The Socjournal A new media journal of sociology and society

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?

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.

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.

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.

Morality – Has it ever occurred to you how difficult it is to be a good person? In fact it seems that even the best people amongst us, cannot be good all the time – how many times have we ...

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.