Dlittle30

LATEST ARTICLES ( 866 )

• Reforming Policing

  

  The persistent fact of racial disparities in the use of deadly force by police officers in US cities is an intolerable injustice. Read more

  Posted on 04 December 2022 SOCIETY

• Koestler's Observations of Soviet Totalitarianism

  

  In honor of the remembrance of the ninetieth anniversary of the Holodomor, it is worth recalling Arthur Koestler's first-hand observations of the devastation... Read more

  Posted on 27 November 2022 SOCIETY

• Who is Ordering Torture and Execution in Ukraine?

  

  With the retreat of Russian forces from Kherson this month, new evidence of gruesome atrocities against civilians has become visible (link). Read more

  Posted on 18 November 2022 SOCIETY

• Reasoning for Sociological Theory

  

  What is involved in providing a compelling and justified formulation of an abstract theoretical concept in sociological theory? Read more

  Posted on 16 November 2022 SOCIETY

• Twitter's Unacceptable Hidden Defect

  

  image: github analysis of Twitter follower network (link)Twitter's paroxysms in the past two weeks have been unsettling. But suddenly, I am coming to believe... Read more

  Posted on 09 November 2022 SOCIETY

• Election Day 2022

  

  image: Timothy Snyder, On TyrannyHere we are in November 2022, and the House, Senate, governors, and state houses are all up for grabs. Read more

  Posted on 08 November 2022 SOCIETY

• Fifteen Years of Understanding Society

  

  This week represents the fifteenth anniversary of publication of Understanding Society, with a total of 1,484 posts and 13.3 million page views to date. There... Read more

  Posted on 05 November 2022 SOCIETY

• Critical Realism and Ontological Individualism

  

  Most critical realists would probably think that their philosophy of social science is flatly opposed to ontological individualism. However, I think that this... Read more

  Posted on 02 November 2022 SOCIETY

• João Ohara's New Synthesis of the Philosophy of History

  

  What is the subject matter of the philosophy of history? This is an extremely difficult question to answer given the wide range of topics, methods, and... Read more

  Posted on 26 October 2022 SOCIETY

• Constitution Day Lecture 2022

  

  Note: these are notes for a short talk I gave this month to students at my university on the topic of the importance of maintaining and defending our liberal... Read more

  Posted on 21 October 2022 SOCIETY

• A Culturally Conservative Streak in Tony Judt

  

  Tony Judt was a remarkable historian of the twentieth century and a sparkling public intellectual. In most dimensions he was a progressive force within the spac... Read more

  Posted on 20 October 2022 SOCIETY

• Scientific Rationality and Anomaly

  

  Some discussion of the empirical status of social science theories and hypotheses in the past has revolved around Karl Popper's formulation of the doctrine of... Read more

  Posted on 17 October 2022 SOCIETY

• Marx's Influences as a Social Scientist

  

  image: Menzel depicting a proletarian (Adolf von Menzel)It is customary to hold that the main influences on Marx's thought fell into three streams: French... Read more

  Posted on 12 October 2022 SOCIETY

• Democratic Socialism in the 1930s

  

  Is it still possible to think big in western democracies about social and economic change in a way that substantially improves the lives and freedoms of most... Read more

  Posted on 07 October 2022 SOCIETY

• River Warfare in the US Civil War

  

  The mental images that most Americans have of the American Civil War involve the scenes of major land battles -- Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg. Read more

  Posted on 25 September 2022 SOCIETY

• Confronting Evil in History

  

  My short book Confronting Evil in History has just been published in Cambridge Elements in the Elements in Historical Theory and Practice series edited by Danie... Read more

  Posted on 23 September 2022 SOCIETY

• Malcolm Muggeridge on the Holodomor

  

  Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990) was a much-read English left journalist, critic, and international observer and a close friend of George Orwell in the 1930s. Read more

  Posted on 19 September 2022 SOCIETY

• Better-functioning Organizations

  

  A recurring topic here is the potential for large and costly failures created by the dysfunctions of complex organizations (link). Read more

  Posted on 14 September 2022 SOCIETY

• Sliding Towards "semi-fascism"

  

  President Biden's September 1 speech on the political threats posed to our democracy by the language and actions of far-right GOP leaders and elected officials... Read more

  Posted on 10 September 2022 SOCIETY

• Social Cognitive Frameworks and Social Class

  

  It is evident that all of us "filter" the social worlds that we inhabit according to a set of expectations, assumptions, stereotypes, and values. Read more

  Posted on 04 September 2022 SOCIETY