Category: Race & Ethnicity Studies

Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Psychology & Lifecourse

"British jobs for British workers"

by socanonymous Negative immigrant sentiments seem to appear in public discourse during various times of national concern. Host attitudes toward immigrants seem to be concerned most with access to scarce economic resources and competition for jobs. It would seem logical then that during times of economic turbulence, attitudes toward immigrants would be on the rise. A study by the Institute for Public Policy Research found that contrary to popular belief, foreign migrant workers do not pose a harmful threat to...

Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

“I Missed the Joke”: Race, Rupert Murdoch, and the NAACP

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4mBRYueMss] by NickieWild Last week, a very racially charged cartoon appeared in the New York Post, featuring a couple of police officers having killed a chimpanzee, with the caption, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” The cartoon was supposedly a somewhat weak joke about an animal that attacked a woman, and was shot by police in Connecticut, linked tenuously with commentary of a sort about President Obama’s economic plan. Civil rights leaders weren’t laughing....

Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Race and Distrust in a Texas Town

by theoryforthemasses The killing of a young black man in Paris, Texas last September reignited racial tensions in the community, tensions which federal mediators have recently been dispatched to resolve. The victim, Brandon McClelland, was run over and dragged by a pickup truck driven by two white men with whom McClelland was friends. Despite this reported friendship, some community members remain suspicious. Paris has a longstanding history of racial violence and conflict, and the killing is reminiscent of the James...

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...

Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

Hip-Hop in Beijing

by bmckernan In the last few decades, authenticity has become an increasingly popular area of social research. While much of the published work within this area has focused on authenticity in regards to notions of self, a growing body of literature has emerged that has sought to examine the relation between authenticity and popular culture. Within this burgeoning field, David Grazian’s Blue Chicago is perhaps one of the most critically acclaimed works. In Blue Chicago, Grazian uncovers what precisely an...

Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

The Obamas and the Status of Black Families

nmccoy1     As the Obamas take their place as the nation’s First Family in the White House as well as history, they are also apparently stepping into the role of ‘model African American family.’  A recent CNN article (see below) articulates the positive possibilities for the African American community in seeing a loving and stable Black family.  Though the media’s portrayal of African Americans has been caricatured and stereotyped as hypersexualized, welfare mothers, drug addicts, and gang members, the...

Gender & Sexuality / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Science & Technology / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Video Resources

Capitalism's meltdown and the Body (II)

by kiddingthecity Jeff Wall is famous for grand tableaux, which he shoots in sections over several months before stitching together the final image using computer montage. He has been known to spend almost two years on a single picture, with actors and crew to shoot scenes of the everyday. He teases out the myth of reality outside perception to the point that he is able to re-create in studio the ‘decisive moment’ of Cartier-Besson, in which the elements of an...

Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Organizations & Work

University Lecturers: Academics or Immigration Officers?

by paulabowles A group of university lecturers and students have recently handed a petition to the British Government, in order to protest against forthcoming immigration reform. As part of these new rules, UK universities will be required to obtain a licence before they can enrol students from outside the EU. Furthermore, the universities will also be expected to sponsor these overseas students for the period of their study. Although, the government insist these plans were subject to a period of...

Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Media & Communication

Who says what's news?

by dsantore   It seems like only yesterday that O.J. Simpson’s murder trial whipped up the country into a frenzy over crime, celebrities, race, and justice.  In the years since, we’ve had several chances (aided by mass media, of course) to revisit these themes: American football star Michael Vick and his dog-fighting ring, Michael Jackson’s bedroom, and several other high-profile instances come to mind.  This past week brings us a new case, involving New York Giants football player Plaxico Burress. ...

Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Science & Technology / Sociology of Culture

Perspective on Living in “Bad Times”

by rbobbitt Turn on the news on any given channel at any time during the day and more than likely you will hear something of the “hard times” befalling Americans as we continue to struggle through was has finally been recognized as a recession. As the holidays are upon us, pundits lament how holiday sales are down and people are modestly spending on one another. However, perhaps we Americans should be putting in perspective what we view as “tough times.”...

Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture

Joe the Plumber and Good Ol' American Reductionism

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U67Eg-3jP5k] by PThrelfall Joe the Plumber, the Johnny-come-late hero of the failing McCain-Palin presidential campaign, was a call to Americans to identify themselves, and hence the candidates, using a perspective that assumes that we are what we do.  Moreover, the subliminal message was that we are who we associate with.  In this sense, the campaign was attempting to build their social capital with a particular segment of middle American voters.  Theories of social capital include arduous debates on issues of...

Gender & Sexuality / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture

Whose economic crisis?

nmccoy1 The media, the government, and the stock market are reporting and reflecting on the economic crisis that seems to worsening by the minute.  People are out of work, jobs are not paying enough, savings are disappearing and Congress must act now (see article below) to protect the millions affected.  But none of this is new or any less urgent today than it was five, ten and twenty years ago to a large population of marginalized peoples.  The question is,...

Gender & Sexuality / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

Hope, Trust, and Dreams…

by kiddingthecity Like millions of people across the world I waited to know, wanted to hear and see the materialization of Hope, the wakening of a Dream, and the unfolding of Trust. Almost by chance, the day before I finally grabbed from the Goldsmiths Library a very fine and popular book. And less for a chance I have managed to read it all during the night, while keeping an eye at the small red and blue squares on the lower...

Race & Ethnicity Studies

When Political and Racist Views Intersect

by PlantingSeedsFromUA Recently, a seventh grade teacher in Jackson County school district in Florida received a 10-day suspension without pay and was ordered to write a letter of apology to his students for writing a racially charged interpretation of the word “change” during a social studies class. The teacher explained to his students, that the Obama’s campaign slogan stood for “Come Help A (N-word) Get Elected.”  Though the teacher was reassigned to teach in the district’s Adult Education Program, the...

Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

The Huxtables: America's original first family

by bmckernan Since Barack Obama first announced his candidacy, social commentators have repeatedly wondered if Americans are ready to elect an African-American president. Numerous comedians responded by jokingly pointing out that America has already had a black president, in hit television shows such as 24 and Hollywood blockbusters like Deep Impact (see LA Times article). The success of Barack Obama’s campaign has sent media outlets scrambling to determine what has changed in America, when just days earlier they were interpreting...

Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Media & Communication

The Myth of the Bradley Effect

As the United States sits on the verge of electing Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States and the first African American to hold that office, many political pundits, members of the voting public and even some scholars believe that Senator Obama may have to overcome the “Bradley effect.”  The Bradley effect refers to a 1982 California Gubernatorial race where Democratic candidate Tom Bradley, an African American, was ahead in the polls beyond the margin of error and...