Tagged: social interaction
It’s the middle of class. Looking out into the classroom, a dim light reflects on students’ faces as they stare or type into the devices in front of them. Walking up and down the aisles, blue-tinted Facebook pages on the students’ screens are usually the source of the reflected light. While such students might seem withdrawn from the class, this familiar scene holds a potential goldmine of sociological exploration and examples. If these students are already intently interested in, or...
by theoryforthemasses In a recent New York Times op-ed, columnist David Brooks questions whether the old, “rational,” Keynesian model of economics is truly useful for trying to understand the current economic crisis. He suggests that while economists have traditionally built elegant economic models of efficient markets based on rational actors, the process of making economic decisions is actually much more complex. Brooks explains that these complexities, which are informed by actors’ various strategies, memories, and intuitions, are what influences...
by nmccoy1 In the midst of what could be the most devastating financial crisis in the history of the United States and possibly the world, we are seeing rationalized economics take prevalence over human suffering. In the Philosophy of Money, Georg Simmel argues that as money increases individuality, freedom, and social differences it also breaks down social interaction between and among people. The U.S. Congress seems more concerned with protecting the monetary system than the individual human beings who comprise...
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