Sources: sociology

Some comparative data showing boomers and millenials aren’t much different, now that one group is old and the other is just the new adults. Amusing and well argued with a summary that concludes we should just try not to be jerks.

Reflection on how everything over the last few decades has grown so similar as to be indistinguishably average. Good writing but the photographs supporting the general argument are really compelling.

A refreshingly thoughful discussion of the historical path of our thinking about and the cultural manifestation of racism. Helpful in broadening one’s perspective beyond the overly simplistic political context of the moment.

A good overview of the intellectual and political life of French philosopher-sociologist Bruno Latour, who died late in 2022.

His work covers so much ground even this wide ranging review can’t really cover it. From work on the sociology of science to his later focus on environmentalism, it is a remarkable career remembered. A quote from his book Pasteruization captures the character of his thinking that most aligns with my own: “nothing can be reduced to anything else, nothing can be deduced from anything else, everything may be allied to everything else.”