Click above for bigger version
Archive for July 2010
Call for book reviewers
As some of you may have seen on Facebook, the Sociological Imagination is looking for book reviewers. This is a chance to practice your writing, share your thoughts on a topic and get a free book in the process. There are… Read More ›
Reclaiming ‘political narrative’ from New Labour
There was a fascinating article by Gary Younge on the Guardian’s website at the weekend. He argues that the last few months of British politics has seen the right enjoy considerable success in establishing a dominant framework within which mainstream political… Read More ›
English Defence League/Unite Against Fascism, Manchester, 10th Oct 2009
A fascinating video documenting the EDL protest and UAF counter-protest in Manchester city centre last October.
Rethinking the World
To think the world is to keep the world the way it is. To rethink the world is to change it. To change the world is to challenge the way majorities are used to thinking about the world. A thought… Read More ›
The disciplinary force of new media?
At the weekend a left-wing blogger made an off hand comment on Twitter that one might have expected would have just faded away within a few days. Luke Bozier tweeted that: Gordon Brown’s WebCreator website is not befitting of a… Read More ›
Richard Thaler on Nudge
An engaging lecture by Richard Thaler on the concept of Nudge. Along with his colleague Cass Sunstein (author of some superb books on the internet) their work briefly became hugely fashionable last year. Interestingly it seems to have been dropped somewhat as… Read More ›
Government won’t back graduate tax say senior Tory sources
Vince Cable’s plans for a graduate tax look set to fail as senior Tories brief against it. Their reticence apparently stems from a feeling that it would be unfair for high earning graduates to be forced to pay more than the value… Read More ›
Imposter
Click above for bigger version
No One is Illegal
Clandestine border crosser Breath holder Impatient warrior of destiny Criminal of geography Hoper Dreamer Inadvertent invader of ‘Our Way of Life’ Storytelling smiler with kites in his eyes Travelling poet Father Bird keeper Eater of dates by the rock in… Read More ›
Hospitality
In the reluctant church of hospitality, Where echoes of empire deafen the crowd, Promises of liberty, justice, freedom, Are signed by the hands of the just and the proud. The invisible mass silently flooding, Stealthily sneaking by sea and by… Read More ›
Supporting an interesting study
We have been conducting a large online international study investigating peoples’ wellbeing called – The International Wellbeing Study. This study has been running since March 2009 and basically investigates peoples’ wellbeing over the course of one year. We would very… Read More ›
A lost generation of learners?
Recent reports suggest that up to a quarter of a million could miss out on UK university places after a 12% rise on last year’s record number of applications. Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the University and College Union,… Read More ›
RSA Animate and Jeremy Rifkin’s Empathic Civilisation
As a follow up to his lecture here’s Jeremy Rifkin’s concept of empathic civilisation explored through the medium of animation. It’s part of a new series being produced by the RSA (whose strap line reads ’21st century enlightenment program’) and they… Read More ›
Anti-capitalism: thinking the unthinkable?
Slavoj Žižek famously said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. Others claim we are now in a post-political era, in the sense that the neoliberal world view and agenda are… Read More ›
Iron Man and the “bigger-dick” US foreign policy in the Third World
I don’t think I would have the strength to go through an Iron Man movie but for my nieces and nephew who were eager to watch it. In this barely analytical review, I’m paraphrasing the first chapter of Eric Cheyftiz’s… Read More ›
‘Things cannot go on the way they are’
An intriguing (though depressing and plausible!) talk by Slavoj Žižek about the prospects faced by Western democracy. He paints a grim picture of a society where “all small personal pleasures will be kept” but democracy is gone. As he puts it: “things cannot… Read More ›
John Snow vs Zac Goldsmith
Recent entry to parliament Zac Goldsmith (Conservative MP for Richmond and son of billionaire financier James Goldsmith) makes a fool of himself defending allegations that he broke election financing rules. Is this strategy something a spin-doctor recommended? If so is it… Read More ›
An Introduction to the Activist Ethnography
This post provides introduction and context for the activist ethnography in following post. Having become a self-defined ‘activist’ at some point in 2008, the stories told by older members of my affinity group at Warwick University always held great appeal…. Read More ›
An Activist Ethnography
The politics of the activist community, as we have briefly explored, is a broad church of the left, and with a few exceptions, the anti-capitalist left. This anticapitalism is manifested in a number of environmental and social campaigns on campus and in the… Read More ›
Event: New Activism or Old Politics?
New Activism or Old Politics? Sounding student reaction to HE’s crisis This free, one-day event will discuss likely student reactions to the impending cuts and rising fees in higher education.
Thinly Veiled Persecution
This week the lower House of the French parliament voted to ban French residents from wearing the Niqab –the full face veil. Of the 337 members of the French national assembly taking part, 336 voted for the bill and one… Read More ›
Review of ‘Sociology of Intellectual Life’ by Steve Fuller
Given the brewing conflicts within British higher education it seems like an opportune moment for a thorough sociological analysis of academia. Such an analysis would supplement the expansive literature on the subjugation of higher education to market forces through a… Read More ›
Add the Sociological Imagination on Facebook
The Sociological Imagination now has a presence on facebook. Please do add us as a friend and feel free to get in contact. We’re always open to ideas and suggestions so please don’t hesitate if there’s anything you would like to say!… Read More ›
REF to be delayed by a year
In a recent speech David Willetts has confirmed that the REF will be delayed by one-year in order to “figure out whether there is a method of assessing impact which is sound and which is acceptable to the academic community”…. Read More ›
Review of ‘One Dimensional Woman’ by Nina Power
One Dimensional Woman is aphoristic and polemic from the start. As the author asks as the beginning of the book: “where have all the interesting women gone?”. In this slim volume the philosopher Nina Power attempts to answer this question. Through… Read More ›
Democracy Village
This is an intriguing short film exploring Democracy Village, an anti-war protest camp occupying Parliament Square. They’re currently facing eviction so if you’re in that area of London then pop in and take a look because it probably won’t be there for… Read More ›