Tenure-Track Position in Sociology at Memorial University

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

POSITION#: VPA-SOCI-2012-001

The Department of Sociology at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, invites applications for a tenure-track position in the areas of deviance, law, and criminology. The person appointed will be able to demonstrate excellence in both teaching and research and will have a strong record of scholarly achievement. The successful candidate will be prepared to teach undergraduate,   honours and graduate students. Please forward a letter of application, a curriculum vitae, a teaching dossier, and the names and addresses of three persons who can supply a letter of reference, as well as two examples of written work (either published or unpublished, but at least one example must be single authored) to: Dr. Karen Stanbridge, Head, Department of Sociology,   Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada,  A1C 5S7; Phone (709) 864-7457;  Fax (709) 864-2075;  Email: kstanbri@mun.ca.

The position will commence July 1, 2013, subject to budgetary approval, and will be made at the rank of Assistant Professor. The positions normally require a completed doctoral degree in the appropriate discipline. A completed earned doctorate (or recognized terminal qualification in the discipline) is required for the appointee to receive the rank of Assistant Professor and to be in a tenure-track position.  (If a successful candidate has not completed an earned doctorate, he/she shall be appointed to a regular term, non-renewable three-year appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor.  If the candidate completes all the requirements for the doctorate during the first 24 months of the term appointment, he/she shall begin a tenure-track appointment following completion of the requirements of the degree.). The application must provide evidence of excellence in teaching and research. 

Applications should reach the Head no later than October 26, 2012.

Sociologists in the news: Theda Skocpol

… and how the Globe and Mail gets things wrong.

In her column in today's Report on Business section of the Globe and Mail, Chrystia Freeland uses Theda Skocpol's work, and interviews her, about the different situations faced by Obama and FDR.  But, confusingly, the article keeps referring to “his essay” and “he describes.” A look at Freeland's blog post shows that it was not her error (she did interview Skocpol after all), as she always refers to “Dr. Skocpol”: an editor at Report on Business changed some of them to the masculine pronoun. Like the Harper government, the Globe and Mail seems intent on marching us back to the 1950s.

Sadly, Freeland refers to Skocpol as a political theorist, not a sociologist. A Globe article in the past year called Erving Goffman a psychiatrist — we just can't get any respect.

Send me your Sociologists in the News items if they pertain (even loosely) to CNSIMC's agenda.

Mayer N. Zald (June 17, 1931 – August 7, 2012)

Mayer N. Zald, whose seminal work is familiar to all readers of this blog — his name will always be associated with resource mobilization theory — passed away on Tuesday August 7.
There is an interview here, and an appreciation by Jeff Goddwin here

"Greece's 'potato movement' grows in power: A growing group of grassroots activists are cutting out agricultural middlemen and connecting farmers and shoppers"


Read about them here: aljazeera.com

Robert Michels returns - in The Nation. Christoper Hayes observes "The Iron Law of Meritocrcy."

"And we might ask what a society that has been corrupted entirely by the Iron Law of Meritocracy would look like. It would be a society with extremely high and rising inequality yet little circulation of elites. A society in which the pillar institutions were populated and presided over by a group of hyper-educated, ambitious overachievers who enjoyed tremendous monetary rewards as well as unparalleled political power and prestige, and yet who managed to insulate themselves from sanction, competition and accountability; a group of people who could more or less rest assured that now that they have achieved their status, now that they have scaled to the top of the pyramid, they, their peers and their progeny will stay there.

...It would, in other words, look a lot like the American elite in the first years of the twenty-first century."

Read the rest: Why Elites Fail

Rick Salutin "What we owe the striking Quebec students"

What we owe the striking Quebec students
BY RICK SALUTIN | JUNE 8, 2012

… We owe them for taking a shot at saving our national honour in the eyes of the world.
… We owe them for striking a blow on behalf of public discourse. I'm thinking here of the term entitlements, which has replaced rights in the discussion.
Read more on rabble.ca

Tenure-track positions in Sociology at Saint Mary's University

Social Movements, Social Change and Political Economy
The Department of Sociology and Criminology at Saint Mary’s University invites applications for a tenure-track position in Sociology at the rank of Assistant Professor. A strong record of research and teaching in Social Movements, Social Change and Political Economy is required. The successful candidate will hold a PhD in Sociology and by way of a teaching portfolio must demonstrate ability and effectiveness in teaching core undergraduate courses in qualitative methods. The appointment will begin on July 1, 2013. Read the full advertisement here

Prisons and Punishment
The department is also advertising a position in Criminology, specializing in Prisons and Punishment.  Read the full advertisement here