Slavery or Freedom?
A great quote for class debate I think:
Marxism is Slavery - Capitalism is Freedom.
Discuss.
I spotted it on a demonstrators poster on an item about racial and cultural tensions in the USA which was featured on Newsnight yesterday.
Alienated or Just Disenchanted?
Are you alienated or merely disenchanted? I joke of course, but these are just two of the interesting topics covered in the last few episodes of Thinking Allowed - definitely worth a listen for those about to return to the fray sociology teachers and students.
Exam Results
Hi all, I’m back in residence now after a cycle through the UK (John O’Groats to Land’s End) and what do I come home to - yes, the annual exam results media feeding frenzy. In my day results barely warranted more than a brief mention, but these days it seems to have become a regular fixture.
In light of the record number of A*s for GCSEs and the intense media interest, the question I would pose is this: what are the likely effects of ever-increasing record levels of high passes? Will this help or hinder meritocracy?
Watch this Space
Just off for a further break for a couple of weeks. Hope your results are all good ones. Back soon.
Art, Religion and Modernity
Interesting and provocative article by Will Self from last February’s New Statesman. A demanding piece, but useful for Religion, Culture and Identity, discussions of Modernity, and indeed, General Studies. Do read the comment from one NS reader as well - it will help you to avoid being completely at the mercy of Self’s clever argument.
Choices, choices
Some interesting stuff on choice from R4 Thinking Allowed, if that is, you choose to listen to it. Renata Salecl, Centennial Professor at the Department of Law at the London School of Economics & Senior Researcher at the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana, Slovenia, researches dating sites, self help books and people’s relationship to celebrity, and uncovers the complexities involved in the choices we make and how they often lead to disquiet.
I think it is Zygmunt Bauman (perhaps taking some inspiration from Foucault) who points out that in contemporary society we are forced to choose.
No posts likely for the next few days as I will be away for a short period.
Debate about The Spirit Level
Interesting to see after my post yesterday that there has been some debate about The Spirit Level - I wasn’t actually aware of this. Yesterday Richard Wilkinson sent this comment to the Soc Blog: “We have now written a detailed rebuttal of the criticisms of our book The Spirit Level. The rebuttal can be read at: http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/response-to-questions”. Do check up.
Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett - The Spirit Level
Interesting talk on equality from Prof. Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, authors of The Spirit Level.
Health Inequalities Widen
Some great material here on health inequalities. For an easily digestible version go to the BBCsite here
For more info go to the BMJ site here
Note that two of the authors are geographers, one is an epidemiologist and that they are publishing their article in a medical journal. Social science crosses disciplinary boundaries. You can download the whole article as a pdf. It uses a bit of statistics, but nothing too horrific and you can always skim. It’s also great to see how an article and indeed a study should be set out - although nb, this is BMJ house style and more common in the natural sciences. The abstract is below.
read more...»Return of the Gay Dads
I used to show a video about the ‘Gay Dads’ a few years back when I taught sociology in a sixth form college. In that film, the Gay Dads - as the media called them - were trailblazer gay wannabe parents bringing their dreams to life thanks to surrogacy, in vitro fertilisation and a very healthy bank balance. Now C4 have produced an update. Barrie and Tony now have three children and this programme films them all as they try to increase their family further. Brave trailblazers, revolutionary undertakers for the nuclear family, or selfish, obsessively narcissistic, materialistic, self-righteous, individualized commodifiers of the means of reproduction? The politics of difference, the politics of equality, the politics of the family and sexuality. It’s all there. You decide.
Media and World Affairs
These might be of interest to readers
Obviously I have an interest to declare, but I would point out these were done for a flat fee, so there’s no royalty; I would just like people to read them.
The Media has - I think - managed to get a bit more of a contemporary feel to it, with discussion of Google, press freedom and ethics, war reporting and the internet. It’s not tied to a syllabus, but personally I think that’s a good thing. Nevertheless, it covers some useful ground. But of course, I would say that.
The Pakistan book could be useful for issues of religion and gender, and culture and identity. Also for General Studies.
Both books are actually aimed at a younger readership than A level or GCSE, but I think older students could find them useful.
End of plug.
Le paradoxe de la restauration rapide hamburger en France
Yes readers, I am sure that you can all translate this title. I’m a bit behind on this post to be honest - saw it the other day on Yahoo.fr and there was a link to Le Monde, but they are now dead. So go here instead and read the views of French sociologist Jean-Pierre Corbeau. I’m not great on the translation myself, but apparently the paradox is that fast food is not fast -er, not surprising that one and the other thing is that there is more variety in the customers and their ages than you might think. If you need help with the translation you can always try this - http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ - but I’ll warn you, it is very ropey.
White Collar Crime
Good piece this morning on R4 Today about the extent of fraud. The man being interviewed by Adam Shaw seemed to make some rather inarticulate comments, but the piece does give some interesting insights into the scale and nature of white collar crime/fraud. It can be saved as a download, so grab it while you can.
On a more personal note, I have at last managed to divest myself of a load of exam marking. A few bits and pieces to tie up, and the holidays are soon upon us. However, I hope now to be able to make a bit more progress in producing T2U’s sociology notes, as started earlier in the year. Watch this space.
British Crime Survey Latest
I’m still busy marking (albeit coming to the end!!) but here’s a link to a great BBC article on the latest BCS - crime is falling apparently, a 29 year low. Nice article on crime waves as well.
Social Capital - Again
Apologies, I missed this one. On this recent episode of Thinking Allowed, sociologist Ben Fine pokes his head above the parapet and has the nerve to suggest that the concept of social capital is a load of codswallop. Not very useful. The wrong way of looking at things. Sounds fair enough to me. But students - evaluate!
Fashion Police
The French Parliament has agreed to move on banning the burqa and the veil. Check out this report in The Independent or if you want to do a bit of work on your French, try Le Monde here
This is a great one for crime and deviance - it was a French sociologist of course- Emile Durkheim -who pointed out that laws change over time and are related to the need for social solidarity. It is precisely one of the criticisms of those opposed to the ban that it will criminalise a whole section of French society - Muslim women.
And on culture and identity and gender it is also raises fascinating questions. Why do some Muslims believe it is right to cover the body and the face? Is this the social control of sexuality? Is this, as some sociologists like Anthony Giddens have suggested, a fundamentalist reaction against modernity? Discuss.
Climate Change and the Sociology of Science
Susan Watts on Newsnight presented a very interesting piece on ‘Climategate’ the other night. But no one who has studied A level sociology would be at all surprised to hear that scientists can be selective in the evidence they present or indeed, the problems they choose to investigate. It is part of the routine of science.
Slavoj Zizek and the future of Marxism
If you haven’t heard of Slavoj Zizek he’s a Slovenian philosopher and writer who’s become something of a publishing phenomenon and a public intellectual over the last decade or so. Last night Gavin Esler of Newsnight interviewed him. You may not get much or think much of Zizek’s comments, but it’s worth listening to for Esler’s well put questions - what has Marxism got to offer us in the way of social/political analysis now? So show it to your students and get them to answer the questions! It’s also fascinating just for the sake of being able to listen to a Slovenian who speaks English with a strong Spanish accent. That’s what comes of moving to Barcelona I guess. Hasta la vista.
Subcultures
Looks like a good programme from Laurie Taylor on subcultures. Work on women and heavy metal from a researcher at York University and pop fandom from a Texan student who has relocated and conducted her research from the sunny climes of University of Sunderland. Expert comment from Angela McRobbie.
What are Sociology Books?
This made me laugh and hopefully you will also laugh.
Moral:wikipedia can be useful. Sometimes.
Increased wealth does not lead to improved health
So the wealthier we get as a society, the healthier we’ll all be. Right? Not according to the latest research from Cambridge University. There may well be a few articles in the national press on this tomorrow, so I will look out and post up any links I can find. Should be useful for those focusing on inequality, health.
read more...»Life Expectancy
Few posts this week - weighed under with marking. But here’s an interesting clip on an increasing class gap on life expectancy. Governments come and go, but inequalities seem to increase whatever is done. Come back Marx, all is forgiven?
Neighbours
Nice little resource spotted by Jim Riley - thanks Jim! Some interesting stats/data here on social change and community. The decline of community has been a fairly regular feature in sociological research, charting social change through industrialisation and recently through the advent of globalisation. As Anthony Giddens said - in the Reith Lectures I believe - more of us are more likely to recognise Nelson Mandela (or a.n.other public figure) than we are other people who live in the same street as us. In fact, you might even think you know more about such public figures than you do other people living in your street. I don’t know if my experience is typical, but I’d certainly say that is true for me - I know about 4 or 5 people or groups of people (families) who live in my street. And none of them are on TV very often.
Gendering and the Body
An interesting one here for anyone studying culture and identity and/or gender. This article reports on another article elsewhere about breastfeeding which seems to have caused a bit of a stir in some quarters of the media. It’s interesting though that the journalist who started it all (a woman), dislikes breastfeeding and anchors her own identity firmly in terms of her sexuality. There are alternatives. A woman could for example anchor her identity more in terms of one’s identity as a mother. Lots of scope for reflection and debate here. What is the dominant identity for women in British society today? Is the identity of ‘mother’ one which is declining in status? Are the identities of ‘woman’ and ‘mother’ in competition? Is there a hierarchy?
Teacher of the Year
No, I’m not talking about myself or indeed any of my illustrious colleagues. It’s Teacher of the Year time again. So take a look at this and think carefully. Let’s try and look at this sociologically and bring our syllabuses screaming up to date as well. Teacher of the Year - is it, a) best seen in terms of functionalist analysis - a way of trying to identify and reward the best teachers, or b) best seen in Marxist terms as a ruling class ideology, c) as the outcome of negotiated meanings, or d) as an example of marketization, whereby the market is seen as the best way in which to organise all social needs? And no, I’m not bitter - this is sociology, not politics.
Media General Principles
General McChrystal’s words may come flying back in his face and that tells us something about the power of the media. In sociology we like to talk about the power of the media - but usually its in terms of media effects. Far more interesting perhaps is the way in which the media can or cannot be a source of power to governors and the governed
The Power of Football
What is power? 
Fishing for Resources
I guess our syllabuses might make using this tricky, but sociology is supposed to be broad in its scope so why not give it a try? This fascinating photo-essay of life in rural Nigeria gives a great insight into a rural community in a developing country. There’s lots to talk about - the gendered division of labour and the nature of community and social relations. How different would life in this village be to life in an industrial town or city? How and why would it be different? Would it be characterised by primary or secondary social relations? Would it have social classes? Discuss - and enjoy.
Risk and Resilience in Nottingham
Well, I bet it’s Notttingham or maybe somewhere nearby like Derby. Most interesting guest this week on Laurie Taylor’s show is Kaye Haw from Nottingham University. Unfortunately there is only a link to an abstract of her article on young people, but it looks like one to check out. A job for me when the marking season is over perhaps. And I’ve caught up on a few other resource productions.
read more...»Sociology and the Commemoration of the War Dead
Laurie Taylor’s Thinking Allowed features an interesting interview with Anthony King of the University of Exeter. This should be highly usable for Culture and Identity and for Religion. King’s interests in masculinity led him first to study football hooliganism, then the military and now the military and death. The interview is worth listening to and there’s also a link to one of King’s articles in the British Journal of Sociology - which is free and can be downloaded - pity that doesn’t happen more often. Well, I managed to get the whole article as a pdf. Perhaps it’s just a special offer?
Football
Enough said really. Still, if you have to succumb to popular demand you may find some of the stuff from the Centre for the Sociology of Sport at the University of Leicester useful. There are factsheets, web links and so on.
Darkness Looms
University fees? No surprise really, that we’re heading in this direction. Time to start discussing meritocracy again. It was interesting to hear David Willetts talking about the need for quality and the opportunities provided by e.g. London University external degrees in this light. Isn’t he forgetting about the status hierarchy and cultural capital? Which institution’s degrees carry more cultural capital and status - the old or the new universities?
Dreadlock Culture
If you are doing culture and identity or something on race, then this article from New Humanist might just be useful. It all takes me back to the late 70s, early 80s. Steel Pulse, Handsworth Revolution, and the ‘old’ sociology.
Ugly People and Crime
Well, here’s a new twist on Cesare Lombroso’s theory that crime lies in the shape of the skull (phrenology). This time the claim from some researchers is that it’s all to do with how ugly you are. Apparently they even got funding for this stuff. Check it out on More or Less and this link to the Washington Post. Normally I’d take the time to list a few criticisms, but as you all know, I’m a marking machine at the moment. Mind you, for a start I guess it depends on what you call ‘ugly’. For the technically minded, and those who want to be rewarded for their knowledge in exams, that’s a matter of operationalization, of course.
The Black Farmer
I don’t know what fellow teachers think about the value of individual case studies like this, but here goes anyway. Curious programme last night on C4 about Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, a Black British man who stood (and lost) as Conservative candidate in the recent general election. Emmanuel-Jones has some interesting views - on race and on politics and his biography is interesting too. This link will take you to the Wikipedia page on him and from there you can find other links. There are useful profiles of him in The Guardian and The Independent - links on the wiki page. I thought his experiences might be interesting for culture and identity - he manages to live out some curious contradictions - as well as education, social mobility.
Next Revision material on families and households may be delayed until I’ve cleared more of my marking. It will appear though. Eventually.
