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Mistaken Identity – Reith Lectures 2016 – Kwame Anthony Appiah
Genetically we seem predisposed to seek links with groups outside our immediate family, and seek differences that distinguish “us” and “them”. Important in the small groups that early man survived in. Colour – Western peoples assumed everyone came from Abraham, via Noah, and race/colour were considered mere geographical variations! Race ideas emerged at same time…
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Raft of the Medusa
1816, the French naval vessel Medusa ran aground, leaving behind a huge improvised raft with 147 survivors, abandoned by the other crew who escaped on longboats. On their second night adrift off the coast of W Africa, orgy of destruction developed, precipitated by fear – people attacked each other, and attempted to break off sections of…
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Authenticity
People feel obliged to manufacture themselves as unique individuals, free from all the inhibitions and encumbrances of the past. Authenticity is the highest good. Not only is this impossible to achieve, but it leads to a tension that is difficult for people to resolve. Our supposed obligation to be self-created individuals is at complete variance…
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40 Things You Don’t Expect To Find In Vending Machines
including – bike parts, eggs, T-shirts, live crabs… http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/bizarre-vending-machines/
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Love is all you need – if you're old and male
Grant study of Harvard medical school entrants in 1940s. “Flourishing” – defined as career success, physical and mental health, good relationships with spouse and children, subjective happiness – associated with warm, supportive childhood; mature coping style, good adult relationships between ages of 37 and 47 (!), and not IQ, income/status of parents. Good relationships with…
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Jobs as a lifestyle choice
People see their jobs as a lifestyle choice – esp young middle class students, who pursue brand-specific jobs eg specific coffee chains, clothes shops despite low pay and few benefits. They will even display fierce loyalty to their employer eg covering shifts, getting to work despite adverse weather conditions. Negative effects of this are that…
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Servants
In the 19th century, the biggest category of working class people was domestic servants. Seen as “respectable” and relatively secure, compared with farm labour or factory work, it was however arduous, with long hours and often no paid holidays. It was also difficult for labour to become organized. In the 20th century however, it becomes less attractive…
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Michel Foucault
French intellectual, sometime communist, died of AIDS. Wrote about madness, sexuality and discipline. Sexuality in ancient times an appetite to be mastered, only became an identity as hierarchies of class and church began to unravel. Interested in how people are classified, how identities are processes rather than being fixed. Borrowed the concept of Bentham’s Panopticon…
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Erving Gottman
Ukrainian Jew, member of famous Chicago school of sociology and urban anthropology. Developed dramaturgical model of social interaction in Shetland via uni of Edinburgh. We all construct a social face, a social role, but negotiate it as part of a cast of other actors. Stigma works the same way. Embarrassment, shyness are examples of where…
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More hopeful, more committed to the challenges of living in a complex world
“We’ve been taught to think that the real question is “Do people deserve to die for the crimes they have committed?” And that’s a very sensible question. But the other way of thinking about it is not “Do people deserve to die for the crimes they have committed?”, but “Do we deserve to kill?” “I…