Contexts

sociology for the public

Archive: Apr 2008

Edible Sociology

Thomas McNamee’s Alice Waters and Chez Panisse and Peter Kaminsky’s Pig Perfect haven’t received quite as much coverage as other recent food books. Read More

Writing To Be Read

Sociology has long been notorious for its use of jargon and impenetrable prose. Sociologists writing badly inspired the editor of Fowler’s Modern English Usage to … Read More

Trespassing in Someone Else's Utopia

Fan Fair-the Country Music Association (CMA) Music Festival-is an annual migration for tens of thousands of fans. Nashville’s storied Lower Broad district is glutted with … Read More

Good Sociology Makes Lousy TV

There are very few films and virtually no television or literary characters that speak to sociology. And what is out there depicts sociologists as idealistic … Read More

Peeing in Public

The inequities of class, gender, and physical capacity gain their expression in moments of anxiety over how to eliminate one’s waste. This is one truth … Read More

Taking Contexts Online

The Contexts vision is—as it has been since the beginning in 2001—to translate great sociology into an accessible format for both academic and public audiences. Read More

Feeling Around the World

One thing I know is that feelings are social. Joy, sadness, anger, elation, jealousy, envy, despair, anguish, grief—all these feelings are partly social. Read More