Canada and the American Dream
Ron Berger — During the 1950s to 1970s, social scientists were interested in the question of “national character,” that is, whether people in a nation could be [...]
Politics and Economics
Reflections on Wall Street and Donald Trump
Jeff Berger — Last month, when members of Donald Trump’s business advisory councils—the Strategy & Policy Forum and the Manufacturing Council—started [...]
Should the U.S. Constitution Be Changed? — A Wise Guys Conversation
Jeff Berger, Charles Cottle, Dave Gillespie, John Kozlowicz, and Ron Berger — During the past year contributors to Wise Guys engaged in an impromptu discussion of the [...]
Watergate: The Benchmark Political Scandal
Ron Berger — We are currently in the midst of a political scandal that has the potential to rival the infamous Watergate scandal of the early 1970s. A political [...]
Reflections on Fake News
Jeff Berger — Recently I read an article by Sharon Noguchi in my local newspaper, the San Jose Mercury, about teachers helping students to distinguish between fake news [...]
How Can We Create Jobs?
Charles Cottle — In 1992 James Carville, Bill Clinton’s campaign manager, famously coined the phrase, “The Economy, Stupid.” The phrase went viral as [...]
Climate Change and Nonviolent Resistance
Ron Berger — Last November Bill McKibben, a leading environmental activist, delivered the inaugural Jonathan Schell Lecture at the New School in New York City. The [...]
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Bob Bates — Sociologist Matthew Desmond’s widely acclaimed book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (2016), a study of the city of Milwaukee, pounds [...]
How Much Is Enough?
Bob Bates — Most thinking humans for a long time have known an effective societal problem-solving process: (1) identify needs, (2) identify ways these can be met, (3) [...]
Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few, by Robert Reich
Ron Berger — In his most recent book Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few (2015), Robert Reich aims to explain how “the increasing concentration of political [...]
The Others: They Almost Always Get There First
Dave Gillespie — Whatever you think of Hillary Clinton, her nomination is undeniably a milestone in history. Clinton is the first woman ever to win the presidential [...]
Disability in Society: Four Public Agendas
Ron Berger — I am a sociologist by training and have been thinking about and studying disability as a social phenomenon, not just as an individual experience, for many [...]
Austerity is a Greek Tragedy
Jeff Berger — In his most recent book Welcome to the Poisoned Chalice: The Destruction of Greece and the Future of Europe (Yale University Press, 2016), James K. [...]
The Emperor Has No Balls: Are the Trump Statues Body Shaming or Legitimate Political Commentary?
Ellin Jimmerson — Last Thursday, something unusual happened in America. In a country uncomfortable with both political discussions and art which is not decorative, we [...]
Mexican Immigrant Rights in California
Jeff Berger — Outside of California, I don’t think people are aware of the progress the state is making on immigration reform. Recently the Santa Cruz Sentinel [...]
Travelogue of an Unpolitician: Trying Not to Go Negative
Karen McKim — July 4, 3:00 PM – I am running as an independent candidate against an incumbent for county clerk in Dane County, Wisconsin, an office that oversees [...]
Parasites on the Working Poor: The Payday Loan Business
Charles Cottle — In the last few years a sure sign of declining economic capabilities among the working poor has been the proliferation of “payday” loan [...]
The Panama Papers, Free Trade, and the Offshoring of National Sovereignty
Ellin Jimmerson — As the Panama Papers began to be rolled out, many were wondering how they connect to the Panama Free Trade Agreement, technically called the Panama [...]
Contextualizing Brexit: A Conversation about Nationalism and Globalization
Jeff Berger, Charles Cottle, J. David Gillespie, and Ellin Jimmerson — The recent June 24, 2016 referendum in Great Britain called Brexit, which marks its upcoming [...]
