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A "New" Economics 101
by theoryforthemasses In a recent New York Times op-ed, columnist David Brooks questions whether the old, “rational,” Keynesian model of economics is truly useful for trying to understand the current...
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Multiple Births as Media Spectacle
by theoryforthemasses In the past week considerable debate has emerged over the birth of a set of octuplets to a California woman. Controversy has surrounded both the doctors who facilitated the...
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A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Game Studies
by bmckernan Towards the end of 2008, the PEW Internet & American Life Project released two studies on video games whose results were met with some shock by the mainstream media. The first PEW...
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Racist Language in the U.S.: Alive, But Not Well
Click here to view the embedded video. by NickieWild Is racist language still acceptable in the United States? As with most things in social science, the answer depends on the situation and people...
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Veiled Beauty: Saudi Arabia and Plastic Surgery
by NickieWild As Westerners, it is difficult for us to imagine a situation where women are regarded as the mysterious “Other” more than in Saudi Arabia, where wearing the hijab is required and what we...
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Virtual Conference Report: Day Seven (27 Oct, 2009)
The seventh day of the conference has continued with the key themes of ‘breaking down boundaries’ and interdisciplinarity. Roy Baumeister (Florida State University) began the day with his keynote...
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Virtual Conference Report: Day Eight (28 Oct, 2009)
By Paula Bowles Day eight of the conference was once again marked by some excellent contributions. The first paper ‘Cultural Sociology and Other Disciplines: Interdisciplinarity in the Cultural...
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The Social Construction of Drinking and Drunkeness
While Sociologists of Culture and feminist theorists among others, have long emphasized the culturally contingent aspects of the construction of reality. A recent article about alcohol consumption in...
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web 1.5: the web is not getting flatter
As media became truly massive in the middle of the 20th century, many theorists discussed the degree to which individuals are powerless -e.g., McLuhan’s famous “the medium is the message.” In the last...
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What Makes the College Classroom Relevant?
In August 2010, The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), a self-described “independent, non-profit organization committed to academic freedom, excellence, and accountability at America’s...
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Another Two Cents on England (and Crawley): Masculinity, Culture, and Tucson
As is often the case with graduate students, I just spent several months in a dissertation-induced haze and only recently had a chance to go through the latest issues of Gender & Society. Among...
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Engaging Sociologically with Students’ Facebook Usage
It’s the middle of class. Looking out into the classroom, a dim light reflects on students’ faces as they stare or type into the devices in front of them. Walking up and down the aisles, blue-tinted...
View ArticleCollege Students and Social Media: Making Meaning of Everyday Activities in...
When Harrisburg University in Harrisburg, PA attempted a week-long social media “blackout” in September 2010, national news media swarmed the campus. A “smartly dressed correspondent from NPR stalk[ed]...
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Words of the Year: Questions for “Assembled Experts” and Those Whose...
“Oh, I hate that,” my colleague moaned, leaning on the hay- in “hate” with a weary sigh. The that in question was a grammatical construction I had not encountered in my previous TESOL experiences: from...
View ArticleWhy College Educators Who Care about Critical Thinking Need to Pay Attention...
“I don’t know if I should be saying this right now,” sophomore Allie stated, her eyes making a cautionary sweep of the room, even though except for us it was empty, and the door had long been shut....
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Embracing Civility or Intensifying Deviance….A Dialectic?
As prior posts may express, my attention has been gripped by the motivations and experiences of those engaged in deviant activity. More specifically, it is not major crimes under consideration but...
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Woody Guthrie Turns 100: The Folk Icon, His Music, and Social Movements
Woody Guthrie, with his guitar and iconic sticker reading “This machine kills fascists.” Source: Wikimedia Commons. Two days ago marked what would have been the centennial birthday of iconic folk...
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Culture, Nationalism and “Inferior” Peoples
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s recent overseas tour didn’t go well according to most in the press. The British press, in particular, blasted Romney for his comments regarding Britain’s...
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Yes, You Are a Statistic
I can no longer stomach certain clichés. Last night at the Democratic National Convention, I heard one of these. A university student, who introduced Dr. Jill Biden, wife of the Vice-President, noted...
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Progressing from game theory to agent based modelling to simulate social...
This article discusses some of the fundamental flaws in game theory and discusses agent based modelling as a successor to model social emergence. Axelrod (1984) made a major contribution to Game...
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