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Understanding Society is an academic blog by Daniel Little that explores a series of topics in the philosophy of social science and the workings of the social world. Published continuously since 2007, the blog has treated a wide range of topics, from the nature of causal mechanisms to the idea of emergence to the political dynamics of right-wing extremism to the causes of large-scale technological disaster. Readers should consider the blog an example of “open-source philosophy”. It is an experiment in thinking, one idea at a time.

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November 3, 2023
Brecht on Galileo on scienceBertolt Brecht's play *The Life of Galileo* expresses a powerful critique of the role played by scientists in a class society. His Galileo expresses self-contempt for the fact that "science" is the companion to "class oppression", and that his own career facilitated that alliance. "I handed my knowledge to those in power for them to use, fail to use, misuse — whatever best suited their objectives."https://undsoc.org/2023/11/02/brecht-on-galileo-on-science/
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November 1, 2023
Thinking about social classAre Marx's theories about the nature and importance of social class still insightful? They are, at many levels: exploitation, inequality, ideology, political behavior, influence on policy, sources of collective action, ... https://undsoc.org/2023/10/31/thinking-about-social-class/
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September 20, 2023
George Orwell on historical truthOrwell spends a lot of time in his writings on the question of truth and lies in politics. One important source of his convictions on this subject derives from his experience in the Spanish Civil War. This post considers his own experience of the street fighting in Barcelona (May 1937) and the radical lies told about this event by the Communist press and the Spanish government at the time.#history https://undsoc.org/2023/09/20/orwell-on-historical-truth/
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September 14, 2023
An absolutist Socrates?Socrates is often revered as a founder of western philosophy. But some of his views are strikingly at odds with our contemporary ideas of freedom. In particular, he seems to have a deeply absolutist conception of the state's authority as expressed in the Platonic dialogue Crito ...#philosophy https://undsoc.org/2023/09/13/an-absolutist-socrates/
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September 4, 2023
A horrendous massacre in Tamil Nadu, 1968Massacre of 44 dalit people in 1968 in Tamil Nadu illustrated the workings of oppression involving both caste and class. Landless worker victims were dalit, and poorest of the poor. Land owners could resist increases in wages, through structural advantage within the property system and their coercive power (their ability to call upon armed thugs to carry out violence against dalit protests). Attackers went free.#atrocity https://undsoc.org/2023/09/04/a-horrendous-massacre-in-tamil-nadu-1968/