This disability health and support centre in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, is staffed almost exclusively by disabled care workers. They produce prosthetic limbs and provide rehabilitation and social support in a country where public healthcare is negliable. Video: … Continue reading Afghans with disability
Black stockbrokers in America have won a $160M lawsuit against their employer whom they say ran their business like a university “fraternity.” White employees were given better conditions and opportunity for advancement plus they got all the new clients.
Continue reading “Discrimination Costs More Than You Know”
Dr. Elizabeth Taylor is an Australian scholar, working as an Urban Studies Post-doctoral Research Fellow. She is also a blogger, musician and Radio Broadcaster with 3 RRR program, “The Urbanists.” Here she discusses the difficulties of academia in comparison to the work of being a musician. The interview is conducted by Australian sociologist Dr Sheree Gregory.
Continue reading “The Academic Musician”This short video provides a useful reflection on the ongoing racial problems in South Africa. Al Jazeera interviews a newlywed couple who say that while different racial groups are now used to interacting with Others in public (at work for … Continue reading Interracial marriage in South Africa
Jimblah (AKA James Alberts) is a South Australian Indigenous hip hop artist who has been an outspoken and creative critic of racism in Australia. While hip hop is very popular in Australia, the hip hop played by mainstream channels is … Continue reading Hip Hop and Racism in Australia
Same sex marriages have been talking place in the Australian Capital Territory, the first Australian state or territory to legalise non-heterosexual marriage. Continue reading Marriage Equality in Canberra
I’ve been doing a visual sociology of the Western Suburbs of Melbourne via Instagram, which is why I loved this story from early November. The Western Sydney suburb of Granville had been hosting a bus tour highlighting the cultural diversity of Sydney’s architecture.
Continue reading “Cultural Architecture of Western Sydney”
Richard Millington discusses some of the uses of social science methods in building online communities. This includes using social validation to create a panel of experts to set the tone for discussion in a community; using symbols to evoke previous community activities; and systematically documenting community achievements.
Continue reading “Using social science to build online communities”
The OECD’s Better Life Index attempts to compare well-being amongst OECD nations using education, housing, environment measures. The Economist has reproduced this graphic, which ranks Australia first, the USA second and Norway third.
On the one hand these types of surveys are useful because they measure social conditions rather than simply material wealth. On the other hand, this particular graphic neglects other socio-economic measures that give a different picture of national well-being.
Continue reading “Measuring Well-Being: Why Health, Gender and Communities Need to be Counted in Surveys”
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