Tag: Politics

Social Science Quotes
Four people hold large, colourful speech bubbles over their heads while standing outside, in front of large trees

Social Science Quote of the Month

Social Science Insights

Take a look at our all-new-and improved social science quotes! These graphics are designed to promote social science knowledge and its positive impact on the public good.

  • Illustration of Edward Sapir. He is a white man, with a receeding hairline and glasses. He stands outdoors in front of trees, wearing a white shirt and tie, with his arms out and his hands on his hips. Quote: "language is a guide to 'social reality.'"
  • Peter Berger is a white Austrian-American man. He is bald and has his hands interlocked at his waist. He wears a blue suit and a colourful red tie as he sits on a chair. Quote is about the excitement of sociology
  • Pat Dudgeon is a Bardi woman with dark skin and white hair swept back. She wears glasses and drop earrings, as well as a colourful yellow patterned top. She is smiling as she stands before trees. Quote is about Indigenous understandings of mental health
  • Foucault is a white French man who is bald. He leans to the side holding his hand to behind his ear and he is smiling widely. He wears a suit and glasses. Quote at the top is, “The intellectual was rejected..."
  • Illustration of Margaret Mead. She is a white American woman with grey hair. She is smiling, and wears glasses. She stands before a wood panel. Quote at the top is about compliants of society moving too fast
  • Illustration fo Yuri Kochiyama. She is a Japanese woman standing in the street. She wears 60s glasses and a hankerchief over her ahri and folds her hands over her wait.
  • Illustration of Stella Young. She is a disabled white woman with bright red hair, and matching lipstick and polka dot shoes. Quote" I suppose it doesn't matter what inspiration porn says to us as people with disabilties
  • Illustration of Ruth Benedict. She is a white older woman with grey hair swepped back. She is in a library. Quote: It is not possibel to depend entirely upon what each nation says
  • Illustration of Sidney Mintz. He is an elderly white man who leans forward as he stands behind a couch, with his chin resting on his palms, as he smiles broadly. A large bookcase is behind him. Quote: What constitutes 'good food'...
  • Illustration of Rosa Clemente. She is an Afro Puerto Rican woman. She has spiky curly, grey hair. She wears gold hoop earrings. Quote: Acticvism can happen with 5,000 people or it can happen when you're walking home...
  • Illustration of Paul Valery, standing in profile. He is an elderly white man with wavy white hair and a bushy moustache. Quote: The purpose of psychology
  • Illustration of James Coleman. He is a white, bald man with white hair. He stands in front of a blackboard with maths equations. Quote: "schools bring little influecen to bear on a child's achivement that is independent of his background and general social context"
  • Illustration of Martin Luther King Jr. He is a Black American man with short black hair and a moustache. He stands before a window. Quote: "Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up..."
  • Drawing of Friedrich Nietzsche, a white man with a bushy moustache, a receeding hairline, and auburn hair. Quote: "no, it is precisely facts that do not exist, only interpretations"
  • Illustration of Gabor Mate. He is a white, Jewish man with white skin. He is pictured ina green jumper with blue hair and bushy eye brows. Quote: "We may not be responsible for the world that created our minds..."
  • Pencil drawing of Che Guevara, wearing his iconic beret with the star in the centre. He has light brown skin, a thin moustache and shoulder-length hair, and stands in front of a red background. Quote: "...If you are capable of trembling with indignation..."
  • Illustration of Cornel West. He is a Black American man wearing a suit. He has dark skin and a tall afro, and holds his fingers interlaced at his chest. Quote: "Quality leadership is netiher the product of one great individual nor the result of odd historical accidents..."
  • Drawing of Betrand Russell, an older white man with striking blue eyes. He is wearing a suit and holds a pipe. Quote: "What will eb the good of the conquest of leisure and health, if no one remembers how to use them..."
  • Pencil drawing of bell hooks. She is a Black American woman with short hair. She wears a red jacket and holds her hand to the side of her face. She stands in front of a colourful background of geometric shapes. Quote: "Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploirtaion, and oppression..."
  • Illustration of Aileen Moreton-Robinson, a Goenpul woman, with dark skin and short brown hair. She wears glasses and a jacket, as she sits ona green couch, smiling. Quote says: So even as I work to undo injustices, I always do so as part of a system...'
  • Philomena Essed is a Dutch woman of Surinamese descent. She is a Black woman with short, curly white hair. She wears glasses and looks out a window. Quote is about race as an ideological construction
Continue reading “Social Science Quote of the Month”
Social Science in Action

Law of the Journey

Social Science Insights

Taking a look back at Ai Weiwei’s exhibition at the Biennale of Sydney, 2018. The work is called, ‘Law of the Journey, 2017.’ It tackles Ai Weiwei’s ongoing critique of European nations denying basic human rights to refugees.

Continue reading “Law of the Journey”
Social Science Issues

Applied Anthropology of Extremism

Social Science Insights

An investigative journalist drew on anthropological training to infiltrate extremist groups. Dr Julia Ebner is now concerned that extremist tactics have become mainstream in international politics.

Continue reading “Applied Anthropology of Extremism”
News and Events
A Black person is seen from behind at a protest, holding a sign. It reads: it's a privilege to educate yourself about racism instead of experiencing it

Interview on Intersectionality

Social Science Insights

I was interviewed by writer and social justice coordinator with the American Humanist Association, Sincere Kirabo, about misunderstandings of intersectionality and the problems with the term “identity politics.”

Continue reading “Interview on Intersectionality”
Social Science Issues

Senator Malarndirri McCarthy

Social Science Insights

In her historic maiden speech, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, Yanyuwa woman and Member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, addresses Indigenous resilience, support for migrants and refugees, and solidarity with LGBTQIA Australians.

Continue reading “Senator Malarndirri McCarthy”
Social Science in Action
Sign above St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, says: Let's fully welcome refugees

Stop Australia’s Lifetime Ban of Refugees

Social Science Insights

This coming Tuesday 7 February 2017, Australia is set to introduce a lifetime ban on refugees who arrive by boat.

Continue reading “Stop Australia’s Lifetime Ban of Refugees”
Social Science Issues
Parliament House, Canberra, lit up at night

How to Address Democratic Apathy

Social Science Insights

Sociological research shows that the longest established democracies suffer from the greatest level of democratic apathy. This is because people generally distrust their government.

Continue reading “How to Address Democratic Apathy”
Social Science Issues

Economics for Social Infrastructure

Social Science Insights

In 2013 Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz argued Australia is overly focused on debt without putting this into international context.

Continue reading “Economics for Social Infrastructure”
Social Science Quotes
A Black man's hand puts in a folded ballot paper into a cardboard box

Powerful Five Questions of Democracy

Social Science Insights

‘The House will forgive me for quoting myself, but in the course of my life I have developed five little democratic questions. If one meets a powerful person–Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates–ask them five questions: “What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?” If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.’

Tony Benn, in his final speech as a Member of Parliament to the House of Commons, United Kingdom
Continue reading “Powerful Five Questions of Democracy”