The Socjourn A New Media Journal of Sociology and Society
Humanity used to believe in God, but now they believe in Darwin. This is a bit of an extreme statement, since most people still believe in God, but the sentiment is accurate. Darwin's theories of the MECHANISMS of evolution has had a major impact on the social, emotional, and even spiritual fabric of this planet. There is a problem though. In a lot of ways Darwin's theories seem more like canon, or ideology, than good science. This article explores early awareness of the ideological nature of Darwinian theory, and provides some suggestions on how scientists can break free of dogma that has more to do with religion than with good science.
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Featured Articles
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Gender and Sexual Violence
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Getting Ahead: A Case Study of Social Class in the USA
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If Society is the Disease, is Cannabis the Cure?
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What's on your mind? Facebook, voluntary surveillance, and the global panopticon
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Information, Corporations, and the Free Will Self-delusion
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Sociology versus Psychology – The Social Context of Psychological Pathology and Child Abuse
Addressing the Academy
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The Business of Higher Education
Higher education faces challenges. From the competitive ethic of commercialism to the increasing demands for accessible and flexible education, colleges and universities face pressure to change. But is the solution to our educational woes to be found in even stronger alignment of business models with educational models?
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IMPACT! Academics, Citation, and Scholarly Self Delusion
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The University, Accountability, and Market Discipline in the Late 1990s
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Bill Gates is an Idiot: A Recipe for Educational Failure
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The Rarified World of Max Weber’s Honoratioren and the Voting Cows
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Fatuous, Naïve, and Bold at the Same Time: Welcome to the Wonderful World of Peer Review
Classroom Controversy
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The Ideology of Darwin
Humanity used to believe in God, but now they believe in Darwin. This is a bit of an extreme statement, since most people still believe in God, but the sentiment is accurate. Darwin's theories of the MECHANISMS of evolution has had a major impact on the social, emotional, and even spiritual fabric of this planet. There is a problem though. In a lot of ways Darwin's theories seem more like canon, or ideology, than good science. This article explores early awareness of the ideological nature of Darwinian theory, and provides some suggestions on how scientists can break free of dogma that has more to do with religion than with good science.
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No Justice for All
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The Innocence of Muslims: Sam “The Imbecile” Bacile, Religious Freedom and Free Speech
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Wealth and Inequality in America
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Searching For Paulo Freire: Classnotes For My Students
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Are you my "friend?"
Commentary
The Free Market That Never Was
Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor. As Timothy McGettigan points out, the ideal of free market capitalism being good for the economy, and good for the world, is largely a myth. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of health care. When compared against, for example, Canada's health care system, the US private system is more expensive and less effective. And despite the rhetoric, the US GOVERNMENT spends almost twice as much per capital on its "private" health care. In fact, the US spends more per capital on healthcare than any other developed nation despite its efficiency rhetoric! So why does a privately funded medical system cost more for the US taxpayer than a publically funded Canadian system? Inquiring minds want to know.
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Planet of the Persnickety Apes: Darwin and the Aesthetics of Survival
For reasons that anthropologists have not yet fully uncovered, Homo sapiens evolved a pronounced aesthetic sensibility (Schellekens and Goldie, 2011): not only has Homo sapiens developed more sophisticated tools and weapons than any other species, Homo sapiens has also cultivated the most elaborate artistic sensibilities (Diamond, 1992, 2012). Mere survival has never been enough for Homo sapiens, humans have also hungered for aesthetic satisfaction: beauty, self expression, art, imaginative invention, “Progress,” etc. Other species are perfectly content with the mundane and mediocre. Cows and horses do not complain about eating grass, nor do they seek ways to dress up their salads in order to make them as pleasing to the eye as they are to the palate.
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AI and IQ: The Right Answer to the Wrong Question
So what is intelligence? What is IQ? What makes one person smarter, and thus more deserving of reward, then another. Well, as Tim points out, and according to many psychologists its a magic number. Like a gypsy's gaze into the crystal ball, this number, derived with suitably esoteric and "unbiased" (not!) scientific instrumentation, reveals all. Or does it? And, as Tim asks, can it? Can a simple number like 42 really reveal all the secrets of the human experience, or is just (as Douglas Adams has suggested) a big joke.
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Are you my "friend?"
Is it really possible to have 800 "friends." Does connecting through FaceBook really mean you're connected in life? Or does the proliferation of one-click social media really represent the emasculation OF human social contact? Like the reduction of human marriage to the consumerist frenzy of the marriage ceremony, new technologies do not necessarily mean a better life, better friends, or deeper connection. In fact, perhaps exactly the opposite. New social media elevate superficial social display to epic proportions and neuter the supportive and transformative potential of authentic human relations. Viva la revolution... NOT!
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