Lake Ontario, 1688 Even a short trip from Michigan to Canada refreshes the US visitor's confidence that an inclusive multicultural democracy is not only possible, but that it is being happily experienced in North America already. That happy democratic experience is being lived in Canada -- and most emphatically not in the United States. Crossing …
Property relations and violence
If we accept the premise that exploitative tenancy, credit, and employment relations are fundamental to the enduring patterns of low human wellbeing in much of rural Asia, Africa, and the Americas, then changing those relations is the critical factor for improving human development in the coming 50 years. But if we also recognize the current …
Making decisions in a risky world
Senator Margaret Chase Smith stands up to Senator Joe McCarthy People make choices among alternatives, and they can't know the future. So they can anticipate that each option they face usually presents risks, but they can't always anticipate those risks. Certainly they can't guarantee that by pushing this button the desired outcome will happen; rather, …
On the Fourth of July
Selected materials removed from National Park sites at instructions from Trump administration (legal cases underway) (Gemini generated) It is quite difficult to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country under the current conditions. The occasion has been hijacked by a president and a political party that have no dignity, no respect for the basic values …
Poland’s self-limiting revolution in 1980
Military coup, Poland, December 1981 Poland is an important example of the paths taken by the citizens of satellite states within the former Soviet Union. Soviet domination of the governments of Poland, Hungary, East Germany (GDR), Czechoslovakia, and other satellite states led to uprisings in several states, resulting in violent military interventions by the Soviet …
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Far-right support in Germany
The question of how the political values and attitudes of young people are formed has come up frequently in recent posts. This question is especially interesting in the case of the rise of far-right parties in Germany, including especially the AfD. What is of particular interest is that there seem to be several divisions at …
Racial discrimination in employment today
There is a view in the United States that impactful racial discrimination has declined significantly over time. This view flies in the face of an afternoon's walk through Detroit, the south side of Chicago, or the Bronx, where racial segregation in housing and the disadvantages that flow from that system are evident. But what is …
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A more pluralistic analytical sociology
No Kings Protest Anti-Orban Protest A central theme in Rethinking Analytical Sociology is my concern that the founders of analytical sociology presented the field as a general and universally applicable approach to sociological research. Associated with this claim is what I called "ABM fundamentalism" -- the view that computational models could and should be applied …
Organizational failure — upcoming video seminar
Here is an interesting opportunity to do some thinking about the ways that organizational features create hazards for technology systems at many levels... Dear problem-solving communityPlease join us on Friday, May 15, 11AM Eastern time (17:00 CET), at this Zoom Link for a problem-solving coffee hour with Catino Maurizio (University of Milano-Bicocca) on "Solving the scapegoat problem in organizations." Abstract: When a large …
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Racist extremism and inter-group violence
Ethnic cleansing, Srebrenica, July 1995 Milan Obaidi is a prolific Danish social psychologist who has worked extensively on right-wing extremism. His scientific publications provide greater detail on his emerging views of the psychology of extremism. A useful document for the ongoing discussion of the mechanisms of right-wing extremism here is a well-documented 2020 summary of …
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Understanding Society 