the death of Osama Bin Laden

The big news this week is the death of Osama Bin Laden. What this means to society and the fight against terrorism in general remains to be seen. However, through a sociological approach we may be understand the death further. Osama Bin Laden was a symbol to many people throughout the world. rather as a martyr or as a murderer he is the symbol of Al Qaeda and even terrorism. will his death stop terror? The answer to that is obviously no. His death does eliminate a symbol of terror. As Goffman and Blumer, as well as others have discussed symbols are important to us. terrorists lost a symbol and we should not be as quick to dismiss that as some have.

Also whatever one thinks of Osama bin laden and there is a lot of bad stuff we can say about him he was a dynamic and influential leader of a terrorist organization. As Max Weber has described with charismatic authority when the organization loses a charismatic leader it becomes unstable. There will also possibly a struggle to replace Bin Laden as leader of Al Qaeda which will further hamper Al Qaeda's mission. The new leader may not have Bin Laden's ability to raise money and create a dynamic network of individuals capable of terrorism.

The death of Osama Bin Laden is a tremendous news event, but it is also a sociological event that needs to be analyzed further.

only children

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/fashion/12Studied.html?ref=sociology

an article in the New York times describing the social skills of an only child

End of the semester

Sorry for being away for a while it is getting close to the end of the semester and I had a conference I had to go to at the beginning of April.

Speaking about the end of the semester. every 4 or 5 months graduate students are forced to write papers, prepare for finals and finish there teaching or research duties. this is usually a hectic time for all graduate students. However there are somethings you can do too make the experience less stressful.

1. Don't procrastinate- This is the answer that is always given but we all do it. sometimes life gets in the way and other responsibilities but the earlier you get something done the better it is. use your time wisely. if you have office hours do some work during those office hours.  take a certain period of time each day to work on specific topics

2. remain focused but take some time to relax

3. make sure the classes you are taking are your top priority.

4. make sure you are organized with your materials

The roots of American Decline

Interesting article in Contexts today. Context is a magazine that is run by the American Sociological association. Contexts looks at public issues through a sociological lens. All articles are subject to a peer review. I highly recommend this magazine if you are interested in sociology.

http://contexts.org/articles/winter-2011/the-roots-of-american-decline/

I will comment more on this article later.

Black, white and married

Interesting article in the New York Times today

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/us/20race.html?pagewanted=1&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

Lots of analysis from sociologists in this article. Also looks at the interplay between demography and shifting in racial attitudes.

about this blog

         This blog has been created to provide an avenue for a greater understanding of sociology for students, graduate students, and academics. Many people have an unfamiliar understanding of sociology because it is a subject that is often not discussed in many high schools and the popular press does not pay as much attention to sociological research as many other disciplines. The goal of this blog is to provide a greater understanding of the theories, methods of research, and statistical analysis that are the basis for the discipline. Also this blog will discuss many of the debates within sociology such as; structure vs. agency, qualitative and quantitative research, and the objective and subjective spheres of human behavior.

         Also this blog will critique sociology when needed. It is the idea of the creator of this blog that the only way sociology, or any other discipline can advance is through a thorough questioning of the discipline itself. With this I welcome all comments and opinions. I will write back when I can and look forward to a thorough discussion of issues within the sociologicial realm. While this blog will be focused on sociology because that is what I am getting my PH.D in, All social scientists should feel welcome to expound on the thoughts of this blog. Often in the social sciences there are problems that cross different scientific realms and only through a collaborative understanding can we be better equipped to handle the problems of society.