Social psychology teaches us that when people riot, their collective behavior is never mindless. It may often be criminal, but it is structured and coherent with meaning and conscious intent. To address the causes of such violence, we need to understand this.
Spats, fall-outs and intellectual and personal feuds have long been commonplace among scholars. And, because critiques of ideas and publications are also exercises in freedom of expression, they are integral to the rough and tumble of academic life. But British universities are now facing much more insidious challenges…
Despite warnings from universities (under government pressure), thousands of students in Indonesia protested controversial bills. What role, if any, should academics play in the support and encouragement of student protesters?
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms are sometimes dismissed as distractions for students. But they’re also avenues for scientific communication. Scientists are active on social media, discussing everything from methods to the latest developments in research. They even use social media to raise funds…
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2019 (commonly known as the Nobel Prize for Economics) has been awarded to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.” Through the award, the Nobel committee recognized both the significance of development economics in the world today and the innovative approaches developed by these three economists.
Images tap into attitudes, but not always in the same way for every viewer. An image’s perceived level of influence is based on “believability.” This is the idea that it is true if we agree, fake if we disagree. And it is here that the power of images intersects with the great challenge of the digital age. How do we understand politics, fake news, campaigning, and citizenship in an area dominated by images?
Current mainstream economic theory needs an overhaul. Modern advanced economies are complex, evolving systems, which cannot continue to be understood only through aggregate quantity. Sergio Focardi discusses the explanatory power of qualitative (in addition to quantitative) understandings of the market.
Even as government spending per-student for higher education institutions has been faltering in the United States, private money has been flowing in. But not all public institutions are getting the same amount of seed money from outsiders.
A database of retractions shows hundreds of academic articles with Australian authors have been withdrawn. Research misconduct threatens to corrode trust in academic qualifications and publications.
Most countries in Africa are lagging behind development goal suggested by the United Nations. Science academies have a crucial role to play in developing ways for scientists to help these nations achieve development goals more effectively.
For most people, the idea of academia and heavy metal coming together under a single roof represents a paradox. It’s a misplaced assumption built on ingrained ideas about these two cultural forms.
The late South African musician Johnny Clegg was also an anthropologist both formally, as a lecturer on ethnography, and informally as he continued a teaching career from the stage.
