A Sociological Eye

  People will say students today are "digital natives" who should navigate school software and web platforms with east. They are so wrong.  Today's students aren't "digital" natives, they are SMARTPHONE natives. They know their social media, and can pop a snarky gif reaction into a group chat with astonishing speed. But unlike Millennials, who were the first generation to be named digital natives, they have never loved their laptops. Millennials first interacted with the internet on computers, and it was their window to a wider world. As kids, they saved their schoolwork onto floppy disks. Later, they burned their own CDs, and saved their papers on thumb drives. They knew as routine chores such activities as updating their drivers and reinstalling their operating systems. They used word processors with practiced ease.   My Gen Z students feel like their phones are an extension of themselves. Their laptops are just a tool they use for school. A lot of my stud

  Max Weber, my friends, is one of the most famous sociological theorists. This week, you might say he was canceled by Florida! I'll tell you about the irony of all this in a minute. But first, let me say that I am a sociology professor--one of those who teaches a large intro course to masses of students from all sorts of majors. My course is called Solving Social Problems, and it teaches students how to recognize social problems in their communities, understand why they arise, and provides some tools to empower them to help solve those problems. We look at all sorts of issues: failures of our healthcare system, why people struggle to meet obligations to work and family, persistent inequalities, crime, economic insecurities, climate change, political polarization, and many others. And instead of sitting around feeling depressed and powerless--which is, sadly, kind of a national mood today--I work to give students optimism! I provide them with sociological tools for their skillsets

 Are you you familiar with the Nestle's Lion Bar?  It's a product available in the UK, and as a US resident, I'd never had one. I was gifted one last month by a family member who knows I like to try foods not typically sold in the US. I looked forward to trying it, but when I did I stopped after a couple of bites. I didn't like it much at all--there's textural interest as it contains both rice crisps and wafer cookies, with "creme" between the wafers and caramel in there somewhere, but it is overpoweringly sweet. For me, it was so sweet as to be actively unpleasant. But that's not what I'm here to talk to you about! It interested me to see that at the bottom right corner of the top of the product packaging, there is an overall nutrition rating provided. Rather than the useless health proclamations so often found on US products (like a bag of sugar I saw truthfully but very unhelpfully proclaiming "FAT FREE!"), products are given an ove