By Adam Riggio When I decided to leave a career in academia behind, I felt betrayed. Since my early twenties, I had received nothing but encouragement from professors in my own program and at conferences where I’d present. I met some… Read More ›
Archive for July 2015
Freedom from self-imposed metrified tyranny: some thoughts on the moral psychology of self-tracking
A couple of years ago I purchased a Nike Fuel Band, partly out of a curiosity driven by my nascent interest in self-tracking and partly out of a desire to rationalise not going to the gym. If I was planning… Read More ›
The @_ISRF @DigitalSocSci and @BigDataSoc Essay Competition
An exciting new project I’ve helped launch: a collaboration between the ISRF’s Digital Social Science Forum and the journal Big Data & Society. See here for full details: The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) and Big Data & Society (BD&S) intend to award a prize of… Read More ›
Transhumanism’s Big Political Blind Spot
For those who still don’t know what it is, transhumanism is basically the application of science and technology to amplify the human condition, potentially well beyond our biological default settings. As someone who has increasingly identified with transhumanism since publishing… Read More ›
The cognitive costs of escaping the filter bubble
I recently saw the news that ‘Infidelity site’ Ashley Madison had been hacked, with the attackers claiming 37 million records had been stolen. The site is an online forum for infidelity, a dating site explicitly designed to facilitate affairs, something which potentially provoked… Read More ›
The Critical Realism Network
An important new initiative for anyone interested in Critical Realism. This is how Phil Gorski introduces it: Dear Colleagues, I am excited to announce the launch of the Critical Realism Network (CRN) which aims to engage a community of academics… Read More ›
CfP: World Society in the Making? Varieties of Transnational Institutions
Call for Papers for the Workshop World Society in the Making? Varieties ofTransnational Institutions (7-8 December 2015, Duisburg, Germany) The emergence of a world society is often considered to be a homogenizing process dominated by the extension of Western rationality… Read More ›
Alt-academic careers #1: Benjamin Geer
By Benjamin Geer I left a successful career as a software developer in London to study Arabic and do a PhD in Middle East Studies. I then had a traditional one-year visiting assistant professor job (in Egypt) and a traditional… Read More ›
The Power of Perception: Common Sense or Nonsense
(HT Robert MacDonald)
Cameron on Extremism – the good, the bad and the ugly!
by Sufyan Ismail With extremism in our midst, David Cameron unveils a 5-year plan, with four planks, to tackle one major extremism threat. David Cameron’s speech on his 5-year plan to tackle extremism covered a huge amount of ground to… Read More ›
The micro-politics of noise and the challenge of being-with-others
Sometimes the noise other people make bothers me. I mean really pisses me off. The kind of irritation which makes it impossible to ignore the noise, leaving your attention locked in and your perceptual field narrowed until there is only… Read More ›
Call for Papers: Righting Feminism
CALL FOR PAPERS Righting Feminism Thematic Issue, New Formations Guest Editors: Dr. Catherine Rottenberg and Dr. Sara Farris In recent years, we have witnessed the multifarious ways in which feminism as an emancipatory project dedicated to women’s liberation (whether conceived… Read More ›
Never again, for the same people?
by Sairah Yassir Last week marked the 20th year anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. World leaders, mainstream media and “International Community” continued, and no doubt will continue, with their rhetoric of “never again” to a substantial level whilst continuing to… Read More ›
Connected and disconnected writing
By David Beer I recall watching a documentary about the popular crime novelist Ian Rankin. It’s a documentary that is well worth watching for any writer. The programme followed him through a year in his life. It began in January,… Read More ›
The @_ISRF @DigitalSocSci and @BigDataSoc Essay Competition
An exciting new project I’ve helped launch: a collaboration between the ISRF’s Digital Social Science Forum and the journal Big Data & Society. See here for full details: The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) and Big Data & Society (BD&S)… Read More ›
Returning to blogging
Around two months ago I reluctantly came to the conclusion that I no longer had time to maintain two blogs. I won’t go into the reasons here, but the case seemed pretty unanswerable. So I closed down this blog and… Read More ›
Counter-factualising hypothesising
In recent months, I’ve become fascinated by Design Fiction as a potential tool for Sociologists. Related to this is the question of counter-factuality: can we use fiction to explore hypotheses about what would have happened if … in a way… Read More ›
Support Sociological Imagination with a T-Shirt!
In recent years, the once negligible hosting costs of this site have begun to increase. Hopefully this has had some positive impact, as the site had been increasingly unreliable on our old host. Our new host is great. But a… Read More ›
Committing Sociology: open-access essays from @TheSocReview
For the last few months, I’ve been curating a series of essays for The Sociological Review’s website, reflecting on the future of the discipline and related issues. Here are the initial essays: Sociology’s Dual Horizons by David Beer Are We… Read More ›
CfP: Beyond the Master’s Tools: Post- and Decolonial Approaches to Research Methodology and Methods in the Social Sciences
Call for Papers Beyond the Master’s Tools: Post- and Decolonial Approaches to Research Methodology and Methods in the Social Sciences University of Kassel, 14-15 January 2016 The contention that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house” (Lorde) translates… Read More ›
Call for Digital Anthropology book proposals
This looks like it will be an extremely valuable book series:
Book Review: Group Conflict and Political Mobilization in Bahrain and the Arab Gulf: Rethinking the Rentier State
Conflict and Political Mobilization in Bahrain and the Arab Gulf: Rethinking the Rentier State – Justin Gengler (Indiana University Press, 2015) review by Bradley Williams The 2011 Bahraini Uprising seemed to confirm that Bahrain does not conform to the orthodox… Read More ›
Academic spammer or weird meta-troll?
Has anyone else received e-mails from JPMontfort? I was intrigued by the sheer weirdness of things like this: FROM YEAR 2210 TO UCHICAGO PRESIDENT ROBERT J. ZIMMER PROTAGONISTS TERESA HORD OWENS & JEREMY EDWARDS RECIPIENTS 159.134 FACULTY & STAFF IN BRITAIN We have a reason to… Read More ›
Trailer for the Syriza documentary by @paulmasonnews
AND DREAMS SHALL TAKE REVENGE – TRAILER from Theopi Skarlatos on Vimeo.
Manchester Multiculturalism: Fasting, Food & Festival
It is that time of year again: Muslims around the world are fasting during Ramadan in the lead up to Eid ul Fitr. The #ShareRamadan concept has long existed as older generations of Muslims have shared their food with their… Read More ›
JK Rowling displays empathy with a Muslim fan and replies to his tweet about reading in Ramdan.
JK Rowling displays empathy with a Muslim fan and replies to his tweet about reading in Ramdan.
Call for Papers: Issues of Power in Social Research
8TH ENQUIRE CONFERENCE: ISSUES OF POWER IN SOCIAL RESEARCH To colleagues who have submitted abstracts for the 8th Enquire Conference – many thanks. Speaking with a number of colleagues, however, we are aware that there are some who were eager to submit… Read More ›
What does it mean to be asexual?
This feature in Vice I produced with my friend Holly Falconer was discussed in this interesting Slate podcast: (edit to add: turns out we weren’t discussed at all, only included as supplementary reading. oh well!)
CfP: I Confess: An Anthology of Original Essays on Constructing the Sexual Self in Contemporary Moving Image Art, Media and Culture
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS I Confess: An Anthology of Original Essays on Constructing the Sexual Self in Contemporary Moving Image Art, Media and Culture (title-in-progress) edited by Thomas Waugh and Brandon Arroyo, Concordia University A twenty-chapter collection of essays on confessionality… Read More ›
PREVENT will have a chilling effect on open debate, free speech and political dissent
The Independent carries a letter from academics collectively critiquing (the already many times discredited) Prevent strategy which has now become a statutory duty directly affecting places of education. “In an unprecedented intervention, 280 academics, lawyers and public figures… Read More ›