By Rachael Liberman In a recent article from The Nation, heavyweight media scholars John Nichols and Robert McChesney remind readers that the current crisis in American journalism does not necessarily mean that the industry is fated to fail. Rather, Nichols and McChesney optimistically open the article with the news that the Federal Trade Commission is … Continue reading »
Filed under Communication and Media …
Cyborg Systems: Sociology’s Proper Unit of Analysis
by pj.rey The increasing centrality of the Internet in our daily lives has precipitated a spate of theorizing about how we – as humans and as a society – are changing (or not) due to the constant technological mediation of our most basic interactions and activities. Let’s face it: This sort of theorizing is populated … Continue reading »
The Presentation of Self…in Dating
Eva Illouz, in Cold Intimacies asks us to consider how technology changes notions of the body and of emotions. One of the forced rearticulations occurs in the realm of the presentation of self. As Illouz notes, when technology (specifically in the form of the Internet) mediates relationships we are simultaneously displaying our innermost private selves … Continue reading »
Editor’s Highlights: Reality Television as Small Screen Documentary?
This fall’s lineup in the United States featured fewer reality programs, but they are still a dominant part of network TV. Jelle Mast’s September 2009 article in the Communication and Media section of Sociology Compass challenges sociologists to think about the form and function of reality television programming. Beginning with a critique of the academic … Continue reading »
Muslim Identity, Cultural Trauma, and the Racialized Backlash
by Nickie Wild Jeffrey Alexander writes that “cultural trauma occurs when members of a collectivity feel they have been subjected to a horrendous event that leaves indelible marks upon their group consciousness, marking their memories forever and changing their future identity in fundamental and irrevocable ways” (2004). With this basic definition in mind, can we … Continue reading »
Wikipedia’s ‘increasing focus on quality and referencing’
by paulabowles Many lecturers and teachers will recognise the feeling of disheartenment when confronted by an undergraduate essay containing multiple references to Wikipedia. Despite regular exhortations for students to resist its charms, its appeal seems almost overwhelming. Although the site is loved by many, its major selling point of completely open access (i.e. ‘anyone can … Continue reading »
Portable pornography in the public sphere: Convenient, offensive or hazardous?
By Rachael Liberman It’s one thing to experience the pornification of culture through public advertising (billboards, subway adverts), among other mediated formats. But what if someone sitting next to you on the subway is watching pornography on their iPod? In a recent Washington Post article, Staff Writer Monica Hesse questions the acceptability of portable porn, … Continue reading »
Conference Summary Part I: The Internet as Playground and Factory
by pj.rey The New School held a conference last week that may be of interest to many Sociology Lens readers, so I have decided to devote this week’s entry to sharing some notes from the conference. The implosion of work and play was the most recurrent theme in the panels that I attended. The term … Continue reading »
‘Carnage’ at the War Memorial
by paulabowles Philip Laing, the 19 year old student from Sheffield Hallam University has become the latest focus for the media. Recently photographed urinating upon a poppy wreath at a Second World War Memorial, Laing has attracted an enormous amount of negative attention. Although, Laing claims he was drunk at the time, and remembers nothing … Continue reading »
Living in a “Post-Feminist” World
Discourse surrounding feminism, feminist theory, and even Women and Gender Studies departments has grown increasingly skeptical. Questioning the need for feminism in this “post-feminist” world and citing the high attendance of women in universities, American society seems fixated on closing the door on calls for social justice based on gender. Two recent new stories however, … Continue reading »
