Latest articles from sociology lens

Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

The New Wave of Deterrence and its Internalization

The notion of deterrence has no doubt become a mainstay in criminal justice for understanding and preventing criminal activity. Today’s use of deterrence highlights its influence seeing that its principles can be traced to the work of Cesare Beccaria in 1764. Reflecting the utilitarian framework, he noticed that citizens give a measure of their freedom to the government so that it can enforce agreed upon laws to keep the public safe and secure (social contract). Beccaria, reacting to the harsh...

Political & Economic Sociology / Social Movements / Social Change

The Morass of Corruption

When Indian anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare went on an indefinite hunger strike last April in Delhi, his main demand was the passage of legislation (the Jan Lokpal bill) creating an independent body to address public corruption. The hunger strike lasted only four days, as the Indian government agreed to re-introduce the bill in Parliament. (The bill has yet to be passed.) Hazare is the most public face of an active social movement regarding government corruption in India that has included conferences,...

Science & Technology / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Illness or Deviance: A Contested Space Between Criminal Justice and Medicine

Foucault wrote that the nineteenth century ushered in a new way to inspect the body; recognizing that medical personnel had placed the patient under “perpetual examination” (1975). His interest, however, was on the discourse that produced, maintained, and extended the medical look or “gaze” (1975). The “clinic,” for Foucault, became an apparatus of examination; a site of knowledge production bound by rules and regulations. It became an authoritative institution where the individual became the object of scrutiny (Long, 1992). Following...

Sociology of Culture / Teaching & Learning Guide

College Students and Social Media: Making Meaning of Everyday Activities in the Classroom…

When Harrisburg University in Harrisburg, PA attempted a week-long social media “blackout” in September 2010, national news media swarmed the campus. A “smartly dressed correspondent from NPR stalk[ed] the staircase,” the Chronicle of Higher Education reported, and as soon as the Chronicle itself spirited away some students for an exclusive interview, a reporter from the Associated Press came barging in. “Oh no—not another one,” one student cried out. Another, weary, explained with a sigh that he had just finished begging...

Sociology of Culture

Engaging Sociologically with Students’ Facebook Usage

It’s the middle of class. Looking out into the classroom, a dim light reflects on students’ faces as they stare or type into the devices in front of them.  Walking up and down the aisles, blue-tinted Facebook pages on the students’ screens are usually the source of the reflected light. While such students might seem withdrawn from the class, this familiar scene holds a potential goldmine of sociological exploration and examples. If these students are already intently interested in, or...

Political & Economic Sociology / Science & Technology / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance / Sociology of Organizations & Work / Teaching & Learning Guide

New issue of Sociology Compass out now! (Vol 5, Issue 9)

Crime & Deviance Racial Profiling/Biased Policing (pages 763–774) Clayton Mosher Article first published online: 6 SEP 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2011.00403.x Culture Social Interaction: Do Non-humans Count? (pages 775–791) Karen A. Cerulo Article first published online: 6 SEP 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2011.00404.x Organisations & Work Mediators of Opportunity: High School Counselors in the 21st Century (pages 792–806) Vicki Smith Article first published online: 6 SEP 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2011.00407.x   Work and Neoliberal Globalization: A Polanyian Synthesis (pages 807–823) Nina Bandelj,...

Opinion

Sociology Spotlight – a new free app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch!

        Wiley-Blackwell is delighted to announce that Sociology Spotlight, a must-have free iPhone, iPad and iPod touch app, has now gone live in the iTunes App Store! Download it for FREE on your iPad or iPhone – http://bit.ly/r47Owr Watch the Video Trailer – http://bit.ly/pWvZt8 This exciting new app gives you the following community features at your fingertips, anywhere, anytime – • Latest information on key Sociology conferences and latest conference tweets, CURRENT UPDATES FOR ASA2011 • A...

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

New issue of Sociology Compass out now! (Vol 5, Issue 8)

    Sociology Compass © Blackwell Publishing Ltd Volume 5, Issue 8 Pages 666 – 762, August 2011 The latest issue of Sociology Compass is available on Wiley Online Library   Communication & Media Cultural Imperialism Versus Globalization of Culture: Riding the Structure-Agency Dialectic in Global Communication and Media Studies (pages 666–678) Christof Demont-Heinrich Article first published online: 1 AUG 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2011.00401.x   Culture The Cultural Construction of Heterosexual Identities (pages 679–687) James Joseph Dean Article first published...

Special Issue

Free Special Issue on the Geography and Sociology of Religion

Interdisciplinary research has much to offer scholars of different fields – widening perspectives and opening up avenues to new research. The burgeoning field of the geography and sociology of religion is one such field. As the global economy and increased migration result in more complex and rich societies, so the resultant intersections of cultures and faiths from across the world become more interesting and multifaceted. In this Wiley-Blackwell Virtual Issue encompassing “Religion and Place”, we have sought to bring together...

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

On Multicultural Centers and Class Discussions…

AJ shrugged when I asked him why he didn’t even mention the panel. He had been working on it since last semester. Yet during the class period when the very theme of his panel was central to the topic at hand in his upper-level Gender and Families seminar, AJ said nothing of his own work. He spoke, of course. And as usual, his teacher and his classmates seemed engaged in what he said. They nodded; they looked at him when...

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

Gingrich’s Bling and Neoliberal Ideology

Many political candidates use their wealth as proof of their competence, work ethic, and expertise.  They craft campaign-ready stories about how a successful businessperson wishes to use their immense talents and work ethic to serve the nation.  At the same time, politicians have to convince voters that they share the concerns of the common person.  So, while wealth may be listed on the resume presented to voters, politicians omit the expenditures that accompany such wealth.  Wealthy politicians go out of...

Sociology of Media & Communication

Live Webcast of Noam Chomsky's #ICA11 Closing Plenary – May 30 at 12pm EDT

Watch the live webcast of Noam Chomsky’s ICA 2011 Closing Plenary session on Monday 30th May at 12pm EDT! “Democracy, the Media, and the Responsibility of Scholars“ Go to http://www.wiley.com/college/wfn/breeze/index.html?icaonline Chair Larry Gross, U of Southern California, USA Participant Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Linguist Noam Chomsky is a trenchant critic of the mass media, which he tackled memorably in his 1988 book with Ed Herman, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. In the years...

Sociology of Media & Communication

Live Webcast of ICA 2011 Opening Plenary – May 26 at 6pm EDT

Watch the live webcast of the ICA 2011 Opening Plenary session today from 6pm EDT! “Communication as the Discipline of the 21st Century” Go to http://www.wiley.com/college/wfn/breeze/index.html?icaonline. Chair Larry Gross, U of Southern California, USA Participant Craig Calhoun, SSRC/ New York U, USA Respondents Susan J. Douglas, U of Michigan, USA Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics, UNITED KINGDOM John Durham Peters, U of Iowa, USA Joseph N. Cappella, U of Pennsylvania, USA Georgette Wang, National Chengchi U, TAIWAN The 20th...

Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change

Immigration and Racialized Politics

If you asked Americans to pick which political party they considered pro-immigration and which one they considered anti-immigration most would agree that the Republican Party is anti-immigration and the Democratic Party is pro-immigration.  Like abortion politics, this does not mean that every Democrat is pro-immigration and every Republican anti-immigration.  Still, the divide between the parties appears to be growing starker as voters either sort themselves into parties due to their stance on immigration or solidify their stances on immigration as...

Class & Stratification / Science & Technology / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Culture

The Potential of Epigenetics for Sociology

A careful understanding of epigenetic mechanisms allows sociologists to include a new biological perspective into research designs – when it is incorporated carefully and not used casually or blindly as a deus ex machina explanatory device that is. Epigenetics provides us with one of several “mechanisms by which social influences become embodied” (Kuzawa and Sweet 2008: 2). A promising place for sociologists to enter into this research or use it fruitfully is to examine how social environments and inequalities become embodied...

Books and arts / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture

Book Review—The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life by Elijah Anderson

In his newest book, Elijah Anderson turns his micro-sociological attention to those places in the modern US city that foster racial understanding and harmony. In The Cosmopolitan Canopy Anderson claims that a pluralistic embrace of social difference is supported most readily by the titular “canopies” that he explores in contemporary Philadelphia. Over the span of an astounding thirty years of observation, Anderson attempts to convey an image of how people “live race” (xvi) in ways that challenge old forms of...