Once again, students on the first year Global Social Challenges course have taken to blog writing with relish, demonstrating the public relevance of sociological research and teaching. Fifty student blog pieces were published during April - June 2019 and the teaching...
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Why cutting back on meat is the best thing you can do for the planet.
According to a report by the UN, the global livestock industry contributes to 18% of human produced greenhouse gas emissions across the globe – that’s more than all transport methods put together. However, this is rarely shown in the media. We are often told to “cut down on shorter car journeys” or encouraged to “take public transport,” whilst there are bigger issues staring us in the face.
Taking the wall street bull by the horns
What we are seeing in the political landscape of America is that newly created wealth is increasingly going in the pockets of the already rich. In his infamous Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx seemed to provide early warning of this progression. He told us that capitalism would inevitably lead to stark inequality. That those who own capital will exploit those that do not; increasing working hours, creating inhumane working conditions and so on. So why didn’t we listen?
Growing older – the impact of an ageing population on society.
This blog will attempt to address these reasons as well as reasons for why an ageing population may cause problems for our societies. The first section will look at why populations are ageing, the second will look at the older populations in the “modern” workforce, and finally the third section will look at the impact that an ageing population has on healthcare and the economy.
The gap is widening – Inequality in the UK.
Inequality is a big issue in the UK. 2018 saw the fall in average income of the poorest fifth of the population by 1.6% while the average income of the richest fifth rose by 4.7% (Office for National Statistics). While income per person is a somewhat useful indicator of inequality, there is far more to it than just how much money is in the pockets of people in the UK: Factors like health and other social issues are key to improving inequality as a whole country-wide.
What can be done about climate change in the 21st century?
by Penny Meek The terms ‘climate change’, ‘global warming’ ‘sustainability’ and ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ will not be unfamiliar to anyone in the Western world; these issues have dominated political discourse about environmental issues since the...
Old… but still gold!
by Christie Lawrence The words 'ageing population' seem to have been growing in popularity in recent years, with article after article deeming certain countries to be 'demographic time-bombs'. However, it is not always made clear what 'ageing population'...
Plastic women create and plastic beaches
by Christie Lawrence Any frequent user of social media (and let's face it, who isn't these days?), will likely be aware of the increasing number of images depicting, what appears to be, a 'plastic-soup' in the place where our oceans used to be,...
Shop ‘til you drop: The modern tragedy of contemporary consumer capitalism and a planet at breaking point
Consumer capitalism of the 21st century is in a state of crisis: relentless, excessive and unsustainable, modern capitalism has bitten off far more than it can chew. But who cares?
We are now facing an ecological crisis that is undeniably and irrefutably a consequence of the economic tendencies of consumer capitalism, where the desire for quick and cheap production ignores the issue of long term environmental sustainability (Næss 2006). As a result, we now live in an increasingly ecologically unstable world, the consequences of which you and I are starting to feel.
Is it all black and white? Radicalisation and terrorism in the modern day
by Charlotte Donovan Ever since the 9/11 attacks, the words ‘terrorism’ and ‘radical’ have been used more frequently by both scholars and the media. Due to these attacks being associated with Muslim extremists, nowadays some people talk about terrorism...
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