Paul Nervy Notes
“Jokes, poems, stories, and a lot of philosophy, psychology, and sociology.”


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Sociology, society.  ---  .This section is about society and culture.  Topics include: ( ) America.  ( ) Culture.  ( ) Global society.  ( ) Groups  ( ) Individual and society.  ---  1/24/2006


Sociology, society.  ---  (1) Analysis of a society.  (2) Judgment of a society.  Psychological, physical, and economic/financial health.  Optimal, healthy, sub-optimal, unhealthy.  Smart, sane, ethical.  Efficient, effective, practical.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  (1) Discover: science.  (2) Make: technology.  (3) Trade: business.  (4) Order: politics.  (5) Think: philosophy.  (6) Relax: art and entertainment.  (7) Types and levels of development of above.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  (1) Societies in the past.  Small.  Tribes.  Villages.  (2) Society today is a global society.  Communication of ideas via the Internet.  Travel of people across borders.  (3) Society in the future will be interplanetary, intersolar or even intergalactic?  Society in the future will have more diverse inhabitants, perhaps other life forms?  Communication and transportation will be far and wide.  ---  10/13/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  (1) What was the nature of ancient primitive human societies?  Did they have a common universal nature or were they highly diversified?  (2) Societies today, are they basically the same or are they highly diversified?  (3) What are real world examples of the "best" and "worst" societies?  What are their traits?   (4) How good can society get?  How low the rates of crime, illness, poverty, war, oppression, exploitation, corruption, ignorance?  How much truth, justice, equality and freedom can we get?  (5) Is there a "human nature" of individual humans?  Is there a "societal nature" of human societies?  Is it basically good or evil?  Is it a result of nature or nurture?  Can it be changed, and if so to what degree?  ---  5/17/2002


Sociology, society.  ---  America today is a hyper competitive society, and that is a bad thing.  America is obsessed with winning.  American is obsessed with being the best.  To view every situation as a competition; and to be obsessed with winning; and to be obsessed with being the best; leads to policies of imperialism, domination, and bullying, and those policies are wrong.  ---  11/13/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  America worships the dollar.  All values subordinate to money.  All activities subordinate to business.  ---  12/2/2003


Sociology, society.  ---  America, don't think you are so special.  America, you are not number one.  America, you are not the only democracy, nor the best democracy, nor the first democracy.  America, much of your success is due to luck, not hard work.  America was lucky to have many natural resources.  America was lucky to be isolated from world wars by two oceans.  America, not everything you do is good.  America, much of your aggression you hide from your people.  America look at your mistakes.  America, national pride goes before a fall.  America, KKK McCarthy Kowboys, so called land of the free, is it the freedom to invade countries, is it the freedom to split skulls?  America, you're not so hot.  America you're not so high and not so mighty.  ---  9/28/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  America, good and bad.  (1) America at its worst.  Bigotry.  Willful ignorance and isolation.  Intolerance.  Overconsumption.  The mistaken view of some Americans that, "We are the best, we are rich, we are strong, you stink, you don't matter, and we are going to exploit you for our purposes and interests."  (2) America at its best.  Justice.  Equality.  Freedom.  Fairness.  ---  1/10/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  America, good and bad.  (1) Pros of American society.  What's good about American society?  What good does American society contribute to the world?  Jazz.  Blues.  Individualism.  Democracy.  Independence.  (2) Cons of American society.  What's bad about American society and culture?  What bad does American society and culture contribute to the world?  Overconsumption.  Pollution.  Bullying foreign policy.  Exploiter and oppressor.  Religious fundamentalism.  Anti-intellectualism.  Intolerance.  Bigotry.  Prejudice.  Sexual prudery.   Slavery and its aftermath of segregation and racism.  Overemphasis on business and money at the expense of other values.  Obsessed with entertainment, sports, Hollywood, etc.  Obsessed with leisure.  Obesity.  Overproduction and overconsumption.  Rich, relative to other countries.  Big, fat, rich, powerful.  ---  6/26/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  America, good and bad.  America is backward in many ways.  America is backward in its attitudes.  Religion is a major cause of America's backward attitudes.  ---  8/27/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  America, good and bad.  Two views of America.  (1) Worst of America.  Willfully ignorant.  Anti-intellectual.  Prudish about sex.  Religious fanatics.  Arrogant, Americans mistakenly think they are the best.  Rich.  Pigs.  Overconsuming.  (2) Best of America.  Jazz.  Democracy.  ---  6/4/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  America, good and bad.  Worst side of America.  (1) Obsessed with money and business.  (2) Bigoted, prejudiced, intolerant.  (3) Religious fanatics.  (4) Militaristic, imperialist.  ---  6/5/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  America, negative traits.  Americans are characterized by the following: (1) Over-consumptive.  Americans are resource pigs.  Americans use excessive amounts of energy and material goods.  (2) Willfully ignorant.  Apathetic.  Most Americans neither know nor care what is going on in the world.  The only exception is when events directly effect American interests abroad.  (3) Unjustified arrogance.  America thinks it is the best at everything, when, in fact, there are other countries where the quality of life is just as good or better than in America.  Some countries exceed the US in certain areas.  (4) Interventionist.  America imposes itself on other countries.  America coerces and pressures other countries to conform to America's will, and not always in a good way.  ---  9/2/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  America.  (1) Is there today, or was there at anytime in the past, any distinctly American traits?  (2) Is there today, or was there at anytime in the past, a typical American?  (3) Some people might propose the following traits as being quintessentially American:  Frontiersman.  Hard working.  Strong.  Brave.  Not bound by history (revolutionary).  Egalitarian, democratic.  Blue collar, blue jeans.  Uncynical.  Just, fair.  Freedom fighter.  Rural.  Urban.  Suburban.  Smart.  Dumb.  Rock and roller.  (4) I think that, if there is any, the quintessential American trait is health.  Robust physical health and un-repressed, non-neurotic psychological health.  Not that all Americans are healthy, just that Americans strike me as bright-eyed, mongrel hordes.  ---  4/6/2000


Sociology, society.  ---  America.  (1) Much of American society believes in Creationism, and thus much of America is backwards intellectually.  (2) Many people in American society do not support the goals of the United Nations.  The United States pursues a "go it alone" foreign policy.  The United States isolates itself from other countries.  (3) Thus, the United States is isolated and backward, and that makes the United States like a third world country.  ---  9/28/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  America.  The screwed up ethics of the typical American is to work a job and then go home and watch television, except don't watch the news, don't think.  ---  1/1/2006


Sociology, society.  ---  America.  The worst traits of America are converging.  Low-life urban culture, as exemplified by the thug, is converging with low-life rural culture, as exemplified by the redneck, and the result is ignorant, coarse, unethical people.  ---  1/4/2006


Sociology, society.  ---  America.  Typical American works long hours at meaningless job in order to return home and do nothing.  Nothing followed by nothing.  ---  11/11/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  America.  What made America great?  A lot of it had to do with luck, not hard work.  Lucky USA wasn't destroyed in WWII.  Lucky USA has natural resources.  Lucky that the talent of the world came to America to avoid persecution in their homelands.  However, some people mistakenly think it was only hard work that made America great, and these people are turning Americans into workaholics.  ---  8/3/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  America.  Worst traits of America: Rich.  Spoiled.  Fat.  Ignorant.  Apathetic.  ---  4/2/2006


Sociology, society.  ---  American society, a cultural matrix.  Pick one attribute one from each of the following five categories:  (1) Urban.   Suburban.  Rural.  (2) Rich.  Middle class.  Poor.  (3) Old.  Middle aged.  Young.  (4) North.  Middle America.  South.  (5) East coast.  Middle America.  West Coast.  (6) Create demographic segments by picking one attribute from each of the five categories.  How many demographic segments are possible if you pick one attribute from each of the five categories?  (7) Describe the traits of each demographic segment produced when you pick one attribute from each of the five categories.  Give a name to each segment that summarizes the traits of the segment.  ---  12/13/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  How do other nations perceive Americans?  How do Americans perceive themselves?  How do Americans try to portray themselves to others?  ---  6/26/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  In modern American society, you can find groups of people living for anything.  Any idea, any emotion, any object, any action.  Any combination of the above.  ---  5/1/2000


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  Modern America is (1) Obsessed with leisure pleasure.  (2) Idolize pop stars.  (3) Values formed and manipulated by a mass media that knows that sex, fantasy, and delusion sell big.  (4) Mass modern american society: idiotic, neurotic, unethical.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  Modern america.  What are the most important and powerful forces in our society?  (1) Business, (2) The media, (3) Political groups, (4) Technology.  ---  04/30/1993


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  Modern american socio-cultural system (mascs).  (1) Sub-systems: political, economic, work, leisure, art. (2) History: Development.  Evolution, stagnation, devolution.  Degree and rate.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  Modern american socio-cultural system (mascs).  (1) Whoever has power shapes the masses values.  (i.e., laws, media).  (2) Whoever has money shapes values.  (i.e., advertisers).  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  Subgroups.  (1) Categorized by (A) Density: urban, suburban, rural, wild.  (B) Class: upper, middle, lower.  (C) Age: old, middle, young adult, teen, kids.  (C) Geography regions: NE, SE, NW, SW.  East coast, west coast, mid west, plains, rockies, desert.  (2) Analyzed by (A) Structure.  Size, institutions, geographic variations.  (B) Mechanism.  (C) Philosophy and attitudes.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  There are significant ways that modern American society discourages thinking, writing and talking.  ---  10/25/2001


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  There is no distinctly modern society anymore.  There is no distinctly American society anymore.  People have mined time and space for lifestyles.  (1) Time.  People have mined time (history) for lifestyles.  Today in America, you can find people who live as primitives, Luddites, Victorians, and sci-fi futurists.  (2) Space.  People have mined space (geography) for lifestyles.  Today in America, you can find communities of every ethnicity from around the globe who cherish their arts, music, literature, food, clothes and other cultural artifacts.  ---  5/1/2000


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  Two things they do not talk about in polite american culture: money and sex.  Thus they repress the two most important and strongest drives: survival and sex.  This is wrong.  ---  03/10/1989


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  What attitudes and behaviors are distinctly American?  Vs.  What good and bad things is American doing that other nationalities are doing as well?  ---  6/26/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  What do Americans do commonly, consistently or stereotypically?  What do Americans do more so than other nationalities?  Why bother talking about national stereotypes?  Why bother talking about nations?  Why not discuss other sub-national or super-national (international) phenomena?  ---  6/26/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  American society.  Why do other countries and cultures dislike we Americans?  We are rich.  We are powerful.  We are stupid.  We are everywhere.  ---  2/16/2002


Sociology, society.  ---  Average member of society.  What he or she does for work, leisure.  What thinks.  Number and degree of variances.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Awareness (consciousness).  (1) Society's awareness of itself.  (2) Individual's awareness of society.  (3) Society's awareness of individual (human rights?).  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Can society be too big or too complex?  Out of control.  No one knows what is going on.  No one knows what to do.  ---  10/1/1999


Sociology, society.  ---  Categorization of cultures.  Abstract types.  By mode of food production.  By economic system.  By political system.  In general, specific types, specific actual ones.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Change.  Speed, degree, type.  Growth/development, stagnation, devolution/decay.  Historical development of an society.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Classifying categories of people by race, nationality, culture, religion, government, geography, class, sex, age, job, hobbies, philosophy.  Rich/poor, smart/dumb, beautiful/ugly, healthy/unhealthy (mentally, physically), ethical/unethical.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture change.  Teens feel the need to differentiate themselves from their parents.  Teens feel the need to develop a new culture.  Culture changes as a result of teens need to differentiate themselves from their parents.  Teens drive cultural change.  Teens develop new music styles, new fashion styles, new slang styles, new attitude styles, new lifestyles.  Teens are quick to adopt whatever new technology they can find in order to differentiate themselves from their parents.  (2) Yet all humans to some extent have the same basic needs and those basic needs help limit cultural change to some extent.  (3) Technology is another big driver of culture change.  Culture changes within the realm of what is possible technologically.  ---  1/7/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  (1) Be proud of the good points of your culture, but don't be proud of the bad things.  (2) Preserve cultures because cultural diversity is like biodiversity.  (3) Don't be stuck in a culture, and don't let adherence to a culture hold you back from progress.  ---  1/4/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  (1) Cultural diversity is like biodiversity.  Both are valuable and should be preserved.     (2) If you place no value on history and no value on diversity you will have a homogenized "here/now" culture.  If you value history and value diversity you will preserve records of cultures past.     (3) Cultures arise and die naturally.  The next 10,000 years of civilization will see even more cultures rise and fall.  We should document them all and put them on the library shelf.     (4) Hopefully what is good in a culture will live on, and what is unimportant or bad will die out.     (5) Two opposing trends today.  (A) The spread of Western culture (and democracy) creating a homogenized "McCulture".  Vs.  (B) The Internet as promoting a multitude of distinct cohesive groups (cultures) not bound by geography/space/place, language, or time.     (6) I would like to see homogeneity in some areas such as a polyglot world language, and a stronger United Nations.  But I would also like to see diversity in other areas, such as creativity of ideas.     (7) Cultural segregation is bad (Ex. Groups that want to separate from other groups in order to keep themselves culturally and genetically "pure").  Just like trade segregation and political isolationism is bad.  Cultural segregation is racist.     (8) Three types of culture.  (A) Living cultures.  (B) Dead but preserved cultures (record of language and arts etc.).  (C) Dead and lost cultures (no record exists of the culture).     (9) Culture arises from (intellectual and creative) individuals.  So we must preserve down to the individual level.  The good and new that each individual creates must be saved.     (10)  Just as there are no distinct races, so there are no distinct cultures.  Both races and cultures blur completely with their neighbors at their edges.  Both races and cultures also display within themselves much variation among individuals.  For these two reasons we can say there is no such thing as distinct races and cultures.  ---  7/13/1998


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  (1) Culture as meaningless and arbitrary.  Fads and fashions.  Frivolous and trivial.  No thought and no emotion.  (2) Culture as meaningful and rational.  ---  7/18/2002


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  (1) Language and culture.  To what extent is culture a result of language?  If a group of people speak the same language do they share the same culture?  (2) Law and culture.  To what extent is culture the result of a legal system?  If a group of people  use the same legal system do they have the same culture?  ---  12/15/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  Components of culture.  (1) Knowledge.  Assumptions, conclusions, and implications.  (2) Technology.  The tools, the materials, and the products.  (3) Ethics.  The values.  ---  5/15/2000


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  Let's talk about small cultures.  (1) Personal culture:  Knowledge pool.  Attitude pool.  Technology.  Practices.  Activities.  (2)  Small group culture:  Example, the culture of a group of friends.  (3) So often we think of culture on a grand scale, but individual culture and small group culture is just as important.  ---  1/30/2002


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  Pop culture.  (1) Trivia: pop culture.  (2) Nostalgia: past trivia.  People who engage in it are daft.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  Some would argue that the diversity of cultures, like the diversity of languages, is a rich repository that can teach us much.  Others would argue that the diversity of cultures is a distracting surface phenomenon.  That underneath the surface these cultures are all very similar.  Cultural diversity is like the vapid fads of the fashion industry.  Nothing new under the sun, from place to place and from time to time.  Cultural universals abound.  Which view is more justified?  ---  7/10/2002


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  Three ideas.  (1) Mainstream culture vs. counter culture (against mainstream).  (2) Sub-culture (below culture) vs. culture vs. super-culture (above culture).  An ethical judgment.  (3) Culture and sub-culture (culture within a culture).  A classification scheme.  ---  9/15/1998


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  Trends.  (1) Culture is becoming homogenized worldwide.  (2) A fading of style and subcultures is occurring.  ---  12/29/1997


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  Two views.  (1) We are all Americans now.  The entire world has gone American.  (2) America has become globalized.  America is now, more than ever, a bunch of croissant and sushi eating cultural sponges.  Which is a good thing.  ---  4/6/2000


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  What's going to happen to culture(s) is not the homogenization of world cultures in a melting pot.  Rather, it will be a beautiful mosaic.  Already you can get the building blocks (books, music, visual arts, movies) of different cultures from all over the world, at a local shop.  Never before have we had such access to other views and ways of life.  The local bookstore has literature from all over the world, either translated or in the original language.  That is no mere thing.  ---  2/16/2000


Sociology, society.  ---  Culture.  World homogenization and uniformity.  One culture vs. multiculturalism.  (1) Pro:  Increased understanding.  Increased cooperation.  (2) Contra:  Loss of diversity.  But not necessarily, since now we are aware of diversity, and we save it in books, but we agree on best things to do, and do them together.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Cultures.  Ways of life.  Lifestyles.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Elements.  Economic/business, science/technology, art/entertainment, political/law, geography/history, philosophy, math, logic, religion, military, education, language, reasoning (type, quality, quantity).  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  For any society group.  The x experience in the USA.  History: struggles and gains/losses.  The current situation.  Future prospects.  Studying it vs. experiencing it.  Variations by region.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Forming consent and forming desire in the public.  (1) The system builds desire vs. people are naturally full of desires vs. both.  The system builds desire with advertising, which beyond merely selling products, instills values, promotes lifestyles, and holds an implicit worldview and philosophy (metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics).  (2) People want to be rich so they do not have to work.  Fear of poverty and greed makes them want money.  Pride makes them want money.  Also, people want to appear rich, in order so that others know they are rich, and so they buy a lot of material things.  People are lazy, so they buy a lot of labor saving devices.  Many big houses, and many big cars.  Constantly having the newest stuff.  Pursuing riches means buying into the system, and playing it their way.  The rat race.  The typical life of a manager.  Living simple is more eco-friendly, ala Thoreau.  The system gives people the short-term view instead of the long-term big picture (earth for the next 10,000 years).  Advertisers preach a leisure ethic in which the ultimate goal is to do nothing.  Life on the beach, eat, drink, sleep, take booze and drugs.  Instead of a work ethic to solve problems.  ---  9/15/1998


Sociology, society.  ---  Global society.  A global society is slowly forming, for better or worse.  All the societies are slowly melding.  Transportation and communication make it possible, inevitable.  It may take a few hundred more years.  ---  6/25/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  Groups.  All possible combos of (1) Environment: urban, suburban, rural.  (2) Class: upper, middle, lower.  (3) Sex: male or female.  (4) Age: kid, teen, young adult, middle age, old age.  (5) Describe psychological effects of each combo.  (6) Describe how any person of one combo will interact with another combo.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Groups.  Associations and organizations.  Size (people, dollars), goals, and power.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Groups.  Hunter gatherers, agriculture, pastoralists, feudal, industrial, mass.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Groups.  Pop, haute (rich), avante garde, intelligentsia.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Groups.  Rich and poor.  What are their lives like?  What are their psychologies like?  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Groups.  Society groups typed by leisure pursuit, work type, class, philosophy or religious beliefs.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Groups.  Specific cultures, pros and cons.  (1) Urbanism: losing touch with nature.  The manmade environment, how does it affect people.  (2) Suburban: safe, peaceful, but boring, lifeless.  (3) Rural: in touch with nature, but lack of culture.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Groups.  Specific sub-cultures.  High school sociology.  (1) Heads.  (2) Head jocks.  (3) Jocks.  (4) Jock brains.  (5) Brains.  (6) Brain heads.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Groups.  The rich, the powerful, the intelligentsia, the pop masses, the avante garde.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Health of an society (see pathological sociology).  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Homogeneity vs. heterogeneity (better).  Of lifestyles.  Of views, attitudes, philosophies.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  How is society changing today?  What is the mood of the people?  What is the philosophical view of the people?  Society is about changes in family, city, nation, and organizations.  Organizations: Flatter, quicker.  Communication and transportation: more and faster.  Computers are good.  Computers let people organize faster and communicate easier.  Makes dictatorship tougher.  Standard language.  What will the future society be like?  Freedom vs. control.  Education: Computers make availability, organization, and storage of knowledge faster and more.  Nations: International cooperation becoming more important.  Standards: With government or computers, it helps for everyone to cooperate and agree to use same standards.  In education, standards can enforce a minimum level of performance.  ---  9/30/1996


Sociology, society.  ---  Humans are developing a "world society", but that does not mean all humans have to be exactly the same.  Toleration for freedom and diversity is a foundation for a world society.  ---  11/20/2001


Sociology, society.  ---  Ideal society.  Free food.  Free clothing.  Free shelter.  Free transportation.  Free communication.  Free information.  Free education.  Free healthcare.  Free sex and love.  Free friends.  ---  4/7/2006


Sociology, society.  ---  Individual and society.  (1) Slavery of individual to society.  (2) Independence of individual from society.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Individual and society.  (1) Those caught up in society.  (A) And don't care.  (B) And want to understand it.  (2) Those who escape or transcend society.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Individual and society.  Effects of society on your life, your head, and your behavior.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Individual and society.  How much can you stay separate from society.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Individual and society.  Slavery to society vs. independence from society.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Individual vs. society.  Acceptance or rejectance of each other.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Information society.  An information society requires two components.  (1) Mass media to let people find out about events.  (2) Educated, thinking people to figure out things by critical thinking, debate and reason.  ---  8/9/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  Level of development of theory or knowledge, and practice or use.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  One way to define the word "society" is a group of people.  (1) In a homogenous society everyone is very similar (ex. Japan).  In an extremely homogenous society everyone is the same, and the group is essentially acting as one big individual.  (2) A heterogeneous society contains many different groups (ex. USA). In an extremely heterogeneous society everyone is different and you have no commonality, you just have a bunch of individuals.  (3) So what is the big deal about a group of people?  Nothing.  The word "society" is bogus.  ---  6/6/2000


Sociology, society.  ---  PART ONE.  Possible definitions of society.  (1) Any group of individuals?  No, I don't think so.  (2) The citizens of a nation state?  No, I don't think so.  (3) Group of individuals physically near each other who interact?  (4) Group of individuals spread around the globe who don't even interact but who believe the same things and have similar attitudes?     PART TWO.  Possible definitions of culture.  (1) A set of attitudes (thoughts and emotions) such as found in magic, art, philosophy and science.  (2) Something that is taught and learned, rather than genetic heredity.  (3) Something that persists through time.  (4) By-products of a society.  Rather than the by-products of an individual?  Can we talk about the personal culture of an individual?  (5) Physical artifacts?  Technology and art.  ---  7/18/2002


Sociology, society.  ---  Philosophy of an society: metaphysics, epistemology, ethics (ideals, values, goals), aesthetics.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Problems faced by a society.  (1) Area.  (2) Degree of severity.  (3) Number of problems.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Products of society.  (1) 1% gold, 99% junk.  (2) Stuff and ideas.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Products of society.  (1) Material: manmade stuff.  (2) Immaterial: knowledge and beliefs in all areas.  Amount, accuracy, relevance, complexity.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Proposition One: Wherever there is a society there is a culture.  Proposition Two: A society and a culture exist anytime more than one person interact.  Question One: What if the two people have opposite attitudes and engage in conflict behavior?  Is that dyad a society and a culture?  Question Two: Can an individual have a personal culture?  Either a lifestyle or a set of learned behaviors capable of being transmitted to others?  Question Three: Can an individual have a personal society based on multiple selves (see Psychology, personality, self)?  ---  6/22/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  Relationships, effects of and on each other: individual, society, environment.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Societal change often occurs one small step at a time only.  The step can often only be taken once the old generation dies.  This is why societal progress is so slow.  ---  12/26/1997


Sociology, society.  ---  Society and individual.  (1) How much does society shape the individual?  100%?  50%?  0%?  (2) In what ways does society shape the individual?  Thinking.  Emotion.  Attitudes.  (3) By what mechanism does society shape the individual?  Family.  School.  Work.  Peers.  Media.  Government.  Shaping the views of the individual regarding what is (metaphysics).  Shaping the views of the individual regarding how we know (epistemology).  Shaping the views of the individual regarding what to do or how to behave (ethics).  ---  7/31/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  Society and individual.  Some try to argue that society can be reduced to the individual.  However, many psychologists will argue that there is no individual.  (See: Psychology, personality, self).  ---  4/24/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  Society and individual.  Some try to argue that society can be reduced to the individual.  They try to argue that society is a product of individuals.  However, others argue that the individual is a product of society.  ---  4/24/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  Society can be defined as a group of people having a distinct culture.  I argue that there really is no such thing as culture.  Thus, there really is no such thing as society.  ---  11/1/1998


Sociology, society.  ---  Society is a system composed of many subsystems.  Each subsystem is composed of further subsystems:  (1) Political and legal subsystems.  (2) Economics and business subsystems.  (3) Technology.  (4) Education, Media, Information subsystems.  (5) Health subsystems.     PART TWO.  The health, sustainability and justice of a society is comprised of the health, sustainability and justice of its subsystems.  ---  5/22/2007


Sociology, society.  ---  Socio-cultural systems, super and sub.  Types: individual, family, friends, peer groups.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Specific cultures.  Europe is overcivilized.  What have they lost touch with?  Freedom, wilderness, bravery, imagination, drive, will.  They are timid, restrained, corralled sheep.  ---  9/30/1996


Sociology, society.  ---  Statistics on society.  Crime, health, economic, politics.  Population statistics: birth, death, growth rates.  ---  12/30/1992


Sociology, society.  ---  Today's society.  (1) Television.  (2) Disposable.  (3) Plastic.  (4) Instant.  (5) Computers.  (6) It is not mass, it is a zillion fragments (ex. bulletin board groups).  (7) Space and time collapse (be anywhere instantly now).  (8) Association by interest, not family, not work, not religion.  ---  12/12/1993


Sociology, society.  ---  Types of society.  Literate vs. illiterate societies.  Democratic vs. undemocratic societies.  Agricultural, industrial, service, information societies.  ---  8/9/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  Types of society.  Societies described in terms of their political, economic and technological types.  ---  10/17/2005


Sociology, society.  ---  Various views that society is or is not going down the tubes, and why.  (1) Not enough religion argument (false).  (2) Breakdown of nuclear family.  Family values argument. (false).  (3) Religion is not important, but a good ethic system is important and is not in place yet well enough (true).  (4) Racism and poverty spur helplessness and hopelessness and anger and crime.  (true).  (5) Crime is rising, rise in violence (false).  (6) We all used to live on isolated farms, and there was little harm done.  (true).  (7) Crime rates rise proportionally with population rates (true).  (8) New pressures exist today, like the easy availability of drugs, and racial mixing (heterogeneity).  (true).  (9) There are new problems, but also many new gains in areas like civil rights, womens lib, and the environment. (true).  ---  02/10/1994


Sociology, society.  ---  What are the traits of all societies?  What are the traits of a specific society (a time and place)?  Especially post-modern society.  Communication: far, instant, visual and sound.  Transportation: quick, anywhere.  Military: power to destroy world instantly (bomb).  Global trade.  Knowledge growing, but wisdom decreasing.  Environment: pollution up, resources dwindling.  Political: power of state to control individual is great.  ---  04/30/1993


Sociology, society.  ---  What kind of society do we want?  What kind of society do we have?  ---  10/10/2004


Sociology, society.  ---  When does a group become a society?  (1) Enduring patterns of behavior.  (2) Organization.  (3) Rules.  ---  11/20/2001




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Paul Nervy Notes. Copyright 1988-2007 by Paul Nervy.