The Socjourn A New Media Journal of Sociology and Society

Everything that exists on this Earth is made out of the same Common Core, the same molecules, and the same atoms. 75 % of the earth is covered in water. Up to 60 % of a human body is made ...

There's something wrong in the world today, and Sociologists know what it is. We live in a system that privileges cash value over everything else. If you can't lay a dollar value, and if you can't generate profit, it is worthless in the eyes of the system. That might be a great way to pursue personal enrichment, but it sucks as a way to live healthy, environmentally sound, happy lives. It's time to consider some alternatives, don't ya think?

North Korea is a secret state that is accepted by the general World society, perhaps because of the fear that they have nuclear weapons — or perhaps North Korea is accepted in the world as it is, because we each accept a living North Korea within ourselves – as secret states of dictatorship, fear and self-delusion, that we keep hidden from everyone, including ourselves.

The world in 60 seconds? A sociologist looks at daily life differently. Walking through a market with melon in hand, we see interrelationships, economic realities, injustices, and a world that "could be" or "might be" if we stopped buying into the "that's just the way it is" mentality of "normal" life. Revolutionary? No. In a way it is deeply ironic. Engineers, chemists, even physicists work hard to improve the things that matter to them and nobody questions that. Is it so strange then that sociologists might aspire to ask questions, point out contradictions, and contribute towards a better future? It's only strange, I feel, that more people don't listen.

Academic communities and higher learning facilities like universities are the places where great knowledge is born and passed on with the purpose of ‘enlightening’ our societies for the better. Or is it? Aren't academies and universities about socialization into The System and indoctrination into ideas that support hierarchy, exclusion, etc. According to Anna Brix Thomsen, its both. Universities are useful and do make a [technological] improvement in things, but usually only for the primary benefit of the elite. Trickle down benefits there may be, but its ultimately about maintaining the status quo and further enriching those who are already with privilege.