The Global Sociology Blog

Via Urban Demographics:

The idea of riots exploding when food becomes scarce or unaffordable is not new. This is something that has been discussed before in the context of what used to be called the “IMF riots”, that is riots caused by the implementation of structural adjustment programs in developing countries (“structural adjustment” is roughly equivalent to austerity [...]

A few days ago, I blogged about an interview with  Monique Pinçon-Charlot in which she noted that the wealthy were getting scared, especially considering the recent UK riots, of social instability caused by the massive increase in inequalities that occurred in the past 30 years or so along with the 2008 recession. As a result, they might [...]

Your must-read of the day from one of the most important sociologists of social movements: “Neoliberalism is a political doctrine that brings with it a minimalist vision of the public and democracy, as Colin Crouch demonstrates so well in his Post-Democracy. It envisages the reduction of political intervention to correcting the market (with consequent liberalisation, [...]

This very resource-rich blog both in English and French: So, update your bookmarks, RSS, blogrolls and follow on Twitter.

I know this… … is supposed to be good news. But this concerns me: “Moreover, the report describes “several notable mismatches between the fields of interest of graduate students and the fields in which departmental searches are most common.” For example, the sociology of culture and scholarship of race, class, and gender ranked much higher [...]

From this interesting article in which Malcolm James explains how law enforcement polices public spaces against youth pre-crime: “Even before the riots, the streets were dangerous places for young people to be. Young people at Leeside talked of community support officers and police prowling the streets, assuming they were up to no good. The community [...]

Via Mark Thoma, these enlightening series of graphs for all who worry about the ginormous amounts of money we supposedly spend on welfare: Fewer and fewer people receiving TANF: And TANF is not very responsive to higher unemployment:

Via Al-Jazeera’s excellent series, People and Power:

For a certain cranky sociologist who has been at it for almost five years, this reads like vindication: “Intellectually, this may [sic] the hour of global sociology, taken as a scholarship, with its sensitivity to variety and limitations as well as to connectivity, and its refraining from policy pontificating. Half a century ago, I entered university, in [...]

Perfect illustration of yesterday’s post: The Daily Show – World of Class Warfare – Warren Buffett vs. Wealthy Conservatives Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Thanks to VeganProf for mentioning this one to me: Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour. As I have mentioned before on this topic, this is hegemonic triumph: cultural belief in equal opportunity, a moralistic view of social inequality and social mobility, along with a refusal to generally discuss inequalities outside of these terms. [...]

Without John Frusciante, from their new album I’m With You, “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie”. Obviously, it needs more cow bell. Also, man have they gone soft since the days of Blood Sugar Sex Magic.

In science, it pays to be white: “Black scientists in the US are much less likely to be awarded funding than their white counterparts, says a US government research-funding agency. The National Institutes of Health said that out of every 100 funding applications it considered, 30 were granted to white applicants. This compared with 20 [...]

Of course, everyone and their brother has been talking about Warren Buffett’s op-ed in the New York Times, in which he breaks rank with his social class to claim too low a level of taxation on the wealthy like him and to advocate for higher taxation. Of course, this has won him a lot of [...]