The Guardian reminds us that data journalism is a little older than most of us think. Why is that significant? Because our historical memories are very short and it is important to be reminded of history in order to give… Read More ›
Archive for November 2011
Backwards and forwards in [social] time: two different artists’ impressions
This week I came across two very different works of art which nevertheless have something important in common: they both aim to transcend the shackles of linear time and peak into another historic period with the help of artistic (and… Read More ›
What gets your paper cited? The clue is in the title.
So, you have some brilliant research. What will get it cited? Apparently, some surprising (and very unacademic) factors come in. Triumph of form over content… Will asking a question get your science paper cited more? Amusing titles in scientific journals… Read More ›
What will the future look like? Microsoft and Apple offer some suggestions…
Do you think these are realistic? Are they just advertising or do they point to a world we’re likely to see? What do you think the future will look like?
Add SI on Twitter and Facebook
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 ›
Seven days in the art world: the academic vs the journalist…
I’m currently reading Seven Days In the Art World, by Sarah Thornton, perhaps most well known for her book about sub-cultural capital and the rave scene. Though I’ve not quite reached the end yet, it’s certainly one of the most… Read More ›
Soft skills flourish with Graduates at Liverpool University
With the latest figures showing graduate unemployment at a 15 year high, Liverpool alongside other universities believes that”soft skills” are more important than ever. Recent Higher Education Statistics Agency figures revealed that more than a quarter of graduates are without… Read More ›
Foucault reads Kafka
SI presents an interesting video lecture by literary scholar Brian Artese. It discusses the work of Michel Foucault through the lens of Franz Kafka’s 1915 novel, Der Prozess (The Trial). Part 1
Violence, Inequality and UK Riots
In this podcast Mark Carrigan interviews Larry Ray, a professor at Kent University who has done pioneering work on the sociology of violence, about the summer’s riots in the UK, the media coverage and the subsequent political fall out. Larry… Read More ›
UCAs: Favours Rich Students – Confirmed
Ucas – The British organisation, through which applications are processed for entry to higher education, has admitted in its review that its admission process favours the rich. In a review of university admissions published at the end of October, UCAs… Read More ›
Sociological Imagination eBook
Just a quick message to say that unfortunately we’ve had to cancel the eBook project. The idea was to get it done in time for the 50th anniversary of Wright-Mills’ death in early 2012 but this just isn’t feasible. We’re… Read More ›
Add SI on Twitter and Facebook
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 ›
The Protestant Revolution – Part 1: The Politics of Belief
A great documentary about the protestant revolution by historian turned labour MP Tristram Hunt. Follow the link to google video for the next three parts – it’s quite long!
Decrease in poorer students and women applying to university
Early indications suggest that applications from female students and those from poorer backgrounds have fallen ahead of the higher tuition fees next year. According to the first round of Ucas application figures, applications from men were down by 7% compared… Read More ›
Sport For Education: A Healthy Balance?
During the recent increase in childhood obesity, Higher Education cuts and our Nation’s continued sporting hysteria, the question of sport’s impact on our educated youth has never been more relevant. While our Government blindly pumps money into sport with the… Read More ›
Emma Rees interviewed about Can’t…
In this podcast Mark Carrigan talks to Emma Rees about her new book Can’t, which explores the strange and confused representation of the female genitalia in contemporary culture.
Do you hate e-mail? I do. Can’t universities think of smarter ways to communicate internally?
There was a time when I enjoyed e-mail. Before my PhD, e-mail had been largely peripheral to my life and something that was simply a back-up when other options weren’t available. Yet suddenly in my first year, it became ever… Read More ›
The University Project
In this podcast Mark Carrigan talks to Dougald Hine about the University Project. If you’re interested in the project and would like to get involved in something similar in your area of the country, check out our list of radical… Read More ›
A round up of recent social media & academic publishing articles…
Continual publishing across journals, blogs and social media maximises impact by increasing the size of the ‘academic footprint Taking a Chance: My Blog is a Publication Academic libraries are expanding their publishing services but with limited success Academic blogging and… Read More ›
Can crowd sourced science solve the grand challenges facing humanity?
Dr. Victor Henning – Crowdsourcing Science from Inspire Conference – Launch48 on Vimeo.
What does the Sociological Imagination mean today? Conference and eBook
In March 2012 it will be 50 years since C. Wright Mills died. To mark the occasion Sociological Imagination will be convening a one-day conference, live streamed over the internet, exploring the meaning of the sociological imagination in the 21st… Read More ›
London: protesters in front of St Paul’s Cathedral
Even sociologists run out of words sometimes during the weekend. Here are a few images the Idle Ethnographer took at the peaceful camp in front of St Paul’s Cathedral in London on 22 October 2011:
Technology overload: have we reached a tipping point?
This recent article in the Economist argues that Today, automation is having an impact not just on routine work, but on cognitive and even creative tasks as well. A tipping point seems to have been reached, at which AI-based automation… Read More ›
Are you a risk taker? Take the test!
Are you a risk-taker? What sort of risks do you tend to take? Click here (or go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/risk/) to participate in the BBC’s Big Risk Test and find out!
Want to deconstruct heteronormative paradigms and cultivate a transformative and emancipatory radical intellectual praxis…?
But don’t know where to start? Then go to automatic insurrection. If you don’t get the joke, click ‘again’. If you still don’t get the joke then there’s basically no hope for you. Sorry.
TED talk: Sam Richards on empathy
Sam Richards’ definition of sociology is the ‘study of the way in which humans are shaped by things that they don’t see’. He takes the interpretivist argument to the extreme and argues that empathy is at the core of our… Read More ›
Add SI on Twitter and Facebook
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 ›
Sociological careers
So, what do sociology graduates actually do? If you are a sociology student right now, what are your most obvious career routes? Hilary Burrage offers a good overview of what sociology graduates do in Britain in 2011. We at the… Read More ›