This is better than a festschrift!
Archive for June 2014
“Worker analytics” – Taylorization 2.0?
This article on Pop Matters is an interesting critique of the growing trend towards ‘Worker analytics’ and how it meshes with productivity culture to expand the scope of workplace control: Both Taylorism and People Analytics are largely based on the… Read More ›
CfP: What are conferences for? The Political economy of academic events
The Sociological Imagination invites short articles ( words) critically reflecting upon the prevailing forms of intellectual meeting within the contemporary academy. What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? How could they be done differently? What are the sociological implications of these… Read More ›
Five Recommendations for Social Scientists in responding to big data
This is our 2000th post! I recently came across this post by Helen Margetts on the LSE Impact Blog from a few months ago. It’s worth reading the post in full but what really caught my imagination were the five recommendations she… Read More ›
A New Way of Thinking. The Sociological Imagination of Harriet Martineau ()
by Nina R. Jakoby and Michaela Thönnes The classical social science tradition would remain incomplete without mentioning the first female sociologist Harriet Martineau () – a pioneer of sociological theory and social research (Rossi 1973). When C. Wright Mills (1959) elaborated… Read More ›
Book Review: New Geographies of Race and Racism
Recently I have been reading up on contemporary social and cultural geography’s take on race and racism, and I have come across a very interesting and useful edited collection by Claire Dwyer and Caroline Bressey (from the Department of Geography… Read More ›
Intellectual Trajectory and the Pleasures of Disciplinarity
I recently heard Gene Stanley, an affable and rather polymathic physicist, reflect on his experience of collaborating with economists. He was concerned to make clear the different skill sets that physicists and economists bring to collaborative work, with each able to do things which the… Read More ›
The Muppets explain Phenomenology
Its philosophical accuracy is questionable but it is very catchy:
The Destruction of Public Space
In the past few days, this bench has made an outrage among my Internet community. I had to look it up and discovered that it is a public installation by the German designer and conceptual artist Fabian Brunsing intended to… Read More ›
CfP: Crisis and Social Change: Towards Alternative Horizons
Crisis and Social Change: Towards Alternative Horizons. Call for Papers. Deadline Monday July 21st. Organized by the Department of Sociology, Cambridge University Date: Sep 26-27, 2014 Venue: Faculty of Human, Social, and Political Sciences, Free School Lane, Cambridge, CB2 3RQ… Read More ›
A BSA Bourdieu Study Group Event: Are Elite Universities Meritocratic?
Are Elite Universities Meritocratic? A BSA Bourdieu Study Group Event Tuesday 8th July 2014 10am-5pm Cardiff University Committee Rooms, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WT Keynote Speakers Professor Diane Reay and Dr. Vikki Boliver Bourdieu talks about… Read More ›
What is the Capability Approach about?
The capability approach (CA), developed by Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum and other social theorists is a broad, human-centred normative framework for the evaluation of individual and group well-being, quality of life and social justice. Sen and Nussbaum’s ideas have influenced… Read More ›
Depression by Any Other Name
I came across a nice little article by the Irish author and journalist Mary Kenny from 2010, in which she writes about the multitude of other feelings and emotions with which depression is increasingly conflated. She writes: It is an… Read More ›
Tales of single parenthood in austerity Britain
Great article in the Lacuna magazine discussing the hardships of single parenting in contemporary Britain and what the benefits system and employment policies are doing wrong. (Also, a great example of sociological writing with interviews). Down the Rabbit Hole: Single… Read More ›
New Journal Issue – ethnographic studies of Georgia
New theme-issue of Slavic Review, Interdisciplinary Quarterly of Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies: Ethnographies of absence in the Republic of Georgia http://www.slavicreview.illinois.edu/current
Constructing a Sociological career: An eternally complex autobiographical practice
It wasn’t billed as an early careers master-class and pep talk, but from my personal perspective, this was precisely what the recent ‘Conversations with David Morgan and Friends’ event delivered, as well as interesting insights into current research at the… Read More ›
Books on Educational Theory and Educational Research
Reading about educational theories and educational research I have come across these useful books. The first book Educational Theories, Cultures and Learning edited by Harry Daniels, Hugh Lauder and Jill Porter gives educational researchers a chance to reflect upon urgent… Read More ›
Let’s hope America is not returning to ‘normal’: We may need another ‘American Century’
Nowadays I run across two groups of intelligent people who feel they understand why the United States seems to have lost its mojo. One group of people (typically on the right but invariably libertarian) believe that the US political class… Read More ›
Killed for King Football? Brazil, Police Violence and the World Cup
Article (in German) here
Lacuna – a new online magazine which commits sociology
We would like to introduce you to a new favourite online magazine of ours – Lacuna. “Lacuna is an online magazine that challenges indifference to suffering and promotes human rights. Its aim is to fill the gap between the short-term… Read More ›
“Why do I never listen to me?”: Internal Monologues and TV Comedy
I wrote a few months ago about the representation of interiority in film and television. I’ve lost count of the number of conversations I’ve had about the internal conversation after six years researching it. While some sociologists are deeply sceptical of the… Read More ›
Battling Against the Atrocities
by Kanika Sud* She dreamt of pursuing her higher education and enjoying civil liberties just like her brother. While the brother could choose the course of his career, possessed unrestricted freedom and had access to the public sphere, she could… Read More ›
Japanese Suicide Culture
by Kanika Sud* “He was exceptionally quiet after he got pink slipped” says the crest fallen mother of a 27 year old Japanese youth. “He refused to eat a morsel of food, and talk to anyone at all. One fine… Read More ›
REF and the usefulness of academia
Interesting article by Doris Ruth Eikhof on the Work in Progress blog of the American Sociological Association’s Organizations, Occupations, and Work” section, about Weber, Tolstoj and the usefulness of academia.
The Impact Agenda and the Good (Academic) Life
This was the rather unlikely connection suggested in Jonathan Wolff’s recent Guardian article. I have massive respect for Wolff, who taught me as an undergraduate and is the only lecturer who has ever consistently held my attention, which left me taking this article… Read More ›
Maths and Girls: Sensible Solutions…
Reblogged from the Idle Ethnographer’s mathematical blog, mattersmathematical.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/sensible-solutions
Queer Futures – new research project
Queer Futures is a national study exploring the self-harm and suicidal feelings of young LGBTQ peopleLancaster University is leading a £300,000 study aimed at reducing self-harm and suicide among young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or questioning.International research… Read More ›
The Performativity of Social Movements
What does it mean to talk about the performativity of social movements? The obvious answer is to look to the aspect of performance inherent in the mobilisation of contemporary social movements. In this sense protests and demonstrations can be seen as drawing upon established… Read More ›
Academics using kickstarter
I was intrigued to see this great project by Emma Jackson and a collaborator on Kickstarter. It’s fantastic that it seems to have been so successful for them. Is this likely to become more widespread? I find this quite exciting in some respects but… Read More ›
Fast capitalism and peer review
The public debate concerning ‘scare stories’ about statins is an interesting case study for the politics of peer review. It’s an important reminder that these seemingly technical issues of scholarly communication can have important public consequences. The case seems to be framed in… Read More ›