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Showing posts from March, 2016

Sociology is like Town Plan Analysis

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During my A Level studies, my Geography class went to Chester (a northern city of the UK) for a week of fieldwork. One of the key aspects we studied was the historical determinants of the present day town plan. We considered how the raw materials present in the locality, as well as the depth and navigability of the River Dee, helped to make the site a good one for initial settlement. We discovered how the walls built by the Romans had enabled and constrained the development of the settlement. We thought about how the Mediaeval additions were in part informed by what their Roman predecessors had left behind, and how they added to the existing spaces with their own built structures. This process of remoulding and remaking the built environment continues to to the present day, presenting us with the modern, taken-for-granted forms of the cities and towns in which we dwell. Braun's map of Chester (1571) from http://chesterwalls.info/gallery/oldmaps/index.html Our A Level class
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An open letter to sociology

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Hi, how are things? I'm Mike, and I'm a full time college lecturer (I teach sport, since you asked). But I also study sociology in what little spare time I have. Well, sociology of sport, at least. This letter is to ask for your help. I'm a newcomer to sociology, a johnny-come-lately, the new kid on the block. And the fact of the matter is that I'm entirely out of my depth. I'm assured by my peers that that's a good thing though. The internet is also pretty sure, for example, that Bertrand Russell once said something like this: "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." I'm not claiming intelligence necessarily, but if the 'full of doubt' bit is anything to go by... well you get the idea. I'd like to stick around long enough to see if some of that doubt can be lifted and maybe if there's anything I can contribute. I've come to sociology in a kind of round about w
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Christian conversion as habitus renversé

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It's very hard, when writing of Bourdieu, not to be drawn into mimicking his prolix style of writing. Trawling through long sentences is no fun for anyone, but the concepts addressed here are sufficiently nuanced to demand some form of qualification with almost every statement. Bear with me. What is the Habitus? Pierre Bourdieu developed the concept of habitus for use in the social sciences. He was concerned to overcome the dichotomy between agency and structure. In order to do this he suggested that the formation of each individual person's tastes and dispositions is, in the first instance, a result of early socialisation in particular. The home life, the school life and the other varied experiences of early childhood all combine to suggest, implant and/or produce preferences for 'ways of being' or habitus . That is, the social conditions of childhood serve to cultivate a particular set of personal characteristics: we pick up the values of the culture in whic
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Gianni on the spot? The Globalisation of FIFA.

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Gianni Infantino Gianni Infantino is the new boss at FIFA. The task of restoring faith in football's wayward governing body is, for Infantino, far from child's play. Now that the braggart Blatter is serving a 6 year ban from all football activities ( recently reduced on appeal from 8 years) it would be nice to think that the opportunity for FIFA to make some long overdue and much needed changes will be grasped. But the question simply is this: is the power to change FIFA genuinely in the hands of the president?  Long term historical process can be seen pulling at the structure and direction of FIFA throughout its entire existence. Globalisation theory posits several stages in world history which have seen the planet become ever more connected. We are growing closer to one another through the global interweaving of economy, politics, society and culture. All of this has been made possible by the unprecedented technological advancement of the modern era. Robertson
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More than a Crest: the meaning of the Barça badge

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The changing design of Barcelona's club badge teaches us about how sport is an integral part of wider society, not simply a meaningless addendum.  In 1899 at the club's founding it was decided to use the city coat of arms as the club's badge. FC Barcelona's regional ties have long been a fundamental part of its identity, and when the club produced its own unique badge in 1910, key symbolism from the city's crest was retained. The Cross of St. George 1910 crest St George, is not only the patron saint of England, but also a significant icon in numerous regions of Spain. In Catalonia, as in England, he is the noble slayer of dragons, the moral crusader, the rescuer of damsels; in short, God's man on the earth. In a culture saturated with Catholicism the symbolic act of wearing George's cross is of great relevance. The selection of the Cross to form the Barça crest is a means to tie the club to a heritage which - albeit mostly invented - enables the
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The Supremacy of Scripture and Francis Schaeffer’s Line.

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The Christian church in the West has abandoned the supremacy, primacy and infallibility of Scripture. Notice what I did not say. I did not say that we have abandoned the doctrine of the supremacy, primacy and infallibility of Scripture (though some have). I said we have abandoned the supremacy, primacy and infallibility of Scripture. Let me explain how this has come about, and what difference it makes. Francis Schaeffer’s The God Who is There is a favourite book of mine. In it he argues that Western man has, over a period of several centuries, become isolated from himself, from truth and from God because he has given up the search for coherence and unity in his view of his existence. Having done so, modern Western man has replaced the search for coherence with an acceptance of a dichotomy. The dichotomy is the dichotomy between the rational and the irrational, between the natural and the spiritual. Schaeffer argues that this dichotomy can be understood to have produced a line
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Michael Polanyi and the best ever goal.

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"There is no real substitute for a ball struck squarely and firmly". So says Billy Bragg in the song A Lover Sings, and anyone who has played football (soccer, if you must) knows what he means. You know what it's like to make the perfect connection with the ball. You just know. But what is it that enables us to 'just know'? That's what this blog post is about. Think about the last time you hit the perfect strike and sent the ball screaming into the back of the net. (Okay, point taken. Just imagine it.) What did it look like? How did it feel? Did it sound like a thud, or was it some other kind of sound? Were you aware of your surroundings? The opposition? Teammates? It's kind of hard to say, isn't it? We need some way of thinking this through, so let's start with an example, to which we can refer. Here is a short video clip of the best goal ever. (You heard me.) More than we can tell I wonder what the goalscorer Zinedine Zidane would
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