Archive for November, 2011
Definition Indigenous – The Politics of Indigeneity
Definition Indigenous – The Politics of Indigeneity – A book where the authors go and talk to native people around the world. Looks interesting to me, but the publishers need to write better ad copy otherwise the usefulness of books that help us see and define what it means to be indigenous, or aboriginal, will be submerged behind an ugly sea of EPMO.
To Student Loan or Not to Student Loan – That is The Question
Thinking about going to university? What a great idea that is! Post-secondary education opens doors and increase income. But hold it. Not sure if you’re smart enough? Not sure if you’ve got the IQ, or the talent, or the ability? Idea of massive student loans weighing your emotional systems down? Take a deep breath and relax. Ignore the nonsense about IQ and intelligence and focus on the master within! You have it within you to succeed.
Stock in Trade: Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work
Did you know that what you get depends on who you are? It is true. Females get different things than males, and the lower classes get different things than the upper classes. No where is this more evident than in the education you get. Working class, professional, or ruling class, it’s not who you know but who your parents are (i.e. their social class) that makes all the difference.
Drug and Alchohol Rehab – The Cure for Alchoholism
Here are two books that bring the notion of drug and alcohol rehab and treatment into personal control and away from expensive treatment centers. Both books eschew moralistic therapies that focus on character weakness or genetics and instead focus on the actual brain mechanisms involves in alcohol and drug rehab. It is not quite sociology, since environmental precursors (like abusive childhood environments) are not considered, but it a fascinating approach to rehab nonetheless.
Captain America, The All-American Drughead
Greetings today children, and welcome to my neighborhood. Our word of the day today is “hypocrite.” Can you say that? “Hypocrite? I thought you could, and so can Dr. Mcgettigan. Though he is saying it in a far nicer way, he is saying it just the same. We are a nation of contradictions, with a morality based on profit and domination, and a sensibility that dictates the end justifies the means. Dose up with those performance enhancing drugs sir ’cause not even your health and well-being takes precedence over the need to dominate another living being.
Business, Technology, and a Life Without
Here’s an essay posted by a student in my Sociology 460 Class at Athabasca University. It is a very insightful view of the disconnecting effect that technology has. If you grew up with social media you might think that it connects in better ways than ever before, but to somebody like me who grew up before computers, it is nothing but an invasive disconnect. Let it in and it fills your life space with triviality and meaningless social soundbites that, because of their hopeless superficiality, can never fulfill our deep, almost spiritual need, for connected, and meaningful social relationships. Technology good for business? Maybe, but as a social lubricant maybe it promises more than it can offer.
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.
