The Global Sociology Blog

On the heels of our disappointment that Mark Granovetter did not get the (fake) economics prize, Denis Colombi started the idea of a sociology version. Colombi has two initial laureates: Howard S. Becker whose body of work is diverse, brilliant AND readable. Mark Granovetter (no surprise here, Colombi has long been a fan of economic [...]

It’s all fun and games to get a new smartphone every six months, but there is an environmental cost to that (plus the labor issue, of  course). Via Good,

Like my comrade-in-arms Todd Krohn, I am skeptical of the power of social networking sites to single-handedly push for progressive social change. But look Todd, things do too happen thanks to social networking sites, real change! “US clothes retailer Gap has scrapped a new logo just one week after its introduction following an “outpouring of [...]

The World Economic Forum published its 2010 Gender Gap Index, “The Global Gender Gap Report’s index assesses 134 countries on how well they divide resources and opportunities amongst male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources. The report measures the size of the gender inequality gap in four areas: 1) Economic participation [...]

As always, when people invoke traditions, it is when they engage in oppressive, sexist and patriarchal practices but do not want it questioned. Part 1 Part 2 These guys kidnap brides like they would get a beast of burden: to work and breed. This is not limited to Kyrgystan: “I decided to travel to Chechnya [...]

John Robb ‘s Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and The End of Globalization (Global Guerrillas Blog) adds a few concepts to the topic of new wars and the changing nature of warfare. At the same time, for those of us who have studied the changing nature of warfare and are familiar with [...]

54%, that is the US of the world’s military spending, according to SIPRI. “Military spending rose across the world last year. At a time when governments across the world have been borrowing heavily in order to spend, it seems the defence industry has benefited more than most. Worldwide military expenditure reached $1,531bn (£1,040bn) last year, [...]

Here we go again with a major French newspaper of record carrying water for a right-wing think tank keen on promoting a so-called “explosion” of girl violence (no link to that garbage). Two sociologists – Laurent Mucchielli and Coline Cardi – engage in the thankless task of debunking this nonsense. The supposed explosion is due [...]

Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark’s latest album – History of Modern – rocks. New Babies, New Toys: There’s no heaven There’s no hell Cream will float But shit will sell

Unequal and nasty seems to be the conclusion drawn by several social scientists and thinkers. First, inequality has been growing for a few decades now but this has not affected the lack of class consciousness in the United States. Americans consistently underestimate class differences but, as sociologist Claude Fisher notes, even if they did, it [...]

Over at SOSSES, Christophe Foraison relates this interesting activity done by his high school juniors: get the students in teams to draw society in 10 minutes. Foraison posts the results with his commentary.  I found three entries particularly interesting since they spontaneously seem to represent the Holy Trinity of Social Theory for beginners. But, of [...]

Bad pun, I know (great book though) One does not have to be an expert on Saskia Sassen to know that the city is at the heart of social change in the age of globalization, from global cities to planet of slums, a great deal of research has focused on how cities promote, or adapt [...]

By Manu Chao, a short song on the condition of the undocumented immigrant: Lyrics: Solo voy con mi pena Sola va mi condena Correr es mi destino Para burlar la ley Perdido en el corazón De la grande Babylon Me dicen el clandestino Por no llevar papel Pa’ una ciudad del norte Yo me fui [...]