What is prejudice?

Why are we sexIST and racIST but homoPHOBIC? What exactly IS chauvanism? Well, if you ask me, ethnocentrism is the one concept that seems to disentangle these terms most effectively. Not the ethnocentrism isn't itself a problematic word- it is, for several reasons, but it gets right down to the heart of what most prejudice is about. That discussion is for another time though.

Here, NPR reports on "The New Face of Prejudice":

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/04/22/177455764/What-Does-Modern-Prejudice-Look-Like?ft=3&f=111787346&sc=nl&cc=es-20130428

Here's a humorous, but insightful take on early 21st cetury bigotry in the USA:

http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/01/the-7-types-of-modern-american-bigots.html

Video: Polygamy in the US

From Time Magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,1754465091001_2120441,00.html

It's one thing when polygamous families live in guarded compounds and separate themelves off from the rest of society, keeping themselves sequestered and practicing institutional statutory rape. But what about if they are otherwise law-abiding citizens? Why are the laws against gay marriage being re-written but the the ones about multiple spouses are not, despite the fact that around the world, polygamy is far more accepted than homosexual marriage? This segment doesn't asnswer these questions- but it does challenge one to think from an anthropological perspective.

Externalizing costs of consumerism- who pays the price for hidden costs? Workers in poor countries, with their health, safety, and lives.

Fast, Cheap, Dead: Shopping and the Bangladesh Factory Collapse

Read more: http://science.time.com/2013/04/29/fast-cheap-dead-shopping-and-the-bangladesh-factory-collapse/#ixzz2RxKNULAQ

A worker at the site of the garment factory building that collapsed near Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 29, 2013.

Austerity, the sequester, and why we can't seem to get out of this economic funk.

Here are a few articles from time magazine that call "austerity" into question.

Why the Argument for Austerity Took a Big Hit Yesterday

Read more: http://business.time.com/2013/04/17/why-the-argument-for-austerity-took-a-big-hit-yesterday/#ixzz2RrV4gFC8

Stop Bemoaning the New GDP Numbers: It’s Good News

Read more: http://business.time.com/2013/04/29/stop-bemoaning-the-new-gdp-numbers-its-good-news/#ixzz2RrUqDuAl

Why Can’t This Economy Really Get Going?

Genes, fossils, tetrapods, coelacanths, lungfish.... just read it.

Neil Shubin of the university of Chicago is mentioned in this article, and he is the discoverer of the "tiktaalik," a late devonian fossil some 400 million years old that represents the link between fish and land-dweiiling, four -footed creatures. Fossils are exciting, but hard to come by, and they don't give us nearly as much information as genes. Still, genes and fossils both re[present fertile ground to raise, explore and answer questions about evolutionary relationships.

From the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/science/coelacanth-dna-may-tell-how-fish-learned-to-walk.html

Deregulation, anyone?

No zoning laws = schools right next to giant fertilizer plants full of dangerous chemicals.

Lack of regulatory oversight = no safety inspections

From the New York Times:

Texas Fertilizer Plant Fell Through Regulatory Cracks

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/us/texas-fertilizer-plant-fell-through-cracks-of-regulatory-oversight.html?_r=0

Compare the lists:

Top 100 global companies from CNN Money:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2012/full_list/index.html

Top 100 countries in terms of GNI (from World Bank)

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.ATLS.CD

What do you think?

Anthropology and Human Geography Resources