Hegemonic Masculinity in 2012 Super Bowl Commercials

Got a new post up over at SociologyInFocus.com titled, "Hegemonic Masculinity in Super Bowl Commercials. It analyzes the three commercials shown below, within the hegemonic masculinity framework:







Check it out. Come on, lots of people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, not the game itself. The link, again: Hegemonic Masculinity in Super Bowl Commercials


academics blogs

"Linsanity": Post Up

UPDATE: The post is now up -- "Linsanity: Jeremy Lin: Dispelling the Model Minority Myth."

Look, I cannot just sit back and let Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks keep blowing up without posting something about it. I have something coming up in Sociology In Focus, but there's a bit of a lag. Dude just knocked down 38 on the Lakers while playing at home in MSG. That's four more than Kobe and the most by any Knicks player this season.







I'll insert the link to the SIF piece when it's up.

UPDATE: The post is now up -- "Linsanity: Jeremy Lin: Dispelling the Model Minority Myth."


academics blogs

Police Force, Legal-Rational Authority, and State Violence

Okay, one more entry I've posted over at Sociology In Focus uses Max Weber's element of legal-rational authority to dissect the pepper spraying that happened at the University of California, Davis back in November 2011, as well as the London uprisings around the same time. Actually the entry is more focused on the legal-rational authority granted to police forces in these cases -- how their authority contributes to and excuses their perpetration of physical violence.

Link to the story: Social Movements and State Violence. Videos for analysis over there...



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The Sociology of MMA

The other thing I've started at Sociology In Focus is a series on the sociology of mixed martial arts. Thus far, I've made three posts in the series:

• The Sociology of MMA: How Do You Define Violence?


• The Sociology of MMA: Hegemonic Masculinity Unleashed


• The Sociology of MMA: Do 'Real' Men Have Emotions?

No doubt, more on the way in the months and years to come.


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Post-Holiday Sales and Contemporary Slavery

I have been completely neglecting my "Grumpy Sociologist" blog here since also blogging over at Sociology In Focus. Back in January, while walking around one of the innumerable mini-malls in Irvine, California, I noticed as I do every year in January the massive sales.

I started seeing clothing items on sale for $5, some for less, as merchants attempted to get their un-sellable merchandise off the shelves. Were they still turning a profit? Hard to say, but it made me think about how inexpensive these clothing items were for the middle-class Irvine shoppers. And why were they so cheap? Because they were made by exploited labour, perhaps even enslaved labour.



I get into more at Sociology In Focus here: By Hitting Up Those Post-Holiday Sales, Are You Supporting Contemporary Slavery?. Check it out if you have a minute.


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