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Video Links

• Corporate Fascism
  It's evident today that corporations raise and spend huge amounts of money on the political campaigns of the presidents and congressmen. These corporations also spend huge amounts of money hiring former government officials to lobby congress to pass laws that mainly benefit their interest. If so, have we allowed other entities than people to monopolize government? This documentary explores the answer to this question.

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• Is Wal-Mart Good For America?
  Wal-Mart is a ubiquitous and controversial presence in American consumer culture. Though many decry the retail giant for its labor practices and believe it has played a significant role in loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs, many of us continue to shop there because we want the low prices and convenience it offers. Through interviews with economists, manufacturers, retail industry experts, and business analysts, this program offers an even-handed consideration of how Wal-Mart has affected and been affected by U.S. consumer culture. 

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• Chase Bank Reportedly Has Man Jailed Over Check They Issued Him
  Ikenna Njoku went to the bank to cash a check but the teller believed that the check was a forgery and called the police. Njoku was taken to jail and remained in jail even after the bank realized its mistake. The errors of judgment made by the bank caused him to lose his vehicle and his job. 

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• Futurama-Bureaucrat’s Song
  Hermes sings a song about being a bureaucrat. 

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• Inside Small Schools
  Adlai E. Stevenson High School in The Bronx was once a dangerous school that had poor performance ratings. In an effort to improve student safety and educational outcomes, the school was divided into nine “small schools” that would be more flexible and allow more personal interactions between educators, administrators, and students. This New York Times video examines the successes and failures of this “small schools” experiment. 

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• The Legacy of Tailhook
  This New York Times video revisits 1991’s Tailhook scandal, an incident that drew attention to the little-discussed problem of sexual assault in the U.S. Navy. It provides a look at how the Navy responded to allegations of sexual assault at the time and how things have (and have not) changed since then. 

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Audio Links

• Disabled Veterans Face a Faceless Bureaucracy
  The Department of Veterans Affairs is struggling to cope with tens of thousands of veterans filing for disability benefits. Because there are applicants from two current wars—plus a new wave from the first Gulf War and Vietnam—thousands are now stuck in the clogged pipeline. Although the department and its critics differ on exact numbers, everyone agrees that way too many vets are waiting way too long to get benefits.

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• This American Life 350: Human Resources
  This episode features a true story of little-known rooms in the New York City Board of Education building. Teachers are told to report there instead of their classrooms. No reason is usually given. When they arrive, they find they've been put on some kind of probationary status and they must report every day until the matter is cleared up. They call it the Rubber Room. Average length of stay? Months, sometimes years. This program also examines other stories of the uneasy interaction between humans and their institutions.

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Web Resources

Professional Resources

The two major American Sociological Association (ASA) Sections on these issues are:

• Economic Sociology
   
• Teaching and Technology

Data Resources

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics
  The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal fact-finding agency for the federal government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. 
   
• The National Congregations Study
  The National Congregations Study used the model of the NOS to generate a nationally representative sample of religious congregations. Congregations—the relatively small-scale, local collectivities and organizations in and through which people engage in religious activity—are a basic unit of American religious life. 

​Other Resources

• Science and Politics
  This article from Contexts, published by the American Sociological Association, examines the relationship between science and politics. The quest of science to understand how the world works is inextricably tied to and bound by political machinations and social biases.
   
• McDonaldization.com
  McDonaldization.com—Exposing the Iron Cage! is a website whose purpose is to help spread the word about McDonaldization and explore the wide-ranging impact this process has on our society (self-characterization). To gain an appreciation of the scale and scope of major multinational corporations, visit the websites of some of the biggest: 

• ​McDonald’s
   
• Coca-Cola
   
• Microsoft
   
• Walmart

• You Have to Go to Work, but You Sure Don’t Have to Like It
  This article from the Pacific Standard magazine takes a look at the relationship between happy workers and a productive work environment. According to a new ruling from the National Labor Relations Board, companies can no longer mandate that employees maintain a positive attitude at work. How will companies be impacted by this mandate?
   
• The financial infrastructure of global capitalism is promoted by:

• International Monetary Fund
   
• (IMF)World Bank

• World Trade Organization (WTO)
  The rules of trade between nations facilitated by the WTO.
   
• The Third World Traveler
  For a criticism of the IMF, World Bank, and WTO—the “Three Stooges of Corporate Folly”—and transnational corporations and world trade generally, see The Third World Traveler. 
   
• This Nation.com
  This Nation: Institutions. If you are in need of a good online overview of basic U.S. governmental institutions, this is the place to go. The site also includes a discussion of the bureaucracy, with emphasis on the challenges of reform. Links to web resources you can use to access government websites are also provided (self-characterization).