The Global Sociology Blog

My brain must already be fried from grading because I find this both hilarious and a good example of ethnocentrism: “A woman in the US has made headlines after complaining about cricket messages sent to her Twitter account, which is named @theashes. The woman says she knows nothing about cricket but has received scores of [...]

Sociologist Camille Peugny and philosopher Fabienne Brugère co-wrote an op-ed in Le Monde arguing that pushing for real equality is not a cute idea from unrealitic dreamers. Here is the gist of their argument. Peugny and Brugère argue that what we get now is lip service paid to Republican equality while in reality nothing is really [...]

Via Jessica Sherwood on Twitter, what a great representation of the effect of inequality on income. So, let’s play. I used $45,000 income, which is roughly average in the US. So, at current inequality level in the US: Untitled via kwout Now, if we had instead Sweden’s much greater redistribution: Untitled via kwout Nice! On [...]

Witches: “A 72-year-old Ghanaian woman [pictured left before she was taken to a hospital] has been burned to death on suspicion of being a witch, prompting condemnation from the country’s human rights groups. Ama Hemmah was allegedly tortured into confessing she was a witch, doused in kerosene and set alight. She suffered horrific burns and [...]

Richard Sennett links complacent solidarity to the 2008 financial crisis. The video (below) is about 90 minutes long. If you don’t want to get through the whole thing, here is the gist: Complacent solidarity is that of ritualized (bureaucratic) social interactions that are just enough to make deals, with the underlying beliefs that we will [...]

Der Spiegel has a great interactive feature illustrating the spread and intensity of the leaks by country / year / month: … – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News via kwout As I have mentioned elsewhere, the content of these leaks reeks of desperation of a superpower in decline that tries to cling to its power and [...]

It’s true! (Via Social Psych): Untitled via kwout I know, I know, you’re all dying to hear the song, right? And here’s the short interview on how sociology helps with music and art:

Via Mitch Wagner, you must read this (yes, fairly longish but well worth it) article on the global social and economic consequences of Big Pizza. I’ll extract just a few snippets: “But what if that large pie delivered to your doorstep costs more than you think? A number of economists, sociologists, and food scholars claim [...]

It is “interesting” how discussions of crime and punishment vary based on the social classes of offenders. Take this example, for instance, by Laurent Mucchielli, regarding financial criminality: Despite recurring complaints from the financial world (and especially in the context of the 2008 financial crisis), economic criminality is hardly the target of out-of-control justice systems [...]

Democracy, what a concept: “Iceland is to review its constitution in a unique experiment in direct democracy that will see citizens forming a new people’s assembly. An election tomorrow will select up to 31 citizens who will form the constitutional assembly that will convene early next year. Those elected will receive a salary equal to that [...]

Thank FSM, Webilus is back! Note that the US is not getting the best speed for smartphones. Also, this also screams “digital divide.”

Via Pew Internet, And as the report notes, these inequalities also apply to other devices: “The relatively well-to-do are also more likely than those in lesser-income households to own a variety of information and communications gear. 79% of those living in households earning $75,000 or more own desktop computers, compared with 55% of those living [...]

This … ‘Sexist’ tax cut would benefit Ireland as a whole | Eleanor Fitzsimons | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk via kwout … got me riled up. This is what it’s all about: “The revelation in the news yesterday of an IMF proposal to lower the income tax rate of Irish women returning to the [...]

UN Habitat has just published its State of African Cities 2010: Governance, Inequality and Urban Land Market. Globally, the 21st century is and will continue to be an urban century, but especially so in the periphery. As the report states: “In 2009 Africa’s total population for the first time exceeded one billion, of which 395 [...]

Via the EPI: It’s because all these kids have no incentive to work and pull themselves by their bootstraps, what with all the benefits and free public schools.