sociology, broadly conceived
I share with you below a new essay written with two friends, Einar Braathen and Ana Claudia Teixeira. The essay is available here as a PDF, and is forthcoming in a new book edited by Christian Stokke and Olle Tornquist. (Comments are welcome, and we'd ask that you cite the essay as we suggest in …
Continue reading "Transformation Institutionalized? New Essay on the Lula Era"
Used to be that if you were going to have some crunchy people over for dinner you could safely bet on hippie dinner staples: beans, unspecified grain-plus stews, a brick of homemade zucchini bread, slightly clumpy homemade yogurt, and maybe a delicious carob-and-rhubarb crumble. Or if they were staying over, you could surely impress with …
Continue reading "Food is Bad for You – Top Nutritional Conspiracies"
Now in our second day, the first (?) international conference on Participatory Budgeting on US soil drew many of the names associated with international processes, like Yves Cabbanes, Jez Hall, and Giovanni Allegretti. Brazilian representatives have included Pedro Pontual (representing the Federal Government), Tarson Nuñez (of the state government of Rio Grande do Sul), and …
Continue reading "International Conference on Participatory Budgeting celebrates US Processes"
Here, and below, I share with you a new piece in Boston Review that I wrote with my good friend Ernesto Ganuza. No Parties, No Banners The Spanish Experiment with Direct Democracy Gianpaolo Baiocchi and Ernesto Ganuza Sergi Bernal (CC) On October 15 last year, 200,000 people marched in Madrid. They were part of a …
Continue reading "No Parties, No Banners – New Piece in Boston Review"
It's a new year, and it's hard to know how to feel about 2012 - one on hand: the possible collapse of the Eurozone, the violence in Egypt and Syria, the endless American military occupations, the talk of an attack on Iran, the stalled US economy, and you know, the whole 99% thing: big bummer. …
Here are some imponderable questions: what role should big labor play in progressive coalitions? If so, how? What about Occupy? If we look at the political landscape in recent times it is clear that there is not one answer. On one hand, labor unions are most definitely not the voice of the 1% - they …
Continue reading "Co-opting the 99%?! Shame on UNITE HERE 217!"
I ran into again, when avoiding work. It's by John Perry, and it's here: Structured Procrastination. There's even stuff you can get, like T-shirts. Though I suppose that in the spirt of his essay, you should probably go online and figure out how to make your own. Structured Procrastination ``. . . anyone can do any …
Continue reading "It’s been around awhile, but Structured Procrastination is a great essay"
It's been barely a week since the Conservative PP (Partido Popular, or Popular Party) swept the elections in Spain, winning an absolute majority in parliament here. For the currently (but not much longer) ruling social democratic party, the PSOE, it was its worst defeat ever. For weeks polls had been predicting a conservative victory, and …
You can read the letter here: Open Letter to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi | UCDavis Bicycle Barricade. The text of the letter, by Nathan Brown, assistant professor of English follows: 18 November 2011 Open Letter to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi Linda P.B. Katehi, I am a junior faculty member at UC Davis. I am an Assistant …
Continue reading "Faculty Calls for UC Davis Chancellor to Resign"
A story here describes the American Association of University Professors' statement about the treatment by University of Colorado of Ward Churchill, the well-known ethnic studies scholar, and Phil Mitchell, a conservative history adjunct professor. I was not familiar with the other case, but had been aware of the egregious way Churchill had been treated. I was happy …
Continue reading "On other news, AAUP upholds Academic Freedom"
