[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMQTiD-FAlw]by NickieWild The Bernard Madoff investment scandal has wiped out dozens of individual investors. Many charitable organizations and non-profit groups have been affected by the scam, such as the Innocence Project, Human Rights Watch, and The Center for Constitutional Rights. The JEHT Foundation, dedicated to funding organizations that promote open government and voter registration drives, has been forced to close completely. The scam he has admitted to carrying out is a Ponzi scheme, which is a type of white-collar crime...
by kiddingthecity To what extent, I have been thinking recently, can we feel, understand, and represent the suffering of other people? Is it reasonable to argue that the continuous exposure to images of the atrocity of the war – most notably children – has rendered those atrocities a media spectacle and “Us” a privileged passive audience? Would this prevalent opinion make any difference to the crude ‘reality’ of the conflicts? Or, on the other hand, if we maintain that “We”...
by socanonymous The unemployment rate in the United States has reached a 16-year high of 7.2%. Economists say that we are still far from the recovery period and until then, expect things to get worse. Effects are certainly being felt on a global scale. The recent suicide of German billionaire, Adolf Merckle raises the timeless question: what are the causes of suicide? What is particularly interesting is that even with significant losses Merckle was still worth about £6 billion. Merckle...
By Feistyle, Regular visitors might notice that the site has had a makeover for 2009. Please be assured that, whilst the name is (slightly) different and the eye in the banner has vanished, the daily examples of up to the minute Sociology in action from our news editors unabated. We are also now hosting the odd guest post from names you might recognise.
nmccoy1 Recently, CNN reported on the case of a woman in Papa New Guinea being burned alive for witchcraft (see below). Aside from the echoes to our own history of witch hunts, this case also highlights the collective effervescence, specifically religious, of which Durkheim was interested. According to Durkheim, group energies can culminate in a kind of frenetic moment and can itself construct a collective reality. This effervescence marks the delineation of the space between a heightened collective experience...
by theoryforthemasses The nuclear family is often understood in terms of propinquity, or the physical nearness of parents and their children to one another. While it is typical for extended families to live apart from one another, we generally assume that married couples and their children live together. In coping with a challenging economy, however, many couples are being forced to reevaluate their responsibilities and priorities in unexpected ways. One manifestation of this is the rise of “commuter marriages” wherein...
Bryan S. Turner National University of Singapore In general dons don’t leave Cambridge University. They die there or they get thrown out, but generally speaking the charm and prestige of the place are sufficiently strong to secure life-long loyalty. I was unusual; I left. Having been appointed in 1998 as the new professor of sociology, I was soon teaching four ‘papers’ (lecture courses), supervising six PhD students, giving supervisions to college students, managing MA candidates, and sitting on...
by Feistyle Our news editors are on a well-deserved break from December 15th to January 5th. We will be back in the New Year starting with a guest post from Bryan Turner on the subject of Sociology and Religion. In the meantime, enjoy the holidays. Phil
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...
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...
by ishein1 As the current economic crisis necessitates consumer frugality, various companies are attempting to reap additional revenue by innovative means of selling their brand. Internet cultures and networking sites are expanding at a meteoric rate providing a spate of opportunity for celebrities and companies to capitalize materially from this virtual medium. The company Virtual Greats, based out of California, is utilizing this opportunity by representing celebrities and brands that are being sold in virtual worlds. These sop virtual goods...
by NickieWild After Hillary Clinton’s loss in the race to be the Democratic nominee and Sarah Palin’s loss as vice presidential candidate, the role of women in leadership positions is more salient than ever. However, one question that does not always get asked is, what (if any) is the role of men in furthering feminist goals? Clearly, one such goal is the attainment of more powerful leadership positions in the United States. One way that men in leadership positions can...
by bmckernan Over one hundred years ago, noted sociologist Thorstein Veblen introduced the concept of “conspicuous consumption” to describe the lifestyle of members of the upper class who purchase goods and services not out of necessity but instead as indicators of their wealth and status. According to a recent Newsweek article, the era of conspicuous consumption may be placed on momentary hiatus as millions of Americans struggle to make ends meet. While the article should not be treated as a...
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDsh98OxEQQ] (the video is a song by the inhabitants of Losheng Sanatorium, singing their love and attachment to the Losheng community) By linanne 10 Taiwanese students have been extremely busy for participating in social movements the past two months. After the protest against the regulation on the freedom of speech and assembly, Taiwanese students are now again bringing back the issue on the Losheng Sanatorium. The Losheng Sanatorium is a community like construction for displacing leprosy patients during the Japanese...
nmccoy1 As a recent incident in Olympia, WA shows (see article below), the belief that American is a place of religious tolerance is in some aspects a myth or perhaps even ideology. Despite the imposition of more generalized Christian holidays in public schools, the pledge of allegiance, and the colloquial invocation of Christian beliefs (love thy neighbor for example), we can also find that religious tolerance only encompasses a very particular definition of religion. It is clear from...
by nathan jurgenson A major study (.pdf) on the way teens use social networking sites suggests that, “…their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.” [quote is from this article’s coverage] Parents can no longer view MySpace as just a waste of time. In fact, so important are the skills...
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