http://www.rethinkingmarkets.org Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:26:51 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I'm sure everything will stop working, of course... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F07%2F22%2Fyet-another-redesign.html&seed_title=Yet+another+redesign Let's say that the CEO of an organization publicly announces during a board meeting that if the org misses its (ambitious) numbers over the coming year, she will eliminate X employees. We know that often, public announcements of impossible goals get met not by actually meeting those goals, but by ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F07%2F21%2Funhelpful-institutional-theory-real-world.html&seed_title=Unhelpful+institutional+theory%2C+real+world This is clever. http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F07%2F17%2Fpolitics-xkcd.html&seed_title=Politics+%2B+XKCD I read Kieran's post, essentially a pointer to Bruce Western's work on the social effects of mass imprisonment, and I'm struck by how much the comments at Crooked Timber just make me sad. It is a virtual showcase of spirit-crushing commentary. We have: the reflex appeal to Levitt: "You cannot carry ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F07%2F17%2Fwhy-are-comments-on-crooked-timber-so-bad.html&seed_title=Why+are+comments+on+Crooked+Timber+so+bad%3F I think it's time to regroup, and actually do some of the 're' thinking of markets I'm always planning to get around to. I want to do so in the context of three recent observations: The Examples The first observation comes from Fabio Rojas, over at the orgtheory blog - though it ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F07%2F17%2Frethinking-markets-market-metaphors.html&seed_title=Rethinking+markets+-+market+metaphors Over at 37 Signals, they have a regular series detailing their design decisions. It is an insightful feature and an insightful blog. Their latest discussion is about how they managed a question on their support forms. I want to drop some research methodology on this problem. While their discussion is ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F07%2F09%2Ftypes-of-variables-drop-down-menus.html&seed_title=Types+of+variables%2C+drop-down+menus Canadian Rockies are out of hand. Seriously. I'd post photos of Lake Louise, but it looks like we're standing in front of a giant postcard. Think I'm joking? This was our hotel in Banff. http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F07%2F08%2Fnature.html&seed_title=Nature%21 I'm back from being out of town, and a day past my birthday. In addition to being the same as Satchel Paige and Ringo Starr, it's also the anniversary of the invention of sliced bread. I had a birthday party some time back when everyone was required to 'entertain me' ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F07%2F08%2Fbirthday.html&seed_title=Birthday The Associated Press, following criticism from bloggers over an AP assertion of copyright, plans to meet this week with a bloggers' group to help form guidelines under which AP news stories could be quoted online. Jim Kennedy, the AP's director of strategic planning, said Monday that he planned to meet Thursday ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F06%2F16%2Fhow-about-this.html&seed_title=How+about+this%26%238230%3B Welp, had a movie night last night, and the highlights, lowlights, and, well, lights, were as follows: - the dessert was good. Nutella semi-freddo (thanks JL), crepes, strawberries, bananas, sweetened ricotta, cinnamon graham crackers, vanilla marshmallows, dark chocolate. All good. - the savory crepes were decent. I only had one (carmalized ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F06%2F12%2Fmovie-night.html&seed_title=Movie+Night Just in from my culture section listserv: Dear Colleagues, I'm pleased to announce the official results of our Culture Section elections: Chair-Elect Karen Cerulo, Rutgers University Council Member David Grazian, University of Pennsylvania Eiko Ikegami, New School ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F06%2F10%2Fall-hail-our-new-culture-section-overlords.html&seed_title=All+hail+our+new+Culture+Section+Overlords First of all, Barnard has a late-junior to early-associate position, in urban sociology. Let me know if you know someone who might be appropriate. More generally, if you are a graduate student on the job market, here is some advice for you: - Now, today, as soon as you can, make appointments ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F06%2F09%2Fon-the-job-market.html&seed_title=On+the+job+market%3F I loves me some Orgtheory. Although my work most prominently overlaps with Brayden's and Kieran's (Brayden and I disagree enough on theoretical orientation and substance while agreeing on much else, to make it interesting), the site is a combination of latest-greatest published work, thoughtful social science insights to current events, ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F06%2F04%2Fmasters-king-rojas-healy-lizardo-felin.html&seed_title=Masters+King%2C+Rojas%2C+Healy%2C+Lizardo%2C+Felin I sure do love me some Chris Uggen. In addition to a rather expansive blogroll to launch from, he gives a mix of personal, popular, scholarly, and inside-baseball-y posts that I can not reproduce. My blog tends to be my early thinking, sometimes applied to contemporary news, with some more ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F06%2F03%2Fmaster-uggen.html&seed_title=Master+Uggen If you do, and you live in NYC, you might be interested in joining me and a couple other sociology blogger types for lunch on Thursday. Email me for the details - plevin {at} barnard {dot} edu. Might be fun. http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F06%2F03%2Flurk-much.html&seed_title=Lurk+much%3F At the Tate Modern, there are a number of paintings by Pablo Picasso. Ten are currently on display (well, as of last week, this obviously changes). Interestingly, however, there is no room where you can see 'the Picasso paintings' in one place. Contrast this with the room of Gerhard Richter's, ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F06%2F02%2Fanchoring-art-style.html&seed_title=Anchoring%2C+art-style I sometimes imagine doing an exercise where students would write down in a journal all the advertisements they see in a 24hr time-span. Every single one, including logos, brands, commercials, street signs. Anything bigger than an identifying mark for a store or object, anything that aims towards informing you about ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F05%2F23%2Fbrand-timeline.html&seed_title=brand+timeline Let's just take a moment to point to Jon Anderson, lead singer of Yes, singing lead for the Paul Green School of Rock Omega All-Stars. Read, watch, love. (h/t Making Light) http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F05%2F23%2Fyes-18-minutes-of-close-the-edge.html&seed_title=Yes.+18+Minutes+of+%26%238220%3BClose+the+Edge.%26%238221%3B I have not worked out the distinctions between value and values, or the separate spheres arguments of Zelizer as it fits more generally into economic sociology - efforts to bend her work to my frameworks don't generally work, and it's a failure of my frameworking. Still, this excerpt from Kopytoff ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F05%2F23%2Fmuseums-as-value-chargers.html&seed_title=Museums+as+value-chargers Via Ezra Klein, a discussion of the stagnation of wages for college students. It turns out that the 2000s thus far have been mediocre to lousy for college graduates, with inflation-adjusted average hourly wages for young college graduates barely rising from last year, and having fallen by $.60 for women ... http://markets.ericaandpeter.com/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rethinkingmarkets.org%2F2008%2F05%2F21%2Feducation-success.html&seed_title=Education+%3D+success