative. It exists through institutions that reproduce patriarchal privilege and inequalities. But it is also a cultural system entirely contributing to the normative acceptance of patriarchal symbols, discourse and values. And as with any normative system, there is a price to pay [...]

Via Naked Capitalism, the Wall Street Journal is shocked, SHOCKED, that the unemployed are not lining up to grab a few low-paid jobs that employers are good enough to throw their way. And, of course, they blame the extension of unemployment benefits. If these lazy bums were left with nothing, they would be grateful for [...]

Mickey 3D:

From The Guardian: “These absurdly rich people do not deserve admiration. They are spending half their fortunes buying themselves pleasure and influence. If the Gateses, von Furstenbergs and Bloombergs want top ranking in the pantheon of benefactors they have to give away something really important. How about giving the poor the chance to decide the [...]

Another great French socblog (my compatriots provide a lot of good content!) to add to the Global Sociology Blogroll: Changement de société via kwout A lot of posts on a variety of topics, and very recently, a lengthy interview with Saskia Sassen… someone is after my heart!

Culture Visuelle uses the now infamous Time Magazine cover of the mutilated face of an afghan woman to reflect on the uses of mutilated feminine bodies in photographs in the context of wars. At the post notes, such images of feminine suffering have been used to convey a message against violence and war. For instance, [...]