Archive for August, 2010
Embracing Change: Working Together to end the Cycle of Violence
One of the first things the sociology initiate learns is about the “sociological imagination.” This concept is used to illustrate, the power of sociology. Sociology can help you, you are told, if you just use its concepts to understand your life. Here is an example of what it means to apply the sociological imagination. Drawing on research in gender, criminology, sentencing biases, and a number of common sociological themes, this author examines his own life through a sociological lens, applying the “sociological imagination” to explode a common bias and blind spot in our modern cultures. Think you can do the same? You’re welcome to submit.
Child Labour
Truth, justice, and the North American way? Not for these children. In fact, globally one child dies of hunger related illnesses every 15 seconds and one in six children are involved in some form of child labour or child exploitation. Not our concern? Next time you buy your Egyptian cotton, sheets, eat your banana, drink your tea, kick a soccer ball, or watch those Disney fireworks, consider where that product might have come from and who harvested/produced it for you.
Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful
First published in 1994 by Gerald Grow, this article takes a critical look at advertising, exploring the meaning behind the images. Commercials work not because they sell a product, but because they sell a “state of existence,” or a “way of being” that we find desirable or that we attain towards, but that we can never achieve! In a very real sense advertising, argues Grow, promotes despair and depression because advertising shows us things that most of us can never attain. Are advertisers to blame, then, for the exploding rates of depression and mental illness, eating disorder and pathology, in our “modern” world?
The Real War Heroes
Classroom controversies are short and provocative articles designed to encourage classroom debate. They revolve around current, often hot button issues, and are likely to generate considerable classroom dialogue. Please feel free to print as many copies of these articles as you need. To submit a paper or proposal, visit our contact page.
Rocket Scientists Guide to Money and the Economy
Support the Socjourn and by a Book Rocket Scientists’ Guide to Money and the Economy A grounded and revealing analysis of the nature, function, and the social, political, and economic costs of debt. Removes the black box, obtuse jargon, and complicated science to reveal the ugly realities of capitalist economics that lie within. A personal, [...]
A technological utopia?
The view propogated by the media companies and sellers of technology is that technology is freedom. From early dishwashers to the recent spate of ads hawking the latest social phones, technology leads to utopia. But does it? Does being connected 24/7 through multiple devices really lead to quality of life, or does it degrade life and provide one other way for us to be monitored, controlled, and over worked?
What to know about the nature of money, the value of money, and money's role in our modern economies of exchange, then download The Rocket Scientists' Guide to Money and the Economy and let the truth set you free. [download]
Sociology for the revolutionary in you. Sociology 288: Social Movements from Athabasca University is designed to teach you about social movements, why they emerge, why they fail, and what you can do in the global struggle for equality and justice. Learn from the successful examples like MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and avoid common pitfalls and errors. Textbooks included in the price of the course.
