Category: Class & Stratification

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Science & Technology / Sociology of Culture

Veiled Beauty: Saudi Arabia and Plastic Surgery

by NickieWild As Westerners, it is difficult for us to imagine a situation where women are regarded as the mysterious “Other” more than in Saudi Arabia, where wearing the hijab is required and what we consider basic rights, such as full employment and driving privileges, are not universal. There, Simone de Beauvoir’s concept of a gendered hierarchy is unusually present. Thus, it might seem strange to learn that plastic surgery procedures in that country are on the rise for women....

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture

Iran's Purchase Power

by christinablunt Iran will elect its next president on June 12 and while the rest of the world may be watching to see how the result might impact human rights within Iran as well as Iran’s aggressive foreign policy and nuclear program, Iranians, like most other global citizens, have the economy on the top of their agenda. A great debate has ensnared the candidates, including current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Though the dispute continues, the divisions are clear; Ahmadinejad and his...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture

Courting Women

by christinablunt Yesterday, President Obama announced that Judge Sonia Sotomayor would be his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. It seemed evident from the time that Justice Souter announced his retirement that the next nominee would be a woman. The Court is historically unbalanced in terms of gender as well as race. If her nomination is confirmed Sotomayor will only be the third woman to ever serve the court. Last year was a tough one for women in politics. Both...

Class & Stratification / Science & Technology

Health Care Reform: An Uphill Battle Against the Health Insurance Industry?

by smteixeirapoit In the United States, many citizens do not have health insurance. Some people cannot afford health insurance. A recent CNN article explains that other people are unable to obtain health insurance because they have pre-existing medical conditions. People that have group insurance plans are able to receive health care coverage even with pre-existing conditions. However, some people do not have group insurance plans because their employers do not provide health insurance, they are self-employed, or they are unable...

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology

The Inequality and Irony of Free Trade

by socanonymous Due to increasing fears surrounding the spread of the influenza A (H1N1) or Swine Flu, participating countries in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations are banning pork products and increasing trade restrictions, all in an atempt to contain the virus.  The irony of the situation, as some environmentalists and other critics argue, is that the lax rules and regulations surrounding free trade agreements such as NAFTA are partially to blame for creating the necessary conditions leading to such an...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Contentious Data: Hate Crimes and Resistance to the Matthew Sheperd Act

by NickieWild Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act,” also known as the Matthew Shepard Act. Named after a college student who was robbed, tortured, and killed in Wyoming in 1998, it is believed that he was targeted because he was gay. The legislation will enhance Justice Department powers to investigate violent crimes where the victim may have been chosen due to actual or perceived race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion,...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Gender Wage Gap

by smteixeirapoit A recent news article discusses the findings of three surveys used by the Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom. The results suggest that the gender wage gap does not necessarily exist when examining comparable occupations. The findings state that, if the gender wage gap does exist, it is because of motherhood rather than womanhood. The news article concludes that females would like to be employed because of their merits instead of being patronized by “quota feminists”....

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication / Sociology of Organizations & Work

George Ritzer Guest Post: Are Today’s Globalized Cathedrals of Consumption Tomorrow’s Global Dinosaurs?

By: George Ritzer Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland A decade ago I wrote a book dealing with what I called the “cathedrals of consumption”. These are consumption settings that had, in the main, come into existence in the United States in the post-WWII era. Of particular interest were the most grandiose of these consumption settings including major indoor shopping malls, mega-malls (e.g. Mall of America), theme parks (especially Disneyland and Disney World), cruise ships, and above all the themed...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture

Toilets: The New Model of Social Parity?

nmccoy1 Forty years after second wave women’s movements took to the streets demanding equal pay and legal protections we are finally seeing a move in the direction of parity and it is taking place in the bathroom.  The recent decision by Yankee Stadium (see article below) to take gender into consideration in its architecture is both an historic and sobering moment.  Gender, race, class, and sexual discrimination is not simply a matter of laws and codes, it is also culturally...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture

The Struggle Continues

by rbobbitt Sitara Achikzai, a prominent women’s rights activist was assassinated in outside her home in Kandahar, Afghanistan this past week. Achikzai, who lived in Germany during the Taliban rule, had returned to Afghanistan after the ousting of the Taliban to fight for women’s rights. A member of Kandahar provincial council, she was often vocal in urging women to take jobs and join the fight to regain their rights and push for equality. This senseless murder sheds light on the...

Class & Stratification / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Media & Communication

Super-Anomie? U.S. Shooting Incidents in the Last 30 Days

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J22mLsZd2C8] by NickieWild As of today, according to msnbc.com, 43 people have died in the last 30 days in mass-shooting incidents across the U.S. There are several sociological theories that could potentially explain this. Messner and Rosenfeld’s “American Dream” structural strain theory posits that when there is a gap between what one wants to achieve and what seems possible, violence increases. For the immigrant who shot 13 people and himself in Binghamton, NY last week, there is evidence that points...

Class & Stratification / Science & Technology / Sociology of Culture

Is Evolutionary Psychology Just Sociology in Disguise?

by theoryforthemasses A recent book written by philosopher Dennis Dutton draws from the burgeoning field of evolutionary psychology to explain the biological foundations of creativity.  Dutton attempts to synthesize Darwin’s theory of evolution with culture, suggesting that creative capacities have been passed on from one generation to the next as a mode of survival.  Storytellers, for example, would have been able to work out “what if” scenarios through making up stories, a practice that would keep them from risking their...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Culture

Global Justice

By rbobbitt   A recent report from the British medical journal The Lancet reports that over 100,000 women died in fires in India in a single year (see New York Times article). These fires stem from a serious domestic abuse issues in India in which women are doused in gasoline and set ablaze, their deaths blamed on “kitchen accidents.” Domestic abuse as become a major problem in the country, as women are often killed over dowry disputes, with no repercussions sought...

Class & Stratification / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Media & Communication

‘What’s it all about, Alfie?’

                                                                                                       by paulabowles Once again the emotive issue of teenage pregnancy has hit the headlines in the UK. The recent news that 13 year old Alfie, and his 15 year old girlfriend Chantelle have become parents, has sparked a frenzy occupying all branches of the media from the broadsheets to the tabloids and the BBC to YouTube, as well as attracting the attention of senior politicians. Although, very young, Alfie and Chantelle are by no means, the youngest children to...

Class & Stratification / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Status Hierarchies and Harassment in the Workplace

During the shooting of Terminator 4, actor Christian Bale was caught on tape verbally abusing the director of cinematology for allegedly messing up a shot.  The internet is now buzzing with news stories, blogs, the actual audio tapes, as well as spoofs regarding the incident.  Listening to the audio  of the actual incident, cringing, I imagined myself on the set having to bear witness of such abuse.  One has to wonder what variables play into an individual’s willingness to release all impulses and...

Class & Stratification / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Media & Communication

Conflict, Propaganda, and “Homeland Security”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6akE9YDEUo] by NickieWild A new television show on the U.S. broadcast network ABC called “Homeland Security USA” has been stirring up controversy within the immigrants’ rights community. Ostensibly a Homeland Security Department version of the long-running show “Cops,” this version includes border and port security activity. Critics ask, is this just another reality show, or an elaborate piece of propaganda? Some civil rights groups believe the latter, and one has organized a protest and boycott directed against the show. They...