The Global Sociology Blog

This is a pretty good representation of oil production since the 60s (I forgot who I got it from, so, can’t H/T), click “play” and watch the fun: 1980: 2000, watch the declining areas: 2010:

If you enjoyed the first season of the Wire, you will enjoy Peter Moskos‘s Cop in the Hood. The book is the tale of a sociologist going native by going through the Baltimore police academy, becoming a cop and working for over a year. This mix of ethnography and participant observation makes the book highly [...]

So, here is a map of my Twitter followers… can y’all say “global”? Obviously, I need to work on my Siberian following. In chart form: Levity aside, I should note that if one is interested in global events and perspectives, Twitter is the best social networking platform for that.

So I watched Super 8 in between grading. The movie is directed by J.J. Abrams, but Steven Spielberg has his hands all over it, especially with all the kids stuff. Not to spoil anything but Super 8 = E.T. + Stand By Me 2.0. It is a mix of scifi, disaster / scary monster /coming [...]

French sociologist Alain Accardo has penned an interesting essay on the social movement that has spread all over Europe, starting in Spain with Los Indignados, Les Indignés en France, or the whole Occupy movement in the US and elsewhere. For him, analysis of the movement has either focused on the emotional aspects (hence the reference [...]

This one goes out to my friend and colleague JY who despaired yesterday of her s@#$ for brains students. I think a big chunk of the reason is things like these: Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy: Americans are assumed to not be interested in international and global affairs (beyond dropping freedom bombs via freedom drones on [...]

This awesome visual from the Independent:

I am somewhat convinced that parts of the fear of globalization in certain circles have to do with the fear of the loss of white people privilege and dominance worldwide. For instance: “For the first time, non-white people make up the majority of Brazil’s population, according to preliminary results of the 2010 census. Out of [...]

Actually, not really and less and less (via here and here): I guess it’s more fun going after Wikileaks and Anonymous. Marcy Wheeler explains: “The government as a whole has prosecuted 57.7% fewer financial fraud crimes than they did 10 years ago, when 9/11 changed everything. The report on our government’s growing disinterest in prosecuting [...]

This awesome animation from The Guardian is an absolute must-see: A very clear explanation of inequalities.

And Goldman Sachs is its favorite organization from which to extend its power. Case in point: three former GS men now rule the European Central Bank, Italy and Greece: “Qu’ont en commun Mario Draghi, Mario Monti et Lucas Papadémos ? Le nouveau président de la Banque centrale européenne, le président désigné du conseil italien et [...]

Which is why, as demonstrated by this Cracked article (Cracked tend to be a mixed bag but this one hits the nail on the head) regarding five persistent prejudice in movies that contribute to, you guessed it, the reproduction of racism and patriarchy: 5. They Still Can’t Show a Black Man Dating a White Woman [...]

This poster from the French National Front (a fascist political party) is a perfect illustration of using visual elements to convey political messages based on racism, nostalgia for a reconstructed past, as well as a dystopian future (if people vote the wrong way!). Of course, both images are themselves, well, imaginary: this is a past [...]

If you are going to read one author / journalist on the issue of global criminality, it should be Misha Glenny. His two latest books are strong indictments of the global governance system and its lack of teeth when it comes to global criminal organizations as well as national oligarchies’s role in destabilizing economies and [...]