What Do Final Year BSc Sociology Students Actually Do? | Media & State Studies Seminar Part 3: Media Imperialism

“For this series, I would like to give a taste of what it is sociology, as one of the most denigrated sciences online, is actually like. The structure of this assignment, which I am reproducing here mostly unedited, was quite unusual compared to most work undertaken for this subject- essays and some fieldwork- but I think illustrates the variety of ways final year study is done.
In this seminar we discussed how more up to date theories of media imperialism must take into account the complexity of cultural transmission, how audiences actively interpret media according to their own cultural understandings and how new evidence conflicts or supports the media imperialism thesis.” … More What Do Final Year BSc Sociology Students Actually Do? | Media & State Studies Seminar Part 3: Media Imperialism

What Do Final Year BSc Sociology Students Actually Do? | Media & State Studies Seminar Part 2: Elections & New Media

“For this series, I would like to give a taste of what it is sociology, as one of the most denigrated sciences online, is actually like. The structure of this assignment, which I am reproducing here mostly unedited, was quite unusual compared to most work undertaken for this subject- essays and some fieldwork- but I think illustrates the variety of ways final year study is done.
In this seminar we discussed the extent to which TV can be considered a primary factor influencing voter decisions and how the increasing demographic shift towards a voter base constituted by, what some theorists call “the digital generation” implies an impending change in political strategy, if it has not already happened as some evidence suggests.” … More What Do Final Year BSc Sociology Students Actually Do? | Media & State Studies Seminar Part 2: Elections & New Media

Local Stories #3 | Losing Hope. What Depression Lies Under A Heroin Smile?

This week, a few stories of disappointment coalesce into an explanation of my growing cynicism.

“I am beginning to lose hope, finding cynicism everywhere, hoping that hope is something that only actors have, having to believe that I’ll have lost hope when I stop trying. […] In those moments, I am not sure whether I should cry or be Stoic. I am Stoic as long as I am in public.
[…]
Are these more stories better left unsaid? […] Let us keep hoping that I have happier local stories to come.” … More Local Stories #3 | Losing Hope. What Depression Lies Under A Heroin Smile?

What Do Final Year BSc Sociology Students Actually Do? | Media & State Studies Seminar Part 1: Simulated Identities & the Digital Generation

“For this series, I would like to give a taste of what it is sociology, as one of the most denigrated sciences online, is actually like. The structure of this assignment, which I am reproducing here mostly unedited, was quite unusual compared to most work undertaken for this subject- essays and some fieldwork- but I think illustrates the variety of ways final year study is done.
In this seminar we discussed whether the digital generation really exists and how we, as part of it, use technology.” … More What Do Final Year BSc Sociology Students Actually Do? | Media & State Studies Seminar Part 1: Simulated Identities & the Digital Generation

Mental Health Help Access: It helps to be middle-class. | New Empirical Evidence of Social-Class Based Discrimination

“A new study in the Sage Journal of Health and Social Behaviour reports that social class influences US independent psychotherapists’ decisions of whether to offer access to their mental health services. In this article I discuss some limitations which I feel may have been overlooked by the original author however, the authors writing includes important references to the scientific literature and there is plenty of discussion of the limitations of the study not mentioned by me, which show that the author is self-aware, and hopefully this article doesn’t imply otherwise. This work is both important and necessary for researchers of social inequalities and this potential research programme, although in its infancy, should be commended on designing a study which looks cheaply replicable- a rare feat in social sciences.” … More Mental Health Help Access: It helps to be middle-class. | New Empirical Evidence of Social-Class Based Discrimination