For those interested in learning about the field of sociology and the sociological approach to understanding the social.
Lecture 13: The Anatomy of a Society
Lecture 11: Qualitative Methods of Research
A look at qualitative research and the interpretivist tradition of research.
Lecture 10: Quantitative Research Methods
In this time of Fake News and Alternative Facts, we need a standard for discerning what is real and what is not. We need ways of sorting through the Alternative Facts and getting the Factual Facts. Fortunately, that's pretty much what sociologists do every single minute of every day.
What’s Wrong with Our Country?
LAW AND ORDER, TRUMPISM AND "US AGAINST THEM" Protests in the streets, mass shootings, police shootings, political gridlock. What in the world is wrong with our country? I hear this all the time. It's hard for a sociologist to answer. We have so many variables running through our brains, all of which we are, by training, locked... Continue Reading →
Like it or Not, The GOP is the Party of Trump
DR. MOREAU'S BEASTS NOW HAVE A LEADER The ignominious fall of Ted Cruz and John Kasich from the GOP primaries only confirms what the polls have been saying for quite some time. The GOP is the party of Trump and all that the billionaire media personality represents. This is quite the shock to people who... Continue Reading →
The Sociology of R2D2
ON THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE, SLAVERY AND R2D2 THE MASTERMIND! All right, so it's the end of the quarter, and thus a difficult time for me to post regularly. I've had some serious commentary on the blog lately, and have a few more serious pieces in draft form, almost ready to go. It's just been... Continue Reading →
On ISIS and Anomie
WHY IS EXTREMISM SO ATTRACTIVE TO SOME? I recently viewed some videos published by the New York Times addressing the motivations of young people, living otherwise normal lives by western standards, who nevertheless opt to join ISIL in their jihad against infidels and their mission to establish a new caliphate. The videos were very revealing, perhaps... Continue Reading →
The Two Way Street of Identity
Rachel Dolezal, Caitlyn Jenner and the Process of Identity The Rachel Dolezal case is interesting in its consequences with regard to identity. One of the presumed defining features of our times is the seemingly flexible concept of personal identity. There was a time when identity was a fairly stable construct, but in what is referred... Continue Reading →
Conformity and Police Brutality
THE MUNDANE EXPLANATION FOR ABUSIVE POLICE PRACTICES I want to offer a brief response to Redditt Hudson's article posted in Vox today. Hudson, a former St. Louis police officer explains a theory shared with him by a former colleague. "On any given day, in any police department in the nation, 15 percent of officers will... Continue Reading →
