Saturday, December 23, 2006
Blind Item
Which new mother was seen carousing around Boston with a tall, handsome blonde man at various clubs and afterhours bars while her newborn son was left at home with the nanny? The paparazzi were able to snap a photo of the child, reputedly named Anders, while the nanny was out to get a pack of cigarettes. Hopefully the sociologist mother will learn how to cut back on her hours of late night partying now that Anders is in town!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Tastes Like Sociology
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Sociology -- for a definition of our field.
SOCIOLOGY:
For sheer lack of intelligibility, sociology is far and away the number one subject. I sat through hundreds of hours of sociology courses, and read gobs of sociology writing, and I never once heard or read a coherent statement. This is because sociologists want to be considered scientists, so they spend most of their time translating simple, obvious observations into scientific-sounding code. If you plan to major in sociology, you'll have to learn to do the same thing. For example, suppose you have observed that children cry when they fall down. You should write:
"Methodological observation of the sociometrical behavior tendencies of prematurated isolates indicates that a casual relationship exists between groundward tropism and lachrimatory, or 'crying,' behavior forms." If you can keep this up for fifty or sixty pages, you will get a large government grant. http://pages.infinit.net/garrick/jokes/truthcollege.html
SOCIOLOGY:
For sheer lack of intelligibility, sociology is far and away the number one subject. I sat through hundreds of hours of sociology courses, and read gobs of sociology writing, and I never once heard or read a coherent statement. This is because sociologists want to be considered scientists, so they spend most of their time translating simple, obvious observations into scientific-sounding code. If you plan to major in sociology, you'll have to learn to do the same thing. For example, suppose you have observed that children cry when they fall down. You should write:
"Methodological observation of the sociometrical behavior tendencies of prematurated isolates indicates that a casual relationship exists between groundward tropism and lachrimatory, or 'crying,' behavior forms." If you can keep this up for fifty or sixty pages, you will get a large government grant. http://pages.infinit.net/garrick/jokes/truthcollege.html
Monday, December 18, 2006
Ode to the Hottest Sociologist of All Time...
Punk Rock before Punk Rock, C. Wright Mills: the ultimate sociology heart throb.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Funny or not? (http://www.miller-co.com/socio/goodsoc.html)
Goodman's Sociology for Short Attention-Spans
This is a list of sociological thinkers that was created in jest by Mike Goodman (with some input from Tom Conroy and me). Mike has a way of summarizing articles, books and even entire theories into extremely succinct soundbites. So, whether you need to know this stuff for qualifying exams or if you want to sound intelligent at a party, this list should set you straight.
If you have any comments, complaints or additions for the list, just let Mike know.
DISCLAIMER: We take NO responsibility for the following:
This is a list of sociological thinkers that was created in jest by Mike Goodman (with some input from Tom Conroy and me). Mike has a way of summarizing articles, books and even entire theories into extremely succinct soundbites. So, whether you need to know this stuff for qualifying exams or if you want to sound intelligent at a party, this list should set you straight.
| Karl Marx | Life's not fair, let's all share! |
| Emile Durkheim | You get the ankles, I'll get the wrists. |
| Max Weber | All work and no play... |
| Georg Simmel | I feel like I am ze Country Mouse in ze Zitty, Ja? |
| Jurgen Habermas | Why can't we all just get along? |
| Talcott Parsons | I have a diagram that explains EVERYTHING! |
| Pierre Bourdieu | Kids, stay in school. |
| Michel Foucault | Er... donnez-moi le gagball. |
| Erving Goffman | Where's that #$@%!! waiter? |
| Jean Baudrillard | Real=fake; life=Disneyland |
| Robert Merton | Sometimes things happen for bad reasons and sometimes we can't see the reasons right away. |
| Herbert Blumer | It's all in your mind. |
| Louis Althusser | It's not in your mind. |
| C. Levi-Strauss | Myths are cool. |
| Amitai Etzioni | C'mon people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, we've got to love one another right now. |
| Clifford Geertz | Ooh, look, a cock fight! How Shakespearean! |
| Randall Collins | (sung) Let me entertain you... |
| Rational Choice Theory | Choose, or lose. |
| British Cultural Studies | It's not so bad to spend time in front of the telly. |
DISCLAIMER: We take NO responsibility for the following:
- Failed exams as a result of your referring solely to this list for a study guide.
- Rejected papers as a result of quoting these gems in an attempt to "set up a theoretical framework."
- Boos and hisses at the ASA meeting for using these gems in your presentations.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
When sociology parties go bad....
Can anyone guess which sociologist this is? HINT: she has a not-so-secret crush on Theda (wonder what her "MANfriend" has to say about that??)
Britney watch out, there is a sociologist on the town who is about three spiked hot chocolates away from stealing your thunder!
She claims to be a homosexual...
But the evidence says otherwise!!!! C'mon, we all KNOW you're straight!!!
Some links that amuse me....
http://socioeconomicsohwhatalaugh.ytmnd.com/
http://heynicepants.ytmnd.com/
http://chomskybob.ytmnd.com/
don't forget to turn your sound on!
http://heynicepants.ytmnd.com/
http://chomskybob.ytmnd.com/
don't forget to turn your sound on!
Friday, December 15, 2006
"Nothing Better Than a Murder"
A warning to all of you: excessive sociological thinking leads to murder and insanity. Think about this next time you are in your office for more than an hour!
On November 16, 1980, Louis Althusser strangled his wife to death. This had been preceded by a period of intense mental instability. The exact circumstances are debated, with some claiming it was deliberate, others accidental. Althusser himself claimed not to have a clear memory of the event. Since he was alone with his wife when she died, it is difficult to come to firm conclusions. Althusser was diagnosed as suffering from diminished responsibility, and he was not tried, but instead committed to the Sainte-Anne psychiatric hospital. Althusser remained in hospital until 1983. Upon release, he moved to Northern Paris and lived reclusively, seeing few people and no longer working, except for producing his autobiography. He died of a heart attack on October 22, 1990 at the age of 72.
New lady for CB?
Which first year has been spending an alarming amount of time with a new-found theorist? He'd been spotted carrying her book around campus, even going so far as to dine with it...This Durkheim lover is now moving on to (in his words) "the best book I've ever read." Could this be the beginning of a beautiful theoritcal relationship?
Thursday, December 14, 2006
G-Ritz a Fatty?
G-Ritz looks so bloated after a long night of drinking at the Hollywood hotspot The Drink with his superhot friends William Julius Wilson and Jimmy Fallon. He has obviously gained lots of weight since his last full feature publication. Ease off the McDonalds G-Ritz!
(Not so) Blind Item:
Who's been spending far too much time in the beer halls? Word is that this world famous theorist can't even bring home a decent paycheck for his wife, as he spends all of his patron's money on beer and women...Witnesses say Karl often stays out until well past dawn, singing and shouting about how all alcohol should be free...This disturbing behavior is nothing new for the former president of the Trier Tavern Club Drinking Society. The last time he landed in the gutter, his college grades suffered as a result...Grades first, marriage next? A certain Ms. Jenny von Westphalen might want to curb her hubby's "nights out" with the Hegel Crowd.
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