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Society Matters Extra
Further articles and updates from Society Matters Extra
Why does life in the Middle East remain rooted in the Middle Ages?
According to a UN report, the global improvement in living standards has passed much of the Arab world by. Robert Fisk, foreign correspondent of The Independent and OU honorary graduate, explains why and calls for an end to Western tutelage.
Migration to cities threatens minority languages
Over 2,500 languages worldwide are under threat as labour movements and migration from rural areas to urban centres continue to increase, according to UNESCO.
An all too familiar plot
We were told the financial crisis would end the country’s north–south divide. In fact, it’s worse than ever writes John Harris.
Why I threw the shoe
I am no hero. I just acted as an Iraqi who witnessed the pain and bloodshed of too many innocents, argues Muntazer al-Zaidi.
Is it impossible to end racism and sexism?
Research strongly suggests that people conform to expectations. Perhaps that's why legislation designed to end prejudice has only had limited success argues Aditya Chakrabortty.
Gone to the dogs?
Richard Skellington explores the growing menace of dogs in the UK.
The lingering of an absurd imperial reflex
The west’s moral didacticism now grates more than the realpolitik of China and the east, argues Pankaj Mishra.
Amazon jungle could be lost in 40 years, say campaigners
Development threatens world's oldest rainforest argues Ian Sample.
American inequality highlighted by 30-year gap in life expectancy
The United States of America is becoming less united by the day. A 30-year gap now exists in the average life expectancy between Mississippi,in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in prosperous New England. Huge disparities have also opened up in income, health and education depending on where people live in the US.
Opinion: 90 months and counting
With the clock running in the climate change countdown, post- Enlightenment faith in technological fixes may not be enough, argues Andrew Simms.
A decade of global crimes, but also crucial advances
US strategic defeat in Iraq, a discredited market model, China's rise and Latin American freedom offer hope for the world: The Guardian’s, Seamus Milne, explores the legacy of the noughties.
Full transcript of interview with Lord Puttnam
Green shoots
University green league table in full. People and Planet Green League 2009.
North South divide: All too familiar plot
We were told the financial crisis would end the country's north-south divide. In fact, it's worse than ever writes John Harris.
Britain's debt: February 2009 profile
National debt has spiralled since the recapitalization of the banking sector. Government borrowing in the last financial year was £71.2 billion, 92% higher than 2007.
Still looking for a free lunch
Panic destroys wealth faster than confidence can ever increase it. The Guardian's William Leith reviews Paul Krugman's The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008.
Opinion: 90 months and counting
With the clock running in the climate change countdown, post-Enlightenment faith in technological fixes may not be enough, writes Andrew Simms.
Why are mothers still dying in childbirth
More than 500,000 women die in pregnancy and childbirth every year in the developing world due to lack of proper care, report Rebecca Seal and Katrina Manson.
Maternal mortality - National rates compared
The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) shows deaths per 100,000 live births for 2009.
Who are the British Asians?
There is no such thing as the 'Asian Community', argues Ziauddin Sardar. The label was imposed on a generation of migrants after they arrived in Britain, and holds no hint of how they see themselves.
Migration to cities threatens minority languages
Over 2,500 languages worldwide are under threat as labour movements and migration from rural areas to urban centres continues to increase, according to UNESCO.
What's social about sport?
Sport is part of the wider social and political world of today. At the ESRC Festival of Social Science event held at the Sheffield United Football Stadium last March, David Goldblatt, co-author of This Sporting Planet (D170), spoke about his own experience as a broadcaster for the BBC World Service.
Government will fail child poverty targets
According to a Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, published in February 2009, the number of children living in poverty by 2010 will exceed 2.3 million.
Green Shoots
People & Planet Green League 2008.
Making social worlds work: the production of DD308
The new third level 60 point sociology course, DD308 Making Social Worlds, first presented in February 2008, focuses upon how people live in the world. Chair Liz McFall explains how its three themes - security, attachment, and conduct - will allow the course to tackle key issues such as safety, risk, threat, fear, care, intimacy, passion, possession, habit, order and disorder.
Government and Freedom: opposites or allies?
Current debates about the tensions between freedom and government are not new. They have been a defining feature of both liberal political thought and social government since the 17th century. Professor Tony Bennett, Director of the ESRC Centre for Research on Socio-cultural Change at the Open University explores how a new seminar series on 21st-century tensions will clarify these debates.
Nearly there
Catriona Nedin, whose student career with the OU has been closely monitored by Society Matters, reflects on her life with the OU as she nears her final hurdle.
The deficiencies of care
Social Science's Susan Himmelweit's recent research highlights failings in British care systems. Her vital work calls for support for those who care for children and adults to become part of one coherent system, and for a universal entitlement to affordable care, placing it on the same footing as health and education. Yvonne Cook reports.
Spin, corporate power and the social sciences
The unabridged version of the main article in the Scottish section.
The enduring invisibility of the black community
Where negative stereotypes are concerned, we remain the most visible of the ethnic minorities argues Margaret Busby.
Accidental heroes
Millions of people in the UK are caring for family members with little or no support from the authorities, and the numbers are likely to escalate. A former carer, Judith Cameron reports.
Greens need to grasp the nettle: aren't there just too many people?
Reducing consumption is imperative, but it's pointless to cut out meat and cars while having lots of children writes Madeline Bunting.
Sorok Island: the last leper colony
Sorok Island is a tranquil spot, but its history is stained with the blood and tears of the thousands of lepers who were tortured, starved and confined here during the past 100 years. As a new bridge nears completion, Daniel Jeffreys looks at how what remains of this tragic community will react to its first-ever link with the mainland.
How do the share dealers get to be so important?
The author, broadcaster, columnist and comedian, Mark Steel, whose recent television series The Mark Steel Lectures proved such a hit for both the Open University and the BBC, on how the random interventions of unelected gamblers can sabotage the economic future for us all.
Why we may be heading towards another internet crash
Tudor Aw looks to history - the manias over the steam train revolution and the dot.com boom - for lessons on how companies can avoid becoming victims of a digital bubble.
Pygmy peoples of the Congo in fight to save their own rainforests from deforestation
Almost without exception, the Pygmy peoples of the Congo Basin rainforests are lacking in basic rights, including the right to protect their ancestral lands. Can they save their rainforest from multi-national logging companies and preserve their way of life? Jonathan Brown reports.
Our strange fascination with images of war and disaster
How can we transform the disaster and war porn into something healthy and rewarding? Milly Getachew has some answers.
China buys its future from Africa
Limited by the West, the superpower is scouring the continent for raw materials, argues Tim Webb and Nick Mathiason.
China's abuse of the Olympic spirit
Nearly 400 prisoners will be put to death across China during the 17 days while the world's elite athletes compete for Olympic glory in Beijing. Despite clear promises, China has done almost nothing to improve human rights, argues Robin Menard, the Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders.
America's pain inside
US audiences may have rejected films about the war, but a thirst for blood reveals the nation's mood. Film critic David Thomson explains how the recent spate of films on the Iraq war exposes the dark heart of a nation.
Our rulers reply more on impulse than reason when they take us into war
A new book provides a checklist for leaders considering military action, but the rest of us must make them heed it argues Max Hastings.
How the globe will heat up by the end of this century - an atlas
Source: The Guardian.
And Still I Rise
Rosie Wild of the Institute of Race Relations reviews Doreen Lawrence's frank and affecting account of the impact of a son's racially motivated murder.
Don't overlook the impact of empire on our identity
Two anniversaries in 2007 will feed into our national sense of self-doubt, but also offer a chance for a reality check argues Madeline Bunting.
The neocons have learned nothing from five years of catastrophe
In his new book, After the Neocons, Professor Francis Fukuyama explores lessons from the Iraq war and their implications for American policy towards Iran and her nuclear programme. He finds that, despite the momentous events of the past five years, the lessons have not been heeded.
The new struggle for equality: gay rights (and wrongs) in Africa
South Africa has legalized same-sex marriage, but, as Alex Duval Smith reports, despite this pioneering measure, the rest of the continent remains one of the most homophobic places in the world.
The rise and fall of the political party
The story of the rise and fall of the mass political party is one of the great unwritten books of our time. Fifty years ago, 1 in 11 of the electorate belonged to a political party. Today the proportion is just 1 in 88. Political leaders, argues Professor Vernon Bogdanor, must prepare for a new age in which participation reaches beyond party allegiance.
Show solidarity with Palestinian farmers
Both Palestinians and Israelis have suffered immensely from conflict in the Middle East. Palestinian farming communities have been among the worst hit economically. Now there's a way to enjoy flavoursome food while acting in solidarity.
The white country
Is our multicultural society a myth? Across swaths of the United Kingdom, it barely exists. Yet many migrant workers and people from ethnic-minority backgrounds are moving into rural areas. Will this intensify latent racism or disarm it? Janet Bush reports from Devon.
The truth in chains: a journey in historical amnesia
Two centuries after Britain began to dismantle the slave trade, the whole issue is still beset by myths, half-truths and ignorance, says Baroness Lola Young.