A Sociological Eye

  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...

  Look, I say this as a dad. As fathers go, I have sacrificed more than many--I'm a gestational father, who carried and delivered my kid like seahorse fathers do. I've dealt with the gauntlet of gender transition so that I can be recognized as a father, so that my kid can roll her eyes at me and say "Daa-aaaad!" when I tell a punny joke. Being recognized as a primary-parent father is important to me. But Father's Day is still an annoying holiday. Mother's Day has a grand political history. It was founded by Victorian feminist pacifists during the Civil War to demand recognition of the unpaid labor of love and care performed by women. It took hold in the imaginations of women of the time, who performed all sorts of labor as charity without pay in the 1800s and early 1900s, and wanted recognition of the vital work they did to save the lives of impoverished children, serving as an unpaid social safety net. It was a feminist holiday at root. Then it got commercial...