Tag: mass media

What does people’s refusal to wear face-masks during a pandemic tell us about the possibility of Kant’s self-governing humans?

June 28, 2020

“In early 2020, the covid-19 pandemic was declared and national governments around the world put in place various levels of restriction […] reduce close-contact with each other so as to reduce transmission of the virus. […]

Does the refusal of so many to follow what seems to so many others as rational rules which benefit us all individually and collectively then disprove the Kantian hope of self-governance? Does Foucault accidentally provide the state with an argument for more disciplinary power, given new evidence of people’s apparent inability to follow their rational self-interest? … More What does people’s refusal to wear face-masks during a pandemic tell us about the possibility of Kant’s self-governing humans?

Macbeth Had a Cleft Habitus, Sometimes Propaganda is Moral, and Social Mobility is Like Killing the King

October 19, 2018

“Macbeth teaches its audience a moral lesson beyond killing is wrong, since it is unquestioningly alright to kill your fellow man at war, nor even regicide is wrong as King Macbeth is justly slain at the end (no spoiler alerts on a four centuries old play), but that it is wrong to disturb the social order. […]

Perhaps Bernays’ concept of propaganda is too broad? Can we consider, for example, Aesop’s fables as propaganda? […]

t is also difficult to examine how much luck was involved in creating my situation because, like Bourdieu who first theorised about habitus, my class mobility is an exception to the rule about how our inherited capitals, our origins, determine our destinations. […]

At what point does doing what modern society requires of one to get ahead, perhaps abandoning the class interests as a whole yet still working towards more justice and opportunities for those like myself that want to move up, equate to killing the king?” … More Macbeth Had a Cleft Habitus, Sometimes Propaganda is Moral, and Social Mobility is Like Killing the King

Joke Or Not: Does It Matter When The Solution Is Censorship, Social Or Legal? | Does Liking MDE Humour Prove You Are Right-Wing?

July 16, 2018

“Whether or not MDE are part of the alt-right, and whether one enjoying its humour can be taken as evidence of one having certain political views has been discussed before. The consensus varies around the latter point, but for the most part, it seems the MDE boys really are sometimes, somewhat white supremacist and misogynistic. Nevertheless, as much as I might sometimes consider MDE’s views wrong, I still enjoy their content. Unfortunately, to some this is a sign that I secretly harbour similar views.” … More Joke Or Not: Does It Matter When The Solution Is Censorship, Social Or Legal? | Does Liking MDE Humour Prove You Are Right-Wing?

What Do Final Year BSc Sociology Students Actually Do? | Media & State Studies Seminar Part 2: Elections & New Media

June 19, 2016

“For this series, I would like to give a taste of what it is sociology, as one of the most denigrated sciences online, is actually like. The structure of this assignment, which I am reproducing here mostly unedited, was quite unusual compared to most work undertaken for this subject- essays and some fieldwork- but I think illustrates the variety of ways final year study is done.
In this seminar we discussed the extent to which TV can be considered a primary factor influencing voter decisions and how the increasing demographic shift towards a voter base constituted by, what some theorists call “the digital generation” implies an impending change in political strategy, if it has not already happened as some evidence suggests.” … More What Do Final Year BSc Sociology Students Actually Do? | Media & State Studies Seminar Part 2: Elections & New Media