BSJ

The Butler Scholarly Journal

Category: Sociology

  1. A Critical Look at Video Games: a reinforcement of dominant ideologies or an emancipatory force for change?

    In an increasingly complex, interconnected and technological world, a plethora of debates surrounding the effects of technology and its implications are making their way into everyday life. The increasing prevalence of ocularcentrism, whereby the dominance of the visual is infiltrating and saturating every aspect of postmodern society (Rose, 2001), means that new media forms are contributing to ‘expanding geographic imaginaries’ (Ash et al, 2009: 472) serving as ideologically loaded representations of the world in which we live. In particular, as an increasingly prevalent media form within our postmodern, ocularcentric society, video games are often saturated with stereotypes, illusions, reproductions, imitations…

  2. Writing ‘Heroic workers and angry young men’ -Seminar

    On Wednesday 21st November, Dr Steph Lawler (Newcastle University) will be coming to Butler to speak about her work on nostalgia in relation to perceptions of class and gender as part of the joint Butler-Ustinov seminar series focusing on biographical research. Here she writes for the BSJ about why the subject interests her and how her research came about.  Steph’s seminar on Wednesday is in the Seminar Room (next to the Howlands shop). Doors open at 5.30pm for refreshments and the talk will begin at 6pm. This paper came out of work I’d been doing on representations of white working-class people…