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how fabio mentors graduate students
I am now at the age where I actually have PhD students working with me. In other words, I need to apply the grad skool rulz to my own life. In the spirit of discussion, I outline my philosophy as a teacher of PhD students: Be firm but nice. No need to make people […]
The Tortilla Curtain
T Coraghessan Boyle's The Tortilla Curtain is by no means a new book. But 18 years after publication it remains as fresh and relevant as it was when it rolled off the presses. In many ways, it is a quintessential anti-American novel....Show More Summary
the united states of east germany
When we think about repressive states like East Germany, we often think about its explicit ideology, Marxist-Leninism. We think about the rejection of the market economy and private property. However, we often overlook its implicit theory. The theory embodied by East Germany was that socialists states are in perpetual war with its capitalist and fascist […]
How Not to Cover Abusive Relationships
If you're yet to see it, the piece is very uncomfortable. Readers who've experienced and survived domestic violence might want to give it a miss, so keep that in mind before you click this link. But it's fair to say the photographs of...Show More Summary
sociology blog list
The website “Best Sociology Programs” has a list of 30 soc blogs. The list covers some of the usual suspects (like this blog, Kieran’s blog, or Phil Cohen). I also learned about some bloggers that are new to me, like Deborah Lupton (“This Sociological Life“), Zero Anthropology, which focuses on postcolonial communities, and Neuroanthropology, which […]
It's Time to Junk 'Imperialism'
Washed-up ex-Trot sellout I may be, but even at my most orthodox and ra-ra-revolutionary I always had a problem with the term 'imperialism' as applied to global capitalism after the Second World War. In Marxism as practiced by official communism and the 57 varieties, imperialism has a highly specific meaning. Show More Summary
Useful Habits
June 14, 2013 Posted by Jay Livingston Habits of the Heart by Robert Bellah and colleagues, published a quarter-century ago, remains a required reference in courses and discourses about American society and culture. I was reminded of...Show More Summary
cafe cubano
Nestor Torres, plays Cafe Cubano. dverts: From Black Power/Grad Skool Rulz
RC Pro-Am for the Nintendo Entertainment System
I wonder what the celebrated Frankfurt School theorist, Theodor Adorno would have made of the video game industry? I think I have an idea, but to explore the point I'm going to ignore this week's big news about Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's Playstation 4 (which are, looking at a couple of games, appearing rather swish). Show More Summary
Anecdotal Evidence – One More Time
June 14, 2013 Posted by Jay Livingston Anecdotal evidence seems more convincing, I tell my students in Week One, but if you want to find out general truths, you need systematic evidence. The New York Times today provides my example for next semester.The Times had run an op-ed last week about only children. Show More Summary
racial formation theory – recent developments
Ethnic and Racial Studies has a symposium on racial formation theory. It’s focused on an essay by Faegin and Elias, with responses by Omi & Winant, Hughey & Byrd, Dennis, Wingfield, Golash-Boza, & Banton. Interesting reading for the strat crowd. Adverts: From Black Power/Grad Skool Rulz
Educational Inequality: From Grade School to Graduation
By Jonathan Wynn Inequality in education seems to be one of the more counter-intuitive things I can imagine: how can our education system exacerbate existing inequalities? And yet, we should not be surprised. Last summer I visited Arkansas, stopping by...
electric car innovation puzzle
The Tesla has attracted a great deal of attention because it has achieved an important technical breakthrough – a fully charged battery will support 300 (!) miles of driving. In other words, daily charging is enough for most people most of the time. That’s a huge breakthrough – the Nissan Leaf only promises about 100 […]
Organization Studies special issue on social movements, civil society, and corporations
I’m happy to announce that the Organization Studies special issue on social movements, civil society, and corporations is finally being published. The online version of the issue is already here! What began as a small workshop in southern France in which scholars from all over the world (literally, we covered every continent except for Africa) […]
data's double life
Flicking through twitter over the weekend, I was struck by a peculiar contradiction between two articles that were being widely linked to. The first (which was really a cluster of articles) related to the revelations about the US government's surveillance...
how to make money investing in art
The usual advice about art and investing is “don’t bother.” Buy it because you love it, but don’t expect a decent return. Well, that’s not exactly true. There are at least two ways to consistently make money from art, but neither is easy: The Vogel Strategy: Named after the Vogels, who spent their lives collecting […]
Shenzhou-10 Launch
Is there anything more visually striking than the modernity of a rocket launch? Best of luck to the three taikonauts during their fortnight sojourn at China's orbiting spacelab. Now, this blog has talked about space programmes twice before, so on a lazy night like this I recommend you check them out in lieu of anything new.
the digital rights amendment
The defenders of the NSA’s mass surveillance raise a point worth discussing – much of what is being done is legal. They point out that the NSA programs were authorized by Congress, reviewed by Courts, and run by the executive. They also read the Fourth amendment in a very narrow way. Personally, when I read […]
kieran on slate today
Kieran has a satirical piece on Slate today: Using Metadata to Find Paul Revere. Check it out. Adverts: From Black Power/Grad Skool Rulz
thanks to guest blogger Kathleen Blee
A very belated thanks to guest blogger Kathleen Blee for her informative post about her latest book Democracy in the Making: How Activist Groups Form. You can find out more about Blee and her work here.
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