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Reducing Poverty: Where There’s a Will…
Cross-posted at Montclair SocioBlog. The poverty rate in the US in the mid-2000s was about 17%. In Sweden, the poverty rate was 5.3%; in Germany, 11%. That was the rate after adding in government...
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The Price of Opportunity
Cross-posted at Montclair SocioBlog. Back in June, Mitt Romney said: I want to make sure that we keep America a place of opportunity, where everyone… get[s] as much education as they can afford After...
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A Short History of Santa Claus
In this fun four minute history of Santa Claus, CGP Gray explains how the character evolved, the role of Coca Cola, his conquest of the globe (i.e., Santa’s cultural imperialism), and the ongoing...
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International Data on Cosmetic Surgery
The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons has released new data on the incidence of invasive and non-invasive cosmetic procedures. The U.S. leads in sheer numbers of procedures but,...
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Defending Privilege: Backlash Against Women’s Rights
Re-posted to add to the discussion about sexual assault in the aftermath of the Steubenville rape trial, the Senate hearing on rape and harassment in the military, and the controversy at Occidental...
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Health Care Costs, Greed, and “Socialism”
Cross-posted at Montclair SocioBlog. The Washington Post has provided some data on medical costs across a selection of countries (Argentina, Canada, Chile, and India in grey; France, Germany,...
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Global Attitudes toward Homosexuality
The Pew Research Global Attitudes Project recently released data on attitudes about homosexuality in 39 countries. Generally, those living in the Middle East and Africa were the least accepting, while...
View ArticleThe U.S. is Last in Paid Vacation and Holidays
Paraphrasing Donald Rumsfeld, there are things we know and things we don’t know, and things we know we don’t know and things we don’t know we don’t know. One thing many working people in American don’t...
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What’s Causing the Rise in Obesity? Everything.
We all know — because we are being constantly reminded — that we are, collectively, getting fat. Americans are at the forefront of the trend, but it is a transnational one. Apparently, it is also...
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Racism and Xenophobia in “War on Christmas” Rhetoric
Last year a drug store chain in Canada, Shoppers Drug Mart, started playing Christmas music more than a month before the holiday. Customers complained, perhaps, Tom Megginson suggested, because it is...
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Overwork And Its Costs: The U.S. in International Perspective
On average, U.S. workers with jobs put in more hours per year than workers in most OECD countries. In 2012, only Greece, Hungary, Israel, Korea, and Turkey recorded a longer work year per employed...
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Chart of the Week: The World is Catching Up to the American Middle Class
The U.S. once led the world in middle class affluence, but thanks to a recovery from the Great Recession that involves giving all the money to the already-rich, we’re losing that distinction. “In...
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Americans Own 42% of all the Guns on the Planet
According to Vox, the U.S. has 4.43% of the world’s population and almost 42% of the world’s population of civilian-owned guns. This is your image of the week: It’s hard to say exactly, but there may...
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The global sanitation crisis on #WorldToiletDay
One of the first things other academics ask me is “why are you interested in toilets?” For the vast majority of people, the biological function of waste excretion is an after thought, an activity that...
View ArticleTotem Vodka and Indigenous Cultural Appropriation
Cultural appropriation generally refers to the adoption of traditional practices, objects, or images by a person or group that is not part of the originating culture. Cultural appropriation can become...
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