Paul Stoller

Social science is yet again the target of widespread and sustained attack. In my more than 30 years as a social scientist, I've witnessed -- and received -- a good deal of well-intentioned and astute criticism. Such criticism, of course, makes for more insightful thought and for perceptive writing about...

In a recent blog post, "Waging War on Higher Education," I wrote about the need to encourage students to think critically. The piece triggered a flurry of comments from Huffington Post readers. Most of the comments took on a populist, no-nonsense tone that I found all too familiar....

Higher education is currently under assault in America. Even in the recent past you could count on bi-partisan support of systems of higher education that have long been considered the foundation of American prosperity. We used to think that a robust system of public education was the wellspring of social...

For most Americans the name Timbuktu triggers the notion of ultimate remoteness, a windswept desert oasis situated at the very edge of our romantic imagination. When I tell people I spent many years in the West African Sahel, they invariably ask:

Did you ever make it to Timbuktu?"

Since...

Things are out of whack on our public college campuses. There was a time when students and faculty could assume that a wide range of courses would be offered, courses that would prepare students -- both undergraduate and graduate -- for their entry into professional worlds -- teaching, social and...

College professors are yet again being flayed in the media. This time, David C. Levy bashes the professoriate in an opinion piece in the Washington Post. In that March 29th article, Mr. Levy follows a well-worn path, complaining that college professors are vastly overpaid. In the past, Mr....

With each passing day, religious topics are becoming increasingly significant in the presidential campaign discourse. The GOP presidential candidates are all too happy to discuss their faith, extolling their open and proud devotion to versions of Christianity. Such devotion, they suggest, makes them particularly qualified to become president. By the...

The continent of Africa is once again in the news. This time the buzz is about a viral video, "Kony 2012," which is about the unspeakable atrocities committed by one Joseph Kony, leader of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army, which has consisted of a ragtag group of dazed and confused...

Toward the end of February, which is Black History Month in America, the magic of The Blues gloriously slipped into the East Room of the White House, where President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama paid tribute to perhaps the most expressive of American musical forms. "Red, White and Blues,"...

The world according to Rick, erstwhile GOP presidential hopeful, is a frightening place. It's a place filled with demons, many of whom are teachers and professors, whose sole purpose in life is to brainwash our children with -- God forbid -- a "liberal" arts education. The world according to Rick...

It's not hard to see the face of poverty in America. You can see it on any street in just about any town -- homeless people who sit on park benches, poor people who line up at the food pantry, or out of work people who wait for hours in...

Now that the campaign surge of Pennsylvania's "favorite son," Rick Santorum, keeper of public "morality," has turned media attention to the culture wars, it behooves us to consider what kind of social devastation small-minded culture warriors can precipitate in America.

One egregious example is the bill recently introduced in...

Governors like the ghoulish Rick Scott of Florida, or the sleepy-eyed Scott Walker of Wisconsin, have gotten a great deal of media attention for short-sighted, ideologically-driven policies that have undermined the quality of life for the citizens of those states. Education budgets have been cut, teachers, police and fire fighters...

This week we learned that the Susan G. Komen Foundation, one of the most important cancer advocacy organizations, decided the cut its ties with Planned Parenthood. The Foundation said that they were concerned about giving donor money to an organization that is currently under Congressional investigation. Critics of this decision...

By now virtually all university students and faculty have returned from their holiday breaks. Time away always gives us a vantage from which to reassess the intellectual and institutional climate on our campuses. Students are busy adjusting to their new schedules. Faculty have completed their syllabi, refined their...

It is becoming increasingly clear that the issue of social class will determine who wins the 2012 presidential election. Following the lead set by President Obama in his SOTU address, Democrats will mine a treasure trove of non-partisan data on social inequality, income redistribution and unfair tax rates to suggest...

In a recent blog post, "Out of Africa," Patrick Smith, author of Salon.com's popular "Ask the Pilot" series, presented impressions of his latest trip to West Africa. "I love the flight into Dakar," Smith wrote, "but in Senegal I see how the world is falling to pieces right...

The presidential political season is now underway, which means that many important stories that affect the quality of our social lives have been obscured in the fog of campaign soap opera. One such story is the meteoric rise in the salaries of our college and university presidents.

At first...

After what increasingly seems like a lightning fast roller-coaster ride, I recently huffed and puffed my way to submitting final grades, which marked the end my 61st semester of university teaching. You could say that the huffing and puffing is due to my age or my physical condition. Neither would...

Like millions of Americans, one of my holiday pleasures is to watch Frank Capra's incomparable It's A Wonderful Life. This year, I've found it less pleasurable to watch because whenever the evil money-grubbing Mr. Potter entered a scene, I saw Newt Gingrich rather than Lionel Barrymore. Maybe it's just me,...