This episode is kind of an experiment. The Office Hours podcasters are working with Contexts magazine to try something new: an audio reading of the free feature article in the new issue of Contexts, Heroes, Presidents, and Politics by Jeffrey Alexander.
If you like what you hear, let us know! This may just be a one time experiment…or not.
This episode, Jesse visits with Robert M. Groves, Director of the United States Census Bureau. Topics include why our census takes a full sample and how we pull it off, how we count tough populations like undocumented migrants and the homeless, and controversies over racial identification and the role of the state in the census.
This episode we talk with Bryant Simon, author of the Summer 2010 Contexts culture review, Depression Chic — Shopping Our Way To Recovery. Topics include “inconspicuous conspicuous consumption”, the politics of depression in the 1930s and today, Simon’s book Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks, and what historians and sociologists can learn from one another.
Also, Sarah awards The Society Page of the Week to A Public Display of Emotion from Citings & Sightings.
Edward Walker talks about his Spring 2010 feature Industry-driven activism. Topics include the role of industry in shaping the health care debate and the state of social movements in the age of the internet and astroturfing.
Syed Ali talks with Jon about his Spring 2010 Contexts feature about Dubai, Permanent Impermanence. (Which you can read online for free, by the way.) What’s it like in a country where over 90% of the population are expatriates? What’s it like to do research in such a place? Listen in and find out!
Also Sarah shares a discovery: Morality and Health: News Media Constructions of Overweight and Eating Disorders
Harvey Pekar and Paul Buhle sit down with Jesse to chat about their graphic adaptation of Studs Terkel’s Working and about the sociological side of Studs, and also Harvey’s, work.
Arturo also shares a discovery about gender and the health benefits of education.
Doug McAdam chats with Jesse about why Freedom Summer was a transformative experience for those involved and why other youth activism efforts, such as Teach for America, tend to not be as transformative.
But first, Sarah shares a discovery about how incarceration shapes racial identity.
This week’s guest is Stephen Scanlan, author of the Winter 2010 Contexts feature, The Scarcity Fallacy. We discuss the problems with existing food aid practices, the root causes of world hunger and what can be done to eliminate it.
Also, Jon shares a discovery on the downsides of flexible work, at least in some occupations.
Jesse and Jon give Peter Dreier a call to discuss his study, Manipulating the Public Agenda: Why ACORN Was in the News, and What the News Got Wrong. Dreier discusses ACORN, the study’s findings, and why ACORN has proven to be such an irresistable target for the Right. Jesse even convinces him to spill the beans about where he gets his amazing sociology powers. The study has recieved tons of media attention, but two good places to start if you want to learn more are Dreier’s article in Editor and Publisher and his appearance on the Rachel Maddow show.
First, Jesse shares an article that asks, Why do we remember Rosa Parks?
This week, Jeffrey Dixon talks Turkey, Islam and the EU. What can the debate about Turkey joining the EU tell us about religion, democracy and globalization? Listen in and find out!
But first, Hollie Nyseth shares a discovery about how mothers’ community participation affects their child’s health.
If you haven’t taken the survey yet, please do! You can find it at thesocietypages.org/podcast/survey!
