Positive Sociology

Justin Bieber was arrested this morning for DUI and speeding . I'm really curious to see how this all plays out.  I wonder if his legal team will help him weasel into some posh rehab joint?  Maybe he'll end up in one of those fancy celebrity hang-outs, where other fallen teen stars go to hang out, talk about how difficult it is to be famous, and work on their tans. Deport him back to Canada! I'm frankly sick and tired of watching the criminal justice system take it easy on celebrities and other wealthy DUI offenders.  Drunk driving is a horrible crime!  Let's put it in context.   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 33,687 people were killed in automobile accidents in 2010.  They have other reports suggesting that between 40-50% of these deaths are alcohol related.  This means that about 16,000 people were killed in alcohol related crashes.  In the same year, there were 11,078 firearm homicides. And car accidents a...

Two videos are going viral this week.  One is about a cop.  The other is about Richard Sherman.  Both raise interesting questions about how we think about media representations. Richard Sherman giving an impassioned interview First, there is a  video of a Texas cop playing catch with a kid .  I love this video.  It shows a part of police work that we rarely (if ever) get to see.  Mass media representations usually show cops behaving badly, so this is a nice change of pace. But, although the mass media is framing this as an "unusual" or "surprising" video, we should be critical of this.  Most cops wouldn't blink an eye at this video.  Many that I know feel grossly misrepresented by the news.  Many are equally, if not more upset, when they hear about fellow officers who make the news for corruption, brutality, etc.  Not only does this cast a stain on the police, it also pains individuals who care deeply about keeping communiti...

I went swimming today.  Usually, this is a way to relax.  But, sometimes it also becomes an added source of stress. Here's why.  Today, I hopped into the "fast lane" and quickly realized that I was swimming faster than other people in my lane.  This is fine and something that I encounter regularly during recreational swimming hours.  It's also something that's easy to manage if people have a shared understanding of "swimmer's etiquette." Swimming can flow, if everyone understands etiquette Like any activity, swimming is one where conflicts can be avoided if people have a shared sense for how to act under different circumstances.  The sociologist Howard Becker writes about this in his work on jazz improvisation .  He writes that group jazz improvisation is only possible when people have a loose set of ideas about how they should do this together.  In many ensembles, players loosely agree that the most senior players get to dictate the flow o...

Two Fullerton cops accused of beating a homeless man to death were found "not guilty" by jurors yesterday. Officer Manuel Ramos and Corporal Jay Cicinelli were acquitted of charges that included: second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and excessive force used against Kelly Thomas (who was a diagnosed schizophrenic). A video of the beating leaked online today.  The video shows a lot of interesting things about how encounters escalate into lethal violence.  As a sociologist, the video reminds me of a great scene from Pulp Fiction.  Many people remember the scene where "Jules Winnfield" (played by Samuel L. Jackson) interrogates and eventually kills a captive man.  I don't remember the exact details of this scene, but you might remember it because Samuel L. recites Ezekiel 25:17 before he executes this man. Jules Winnfield played by Samuel L. Jackson However, if you watch the scene through another lens, you might also see it as a case for how peo...

There's a Tupac musical coming to Broadway . How do people feel about this?  A few things immediately come to my mind:  Is this another sign of Hip Hop's growing acceptance into mainstream culture?  And if so, should Hip Hop heads rejoice?  Or, is this another example of cultural elites appropriating Hip Hop and turning it into a safe way to consume Black youth culture? What Does a Tupac musical signal about Hip Hop's evolution? I think Tupac was an amazing artist.  I grew up listening to him and still own the double-CD "All Eyez on Me."  There's a part of me that smiles whenever I travel and hear young people singing along to "California Love" in places like Seoul, South Korea or Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I also use lots of Tupac in my teaching.  I really like his music because I think he complicates how we think about Black masculinity.  In some songs he talked about being a gangsta.  In other songs, he waxed poetic about his mother...

Here's a cool mini-documentary about Rafael Lovato , the second American to win a black belt gold medal at the Mundials (or World Championships).  The Mundials, which are held annually, is the most prestigious gi tournament in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In this 16-minute short, "We Are Artists," Lovato talks about his journey into jiu jitsu and the martial arts more generally.  Specifically, he talks about jiu jitsu as a vehicle for creative self-expression.  I like the part where he talks about being inspired by other people in training. He talks about how his signature game is shaped by the different kinds of challenges he faces while training with different people. Anyways, the Lovato documentary got me thinking tonight.  It reminded me of a documentary I saw recently about Bboy Roxrite, one of my favorite Bboys (breakdancers) in the game.  Roxrite is a two-time Red Bull BC One champion.  The BC One is an international invitational that takes place every...