The Global Sociology Blog

[This is a repost but a relevant one as I chose Richard Sennett as my sociologist of the semester.] Richard Sennett’s The Culture of the New Capitalism should be read as one more chapter in Sennett’s exploration of the transformation of labor and institutions, something he started in the 1970s with The Hidden Injuries of [...]

[Update: David Kay Johnston corrects me in comments: "That $70 billion estimate is for state and local subsidies only; the Shelf Project has shown that federal subsidies run about $1 trillion a year, roughly the same amount as is raised by the individual income tax."] Here is an interesting idea that seems to work: pay [...]

Via Paul Krugman, this is what Americans believe (click on the image for larger view): And this is what is (partly) leads to: I especially like this paragraph from Krugman: “So when you hear conservatives talk about how our goal should be equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes, your first response should be that [...]

I did not have any real expectations when I started reading Stargazing: Celebrity, Fame, and Social Interaction by Kerry O. Ferris and Scott R. Harris, beyond “here is a topic that might interest my students.” I have to say that I was disappointed. The book is an attempt to put Goffman’s concepts relating to the [...]

A good short film (perfect running time for class… 39 minutes) on poverty, environment and stratification: Watch Recycled Life in Travel & Culture |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

This timeline reveals how the “deranged man” hypothesis leads to faulty explanations based on individualization and protects white social movements from the scrutiny that non-white movements receive. The ideological context of this has been studied extensively by journalist David Neiwert. This list is quite long and definitely establishes a pattern of political violence. But if [...]

Via Denis Colombi, every year, we have to endure coverage of the Paris – Dakar (which is no longer from Paris to Dakar but never mind), where wealthy white men (and such races are gendered phenomena) get to use peripheral or semi-peripheral countries for their enjoyment, in a typical neo-colonialist fashion. Years ago, I got [...]

Via, A Decade of Jobs in America from Planet Money on Vimeo. As the article notes: “At the beginning of 2001, there were 132 million jobs in America. Between January of that year and the middle of 2002, the nation lost more than two million jobs — part of the recession that accompanied the dot-com [...]

And by “you”, I mean Twitter, via the stupendous Webilus:

So, this article has been making the rounds (why it’s in the Fashion and Style section? Who knows): “ARE the upper classes really indifferent to the hopes, fears and miseries of ordinary folk? Or is it that they just don’t understand their less privileged peers? According to a paper by three psychological researchers — Michael [...]

Piggy-backing on yesterday’s post on the subject of fatalistic suicides, this story: “Mohammed Bouazizi, 26, sold fruit and vegetables illegally in Sidi Bouzid because he could not find a job. Last month he doused himself in petrol and set himself alight when police confiscated his produce because he did not have the necessary permit. Public [...]

Or maybe not, via the EPI: Other findings: “– State and local employees are substantially more educated than their private-sector counterparts. About 54% of state and local full-time employees hold a bachelor’s degree compared to 35% in the private sector. – Public sector employees receive more of their compensation in the form of benefits than [...]

And ranking higher than economists and psychologists (methodology here): Best and Worst Jobs 2011 – The Wall Street Journal – Interactive Graphics via kwout

In Durkheim’s typology of suicides, fatalistic suicide is the ugly, neglected stepchild. Quick review: Fatalistic suicide only occupied a footnote in Durkheim’s work, described as the suicide of “persons with futures pitilessly blocked… or all suicides attributable to excessive physical or moral despotism.” Well (via)… “I had flown to Afghanistan to write about women who [...]