December 2010
12 posts
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Loïc Wacquant on the return of the penal state
“The stunning return of the prison is not linked to crime… it is not the coming of the exclusive society, or the risk society… it is not the coming of late modernity, or post modernity… it is the remaking of the state in the age of triumphant neoliberalism or rather, under the press of neoliberalization as a transnational political project entailing the...
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On Revolutions
Follow the ever prolific David Harvey at http://davidharvey.org/
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Mormonism, Fundamentalism, and Gay Marriage
So last night I went out with some friends to see the lights at Temple Square. A friend of a friend was visiting from out of town and there really isn’t much to do in Salt Lake City on a Monday night… anyway, I don’t have to justify myself to you! The last time I visited Temple Square had been for a protest in reaction to Boyd K. Packer’s talk at General Conference (you...
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The Proustian Snob vs. the Hipster
Sociological Images just pointed me to an article published in the New York Times a month back which uses Bourdieu’s research in ‘Distinctions’ to explain the modern day Hipster. Bourdieu’s basic argument is that judgments of taste operate as a means to legitimate social class. Those with economic capital convert their power into cultural capital, thereby insuring their...
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Google: Not too serious about that "do no evil"...
Bloomberg reports that Google Inc. has avoided paying $3.1 billion worth of taxes in the last three years by exploiting regulatory loopholes. The company utilizes a strategy favored by other tech companies such as Microsoft and Facebook. More below.
The tactics of Google and Facebook depend on “transfer pricing,” paper transactions among corporate subsidiaries that allow for allocating income...
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The (previously) untapped market of immigrant...
The perverse functionality of the American penal system has been widely recounted, for which reason the privatization of the prison industry shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The United States spends roughly $70 billion per year on prisons. According to MSNBC, “California now spends more incarcerating 167,000 adults than it does to educate 226,000 students in its 10-campus...
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Reporting on the rich
In all likelihood, if you were to ask someone if they were rich they would not reply in the affirmative. At most they would say “I’m doing okay.” Apart from the obvious tackiness of admitting one’s wealth, there is a general societal disconnect in regards to the objective nature of wealth. Media Matters offers a wonderful critique of a recent Los Angeles Times piece which...
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Mapping America: Every City, Every Block
The New York Times has posted a nifty widget which maps a variety of census data such as race, income, and education distribution. Check it out here
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"A legacy of unintended sacrifices"
The Boston Globe just began the first part of a three part series which examines some unintended consequences of welfare reform policies on needy families. Desperation drives many parents into seeking out medical diagnosis in order to qualify for federal assistance. While there are certainly children who are in need of psychological treatment, one can readily see how there is a perverse...
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WatchI just finished watching this frontline documentary on for-profit colleges and it struck me as a vivid example of what Bourdieu described as the merging of institutional fields. As institutions within higher education reposition themselves in closer proximity to business fields, they adopts similar values, goals, jargon, etc as other free market institutions. David Hursh has dealt with this...