The Global Sociology Blog

We’ve all been kettled. The term, of course, refers to a form of containment used by law enforcement against protestors who are then surrounded by a thick cordon of police, with either one narrow exit or no exit at all as police advances and reduces the space available to those kettled. Once duly kettled, sometimes [...]

Last book review of the year! I have been looking for some solid analysis regarding the mass killings of Ciudad Juarez, so, naturally, I downloaded Charles Bowden‘s Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and The Global Economy’s New Killing Fields. This book is not Juarez 101. It is not a journalistic or analytical account of what happens [...]

Paging Stephanie Coontz, marriage is changing! “Some are divorced and disenchanted with marriage; others are young couples ideologically opposed to marriage, but eager to lighten their tax burdens. Many are lovers not quite ready for old-fashioned matrimony. Whatever their reasons, and they vary widely, French couples are increasingly shunning traditional marriages and opting instead for [...]

We want War, from their album, Hidden.

Via the EPI, unsurprisingly: Also, keep this in mind:

Let’s just remember who makes all the stuff you are going to buy, or people who make the buildings in which people make the stuff you buy. And let’s remember that a cheap price does not come by magic: a price is made cheap and kept cheap by making and maintaining labor cheap, mostly through [...]

Indexed:

I am sure you have seen these commercials: And this one: Obviously, the use of cranky old – and very famous – ladies is supposed to be funny. In terms of gender, the idea is that a hungry man turns into a bitchy old hag. Because, of course, there is no masculine way of being [...]

Via Good, the social ladder, on a shirt, note the different colors and textures as you move up or down the shirt:

Interesting article in that it shows how social class membership is embedded in everything about us: “When you hear the words “class struggle”, do you reach for your toothbrush? You should. According to a report on adult dental health released this week by the NHS, one adult in 10 in Wales has none of their own [...]

Push That Knot Away, from her latest album, Tiger Suit, and a cool video to go along with it:

I believe the main revelations of the Wikileaks cables are not the diplomatic gossip but rather the exposure of state complicity in corporate  - if not crimes – questionable practices. This is truly what we must not be allowed to know and see, especially in the context of unrest in major European countries as the [...]

This time, it’s upward mobility (or lack thereof): As the article notes: “America is often called the land of opportunity, and that class mobility has long been a popular tenet of American culture. But the reality is that many children who grow up poor remain poor as adults. In addition, mobility is not always upward, [...]

If you understand French, you must listen to the entirety of this discussion on the social dimensions of Internet use, networking, corporate concentration, information control, generational attitudes (moral panic at every new technological breakthrough! and the digital natives are good at pushing button but suck at coding and creating content) with Dominique Cardon and Anne-Marie [...]

Via Mihaela Biohlan, you can’t make this up: U.S. to Host World Press Freedom Day in 2011 via kwout