Reflections on Bourdieu and Habitus Pierre Bourdieu’s desire to create a union of opposites, of the subjectivist and objectivist approaches in sociology, became what he called habitus. This is his attempt to overcome the dualism in what he saw as a problem in sociological theory. However, this attempt to generalize two opposing forces does not account for any individual’s desire… Read More
Brokeback Mountain Analysis Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee, is a simple and complex love story between two people. It is simple because it has also been called a straightforward gay love story as well as a bisexual love story. While those points of view are valid on some level, this is a complex love story, because labeling… Read More
Reflections on Inequality in Racism And Poverty in Omi’s The Changing Meaning Of Race and Wilson’s More Than Just Race Poverty can be explained with cold hard statistics. Racism, on the other hand, cannot be explained scientifically, but it is explained as an individual social construct. (Omi 2001: 243). Racism is derived from generalities that individuals use to separate the different from him/herself. (Hume 2007: 99-102). Unfortunately, little has changed in centuries. We are all… Read More
Reflections on the Influence of Classical Sociology on Marcuse Herbert Marcuse of the Frankfurt school analysed contemporary society using key elements of Sigmund Freud’s theories filtered through the classical social theory of Karl Marx as a jumping off point. However, he turned that on its head into three areas: the decline of the individual, the deranged logic of capitalism, and a promise of liberation. … Read More
Murderball Analysis The documentary Murderball, directed by Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro, is raw, visceral, violent, and beautiful. It is a story of a multi-dimensional masculinity and humanity told from several points of view. It embodies the expression, “in your face,” in that neither the filmmakers nor the subjects feel inclined to leave most topics… Read More
Reflections on Barthes And Structuralism Structuralism is essentially the study of Saussure’s linguistics applied to the study of the underlying structure of a society’s means of communication(s) that give that society’s words contextual meaning.1 Roland Barthes may not have been the first to analyse Saussure, but he penetrated its implications more than anyone at the time. Barthes defined structuralism as… Read More
Reflections on bell hooks’ Where We Stand In order for propaganda to be effective, it must contain an element of perceived truth. Goebbels understood this, Karl Rove understands this, and bell hooks understands this as she abundantly explains in Where We Stand: Class Matters. The intent is to help us understand how and why we live in a class society. Analyzing every… Read More
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Analysis Tommy Lee Jones’ The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada begins as a story of honour between close friends and quickly devolves into multiple perspectives of an archetypal quest for masculine redemption and second chances. For Pete Perkins, the rancher and Melquiades’ best friend, Belmont, the local sheriff, and Norton, the border patrolman, each quest is… Read More
Reflections on Weber On Rationalization Max Weber’s study of history, economics, and law allowed him to analyse social movements in their microcosm, especially his views of Rationalisation. Critics have argued that Weber viewed rationalization as progress, while, I would counter that Weber described it as a modern reality, much as Machievelli described power and the state in The Prince. Weber’s… Read More
Reflections on Stiglitz’ The Price Of Inequality: Part 3 In chapters 8-10 of The Price of Inequality, Stigitz concentrates on the battle of the federal budget, monetary policy, and fixing what is described throughout the text as woefully desperate and dire. He addresses many varied points and somehow misses a few others that some would deem obvious such as what some would describe as… Read More