February 2015 – Ethnography.com

Mission Statements: Elite Harvard, Middle-Class Chico, and Working-Class Butte College

Posted on February 27, 2015February 27, 2015 by Tony Waters

Schooling Childhood Cover

Education is an inherent paradox. At its most explicit, it assumes that students are trained for a fair, meritocratic, and competitive labor market in which learning is valued without reference to who they are or their social connections. This is why fair markets are “anonymous”….

But schools do not operate in anonymous markets. Schools emphasizing the visible honors of academic achievement, teacher-student relationships, are often the opposite. The tensions between the utility of skills in an anonymous labor market while monopolizing the distribution of visible status honors in the broader community is at the heart of the educational enterprise (see Weber 1920/2010).…

Gallows Tale V: Did Tanganyika’s Hangmen Go on Strike in 1924-1926?

Posted on February 26, 2015February 25, 2015 by Tony Waters

Gallows File I The Extra “Whack”

Gallows File II Escape?

Gallows File III Are We Hanging the Right Man?

Gallows File IV The Advantages of Executing Locally!

Gallows File V: Did Tanganyika’s Hangmen Go on Strike?

It must be remembered that quite apart from the question of gallows, the difficulty of persons to carry out the executions is exceedingly acute. A great number of people have the greatest abhorrence of the job, and no compulsion can be used where there is any conscientious objection.

…

National Adjunct Walkout Day #NAWD

Posted on February 25, 2015February 26, 2015 by Julie Garza-Withers

I started adjuncting in spring 2006, about two weeks after turning in my MA thesis at California State University, Chico. I was hired to teach sociology by an Anthropology professor I’d taken in grad school who was also the chair of the social and behavioral sciences (SBS) department at Butte Community College. I reread my journal from that time and oh man, I was so happy to have a job right out of grad school.…

The Ultimate Privilege

Posted on February 24, 2015February 24, 2015 by Marianne Paiva

My mother would have called me a picky eater, if the term had been popular when I was a kid in the early 1980s; instead, people often said I was spoiled. I turned my nose up to onions, didn’t care for orange juice, and had a physical aversion to ground meat (that was my mother’s fault, though; she brainwashed me to believe, from a very young age, that ground meat was dirty).…

The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience, Part 4

Posted on February 23, 2015February 23, 2015 by Tony Waters

The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience, Part 4

A Ghostly Play in Five Acts

Featuring

Karl Marx, of London, England

Max Weber, of Heidelberg, Germany

Emile Durkheim of Paris, France

W.E.B. DuBois of Atlanta, USA

Special Guest Appearance

Charles Dickens of London

As Narrated to Jerri Bedwell of California, USA

Act 4

Funerals

or

…Strictly in a business point of view… (A Christmas Carol)

This perhaps the most haunting part of our tale when Scrooge, who by now we have come to sympathize with, learns what a mess he has made of his life and what his impact on others has been.…

The PhD as an Existential Question???

Posted on February 22, 2015February 22, 2015 by Tony Waters

Originally published here at e.com in August 2012.

To PhD or not to PhD, that is that a question for you? Well, at Ethnography.com we have years of unsolicited advice to those of wondering if all the uncertainties of grad school are for you or not.

For example those of you have lousy grades for any number of reasons, and question not your own capacity, but that of your chosen profession to give your application a second look, check out “Can Bad Grades and Graduate School Go Together?…

Of the Passing of the First-Born by W. E. B. DuBois

Posted on February 21, 2015February 21, 2015 by Tony Waters

Editor’s Note: W. E. B. DuBois (1868-1963) published The Souls of Black Folk in 1903. It is a classic with respect to both general social theory, and race relations. Here is reposted one of the most important of the stories in that book “Of the Passing of the First-Born” about the death of DuBois infant son Burghardt. We of course recommend you read the whole book–it is in the public domain, and readily available on-line. …

Ethnography, Stigma, and Protecting a Potentially Spoiled Identity

Posted on February 20, 2015February 18, 2015 by Tony Waters

Originally published here at e.com in April 2007. It’s one of my favorites and still makes me laugh out loud, I hope you enjoy it too. -Julie

This blog is about why ethnographer Erving Goffman’s observation of stigma are important not just to ex-cons, but also to professors like me on foreign exchange programs. Goffman, as many sociologists and anthropologists know, observed the maneuvers of the marginalized and stigmatized in society, and then wrote about how they thought about their disability.…

Why Community College is Still the Best Bet for Working Class Students

Posted on February 19, 2015February 19, 2015 by Julie Garza-Withers

This originally appeared on the Working-Class perspectives blog at this link. Given the continuing stigma of community college education, it’s important we support community college students. You can read more about the community college/real college divide here.

Recently, a friend asked me whether I’d encourage my own children (if I had them) to attend a community college, the system where I teach sociology. I said “yes” immediately, but I know what thoughts lay behind her question.…

Mother Hens and Nice Girls: How Gender and Class Show Up at Work

Posted on February 18, 2015November 2, 2015 by Julie Garza-Withers

“My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a perpetual state of childhood, unable to stand alone.” -Mary Wollstonecraft

Since writing about class and feminism here a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been booked to present at a couple of places about conflict between women co-workers, which was the topic of my thesis research way back when.…

The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience, Part 3

Posted on February 16, 2015February 23, 2015 by Tony Waters

The Order of the Eternal Social Conscience, Part 3

A Ghostly Play in Five Acts

Featuring

Karl Marx, of London, England

Max Weber, of Heidelberg, Germany

Emile Durkheim of Paris, France

W.E.B. DuBois of Atlanta, USA

Special Guest Appearance

Charles Dickens of London

As Narrated to Jerri Bedwell of California, USA

Act 3

Fatherly Reminisces

or

If These Shadows Persist… (The Ghost of Christmas Present)

“Before we begin again, Charles, Mr.…

Why I Chose Not to Get a PhD

Posted on February 15, 2015May 29, 2015 by mark

This was originally published here on ethnography.com in April, 2012. Why did you choose to get a PhD (or not)?

I got to spend some time with a friend recently that decided some time ago to restart her PhD work. She is already ABD, but is starting the dissertation over from scratch. My question was “Why?” She is a well-respected professional, and within the her field a PhD will likely be of limited benefit professionally compared to the mountain of work ahead of her, not to mention the expense involved.…