Latest articles from sociology lens

Political & Economic Sociology

Ivy League Schools, Capital, and The Perpetuatuation of Class Inequalities

by PlantingSeedsFromUA Just as the Ivy League schools are concentrated in a small area of the country, the social and cultural capital required to attend and teach at these universities is concentrated in a small area of the population.  Bourdieu argues that social inequalities are due to the inequitable distribution of economic, social, cultural, and symbolic capital.  Conflict theorists have long emphasized how the educational system perpetuates social inequalities, including the prestige hierarchy of colleges and universities.   In a recent article posted at Businessweek.com (see below), Bianco and Rupani...

Gender & Sexuality / Science & Technology

Unintended Consequences

by dsantore   Prostate cancer patient Dana Jennings (who also happens to be a New York Times editor) has us thinking again about just what it means to be a man.  Jennings, who was diagnosed earlier this year, is learning about the ironic, gendered side effects associated with his cancer treatment.  According to Jennings, one of the drugs prescribed to him, Lupron, is a “testosterone suppressant, designed to starve hormone-dependent cancer cells of the fuel (testosterone) that they crave in...

Opinion

Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference

The first Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference, to be held in October 2009, aims to help break academic boundaries – within and between disciplines, between theory and practice, approaches and methodologies – by providing a space for multi- and cross-disciplinary review on the theme of “Breaking Down Barriers“. Abstracts are invited for survey/review papers from the disciplines of History, Literature, Philosophy, Religion, Geography, Linguistics, Sociology, and Social Psychology. In particular, we welcome papers that explore: Paradigms | Borders | The Environment...

Opinion

The ugly side of history

by rbobbitt Georg Simmel’s concept of the stranger is a person who is both near and far at the same time. They are a part of society, yet remain on the fringes, never completely accepted as full members of society. Racism, although disguised into (mostly) covert forms is largely believed to have been overcome. Barrack Obama’s election win to many signified the possible end of a sad era in American history where racial discrimination fueled the headlines. However, despite the...

Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Culture

Human Rights and the United States

by delawaregrad Recently, in a television interview, President-Elect Obama noted that the United States needed to “regain America’s moral stature in the world” through closing the Guantanamo Bay complex. An additional step that President-Elect Obama could take would be to encourage the United States to ratify major United Nations human rights treaties. Most Americans may be surprised to learn that the United States, despite being a founding member of the United Nations, has not ratified any of the five major...

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...

Gender & Sexuality / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Dame(sel) in Distress?

Feminist advocates have spent years working to define rape as a social problem.   These advocates have worked as claims-makers in this regard and have engaged in various framing processes along the way.  Sociologists and criminologists have entered the conversation along the way offering a variety of theoretical perspectives and empirical investigations to help understand rape and sexual assault more fully.  Despite these efforts, rape remains one of the most underreported crimes with an even more dismal prosecution and conviction rates....

Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Prison: An Unlikely "Beacon of Hope"?

by paulabowles The Longford Prize for outstanding work in the area of social and penal reform has recently been announced. Although the award has been running since 2002, honouring diverse organisations and individuals, this year is the first time the prize has been awarded to a prison. HMP Grendon was chosen for its unique approach to tackling recidivism, described by the Longford Trust as offering a “beacon of hope”’ for its inmates. Since its creation in 1962 the prison has...

Political & Economic Sociology / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

WhoseTube?

by ishein1 Two years ago, Google paid a copious, $1.65 billion to acquire the incipiently profitless Web site, YouTube.  This video sharing website’s meteoric rise was in part due to its software’s facileness and accessibility.  In this light, anyone with access to a computer and some gumption could post their own video.  In an effort to transform their costly addition into a revenue-producing agent, Google announced that it would begin selling space to advertisers on YouTube’s search results pages.  As...

Sociology of Media & Communication

Network News, Cable News, and the Proof (or Lack Thereof) of Partisanship

by NickieWild With the United States’ presidential election season (finally) at an end, media researchers have begun the process of conducting what will likely be years’ worth of analyses on the various news outlets’ coverage of the historic campaign. A relatively new wrinkle in the landscape of television news has been the emergence of overtly left-leaning political commentators, specifically on cable channel MSNBC, ostensibly as a response to Fox’s overtly right-wing cable news personalities. The question many have asked is...

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 / Social Movements / Social Change

To Obey or not to Obey, This is the Question

[youtube=http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=ot3dgm95CVE] By linanne10 While most of the discussions on equality and political change occur around the presidential election in United States last week, events of civil rights movement are not limited to the US continent. A student-led protest for the freedom of speech and assembly is burning through out the island of Formosa. On November 3rd, the representative from China’s Association of Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), Chen Yunlin, came to visit Taiwan and met with the Taiwanese current...

Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

Internet (Community) Organizer?

by socanonymous Popular media and pundits alike are praising President-Elect, Barack Obama and his campaigners for taking his message to the internet. Much of Obama’s skills and experience in community organizing have been taken online. This election has definitely been history in the making, in more than one way. The successful linkage of technology, namely the internet, and politics has been proven effective in this election. There are countless benefits to the use of the internet for political gains including...

Opinion

Guest Posts Coming in 2009

by Feistyle We are pleased to announce that, alongside the daily posts of news items, starting in 2009 each month we will feature a guest post from a notable Sociologist.  These posts will be lengthier than a standard post and will be on a wide range of subjects within Sociology.  Our first guest post will go up (all going well) in the first week of January. We are very lucky to have Dr. Bryan S. Turner as our first guest...