Could Distributed Peer Review Better Decide Grant Funding?
The landscape of academic grant funding is notoriously competitive and plagued by lengthy, bureaucratic processes, exacerbated by difficulties in finding willing reviewers. Distributed […]
Why is Social Theory So Boring?
The roots of sociology lie among a group of engaged, engaging and vibrant people who often risked their well-being, or even their lives, to advance their ideas. So what happened to suck much of the life out of the discipline?
The Pragmatic Utopian: Erik Olin Wright, 1947-2019
Sociologist Erik Olin Wright, who died last week at age 71, spent his career trying to imagine practical alternatives to capitalism.
Metricization, the SSCI Syndrome and Devaluing Books in Academic Sociology
Is scholarship that doesn’t appear in the Social Science Citation Index — a commercial index of ‘internationally leading’ journals in the social sciences, compiled by Clarivate Analytics — worthless? Before you say ‘Of course not,’ know that some universities essentially are saying yes.
Reflections on the Centenary of the Armistice
At the 100th anniversary of the end of World War, Robert Dingwall asks how has English sociology asked questions about the experiences and the legacy of the war — or if it even has broached those issues.
Did Emile Durkheim Foresee Today’s Chaos?
Emile Durkheim, one of the pioneers of the discipline of sociology, died 101 years ago this month. Although few outside of social science departments know his name, his intellectual legacy may provide us with some assistance in diagnosing the perennial problems associated with modernity.
What Can I Do With a Sociology Degree?
“Our goal is to pique students’ curiosity about the social world—and then to give them the academic tools to understand that world, […]
Diane Reay on Education and Class
One thing has become clear to sociologist Diane Reay across her research – “It’s primarily working-class children who turn out to be losers in the educational system.” Whether it’s through the worst-funded schools, least-qualified teachers, most-temporary teaching arrangements or narrowest curricula, students from working class backgrounds in the United Kingdom (and the United States) draw the shortest educational straws.
Why the Chinese Government Should Read Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer’s examination of ‘militant’ societies, argues our Robert Dingwall, proves to be a cautionary tale for the present Chinese government and its attempts to micro-manage society through the ‘social credit’ scheme.
