Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with sociology

PhilosophyFilter: The burden of choice- When did choice come into play?

ISeemToBeAVerb — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:22:27 -0800

I was thinking today about the idea of choice. The existentialists talked about choice all the time- How every human has the "burden of choice". In other words, we all have the "burden" of free will, the choice to do something or to not do something. I know my philosophy knowledge is rudimentary at best, but I guess my question is: when did this idea of choice emerge? Primitive man had no luxury of choice, everything was about survival- So at what point did humans develop the idea of having a choice?

Til Death Do Us Part?

netbros — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:16:08 -0800

Are we a monogamous species? An estimated 90 percent of all bird species are monogamous. Many human cultures seem to have monogamy as a bonding goal. If you pick up a Sunday paper, you will always see announcements of 50th wedding anniversaries. Conversely, divorce rates have been going up, and many questions right here on AskMe talk about "playing the field." Is it human nature to want to find a single, life long partner? Or is that something religions would have you believe, and the science is more complex?

Most important social psychology books of past 50 years?

Malad — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:31:00 -0800

What have been the most important books in social science (including psychology, political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, "applied" social sciences like marketing, and so on) of the past 50 years?

Which books are most representative of each city?

reenum — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:21:37 -0800

What one book will allow others to gain the truest insight into the soul of each city or region Inspired by this recent Metafilter post and blatantly stealing the idea (and some text) from this AskMe post, I have decided to try and read a book about all of the major cities in the United States and the world. I've seen AskMe's in the past about various cities, such as London and New York.

So: which single book from each city is most revealing of the lifestyle, customs, struggles, and spirit of that nation? I lived in San Francisco a while back, and I would recommend any of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City' books to get a true idea of life in the City.

Speculative fiction that explores psychology/sociology?

shivohum — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:11:21 -0800

What's some speculative fiction that uses magic or fictional technology to explore psychology, sociology, or political science in a deep way? I'm not as much interested here in fabulous monsters or space operas or even deep thinking about physics -- I'm interested in books that explore the nature of the mind and/or human society by imagining a world that worked differently.

Serial killers serve X purpose in society...solve for X.

sarahkeebs — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:58:50 -0800

I am 96% sure that I have read/heard from a reputable source that murderers, especially serial killers, are an inherent reflection of Western society, and that both actual murderers and fictional portrayals are important significant elements. Part A: Is this just a half-remembered bit of dialogue from some prime-time criminal procedural, and Part B: if not, where is it from? In undergrad I took a lot of survey Psychology, Philosophy, and History of Western Thought courses, and suddenly I realize that I don't remember who said what.

The basic idea I have is that exposure to criminals (real and fictional)do by proxy what law abiding people wish they could but don't allows us to surpress those urges. Places I have looked but not exhausted yet:
- Foucault (power)
- Durkheim (deviance)
- Aristotle (catharsis)
- Freud (id/ego/superego)

Are any of those right, and if so, which of their works should I be looking at closely?

And if I'm totally off track, who should I be looking at?

Did Kingsley Amis make these guys up?

i_am_joe's_spleen — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:55:38 -0800

In On Drink and Everyday Drinking Kingsley Amis lauds two American researchers who allegedly concluded that without alcohol, Western civilisation would have collapsed in 1912. They are briefly named as Hoyt and Roths in the first book. I cannot find anything further online about these marvellous people, and the books in question are lightweight potboilers with no references. Auberon Waugh cites Amis in the first book here, and I own a copy of the second book, where they are referred to but not named. Did Amis make them up? If not, did he bungle or distort their findings? And where might I find out more about them?

Looking for documentaries about online culture

Quartermass — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:29:51 -0800

I am looking for documentaries dealing with online culture, the Internet, video games and the like. Teaching a course in the Sociology of Cyberspace (yeah, not my name), and I have been more or less unsuccessful at finding any decent documentaries, save for one I found on Google Video about blogging, as well as the recent Frontline documentary on growing up online (which was actually really well done).

The more recent the better, but I am open to whatever. Thanks!

BadHairFilter

bad grammar — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:44:32 -0800

Explain the persistence of bad (as in seriously out of date) haircuts. Why would hair stylists, who presumably keep up with present styles, perpetuate haircuts from the 1980s or earlier? Are these styles the requests of the customers, or are certain hair salons more likely than others to reproduce decades-old styles? Does the client want to maintain a particular identity? The most artificial instances are probably Republican Congressmen and journalists, whose haircuts are often frozen in the styles of other decades.

Before I get attacked as a snob, I'm a fairly young person from a cosmopolitan and relatively well-to-do metro area.

I also wonder when a person's personal style tends to freeze.

How can I best involve myself in the Social/Political cause against Water Privatization?

albernathy0 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:05:30 -0800

How can I best involve myself in the Social/Political cause against Water Privatization? I am 20 years old, a junior at the University of California San Diego. I am an International Studies Sociology major, but over the last couple of months I've been thinking about important issues that I want to work in and the world's water crisis has been at the top of my list. I was thinking originally about finishing my sociology degree while taking math/science/bio courses so that I could be eligible for a Hydrology graduate program. As I was looking into Hydrology programs, to see if this would cut it, it seems that they generally prefer pure science majors, such as Geology/Bio/Chem/Engineering. I am not particularly math/science oriented, I am much more of a humanities sort of person, so I am very confused about what I ought to do.

Another question I'm facing is if getting a Hydrology Degree is the best way I can address this problem. I want to be apart of the solution, but I want to be able to be apply my particular strengths to the cause, which I feel are not mathematical or scientific.

If I were to finish my sociology degree are their career possibilities involved in this?

Please help.
As I am supposed to pick my classes at the University of Chile soon...tomorrow. But I will have a month to alter my schedule.

University of California Davis has an undergraduate hydrology program, and I was thinking of possibly transferring. But that obviously is a step ahead.

Thank you all for the helpful comments. I would especially love to hear from actual hydrologists.

Make me fortunate indeed

drea — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:33:05 -0800

Please help me look for a statement by Craig Calhoun: Mediation reminds the spectator that he/she is fortunate. What book or article? I've been looking through tons of articles already (mostly on solidarity) and haven't come up with anything. I'm helping out my lecturer doing his phd. Google isn't helping much, either, and I hope you've come across this line somewhere. Thanks so much.

He's got scratch arms

anazgnos — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:56:25 -0800

"He's got scratch arms." Help me identify the sociology video that contains this unforgettable dialogue from a four year old child. All I know is that this was a film apparently produced as a supplement to college sociology courses, or for community college cable-TV based courses. A friend of mine was shown it as part of a class at Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, CA, and related the dialogue to me; I was later fortunate enough to see it myself on local cable, entirely by chance. It couldn't have been made later than the mid 80s. One of the things depicted was a young boy describing a drawing he had made which depicted a policeman, and a monster with long claws. He spoke thusly:

"He's got scratch arms,
to kill you, and to wake you up.
But policemans, can give you only milk.
But monsters, can give you hundreds.
To buy you cars, and dinners...
a whole bunch of dinners!"

I'm reasonably certain that's a close transcription. I've never forgotten it. I'm assuming that the policeman represents authority and adherence to social norms, but also boring, unpalatable results (milk), while the monster, however threatening, represents the imagined great rewards to be had by throwing off societal restraints to behaviour (and diet).

Even if I knew where it came from, I don't know how I'd go about 'consuming' it again. But it'd be nice to have some lead. I've been googling bits of it for years with no luck. I'm afraid this'll just be too dang obscure, but any help is appreciated.

Did you hear the one about the loud-mouthed Texan?

bjork24 — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:24:36 -0800

Is there a version of this representing attitudes from people within the US about their neighboring states? If not, someone smart needs to start collecting all the stereotypes. Just don't ask someone from Arkansas. ;)

Calling MeFibrarians and MeFanarchists

arcticwoman — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:55:49 -0800

I have been asked at the last minute to incorporate some Bakunin into my paper (due Friday) on 19th Century theories of community. Not having read any Bakunin before, and not having much time to work on this, I am in a bit of a pickle. I am more than happy to do the relevant reading if only I can identify it. Can someone who has read Bakunin please recommend to me some specific pieces I should read? I am interested in ideas of what community is and should be, how it is created and maintained, why it is necessary, etc. For reference, the major theorist I am drawing on for this paper is Ferdinand Tonnies.

Help a generalist in a specialist economy

McBearclaw — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:57:07 -0800

Help this jack-of-some-trades find a job. So, I'm graduating with a Master's degree in sociology this May (God willing). I enjoy teaching, and I enjoy research; but I really, really don't want to go through the grind of being a professor. I don't have the passion to justify working my ass off for four more years in order to do it for another six just to get tenure. So I'm exploring my options. Right now, it looks like I'm pretty well-groomed for a research job at a for- or non-profit org (market or evaluation research, for example). But the people I'm around - all career sociologists - aren't much help here; they've never done it, so they just don't know.

I turn to you, O hivemind. What jobs might I be suited for? Bonus points if you are someone who has actually hired/worked with someone with my qualifications. Demerits if you say "government" without specifying something cool.

Here's my background: I did my undergraduate work in Political Science, which I loved - but I was fairly satisfied after the BA because I realized that nobody was going to let me start designing governments. I passed the US Foreign Service Written Exam without studying, but flunked the oral exam.

After I graduated, I switched to sociology to start studying human organization in a more general sense. I also love this stuff, and have learned a lot about the parallels and differences between economic and political structures.

But (thankfully for my employability) I've also picked up some good practical skills in the last two years. I've taken classes in both quantitative and qualitative methods, and am completing a minor in Statistics. I've also taken some community and regional planning classes, including a bit of GIS work.

Wait, there's more! I'm fluent in Spanish, although a bit rusty. I'm also somewhat technologically competent: I've built my own PCs, set up secure home networks, and know how to use Office, Access, some Photoshop and Premiere, ArcGIS, and SPSS (although I can squeak by in SAS). I also know a little bit about relational databases, and enough Visual Basic to write myself a browser that extracted and loaded URLs from an Excel file, then returned typed input to the same file. I've taught discussion sections and am pretty comfortable in front of groups (even without PowerPoint!).

I love universities, and would be happy to work at one, but they seem like the least likely place ever for someone with just an MS to get a job - too many damn grad students and PhDs running around. I'd also love to work somewhere that keeps challenging me, and where moving up means learning new skills as well as honing old ones. I'm definitely not opposed to more schooling (eg, I would love to get another degree in stats, CRP, geography, or computer sci), but that's further down the line.

I'm not sure what this all adds up to, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for tolerating my verbosity. Feel free to ask for clarification or MeFiMail me.

Free to use, simple social network mapping software?

bifter — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:34:09 -0800

Looking for a simple, free (for commercial use) social network mapping / graphing tool I have an immediate need to do some online community relationship mapping. It's not something that I'm likely to need to do frequently, and I don't need any significant degree of complexity or customisation, so I don't particularly want to pay for a software application like InFlow that emphasises added-value aspects.

Basically, I want to map the relationships between less than 100 blogs, using a simple binary cross reference based on the blogroll / recommended sites. I'd like to output a visual map that can be cosmetically tweaked (font, colours and group positioning) and exported as a jpeg or similar to be pasted into a larger report.

Obviously I've done enough research to know what sorts of academic pages / industry resources about these sorts of tools are available, but I'd like to get it right first try as I don't have much time for trial and error with this project. So, really I'm looking for recommendations issued on an informed basis (first-hand use or similar).

Cheers!

Help me find interesting anthropology/sociology books.

lhall — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:50:35 -0800

Books about anthropology, psychology, sociology, modern rituals...I think. Can you point me in the right direction? This is a bit of a "duh" question, but here goes.

I'm searching for a good book to read on an international flight, but I'm not even sure where to start looking. I read this comment about the ritual aspect of a marriage ceremony and the reception that follows, and thought "Hey, that's interesting..." followed by "Where can I find more of the same?"

The books recommended in this thread (about conspiracy and superstition) and this one (on fiction) seem interesting and I'm going to check out a few, but I'm also looking for general recommendations. (Also useful would be help on how I can get a bit more specific in my searching.)

Thanks in advance!

What has caused the demographic shift of Chuck E. Cheese customers over the past 10 years?

Duluth?! I Hardly Know Her! — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 08:17:43 -0800

What has caused the demographic shift of Chuck E. Cheese customers over the past 10 years? I worked at Chuck E. Cheese for 3 years in the mid 1990s (best job ever), and was a regular Chuck E. Cheese attendee for many years before that. Because of my fondness for the place, I have been a regular attendee in the years since, too - from well before the time I had my own kids.

Since the time I worked at Chuck E. Cheese, I have noticed a shift in the customer demographic, from primarily white to primarily African American and Hispanic. The shift has occurred in each of the stores I have visited repeatedly over the years - the store I worked at in a predominately white suburb in the city I grew up, my new "home" store in a diverse neighborhood in the city I now live, and the store nearest my niece and nephew in a (different) predominately white suburb in the city I grew up in.

I cannot figure out why such a shift would occur: it seems to me that Chuck E. Cheese would appeal broadly to all ethnic groups and classes, and it has not changed significantly in the time since I've worked there. As best I can tell, their marketing has been consistent too - a handful of commercials and coupons in the Sunday newspaper. Prices have been pretty consistent. Games and rides aren't that different, though there was a conscious shift to "all games cost one token" a few years ago. Surrounding area demographics of the two suburban restaurants have changed little, too.

So what happened? Was it a little "white flight" microcosm, where the white parents stopped bringing their children when they felt a shift? Was it a change in marketing or consumer perception? Is there some other kiddie place that's come into play (Gymboree or the like)? Is there any literature out there or any sociological theories that would explain it?

[Disclaimer: I recognize that this may be a controversial premise, and that my own observation is just that. Please assume that my observation is accurate and accept it as plain observation and not judgment. I still have the same fondness about Chuck E. Cheese that I always have, and look forward to going there as much as my kids do, so please do not read this question in any way other than how it is written.]

you got map'd

pinto — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 13:17:10 -0800

What are the best essays, books, or scholarly articles regarding the social role of maps? Both pre- and post- web 2.0, google earth mash ups, and the like. I'm familiar with the Situationalist critique, but wonder where else to begin reading. Bonus: Current mapping projects which seem particularly relevant with regard to socialization, cultural production, etc.

In search of maps with a higher purpose

desjardins — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:06:26 -0800

I'm looking for Web sites that use interactive maps to display social phenomena, such as Oakland CrimeSpotting. They don't need to be that sophisticated. I'm especially interested in maps related to poverty and education.

Studies about online social behavior?

agregoli — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:34:38 -0800

Has anyone done any sociology-type studies about online message board behavior between users? The stuff that we're used to - flame outs, pile ons, and the like. Bonus points for any books that might be a good read.

How do I write this paper: [Blank's] effect on society?

erd0c — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 08:43:08 -0800

I'm trying to write a paper on [blank]'s Effects on Society. I'm trying to find a paper to mirror with the similar skeleton, are there any "must read" papers that have similar scope? The reason I'm asking this question is because I tend to focus on the costs (fiscal) and health care effects to society. But I'm not sure which other areas to discuss. So I'm looking for another paper that is all-inclusive and attempt to address the same issues (whatever those issues may be). This may be something as simple as "The effects of TV on society," "The effects of HIV on society," The effects of violence on society," etc. Just to get a sense of what general concepts that I can incorporate, i.e. time allocated, changes in law, changes in workforce. I suppose I'm just afraid I'm going to miss a key topic.

Good morning, plate of beans!

stinkycheese — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:17:37 -0800

(If you are male) Do women meet your gaze/say hello/acknowledge that you exist when you are out walking? This probably seems like a ridiculous question, but it's been bugging me for a long time. To explain, I moved to a small town (votes conservative, lots of farmers, about a 40 minute drive to Toronto) over five years ago now. I really like it here overall, but I can't help noticing that, when I walk downtown, whether night or day, whether the streets are near-empty or bustling, most women here do not in any way, shape or form acknowledge me.

Men will say "good morning" or "hi" or whatever, or at least nod their head - but most women suddenly find the sidewalk or the opposite side of the street very interesting, and studiously avoid my eyes. Aside from having sideburns to my jawline, I don't think I look at all unusual or threatening. I've also been living here long enough to be 'known' here (I also work downtown).

I'm just trying to get a sense of whether this is my own neurotic observation, or do women in small towns actually do this as a matter of course? Of course it's not all women, but I'd guess about 80-90%. And yes, I do say hello or try & engage people (it's a very friendly town overall & I love the way folks will generally greet each other).

FWIW this phenomenon isn't nearly so bad in my immediate neighbourhood, so it may just be a matter of familiarity. Still, I don't want to be an old man before I get a hello. I'm looking for any input here, from males or females.

What am I getting myself into?

vitrum — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:27:09 -0800

The Seattle Freeze: What am I getting myself into? I'm moving to Seattle in a few months from the Los Angeles area to accept a job offer, and hardly know a soul other than one or two acquaintances there.

Frankly I haven't been too incredibly worried about meeting people - which is somewhat surprising considering I'm a pretty introverted - but I think it partially originated from being so taken back by how nice everyone was while I was visiting last to check things out.

Now I'm hearing thats what they all say - before the end!

I just ran across a very interesting article that I think has been mentioned here a few times - but just in passing - regarding the "Seattle Freeze" in the Seattle Times, which I had never really heard of until now.

So hive mind, I'm curious to hear your own perceptions of this phenomenon... fact or fiction? Am I in for some rough times, or is this just like any other big city. If it is true, is there a hidden secret for winning over the locals? haha

I'm still excited about the move, and not rethinking my decision based on reading an article in a newspaper, but I am thinking of if and how I should prepare myself for a potentially very different culture...

Took courses, got A's, still not sure what it is.

StrikeTheViol — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:57:25 -0800

When I was younger, I read a sociology textbook trying to find out why sociology was treated as a separate discipline and how it differs fundamentally from the other social sciences. I learned a lot about Weber and Durkheim, but I still don't get it. Can you help? I took an introductory sociology course later, attempting to understand. It felt like it didn't differ materially from anthropology. I thought it might be the instructor, so I took another one, "Sociology of Technology" which could have been taught by a history professor with no change in the syllabus. I thought "there has to be something I'm missing", but what sort of research does a sociologist do, that a political scientist, or for certain topics a psychologist, for example, is not trained to? How are culturally-focused sociology and cultural anthropology, for instance, effectively different?