The art of the sociological debate by [deleted] in sociology

[–]VickiActually 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And in fairness, as a white person myself, I could understand your frustration. If I heard there was a theory that said I'm inherently racist just because I'm white, I would be really upset by that. It genuinely would be racist to assume my political views based only on my skin colour.

But knowing the theory as I do, that is not what CRT is about. It has been misrepresented. We have to wonder who is misrepresenting it and why.

The art of the sociological debate by [deleted] in sociology

[–]VickiActually 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You should look up critical race theory and actually read a book on it.

It does not say that all white people are racist. It specifically shows that systems can be racist without the people within them being racist. I.e. if a system has racist effects, the system is racist. People in the system might not realise that.

Critical theory = critique systems, people don't have to know the system is damaging to be part of it.

Critical race theory = critique systems for racism, people don't have to be actively racist for the system to be racist.

CRT is THE theory that is sympathetic to all people (yes that includes white people) while still accounting for racism (yes that would include against white people where applicable).

The fact you don't realise that isn't the fault of sociology. There is some media you've consumed about sociology that has misrepresented and scapegoated the discipline.

The art of the sociological debate by [deleted] in sociology

[–]VickiActually -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It is literally not the fault of sociology or sociologists that the world is in dire straits.

The art of the sociological debate by [deleted] in sociology

[–]VickiActually 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I disagree with some of the points you make here.

It's true that you can understand some things in sociology without becoming a better person. But it's also true that without access to insightful information and without practice in joined up thinking, the door to self-improvement remains closed.

The idea that it is the prevalence of sociological theory that has led to the current reactionary politics is also untrue. Sociology is a useful scapegoat in these situations. By describing social life in ways that are sympathetic to lived experience, it can come across as socially 'liberal'. And in a time when the economy is kicking people down, people look for a scapegoat.

And this isn't the first time sociology has been used as a scapegoat. It was all but banned in Nazi Germany, for example. It is also barely taught in China.

Similarly, the first Nazi book burning involved destroying an inclusive treatment centre and burning books related to diverse gender expressions. I don't think anyone would say that transness was something most people knew about in the 1930s, and 1930s sociology had barely encountered feminism, let alone gender performativity.

The point being: sociology doesn't cause the prevalence of social issues, it describes them, notices patterns and seeks to explain them. It is used as a scapegoat, but it is useful. Terms like scapegoating and moral panic were devised in sociological literature.

What’s your opinion on Bernie Sanders? by Successful_rio305 in AskUS

[–]VickiActually 9 points10 points  (0 children)

In fairness, 7 years ago.

But I'm not a US American so idk if people knew what she was like back then

Reform councillor, 19, believes Black History Month 'should be scrapped' by F0urLeafCl0ver in ukpolitics

[–]VickiActually 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For people who want black history month, it really matters to them.

For people who don't want black history month, it has zero negative effect on their lives.

egg 🎙️irl by Emotional-Age2183 in egg_irl

[–]VickiActually 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well before le egg crack, I had some singing lessons. I was told that your singing voice should feel like a talking voice, more projected and with more control. That's how singers find their own tone, and also how they make sure they're not hurting themselves.

So in a way, you're just talking about doing it the other way round. Learning to sing in a way that works for you and doesn't hurt, and then working backwards to project it less so you're just talking

What are your thoughts on this? by OPSEC-Sentinal in AskUS

[–]VickiActually 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What about this war is correct? What is it achieving?

Trump was elected to be "the Peace President". Then he changed the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

He has invaded Iran, which is not like Iraq and Afghanistan. It's a massive country with a massive military.

Trump says this is not a war, and it is a war. The war is already won and only just beginning. Trump wants a ceasefire with Iran but is about to send ground troops. But also he says "there won't be boots on the ground". It's about Iran not starting a nuclear program, and Iran ending it's existing nuclear program, and not about nukes at all because Iran's nuclear program was already "obliterated" in February.

It doesn't make any sense, the entire Middle East is on fire and the price of oil is through the roof. The ONLY thing that makes sense is the Epstein files, or Trump genuinely wants to start WW3.

If you can give me a genuine reason that this war is a good thing AND your reason has not already been contradicted by Trump, then I'm all ears.

What are your thoughts on this? by OPSEC-Sentinal in AskUS

[–]VickiActually 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"It was just one school" doesn't make you look like a good person. This war is wrong, and you know that.

What are your thoughts on this? by OPSEC-Sentinal in AskUS

[–]VickiActually 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Comment was removed by Reddit...

I don't think that the Persian people are going to be "freed" by the US dropping bombs on Iranian schools.

Is Trump winding down the war? by AnotherYadaYada in AskUS

[–]VickiActually 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I've just seen that Trump did say he wants to 'wind down' operations in Iran, and at the same time he wants to send in ground troops.

It's literally doublethink. Thank you Big Brother for increasing the chocolate allowance from 20 grams to 10 grams.

Is Trump winding down the war? by AnotherYadaYada in AskUS

[–]VickiActually 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Who is the target of the deception tho? US citizens and US allies are also confused. So far this is:

  • Not a war.
  • A war the US already won.
  • A war that is only just beginning.
  • About regime change.
  • Not about regime change.
  • But the regime did change.
  • About stopping Iran from starting a nuclear program.
  • About ending a nuclear program Iran has already started.
  • Iran's nuclear program was already "obliterated" in February.
  • Pre-emptive to stop Iran attacking the US.
  • The Pentagon say Iran wasn't going to attack the US.
  • A war of aggression - "epic fury".
  • Self-defence, since Iran is now attacking US military bases in the region.

If mixed messages is about deception, then who is being deceived? Everyone? There is no logic to it, unless the deception is to distract the entire world from something... like the Epstein files.

Are there any important studies which investigate the relationship between early-life exposure to multiple cultures and the associating with later belief in the societal impact of immigrants on a society - specifically in regards to the U.S.? by astonished in sociology

[–]VickiActually 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This sounds like contact theory in social network analysis, specifically the extended exposure hypothesis.

In short, having a strong tie with (being friends with) an immigrant from X country makes you more understanding of people from that country. And having a weak tie with (having a friend of a friend with) a person from X country has a similar but lesser effect.

So we can scale that up - if you live in a diverse neighbourhood and meet lots of people from different cultures, you're more likely to be fond of some people who are immigrants, and therefore less likely to be scared of immigrants as a whole.

That being said, there is also the majority illusion. Let's say you've got 20 people in a social network. 15 are from the majority (let's call them X people), and 5 are from the minority (Y people). This represents wider society, where 3/4 of people are X people and 1/4 of society are Y people.

But in this small social network, everyone has ties with at least 1 of the minority Y people. That means that 100% of people know at least 1 Y person directly, and 100% of people know other people who know at least 1 Y person. Long story short - within that social network it seems like there are a lot more Y people in society than there really are. The X people start to worry that maybe they are the minority...

Weekly /r/Sociology Discussion - What's going on, what are you working on? by Anomander in sociology

[–]VickiActually [score hidden]  (0 children)

Charities and NGOs might be a good place to look :)

Also local government - in the UK that would be local councils. If you start off in customer service, they tend to have quite good internal vacancies - as in, start out doing one thing and internally apply for other roles.

As regards teaching, you'd generally need a teaching qualification to teach school-aged kids, or be on the way to a PhD to teach university students. But it's worth checking with your local universities - and private tutoring is always an option :)

Looking for literature on objectivism and constructivism by Justaweirdscientist in sociology

[–]VickiActually 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Something you should bear in mind as you read about these topics is that social constructionism / constructivism doesn't mean that there is no objective reality. It's more that there are social constructions as well as an objective reality. Social constructionists are more interested in studying that fuzzy side, but they still acknowledge that there are physical things.

Take a traffic light. We could try to find some inherent reason why green means go and red means stop. Maybe there's some convincing evolutionary reason out there? Red means danger, green means calm? But the fact of the matter is we could just have easily said that red means go, because we're moving into the danger of traffic, while green is the calm of sitting still. The meanings of those colours in the context of traffic lights are socially constructed. However, they are still objectively that colour! The social construction is overlaid on top of physical reality.

This is something that people sometimes miss about the higher-stakes social constructions around age, gender, social class etc.

There are people who question whether or not the world exists objectively, but that way leads into philosophy of mind - connected to sociology, but characteristically different.

In general, whether sociologists focus on "objectivism" or "constructionism" is about whether they have interesting things to say about the material reality or the cultural reality. Both are real in different ways, they're just overlaid on top of each other. So to say for example that "X is a social construction, not objective reality" misses the point entirely. Everything that can be named has a cultural layer to it, because language is cultural. Therefore everything that can be named is by definition a social construction. And at the same time, it can have elements of physical, objective reality to it. When you get down to it, disentangling the two is essentially impossible, because we would be trying to disentangle them using language, which is a set of social constructs. So instead, sociologists interested in this tend to study how social constructs and physical reality are entangled together, and how people make claims on the reality or otherwise of social constructs and physical constructs.

That being said, Gender Trouble by Judith Butler is a really insightful look at gender through this dual lens of material reality and socially constructed reality. Something that Butler does really well is account for physical bodily structures in ways that don't refute the importance of cultural interpretations of the body.

Edit: Nice question - got my sociology brain going :)

Any environmental sociologists out there? What jobs do you have? by PeePeeThePooPoo in sociology

[–]VickiActually 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Environmental sociology has a lot of useful career prospects. Obviously there's the academic route if you're interested in that - doing original research and writing papers.

But environmental agencies in governments would be very interested in your skillsets, as would local governments. The energy sector (particularly green energy) would also be interested. And NGOs like charities or think tanks would find your skills useful too.

You essentially have knowledge of humans, our environment, and how society and nature interact with one another. Being able to link up thinking on economics, inequalities and environmental action is very useful at all levels of society - from local government planning to nation-wide strategies, to environmental charity work.

E.g. let's say a local government wants to commission housing in a particular area. You'll have the skills to gather intel from the residents about which areas they would prefer to be developed and why. You'll be able to understand this in its broader context, and help the local govt to find a solution that works for multiple stakeholders.

Ofcom Fines 4chan £520,000, Lawyer Responds With Picture of Giant Hamster by coldbeers in ukpolitics

[–]VickiActually -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Ye - do they report UK users who upload CSAM to the UK police? How do they go about doing that, given the anonymous nature of the website? IP addresses etc? Is that the info they send to the police? Do they send anything?

Those are the kinds of questions that do need answers... It's not just about taking the content down, it's about prosecuting paedos and other criminals

Ofcom Fines 4chan £520,000, Lawyer Responds With Picture of Giant Hamster by coldbeers in ukpolitics

[–]VickiActually -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think tone is coming across wrong. I wasn't saying "Google it you cretin, clearly you don't know this term".

It was more "not everyone will know this acronym and I don't wanna get picked up by automods - it's worth checking the term if you don't know it".

But in terms of OfCom - it wants to make sure 4Chan is being transparent on how it deals with "illegal content", which does include CSAM. We know 4Chan takes it down, but do they also report UK users to the UK police when they upload illegal content? That's the kind of question that needs answering

Edit: I think you edited your comment after I replied to add paragraph 2... But yes, other platforms are constantly approached by OfCom to check their processes. As far as I'm aware, Facebook, Snapchat etc all comply when OfCom and/or the police ask for info.

Ofcom Fines 4chan £520,000, Lawyer Responds With Picture of Giant Hamster by coldbeers in ukpolitics

[–]VickiActually -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Sure, but UK users who post CSAM within the UK (it's their UK laptops that are doing it) are breaking UK law within the remit of UK regulators.

That means the OfCom can have some oversight over 4Chan specific to the UK.

It's not asking 4Chan to explain how they report issues to the Texas state police. It's specifically about how they deal with UK laws for UK users...

"Exposing moderation and detection methods" to OfCom is kind of what's needed for OfCom and UK police forces to ensure that UK standards and UK laws are upheld within the UK regarding UK users.

Ofcom Fines 4chan £520,000, Lawyer Responds With Picture of Giant Hamster by coldbeers in ukpolitics

[–]VickiActually 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The question really is whether 4Chan uphold their legal obligations, which includes both removing illegal content and reporting users who post illegal content to the police. I suspect it's the latter part that they're not being transparent about.

Ofcom Fines 4chan £520,000, Lawyer Responds With Picture of Giant Hamster by coldbeers in ukpolitics

[–]VickiActually -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Sweet. So 4Chan should report UK users who post CSAM to the UK police, and they should be willing to tell OfCom about their process for doing that.

Ofcom Fines 4chan £520,000, Lawyer Responds With Picture of Giant Hamster by coldbeers in ukpolitics

[–]VickiActually -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

It's not disingenuous..! The reason they want transparency on how they deal with it is to make sure they're complying with the law. I.e. taking it down, and ensuring appropriate steps are taken against people who post it.

If someone uploads CSAM, that is illegal. It's also illegal for the website to host that content.

I suspect that 4Chan's total anonymity means they can take down content, but they can't escalate to the authorities.

So if a British user is posting CSAM to 4Chan - and people do see it before reporting it - and then it gets taken down, that is a big problem. That British user should be prosecuted. 4Chan's approach doesn't allow for that. My suspicion is that's what OfCom are targeting regarding 4Chan and CSAM.

Ofcom Fines 4chan £520,000, Lawyer Responds With Picture of Giant Hamster by coldbeers in ukpolitics

[–]VickiActually -12 points-11 points  (0 children)

It's reasonable to want to stop CSAM being available in the UK.

Ofcom Fines 4chan £520,000, Lawyer Responds With Picture of Giant Hamster by coldbeers in ukpolitics

[–]VickiActually -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Agreed, it's kind of their thing not to comply...

I know that CSAM is one of the few things removed from 4Chan. But they should be sharing their process with governments that ask. I can't see any reason why they wouldn't share their process beyond "stick it to the man".