The Campaign for Social Science was launched in January this year by the Academy of Social Sciences. It aims to raise the profile of social science with the public, media and parliament at a time of great crisis and uncertainty…. Read More ›
Archive for May 2011
American Morality and the Strauss-Kahn Affair
A specified form of death penalty occurs in the following cases:-gibbeting (on the spot where crime was committed) for burglary, later also for encroaching on the king’s highway, for getting a slave-brand obliterated, for procuring husband’s death; burning for incest… Read More ›
The Coming Out of Dorian Gray
This year, the original `The picture of Dorian Gray’ has been published as an `annotated, uncensored version’. So, it turns out that the book that so many have admired had actually been censured!
Campaigning for the Public University
In this podcast Mark Carrigan talks to Gurminder K. Bhambra about her experiences as an initiator of the Campaign for the Public University. We discuss the crisis in the university system and the aims of the campaign, as well as… Read More ›
Much Information, but No Context: The Twitter Trap
Enough talk about women and work this week, let’s talk about brains. Just joking. I am a woman, after all. So: a recent article by Bill Keller reminded me that there can never be too many articles worrying about what… Read More ›
The Trouble With Love and Sex
We’re not sure if this will be viewable to readers outside the UK (suspect not) but nontheless it’s too good not to post it up here. The first full-length animated documentary made for British television takes us inside the counselling… Read More ›
More about the gender pay gap. Blaming women?
Following up on yesterday’s post which showed some fresh UK statistics on the full-time gender pay gap in median earnings, today we continue with a more argumentative (if slightly older) piece by psychology professor Hilary M. Lips of Radford University,… Read More ›
TODAY: Watch My Perestroyka documentary in London!
A quick message: My Perestroyka is finally in the UK! It is screening tonight, 24 May, at 8.30 at the London Documentary Film Festival at the Rich Mix cinema. More information: here . The screening will be followed by a panel… Read More ›
ONS: Gender Pay Gap Narrows
This article by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), published in December 2010, claims that the full-time gender pay gap in the UK (for median hourly earnings, excluding overtime) has narrowed by two percentage points between 2009 and 2010. However,… Read More ›
New Contribution to The Comics Grid
In lieu of a new Mediated Matters column this week, I direct you instead to my contribution to The Comics Grid, where I report on the Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2011, the premier indie comics event in Canada. In that… Read More ›
Who reads poetry?
Jackie Kay of the Guardian argues the case of poetry in a lovely (if old) article. Perhaps she is right (even though I instinctively shudder at the sheer glance of something proudly entitled `Costa book awards’. It must be the… Read More ›
University student folklore…and labour market uncertainty?
SI continues its traditional weekend review of 21st century student youtube-folklore with two songs. Our mums and dads played the guitar in scruffy student dorms full of thick nicotine smoke; today’s creative souls practice in front of webcams and flood… Read More ›
21st Century Parenthood: two examples
Two interesting websites promoting a new image of parenthood with practical examples. GeekDad’s subtitle is Raising generation 2.0, and GeekMom’s tagline is Smart. Savvy. Social. What is so interesting is the conscious effort to manage parenting according to certain principles… Read More ›
Call for Papers: what does the Sociological Imagination mean today?
It has been over 50 years since C. Wright Mills wrote the Sociological Imagination. In that time the world has changed beyond recognition: the Cold War ended, the Keynesian consensus broke down, a globalizing neoliberalism rose to the ascendancy and… Read More ›
Breakthrough study: patient expectations affect drug efficiency
Scientific studies rarely venture into the realm of the irrational; yet it seems that that is exactly where we could find answers to many of the unsolved connundrums of modern medicine. A recent paper published in Science Translational Medicine, is… Read More ›
Genetic Roots of Language
I love peeking into neighbouring fields to see what crops people are growing there. Here is a fascinating (if a little old, from 2003) article by Andrea McColl about the genetic roots of language, based on her research of Williams… Read More ›
The Unbearable Impossibility of Perfect Communication
In a powerful op-ed written for The New York Times back in late 2010, bestselling novelist Michael Cunningham writes, ‘I’ve come to understand that all literature is a product of translation’. He explains, and I quote the article at length:… Read More ›
Women in science
As ever, XKCD comics make a good point about women in science, even though they don’t touch on the broader reasons why women have been largely absent from science
Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice
A fantastic talk by Barry Schwartz which feels rather profoundly sociological for a psychologist. Or maybe SI is just haunted by the voice of Tony Giddens: “What to do? How to act? Who to be? These are focal questions for… Read More ›
Anyone to help work on SI?
Both the editor and the deputy editor are now in the last bits of their PhDs and the workload involved in keeping the site regularly updated is becoming a bit of an issue. Anyone fancy getting involved? If you think… Read More ›
What goes on the the brain of a Buddhist Monk?
In a recent (very unsociological, but fascinating) meditation survey which has been carried out in New York since 2008, the brains of prominent Buddhist monks have been scanned in the hope of detecting any physiological changes that might be occurring… Read More ›
The Sociology of Star Trek Fandom
Daryl Frazetti writes about the culture of Star Trek fandom. Fascinating paper! read the paper here, and the feature article on the official Star Trek website here. Now someone needs to write a paper on Babylon 5 and Star Wars… or… Read More ›
Case studies: migrant workers in Brussels
Too often the media talk about migrants in aggregated, impersonal terms. This article by N.Nielsen is an exception. It presents several mini-case studies of economic migrants in Brussels and brings to the fore some of the subjective reasons for why… Read More ›
Let’s use video to reinvent education?
If you’re inspired by his argument then why not take a look at the Sociological Cinema?
Open Access Journals: doaj.org
SI brings to your attention the Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.doaj.org/. Enjoy the treasure!
The Cool Kindle? On How (Not) to Sell E-Books
While wandering through a vast wasteland of over 200 cable channels the other night I happened across a BBC America marathon of Top Gear. While that show is in itself ripe for sociological analysis, what stopped me dead in my… Read More ›
Follow SI on facebook and Twitter!
This is a reminder that the Sociological Imagination 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… Read More ›
More on Public Library Closure
On 23 February 2011, SI posted a link to an article discussing the danger of closing down public libraries as part of the government’s spending cuts. More on the same subject: here is a video account of the protests that… Read More ›
Questioning the Big Society
An interesting polemic article by Brian Davey discusses the potential perilous effects of the `Big Society’ project on volunteering and the British welfare state. Big Society: volunteering or rip off? Read Davey’s article on the New Internationalist blog and tell us what… Read More ›