Brock Ternes

Mapping the Great Recession: A Reader's Guide to the First Crisis of 21st Century Capitalism

Commentators agree that the crisis that boiled to a bubble in the fall of 2008 (“the Great Recession”) is the gravest downturn since the depression of the 1930s. That makes it one of the two greatest crises in the history of capitalism. And plainly, the crisis continues, yielding severe joblessness and a growing danger of government defaults, bank failures, and stock market crashes. Hundreds of commentators have sought to explain the crisis. Yet much remains murky, even paradoxical. This essay attempts to put the crisis in perspective by mapping the universe of crisis literature. It begins by framing some of the key questions posed in this literature. Next it offers sharply etched reviews of thirteen key books. The result is a multi-faceted portrait of a crisis that is still unfolding.

Newsroom Workers’ Job Satisfaction Contingent on Position and Adaptation to Digital Disruption

A survey of journalists in the United States (N = 1181) finds that job satisfaction during the era of digital disruption varies across job titles. Previous studies have examined job satisfaction of these job titles individually, but this study compares job satisfaction among four primary occupations in the newspaper newsroom. Desk workers demonstrate lower levels of job satisfaction than non-desk workers, while sports journalists report higher levels of job satisfaction than non-sports workers. Furthermore, online responsibilities appear to be negatively received by desk workers, yet positively received by sports journalists. Open-ended explanations and the quantitative survey results discuss the implications of the demands, adaptation skills, and autonomy of newspaper workers on job satisfaction.

Sampling Methods and Sample Populations in Quantitative Mass Communication Research Studies: A 15-Year Census of Six Journals

This study evaluated the sampling methods and sample populations used in all U.S.-based survey and experimental mass communication studies published between 2000 and 2014 in six major journals (N = 1,173). Most studies used nonprobability samples, and more than half used student samples. Experiments used more nonprobability and student samples than surveys. Funded studies used more probability and nonstudent samples than nonfunded studies. Implications of results pertaining to population validity and interpretations of findings for mass communication research are discussed.

Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste: How Neoliberalism Survived the Financial Meltdown

In Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste: How Neoliberalism Survived the Financial Meltdown, Philip Mirowski argues that the possibility of serious reforms in the economic sector are even less lik...

Book Review: Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won’t Save Us or the Environment and Too Many People? Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis

an even-handed literature review. It could have been much more. If “best practices” suggests some consensus about practices, their review of the scholarship of teaching and learning raises serious questions about whether anything like consensus exists. It seemed that for every practice, best or otherwise, there was another practice that contradicted it. Some of this would be very useful to both new and veteran teachers, giving them much to “think about” when approaching Introductory Sociology. But the list of “things to think about” seemed never-ending to the point of being overwhelming. At times I felt the way our students must when we ask them to read a textbook and digest 300 to 500 new concepts over the course of a semester. By the time one considered all the things to think about, coupled with the equivocal best practices, the book is just as likely to be paralyzing as edifying—particularly for new teachers. This brought to mind Peter Berger’s (1963:13) warning in An Invitation to Sociology that “as in love a concentration on technique is quite likely to lead to impotence.” And it did not help that much of what is presented as best practice was maddeningly obvious. One is left wondering, for instance, whether sociologists of all people need to be told—repeatedly—that “all students are not alike” (p. 7) or to be reminded to “keep the lines of communication open between you and your students” (p. 32) or whether any teacher at any level would be grateful that the authors could not “say it loud enough or repeat it often enough—the goal of teaching is always to produce learning” (p. 139). The book is full of such truisms. This is not to say that the book fails to offer some helpful tips. I found the suggestions for making more compelling lecture slides and ideas for in-class writing exercises useful. So, there are valuable nuggets, but the reader must mine a lot of ore to find them. Readers interested in classroom techniques may be better served by utilizing the teaching resources Greenwood and Howard reference. Ultimately, the lack of a clear focus makes it difficult for the book to achieve its goals. The authors may have bitten off more than could reasonably be done in 170 pages. Moreover, their quest to advance debate—and to guide teachers— would have been more effective had they taken more firm positions on the issues they raised. The authors are to be commended for attempting to tackle some of the key issues that we need to address. As a discipline, we need to examine critically the role of our introductory course and the impact it has on the public perception of the field. We need a book that advances the discussion about content and about how our delivery impacts our ability to communicate the relevance of sociology to students. And we need a book that will offer concrete guidance to help us be better teachers. We need a book that does these things. But First Contact is not that book.

Review of Longitudinal Structural Equation Modeling, by Todd D. Little

Todd D. Little describes several applications of structural equation modeling (SEM) to repeated-measures data in his new book Longitudinal Structural Equation Modeling. This 10-chapter book provides a foundation for understanding latent variable models and the sophisticated longitudinal analysis of panel data. Little begins by walking the reader through the essentials of measurement models and then builds on these basics in the context of longitudinal data. SEM first-timers, or even those who might be intimidated by quantitative research, will appreciate Little’s considerate approach to the book. He never relies on math-heavy language—which is not to suggest that he fails to cover the math—but he walks readers through the equations’ meaning at a comfortable pace, plus he encourages rereading. His patience is tremendously pronounced throughout the book.

Mexican Americans across Generations: Immigrant Families, Racial Realities

tralised apparatuses and the relationships characteristic of the contemporary globalised era. The work effectively captures the highly mediated and decentralised nature of migration policy-making. It highlights the social distance between decision-makers and migrants, as well as the class-differentiating function of the migration apparatus. It similarly demonstrates the discrepancy between the EU’s liberal humanitarian discourse and the reality of violent border-control measures, and the deep structural inequalities that exist between the north and the south. However, Feldman’s argument that the EU treats migration as an objective phenomenon existing independently of the EU’s political and economic relationships with other countries warrants elaboration; an expanded discussion of EU development and trade relationships with southern countries would strengthen the author’s claims. Mobility partnerships, for instance, which are briefly discussed, make development aid and more favourable migration conditions contingent on stricter north African border-control practices. Similarly, Feldman touches on the relationship between EU trade policies with southern countries and the latter’s continued underdevelopment, noting that underdevelopment is an important push factor for south–north migration. He demonstrates, for instance, that EU–Senegal trade agreements have devastated Senegal’s fishing industry, resulting in an upsurge in illegal migration attempts from Senegal to the EU. These are important issues and expanded discussion of the EU’s relationships with southern countries would further strengthen what is already a compelling account of the EU’s evolving migration-management system.

Latino Immigrants in the United States

Ronald L. Mize and Grace Pena Delgado discuss a host of topics pertaining to immigrant disenfranchisement in Latino Immigrants in the United States. While much immigration literature from the USA f...

IMMIGRATION NATION: RAIDS, DETENTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS IN POST-9/11 AMERICA

who consistently advocated equality and suffrage for all women as well as for African Americans and other disenfranchised groups (p. 70). His challenge, Buccola suggests, ‘was to close the gap between the ideas of liberty for all and the reality of . . .nineteenth century America’ (p. 75). The final chapters of Buccola’s exposition of Douglass’s political thought focus on his ideas of mutual responsibility and obligation in the context of a broader ‘moral ecology’ of freedom. One of the key issues for Douglass, as Buccola repeatedly underlines, was how to generalize ideas of individual freedom and self-ownership within a society still structured on the basis of the ownership of others. While there were routes for individual self-emancipation, Douglass was concerned with the development of a ‘moral atmosphere’ which would facilitate collective emancipation and bring about a genuine democratic republic. With this, Douglass expands the classical liberal tradition to focus also on moral and civic engagement as necessary conditions to secure liberty, both individual and collective. Buccola provides a comprehensive exposition of Frederick Douglass’s contribution to political thought. It is a valuable study of a neglected thinker and a timely reminder following President Obama’s election to a second term of the importance not just of African-American experience, but also African-American thought to the realization of a fully inclusive North American republic.