The Global Sociology Blog

The transnational capitalist class, immune to economic shocks:

The World’s Billionaires – Forbes.com via kwout

Awww…

The Forbes 400 – Forbes.com via kwout

By Bill Black:

Bill Black’s Top Ten Ways to Crack Down on Corporate Financial Crime | CommonDreams.org via kwout

So, what are the top 10 ways?

10. Hire 1,000 FBI agents to investigate corporate and white-collar crime

9. Appoint a chief criminologist at each of the financial regulatory agencies.

8. Fix executive compensation by tying it to long-term corporate performance.

7. Target the top 100 corporate criminals. (It would be interesting to see who would be on the list… Todd Krohn? Any suggestions?

6. Regulate first.

5. Bust up the FBI partnership with the Mortgage Bankers Association.

4. Get rid of Ben Bernanke as chair of the Fed. Replace him with Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz.

3. Get rid of too big to fail.

2. Create a consumer financial protection agency headed by Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren.

1. Fire Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Office of Thrift Supervision chief John Bowman, Fed chief regulator Patrick Parkinson, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Chief John Dugan.

Holy !@#$!

This will become part of my global issues class. It touches upon so many issues:

• Environment and sustainability, of course
• Globalization
• Global governance and the role of international governmental organizations
• Global civil society / global activism
• Global stratification
• The multi-layered nature of global governance and the role of national governments
• The mixing of cultural, political and economic factors
• Health and public policy

Via Calculated Risk, click on the image for a larger view:

Heartbreaker

Below the fold to protect the innocent and sensitive minds… Read the rest of this entry »

Antonio Casilli is on the case:

The sociology of Chatroulette | BodySpaceSociety via kwout

Via Karl Bakeman, the March issue of the Atlantic Monthly has sociologists reflecting on the long-term impact of the recession on unemployment. The whole thing is worth a read:

How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America – Magazine – The Atlantic via kwout

When You’re Around:

Via pitse1eh, something, I am sure, many of us have experienced:

Racism and the Myth of a “Victim Mentality” | Red Room via kwout

I would argue that this is especially true with sociology as we challenged the class / race / gender hegemony more than other social sciences.

Via the Complexity and Social Networks Blog:

Still going strong:

This is an undeniable reality that happened by design:

Where has all the income gone? Look up. via kwout

So says Immanuel Wallerstein on the collapse of Greece:

Greek Mess, Euromess, Western Nations Mess, World Mess? | Immanuel Wallerstein via kwout

World risk society indeed.

Via Arthur Goldhammer,

Pay especially attention to France and South Kora, considering a similar retirement age. Also note the dramatic improvements in Turkey and Ireland, for instance.

Maybe:

Economist’s View: “Physiological Evidence of Brain’s Response to Inequality” via kwout

This would go along for evidence of hard-wiring for empathy as well. The list of ways in which equality is good for us is starting to get long. So, how long before we can declare belief in inequalities as faulty wiring and fund some medical research for it? *SocProf asks disingenuously*