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

Social Science Quote of the Month

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
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Two older women and one man are walking down the street, with their arms interlocked

Ageing and Stereotypes

Professor Bill Von Hippel, psychologist, finds that older people rely more on stereotypes to make decisions which can make them more inflexible to new ideas and to changes.

Continue reading “Ageing and Stereotypes”
Close up of two people with outstretched hands touching

Social Science of Helping Others

Sociology and psychology studies show that supporting people by complementing their knowledge and talents has better outcomes in comparison to times when we impose our help upon others. This applies with parenting, between couples, and in times of conflict involving strangers.

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A man holds a smiling ballon and a sign that says 'smile for peace,' while another man sings on the street of Sydney

Psychology of Happiness

Cornell University Psychologist, Dr Thomas Gilovich, has studied how experiences have a longer lasting cognitive benefit than the happiness that comes from material goods.

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Men work on a train track

Rethinking Motivations for Paid Work

Psychologist, Prof Barry Schwartz, argues that making paid work more meaningful for both blue and white collar workers begins with changing what we think about the motivations of paid labour. 

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