Alex Broom

What makes a good feminist – or a bad one? Lecturer Kate Winters presents feminist theory to an enthusiastic class of young women – but back at home after a long day, she carries the domestic load while her husband plays Call of Duty.

Fiction by Laura J. Bowers in our June issue.
buff.ly/Bm7xP29

Kenya's competition authority looked into animal feed market and found:
- 4 vertically integrated firms control over half the market
- Feed prices are up to 40% higher than international markets
- This leads to lower farmer income and higher food prices
www.shambacentre.org/why-competit...

Decolonizing Health: Why "Global" Health Is a Problematic Concept with Seye Abimbola - Undisciplinary A/Prof Seye Abimbola explores how global health as a concept reinforces colonial power structures and argues for decentering Western institutions in health governance. His critique reveals how aid flo...

Latest episode with @seyeabimbola.bsky.social discussing:
- decolonial politics of USAID
- the problem of "global" health
- journal gatekeeping
- Seye's new book "The Foreign Gaze" and more! www.buzzsprout.com/1104002/epis...

Diabolus Ex Machina This Is Not An Essay

Possibly the best thing I've read about ChatGPT yet.

h/t @melaniemitchell.bsky.social

amandaguinzburg.substack.com/p/diabolus-e...

Microbial sensitivity testing in the dairy industry Collection focusing on mitigating antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus aureus

Antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus aureus is a serious threat to dairy animals and public health, as highlighted in the collection 'Microbial Sensitivity Testing in Dairy' in @biomedcentral.bsky.social Dairy Science & Management. #dairy #antibioticresistance #animalwelfare #foodsystems #sdg2

The lives lost in Gaza: A closer look at those killed in the conflict so far The death toll from the war already dwarfs the numbers killed in previous bouts of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza over many decades.

“Reuters examined the data from the Gaza Health Ministry to look more closely at those who have died.

It found that more than one-fifth of those killed in the territory were children under the age of 12. More than 1,200 families were completely wiped out”

In this new article, Shiva Chandra, @alexbroom.bsky.social, @katherinekenny.bsky.social, @michpeterie.bsky.social and co-authors explore contemporary GBTQ+ safe sex practices, and what they mean in the context of antibiotic resistant STIs.

You can read the full piece here: bit.ly/4msCTNb

New analysis: most care homes closed by industry regulator are run A new analysis led by researchers at the University of Oxford and funded by the Nuffield Foundation has found that virtually all care homes forced to close in England by the Care Quality Commission

Between 2011 and 2023, 816 care homes in England were forcibly closed by the regulator for poor standards and harms to residents.

804 were owned by for-profit entities. 30% -40% of fees vanish in profits, leaving less for services.

Profits and care don't mix.

#OpenToWork: how laid-off US scientists are coping with shattered careers Unemployed researchers face some tough career choices as they flood the job market after the Trump administration’s cuts to science.

Excellent article by @virginiagewin.bsky.social about how laid-off US gov't scientists are moving on with their lives. Bottom line is that the US will lose their highly trained expertise (much of it honed by fed $'s) to other countries or fields.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exclusive: US aid cuts leave food for millions mouldering in storage The food stocks have been stuck inside four U.S. government warehouses since the Trump administration's decision in January to cut global aid programs.

Waste, fraud and abuse.

"Food rations that could supply 3.5 million people for a month are mouldering in warehouses around the world because of U.S. aid cuts and risk becoming unusable, according to five people familiar with the situation."

“I don’t think they had much food awareness back then. I can’t blame my parents, they had different priorities and meant well.” – Manuel, Lisbon

Vasco Ramos on how upwardly mobile individuals narrate their changing relationships with food.

#OpenAccess in the journal buff.ly/KeZlfHl

Delighted to be able to share the cover of my forthcoming book “Making Do: Conservation Ethics and Ecological Care in Australia”, coming out in October with @stanfordpress.bsky.social

Read more about it here: www.sup.org/books/anthro...

Dying as a Collective Encounter: Relationality and Affect at the End of Life The end of life is replete with relational complexities. Yet, despite the work of humanities and social science scholars in the field of death and dying, our final days and weeks are still often fram...

New article in Sociology of Health & Illness on death and dying as a collective encounter "replete with relational complexities". Follow the link below to read the full piece. @alexbroom.bsky.social @katherinekenny.bsky.social @henriettabyrne.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Mailing List - The Australian Sociological Association

Psst! If you're NOT a TASA member but you would like to know more about what we do, you can subscribe to our weekly newsletter; it contains information on members' publications, events & much more.

Subscribe via buff.ly/2WLKASS

Healthy Societies in a World at Risk - Everyday Society - The British Sociological Association When I wrote ‘Healthy Societies: Policy, Practice and Obstacles’ (Policy Press 2024) for the British Sociological Association’s ‘21st Century Standpoints’ series, I had three main goals in mind. The f...

es.britsoc.co.uk/healthy-soci...

Join our study! Are you a research academic based in higher education? ​ If so, we would like to invite you to an engagement workshop to discuss recommendations and accommodations that can be made to support researchers when navigating failure in higher education.​ What is the research about?​ Failure is often a predominant feature of academic research and can include things such as research grant paper rejections, non-promotion or supervision upgrades. We are asking you to share your views on a framework of recommendations we have developed including the usefulness of the recommendations identified.​ We would like to talk to research academics at any stage of their career (early, mid or late) who:​ Hold a research post including – PhD students, Postdoctoral researchers, Research Assistants, Associates or Fellows, Senior Research Fellows, Readers, Assistant Professors, Associate Professors or Professors (clinical or non-clinical).​ ​What will I have to do?​ We would like to invite you to attend a focus group remotely over Microsoft Teams where you will discuss your experiences of failure in academic research culture. You will be asked: ​ Thoughts on accommodations to maintain wellbeing whilst navigating failure.​ To feedback on a framework of recommendations developed by the research team and how it could be implemented across research cultures. This might include what works for whom and when in regard to this topic.​ ​The focus group will take between 90-120 minutes and you will receive an e-voucher as a thank you for your time. ​ For further information, please use your institutional email address to contact us:​ Dr Celia Bernstein​ researchculturestudy@warwick.ac.uk

Join us to help develop recommendations to improve how "failure" is understood and experienced in HE!

We want to hear from academic researchers at ANY career stage - PhDs all the way to established professors - in ANY department or discipline.

*Please re-post to your networks!*

Resist, eggheads! Universities are not as weak as they have chosen to be. Opinion: It’s time for public resistance.

The first half of this article is incredibly depressing. The second half is a🔥🔥🔥call to arms, set of ideas and a kick in the pants we academics need.

We HAVE the power. We CAN fight back!

arstechnica.com/culture/2025...

Elon Musk and the Christian right call empathy "toxic" and "suicidal" — blame their shared misogyny MAGA demonizes empathy as the "pathological feminine" — and it's why women shouldn't be Supreme Court justices

www.salon.com/2025/04/11/m...

The politics of the Norwegian capitalist class: the inner circle and wealthy owners Abstract. This paper investigates the political activities of different segments within the capitalist class, comparing an inner circle of interlocked dire

My article about the political activity of the inner circle and wealthy owners is out in @sfjournal.bsky.social! You can read it here: academic.oup.com/sf/advance-a...
Some highlights in the thread.

TASA 2025 General Abstract Submissions close on 22 April. Submit now and be part of #TASA2025!
🔗 www.tasa.org.au/content.aspx...

We’re thrilled to welcome Prof. Jenny Davis as a keynote speaker at #TASA2025! Stay tuned for more on her session.

#TASA2025 Panel Spotlight: Exploring the wellbeing of the aged care workforce during times of extraordinary change: a provocation in four parts. Chaired by Tim Marjoribanks
#TASA2025 #SociologyInAction #AcademicConference #Wellbeing #Activism #Policy

Achieving gender justice for global health equity: the Lancet Commission on gender and global health Achieving gender justice in global health—which we define as encompassing the realisation of universal rights in relation to health equity and gender equality, while also addressing the drivers of gen...

🌍✨ The pursuit of #GenderJustice in global health is not simply an aspiration—it’s a necessity for 📈 health outcomes & addressing inequities.

Explore the intricate relationship between gender & health, obstacles to progress & key recommendations in a new Lancet Commission ➡️ hubs.li/Q03g3_-n0

IMAGE TEXT: Seeking LGBTQ+ interview participants (aged 16-25) for research on TikTok & mental health support

I'm recruiting LGBTQ+ young people for research interviews about TikTok & peer-based mental health support. Participants must be aged 16-25, LGBTQ+, AUS-based. $50 voucher. This follows up findings from the Digital Peer Support study. Info & register at digitalpeersupport.com/news/ Please share! 😊

Sociologist's new book explains why organized religion has lost relevancy (RNS) — Christian Smith’s research shows traditional religion isn’t just declining. It’s culturally obsolete.

"According to social scientist and author Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, 'obsolete' describes the situation facing traditional organized religion in the United States."

@rns.org #Sociology #SociologyOfReligion

religionnews.com/2025/04/03/s...

Underemployment

I am super proud to see this article on underemployment and mental health published in @healthpromint.bsky.social. We did a lot of good work theorising the relationship between time—and skills-related underemployment and mental health using HILDA. #Sociology #underemployment #mentalhealth

A star cluster within a nebula. The background is filled with thin, pale blue clouds. Parts are thicker and pinker in colour. The cluster is made up of bright blue stars that illuminate the nebula around them. Large arcs of dense dust curve around, before and behind the clustered stars, pressed together by the stars’ radiation. Behind the clouds of the nebula can be seen large numbers of orange stars.

🆕 This new #Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 346 kicks off celebrations for the upcoming #Hubble35 anniversary – the first in a series revisiting previous Hubble targets, combining new processing techniques with the latest data 🧪🔭

esahubble.org/news/heic2502/ #50YearsOfESA
@science.esa.int

Petrified A rupture of life on Earth is currently unfolding. What, then, does this rupture signify, not only in terms of being alive during such an upheaval, but also in terms of being alive to upheaval itself?...

I’m tickled p̶i̶n̶k̶ [bleached coral white] to announce that my first book - Petrified: Living During a Rupture of Life on Earth - has just been published. Digital versions available now (&free) at degruyter.com/document/doi... & hardcover available from same URL on April 21 #petrified

Only 20 days left! General Abstract Submissions close on 22 April. Submit now and be part of #TASA2025!
🔗 www.tasa.org.au/content.aspx...

‘How do I really want to be as a man?’ Masculinities, critical consciousness, and contraceptive decision-making – findings from an interview study in Germany This paper examines how men in Germany reflect on (their) masculinities in the context of contraception and family planning. Through twelve qualitative interviews, three of which were couple interv...

My second journal article is out in Culture, Health & Sexuality. It is the final paper of the MANFOKUS project. Our paper examines how men in Germany reflect on (their) masculinities in the context of contraception and family planning.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2025.2458719