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Scott Schaffer

Western University Canada, Sociology, Faculty Member

Western University Canada, Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism, Faculty Member

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Dr. Schaffer specializes in contemporary and global social theory, social ethics and social inclusion, and conceptions of sociology in light of trends in the 21st century. His work involves understanding the ways in which social theory operates as both a tool for understanding and as a form of social exclusion. He is also developing the study of "speculative sociology," working to develop normatively-grounded tools for anticipating, identifying, and potentially solving social problems facing us all in the next century.

Dr Schaffer is also a Core Faculty member of the Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism at UWO and a Co-Coordinator for the Globality Research Group. He also serves as Associate Editor for the Sociological Theory section for the open-access journal Frontiers in Sociology.
Address: 5306 Social Science Centre
Department of Sociology
The University of Western Ontario
London ON N6A 5C2 Canada

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Books by Scott Schaffer

Resisting Ethics

Papers by Scott Schaffer

Theses on a Speculative Sociology

Necroethics in the time of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter

Starting with the simultaneous appearances in 2020 of the COVID-19 pandemic, the uprisings in res... more Starting with the simultaneous appearances in 2020 of the COVID-19 pandemic, the uprisings in response to extrajudicial executions of Black Americans, and the deployment of US federal troops in Portland, Oregon, this chapter explores the ways in which late-capitalist social ethics are rooted in a notion of expendability. I argue here that Achille Mbembe’s notion of necropolitics can give us a way into understanding the ways in which this “triage ethos” is baked into the DNA of 21st-century societies. For Mbembe, necropolitics is the deployment of social or political power to govern the exposure of other human beings to the realm of death, whether social, civil, or actual. In this essay, I will extend this notion to argue that the necro- is actually embedded in the very material ethical relations between people. What has come to the fore in the time of COVID is the necroethical constitution of modern social orders in both their material and ideational aspects. © 2021 selection and ed...

Administrative data linkage in Canada: Implications for sociological research

Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 2022

This paper explores some of the implications that administrative data, defined as data initially ... more This paper explores some of the implications that administrative data, defined as data initially collected for purposes other than research, will have for Sociology. Although administrative data are &quot;found&quot; rather than &quot;made&quot; and, in turn, pose several challenges, we argue that the potential of these data warrant the investment,

Administrative data linkage in Canada: Implications for sociological research

by Yoko Yoshida, Michael Haan, and Scott Schaffer

Canadian Review of Sociology/Révue canadienne de sociologie, 2022

This paper explores some of the implications that administrative data, defined as data initially ... more This paper explores some of the implications that administrative data, defined as data initially collected for purposes other than research, will have for Sociology. Although administrative data are "found" rather than "made" and, in turn, pose several challenges, we argue that the potential of these data warrant the investment,

Resisting Ethics

In-between Days

Collective Action

Cosmopolitanism and an Ethics of Sacrifice

Since the coming to the fore of cosmopolitan social thought in the wake of the decline of postmod... more Since the coming to the fore of cosmopolitan social thought in the wake of the decline of postmodernisms, a variety of scholars have attempted to develop notions of ‘cosmopolitan social thought’, organising them in terms of the varieties of projects they deal with, ranging from the development of cultural competencies enabling equitable treatment of all peoples, to the creation of transnational governance mechanisms, to the establishment of international social movements and forums. Still others have critiqued these theoretical offerings, noting their basis in a particular set of material resources that go unacknowledged or the failure of cosmopolitan ethical positions to impact on the material inequalities in the world today. Yet, no one has to date observed the core of the problem of cosmopolitanism as a lived, resistant practice: namely, that cosmopolitanism social thought must address both the ethical and cultural part of the equation and the material inequities in the world.

The Engagement of Social Theory: The relationship between critical social theory and daily life

This paper explores the possibilities for the critical engagement of social theory with everyday ... more This paper explores the possibilities for the critical engagement of social theory with everyday life and processes of social change. This paper starts by detailing the presumption that social theory is stuck in some way between two positions vis-a-vis "the real world" - the "politics/science" divide posited by Weber, wherein social scientists and theorists are not supposed to be actively involved in political processes of change; and the "postmodern" position, in which social theory has effectively abandoned processes of change and, put bluntly, ends up screaming at the skies for fear of actually finding real, intentional systems of oppression. Neither position, this paper will argue, is acceptable in a world characterized by the increasing power of global capitalism, the quashing of dissent in any form, and a developing anomie. Beginning with Schalk's (1991) concept of engagement - the theoretically and practically based participation of social th...

Bourdieu, Pierre and Roger Chartier, The Sociologist and the Historian

Canadian Journal of Sociology, Jun 30, 2016

Dirty Hands and Making the Human: Fanon, the Algerian Revolution and an Ethics of Freedom

Resisting Ethics, 2004

Such was the beginning of the French domination of Algeria. What began ostensibly as the honorabl... more Such was the beginning of the French domination of Algeria. What began ostensibly as the honorable surrender of a sovereign ruler and nation quickly resulted in the domination and desecration of an entire population. One hundred twenty years later, this domination was ended through the Algerian Revolution, the longest and possibly most costly of the postwar anticolonial insurrections. The Algerian Revolution provided current social theory with one of its most interesting and informative interlocutors, Frantz Fanon, whose work regarding the real and ontological aspects of anticolonial revolutions has provided insights for much of postmodern, postcolonial, and critical race theory. What has often been ignored, however, are the ethical insights and lessons that Fanon’s depiction of the Algerian Revolution provides us. In his work, Fanon not only delivers to us what I would call an ethnographic depiction of the processes by which the Algerian peoples liberated themselves, but also serves as prognosticator for the ultimate success of the revolution in achieving one of its purported primary goals—the creation of a new form of human being.

As Fragile as Glass: Balancing the Individual and the Social

Resisting Ethics, 2004

In order to embark on this examination, we must first do more to show how an individualistic (or,... more In order to embark on this examination, we must first do more to show how an individualistic (or, at the very least, individualized) concept of ethics fails to illuminate how resistance can be seen as not only normative but also ethical. Rather than dealing with authors external to this work, though, I feel it to be more productive to deal with an author whose later works are crucial for the development of this project—Jean-Paul Sartre. His early work, especially Being and Nothingness, displays what I would argue are the root problems with much of Ethical theory: a reliance upon the Cartesian dualism revolving around the cogito; the Kantian movement toward a universal, ahistorical concept of morality; and the reliance upon the presocial individual that makes problematic not only recent ethical theory, but also a good deal of social and political theory, especially that of the “social contract” or contractarian schools of thought. This early version of Sartre, the one that is usually criticized for being nihilistic or unproductive as far as social relations go, presents us with a way into the causes of the problems discussed in chapter 1.

Turning Ourselves on Our Heads: Hegemony and the Colonized Habitus

Resisting Ethics, 2004

Chapter 3 detailed the ways in which resistance and ethics are interrelated in existential though... more Chapter 3 detailed the ways in which resistance and ethics are interrelated in existential thought. The embeddedness of individuals in a particular situation of existence also embeds them in a number of social and historical relationships, ones that induce people to act in particular ways (depending upon their position in the social order and their encounter with the situation) and with particular attention to certain others in their situation. Acting in accordance with these “practico-inert” structures, according to Sartre and Merleau-Ponty, leaves people in a situation in which they directly reproduce those structures, which Sartre and Merleau-Ponty held contain either naked aggression or more insidious forms of oppression. And acting in “good faith” requires, to some extent, that one act ethically and resist the mere “circularity” (Sartre 1985 [1960]: 714) and inertia of the social order. The question still remains, though: even though we have seen why one should resist, we have yet to see how resistance occurs, against what resistance should be or is oriented, or how it can be theorized. That is the task of this chapter.

“For Everyone, Everything”: Social Ethics, Consent, and the Zapatistas

Resisting Ethics, 2004

Our discussion of the ethics of freedom present in the Algerian Revolution might lead us to pose ... more Our discussion of the ethics of freedom present in the Algerian Revolution might lead us to pose a crucial question for the development of a social ethics predicated on the practice of resistance, namely the question of its relevance for Western societies. After all, one might ask, how could Western societies adopt the same kind of ethics when there is already a well-entrenched individualized ethos at work here? How dramatically would such a change in ethos affect our social structures and our daily lives? And would we face the same dilemmas here that Algerians did after the consolidation of the Revolution—namely, the loss of the freedom for which the revolutionaries stated they fought, the civil war and institutionalized terror people faced everyday, and the uncertainty of ever changing the situation?

Methods, Not Recipes: Rethinking Ethics in (and Through) Resistance

Resisting Ethics, 2004

Formulating the ethics of existentialism, as one might be wont to do with other philosophical sys... more Formulating the ethics of existentialism, as one might be wont to do with other philosophical systems, is a nearly impossible task. The philosophy of existentialism is not one that can provide us with hard-and-fast rules by which we can say we live “ethically”; we must construct, according to the existentialists, our own set of meanings in the world through the creation and actualization of our own project. To impose a set of rules upon a group of people would be tantamount to the elimination of the freedom of those who make up the group; as de Beauvoir reminds us, “Ethics does not furnish recipes any more than do science and art. One can merely propose methods” (de Beauvoir 1994 [1948]: 134). In fact, an existentialist ethics must necessarily resist rule-bound Ethics for these very reasons. And yet, we already exist in groups: we are members of a society and subject to its norms, mores, and sanctions even before we are born, and the situation today is such that we are left in the inertia of the institution described by Sartre: “It is too bad if I do not agree: I shall have to come to terms with it. And if I agree, so much the better: it is a fluke, an accident, crucial for me but indifferent for the practice itself, and might be expressed in these words: since it cannot be changed, it is just as well that I am willing to go along with it …” (Sartre 1985 [1960]: 602).

Toward a Resisting Social Ethics

Resisting Ethics, 2004

In Social Suffering, Kleinman, Das, and Lock collect a wide variety of essays analyzing the ways ... more In Social Suffering, Kleinman, Das, and Lock collect a wide variety of essays analyzing the ways in which social suffering is constructed, represented, and dealt with by national, international, and nongovernmental bureaucratic organizations. The texts collected range from depictions of the responses of Holocaust survivors to the constant presence of their wartime experiences, to depictions of AIDS and starvation in far-off lands, to terror wreaked by Maoism in China and the apartheid regime in South Africa upon their own populations. The topical list of forms of suffering dealt with by this book is short, as one would expect from an edited volume, and painful for anyone who has a modicum of empathy and compassion. Their dominant points, however, are most illuminating. First, they argue that what is not represented to us in the media does not exist, and that which is represented is manipulated in order to maintain a certain Western, separated, and individuated way of understanding the world. As they put it, “What we represent and how we represent it prefigure what we will, or will not, do to intervene. What is not pictured is not real. Much of routinized misery is invisible; much that is made visible is not ordinary or routine. The very act of picturing distorts social experience in the popular media and in the professions under the impress of ideology and political economy”

Book review: Ali Zaidi, Islam, Modernity, and the Human Sciences

International Sociology, 2014

to remember that most theorists from the South have studied in Western universities. But more imp... more to remember that most theorists from the South have studied in Western universities. But more important, von Holdt’s participation in the layers of conversation demonstrates that ‘Northern’ ideas can serve as a catalyst for uncovering unsuspected subtleties and depths in ‘the Johannesburg moment.’ This is the basis for Burawoy’s curtailed conversation with Connell. Surely, as he makes clear, it is not the origin of a theory that determines its value, but ultimately the outgrowths of its application in varied contexts. By means of the staged theoretical exchanges, this book at once underlines the overwhelming importance of Bourdieu’s work to contemporary sociology and provides a guide to a comprehensive critique of the sociologist and his writings. Beyond this, the conversations about and around crucial aspects of professional and public knowledge may prompt sociologists (and politicians?) to continue transplanting all kinds of theories to local moments worldwide – while talking through the multiple changes that are rung in practices and in ideas.

George Steinmetz, Sociology & Empire: The Imperial Entanglements of a Discipline

Canadian Journal of Sociology, Sep 23, 2014

Robert A. Stebbins, the Committed Reader: Reading for Utility, Pleasure, and Fulfillment in the Twenty-First Century

Canadian Journal of Sociology, Mar 22, 2013

I was at once intrigued by the title of Robert Stebbins' The Committed Reader, especially having ... more I was at once intrigued by the title of Robert Stebbins' The Committed Reader, especially having received the book for review in the midst of reading undergraduate final exams. The full title, suggesting a focus on the various types of reading we engage in and encounter in the 21st century, deepened my interest. After all, most of what we sociologists do involves the varieties of reading included in the subtitle: our research and teaching spread across reading for utility, pleasure, and fulfilment; we strive to teach our students how to go beyond the mere Google-style of reading to engage with texts; and our plans for sabbatical almost always, if unofficially, include finally reading "for pleasure." It is unfortunate, then, that the lead of the title regarding the "committed reader" ends up disappearing in this work, leaving it more encyclopaedic in its approach to reading and readership than "committed." Stebbins' approach in this work derives from a combination of library and information studies and the application of his own "serious leisure perspective." That perspective, which starts from a definition of leisure as "uncoerced, contextually framed activity engaged in during free time, which people want to do and, using their abilities and resources, actually do in either a satisfying or a fulfilling way (or both)" (p. 24), is then opened up to classify three approaches to leisure activity (casual leisure, serious pursuits, or project-based leisure). After briefly addressing casual and project-based forms of leisure, Stebbins goes on to break down the category of serious pursuits into "serious leisure," with three subcategories (amateur, volunteer, and hobbyist), and devotee work. The rest of the work of this book reflects the application of Stebbins' serious leisure perspective to the "contact points" between a variety of sociological factors and the types of reading mentioned in the title. So, for instance, Stebbins' analysis of pleasure reading engages with a variety of purposes for reading, including entertainment, imaginative play, as a trigger for conversation, for sensory stimulation, for relaxation, and for information or knowledge. Included in the discussion of each of these purposes are a range of sociological touch points, including the classification of forms of fiction and nonfiction pleasurable reading materials,

Necroethics in the time of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter

COVID-19 Volume I: Global pandemic, societal responses, ideological solutions, 2021

Resisting Ethics

Theses on a Speculative Sociology

Necroethics in the time of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter

Starting with the simultaneous appearances in 2020 of the COVID-19 pandemic, the uprisings in res... more Starting with the simultaneous appearances in 2020 of the COVID-19 pandemic, the uprisings in response to extrajudicial executions of Black Americans, and the deployment of US federal troops in Portland, Oregon, this chapter explores the ways in which late-capitalist social ethics are rooted in a notion of expendability. I argue here that Achille Mbembe’s notion of necropolitics can give us a way into understanding the ways in which this “triage ethos” is baked into the DNA of 21st-century societies. For Mbembe, necropolitics is the deployment of social or political power to govern the exposure of other human beings to the realm of death, whether social, civil, or actual. In this essay, I will extend this notion to argue that the necro- is actually embedded in the very material ethical relations between people. What has come to the fore in the time of COVID is the necroethical constitution of modern social orders in both their material and ideational aspects. © 2021 selection and ed...

Administrative data linkage in Canada: Implications for sociological research

Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 2022

This paper explores some of the implications that administrative data, defined as data initially ... more This paper explores some of the implications that administrative data, defined as data initially collected for purposes other than research, will have for Sociology. Although administrative data are &quot;found&quot; rather than &quot;made&quot; and, in turn, pose several challenges, we argue that the potential of these data warrant the investment,

Administrative data linkage in Canada: Implications for sociological research

by Yoko Yoshida, Michael Haan, and Scott Schaffer

Canadian Review of Sociology/Révue canadienne de sociologie, 2022

This paper explores some of the implications that administrative data, defined as data initially ... more This paper explores some of the implications that administrative data, defined as data initially collected for purposes other than research, will have for Sociology. Although administrative data are "found" rather than "made" and, in turn, pose several challenges, we argue that the potential of these data warrant the investment,

Resisting Ethics

In-between Days

Collective Action

Cosmopolitanism and an Ethics of Sacrifice

Since the coming to the fore of cosmopolitan social thought in the wake of the decline of postmod... more Since the coming to the fore of cosmopolitan social thought in the wake of the decline of postmodernisms, a variety of scholars have attempted to develop notions of ‘cosmopolitan social thought’, organising them in terms of the varieties of projects they deal with, ranging from the development of cultural competencies enabling equitable treatment of all peoples, to the creation of transnational governance mechanisms, to the establishment of international social movements and forums. Still others have critiqued these theoretical offerings, noting their basis in a particular set of material resources that go unacknowledged or the failure of cosmopolitan ethical positions to impact on the material inequalities in the world today. Yet, no one has to date observed the core of the problem of cosmopolitanism as a lived, resistant practice: namely, that cosmopolitanism social thought must address both the ethical and cultural part of the equation and the material inequities in the world.

The Engagement of Social Theory: The relationship between critical social theory and daily life

This paper explores the possibilities for the critical engagement of social theory with everyday ... more This paper explores the possibilities for the critical engagement of social theory with everyday life and processes of social change. This paper starts by detailing the presumption that social theory is stuck in some way between two positions vis-a-vis "the real world" - the "politics/science" divide posited by Weber, wherein social scientists and theorists are not supposed to be actively involved in political processes of change; and the "postmodern" position, in which social theory has effectively abandoned processes of change and, put bluntly, ends up screaming at the skies for fear of actually finding real, intentional systems of oppression. Neither position, this paper will argue, is acceptable in a world characterized by the increasing power of global capitalism, the quashing of dissent in any form, and a developing anomie. Beginning with Schalk's (1991) concept of engagement - the theoretically and practically based participation of social th...

Bourdieu, Pierre and Roger Chartier, The Sociologist and the Historian

Canadian Journal of Sociology, Jun 30, 2016

Dirty Hands and Making the Human: Fanon, the Algerian Revolution and an Ethics of Freedom

Resisting Ethics, 2004

Such was the beginning of the French domination of Algeria. What began ostensibly as the honorabl... more Such was the beginning of the French domination of Algeria. What began ostensibly as the honorable surrender of a sovereign ruler and nation quickly resulted in the domination and desecration of an entire population. One hundred twenty years later, this domination was ended through the Algerian Revolution, the longest and possibly most costly of the postwar anticolonial insurrections. The Algerian Revolution provided current social theory with one of its most interesting and informative interlocutors, Frantz Fanon, whose work regarding the real and ontological aspects of anticolonial revolutions has provided insights for much of postmodern, postcolonial, and critical race theory. What has often been ignored, however, are the ethical insights and lessons that Fanon’s depiction of the Algerian Revolution provides us. In his work, Fanon not only delivers to us what I would call an ethnographic depiction of the processes by which the Algerian peoples liberated themselves, but also serves as prognosticator for the ultimate success of the revolution in achieving one of its purported primary goals—the creation of a new form of human being.

As Fragile as Glass: Balancing the Individual and the Social

Resisting Ethics, 2004

In order to embark on this examination, we must first do more to show how an individualistic (or,... more In order to embark on this examination, we must first do more to show how an individualistic (or, at the very least, individualized) concept of ethics fails to illuminate how resistance can be seen as not only normative but also ethical. Rather than dealing with authors external to this work, though, I feel it to be more productive to deal with an author whose later works are crucial for the development of this project—Jean-Paul Sartre. His early work, especially Being and Nothingness, displays what I would argue are the root problems with much of Ethical theory: a reliance upon the Cartesian dualism revolving around the cogito; the Kantian movement toward a universal, ahistorical concept of morality; and the reliance upon the presocial individual that makes problematic not only recent ethical theory, but also a good deal of social and political theory, especially that of the “social contract” or contractarian schools of thought. This early version of Sartre, the one that is usually criticized for being nihilistic or unproductive as far as social relations go, presents us with a way into the causes of the problems discussed in chapter 1.

Turning Ourselves on Our Heads: Hegemony and the Colonized Habitus

Resisting Ethics, 2004

Chapter 3 detailed the ways in which resistance and ethics are interrelated in existential though... more Chapter 3 detailed the ways in which resistance and ethics are interrelated in existential thought. The embeddedness of individuals in a particular situation of existence also embeds them in a number of social and historical relationships, ones that induce people to act in particular ways (depending upon their position in the social order and their encounter with the situation) and with particular attention to certain others in their situation. Acting in accordance with these “practico-inert” structures, according to Sartre and Merleau-Ponty, leaves people in a situation in which they directly reproduce those structures, which Sartre and Merleau-Ponty held contain either naked aggression or more insidious forms of oppression. And acting in “good faith” requires, to some extent, that one act ethically and resist the mere “circularity” (Sartre 1985 [1960]: 714) and inertia of the social order. The question still remains, though: even though we have seen why one should resist, we have yet to see how resistance occurs, against what resistance should be or is oriented, or how it can be theorized. That is the task of this chapter.

“For Everyone, Everything”: Social Ethics, Consent, and the Zapatistas

Resisting Ethics, 2004

Our discussion of the ethics of freedom present in the Algerian Revolution might lead us to pose ... more Our discussion of the ethics of freedom present in the Algerian Revolution might lead us to pose a crucial question for the development of a social ethics predicated on the practice of resistance, namely the question of its relevance for Western societies. After all, one might ask, how could Western societies adopt the same kind of ethics when there is already a well-entrenched individualized ethos at work here? How dramatically would such a change in ethos affect our social structures and our daily lives? And would we face the same dilemmas here that Algerians did after the consolidation of the Revolution—namely, the loss of the freedom for which the revolutionaries stated they fought, the civil war and institutionalized terror people faced everyday, and the uncertainty of ever changing the situation?

Methods, Not Recipes: Rethinking Ethics in (and Through) Resistance

Resisting Ethics, 2004

Formulating the ethics of existentialism, as one might be wont to do with other philosophical sys... more Formulating the ethics of existentialism, as one might be wont to do with other philosophical systems, is a nearly impossible task. The philosophy of existentialism is not one that can provide us with hard-and-fast rules by which we can say we live “ethically”; we must construct, according to the existentialists, our own set of meanings in the world through the creation and actualization of our own project. To impose a set of rules upon a group of people would be tantamount to the elimination of the freedom of those who make up the group; as de Beauvoir reminds us, “Ethics does not furnish recipes any more than do science and art. One can merely propose methods” (de Beauvoir 1994 [1948]: 134). In fact, an existentialist ethics must necessarily resist rule-bound Ethics for these very reasons. And yet, we already exist in groups: we are members of a society and subject to its norms, mores, and sanctions even before we are born, and the situation today is such that we are left in the inertia of the institution described by Sartre: “It is too bad if I do not agree: I shall have to come to terms with it. And if I agree, so much the better: it is a fluke, an accident, crucial for me but indifferent for the practice itself, and might be expressed in these words: since it cannot be changed, it is just as well that I am willing to go along with it …” (Sartre 1985 [1960]: 602).

Toward a Resisting Social Ethics

Resisting Ethics, 2004

In Social Suffering, Kleinman, Das, and Lock collect a wide variety of essays analyzing the ways ... more In Social Suffering, Kleinman, Das, and Lock collect a wide variety of essays analyzing the ways in which social suffering is constructed, represented, and dealt with by national, international, and nongovernmental bureaucratic organizations. The texts collected range from depictions of the responses of Holocaust survivors to the constant presence of their wartime experiences, to depictions of AIDS and starvation in far-off lands, to terror wreaked by Maoism in China and the apartheid regime in South Africa upon their own populations. The topical list of forms of suffering dealt with by this book is short, as one would expect from an edited volume, and painful for anyone who has a modicum of empathy and compassion. Their dominant points, however, are most illuminating. First, they argue that what is not represented to us in the media does not exist, and that which is represented is manipulated in order to maintain a certain Western, separated, and individuated way of understanding the world. As they put it, “What we represent and how we represent it prefigure what we will, or will not, do to intervene. What is not pictured is not real. Much of routinized misery is invisible; much that is made visible is not ordinary or routine. The very act of picturing distorts social experience in the popular media and in the professions under the impress of ideology and political economy”

Book review: Ali Zaidi, Islam, Modernity, and the Human Sciences

International Sociology, 2014

to remember that most theorists from the South have studied in Western universities. But more imp... more to remember that most theorists from the South have studied in Western universities. But more important, von Holdt’s participation in the layers of conversation demonstrates that ‘Northern’ ideas can serve as a catalyst for uncovering unsuspected subtleties and depths in ‘the Johannesburg moment.’ This is the basis for Burawoy’s curtailed conversation with Connell. Surely, as he makes clear, it is not the origin of a theory that determines its value, but ultimately the outgrowths of its application in varied contexts. By means of the staged theoretical exchanges, this book at once underlines the overwhelming importance of Bourdieu’s work to contemporary sociology and provides a guide to a comprehensive critique of the sociologist and his writings. Beyond this, the conversations about and around crucial aspects of professional and public knowledge may prompt sociologists (and politicians?) to continue transplanting all kinds of theories to local moments worldwide – while talking through the multiple changes that are rung in practices and in ideas.

George Steinmetz, Sociology & Empire: The Imperial Entanglements of a Discipline

Canadian Journal of Sociology, Sep 23, 2014

Robert A. Stebbins, the Committed Reader: Reading for Utility, Pleasure, and Fulfillment in the Twenty-First Century

Canadian Journal of Sociology, Mar 22, 2013

I was at once intrigued by the title of Robert Stebbins' The Committed Reader, especially having ... more I was at once intrigued by the title of Robert Stebbins' The Committed Reader, especially having received the book for review in the midst of reading undergraduate final exams. The full title, suggesting a focus on the various types of reading we engage in and encounter in the 21st century, deepened my interest. After all, most of what we sociologists do involves the varieties of reading included in the subtitle: our research and teaching spread across reading for utility, pleasure, and fulfilment; we strive to teach our students how to go beyond the mere Google-style of reading to engage with texts; and our plans for sabbatical almost always, if unofficially, include finally reading "for pleasure." It is unfortunate, then, that the lead of the title regarding the "committed reader" ends up disappearing in this work, leaving it more encyclopaedic in its approach to reading and readership than "committed." Stebbins' approach in this work derives from a combination of library and information studies and the application of his own "serious leisure perspective." That perspective, which starts from a definition of leisure as "uncoerced, contextually framed activity engaged in during free time, which people want to do and, using their abilities and resources, actually do in either a satisfying or a fulfilling way (or both)" (p. 24), is then opened up to classify three approaches to leisure activity (casual leisure, serious pursuits, or project-based leisure). After briefly addressing casual and project-based forms of leisure, Stebbins goes on to break down the category of serious pursuits into "serious leisure," with three subcategories (amateur, volunteer, and hobbyist), and devotee work. The rest of the work of this book reflects the application of Stebbins' serious leisure perspective to the "contact points" between a variety of sociological factors and the types of reading mentioned in the title. So, for instance, Stebbins' analysis of pleasure reading engages with a variety of purposes for reading, including entertainment, imaginative play, as a trigger for conversation, for sensory stimulation, for relaxation, and for information or knowledge. Included in the discussion of each of these purposes are a range of sociological touch points, including the classification of forms of fiction and nonfiction pleasurable reading materials,

Necroethics in the time of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter

COVID-19 Volume I: Global pandemic, societal responses, ideological solutions, 2021

Anti-Colonial Movements, Middle East and North Africa

Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice, 2007

Obiora Chinedu Okafor and Obijiofor Aginam (Eds.), Humanizing Our Global Order: Essays in Honour of Ivan Head.

The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, Jan 1, 2004

It would be easy to be deceived by the title of Okafor and Aginam&#x27;s edited volume, Human... more It would be easy to be deceived by the title of Okafor and Aginam&#x27;s edited volume, Humanizing Our Global Order: Essays in Honour of Ivan Head. The subtitle first: while the essays are written &quot;in honour of&quot; Ivan Head (Pierre Trudeau&#x27;s foreign policy advisor, head of the ...

Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today (review)

The Americas, Jan 1, 2004

John Holloway's latest contribution to the understanding of revolutionary movements is a bit... more

Understanding the Chiapas Rebellion: Modernist Visions and the Invisible Indian (review)

The Americas, Jan 1, 2005

Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice, 2007