The Mad Sociologist Blog

  • Confusing Supreme Court Decision: State, Religion and Government "Free Speech"

    The Supreme Court decision on Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum offered an interesting way to sidestep the whole separation of church and state “thing.” It’s not the first time the high court was wrong, of course, and every time it’s wrong there are social consequences.  We’ll see just how intense the consequences are in… Read more

  • Rape as Social Policy: The Congo

    Last week’s blog about rape and knowledge was written as a prelude to this.  After reading Ann Jones article in The Nation  A Crime Against Society I couldn’t help but think that the unfortunate women in the story were not only victimized by individual rapists, nor by the very policies and military strategies that encourage… Read more

  • Rape and the Intersection of Archaic and Postmodern Knowledge

    Rape is a heinous crime against an individual.  At least that’s the way we see it in this country. Rape is recognized by social scientists as an expression of power, of dominance, almost always perpetrated by men against women, or men against other men. As such it is considered a violent crime and is punishable. … Read more

  • The Porn Star and the Senate: The Occupations of our Legislators

    http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/js/2.0/video/evp/module.js?loc=dom&vid=/video/politics/2009/02/09/callebs.vitter.porn.cnnEmbedded video from CNN Video CNN ran an interesting story the other day that stimulated my…uh…sociological imagination of course! Apparently some fans of porn star Stormy Daniels are gathering momentum to run the actress for Senate against the current discredited seat holder David Vitter. You just can’t make this stuff up! Of course, CNN most… Read more

  • Class Hierarchies in America

    I received this picture via e-mail.  I’m unsure of the source.  But it is a great commentary on American class structure.  Note, this story was presented in the media largely as a case of heroism and American tenacity in the face of adversity.  The issue of class was not covered in the so called liberal… Read more

  • It’s not about the money. It’s about the power.

    It’s not about the money. It’s about the power.

    There’s been a great deal of discourse in the liberal media about all of the things we can do now that we have a “liberal” president.  Finally, there’s the opportunity to put sensible economic, environmental, educational and health policies into effect.  The atmosphere is awash in hope and dreamy-eyed, Utopian visions.  We’ll finally have a… Read more

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