The Sociology of Wonder

What is your favorite quote? Every person has at least one quotation that seems to express not only an idea but also an entire philosophy of life. For me, Carl Sagan’s statement, “Somew…

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Thinking Sociologically

If you had to give one life-changing tip, what would it be? When I first encountered the argument that we should design our social infrastructure because our environment designs us, I found myself …

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The Sociology of Search

What’s a skill you consider basic, that most people don’t actually know how to do? The single most basic skill that most people don’t actually know how to do is effective, syntax-driven web s…

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Manufacturing Meaning

Do you think everything happens for a reason? I want to begin by saying that the statement “everything happens for a reason” is one of the most sociologically loaded sentences a person …

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எழுத்தும் வாசிப்பும்

எழுத்தும் வாசிப்பும் என்பவை ஒரு நாணயத்தின் இரு பக்கங்கள் அல்ல, மாறாக ஒரே செயல்பாட்டின் இரு தருணங்கள் என்று சொல்லலாம். ஒரு படைப்பு மனதில் தீவிரமான தாக்கத்தை ஏற்படுத்துகிறது என்றால் அது எழுத்தாளனின் …

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Encouragement, Criticism, and the Social Self

Human social life has always depended on the words people choose to give one another, and few propositions capture this dependence as directly as the idea that encouragement builds people up while …

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21 Lessons for the 21st Century

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari occupies an unusual place in contemporary public discourse. It is not a work of academic sociology in the strict disciplinary sense, since Harar…

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I’m OK, You’re OK: The Social Construction of Monday

There is no physical evidence to say that today is Monday, we all just have to trust that someone kept count since the first one ever, and this simple observation opens the door to one of the deepe…

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அடுக்கி வைத்த புத்தகங்கள், படிக்காத பக்கங்கள்

பள்ளிப் புத்தகத்தையும் வாசிப்புப் புத்தகத்தையும் ஒரு குழந்தை எப்படி வேறுபடுத்திப் புரிந்துகொள்கிறது என்பது சமூகவியலில் மிகவும் ஆழமாக விவாதிக்கப்பட்ட ஒரு கேள்வி. இவான் இலிச் என்ற சிந்தனையாளர் பள்ளி …

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What My Laptop Says About Me

What is the best purchase you have ever made? When I think about the best purchase I have ever made, the answer that comes to mind is not simply a product I bought but a symbol I acquired, and that…

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சமூக ஈர்ப்பு ஆளுமை கோட்பாடுகள்

காந்தம் போல ஈர்க்கும் ஆளுமை: மனித நடத்தையின் சமூகவியல் ரகசியங்கள்முன்னுரை: மனித ஆளுமை என்பது வெறும் உடலமைப்பாலோ அல்லது வெளித்தோற்றத்தாலோ மட்டுமே தீர்மானிக்கப்படுவதில்லை. அது ஒரு நபர் சமூகத்தோடு எவ்…

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The Silent Bucket

When we ask why a once brilliant performer slowly turns into an average one, we are actually asking one of the oldest questions in sociology, which is whether human behaviour is a product of indivi…

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Traveling as Method: Reading Modernity Through Baraka and The Rings of Saturn

What’s a movie or book that inspired you to travel? Baraka and The Rings of Saturn are the two works that made me want to travel — not as a tourist, but as an observer. Both taught me to read lands…

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When Survival Becomes a Market

If you could erase one trend from history, what would it be? Someone recently asked me what one trend I would erase from history if I could, and my answer was the hyper commodification of basic hum…

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வாட்ஸ்அப் யுகத்தில் கூட்டு அடையாளத் தேடல்

சமூக ஊடகங்கள், குறிப்பாக வாட்ஸ்அப் குழுக்கள், இன்று ஒரு நவீன ‘கிராமத்துச் சாவடி’யாக மாறியுள்ளன. அங்கு பகிரப்படும் தகவல்கள் பெரும்பாலும் மகிழ்ச்சியான செய்திகளாகவோ, நையாண்டிகளாகவோ இருக்கா…

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The Last Public Utility

Which outdated technology do you miss the most, and why? When I think about which piece of outdated technology I miss most, my mind goes straight to the humble payphone, and I want to use this refl…

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The New Sick Role: How Therapy Language Became a Social Shield

What is the best excuse you have heard lately? When someone asked me this question, my mind immediately went to a pattern I have noticed everywhere in recent years, one that says far more about the…

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Shaped by Structure, Authored by Self

Do you think we’re shaped more by our experiences or by who we are? When I sit with the question of whether we are shaped more by our experiences or by who we are, I find myself unable to accept it…

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The Sociology of Cime in Mindhunter

When I first began watching Mindhunter, I assumed that I was entering another crime drama built around detectives solving murders through intelligence, forensic evidence, and interrogation. Instead…

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The WhatsApp Mirror

Imagine entering an old friends WhatsApp group with the simple expectation of reliving memories, laughing about school or college incidents, and reconnecting with people who once shared the same cl…

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The Social Anatomy of Your Honor

When I finished watching Your Honor, I realized that I had not merely watched a crime drama. I had witnessed a profound sociological experiment disguised as a legal thriller. Every episode forced m…

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Between Habit and Insult

I was invited to a friend’s home for dinner, and during the course of our conversation he made a general moral statement, saying that stealing is bad, even though nothing in our discussion ha…

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Manufactured Intimacy

What’s a piece of technology you’re convinced will exist in 20 years? If I had to name one piece of technology I am convinced will exist in twenty years, it would be ambient, emotionally responsive…

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More Than a Story

Which book have you read more than any other? The reflections in this essay are drawn from two very different literary traditions that ultimately converge on the same sociological questions. The fi…

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Am I a Lifelong Learner?

Are you a lifelong learner? If someone asks me whether I am a lifelong learner, my answer is both yes and no, but not because I am undecided. My response depends on what we mean by learning and how…

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கடவுள் ஏன் இன்னும் சாகவில்லை?

ஞானி (கி.பழனிச்சாமி) எழுதிய “கடவுள் ஏன் இன்னும் சாகவில்லை?” சமயம், கடவுள் கருத்தாக்கம், மார்க்சியம், இந்து/கிறித்துவ/இசுலாமிய தத்துவங்கள், விடுதலை இறையியல், ஞானியின் சொந்த சமய அனுபவம் உ…

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Intentional Disconnection

What’s one habit that has improved your life the most? What has improved my life the most is not a dramatic achievement, a career milestone, or even a major personal transformation. It is a simple …

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Quality as a Social Institution

Industrial Sociology and the Social Organization of Responsibility: A Weberian Reflection on Quality, Accountability, and Work Introduction – establishes the sociological problem.Chapter II – Weber…

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Beyond the Misattributed Quote: A Sociological Reflection on Gandhi’s Philosophy of Social Change

The argument before me initially appears to revolve around a simple historical correction concerning the famous quotation “Be the change you want to see in the world.” However, as I rea…

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Hard Years, Flexible Systems

What’s a chapter of your life you’d title “The Hard Years” — and what got you through it? If I had to give a chapter of my working life a title, I would not call it a heartbreak or a pe…

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