Comment dit-on ‘do’h!’ en français?

by giselinde kuipers

Every once in a while a comedy manages to transcend cultural boundaries. Today, the most successful of the few American television comedies that work outside the United States is probably The Simpsons. To see America, smug and powerful, ridiculed from the inside is gratifying for outsiders, who see their criticisms and suspicions corroborated by a reliable source. This means that sometimes, non-Americans like The Simpsons for exactly the same reasons some Americans don’t—it makes fun of America.

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The Lie of Heroism

by matthew desmond

Several elements combined to make the California fires a mega story. And most prominent among the media attention were stories of firefighters that, for the most part, treated “hero” and “firefighter” as synonymous. In fact, little else was said about those men and women on the fireline. The firefighter apotheosized, hallowed and revered, is the dominant image of firefighters we have nowadays. And with this image comes a set of beliefs about what makes firefighters tick, what makes them deploy themselves on the seam between life and death. Firefighting requires courage and selflessness enough, but in referring to firefighters always and only as heroes, do we not look straight through them?

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Sociology at the Stove

by priscilla ferguson and gary alan fine

Ratatouille is a treasure trove for sociologists because it lays out an organization with its attendant work roles and then shows how it functions in its cultural logic. In effect, the film is an animated organization chart. The kitchen is resolutely a collective enterprise.

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The Word is Egalitarian

by corinne kirchner

The larger trend that includes Akeelah and the Bee has catapulted the once esoteric activity of spelling competitions into commercial pop culture. Cable television and ABC have covered the national bee and since 2000 there have been two bee-related books three bee-related movies, and a bee-themed Broadway musical. Of course, the bee trend isn’t really about a sudden celebratory interest in the practice of spelling. It’s about values. But even without the vast evidence for inequality of opportunity sociologists often point to, looking at actual bee demographics suggests Akeelah and its surrounding ideals is, more than anything else, a myth.

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