All Entries in the "Featured Articles" Category
Family is Fascism
When it comes to family, do we have a problem?According to Anna we do and I gotta agree with her because in a lot of ways she’s right. As a therapist I have seen first hand how “families” shit on and abuse each other and it ain’t pretty and what’s worse, the abuse is always justified. Even sexual abuse of four year old children can be conveniently ignored when it occurs in a “family” setting. On top of all that, children are programmed into The System by their parents. But does all this mean family is necessarily a bad thing? No, not necessarily. Personally I think family is the best bet we have of surviving, and tight knit, functioning families are pretty much the only way of meeting the deep emotional and psychological needs of children. But that holds only when the family is healthy, only when all members have equal power, only when all members are respected, and only when all members are one hundred percent free of emotional, psychological, sexual, and physical abuse. If these conditions are not met then ya, there’s a problem.
“So what’s the deal with that?” – Observational Comedy and Sociology
Yes grasshopper, Sociology is relevant to modern life. Not only does it make you a better person, but it makes you a funnier comedian. It is true! As this author points out, a sociological sophistication and awareness gives jokes a contextualized comical punch that is absent from your run-of-the-mill comedic styling. And while the author downplays the importance of Sociology to comedy, the connection is as significant and important as the connection between comedy and Sociology. There’s nothing like a little contextualized humor to make the arid spaces of the balkanized academe more open, airy, and lush.
The Secret of North Korea is Within You
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.
Stock in Trade: Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work
Did you know that what you get depends on who you are? It is true. Females get different things than males, and the lower classes get different things than the upper classes. No where is this more evident than in the education you get. Working class, professional, or ruling class, it’s not who you know but who your parents are (i.e. their social class) that makes all the difference.
Drug and Alchohol Rehab – The Cure for Alchoholism
Here are two books that bring the notion of drug and alcohol rehab and treatment into personal control and away from expensive treatment centers. Both books eschew moralistic therapies that focus on character weakness or genetics and instead focus on the actual brain mechanisms involves in alcohol and drug rehab. It is not quite sociology, since environmental precursors (like abusive childhood environments) are not considered, but it a fascinating approach to rehab nonetheless.
Captain America, The All-American Drughead
Greetings today children, and welcome to my neighborhood. Our word of the day today is “hypocrite.” Can you say that? “Hypocrite? I thought you could, and so can Dr. Mcgettigan. Though he is saying it in a far nicer way, he is saying it just the same. We are a nation of contradictions, with a morality based on profit and domination, and a sensibility that dictates the end justifies the means. Dose up with those performance enhancing drugs sir ’cause not even your health and well-being takes precedence over the need to dominate another living being.
Awakening
Here is a story, not by a sociologist or a sociology student, by a high ranking computer geek. It may not be coming from a Sociologist, but it sure points to how sociology can transform our perceptions of the world. One moment we are comfortable focusing at the surface of social phenomenon, put at ease by our redolent illusions, and the next we are thrust beneath the surface to a reality that may not be as pleasant as had originally seemed. What was once “obvious” and straightforward is now obtuse and complex. The world has been turned on its head! The Sociological perspective. Is it a blessing, is it a curse? Only you can decide.
One World in 60 Seconds
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.
Modern Misogyny – A personal review
A fascinating excurses on the gendered, and often misogynist, nature of our popular culture and the fantasy life we all buy into. Like zombies we walk this earth playing out our programmed gender roles. Wake up, wake up wherever you are. There is no benefit in “the game.’ It leads only to misery, oppression, and a slow and depressing descent into the prozac haze of our modern world.
The Big Lie – Are Wars Inevitable?
War!? What is it good for? Taking stuff from others. Say it again. Oh, ah. Well, enough with the homage to Frankie who was in Hollywood in the 80s. War is another one of those ideological hot buttons, like greed, and competition, and our “inner nature” (see other articles in this series), there’s all sorts of excuses and justifications. But in the end justifications for war, just like justifications for competition, or greed, or just that, justifications. They are not based on any kind of valid social or natural research, and they often just ape (no pun intended) the special interests who benefit from war, etc. What side of the fence are you on? Better be the right one ’cause Billy’s got a gun.
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