Comical look at the classificatory kinship system in Chinese families (from a young Chinese American perspective). A nice illustration of how culture influences the social organisation of the family. Continue reading Kinship in Chinese Families
Tides of people follow social norms of respectful admiration after La Sylphide ballet performance at the Arts Centre Melbourne Australia. There are certain times during a ballet when you’re supposed to clap and not necessarily after a long pause in … Continue reading Sociology of a Crowd
Chinese director Jia Zhang-ke speaks about film censorship in China at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Speaking in his native Chinese language here Zhang-ke says his thought-provoking film, A Touch of Sin, made its debut in Cannes in May and … Continue reading Film Censorship in China
The New South Wales Court of Appeal ruled that people do not have to be officially registered as male or female, after Sydney activist ‘Norrie’ (below) contested this law. The judges panel ruled “as a matter of construction … the word sex does not bear a binary meaning of ‘male’ or ‘female.’” This means that transgender, intersex and other queer-identified Australians are no longer forced to fit themselves into a narrow gender binary.
Continue reading “NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages vs Norrie”
Australian social psychologist Hugh Mackay‘s new book The Good Life critiques the “outbreak” of positivity as a consumer industry. I share with you Mackay’s interview with Radio National as an example of public social science.
Continue reading “Critique of ‘The Happiness Industry’”Here is a good article on the historical and social influences on technology adoption. Science Professor Bernard Carlson, (University of Virginia, USA) tells engineering students: “they are going to produce sociotechnical systems,“ meaning they need to understand how people “interact with technology.”
Continue reading “Sociology of technology”
There is a large volume of advice articles on how to set up and write an effective blog. This post brings together the advice that influenced me in setting up my various personal blogs, The Other Sociologist and my Tumblr, as well as my blog on Sociology at Work. I want to focus on the little tips that may not seem immediately important, but from experience, I can guarantee you that they make it harder for your blog to be enjoyed and shared easily.
Continue reading “How to Set Up Your Business Blog”
Business leaders who are not very active online are often put off by the idea of being trolled. This reticence then leads them to shy away from having a strong social media presence. There are different schools of thought about how to manage online abuse.
Continue reading “Managing Blog and Social Media Comments”Hispanic women are fully aware that our culture is entrenched in misogyny, but not necessarily any less than American culture. Women in the United States are often expected to take their husbands’ last name. Many men still go to their … Continue reading Gender Politics
Today’s post provides an overview of the key personality types that are used in management training and in team building exercises. I will then talk about some of the limitations of applying personality types too strictly within organisations. I’ll discuss how managers and leaders can adopt a more flexible model of personality types to improve how their team members communicate with one another, which in turn will boost their team contributions at work.
Continue reading “Making the Most of Communication Styles Within Business”
Social Science Insights 