From a CSES Lecture Series event held on February 6th, 2014 at Cornell University. Gerald (Jerry) Davis presented his research “The Coming Collapse of the American Corporation (and What Comes Next)?” Shareholder-owned corporations were the central pillars of the US economy in the twentieth century. Due to the success of the shareholder value movement and […]
Tag Archives | sociology
A Sociologist Examines the Limitations of Behavioral Finance
James McRitchie, 09/25/2012 ,
Guest post from Brooke Harrington, Associate professor, Department of Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. The post was originally published as On the Limitations of Behavioral Finance at Economic Sociology, 10/31/2010. I found it to be as timely as ever. (more…)
Student Paper Contest: Interrelation of Conflict, Social Action, and Change
James McRitchie, 09/17/2012 ,
The Conflict, Social Action, and Change Division announces its 2013 Graduate Student Paper Competition. Students are encouraged to submit theoretical or empirical papers that address some aspect of the interrelation of conflict, social action, and change. (more…)
New CEOs: The Diversification of the Corner Office
James McRitchie, 08/13/2012 ,
Sociologists Richard Zweigenhaft and G. William Domhoff began studying ascendance to the top corporate office 20 years ago and, while the population of CEOs is far from diverse, they report that they have been surprised to see as many women and minorities as they have. Today there are 80 white women, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans […]
SSSP Seeks Student Papers
James McRitchie, 04/03/2012 ,
The deadline for the SSSP division Student Paper Competition is MAY 1st. Yet, the Conflict, Social Action and Change Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems has only (more…)
Video Friday: Johnson & Johnson's Acuvue Fails to See Issues of Stereotyping Clearly
James McRitchie, 03/30/2012 ,
Sociological Images (Boys Want Success, Girls Want Boys) noted a recent Acuvue contact lens commercial aimed at teens that reinforces both gender and racial stereotypes. The teens look forward to their futures. For the boys, these involve future career success — notice the African American teen dreams of being a famous athlete, while the White […]
Extracurricular Reading
James McRitchie, 07/21/2011 ,
From August 2011 Harper’s Index: Portion of employers who say they conduct criminal-background checks on potential employees: ¾ Chance that an American adult has a criminal record: 1 in 4 Percentage of applicants offered undergraduate admission to Harvard this year: 6.2 Percentage of applicants accepted for employment on McDonanld’s National Hiring day in April: 6.2 […]
Fair Pay, Fair Play: Very Good Advice on Pay but Poor Sociology
James McRitchie, 09/21/2010 ,
Robin Ferracone hits the right buttons in her new volume (Fair Pay, Fair Play: Aligning Executive Performance and Pay) when she describes how to develop of an “alignment” report that can be used by boards and shareowners to ensure executive pay will be judged as “fair.” She also interviewed the right people to work in […]
Collective Intelligence: Governance Systems for the Modern World
James McRitchie, 03/19/2010 ,
Governance in a Disenchanted World: The End of Moral Society by Helmut Willke reasserts the spirit of liberalism invoked during the American and French Revolution when moral attitudes based on religion were trumped by secularization and the invention of modern politics and law. According to Willke, we are now facing second revolution, which will replace […]
Handbook of Social Capital
James McRitchie, 11/01/2009 ,
When Tocqueville visited the United States in the 1830s, it was our propensity for civic association that impressed him as the key to making democracy work. "Americans of all ages, all stations in life, and all types of disposition:’ he observed, "are forever forming associations. There are not only commercial and industrial associations in which […]