Harvard created this. It spent over a century positioning itself as THE TOP of American academia and THE VOICE of science, social science, and humanistic thought. Other academics knew it wasn't true. But the public bought it. This is why so many public officials came from Harvard.

Honestly, the Harvard newspaper ought to run a piece on all of the NYT’s coverage and what they distort and why. THAT I would read.

MAGA authoritarianism can not be maintained indefinitely. But it could last 20 or 30 years. Huntingdon's book the Third Wave shows compellingly that authoritarian regimes generally last this long. Franco and Russia went longer but they were exceptions. This will not go away in 2028.

Groan. An antifa who actually does something legitimately bad. No one, left or right, needed or wanted this.

Picking majors and minors is not the same as choosing a quest for your life. Pick the work you want to do. The road to that will combine coursework, independent reading - often online - and getting experience. The major serves the life purpose. The major does nothing without a life purpose.

I'll always remember the rise of the Tea party, because it mirrored (in a fun house-mirror sort of way) the rise of the OWS movement, which I was apart of By 2010, there were literally tens of thousands of "tea party" Republicans elected into Congress, it's called the "Tea Party Freshman Class"

At any point in the last 3 decades, the DNC could have ridden the momentum of these populist movements to gain seats in Congress, or gain political capital for progressive legislation. ...but they didn't, they NEVER did, not a single movement.

Reviewer 1: We need citations from past sociological studies of changes in Taylor Swift relationships on population well-being. Reviewer 2: This needs decolonialization. Concentrating on the personal life of Travis Kelce ignores the structural fact that he plays for the imperially-named Chiefs.

Predictions of employment levels and skill levels from tech change are error fraught. There are always unexpected effects that always become apparent later. We ARE due for an employment collapse which the AI boom will contribute to. We are overdue for a K cycle downturn.

Wealth inequality mattered. But other sociological factors are in the mix for causing societal decline. The adverse response to globalization increased nationalism and increased racism. This reduced cooperation and unity. The Middle Class anti-tax revolt did not help. Govt was hamstrung.

I just got word as to what the territory swap between Russia and the Ukraine is going to be. Russia is going to get the Ukraine. The Ukraine will get Greenland. It would have been nice if they had invited the Prime Minister of Denmark to the meeting. They can fix that later.

What the fork is Donald Trump doing showing up at the Chelsea World Cup Club Championship Celebration lifting the trophy? Is Chelsea an American team? (They are British) Did Donald Trump contribute to their victory? (No.) Or this his inability to let anyone else have positive camera attention?

‪Samuel Cohn‬ Want to read a book that predicted all this and was published before the election? Try my All Societies Die. The ethnic warfare stuff, the government shrinkage, the anti-education, and generalized mistrust I nailed. I SO wish I had been wrong.

Want to read a book that predicted all this and was published before the election? Try my All Societies Die. The ethnic warfare stuff, the government shrinkage, the anti-education, and generalized mistrust I nailed. I SO wish I had been wrong.

Any bets on how far Elon Musk's political party gets? If one was really really really going to start a third party in the United States, It would help if one was popular. Having most of the country hate your guts is not good in a party leader.

Ever notice that when you post things on Bluesky nobody responds? When you post things on X you get a response. Bluesky had such promise six months ago. Where did the community interaction go?

Gavin Newsom can stand, sit, lean sideways and jump up and down. He has little he can do here. Blaming Newsom is a distraction. Don't blame nearby Democrats just because they are convenient and won't throw you in jail if you criticize them. That is facile Sausalito quality leftism.

Two things will happen soon. a) China will avoid the new tariffs by simply trans-shipping their merchandise through other countries. b) Large big box and online retailers will jack their prices up because of "China tariffs" End result: China No Pain. You Big Pain.

Some Americans won. Anyone who bought stocks or bonds cheaply during the dive did very well.

With all that training, why the (*$Y@+ do you need to take a class in technical writing? Just do the writing and be done with it!

The good guys will win ultimately ... But we do not win tomorrow. The invader takes territory. We drive him back. History is on the side of justice and decency.

Law schools don't get a vote in what happens in the world. Where rule of law doesn't exist, law professors are empty theorists. When rule of law does exist, law journals are toolboxes for the rationalization of pre-existing opinions. Law schools have pretty buildings and people with big egos.

All nations, not just America, are hydra-headed creatures. They have many characters, and many true personalities. Trump may be truly American. So is Jasmine Crockett, Lady Gaga, Jeff Bezos, Travis Kelce, and Bishop Marianne Edgar Budde who gave the strong sermon to Trump right in his face.

Sociology has a history that is in part evil, but in the modern sense sociology absolutely offers a window that no other discipline can into the unique systems of power and consolidation. I didn’t mean to imply anything about the history of the discipline.

There were plenty of sociologists who sided with the authorities. Remember Parsons? Modernization theory? Remember when Negroes were a minority whose family structure kept them from integrating into American society?

Measuring technological progress is a lot harder than one thinks. Technology is ANY improvement in ANY way of doing ANYTHING. What we value as hard science does not cover the entire range of technological improvements. And neglected populations such as women have their innovations discounted.

Any of you sociologists out there want to teach sociology for free?

Accountability means accountability to Elon Musk. Accountability to Liberals and Democrats is not a thing. Frankly, I don't think even Trump knows what Elon Musk is doing. Which is fine by Musk ... and it is going to stay that way.

Disability advocates no longer have any power on anything. If Trump decided he wanted to throw medically challenged people down the stairs just for his own entertainment, He can now do that ... and neither the victims or their advocates would have any ability to protest on their behalf.

The biodiversity-diversity mishmash is to play to a MAGA crowd. However, a Trump department of agriculture is going to be anti-ecology, anti-sustainability, and anti-payments to anyone who is not a billionaire So underneath the playing dumb, she knows what she is doing.

The asteroid 2024 YR4 that was supposed to hit Earth is now judged as having a zero chance of making contact. Donald Trump does it again!

I have not been happy about the AI options at my disposal. I tried Gemini over at Google and am blown away. It does all sorts of things the other AI programs could not do - even if you coached them and made repeated requests. Being able to coach a personal assistant matters.

Trump is making good on cutting programs - particularly progressive ones that did good things. This is bad. But his other shocking threats have been distractors. Standard real estate ploy. Threaten to raze the historic building unless the city gives you concessions.

Sociology is shrinking. This means grad school slots are down and so are jobs. Only the strongest candidates survive. The irony of rejected candidates having stronger records than the faculty who reject them had at that point in their own careers ... well ...

Academic freedom for individual professors teaching is going to be an early casualty here ... completely by design. Research freedom will survive only with diplomacy and artfulness but that will be constrained too. Sociology will stop being taught in a large % of our universities. Its that bad.

DC has never been allowed to govern itself because that would have meant more non-slave votes ... and nowadays more liberal black people votes. North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were made big empty states with two senators to keep rural white people controlling places like DC.

Racism screws over white people. Always has. Whites turning down free health care because that would mean white people paying for black people's health? They did that.

Issa Rae not appearing at a Kennedy Center event may have been just what Trump wanted. Expect a rising celebration of white low and middle brow culture. Symphonies playing the 1812 Overture. Kid Rock.

I have a ton of wonderful books on my desk I have promised myself I will read. And I am going to get to them today. Just one look at the news first and AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH Doomscrolldoomscrolldoomscrolldoomscrolldoomscrolldoomscrolldoomscrolldoomscroll.................

Do not underestimate the rising importance of Eastern European independence from the Russian energy grid. This was a persistent but quiet Biden and EU joint policy goal. It was not in the papers, but the work went on steadily. The effects will be significant.

Don't get distracted by the Biden Security Clearance. Trump will throw lots of random misdirection grand gestures to keep you from paying attention to the Musk takeover of government.

This is a legendary posting. It is the first posting by an author who actually LIKES the reviewers who reviewed their manuscript. Most reviewers are loathed, execrated, abhorred and despised. The term "Reviewer 2" is synonymous with "Arch Villain".

If you needed any additional proof that Trump is in bed with Putin and the Russian oligarchs, here you go.

We sure has heck haven't been bored in the last two weeks. Durkheim wrote about this in suicide. Major political events reduce anomie - and presumably boredom too.

Don't kid yourself that all the bad things that are happening are the result of Elon Musk. The Heritage Foundation was the author of Project 2025. There is a huge array of big money conservative action committees supporting work like Project 2025. Lots of rich people wanted this to happen.

Don't forget. Trump's Gaza shocker is just a distracting headline to get attention away from Musk. The Musk dismantling of the government to set up Trump family and Musk raiding is the main story. Trump is too cowardly to sent American troops to Gaza. They might die and he would look bad.

A steady flow of payments to the Trump family may be able to stall things. Trump Plaza Tulum?