Hacker News with Generative AI: Sociology

Around the World, Many People Are Leaving Their Childhood Religions (pewresearch.org)
In many countries around the world, a fifth or more of all adults have left the religious group in which they were raised. Christianity and Buddhism have experienced especially large losses from this “religious switching,” while rising numbers of adults have no religious affiliation, according to Pew Research Center surveys of nearly 80,000 people in 36 countries.
That Hit Song You Love Was a Total Fluke (hbr.org)
When Princeton sociology professor Matthew Salganik was a doctoral student at Columbia, he got interested in blockbusters — specifically, he got curious about the role of social influence in determining the success of music, art, and books.
The Prehistoric Psychopath (worksinprogress.co)
Life in the state of nature was less violent than you might think. Most of our ancestors avoided conflict. But this made them vulnerable to a few psychopaths.
Ownership of High-Risk ("Vicious") Dogs as a Marker for Deviant Behaviors (researchgate.net)
The "Memory Cartography" of Azerbaijani Emigrants (jam-news.net)
Emigration from Azerbaijan is a subtle phenomenon, yet far from uninteresting, given both its scale and particularities.
Anomie (wikipedia.org)
In sociology, anomie or anomy (/ˈænəmi/) is a social condition defined by an uprooting or breakdown of any moral values, standards or guidance for individuals to follow.
Marrying Up and Marrying Down (medium.com)
The most important decision we make is who we partner with, who we marry. However, for many, marriage isn’t an essential life choice … it’s a luxury item. I asked my friend, the social scientist Richard Reeves, to pen a post on the subject.
US friendship is in freefall – shredding bonds and cutting lives short (nypost.com)
Friendship in America is in steep decline: We’re more disconnected from each other than ever, and the gulf between us is only growing. Does it matter?
The 'masculinity crisis' is a crisis of self-esteem (psyche.co)
The early 21st century is described as a time of crises. Liberal democracy, the US (or global) economy, the environment, masculinity, ageing populations, migration, misinformation and social media use are all supposedly in crisis – amounting to what some have called a global ‘polycrisis’. The reader will be forgiven for being sceptical, then, as I draw on the philosophical literature on recognition theory to introduce one more to the stage.
Why Do Young Men Migrate? (thewire.in)
Tell HN: Generational Gap (ycombinator.com)
The Euro-American Split (I): Dread Possibility (scholars-stage.org)
THERE ARE DECADES WHEN possibility is constrained in a narrow frame. The terrain has been surveyed, boundaries have been laid, and rules have been established. In such an age there is still room for high drama: The decisive round of a boxing match draws the eye despite the fact—or perhaps because—the boxers play an antique game. In such times and climes, victory means mastery of existing modes, not the invention of new ones.
René Girard and the Mimetic Trap (onepercentrule.substack.com)
This is part 1 of a 2 part series. Part 2: The Mimetic Intelligence Trap is here
Why Civilizations Collapse (palladiummag.com)
Why do civilizations collapse? This question bears not only on safeguarding our society’s future but also makes sense of our present. The answer relies on some of the same technē that humanity needed to build civilization in the first place: we have to evaluate the perceptions that mint facts and theory, not merely peruse the body of theories handed down to us.
The 3-ladder system of social class in the U.S. (archive.org)
Typical depictions of social class in the United States posit a linear, ordered hierarchy. I’ve actually come to the conclusion that there are 3 distinct ladders, with approximately four social classes on each. Additionally, there is an underclass of people not connected to any of the ladders, creating an unlucky 13th social class. I’ll attempt to explain how this three-ladder system works, what it means, and also why it is a source of conflict.
The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class (danco.substack.com)
I’m happy to finally share a thesis I’ve been chewing on for a little while. I call it The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class, which states: The higher you ascend the ladder of the Educated Gentry class, the more you become Michael Scott.
They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955) (press.uchicago.edu)
"What no one seemed to notice," said a colleague of mine, a philologist, "was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in civilian defense, or even to vote.
It's not 'emotional labour', it's kin work (thefuturefeeling.substack.com)
I’ve just come back from a seasonal gathering where it was obvious – as it is obvious every year – that the women in the heterosexual couples had done a far larger amount of work than their partners.
The persistence of "high trust" in Europe west of the Hajnal Line (wordpress.com)
What is the West? What is the source of Western success? How are Western people different from others (“the Rest”)? What is unique about the West?
Do Russians Support the War in Ukraine? (newyorker.com)
A group of sociologists found that few Russians were steadfast supporters of the war. Most had something more complicated to say.
Why Brazil fell for Pentecostalism but not liberation theology (aeon.co)
In 1962, the Colombian priest and sociology professor Camilo Torres Restrepo travelled to the north of the country to investigate a dispute between powerful landlords and subsistence farmers.
The Tyranny of Structurelessness (1970) (jofreeman.com)
During the years in which the women's liberation movement has been taking shape, a great emphasis has been placed on what are called leaderless, structureless groups as the main -- if not sole -- organizational form of the movement.
German Collective Guilt [Wikipedia] (wikipedia.org)
German collective guilt (German: Kollektivschuld) refers to the notion of a collective guilt attributed to Germany and its people for perpetrating the Holocaust and other atrocities in World War II.[2][3]
The Six Codes of Nonverbal Communication (2019) (reporter.rit.edu)
You’ve likely been able to tell whether or not your mom is actually upset with you by analyzing her tone of voice, and chances are she knows your reaction by reading the look on your face.
How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love Lynn's National IQ Estimates (astralcodexten.com)
Richard Lynn was a scientist who infamously tried to estimate the average IQ of every country. Typical of his results is this paper, which ranged from 60 (Malawi) to 108 (Singapore).
Flynn Effect (wikipedia.org)
The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that were measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century, named after researcher James Flynn (1934–2020). [1][2]
The relationship recession is going global (ft.com)
The relationship recession is going global
The Anti-Social Century (theatlantic.com)
Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.
Myth of Meritocracy (wikipedia.org)
Myth of meritocracy is a phrase arguing that meritocracy, or achieving upward social mobility through one's own merits regardless of one's social position, is not widely attainable in capitalist societies because of inherent contradictions.
End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration (amazon.com)
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