Hi, I’m here to spread a little sociological love:
Sociology is such an interesting and mind-opening subject, and many of the topics people post about on Steemit are inherently sociological, and even though I’ve only spent a few hours browsing around, I feel quite at home here already.
This is possibly because, as a new economic and informational structure, the whole Steemit project and everyone weaving its web, lends itself to sociological analysis and questioning, all of which I’ll be posting more about as I go.
My sort of sociology involves asking three basic questions:
What is this thing we call society? What are its structures, what kinds of ways of being does mainstream society call upon us to act out?
What sort of world views and habits ‘lock people’ into mainstream society?
What are the alternatives to mainstream society? How viable are these alternatives?
To provide what are hopefully very brief answers to these questions (all of which I'll be expanding on at great length in hundreds of posts to come in the coming years):
(1) I think we live in a global neoliberal order, in which Transnational Corporations (mainly oil, pharma, and tech) companies wield increasing power through supra-national institutions while nation state bureaucracies still wield significant, but declining power. Together these have encouraged a highly materialistic, consumerist way of being in the world which has resulted in an unequal, chaotic, and climatically challenged world.
This ‘bigger picture’ cannot be ignored if we are to truly understand ourselves.
(2) I believe there are several norms and values which ‘lock people’ into the above system and perpetuate it – including, but not limited to (a) shallow materialism and consumerism, (b) our obsession with self-construction and expression, especially the ‘myth of the individual self’, (c) the fact that we embrace ‘busy-hurried lives’ almost as a badge of honour and (d) fear and anxiety – which result in us living in safe social media bubbles and not exploring alternatives.
(3) Finally, there are lots of alternatives out there: from the revolutionary to the eco-communities, from the consciously disconnected offline and face to face to block chain based alternatives such as this. I’m especially interested in Zen Buddhism, Permaculture and peer to peer networks as alternatives.
Forthcoming posts on Steemit:
I'm going to try and stick to a weekly structure - so I'll aim to post on the following topics on the following days:
Saturdays: sociological theories of society, system and the self: in which I'll summarize and comment on a range of theories from Marxism to Postmodernism;
Sundays: posts on the 'lock in': reflections on how norms and values (such as consumerism) lock us into sub-optimal ways of being..
Mondays: exploring alternatives, including my reflections on Steemit.
Tuesdays - Fridays - I'll be sharing comments on just 'stuff going' on - what I read in the news, watch on T.V. and I'll also share some of my favourite data visualisations.
NB I’m here to discuss as much as post on these topics!
Ulterior motive: can Steemit help me quit my job?
My main workaday job is teaching which I’ve been doing for 15 years now and TBH I am getting a little bit sick of it - I feel increasingly trapped, limited, and hemmed in by the performative demands made of me by the marketised UK education system, and by the fact that it’s a place-based job, which just seems so utterly unnecessary in an online age.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against the kids I teach, nothing against the people I work with, it’s just the damn system man, there is no escape from it, it is no longer possible to just ‘close the door and teach’ in mainstream education and it’s bringing me down!
Hence an ‘ulterior motive for I’ve joined Steemit – it’s part of my strategy to transition out of my normal workaday job and start earning by posting about the kind of sociology that interests me – outlined above.
Welcome on Steemit! You are gonna like it really soon :D
I wish you the best! and hope to see you soon.
Hey thanks very much for the warm welcome! Happy to be here...
Hello, @revisesociology ! I followed you and UpVoted you!
Very cool that you are here! Steem on!
I wish you happiness! You will be happy on SteemIt!
Thanks for the nice welcome, appreciated!
Hey Karl, a very nice and well done intro my friend :)
welcome and glad to see more people like you on SteemIt !
And i like your standpoint. The world went indeed a little
into the wrong direction. I think with platforms like Steemit
bigger companies like facebook will see the potentional loss
when to many people stop on FB to go to places like Steemit.
Eventually it will become a pressure but if and when they
are changing anything into the system to make it more fair
either Steemit took over the world already :P hehe
or they are just to late with new platforms popping up
and getting more attention.
But greed is a huge problem in the world ,
don't mind others as long you can benefit of it quickly and
in the sort term right.
Glad your here to spread some wise words :)
looking forward to see some posts !
Given you a follow.
Cheers, it's good to connect, and hopefully yes more peoples will gradually drift this way, although I'm wary of 'spreading myself too thin' - working, blogging, socialising, and working out, and err, when am I supposed to sleep?
Exciting addition, Karl. Everyday another quality creator adds to Steemit I top-up my overfilled jar of hope with even more excitement. From Lagos, Nigeria, I look forward to your world. Following you, big man.
Mind maps are the best! 😉
Welcome @revisesociology.
And Infographics, love those too, the good ones at least!
Oh! You. Are. Here. You! Always spots the good stuff ❤😉
Congratulations! This post has been chosen to feature in today's Muxxybot curation post!https://steemit.com/curation/@muxxybot/muxxybot-curation-14
Welcome to Steem @revisesociology I have upvoted and sent you a tip
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Hi and thanks certainly I accept,
Karl.
Oh, and welcome to Steemit.
From a fellow Brit.
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STOPWelcome to steemit @revisesociology. Nice introducing.
Can we be a follower friends? I UpVoted and followed you. I also new in this channel and I collect friends. Can you also follow me and you will get a good contents from me. As you know: if you have a lot of friends you are rich (this is true mainly here ;-)
Enjoy the steemit community!
Sure friend, and welcome too!
Nice to meet you, @revisesociology :) Welcome to Steemit!
welcome steemit family
Interesting read! This seems like a brand new account so I wanted to personally welcome you. Have one upvote from me and keep on steeming!
Getting those big upvotes on a new account can be a daunting task, believe me, so you should try out @MinnowPowerUp where you can earn up to 30% more steem power than just powering up through steemit! It's a subscription based daily upvote bot that draws its power from a delegation pool. I have more info on my experience with the system in this post where I explain how I earn over $1 a day from upvotes.
CommentWealth trolls for trolls and spams the spammers... please be aware @kromosoom that consistent spam comments like yours might eventually result in flags, which hurt your reputation and earning potential. Linking to your own posts in another Steemian's comment thread is really bad form. Next time, try engaging with the author in a way that builds true community here on Steemit!
Thanks, I'll check out yer posts!
Hey Karl! Nice to have you here on Steemit mate :) You seem like a pretty sensible and smart fella, so I would say Im here if you need help but I have an inkling you will be more than fine to find your way on here ;)
Very interesting idea about the daily post breakdowns... never seen that before.. but it brought me to an excellent idea. I dont know if you have heard of the minnowsupportproject or not, but they're an awesome group of people. They have their own radio show and they are looking for radio DJs or hosts who have a skill or an idea that they could talk about every week. Check out their website here if youre looking for more info. We're all in Discords P.A.L Network if you wanna chime in and say hi!! This could be an excellent way for you to both blog and talk about certain ideas to a large audience (thats growing like crazy)
Excellent writing style dude and I look forward to reading some more stellar work from ya!
Hi - thanks @diggerdugg, I'll have a look @ the minowsupportproject for sure, the radio show sounds like a good idea, it's just a matter of time, back to work today, so that's gonna be limited! Good to connect though!
This is very intriguing stuff and I look forward to your upcoming posts! In my economic writing, I focus on corporatism and the collusion between transnationals and the mercantilist governments that are embedded with their revolving-door personnel, which made your #1 ring true. As for your #2, I'm also very interested in the roots of consumerism... the advertising push of Edward Bernays and the very nature of Keynesian economics. And re: your #3: I'm particularly interested in permaculture, hugelkultur and the power of mulch (have you seen the movie Back to Eden?) Anyway, all this to explain why I'm interested in reading your future posts!
If that's the back to Eden with the Christian guy in Washington State (Paul Gautski or something?) who does amazing things with woodchippings and chicken manure than yes! Love the watercress and rosemary growing next to each other. I especially loved his truck too.
Will look forward to engaging (without begging for votes!)
That's him! ha ha
This post received a 1.5% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @diggerdugg! For more information, click here!
Hi Karl, I have found your post thanks to the Muxxybot curation post. I cannot wait to continue reading your almost daily dosage of sociology, but, personally and as a part-time political science student I find extremely strange a guy named Karl with that beard saying he is a sociologist... looks like a fake profile :P
Depends how you define fake, one of those kids....
Welcome to Steemit!
I think you will do very well here on Steemit! I am following you along on your journey!
Thanks, and welcome too!
I just finished reading The Sociological Imagination by C Wright Mills. What a joy to find out where John Lennon got the goods for one of his most acclaimed songs, or so I've allowed myself to imagine. Another thing I was pleased to learn was that Mills didn't know where history and biography bisected, despite being fully aware of where they intersected. Job opening?!
welcome @Revisesociology !! hope you enjoy here as much as i do !! Nice post, i will follow your account, please follow me at @khunpoom
CommentWealth trolls for trolls and spams the spammers... please be aware @khunpoom that consistent spam comments like yours might eventually result in flags, which hurt your reputation and earning potential. Begging for a follow, upvote, or resteem in another Steemian's comment thread is really bad form. Next time, try engaging with the author in a way that builds true community here on Steemit!
Hello there, and welcome :)
Bienvenid@ a steemit!!!! Si quieres sigueme y juntos creceremos dentro de esta comunidad. / Welcome to steemit!!!! If you want to follow me and together we will grow within this community. @cama73ven
I like your thinking very much and suggest you check out @eco-alex and his ecotrain :)
Cheers I will do!
Hi there! It's nice to see another sociology lover on here! Right now I'm finishing up my dissertation to get my doctorate in sociology. As a grad student I taught college level sociology classes and once I've got my degree I might continue in that profession. I gave you a follow. I'd be interested to see what you write and are interested in from the field. One tip: if you write educational content use the #steemiteducation tag. There is a nice community of education people here who enjoy sharing and reading education posts. You might get more views using that tag. You might also want to follow @steemiteducation who is good about sharing content in the education fields. Good luck here!
Hello Karl, I'm happy I've discovered you, even 7 months later.
Actually, it seems YOU have discovered me (@GINAbot informed me of that) ... but anyway, who cares who discovered who first,right ?
Anyway, thanks to blockchain technology I realized how fascinating sociology is, and how even more fascinating is the interplay between sociology and economy! I've thus started reading some John Elster ("Cement of Society") and some Granovetter and others and I'm very happy I did so.
Steem on !