Matt Patterson

Getting a research grant is 10% coming up with a good idea, 20% writing a polished application, and 70% hitting reload on a web browser to see if the SSHRC website will appear.

Our department is hiring!

At least it brought some excitement into his life.

The average American has three friends

Waging war against pop music is something Adorno and the Gores share in common!

NGL it’s pretty crazy to hear Al Gore quote Adorno and reference Habermas (though he uses the past tense as if he’s dead)

Herbert J. Gans, 97, Dies; Upended Myths on Urban and Suburban Life A leading sociologist, he explored American society up close — living in a Levittown at one point — to gain insight into issues of race, class, the media and even the Yankees.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/b...

Getting flashbacks to the Captain John’s controversy.

Actually, for exploring, the East Village in 2007 is crazy (I also got to Calgary only 10 years ago and never saw any of these neighbourhoods back then)

10 Ave SW:

Academics in their 40s should dress like Edward Said.

I would have suggested Mike Davis’ “Militarization of Space” but looks like he got it.

“Screw the meek!” I remember this one from the 90s!

City Program

Want an introduction to the practice of #UrbanPlanning and #CityBuilding?

@sfucity.bsky.social CITY101 with @nlamontagne.bsky.social is open for enrollment.

Starts Wed, Jan 22 | 6pm PST | Register:
www.sfu.ca/continuing-s...

While we look back nostalgically at the formal fashion of the 1920s, the people back then were dreaming of the day it would be socially acceptable to wear pajamas to work.

Are you not carrying the truth of home ice inside you, Ted?

I can’t remember the last time I saw an escalator working at a Bay in Calgary.

This, except you can only make out every 5th word over the Hans Zimmer score and the sound of a helicopter.

My department is hiring a tenure-track sociologist. Please distribute widely and encourage people to apply:

mtroyalca.hua.hrsmart.com/hr/ats/Posti...

MRU eRecruiter - JS Job Details

Check out this new tenure-track sociology job in Calgary: mtroyalca.hua.hrsmart.com/hr/ats/Posti...

The Taylorized Beauty of the Mechanical

Try this book, by Mauro Guillen, which looks at the role of the early clients of Bauhaus (European industrialists) and does not rely on conspiracy theories about woke socialists controlling the world: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

City looked nice this week.

Former YMCA, Philadelphia Chinatown (closed since 2007)

Neil Postman, in 1985, predicting TV programs like the Daily Show intended to satirize television news but ultimately just further blurring the boundaries between entertainment and news.

Second, the GOP does not hold a monopoly on materialism. Trump’s status as a celebrity businessman lent credibility to his materialist campaign message. Less so for Romney’s businessman persona. Dems could have run a campaign that was both progressive and materialist 8/8

For Dems worried that they’ve become an ineffectual party of out-of-touch postmaterialists, there is reason to hope. First, materialism doesn’t always win the day. Voters’ motivations change from election to election. 7/8

More than SES, postmaterialism correlates with education. People who hold postmaterialist values are predisposed to pursuing higher education, and universities in turn promote postmaterialism. This explains the dramatic education gap between pro- and anti-Trump voters. 6/8

Likewise, financial insecurity leads people toward materialism (because they have to worry about money). However, there are plenty of rich materialists who have dedicated their lives to maximizing their personal wealth. 5/8

The post/materialist divide better explains the electoral dynamics than SES. SES is correlated, but does not determine whether someone is a postmaterialist. Financial security allows people to be postmaterialist, but there are also poor postmaterialists who sacrifice money for their values. 4/8

Trump ran a materialist campaign. He promised to make people richer. He made no claims that he was the more ethical candidate (only the “stronger” candidate). In the end, this materialist message proved more persuasive in a post-inflationary period. 3/8