Nice link to a 2005 piece of research I just stumbled accross – I’m really posting it to remind myself to look at it at some point! Seams like a good piece of research to challenge the determinism of labelling theory.
Monthly Archives: October 2010
Sociology on TV – Women, the BBC Documentary
This BBC documentary is in three episodes – the first charts the rise of the Feminist movement in the 1970s ,and includes interviews with radical Feminists such as Susan Brownmiller, Kate Millet and Germain Greeer. The second episode focusses on interviews with families and looks at the variety of domestic roles today while the final episode looks at the views and activities of the London Feminist Network, which provides an interesting insight into the issues that concern contemporary Feminists (mainly the objectification of women’s bodies, and its relationship to violence against women being indicative of gender inequality. )
All documentaries are available to college students on estream – just type in ‘women’ to the search engine
Web site of the Week – RSA videos
I just wanted to flag up these RSA videos as an excellent way of introducing some very complex ideas – the ideas covered in these videos go beyond sociology – there are typically about theories that draw on many different academic disciplines, but for those of you that like thinking about sociology/ politics/ philosophy and want to push your understanding beyond the A level syllabus these are excellent. The link below is to many of the videos they’ve done and they’re also on youtube – http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/videos/
As to the The RSA web sit e it says “For over 250 years the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress. Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action.”
The RSA offer a number of pamphlets and a good events (mainly lectures) series that focus on a wide range of political issues – althogether very interesting stuff – OK this is way beyond A level stuff but this is a good example of how Sociology can be relevant to real life.
So here we have it – 300 years after the Enlightenment spawned Sociology – so the Enlightenment tradition continues – Note that all decent sociologists and all decent academics draw on material from many disciplines and this is something I would encourage you do do as you develope – BUT – when it comes to the exam, narrow you foucs and try not to be too clever – or you may fail! When you finish the exams you can get back to being properly clever again!
Tory cuts – Britain’s Shock Doctrine
Hey kiddos – my predictions about the toryscum shafting people and planet for the sake of corporate profits have come true –
Check out this item in which George Monbiot outlines how Giddeon’s cuts benefit his corporate chums.
A brief extract – ‘Public bodies whose purpose is to hold corporations to account are being swept away. Public bodies whose purpose is to help boost corporate profits, regardless of the consequences for people and the environment, have sailed through unharmed. The government’s programme of cuts looks like a classic example of disaster capitalism: using a crisis to re-shape the economy in the interests of business.’
Interestingly Monbit draws on Naomic Klein’s shock doctrine – one of the most important leftist books of this century – read it!
So if you think Marxism (well OK left-libertarianism) isn’t relevant – think again!
Summary of Runaway World by Anthony Giddens
I’m in the process of moving everything to my new site – follow this link to get to this post – apologies for the slight inconvenience (at least it’s not as annoying as BR)
Web site of the Week – The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies
The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies is an excellent site for keeping up to date with Criminological research – They say of themselves ‘Our mission is to promote just and effective responses to crime and related harms by informing and educating through critical analysis, research and public debate.’
You can subscribe to a monthly bulletin and they do a number of critical reseach papers.
To give you an idea of their kind of approach a few years back they ran a photography competition – exploring the question ‘what is crime’ through photography. The results can be viewed by clicking here
My particular favourite is the entry below – which struck a chord because I’ve been reading a lot about gang crime and media coverage of gang crime recently.
‘gemma’ – By Laura Pannack. ‘Society has a tendency to enforce blame on the younger generation for crime and violence. These negative stereo-types encourage further rebellion and prevent young people from gaining self confidence and aspiration; they fuel a lack of self worth and anger. I have intentionally left it unclear whether my subjects are offenders on probation, pupils with special needs, private school attendants or other young people I have encountered. Titled with the forename of each young person, gives the viewer a hint as to their identity without attaching stigma ? and emphasising the fact that each of my subjects is unique.’
Toxic Childhood
I’ve moved this material my new site – revisesociology.com – It you’re here for A level resources, you’ll probably find that whole site more relevant, this one’s more eclectic.
The best books I ever read…..
Books – Ah books – If only students would read them!
My top five books with sociological content
At some point I will do a detailed analysis of why these books are in my top five – but for the most part it’s because they are typically based on rigorous research and move theoretical debates forward. At some later point in time I will sort these by topic and add more in.
- Klein, N. (2008) The Shock Doctrine. London: Penguin (reprint edition).
- Harvey D. (1991) The Condition of Postmodernity: An enquiry into the conditions of social change. Wiley- Blackwell.
- Collier, P. (2007) The Bottom Billion – Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Chomsky, N. (2004) Hegemony or Survival: America’s quest for global dominance. London: Penguin Books.
- Wilkinson, R and Pickett, K. (2009) The spirit level – Why more equal societies almost always do better. London: Penguin books.
And some other good ones I’ve read over the years… in alphabetical order by author….
Banyard, K. (2010) The equality illusion : The truth about men and women today. London: Faber and Faber.
Bauman, Z. (2000) Liquid Modernity. London: Polity Press.
Dowden, R. (2008) Africa: Altered states, ordinary miracles. London: Portobello books.
Furedi, F. (2005) Culture of Fear. Continuum international publishing group Ltd (Revised edition).
Giddens, G. (1999) Runaway World: How globalisation is reshaping our lives. London: Profile books.
Goldacre, B. (2008) Bad Science. London: Harper Collins.
Harvey D. (2004) The New Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford university press.
Heale, J. (2008) One Blood: Inside Britain’s new street gangs. Simon & Schuster Ltd; First edition First Printing edition.
Levitt, S and Dubner, S. (2005) Freakonomics: A rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything. London: London: Penguin books.
Monbiot, G. (2000) Captive State: The corporate takeover of Britain. London: Macmillan.
Stiglitz, J. (2002) Globalisation and its discontents. London: Penguin
Toynbee, P and Walker D. (2008) Unjust Rewards: Exposing greed and inequality in Britain today. London: Granta Publications.
Venkatesh, S. (2008) Gang leader for a day: A rouge sociologist crosses the line. London: Penguin books.
Sociopops – Fortress Europe – Asian Dub Foundation
Clearly reflexive! –
Basically commenting on the hypocrisy of the west’s role in instigating wars abroad, adding to the problems of refugees and the amount of people in need of asylum, and then tightening boarder controls to prevent people getting into Britain – the song is a clear statement that asylum is a right – and comes from the perspective of those who identify with ‘global civil society’ rather than the British nation state.
A sample of some of the lyrics – check the full lyrics out on one of those free lyrics sites
“We’re the children of globalisation
No borders only true connection
Light the fuse of the insurrection
This generation has no nation
Break out of the detention centres
Cut the wires and tear up the vouchers
People get ready it’s time to wake up
Tear down the walls of Fortress Europe”
Kat Banyard – Violence against women
This material has been updated and moved to ReviseSociology.com