Category: Opinion

Opinion

Whose Rights: Human Rights and Human Agency in the context of Humanitarian Intervention

In what seems to be a dramatic shift in foreign policy, the France has found itself involved militarily in three wars. French forces are currently engaged in Cote d’Ivoire, Libya, and Afghanistan. All three interventions are purported to be in the name of peace and security. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Sarkozy and his government have emphasized that they are using military force in the name of the United Nations, not out of any colonial impulse, with the...

Opinion

Excellent Teaching…

Bill Gates’ address to the National Governor’s Association last month was an ode to excellent teaching. Except that it wasn’t. What we have to do, Gates chirped (to the tune of former DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee), is “measure, develop, and reward excellent teaching…We have to identify great teachers, find out what makes them so effective, and transfer those skills to others.” But excellent teaching –as sociologists Lori Dance (2002) and Sarah Lawrence-Lightfoot (1984) have shown through their research,...

Opinion

Authors in Focus: Sophia Nathenson discusses her article, "Critical Theory and Medical Care in America: Changing Doctor–Patient Dynamics"

  In this edition of Authors in Focus, Sociology Compass author Sophia Nathenson discusses the utility of critical theory for understanding the  doctor-patient relationship, as well as some of the broader issues in health care today. Listen to the informative interview by clicking  HERE… And then read the article by clicking here  

Opinion

IBM's Watson on Jeopardy! Blurring the Line between Humans and Technology

To the left is a 1917 portrait of Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM. A few weeks ago, IBM debuted its latest supercomputer, named after this giant of innovation (Watson), on the TV game-show Jeopardy! Though it seemed as though Watson was standing in between the two other competitors on the show, as Jeopardy! provided the computer with the same electronically-equipped podium as the other contestants, and even wrote “his” name on said podium, the brains behind this powerful supercomputer...

Opinion

The Decline Effect, the Structure of Science, and ESP? How should sociologists think about replicability?

An intriguing article in the December 13th issue of The New Yorker by Jonah Lehrer explained the “decline effect” and presented some hypotheses for its existence; here I provide a summary of the article and discuss its relevance for the issue of scientific replicability in sociology. The article set the blog world abuzz; Google returns 947 cases of “decline effect” from November 30th to December 16th this year, while the same range last year yields 158 cases. The “decline effect”...

Opinion

The influence of science on morality

Recently, I’ve come across several mentions of the role of science in influencing morality. Most of these discussions allude to the following question: to what extent do scientific findings influence people’s concepts of right and wrong or even good and evil? The discussion is generally about the role the natural sciences play in these determinations, but I often wonder what sociologists’ role is in shaping concepts of morality. I do not have an answer to the above question and will...

Opinion

From mourning to reflection: considerations in the aftermath of a trajedy

Rutgers University has been my intellectual home for the last 8 years. Recently, one of our freshman, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. He took his own life after his roommate and another student posted a video of him engaging in sexual activity with another student on the internet. This horribly sad and disturbing event sparked an emotional reaction on our campus, as well as discussion of how to protect students from this kind of...

Opinion

New issue of Sociology Compass out now! (Vol 4, Issue 10)

The latest issue of Sociology Compass is available on Wiley Online Library Communication & Media Sexualised Culture and Young People’s Sexual Health: A Cause for Concern? (pages 824–840) Clare Bale Article first published online: 3 OCT 2010 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00316.x Crime & Deviance Drug War Politics: Governing Culture Through Prohibition, Intoxicants as Customary Practice and the Challenge of Drug Normalisation (pages 841–855) Shane Blackman Article first published online: 3 OCT 2010 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00324.x In the Spirit of Selden Bacon:...

Opinion

Facebook Places and the Augmentation of Reality

You probably have heard about Facebook Places, a feature that brings the site up to speed with other location-sharing services like Foursquare and Gowalla that allow users to document where they are, as well as potentially who they are with and other comments about that location. The term “augmented reality” is often used to describe the layering of digital information onto the physical world [examples of where it is now, and where it might be going]. However, I have argued...

Opinion

Sociology Podcast: Managing a Co-Editorship

Brian Donovan and Bill Staples, the current co-editors of The Sociological Quarterly, discuss their methods for successfully managing the workload and relationship of a co-editorship. Listen to the Podcast here. [c/o Wiley-Blackwell Sociology Editors Forum 2010]

Opinion

Implicit Issues in Predicting the Future?

Sociologists are paying increasing attention to the future, both in terms of our predictive abilities and simply in terms of theorizing about the future and it’s role in the present world. Network theory, for instance, is not only a theory of the present but one that allows for predictions about interaction and resources in the future. The article. below, describes a sociology of the future in the context of technology but what struck me most was the final sentence, which...

Opinion

Invitation to Sociology Editors Forum 2010 at this year's ASA

Wiley-Blackwell will host a Sociological Editors Forum at ASA in Atlanta and a community site has been created to complement the event. The Forum will give journal editors an opportunity to discuss hot topics in sociology publishing with peers. Please visit the community site for more information and valuable resources – http://asaeditorsforum.wordpress.com. If you are a journal editor and would like to attend the event, please email scanney@wiley.com. We look forward to seeing journal editors in Atlanta and/or on the...

Opinion

Social Media Fear-Baiting: The Immortality of Digital Content

The New York Times recently ran a story about how “The Web Means the End of Forgetting.” It describes a digital age in which our careless mass exhibitionism creates digital documents that will live on forever. The article is chock full of scary stories about how ill-advised status updates can ruin your future life. These sorts of scare-tactic stories serve a purpose: they provide caution and give pause regarding how we craft our digital personas. Those most vulnerable should be...

Opinion

what if facebook paid us?

A wildly improbable thought experiment: what if Facebook moved to a micropayment model and gave users, say, $1 for contributing value to their site? This would be a raise, of course, because we are currently paid $0 in wages. However, I’ll argue that if Facebook paid its users there would be a user-revolt. First, Facebook makes money. That you diligently provide them with your personal data makes you an unpaid worker in their digital goldmine. In the traditional Marxist framework,...

Opinion

Event Clusters and Social Change – Women in Positions of Political Power

Hillary Clinton ran to be the democratic nominee for president. Sarah Palin ran to be the vice president. There are more women than ever before running for governor (e.g. Whitman, Haley, Hutchison and Brewer, to name a few), for the senate, and for all levels of political office. Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as a supreme court justice and this week, Elena Kagan may become the fourth woman to sit on the supreme court. Surely, over the last several decades, women...

Opinion

What about the boys? Solutions to violence against women.

I was recently in a heated conversation about how to address sexual violence against women. During this chat, I was reminded that girls are almost always the focus in these kinds of discussions.  Increased attention has been paid in the last several decades to men who commit crimes against women, particularly rapists, (most of the public discourse is about heterosexual relationships) and yet, when it comes to solutions, there is very little talk about boys and men. While we tell...