This week we talk about the sociology and economics of academic journal publishing, the Elsevier boycott , and whether the journal system as we know it is necessary anymore. Our decision: everybody can just podcast everything from now on. Starting with…. Episode Number 37
This episode we start with a discussion of violent protests prompted by a question from a listener (Which is great! Send more!). We then talk about Twitter, hashtags, Gmail, and passwords before moving on to a discussion about education and universal preschool. Links from this episode: Hacked! xkcd: Password Strength How passwords are cracked MySpace passwords Universal Preschool Douglas Downey on Office Hours Huffduffer Mike and Tom Eat Snacks Jeremiah Regular Show Adventure Time Download Impro...
We have three segments this episode: We talk with Shannon Golden about Kony 2012. Shannon provides some insight into the situation in Uganda while Chris cynically revels in the implosion of Invisible Children. We talk about the Mike Daisey/This American Life fiasco. Arturo defends liars, as usual, while I, er, Jon, stands strong as a defender of truth. The whacky world of Young Adult literature. Links from the discussion: Amy Finnegan and Shannon Golden on Office Hours Visible Children This Amer...
Autonomous Cars , more on stadiums and Mayor KJ , and Arturo’s participation in the NorCal AIDS Challenge: Donate here! Other links: Elite Squad Politics and Money Office Hours Drop In #1 This American Life: What Kind of Country The Superego Podcast Rhymesayers (for the Brother Ali and I Self Devine mixes) Download Ahprov Improv #34...
Topics include the sociology of weather in an M Word state, the Super Bowl, stadiums, and guilt over the state of professional sports. Chris tries to get into a screaming match about Occupy Oakland, but Jesse just politely disagrees. Jesse also reveals how many tracks of hardcore punk you can get through in 24 hours. Recommendations: Extreme Metal by Keith Kahn-Harris Heavy Metal by Deena Weinstein Metal: A Headbangers Journey 24 Hours of Hardcore Punk Planet Money on The Future of American Manu...
After a lengthy break, we’re back! Racism in hockey , Work It , and The Trap are among our topics this episode. Enjoy! Download Improv #32...
This week we talk about Occupy Wall Street and other Occupations. Links mentioned in the show: Occupy Wall Street Occupy Minnesota Planet Money on OWS Ballad of a Thin Man The 99 Percent The 53 Percent ( About THe 1 Percent Sidney Tarrow on OWS SlutWalk Dean Zimmerman Elijah Anderson on Office Hours Kieran Healy on Steve Jobs Feminist Ryan Gosling Download Improv #31...
This episode, we fail to talk about Robocop, then we have a discussion about Getting Wasted , and then chat a bit about current political events. Download the Big 3-0
After a quick ASA recap from Jesse and Arturo, we talk about the challenges of writing—and academic writing in particular—and whether diversity on television can make a difference. Download Episode #29
Long time, no see. Hope you’re having a nice summer. We’re back with two topics. First, we spend most of the hour talking about barefoot running, the Born to Run crowd, and naturalist (no, not naturist ) social movements. Second, we briefly try to make sense of the London riots, but ultimately Chris wins out by convincing Arturo and Jon they know nothing and should just stop talking. Download episode 28...
This episode we talk about a recent paper about happiness ( via Graphic Sociology ) and whether or not happiness studies actually tell us anything about happiness. After that, we follow-up on an argument Chris made last episode about “being cool” as a cause of human social behavior. The sound is a little rough this week as three out of the four of us were actually in the same room for a change, which is actually harder to record than four people in four different cities using Skype. Download Imp...
Two topics this week: First, Arturo jumps off from a recent New Books in Sociology episode to ask whether or not sociology is too set in making repetitive and uncreative arguments. Second, Chris takes us on a tour through the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 200 , with a stop at the Grammy Album of the Year , partially in response to this article on Hysteria and pop music . Note: Jon accidentally posted the link to last episode when initially creating this post. If you got the wrong file, please re...
Two segments this week: First, Chris gives a shout out to Sociological Images for their post on Push Up Bikini Tops at Abercrombie Kids , which inspires a discussion about gender and childhood culture. Second, a discussion about Ebooks, Amazon, DRM, and the fate of public knowledge. Links: J Crew Pink Toenails Push Up Bikini Tops at Abecrombie Kids Disney Princess Grapes Peggy Orenstein Amazon Library Lending HarperCollins Puts 26 Loan Cap on Ebook Circulations Siva Vaidhyanathan on Media Matter...
Because Arturo is obsessed with Glenn Beck, conversation begins there, but quickly moves to government shutdowns, the way economists approach social problems, and we return to last episode’s discussion about education. Links from this episode: Freakonomics, the movie (Netflix) Planet Money Office Hours: with Doug Downey , with Maria Kefalas Leon Botstein on education Download Episode Twenty Four ....
Podcasting and procrastination, nuclear power and scientific knowledge, the problem with high schools, and the situation in Libya. Links: New Books Network New Books in Sociology Tom on global warming George Monbiot on nuclear power Glenn Greenwald on Libya Benjamin Barber on Saif al-Qaddafi 23! Jump!...
We start off talking about Charlie Sheen and celebrity (yeah, sorry), and then transition into a discussion about the iPad and music, and technology and qualitative data analysis. We thought we were done then, but we kept on talking about the sad state of rock music today and then NPR versus the right wing. We decided to keep the whole thing. Links from the episode: GarageBand on iPad guided tour Alex Skolnick, Goodbye to Romance: Standards For A New Generation Whatever Happened to Alternative N...
Our first episode recorded in 2011 finds Jesse in Iraq once again and our minds on protest and revolution. Enjoy! Miscellaneous links discussed: David Cay Johnston on Public Workers’ Pensions Giddens on Gaddafi Jonathan Haidt on liberal bias (This is “the psychology guy” we mention in the first minute, but decide not to talk about.) Deposed Despot Survivor “What’s Gene Simmons done now?” This podcast is now old enough to drink. Download episode 21!...
Remember that big stink over anthropology and science in December? We invited anthropologist Eric Plemons back on the show to talk about science, anthropology, and sociology. We had a fun, lively, & at times heated discussion about the topic. Unfortunately, we were a bit slow with the editing and some time has now passed since this was exactly front page news, but we say science is always in season on the Sociology Improv. Get the Big Two Ohhhhh!...
This episode, we talk about Black Friday mania, Girl Talk, John Stewart, and Wikileaks. Follow along at home: Netflix queues and procrastination Atheists Launch Real War on Christmas. With Billboards. Girl Talk Gimme Shelter Dissected John Stewart and Rachel Maddow Interview Assange’s philosophy Download our 19th attempt at Improvisational Sociology ....
On October 27, Jeremy Freese taped a laptop to his face and Skyped into the Soc Improv for a discussion of the NRC rankings. After Jeremy left, we solved the culture of poverty. Or something like that. Unfortunately, due to a freak editing accident, this episode is just now being posted. Sorry, Jeremy. (And sorry, Christopher Newport.) Links discussed in this episode: Jeremy on the NRC rankings: one and two . Christopher Newport and the NRCs NY Times on the Culture of Poverty Teresa Gowan on Cul...
This week, Eric Plemons joins the conversation and Jose Marichal makes a return visit as well. After introducing the Improv Hotline at 612.242.AGIL , we have a discussion about teaching social theory, the value of reading original texts, and the challenges of tuning out distractions for sustained reading and writing. Our final segment is a lengthy discussion of the impact of the 2010 midterm elections. By the way, be sure to watch the feed because we’ve got another new episode we recorded last w...
This week, John Sides from The Monkey Cage joins us for a discussion about podcasting, blogging, and political blogs. The show is split into four segments: A discussion of podcasting and public social science inspired by John’s post on political science podcasts. The history of The Monkey Cage and a discussion of the perception of blogs by academics. A discussion of political blogs sparked by John’s article on the subject. How blogging can actually help with academic research and teaching. Downl...
David Phillippi from Mind of Modernity joins the conversation this week. We kick things off with a discussion of liberal professors and political bias in sociology. Arturo unleashes his inner radical, pleading with us to “be the counter-narrative”, while Jon and Chris bring him down with a depressing case for the End of Sociology. Download Improv #15...
This week, we have two special guests: Gwen Sharp from Sociological Images and Don Waisanen from ThickCulture . First, we talk about a couple of Gwen’s recent posts on Soc Images regarding whiteness, cowboys, and the Republican’s “Pledge” and the mythology of being a country boy/girl . (Oh, and vajazzling .) Second, we talk about Stephen Colbert’s Congressional testimony. Don thinks it missed the mark , we compare Colbert and Stewart, and discuss the complexity of satire and irony in politics. D...
Three topics this week*: Arturo talks about his journey into the world of online discussion forums and blog comments Phil Davison , who has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, a bachelor’s degree in History, a master’s degree in Public Administration…and a master’s degree in Communication. We discuss Urban Legends: Why suburbs, not cities, are the answer . Download Lucky #13 . * Well, actually last week: this was recorded on September 16....
This week Jesse, Jon, and Arturo (on location at the Denver airport) talk about What the Tea Party Really Wants by David Brooks and Gail Collins. Topics include: the success of Glenn Beck; morality and the market; the idea that “everybody’s to blame” for the sad state of the economy; and the power of catchy anecdotes against data and experts. Episode #12…gogetit!...
This week we talk about two articles: What Is It About 20-Somethings? Stop Admitting Ph.D. Students Download and Enjoy!...
Jon, Arturo, and Chris are joined by Jose Marichal (of ThickCulture ) and Alexandre Enkerli . A wide-ranging discussion ensues, and we tackle questions such as: Why haven’t we had any women on this podcast? Is there anything wrong with Berkeley taking DNA samples from incoming undergraduates? And when Eric Schmidt makes the distinction between privacy and anonymity , is he making any sense? We also manage to start a discussion about pornography on the internet and end up talking about the failur...
This episode we talk about ourselves. First, Jon and Arturo gaze at our podcasting navels. We discuss The Society Pages , our plans for Office Hours , and discuss what we’ve learned about producing podcasts and conducting interviews. Second, at about 42 minutes in, Jesse and Chris join the mix and we navel-gaze as sociologists and academics about e-books, academic publishing, and the state of sociology. So go grab a fuzzy navel, and listen to improv #9 ....
What deep sociological insights about race, nationalism, and culture can be gleaned from the world of competitive hot dog eating? We try really hard — possibly too hard — to provide an answer to that question. Then we turn our attention to Nerdcore hip hop and a discussion about music, race, identity, and authenticity. So put this on a bun and eat it: episode #8 !...
