socialization syllabus.

I’m constructing the syllabus for a new upper-level sociology class next semester, “Socialization and the Life Course.” As far as I can tell, there are two ways that I can structure it. The first is by institutions – the role of the family, schools, religion, media, work and occupations, etc. – in the “nurture” side […]

exam review sessions?

Does anyone have a strategy for exam reviews that aren’t tedious (for both the leader and students) and that don’t devolve into spoon-feeding of the material (or lead to frustration among students if they don’t)?

name that foucault

There’s a concept central to Foucault’s work that has so entered the common theoretical discourse that I’m having trouble locating an original source for it. The concept is that institutions, practices, discourses produce subjects that “fit” them. People have called this a precursor to current “performativity” theories. Julia Paley documents a similar phenomenon with respect […]

nourish the socijournals wiki.

While there have been some recent updates to the wiki devoted to journal turn-around times and experiences, it’s been largely neglected of late. I thought a plug on scatterplot might reinvigorate it. Certainly some of our readers have had good, bad, or ugly experiences with a journal or two – particularly post-summer.

a “relatively good” job market? really?

Opened my email this morning to find this new (and in my opinion, horribly argued) report from the American Sociological Association, about the sociology job market. (EDIT – OLD REPORT). Spoiler – their conclusion:  “These findings suggest a relatively good market for new sociology PhDs.” Their justification for this statement?  There were more assistant professor […]

lost love.

Years ago I read an article (or at least I think that I did) on research showing that individuals who had applied for acceptance at Harvard and Yale, but were denied admission and later earned their degrees from state schools, ended up making more than those who were accepted and actually graduated from those Ivy […]

how to save a life.

(without having to listen to The Fray) It’s free through tomorrow. This concludes this brief interruption for this public service announcement. (h/t to Dylan and Heide)

the end of the semester crutch.

It might not explain Jeremy’s recent behavior, as he’s still slugging through spring quarter, but I’m sure a lot of us are suffering from end-of-the-semester burnout. You know, when you need something mindless to keep you going. Omar’s on the other side of the wall, cleaning his office. I wrote my syllabi for the fall […]

wii-fresh.

I find myself refreshing and refreshing this site. Anyone know if there’s a better option out there?

(re)emergence.

Spring is here and I am back, albeit with a desk full of things to do other than blog. [an aside - I love spring. I don't know if we haven't really had spring the other places I've lived (the Pacific Northwest, the South, and the desert) or if it's just that spring is even […]

ask a scatterbrain: managing conflict

From someone who is ABD. This is a very liberal paraphrase (you will note that the language is strongly shakha’s), but still accurate, I believe. I have two committee members who don’t get along. They pull me in different directions. They’re not really interested in what the other person suggests, and sometimes even seem to […]

co-authoring: ask a scatterbrain

From an esteemed colleague: What set of issues should be discussed before two (or more) people agree to write a paper together?  There are obvious contenders here – order of authorship, timeline, etc. – but what else is important?

how most of us live; ask a scatterbrain

Here is a suggestion that emerged from olderwoman about our ask a scatterbrain series. This emerged as some had expressed that the series was anxiety producing. Ane one of the causes of this was that the advice often seemed to come from folks at the “top 20″ – where few sociologists actually are (and few […]

publishing: ask a scatterbrain*

Some questions on publishing: What are the politics of publishing? Which journals are professional brass rings? Are there journals that might accept my articles but at the same time are so unrespected that publishing in them is tantamount to admitting I’m a lousy academic? The impact factor is one way to go about it but […]

how do you build a network? ask a scatterbrain*

From grad students, a series of questions that I have compiled into one big mess. Basically: how do you build a network and does it matter what kind you build? People keep telling me how important it is to “build networks.” I understand why. I just don’t understand how. So, how do you go about […]