Tag Archive for 'Sociology'

Economic and political disconnects (and the sociology of knowledge)

Published
by
Mark
1 day, 23 hours ago
in Consumerism, Economics, Government, International, Markets, Media, Sociology and USA
. 18 Comments

It’s hard to know whether to blame the pollies or the press gallery more for the sorry standard of political and economic debate in this country. Did that golden age Paul Kelly used to talk about when Paul Keating had everyone trained to cross swords on the arcana of economic levers actually ever exist? Anyway, as non-farm growth fell into negative territory and the Reserve Bank cut rates again (moving them back into an expansionary posture), all eyes were on Julie Bishop’s cat claws, and her non-performance was at the centre of the parliamentary stage.

But perhaps, although he presumably wouldn’t welcome the Bishop meltdown, Malcolm Turnbull isn’t too worried about the level of triviality in the great economic management debate. The budget deficit yardstick went missing yesterday (that was so… last week) and Turnbull might not like to be reminded of his inconsistency and constant contradiction - whatever happened to that “economic narrative” we apparently were awaiting from him? Anyway, Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t think there’s much of a global financial crisis any more - because he hasn’t heard of any “big events”. Presumably events only happen if they’re on the front page of Australian newspapers. He might like to check out the leading indicators of the credit crisis which suggest we’re not exactly back to normality. But so parochial are our political leaders and media that debates about the restructuring of global finance and the dangerous leadership interregnum in the United States are apparently off our radar.

But there’s another disconnect happening in the economic sphere too. Continue reading ‘Economic and political disconnects (and the sociology of knowledge)’

Cities, states, globalisation and warfare (and global sociology)

Published
by
Mark
3 days, 14 hours ago
in Disasters, Government, History, International, Politics, Sociology, Terrorism and War
. 37 Comments

On a couple of reports on tonight’s tv news, I saw a citizen of Mumbai being interviewed who demanded the Indian government go to war with Pakistan. That set me to wondering what such a war - and God forbid one is launched - would solve. War, increasingly, has lost its (perhaps always somewhat illusory) ability to resolve conflict after intensifying it. There are a lot of factors operating here - but one aspect of the globalist discourse that doesn’t receive as much attention as it should (and it’s one aspect that clashes with the more ideological aspects of neo-liberal globalisation talk, and maybe there’s a connection there) - is the inability of states to monopolise the use of violence on their own territory. That capacity, was of course, the key aspect of Max Weber’s classical sociological definition of the state. And, as other sociologists such as Norbert Elias have demonstrated, it’s not either an abstract conceptual nicety or an ahistorical effect, but rather something that has developed over time. Indeed, it can, and no doubt has been argued that the United States is not a modern state at all because it’s never taken seriously one of the core things modern states do - that is, to disarm their own populace. (The better to govern them, among other reasons, and that’s why you get the strong cultural link between guns and liberty.)

In 1999, the celebrated historian Eric Hobsbawm participated in a range of conversations with Italian writer Antonio Polito, subsequently published as On The Edge of The New Century. One of the most striking points Hobsbawm made was that the secular trend of the increasing ability of states to prevent non-state violence on their own territory went into reverse in the 1970s. That’s not the sort of declining power of the state that globalists normally talk of (preferring to see the state as losing power to the market), but it’s at the centre of a lot of what is happening in today’s world, and what is happening to make it a far less safe place. One could hardly imagine that a hypothetical Indian victory in war over Pakistan would render either that territory governable or India’s less violent. As well as assymetry in warfare, we’re also seeing the fruits of a deterritorialisation of identifications which can be pushed to the ultimate limit of death, and the state is also presenting itself as something far more akin to what “public” authority was in pre-modern history - a competing power centre among many. These shifts demand far more thinking through - because in many respects far too many of our political and social currents are still shaped by the concepts of a modernity now partially in ruins. One sociological thinker who’s been doing this hard work is Saskia Sassen, long one of the most interesting writers on globalisation, and she has an important article in Open Democracy on the implications of warfare over the space of the city, prompted by the Mumbai terror attacks.

Continue reading ‘Cities, states, globalisation and warfare (and global sociology)’

Future of (independent) journalism

Published
by
Mark
3 days, 17 hours ago
in Blogging, Books, Writers & Writing, Consumerism, Culture, Markets, Media, Sociology and The Web
. 15 Comments

A few months ago, folks might recall that I spoke at the Future of Journalism conference in Brisbane, organised by the MEAA and the Walkley Foundation. Last week, Melbourne took its turn hosting an event in the series, and Margaret Simons was there:

If it’s possible to draw a consensus from the Future of Journalism conferences, and from yesterday, I would say it is this: Newspapers in print form are in decline, some say dying, and will certainly be less important and influential in the future. But content remains important. A lot of old journalistic roles and skills, including sub editing, remain important. And, on the bright side, there is no evidence of diminished appetite for news and quality content among the public.

But everything else is changing. There is a bomb under the business models for all of our established mass media companies, and if we want to preserve what is good and important in journalism, it is a time for bold experiment.

Some of the symptoms of the decline of the business model for the mainstream media can be discerned from the state of the Walkley Awards themselves, where fearless reporters for each media org either pass over awards won by competitors in silence, or give them a passing mention. At the same time, as Simons observed today, many of the awards went to staffers of media outlets which have since collapsed - Sunday, The Bulletin, and now the Australian bureau of Time. Fairfax’ woes have been highlighted for some time, but there have also been deep budget cuts at News Limited, with staff cuts to follow. The recession will accentuate the current decline in print media.

Personally, I now only buy the Fin Review. And I don’t even read a lot of the content from the Australian papers online any more. And I’m very far from being alone. I think it was Guy Rundle who remarked recently that reading a newspaper now feels almost like an archaic habit. It’s a habit that a lot of people have never taken up, and many others have found it very easy to break. The social and structural causes are complex, and go beyond the issue of content, but while a recent theme by MSM types has been that there’s some sort of crisis if people only take an interest in what they’re actually interested in, no one is going to spend a buck on a newspaper out of some sort of notion of civic responsibility. One of the many ironies in the decline and fall of the newspaper is that editors, columnists and proprietors who happily trashed public interest concerns and championed privatisation and consumer choice for so many years now find themselves on the receiving end of the blunt logic of the market. It’s hard to summon up much sympathy, and denunciations and exhortations will have no effect if consumers don’t wish to consume the news product. So, if there is a continued need for independent journalism and investigative work, what is to be done?

Continue reading ‘Future of (independent) journalism’

Mumbai terror attacks: an anti-Hindutva motivation?

Published
by
Mark
1 week ago
in Authoritarianism, Crime, Developing world, International, Media, Middle East, Nationalism, Politics, Religion, Sociology and Terrorism
. 125 Comments

The Mumbai terror attacks are horrendous and to be roundly and loudly condemned. But, as with all events of this nature (particularly those which involve attacks on Westerners), inevitably there’s been a rush to inscribe their significance within a political frame - the prime candidate being the war on terror. Andrew Bolt can stand as representative here:

THE slaughter in Mumbai was a barbaric attack not just on India, but on us. On the West.

Now, I don’t think that the reflex response to the desire to prematurely ascribe blame to Al-Qaeda before the facts are known should be to rush off in the opposite direction. But it did interest me that many of the television reports a few nights ago sought commentary from experts in terror studies, rather than sourcing those who have a deep knowledge of Indian and subcontinental politics and history per se. This in itself ties in with the desire to write one single narrative of international terrorism, as the terrorism experts in question are usually best informed about Middle Eastern and South East Asian affairs. This in turn both ascribes more unity to international terror networks than actually exists, and turns them into an immediate and default suspected cause, no matter what the specificities of the political and social environment in which attacks actually occur.

Anyone with anything more than a passing acquaintance with Indian politics, society and history, though, would know that it’s quite possible, even probable, that the attacks’ causes lie in factors such as the increasingly weak Indian central government’s inability to control its territory and monopolise the use of violence, and the inability of either the justice system or the state (even after the Congress-led coalition defeated the BJP) to prevent inter-communal violence and massacres such as those in Gujarat in 2002 or hold anyone to account for them. Political violence in India recently, it’s also worthy of note, has often been directed as much against Christians as Muslims, and what we may be seeing is the emergence of what are basically pogroms on a much bigger and more organised scale. The role of the Shiv Sena Party in the governance of Mumbai itself, a party which has called for the formation of Hindutva suicide squads and an ethno-religious sectarian neighbourhood cleansing program in the city, may additionally be a factor.

One shouldn’t rush to judgement. And one shouldn’t do that also for reasons of preserving an awareness of the horror of the deaths and injuries that have been inflicted in Mumbai and some more respect and dignity for the victims than instantly transforming them into political footballs. But if causes are to be sought, and they should be, both the Pakistani connections to violence and the emergence of terrorist movements pushing back against the nationalist pogroms may well be found in time - after the facts are in - to have been at work in these tragic events.

Elsewhere: Crooks & Liars, The Independent and Boing Boing.

Update: Shakira Hussein in Crikey.

Update: The Blair/Bolt Watch Project, Guy Beres and a roundup of citizen journalism at The Guardian.

Don’t mention the Nationals (or the Liberals, or the environment)

Published
by
Paul Norton
2 weeks ago
in Advertising, Authoritarianism, Brisbane, Climate change, Environment, Politics, Queensland, State/Territory Elections and Transport
. 11 Comments

This morning the Queensland Liberal-National Party’s latest television advertisement hit the airwaves, jostling for our attention with Amber Higlett’s early news show on Channel Nine. The ad can also be viewed here.

The ad features Laurence Springborg declaring his pride in presiding over the formation of “the LNP” as the first step towards “change in Queensland”. Said change will include things to do with schools, employment, housing and hospitals, and also making Queensland a place “where roads are planned for future growth”.

Two interesting things strike me about the advertisement.
Continue reading ‘Don’t mention the Nationals (or the Liberals, or the environment)’

Stormy weather!

Published
by
Mark
2 weeks ago
in Brisbane, Climate change, Disasters, Government, Life, Photography and Sociology
. 26 Comments

I’m no climatologist, but it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen storms with as much force as we’ve now experienced in Brisbane and South East Queensland three times in four days, most recently about an hour ago, and with another one also accompanied by severe hail and dangerous winds apparently on the way yet again later on tonight.

Here are some images licenced under Creative Commons from flickr. Two aren’t actually of the most recent storms, but for those who aren’t used to a classic Brisbane storm, they might provide a bit of a lightning flash of illumination. Over at Circulating Library, there are also some contemporary photos to look at. Taking photos might be a tad risky, actually, as one of the two deaths from the storms has been a young man who unwisely tried to photograph a stormwater drain at Chermside on Sunday night. Via Stilgherrian, you can also have a squizzy at archived radar images of last night’s storms here. When I checked at around 5pm it was impossible to get on to the BOM site to check tonight’s storms on their way, and the site also couldn’t cope with the traffic just after the ABC weather at the end of the news.

courtesy of Garry’

courtesy of supernicko

courtesy of Michael Henderson

Continue reading ‘Stormy weather!’

Social networks, online media and politics

Published
by
Mark
2 weeks, 1 day ago
in Activism, Blogging, Elections, Foreign Elections, Media, Sociology and The Web
. 0 Comments

There are a couple of very interesting contributions today about the Obama experience online and where it goes to from here - from my QUT colleagues Axel Bruns at Gatewatching and Barry Saunders at ABC Opinion. Saunders also has some acerbic comments about Stephen Conroy and the “inane internet censorship proposal”, which certainly seems completely contradictory for a party ostensibly attempting to harness the power of online participation, among its many other demerits.

Guest post by the Search Foundation: The global financial crisis

Published
by
Guest Poster
2 weeks, 2 days ago
in Activism, Economics, International, Markets and Sociology
. 33 Comments

MB writes: The Search Foundation, working with Professor Frank Stilwell of Sydney University, has prepared a short statement on the global financial crisis and possible responses. The idea behind the statement is to stimulate thought about a progressive agenda among unions and progressive organisations, and the Foundation itself will be working on an agenda for concrete reform proposals directed at refocusing the economic debate on the “the core needs of working Australians”. I don’t necessarily endorse the whole of the statement, but I think it’s well worth posting here to stimulate debate.

The global financial crisis

The global financial crisis has dominated the headlines for months and has affected countries all around the world. Although national governments have stepped in to prevent the collapse of the financial system, the world is heading for a major recession. Australians nearing retirement have seen the value of their super fall dramatically while workers face the prospect of job losses and falling house prices as the financial crisis hits the rest of the economy. So, how did this happen and what can we do about it?

Continue reading ‘Guest post by the Search Foundation: The global financial crisis’

White Ribbon Foundation study: culture and domestic and sexual violence

Published
by
Kim
2 weeks, 3 days ago
in Culture, Feminism, Media, Relationships, Sociology and Women
. 122 Comments

A study, Assault On Our Future, [pdf] commissioned by the White Ribbon Foundation made a big splash on the news last night. The headline numbers were widely highlighted:

One in three Australian boys thinks that it’s okay to hit girls; one in seven think “it’s OK to make a girl have sex with you if she was flirting.”

It shouldn’t be dismissed as “boys will be boys” (and I’m wondering if there will be anyone taking that line…) Putting both sides of the picture together is essential - 1 in 3 year 10 girls who are sexually active say they have experienced unwanted sex. As Deborah says at In A Strange Land, that actually means rape, but apparently it’s impolite to say so. So we’re not just talking about attitudes, but behaviours with appalling and often lifelong consequences.

What was interesting to me in terms of the report’s discussion of the causes of violence was the link between “traditional gender-role attitudes” and attitudes towards violence, and the link between “male dominated dating relationships and sexist peer cultures” and actual risk or propensity to commit violence. The report emphasises the positive contribution of gender equality in relationships to fostering a non-violent culture. I think it shows that not only are we not just talking about subjective attitudes which have no real world consequences, but also that as a community there is an enormous imperative for us to put ideological point-scoring aside and focus constructively on the mitigation and indeed elimination of what is an enormous blight on the lives of girls and women, and thus our entire society. A mature and good faith effort to deal with this issue is not just desirable, but urgent. A non-violent culture is in everyone’s interest, but achieving it takes will, work and thought.

Elsewhere: In A Strange Land, Feministing, Feministe, The Glass Wall and Hoyden About Town.

Note on comments: If anyone feels inclined to argue that “they’re saying all men are rapists”, you can go away. I’m not going to respond to such comments, and they may be deleted, as may other offensive ones. Please also bear in mind that many women reading this post may have themselves been on the receiving end of sexual and/or domestic violence.

Expectations about unemployment

Published
by
Mark
2 weeks, 3 days ago
in Economics, Markets, Polls and Sociology
. 17 Comments

Andrew Norton has posted on some interesting findings from Roy Morgan’s employment perceptions survey. Basically, there’s something of a disjunction - with 70% of respondents believing unemployment will rise over the next year (the highest since the last recession, and the third highest since the survey began in 1975) while 80% think their own job is secure (the same number as last year’s survey). 63% believe they could easily find another job.

These sorts of surveys demonstrate one of the weaknesses of opinion polling - we’re left to speculate on the reasons. It really would be extremely helpful if polling groups were to supplement such research with qualitative forms of enquiry such as focus groups, or qualitative aspects to the survey instrument.

But since we have to speculate, my guess would be that one or more of the following factors might be in operation:

Continue reading ‘Expectations about unemployment’

G20 Summit: A new Bretton Woods?

Published
by
Mark
2 weeks, 4 days ago
in Economics, International, Media, Sociology and USA
. 60 Comments

The G20 Summit has come and gone, and if today’s coverage in the Australian press is any indication, the most important of the tea leaves to be read is whether George W. Bush snubbed Kevin Rudd over the “Kirribilli leak”. Yep, a non-story that has burbled along for weeks, now diverted into intra-press gallery trading of accusations and a tedious talking point for the opposition - that’s the most important aspect of the events in Washington according to our “quality” media. As far as I can work out, if Bush is indeed upset that his ignorance of the function and nature of the G20 was revealed to the world, that just confirms what a lot of folks have always known about W - that’s he’s at best unengaged, at worst ignorant. But I suppose our fearless journos aren’t allowed to draw that conclusion lest a global diplomatic crisis add to our woes from the global financial crisis!

But, anyway, the lame duck President made his ritual obeisance to the virtues of American leadership and the glories of the free market. One imagines there’s some personal and political imperative there, but the reality of his governance is better disclosed in the fate of the TARP funds which Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was given by Congress - it appears that crony capitalism and socialism for the rich is the name of the game according to American blogs such as naked capitalism, Obsidian Wings, firedoglake and naked capitalism again.

But Bush will soon be fading into history, and Barack Obama sensibly declined to act at the summit without executive authority, so what emerged from the G20 is more in the nature of a directions statement for the way forward, as The Big Picture foresaw:

Hopefully, a long term agenda for regulatory cooperation and communication can be set with the next meeting’s agenda decided upon. Far better to talk then not, but no real decisions will come out of this meeting. There will be gnashing of teeth and venting of rage at the mess that excess securitization has created, and the international regulation of and accounting for such derivatives will probably be a focus.

Planet Money looks at what transpired, and links to the text of the communique here. Continue reading ‘G20 Summit: A new Bretton Woods?’

What are you reading? (Defender of the thesis edition!)

Published
by
Mark
2 weeks, 5 days ago
in Books, Writers & Writing, Education, Life, Sociology and The Web
. 78 Comments

As those folks who are my friends on Facebook are no doubt aware, I successfully defended my PhD thesis at my final seminar on Thursday in the Humanities Program at QUT. That’s a milestone I’m really happy to have reached, and in a post-thesis universe, one thing I can do is make some more time for reading fiction! I was just thinking that it’s been ages since I wrote a science fiction post, and that in itself speaks volumes about the sorts of volumes that have been the staple of my reading diet over the semester just gone! I’ve been storing up some promising science fiction to read and have been finding Locus and blogs and online sf zines fabulous resources for both purchasing books and building up a sense of anticipation and excitement about them!

Anyway, all this prompted me to think that it’s about time that we had another thread about what we’re all reading, or indeed what we’re intending to read over the holidays. I’d also be interested in hearing from others how they pick new titles - recommendations, reviews, online, offline? Discussion doesn’t have to be limited to science fiction and/or speculative fiction, of course, but that’s what my piles of books to be read currently consist of!

More developments in online independent media

Published
by
Mark
3 weeks, 1 day ago
in Blogging, Media, Politics, Sociology and The Web
. 20 Comments

Last week, I noted the sad end of the Road to Surfdom and mused about the future of independent online media. While some things come to an end, other things begin, and I thought it would be a useful postscript to note both the expansion of Overland’s web presence and a new initiative from the folks at Australian Policy Online, Inside Story. Both are very worthwhile additions to the online discussion of public affairs in Australia.

It’s been noted before in comments here at LP, but continuing the Tim Dunlop theme, it’s also worth highlighting the initiative of commenters at the former Blogocracy in establishing Blogocrats. It’s a very powerful reminder of the importance of community in the blogosphere and online media more generally.

End of the Road for Surfdom; and the future of independent online media

Published
by
Mark
4 weeks ago
in Activism, Blogging, Books, Writers & Writing, Media, Sociology and The Web
. 79 Comments

It’s sad to read that Tim Dunlop is closing down The Road to Surfdom, one of the original Australian political blogs, and one that’s been a great contributor to commentary and discussion over a sustained period of time. It’s not wholly unexpected, but it’s still sad. Tim, the other Surfdom bloggers who won’t be continuing to blog individually, and the joint itself will all be very much missed.

Tim has some reflections on the role online media plays and its value and potential vis-a-vis the mainstream media which I think are clearly heartfelt and incredibly important, so I’m going to take the liberty of quoting his last post at some length. In particular, I want to endorse Tim’s sentiments about the necessity of supporting and growing the independent online mediaspace, and I want to point out how those comments have direct implications for the sort of work we do at LP, and how that work could be enhanced. But more of that later.

Continue reading ‘End of the Road for Surfdom; and the future of independent online media’

US election: Yes we can!

Published
by
Mark
4 weeks, 1 day ago
in Activism, Blogging, Elections, Foreign Elections, Media, Polls, Sociology, Technology and USA
. 16 Comments

Image of spontaneous street celebrations in Harlem courtesy of matt semel at flickr - reproduced under a Creative Commons licence.

No doubt one of the big stories about the US election will be the influence of the blogosphere and the netroots. In many ways, the rise of the intertubes in politics was an unintended consequence of the Rove approach to politics, as Publius perceives:

The bigger story is that this same anger – this same frustration – has led liberals to organize in more numerous and consequential ways. In the last few years, we’ve seen new think tanks. We’ve seen blogs flower. We’ve seen the rise of media sites like TPM and Huffington with real journalistic chops. We’ve seen unprecedented efforts to register and canvass voters.

In short, we’ve seen a new energy driving liberals back to politics.

In an opinion piece at ABC Online, Barry Saunders sums up the changes that net based activism and citizen journalism have wrought:

The impact of social media on this election has been enormous. Whoever takes office will have to deal with widely available factchecking data, embarrassing videos, rabid wingnuts, opinionated bloggers and TV hosts, and a massive number of new voters and donors who feel they have invested in the American political process - as well as two wars and a collapsing economy. Here’s hoping they know what they’re doing.

Continue reading ‘US election: Yes we can!’